A Page of Trois

by Ross Fertel, Chimed

2nd February 2024

As a card game group, the number nine holds a special reverence for us. It is the number of cards on a 'page' and there are display pages that are designed to hold that number of cards. Almost every set has a version of prior cards, usually a main opening credits regular. When we get nine versions of a personnel, ship, mission or equipment, we have a full page.

Imagine someone collecting each version as they come out. With the release of Showdown: Four Lights, we have a ninth version of Deanna Troi. Let's take a look at this first page of that personnel.

Our first Troi came in the very first set, Premiere, and right out of the box, she had a lot to bring to the table. Her two skills included the rare Empathy, something very version would obviously have by necessity. Premiere Troi has the skills to complete the mission First Contact all by herself. She also has Diplomacy; leading to the Diplomacy, Honor and Leadership combination that remains strong to this day. She would later become a Support Personnel in The Trouble with Tribbles by virtue of her having two regular skills and no special skills.

The next Troi would come in the next set, Alternate Universe, in the form of Major Rakal. One of the first dual affiliated personnel, her skills change based on the affiliation chosen. She would bring Empathy to the Romulans, opening them up for more missions, including New Contact. It is noteworthy that she was not initially a version of Troi; she was an entirely different personnel until Q-Continuum would introduce the persona concept, retroactively making Rakal Troi through one of the first uses of errata.

The landmark set First Contact would give us a version of the Next Generation second bridge crew, among them a third Troi. This new mains would take advantage of the still nascent evolution of the game giving them a special skill or download. Troi would have the Enterprise-E icon, allowing her to staff that ship. She would also have Navigation in her skill set and a special ability to unstop her away team once per game, something that could give you a victory if done at the right time. The biggest drawback is that none of this new bridge crew, save Worf, would have a command or staff icon.

It would be a while before we would get another Troi, after Deep Space Nine and The Original Series made their debuts. Following up on Enhanced First Contact, which would package new promo cards with sealed packs, Enhanced Premiere had a two-cards-in-one concept with the introduction of Combo Dilemmas, Mission II's and all the personnel were dual personnel versions comprised primarily of the bridge crew. Troi would join her mother, Lwaxana, adding the Ferengi affiliation icon to their Federation one. The Ferengi would very much welcome the Empathy to their ranks, but their combined three Empathy would make it easier to solve Investigate Sighting for the Federation, giving a lot to both affiliations.

The Borg was the second of two sets based around Voyager and it would focus on the Delta Quadrant, though there was some love for the rest of the universe. A Troi would appear, and her special skill would add the command icon to personnel with the Enterprise-E icon. This would broadcast all over the game, so she did not need them to be present. This would open up the bridge crew from the First Contact set making them more useful particularly if you also had Crew Reassignment since the icon was for special staffing and Troi would add the icon, not replace an existing one.

The final Troi Decipher would make would be in Holodeck Adventures. One of their final sets, it featured some favorite holodeck programs from the franchise and some fun new versions of personnel, Including Troi as Durango from A Fistful of Datas. She would boost the strength of her and Sherrif Worf if both were together. She would also have the Security skill, lending her to builds you would not expect her in.

Just as Troi would appear in the landmark physical game changing set First Contact, she would be featured in the landmark game changing virtual set, The Next Generation. One of the earlier First Edition sets from the Committee, a lot of the buzz was about the Next Generation icon, butthe bridge crw was on display, mainly from the first season, and Troi had a lot to offer. Her skills would grow to those you would expect to find on a main, and she could look at an opponent's hand by virtue of a download. She would have the Broken Link of also downloading Intuition which would allow you to draw a card if you knew what your opponent had in their hand, something the download could help with but not outright grant you unless your opponent had only one card type in their hand. The skills and downloads give this Troi some tempting options.

She would be featured with her husband as the Virtual Promo Mr. and Mrs. Troi. This card would have a lot of great skills and not one but two of the Enterprise-E icon. They would be a great draw engine with Holoprogram: Cafe des Artistes, but in a deck full of romantic partners, they can justifiably go out and solve missions with their strong set of skills. It can be argued the worst part of this card is the staffing icons, since you cannot have this card with the Troi who gives the Command Icon, but they have two of the icons which is all of that specific icon the Enterprise-E's require for staffing.

That brings us to the most recent set, Showdown: Four Lights. Based around the episode Chan of Command, most Federation cards in the set were better at missions with the Cardassian attemptability icon. Troi was no exception following her card from First Contact, but unstopping a ship not just an away team, something that could similarly give you the game if done at the right time. She is good both in and out of the preconstructed deck.

That takes us through the first nine Deanna Trois in First Edition. Each version of Troi would have Empathy as expected, but they offer so much more. Who knows the next main to get a full page of cards!

Let u=s know in the forum thread linked below who is your favorite of Troi thus far.

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