Far Beyond the Stars Treasures

by Ross Fertel, Second Edition Brand Manager

26th May 2018

With a new expansion comes new cards. Each of those cards has a story. Some are more interesting than others. Here are some that you might like. Or might not. Think of it as some behind the scenes extras on a DVD. Enjoy.

Cal Hudson – Back in the Period of Review, there was a question about multi-affiliation personnel. My response was along the lines of that being more of a 'First Edition thing' but some cards did allow to be played at multiple headquarters via their gametext or icons. There are other ways to blur the lines of your affiliations in play but they get a bit more convoluted. As it happens, several of the cards in Far Beyond the Stars can appear in multiple decks by virtue of their icons or gametext and were specifically designed as such. As a matter of fact, it's more the rule than the exception. Hope you enjoy 'em.

Enabran Tain – One of the things I love about the game is various 'off-color' cards. We've got a Red Dax, a Purple Odo and now, a Green Tain.

I.K.S. Negh-Var – This card, along with its corresponding Commander, are built for multiple decks. You can go the double HQ route if you want to maximize your effectiveness, but these were designed to be used in either deck so either your Founders or your High Council personnel can get a boost. Neat, huh?

Then again, Symbiosis had a lot of incentives for multiple headquarters which made a big splash at Nationals the other week. If you like triple Headquarters decks, you still have a slot for one more.

Jean-Luc Picard – A Deep Space Nine Picard! Although it's a Deep Space Nine focused set, this is the card that's gotten everyone excited every time they first see it. Was it a nice and easy design process? Of course not.

This card went through huge changes in design. The earliest discussions started out with a five or four cost behemoth; a high cost card you would almost certainly want in your deck. Then, it turned out that having this ultimate version of Picard was a little odd for DS9; why was your star hero not only someone from another series, but Picard himself. Therefore, Design took him in the completely opposite direction. For most of testing, he was a two cost personnel very close to what you see now. Very late in the process, it became apparent that he was missing some key skills that he should have by virtue of being a Federation captain in general and Jean-Luc Picard in particular. They were added and his cost was upped to three.

Odo - He's in Bajoran skin (OK, technically human skin) but he'll be most used by TOS. Maybe he'll find a home in a Resistance Deck, but not only is his ability leaning more towards the other Deep Space Nine mains in the TOS timeframe, he also adds the very rare Law and even rarer Acquisition to the TOS ranks. Come to think of it, those skills are also in short supply in Resistance decks too and those decks are chock full of past personnel. This way, you have access to those skills without having to resort to Non-Aligned personnel.

The Enemy of my Enemy – This card, the sole non-noun in the set (and it wasn't the only one designed, just the only one to survive) began with only the icon in the upper left identifying it as an Interrupt. Along the way, it was shown by testing that this card could be abused if it was open to everyone. Design doubled the number of icons on the card, limiting it to Cardassians and testers breathed a collective sigh of relief.

U.S.S. Enterprise – D – One of the decks that's come out of the Phase II era of the game is DS9 Rainbow. Looking at this card, you'll probably wonder if this has a place in those decks, especially since they don't have a lot of high cost personnel, let alone with the appropriate icons. In fact, testing proved that they were better not playing this with two Bajorans in play because your opponent would almost certainly make out better on the deal. Design was put in a bit of a panic, but realized that this would be a good card for the older Bajoran/Federation deck.

I hope you've had fun reading the stories behind some of the cards. Far Beyond the Stars released yesterday and is legal next Friday, June 1. Enjoy.

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