An Old Friend

by Michael Shea, Chief Ambassador

24th May 2018

“Odo, I used to think all your problems stemmed from the fact that you were a changeling, isolated from your own kind, forced to live among strangers who didn't understand you. You couldn't eat, you couldn't drink, you couldn't sleep, you couldn't make love. Was it any wonder you had such a bad disposition? But you're not a changeling anymore. You're one of us. Life is yours for the taking. All you have to do is reach out and grab it. But do you? No. Because solid or changeling, you're still a miserable, self-hating misanthrope.” – Quark, The Ascent

Everyone’s favorite misanthrope finally makes an appearance in Far Beyond the Stars. I give you, Odo, Vigilant Staffer. This version of Odo was a real treat to design, and one of the cards in the set that changed the least from pitch to production. When Nathan and I settled on our design goals for the set, we were both pretty sure we wanted an Odo. But, we also didn’t want to recycle something that had already been done before. Thankfully, we came up with the idea to round out the Staffer team from one of the fans’ favorite Deep Space Nine episodes, Season 5’s Trials and Tribble-ations. We hope you’ll be pleased.

“Another glorious chapter of Klingon history. Tell me, do they still sing songs of the great tribble hunt?” – Odo, Trials and Tribble-ations.

This Odo’s text is simple. Like the rest of the Staffers, he may play aboard your ship. When your personnel present is about to be killed by a dilemma, he can be returned to his owner’s hand to prevent that. He’s right at home in a TOS/DS9 Staffer deck, but he could also be used for skill prevention in a Bajoran Resistance deck. He also sports two rare skills, Acquisition and Law, which should come in handy against skill piles or Maquis lock-out decks.

“Physiologically, you're completely human.” – Dr. Julian Bashir, Broken Link

Perhaps the most fun we had designing this Odo was that we got to make him a species other than Changeling. During the initial pitch, I remembered him as being identified as a solid, so we assigned him the species of Solid, thinking we’d just added a new species to the Trek universe. You can imagine our disappointment when we consulted the script for Broken Link only to realize he was just another Human. But, being faithful to Trek is something that matters a great deal to both Nathan and I, so Human this Odo became.

The deck attached to this article utilizes today’s spoiled card in a thematic way, plus adds yesterday’s Arne Darvin, Hero of the Empire to get the maximum effect out of the dilemma pile. Tragic Turn is added to the pile for a bit of a surprise, and because an Infestation pile with Mranga IV can afford the expense.

Enjoy, and stay tuned for more from Far Beyond the Stars!

Discuss this article in this thread.

Tournament Record:

• Constructed - Regional (2018-06-30): 2nd place

This deck is currently eligible for the following family or families of achievements:

• Double Down
• How About a New Mission, Admiral? I

Decklist

Hide Deck Stats

Dilemma Deck Total Dilemmas 30 Space 3 (10%) Cost 0 3 Planet 3 (10%) Cost 0 3 Dual 24 (80%) Cost 0 3 Cost 2 15 Cost 3 6 Total Dilemma Deck cost 48

Draw Deck Total Draw Deck 50 Equipment 4 (8%) Cost 1 2 Cost 2 2 Event 4 (8%) Cost 0 1 Cost 2 1 Cost 4 2 Personnel 36 (72%) Cost 1 1 Cost 2 24 Cost 3 7 Cost 4 2 Cost 5 2 Ship 6 (12%) Cost 3 6 Total Draw Deck cost 122

Skills Count Skill # Missions # Personnel 1x 2x 3x Total Acquisition 0 2 2 Anthropology 3 9 1 10 Archaeology 0 9 9 Astrometrics 0 4 4 Biology 1 6 1 7 Diplomacy 0 6 6 Engineer 0 6 3 9 Exobiology 1 7 7 Geology 1 6 6 Honor 1 7 3 10 Intelligence 0 3 3 Law 0 3 3 Leadership 1 11 11 Medical 1 6 1 7 Navigation 0 3 3 Officer 0 10 10 Physics 0 9 9 Programming 1 5 1 6 Science 0 5 1 6 Security 1 7 5 12 Telepathy 0 0 Transporters 0 4 2 6 Treachery 1 5 5 Icons Count Icon # Personnel % Personnel Staffing Icons Command Star 19 52.78 % Staff Star 15 41.67 % Faction Icons Deep Space Nine 6 16.67 % Original Series 27 75.00 % Temporal Icons Alternate Universe 3 8.33 % Past 27 75.00 % Keyword Count Keyword # Cards Admiral 2 Assassin 3 Commander: U.S.S. Constellation 1 Commander: U.S.S. Enterprise 3 Commander: U.S.S. Exeter 1 Consume: 2 3 Decay: 5 1 Genetically Enhanced 1 Hand Weapon 2 Host 1 Infiltrator 3 Region: Qo'noS System 1 Region: Sector 001 1