To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Rules of Acquisition expansion set.

PICTURE: Star Trek's creepiest couple is interestingly pictured, with Winn and Dukat basically showing up in a mirror. Not sure if there's a message in there (a possible visual link to the more benign Brief Romance), but it looks like a wedding photo or something. I like the mirror, with its duller frame, and well, I can't fault the shot's originality. A 3.7.

LORE: Well told, and with liberal use of adjectives at the end. Great title too. Enough for a 3.4.

TREK SENSE: This is basically a Romance dilemma under another name, but it's sometimes hard to gauge. The idea is that the personnel with the weakest moral fiber are distracted from the mission, and possibly up to no good. At its most benign (it's possible that Integrity 7+ personnel have the lowest, after all), they are stopped as per other Romance dilemmas. At its most devilish, they sneak away to plot against the rest. In fact, if they have the same exact Integrity, they leave the group entirely. For the evil guys, the plot takes them away (to the Fire-Caves, for examples), for the good guys, they probably elope. I don't dislike this at all, since it's been my experience that the fights a couple has are often based on moral discrepencies (what one thinks is wrong and the other doesn't). A perfect moral match in Integrity would make the personnel so compatible, they might up and leave everything behind. After all, their "low" Integrity makes them prone to abandoning the duty they have to their affiliation. The anomaly in this case is that all couples will not be "Strange Bedfellows" since you could conceivably match two people who indeed WERE matched on the show, but that's a very minor point. Another small point is that the card ignores androgynous personnel, as well as same-gender relationships (where the show does not - although The Intendent can get around it with her special skill). Be that as it may, the card manages to hold onto a 3.8.

SEEDABILITY: Though it stops personnel for a shorter time than Romance dilemmas, it's actually more poweful. It can be seeded at both planet and space locations, it stops 2 personnel, and possibly even discards them (in such a way that cards that save personnel from death cannot help). Furthermore, it's not a random selection, so it'll fit more ably in a dilemma combo. Targeting the 2 lowest INTEGRITY personnel present and filtering them out (temporarily or permanently) allows dilemmas requiring low INTEGRITY to hit more easily. Good candidates include Drumhead, Chula: The Way Home, In the Pale Moonlight, Lineup and Skullduggery. Treachery dilemmas would also have a greater likelihood of hitting. You don't have as much control over that, but two less personnel represents a whole pool of other skills and attributes that are eliminated from the mission attempt, and there's no way to avoid it except by having a crew or Away Team made up of the same gender. Matriarchal Society anyone? A good 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) This isn't a congeniality contest.

PICTURE: If the Ferengi make-up ever lent itself to fierceness, it's with Taar. If his cohorts didn't really make for great villains, Taar at least had the potential (I especially liked the intimidating viewscreen image on white background). Here we get that fierce look, as well as a more tribal costume, from the sheepskin shoulderpad to the beads at the back of his head. A strong 3.8.

LORE: Universality is taken care of first, and then we find out he was the first Ferengi to lay eyes on humans. That now should say "officially" because Enterprise also featured Ferengi, but can't fault the card here. And then there's a partial quote, which has a certain Ferengi flavor, but also buys into his Diplomacy. A good enough 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Taar is the first Ferengi DaiMon we ever saw, but he didn't really set the standard. I mean, Diplomacy and Astrophysics are fine skills for a typical starship captain to have, but how many DaiMons were actually diplomatic? Taar, for his part, did negotiate with Picard, and I suppose business negotiations can be included in Diplomacy. Astrophysics isn't as obvious, though it may have something to do with the way the Plasma Energy Burst works (stars are made of plasma, so...). If that's the case, typical DaiMons may well have the skill, even if we never saw the weapon again. The special skill: Ferengi Attack is a dilemma from the same episode, but is there a link stronger than a mere thematic one? After all, the Ferengi attackers in the show weren't really all that effective. Ok, but let's look at it from the perspective of first contact. The Ferengi in "The Last Outpost" had never dealt with humans, so they were at a distinct disadvantage. Taar's the guy who's letting everyone know of his experience, thereby making Ferengi attack teams more prepared. That's why he only need be in the quadrant (though I ask you, what's with all the Ferengi Attacks in the Delta Quadrant?). The problem, of course, is that Taar's special skill would extend to non-Federation victims. For the "typical" DaiMon, I suppose the skill is meant to represent better coordination of forces, boosting their effectiveness. In such a case, not being present makes less sense. I also don't think your typical DaiMon has so much Integrity, though I don't begrudge Taar's specifically. Cunning and Strength also match up to events. Would have done better as a unique personnel, I think, but can't get over 3.5 as a universal. Still good, as we'll consider him the "good" type, and Prak the more common "bad" type.

