Flashback: Tapestry

by Ross Fertel, Second Edition Brand Manager

8th September 2017

The Spotlight series looks at specific factions one at a time outside the clutter of other cards. But we can't forget that all cards some in sets, giving us a chance to look back at them and see what they provided some time ago. Think of it as a miniseries of sorts, but we'll take the time to look back at the spotlight from a different point of view. We'll start with a favorite boutique set.

Anniversaries; who doesn't love them? The Next Generation celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary by bringing back Spock while Voyager celebrated the thirtieth anniversary by bringing back Sulu and Kang and Deep Space Nine went all Forest Gump. But for the silver anniversary of the second live action series, The Continuing Committee broke out Tapestry: The Next Generation 25th Anniversary Collection.

One of the most interesting things about this set, aside from the obvious mandate of having all images and stories sourced from The Next Generation, was a design decision to have mains in the set. By this point, they had been making the game almost as long as Decipher, and while some cards had a plethora of mains, others had not yet broken that barrier. Counting O'Brien, almost half the set is mains, several of them making their virtual debut. Chief among them are Beverly Crusher, herself breaking the rule of corresponding commanders and helping lead the charge with non-unique personnel. Data would not new but would help out Android decks and the aforementioned O'Brien foreshadowed the high span cards that would come later. Almost no one expected Tasha Yar who both is boosted by equipment and practically comes with one.

Another highlight for the set was Toral, Arrogant Child. For years, the Committee had been seeding Klingon Treachery as a viable strategy for the virtual world, alongside the Delta Quadrant Klingons. With the addition of Duras's son, that suddenly became a two-horse race. Plyers had gotten used to teams in sets as a theme, but this showed that a long game was just as reasonable and began to be expected. Other Klingon treachery love has come about since, but this was the card that was the tipping point.

Looking at individual cards, Ardent Predator and Shared Hallucinations are clear winners here. Not only have they become clear favorites in dilemma piles, Ardent Predator was a prime candidate to become a Dilemma Cousin a few sets later.

You always get something good on your anniversary. This proved no exception with a great group of cards that enhanced the game while coming from a rare top-down design theme.

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