Treasured Collectibles

by Johannes Klarhauser, Staff Writer

9th May 2008

One of the all-time favourite cards in Second Edition is certainly the infamous At What Cost? For a cost of five points, it lets you spend an additional full turn's worth of counters. The problem with the card has always been getting those extra points - some affiliations have easy one-card access to early extra points (Guinan (Listener), Annexation Drone) while others need some more or less elaborate set-up (Getting Under Your Skin, A Sight for Sore Eyes, Call to Arms). How about skipping that tedious extra point part? Here's a zero-cost event that lets you spend an additional seven counters without losing points!

Treasured Collectibles allows you to place a number of your equipment with a total cost of three or more on the bottom of your deck to spend seven additional counters. Unfortunately, this bargain is reserved exclusively to Ferengi negotiators, so Ferenginar and, to a lesser extent, Mouth of the Wormhole (Deep Space Nine) will probably be the only headquarters to stock this card.

Currently, the Tox Uthat is the only equipment that costs three, so unless you are willing to place that artifact on the bottom of your deck without actually using it, you will end up returning either two or more equipment to your deck, or you will be forced to "overpay", so Treasured Collectibles is not automatically a no-brainer that should be played every time you have the equipment to afford it. Sometimes, you might be better off if you keep your Ferengi Computers or Vascular Pads around; in other situations, it will be more useful to trade the equipment for the additional counters needed to play more personnel or another ship for a double-team mission attempt; or you might simply be looking for a way to get Rule of Acquisition #141 into play without the rule-swapping via Ferenginar.

Once you have placed the equipment on the bottom of your deck, Fajo's Menagerie and What You Leave Behind can help you to get your important equipment on the table again. At the end of the day, Treasured Collectibles, in true Ferengi nature, is another orange support card that offers you a deal; choose wisely whether or not you accept this one.

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