Caretaker Streets Today

by Ross Fertel, Staff Writer

15th October 2021

One of the most prolific writers of Star Trek tie in novels is Keith R.A. DeCandio. Two of his first novels was a duology of which the Voyager portion was about Tuvok infiltrating the Maquis. Later, as part of the Distant Shores anthology celebrating Voyager, he contributed a story about the crews' friends and families back home in the Alpha Quadrant. He finally wrote a Voyager story taking place in the Delta Quadrant with The Mirror Scaled Serpent in the Mirror Universe Obsidian Alliances duology. Of course, only the first chapter took place in that quadrant. DeCandio became known as the guy who wrote Voyager stories that did not take place in the Delta Quadrant.

Similarly, while the Delta Quadrant gets a lot of love in Caretaker, there is also a lot of stuff in the set for other affiliations and factions.

Plans within Plans is a bit pricy but if you play things right you can force your opponent to make the choice you want. Suspicion will not be too troublesome against a deck with a lot of skill overlap but it is cheap enough so that you can set it up to pay off.

While there is a Ferengi affiliated card in the set, Baharat's Space Station, Negotiate for Supplies is tailored to that affiliation. They might also benefit from Ocampa System, Salvage Debris though that would require some help with astrometrics but it is certainly something worthy of their interest. While you are expected to use Plasma Storm Depths, Search for Missing Vessel in your Delta Quadrant deck, it has a lot of skill overlap for your Alpha Quadrant bound Federation decks.

We have the latest in a series of Seskas and Drawback personnel with Seska Complicated Loyalties. You'll need to minimize the risk of your opponent getting benefit until it is too late. Henry Starling, CEO of Chronowerx all but has the Cardassian affiliation icon and will reap dividends several of their decks. The Klingon affiliated cards may seem overpriced at first glance but the fact that two thirds of them are not Klingon by Species is important to consider and can even help you in the right circumstances, either those you create or brought on by your opponent.

The Federation personnel do not disappoint. Dr. Lewis Zimmeman, Diagnostic Program Alpha One One offers two skills at a double level natively along with some solid cunning while the E.M.H. Mark II, Newborn But Filled with Courage is a little more varied with the skills offered. Tessa Omund, Temporal Conspirator will most likely not get a discount in a straight TNG deck but her skills will make up for it.

Dukat, Pah Wraith Puppet has been the Non-Aligned king of removing cards from the discard pile and while Q'Ret, Adoptive Father will not dethrone him, there is a case to be made for not only getting a good personnel out of their discard pile for free but also being able to make use of that complimentary personnel, especially considering the proclivity of personnel that are discarded for their effect, such as Mardel Overseeer.

The set also boasts a good number of cards for the Capturing lover in us all. The Killing Game is a dilemma requiring a bit of setup, but it has a lot to offer. Nyrian Translocation requires a bit more to get working, and your deck must already be dedicated to the concept given the cost. Taleen, Sanctimonious Turnkey will help get back the desperately needed resources. If you pay anything for the cost, you are paying too much. Even if you do nothing with the skills or attributes, you can get good draws out of the deal.

Caretaker is tournament legal today and ready for immediate download. This set would not have been possible without the efforts of Rules, Creative, Proofreading, Art and the Programming Teams.

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