STOCKABILITY: Taar's a pretty good universal Ferengi, with some very useful skills and relatively high attributes (let's hit the Slots!). Astrophysics is especially rare in the Ferengi Alliance, and yet it's required of Purchase Moon. He can't use Rules too much, but he won't be hosed by anything targeting Greed or Treachery either. Now, does he rehabilitate Ferengi Attack? That dilemma has a nice payoff (2 kills), but is way too easy to get by. Oh, the attribute requirement has some bite, but a single Greed? Way too easy to come up with. Taar makes the attribute requirement extremely difficult (CUNNING+STRENGTH>136, that's like, 9 or more personnel), and boosts the Greed to 2. 2 Greed is a little harder, with few affiliations having more than a handful of Greedy personnel. The Feds and Romulans might be the hardest pressed to come up with it. Of course, Non-Aligned support can provide lots, so be wary. Having multiples of him out doesn't affect the special skill, though you could always have a back-up in case he's killed, or even keep him around in multiple quadrants (especially if using the 75th Rule to travel). Gets 3.7.

TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) One of the few early TNG Ferengi I like.

PICTURE: A CGI fabrication that combines the Rules from "Prophet Motive" (well, not the same since those were the "new" Rules) and the Nagus' throne from "Ferengi Love Songs", it comes off as rather painterly. Something about the various elements not enjoying the same level of focus, I think. The book of rules is gorgeous, don't get me wrong, with all that inlay being quite visible, but the throne doesn't quite work, and the color palette just eats up everything. A miss at 1.9.

LORE: Starts off with the facts of the matter, then dovetails into that lovely bit about Gint's marketing ploy. I know it's not technically canon since the information was imparted to Quark in a dream sequence, but it SHOULD be true. Repeated from the Grand Nagus Gint card though. Great stuff, with only the title being iffy. It's just confusing to have Rules of Acquisition and then The FERENGI Rules of Acquisition. It all sounds the same. A 4 is what it gets.

TREK SENSE: This piece of Equipment has all the Rules in it, right? Indeed, you may pull a specific Rule out of it. The reason you need a Nagus present, I think, is that downloading a Rule to hand basically means he just wrote it into the book. In Gint's case, quite literally, in Zek's, it's probably just an interpretation. That's why it goes to hand. It costs you a Rule to do this, but I see it as you turning the page. Alternately, any Ferengi may study his Rules and use them to acquire a resource (a card). To do this, you take a Rule from hand (which we've established represents the insides of the book) and put it under your draw deck (knowledge isn't lost, especially when you can go back to your book to check it out later). You may be using the exact Rule you're putting there, or you may consider it one of the Rules not made into a card. It doesn't really matter. I have no problem with a Ferengi having to be present, since it is part of their culture, a culture not well understood by other 24th-century peoples. It is a [Rule] icon card itself, because it basically contains them all. Yes, it is a little silly for Ferengi to walk around with their Rules all bound up in book form, since they should have learned them by heart long ago, but there you have it. It's probably just on a PADD. Does very well for such a mechanical effect: 4.2.

STOCKABILITY: Very good card management for the Ferengi, The Rules allow you to get rid of unwanted Rules in exchange for a card draw or to download a Rule you actually need. The Rule gotten rid of (which may include an unecessary second copy of The Rules) isn't lost in any case. It's sent to the bottom of the draw deck and may be downloaded in the same way if it does become useful. Its Rule icon makes it playable for free to the Scepter of the Grand Nagus, which then allows those downloaded Rules to play for free too (once per turn, of course). Additionally, Maihar'du can download the Scepter, and he himself can be downloaded early with Defend Homeworld. Grand Nagus Gint can download any [Rule] icon card, including this one, as can the Dominion's Hanok if that's what you want. It is principly a Ferengi card because it requires, at the very least, a Ferengi present, but that's what Dr. Farek, Dr. Reyga and Bok are for. The Feds can also use Nog (2 versions) and Prot, the Bajorans have Rom, and the Klingons have the Son of Keldar. You need Greed and Acquisition to use a lot of the Rules anyway, so non-Ferengi Rules strategies work better with them than without them. Of course, only the Ferengi can use the equipment to its full effect, because only they have a Grand Nagus. Three actually, if you count Krax. An excellent one-two punch to play Rules with the Scepter, I give it a 4.4 for the Ferengi.

