Shinzon: The Picard That Became a Reman

by Austin Chandler, Staff Writer

22nd October 2009

First Edition is now proud to be able to have for the Romulans:

1. Another Prateor
2. A Matching Commander to a powerful ship – the Scimitar - and
3. A Federation Infiltrator and a card that can count for Jean-Luc Picard without being Picard.

Shinzon provides a boost to an often overlooked affiliation in First Edition. Shinzon can infiltrate a Federation opponent and take advantage of several common Romulan strategies, not to mention when he works in tandem with his flagship, the Scimitar.

Let’s look at the card. As with the other XV cards it’s Fajo-esque, which is visually very nice to look at. There is a nemesis icon on the card and a way to work Picard into the pairing. Infiltrating the Federation is a fun idea, especially if you want to run a Theme Tournament with Romulans vs. the Federation.

The attributes are what you would expect for Shinzon. INTEGRITY is a 1, the CUNNING is a 7 (which is slightly higher than average given that he was a General during the Dominion War). STRENGTH is a 6, which is weaker than other Picards we know, but then Shinzon is currently suffering ‘clone sickness’.

The skills are a big help for Romulan Decks. VIP is standard since he is a Praetor. Leadership is always useful to have for dilemmas and to start a battle. Treachery x2 fits since he betrayed both the Romulans and the Federation Envoy. Diplomacy...well he is a Picard after all. The more interesting skill is his Engineer, because of all the kits out there that interact with it and the fact that Romulans could always use more useful Engineers for their decks. This also brings yet another matching commander Engineer to make Construct Starship even more useful.

Useful Card Combos Ideas:

• Construct Starship + Shinzon = Download the Scimitar
• Shinzon + Open Diplomatic Negotiations + Federation Ship that has in Lore Commanded by Picard (USS Enterprise, USS Stargazer) + Commandeer Starship = A Commandeered Starship that you can staff with a matching commander.

If Shinzon is Infiltrating the Federation...

• Shinzon + Issue Secret Orders = Force your Federation opponent to attempt the mission of your choice.
• Shinzon + Dial Martok for Murder = Shinzon might be a puny 6 STRENGTH, but this card boosts it to a STRENGTH of 10 and you can attack two personnel present with impunity.
• Shinzon + Inside Operation = With the Romulans having a lot of ships with large weapons and matching commanders, this could help tip the scales in your favor when engaging Federation ships or bases.
• Shinzon + Inside Operation + Outgunned = Lowering the shields is good. Capturing all on-board and bringing Shinzon home is even better.
• Shinzon + Inside Operation + Romulan Ambush = If you are willing to sacrifice Shinzon for the sake of grabbing a captive (to either torture, interrogate, or brainwash) then this is a Chess-like move for you to do.

Missions Shinzon can do by himself (skillwise)

• Covert Installation – Premiere
• Covert Rescue – Premiere
• Patrol Neutral Zone – First Contact
• Samaritan Snare – Q-Continuum

-djl-

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