10 Most Awesome-Looking First Edition Cards of 2014

by Johnny Holeva, Art Director

30th December 2014

’Tis the season for Top Ten Lists! The rules of this list are simple: The First Edition (1E) card must be from 2014 and the card must look awesome.

#10
Dukat
Personnel - Tournament Promo - Series G
Extreme close-up Dukat! An evil smirk and a twinkle in his right eye. That’s Dukat.

#9
U.S.S. Enterprise-E
Ship - 20th Anniversary Collection
Working on this shot, I could hear the hardline 1E purists (who I usually agree with!) screaming for me to erase the Phoenix. “1E ship cards should only have the named ship in the shot!” I was *this* close to deleting the Phoenix. But the card just looked cooler with the Phoenix included. Cool > 1E hardliners, this time.

#8
Break Prisoner
Mission - The Maquis
Boy, this mission image made folks grumble! And I understand why many people were frustrated: the image doesn’t look like other Badlands regions, nor does it look like the other persona of this planet. But this is in fact the image of the Class-M planetoid from the episode. And I’ve got to think the standard Badlands Plasma Storms build-up and then die down. This is the planetoid with calm Badlands “sky” around it. Makes sense to me!

#7
For the Cause
Objective - The Maquis
I love this shot of the Maquis settlement, with the setting sun glaring off the mountain. Gorgeous composition by the Star Trek special effects artists.

#6
Stolen Defiant
Ship - The Maquis
Moody Defiant. Love this shot from “Defiant”. Unlike any other 1E version of the ship.

#5
Commodore Decker
Personnel - 20th Anniversary Collection
Man, you’ve got to love the heavy-handed commitment the TOS production team had on “The Doomsday Machine.” The lighting on Decker is outrageous throughout much of the episode. SO many great shots.

#4
Quark
Personnel - The Maquis
This image comes from the terrific scene when Quark and Sakonna are discussing their business deal. Just Quark being Quark, rubbing his own lobes. Classic.

#3
Worf
Personnel - 20th Anniversary Collection
Rise Worf, rise. Love this moment at the end of “The Way of the Warrior.” A turning point in the DS9 franchise. Stoic. Simple. Iconic.

#2
They Call Themselves the Maquis
Incident - The Maquis
The Maquis logo is a bit of a Rabbit Hole. The more you research it, the more questions you’ll have. I still don’t really know if this is a 100% Decipher creation. The only thing I know for sure: I didn’t have a high res image of the shape/design. So I had to create the logo from scratch, using tiny 1E and 2E versions for reference. I’m proud of the result.

#1
Contain Boarding Parties
Incident - Warp Pack: Emissary
Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE the Warp Pack concept? No? I do. I love it so much I wish EVERY expansion had a supplemental Warp Pack that arrived a few months after the expansion was released. Six to nine cards that put a bow on the expansion; help the set designers accomplish what they set out to do. I feel that the Emissary Warp Pack did just that. DS9 became stable and playable. So, I had to include a card from the set I love so much, and this shot is a gem. Pure DS9 action. I like to think the phaser is hitting the 1E Player who would board DS9 first turn and hijack the station (and the game). DS9 players: You only have yourself to blame if you don’t stock this awesome looking card!

There you have it. The 10 Most Awesome-Looking First Edition cards of 2014. Agree? Disagree? Convince me that I missed a more awesome-looking 1E card and I’ll be impressed. Thanks for reading!

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