TOTAL: 14.5 (72.5%) I can see why it was a bestseller.

PICTURE: A fun picture thanks to the bouquet of flowers, and unusual by its green background. Some blur and Tog is way too glossy, but a card with personality. A 3.4.

LORE: His title (DaiMon) doesn't impress me, but the rest is rather fun. The first phrase explains the pic (but is rather frivolous), the second tells what his exact scheme was, and the last throws one of Lwaxana's patented insults at him. A bit flighty, but does the job. A 3.4 again.

TREK SENSE: DaiMon Tog is a DaiMon, so Officer and Command are both naturals. He loves Lwaxana because he sees her as a tool to be exploited to satisfy his Greed. Anthropology and Exobiology are both measures of how much he has studied Betazoids/Empaths in order to come up with that scheme. Do I really believe he had these skills? No. But I do see where the design is coming from. If he can't have Lwaxana, he'll get another Empath, and so his special skill deals with his capturing one. In the show, he got two, but since those two can be found on a single personnel card as The Trois, Decipher's sort of fixed that problem for us. I'm not too worried about his not being able to then use the Empathy, because he couldn't control Lwaxana on the show (and Brainwash can always be used here). His Integrity is low enough for him to commit kidnapping, but not that low: he did treat his guests well, and there was affection there. High Cunning allowed him to hatch his little plan, but it might be a tad high since he played the fool in "Ménage à Troi". And Strength is high for a Ferengi, but he's in the military and did make off with a couple of Federation citizens. So basically, I like the special skill, but some of his other abilities are stretching the truth a bit. Hits 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: Tog's got some good skills and no real flaws in the attributes. Greed is good for Rules (he can 6th Rule Nibok and The Trois) and Ferengi mission redundancy, while Anthropology and Exobiology are excellent and not too common dilemma-busters. In fact, 2 of his skills are required of the universal Market Research. The other, Exobiology is actually pretty rare in the affiliation. Speaking of rare, they only have one Empathy personnel, albeit an Empathy x3 personnel, but lose The Trois, and you're open to some nasty dilemmas. Tog and Brainwash (perhaps with Prepare the Prisoner to make it all easier) can capture an opposing Empath to add to your stable. Obviously, using Non-Aligned Empaths is much easier, but considering that other affiliation may well be low on Empaths too, stealing one from your opponent will open his Away Teams and crews up to your Empathy dilemma combos. Let's not forget that Tog is the matching commander of the fastest Marauder in the fleet. 9-8-8 to begin with, it's a triple 11 ship when Captain's Log and Dedication Plaque are in play. It certainly makes getting away with the captive easier. Overall, good regular skills and a potable special skill. I rate him at 3.9.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) So I'm rating him higher than Mrs. Troi ever did.

PICTURE: I like the look he's giving Bok here, like: "What are you, mad?" A good look at his collar insignia too. Of course, the card's very gray besides, and the background has that distracting blob just behind Tol's neck. The expression is good enough for a 3.2.

LORE: Like I often say, descriptives applied to personnel cards are always welcome, and Decipher's assessment of Tol is dead on. Yeah, pretty unusual. His post and role in the show is standard stuff however. Gets to 3.2 again.

TREK SENSE: Tol is a Science officer, and his skill profile is definitely in line with that. Did he use those three specific skills on the show? Obviously, he wasn't the one to orchestrate the genetic fraud, or he'd have Exobiology or somesuch skill. Archaeology really isn't related to the other two either. Well, we didn't see his specialties in action, but they aren't too far-fetched. All of them could help the Ferengi acquire profit in some way, I suppose. I think his attributes are inflated though. Just because he didn't see the profit in Bok's actions doesn't mean he's a paragon of virtue. Similarly, just because he's more level-headed than the average Ferengi doesn't mean he's a genius on Dr. Reyga's level. And the Strength is quite high both for a Ferengi and a Science officer. Don't know where they got THAT. The first two, while not really supported by the show, at least COULD be true. I'm just unconvinced as to his abilities, though nothing really stinks outright. A 3 and no more.

