That's a Stupid Question!

by Daniel Matteson, Admiral (as far as you know)

16th April 2018

Recently I had a conversation with someone on the First Edition design team. I was looking forward to the upcoming First Edition expansion release and excited to finally have the chance to write a preview article. However, there was a bit of friction during my conversation. It went a little something like this:

Me: I'm writing my first preview article during the first preview week for Metamorphosis! What card can you give me to spoil?

Them: That's a stupid question!

Me: Um... well, if you say so. I guess if I had to pick something, I'd want a cool verb that takes place during the Dominion War era on my favorite series, Deep Space Nine. Do you have anything that fits that description?

Them: That's a stupid question!

Me: I'll... take that as a yes? I also think it would be neat if such a card indirectly targeted cards currently on the OTF ban list, possibly paving the way to get them fixed and unbanned somewhere down the road?

Them: That's a stupid question!

Me: All right, that's getting aggravating. Are you going to tell me what the card is or not?

Them: That's a stupid question!

Me: Fine. I'll just find out when you send the card.

Well, as it happens, I actually have not one, but two preview cards today, and interestingly for this set, neither one of them are Second Edition conversions. Since one card downloads the other, we're going to start with that one first. Admiral Patrick is (apparently) a persona of Patrick, one of the members of genetically enhanced misfits affectionately known as the "Jack Pack." (You may have seen another member a few days ago if you've checked our Facebook page!) Admiral Patrick is a pretty sweet Federation DS9 guy with several uses. First, he's posing as an admiral, which is good enough that he can report for free to Office of the President. He counts as a leader if no others are around. He's genetically enhanced, although there aren't many uses for that (yet - oh, just wait a few days). He's even a Federation infiltrator, an icon seen on only two Federation personnel before him. Finally, the more genetically enhanced personnel hang around him, the more his attributes increase.

Let's talk about his special downloads. First is Inspection, an old favorite of mine from way back in Life from Lifelessness. I used to run this as a download of Dexter Remmick way back in my TNG Federation block decks. Providing an attribute boost to your Alpha Quadrant ships while three admirals or V.I.P.s are aboard make this a great card for any Federation deck that runs Office of the President.

The second special download, That's a Stupid Question!, is my second preview card. That's a Stupid Question! is an interrupt with two functions. The first function (probably the one that will get used more) suspends play to reduce the attributes of all of your opponent's OFFICER-classification personnel until end of turn. This is sure to cause havoc on your opponent's attempts to complete missions, survive personnel battles, and most notably, overcome dilemmas. I'll leave it to the imaginative deck designer to think of fun uses for this effect; one very specific dilemma that obviously becomes more effective is Maglock.

The second function of That's a Stupid Question! is a lot more narrow, but also more fun. This function nullifies any card that has the word "question" or a question mark ("?") in its title. There aren't a lot of these, so let's break down the most notable targets. There are a couple of mildly annoying verbs (Gagh Tek Or? and Will You Kindly Die?) that unfortunately don't see much play. There are a couple of strong dilemma targets (Do You Smell Something Burning? and Shall We Begin Again?). Three Q-icon cards can be nullified, if that's your thing.

The most eyebrow-raising two targets for this function are cards that are currently on the OTF ban list: Smooth As an Android's Bottom? and What Does God Need with a Starship? With a new way to nullify these powerful cards, could that signal an upcoming errata and removal from the ban list of one or both of these cards? (I don't actually know, so don't ask me.)

Perhaps the...ahem...coolest function of That's a Stupid Question! is the ability to nullify another copy of itself! Oh, no. it's Parallax Arguers all over again!

I don't have a decklist attached because I'm sure you'd like to see the rest of the Jack Pack before you get your deck brewing engines firing, and fortunately you won't have too long to wait.

Are you looking forward to seeing the full Metamorphosis expansion on May 4th?

That's a stupid question!

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