Neelix

by Nathan Miracle, Second Edition Designer

24th November 2014

‘When the messenger comes to appropriate your profits, kill the messenger.’ -Dr. Arridor

The Nagus is a busy man. He cannot be bothered by every little detail which pops up. In order to rule his financial empire, the Nagus sends out Proxies to do his bidding. The crew of the U.S.S. Voyager took advantage of this practice when they encountered Dr. Arridor, “Great Sage” and his assistant Kol in the Delta Quadrant. Neelix fulfilled a long-standing Trek tradition by donning alien (well, different alien) make-up to con the con men. From the episode False Profits, representing the set Strange New Worlds, I present Neelix, Grand Proxy.

Neelix retains quite a bit from his previous incarnations. His attributes have not changed, and he keeps some of his usual skills. As a member of Voyager’s crew, he keeps the Voyager icon, though I doubt you will see him in many Voyager decks. Neelix’s main draw comes from his gametext.

In Strange New Worlds, Lwaxana Troi, Telepathic Asset and Maihar’du, Silent Servant interacted with Leadership personnel. Neelix’s gametext draws inspiration from these two cards. If a dilemma randomly selects the Nagus (or any other Leadership) personnel, he can send his Proxy, Neelix to deal with the dilemma instead. Now your Nagus, who probably has more skills and higher Cunning than Neelix, can get on with the business of completing the mission.

Zek and Gint are not the only personnel who can benefit from Neelix’s text. Six other personnel (including Arridor) qualify for Neelix’s protection naturally. Since his ability generally works during the middle of a mission attempt, Neelix can also benefit from skill gaining cards such as Shady Resources or Rule of Acquisition #144. Combine him with Weyoun, “Defective” Clone and your opponent will have to think twice before using dilemmas with random selections. Just remember: whatever would have happened to the original personnel now happens to Neelix, so while you can protect key personnel, you cannot totally escape the effects of the dilemma.

Remember the 211th rule of acquisition: “Employees are the the rungs on the ladder of success. Don’t hesitate to step on them.” Feel free to step all over Neelix on your way to expanding your acquisitions in the universe!

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