STOCKABILITY: There's a reason 2E merged Astrophysics and Stellar Cartography into a single skill (Astrometrics) - they are so related, they show up on the same dilemmas and missions consistently. Tol has both and SCIENCE too, so he makes a great space mission solver. If The Big Picture dictates you must attempt planet missions too, you could do worse than use an Archaeology theme. And what the Ferengi don't have in their own stable of missions, they can Bribe their way into. Another good thing to have on mission attempts is high attributes, and Tol has high marks on all counts, quite rare for a Ferengi. A useful mission solving tool, he gets 3.8 here.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Old reliable.

PICTURE: Played for laughs, which suits the Ferengi, but we don't see much of the Tower. This has always disappointed me when looking through my HQ cards, since the others are so detailed. It's jarring, is what it is. The gold curtain is a bit of a cop out as far as set dressing goes, and everything gets lost in the color palette, but some details, like the Scepter resting against the chair. Overall though, I think the joke brings it up to 3.2, but the rest keeps there.

LORE: A brief but good sentence that is ironic given the pic (apparently he enjoys a quick nap too). Likeable, but nothing to elevate the score higher than a 3.2 too.

TREK SENSE: The Tower of Commerce is the government seat of Ferenginar (not sure it should be playable, just seedable, but that's an issue that touches all Headquarters), and so HQ directives come down from there. The free play of those kinds of cards makes sense, of course. The personnel that report for free here are those that you should reasonably expect to find there on any given day. The Ferengi aren't like other affiliations in that they are, in a sense, more populist. Anyone could petition the Nagus if they had enough latinum to slip the receptionist, or alternatively, any poor sap could be audited by the FCA, also housed here. That's why the Ferengi go very broadly with all VIPs and Civilians being eligible. The problem is that by that reasoning, even Officers, Medicals, Engineers, etc. should be too. Civilians are more clearly merchants though, and VIPs usually work there. It passes, but really should have excluded female personnel. It certainly would have kept the dabo girls and naked empaths from reporting here, and besides, it's what Ferengi society would dictate. Hupyrians can also report here because they are employed by rich Ferengi as servants, and the only ones we have were in the service of Zek and Brunt, both working at the Tower. The Shields of Headquarters are always higher than Outposts', to protect the homeworld, dontcha know, but here it's lower than the Federation's. Working all sides against the middle, I can see them not attracting as many enemies, so maybe the defense systems are in tune with that. On the other hand, you might ask why they haven't bought Shields off a stronger affiliation yet. Whatever the case may be, I can find a reason for the Bajoran HQ having less-than-normal Shields (the Occupation). I can't here. Throwing the net wide hasn't been too fruitful in this category: a 2.8.

SEEDABILITY: A major advantage the Ferengi have is speed. For fast reporting and downloading, there's no one better. The Tower of Commerce certainly plays a role in that, with one free play each turn, from a choice of many personnel or HQ cards. Some of these cards can report elsewhere for free, or download via certain cards like Ferengi Conference (barring any interference by Shape-Shift Inhibitor). If you have Quark's Bar in play as well as the Tower, that's optimally 2 free personnel each turn. If you got the Orb of Wisdom somewhere (Starry Night may be found at all three Ferengi facilities, if you count the Bar, where it can get you the Orb), and have Zek or Quark at the Tower, that's optimally three each turn. If that's not insane enough, many of the free personnel that play here have downloads (Hail, Writ, Hidden Fighter, Protection Racket, Bribery, Rule cards, Ferengi Credit Exchange, Kukalaka, Dabo, Bodyguards, the Scepter, Small Claoking Device, and more). Lumba even gets another personnel: Nilva. Fast is the order of the day, with lots of excellent personnel like Quark and Zek, as well as many HQ cards also helping for free, such as Ferengi Credit Exchange (points/draws/manipulation for Latinum discards), War Room (to boost those low-attribute personnel of yours) and Secure Homeworld (always a favorite). A strong 4.2, though the Ferengi can do well even without it.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) Certainly better than the Outpost, though not as endearing as the Trading Post.

PICTURE: The planet is cranberry pink and blueberry blue, the first of which is exactly the color I'd always imagined the tulaberry and its attendant wine to be. It's not bad looking on its own merits, but the fact that it meshes so well with the mission objectives is a plus. 3.5 here.

