Waaaay back in 2010, in a time that feels like lifetimes ago, we had an idea. Decipher had occasionally introduced white-border preview cards into packs. These cards promoted upcoming expansions and were pretty difficult to get. Could we do something similar? After consulting with our Art Team, we figured out that we could make white-border images. Our promo assembly teams figured out how to put them together. So we made some white border promos of our own! We started with a Worf from Nemesis, then made preview cards for 5 other personnel between 2010 and 2018. You can check them all out on our Virtual Promo card list, up at the very top.
But, in 2019, we messed up. We'd been slowly trickling out white-border cards, and the Organized Play team wanted to make it so that people could use them. After all, why give out cards nobody can use? So they changed the Organized Play Guide (OPG) to make it so that white border promos were legal to stock in decks and play during tournaments. Well, the mistake wasn't theirs, but ours in the Department of First Edition. We decided to mix things up and make some dilemmas as white border previews, starting with 98 P Persistent Individuality in 2019. The mistake was that we (1E) didn't tell them (OP) about this, so suddenly we had a pretty good dilemma out in the wild that was legal, but really hard to get. Oops.
We still wanted to let people play with their white border personnel, but it wasn't fair to have a dilemma out in the wild that only a handful of people could use. We could have - and probably should have - made the card printable right then so everyone could use it. But, instead we took the unusual step of banning the card in the Official Tournament Format (OTF). That way, the OPG could still allow white border cards to be played, but we could remove the unbalanced one from the pool. Our intention was to release it as soon as we found a good home for it, but we never did find a spot for it in any of our expansions. And meanwhile, this pretty good anti-Borg dilemma sat on a shelf while the decks were pretty darn powerful.
Well, we recently decided to stop letting the perfect place for this card be the enemy of progress. In order to get it out and into the world, we decided to just release it as a new card. As of today, Persistent Individuality is a black border card (319 VP) and it'll be legal to use as of Monday, May 1st. Note: Normally, it would be legal one week later, next Friday, but as Monday is our Regular Game Changes Update and we'll need to drop this card from the OTF Ban List, we're shortening that up a bit. You can download and print Persistent Individuality effective immediately and start including it in your decks as of Monday.
Oh, and one more thing. We've always been a little cagey about these white border preview cards - probably because Decipher was. Often we haven't shown them off until well after the expansion they were previewing came out. Well, that policy ends today. We've got 2 new white border promos that have been circulating at least a little while, and today you get to see them too. Have a look at the lovely ladies previewing upcoming Delta Quadrant and Crime-themed expansions:
Derran Tal is a CIVILIAN with ENGINEER-skills that makes herself and Harry Kim better if they're together. She's also a dissident and romantic partner to Mr. Kim. Dala, on the other hand, is a master criminal who impersonates Kathryn Janeway. She's even got the Federation infiltration icon to match. And remember: if you get one, either out of a tournament kit, through a raffle, or via some other means, you can use it. And since they are , they fit in a lot of decks!
That's all for today. We'll be back Monday with our regularly scheduled game changes update. In the mean time, have a great weekend. And just remember: sometimes, persistence pays off!
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