LORE: The Dosi are well described and the business jargon worthy of the Ferengi who managed to complete this mission on the show. A strong 3.4.

TREK SENSE: First off, why give this mission to anyone but the Dominion? I agree that since you have to deal with Dominion citizens there, that affiliation shouldn't be included, but why not just give it to the Ferengi as per the show? Do Romulans really care about tulaberry wine distribution rights? The Ferengi did seem to want exclusivity because of unnamed competitors, I suppose, but I never got the sense these might have been affiliated personnel. Slap Ferengi/NA on there and be done with it, I say - the Acquisition requirements are probably going to require NA help anyway. Speaking of requirements, they're well done.  The Dosi were very difficult to deal with, and so lots of Acquisition is required, as is a good deal of Strength, since the race doesn't respect physically weaker beings. Guramba, which has come to represent a certain aggressive and courageous attitude, is something I'd give the Dosi themselves, and that sort of gutsiness can go as far as Strength in these matters, as Quark demonstrated. Since Quark and Pel managed to complete this mission without either requirement in parentheses, you can use the duo as requirements instead. "Any" Quark does cause problems however, since Mr. Quark, for example, isn't as appropriate for the task. Also, I wonder if Anthropology, to understand the Dosi culture, wouldn't have been useful here somewhere. The points are derived from the importance of this mission according to Zek, which again strengthens the idea of leaving this one to the Ferengi alone. As for the Span, it seems a bit long too me. I saw no indication in the show that the Dosi planet was that far. As mercantile people, I doubt they would be living far from shipping lanes in any event. A number of small problems brings the score down to 2.3.

SEEDABILITY: They may have opened up the mission to any non-Dominion Away Team, but it's really the Ferengi's show. With any Quark (there are 5 to choose from, including the recent 2E version) and Pel, you can solve the mission without fuss. Without them, you simply have to bring enough STRENGTH and Acquisition to do the job. The latter is simple enough. The former may take more work since the Ferengi are relatively weaker than some other affiliations. Yet, at 31+, between 4 and 6 personnel should do it. Better yet, bring one of the Non-Aligned Nausicaans along, and they can solve it with their Guramba. The Ferengi work well with bodyguards in any case. And there you go: 45 points. Or is it more? Since this is in the Gamma Quadrant, feel free to add the 75th Rule of Acquisition for an extra 10 points (or Latinum). Well worth the side-trip to this long-Spanned location. If you're not using the Ferengi, there are enough NA Acquisition personnel to accompany that Nausicaan to the planet, and they will all work for anyone you tell them to. The 75th Rule, while not necessarily as easy to "call up" in a non-Ferengi deck, will nonetheless work with your non-Ferengi Acquisition personnel. A lucrative mission for all Acquisition-based decks. Cashes in at 4.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Too bad the Dosi have nothing to do here.

PICTURE: The soon-to-be Defiant has a "sitting there" shot, ok, but certainly not spectacular. A 3, I guess.

LORE: Spends entirely too much time trying to put two matching commanders aboard (one of which I intend to contest under Trek Sense), and not enough on storyline. Being a replacement for the Defiant would also play better if there were some kind of persona identification here, but again, I'm getting ahead of myself. 2.5 for this rather standard effort.

TREK SENSE: A clone of the Defiant (same class and crew), it nonetheless has some important differences. One of these is an extra matching commander in the person of Admiral Ross. The lore says it all: He all too briefly commanded the ship in order to deliver it to DS9. He's a delivery boy, not a matching commander! Come on! Dax and Kira commanded the Defiant more than this and they don't get matching commander status on that ship. I'll buy that Sisko knows enough about Defiant-class ships (and that O'Brien pretty much brought the new ship up to specs) that he would still get bonuses on the Sao Paulo, but Ross? No, no, no. There's also unfortunately no storyline implementation of the Sao Paulo being a replacement ship for the Defiant (à la Ezri Dax perhaps?), which is forgivable since the Sao Paulo was obviously built and named before the Defiant was destroyed, but still a little dull. The other big difference is the absence of a Cloaking Device, lost when the Defiant was blown up. And then there's the switch between Weapons and Shields from the other ship. The Sao Paulo has one less in Weapons and one more in Shields. The higher Shields can be explained by the fact that they were modified to resist the Breen energy dampener weapon. The lower Weapons? A necessary evil, I suppose, though I don't think this was established anywhere. The common factors include the shuttlepod-only policy (true), the Range (reasonable) and the staffing (uh-oh). Yes, the odd staffing of 2 Command icons worked on the Defiant by virtue of its being an experimental ship with a borrowed Cloaking Device. It took a couple of high-rank personnel to even have access to the ship. Is this still true of the NCC (not NX) Sao Paulo? No cloak, tested systems... Takes a lot of hits and winds up at 2.2.

STOCKABILITY: The Defiant's an excellent ship, and the Sao Paulo, of the same class, is very good too. It lacks the Cloaking Device of its older brother, but its attributes are just as high, though leaning on SHIELDS more than WEAPONS this time. Its got 2 matching commanders, just like the Defiant does, so you can have Sisko on either ship while Worf or Ross man the other one. Defiant Dedication Plaque will offer a full +3 RANGE bonus to this ship by virtue of its class, and so with Captain's Log thrown in, you get an 11-12-13 ship. Admiral Ross can report for free at the Office of the President incidently, and with Section 31, could use the ship to attack other Federation ships (all you need is the HQ card Defensive Measures), or else Ready Room Door can do the trick. If you have Benjamin Sisko in play before the ship, you can use Construct Starship to download it (Sisko can download quite a few ships with the card). Like the Defiant, it can make good use of Pulse Phaser Cannons (+5 to Attack), give Nog his extra ENGINEER when aboard, and gain extra crew very quickly when reporting a Type 18 Shuttlepod aboard. It's also more vulnerable to the Kraxon, but one thing it isn't vulnerable to (though the Defiant is) is the Breen Energy-Dampening Weapon, a Tactic that stops other ships dead in space. It'll still lose its Tractor Beam when hit, but not its RANGE or WEAPONS. Overall, the Defiant-class is a great ship, especially when you can subvert the battle restrictions with them. Giving it a 3.7.

TOTAL: 11.4 (57%) Safe from the Breen, killed by Trek Sense.

PICTURE: Not Decipher's fault, but the disc's colors look like they were washed away by too much sunlight. Art direction aside, the disc has been made very central, and the background less distracting than you might have thought. A competently crafted 3.

LORE: Well explained and valuable for explaining the game text. As a side-note, let me go on record as saying that the English language can be pretty counter-intuitive sometimes: I had the word spelled "dessicated" in my files all that time, and it still reads like the correct spelling to me. Ah well. I remember it taking me a while to get the correct spelling of "vacuum" into my head as well ("vaccum" or "vacuum"?), but I've been fine with that one for at least a decade now. On that autobiographical note, the lore gets a fine 3.2.

TREK SENSE: The game text meant to balance this card is what causes most Trek Sense problems, but generally, we've got a good one here. Basically, when a Ferengi dies, he would usually be turned into a set of discs to be sold on the open market. That puts the Ferengi out-of-play as he's turned into this Interrupt. The discs then yield card draws (bought resources) or Latinum (straight cash) when they are sold. VIPs are worth more than other personnel, which is sensible enough, though maybe some universals are worth a bit too much. There just wasn't room for more options. Now, the Interrupt speed at which these transactions are done is a problem, if not a huge one. I also question why the Ferengi must be killed by an opponent's card. Dead is dead, there shouldn't be a distinction. And why once per turn only? No reason aside from balance. There are also problems of circumstance: non-Ferengi Ferengi, like dabo girls, shouldn't be desiccated, should they? Some deaths, especially by dilemma or ship destruction, possibly wouldn't leave a body to desiccate. Of course, Ferengi aren't above fabricating false Remains (the one in Quark's hand in the picture is such a fake). The basic concept is quite good, and it's the details that eat at the score until it becomes only a fair 3.

STOCKABILITY: Your personnel dies, you don't care to get it back, you desiccate him and sell him off for card draws or Latinum. That's at least 2 card draws in addition to your own end-of-turn card draw, and all you have to do is renounce any option of rescuing a dead personnel from the discard pile. If the target personnel is a VIP (reported for free at the Tower of Commerce anyway), it yields you 3 card draws. In Latinum strategies, VDR will net you as many Latinum downloads, at least enough to buy an Equipment card. Or you could use HQ: Ferengi Credit Exchange to cash them in for points. Net effect: Your Ferengi dies, you get 4-6 points (or more, if you had Latinum on hand already). All of this requires a large deck since personnel go out-of-play and Latinum goes to the point area, but it's fairly simple to send feeble old VIPs to their deaths just by initiating a personnel battle alone. Later, you can report their twins for free at the Tower. Of course, in mission solving decks, it may be more cost effective to just use VDR as a card drawing engine, but it's nice that you can mix and match draws and downloads. A very nice 3.8.

TOTAL: 13 (65%) A financial disappointment, but not a bad card.

PICTURE: Considering that the Writ is white on black, it looks pretty red here due to lighting. Too bad, because it's less dramatic this way. It also looks like Brunt is caressing the Writ rather than slapping it on (though we don't know what he does on his spare time). The pic generally comes off as grainy and dark with a dodgy composition. Slapping on a 2.1.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: A couple of elements work, but they're awash in way too many elements that don't. What works is the connection with FCA personnel. They're the ones that hand out the Writs, so the download of an FCA personnel might mean that there's a Writ to be slammed down on someone, and the personnel is called in. From there, I disagree that the Writ should be discarded, since that's what the FCA guy is there for. If the FCA personnel shows up on his own, the Writ is placed on him, giving him the full weight of Ferengi law, though shouldn't he be slapping it on the wall of some Ferengi establishment later? Ah well. What it actually does then is ridiculous. It doesn't target only Ferengi players. It doesn't even target actions that the Ferengi would find unpalatable (quite the opposite, actually). The concept can simply be summed up as "the card makes you accountable for your actions in the game". And then it goes through a number of "crimes" that, if committed, cost a player the game. I'll give the card this: in Ferengi fashion, each "crime" has a number component (more than twice, more than once, more than 15 points). Otherwise, there's nothing Trek Sensical here. In the real world, there's hardly a way to "lose the game", and certainly not using Brain Drain too many times or whatever. Of the icons, I can easily accept Hidden Agenda, since there's strong evidence that Brunt manipulated events to MAKE Quark get a Writ (I personally think he bribed Quark's doctor in the first place). The Ref icon is equally acceptable, though I don't think the case can be made that all actions described automatically constitute abuse. Some, very much so (Q-bypass, multiple mass discarders, even Horga'hn), others, I'm not so sure (Brain Drain and Subspace Schism aren't abusive unless used in particular ways, for example). Manages to get 1.4, but no more.

STOCKABILITY: Well, it's the ultimate card, isn't it? It doesn't just say "you do these things and you lose the game", it says "if you have done these things, you lose the game". So Writ could turn up during the very last turn of a game about to be won by your opponent to make him lose 0-100 in the blink of an eye. You do need an FCA personnel and a place to report such a personnel, but that's not that difficult to do these days even if you're not primarily playing Ferengi (Brunt's a good guy to use because he can download the card). Many facilities would allow the download, and there's always Temporal Micro-Wormhole. Even killing the Ferengi in question doesn't make you exactly safe. The idea is that while Writ exists, it doesn't even have to be in play to affect the metagame. Who's going to do a Q-bypass or use 3 Brain Drains when Writ could be that unrevealed Hidden Agenda, or the next Ref card brought in by Ref-Q? No, the risk is too great. So you won't see a lot of players doing the following: using tons of Subspace Schisms to decimate your hand; tons of Brain Drains to keep your key personnel from even solving the present mission (or any mission); using Horga'hn much at all, since I agree those double turns were a game breaker; bringing back a nullified Static Warp Bubble with their aggressive discard effects; destroying everything with the Anti-Time Anomaly while their cards are protected in a Temporal Rift more than once; make all their points on self-seeded dilemmas while leaving the missions themselves alone; and bypassing all dilemmas with a self-seeded Q. Some of these have other counters, but nothing as drastic as Writ which finally nails the coffin lid down on them. I think it's not sportsmanlike at all to force a player to disobey Writ while bluffing that you don't have access to that card, but it can be done. In particular, nullifying Anti-Time Anomaly with Temporal Wake or Kevin Uxbridge, means a second one can't legally be played. Same for a Black Hole closed by Examine Singularity. Not really fair since no abuse actually occured, but there you go. I don't like the card. I think it's simply too much. But for its effect on the game, it's nothing short of a 5.

TOTAL: 11.33 (56.67%) How to end an expansion with both a bang AND a whimper.

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