Charon's Price

by Richard New, Design Manager

9th February 2022

"The Ferengi have taken control of main Engineering and decks twenty three through thirty seven."

-- Ro Laren, TNG"Rascals"

I'd like to think that Obol here has an active imagination. He played with the same action figures that Quark did as a kid, but he nobly based his life on his hero to the extent that he hears his lore as an unspoken monologue in his head.

Or maybe he got hit on the head really hard and actually thinks he is Marauder Mo.

Either way, he adds a great ability to the Ferengi. Don't believe me? You think that the ability smacks of Kol or Nava before him? I mean, it does, but do you know how hard it is to get a card from hand beneath Ferenginar? Seriously. The Ferengi are like Romulans are with the opponent's cards; once they're out of the deck, it's much harder to do something about them. Sure, Ferengi are great at downloading cards and placing them beneath Ferenginar, but you can't download from your hand. They're great at stockpiling from the top of the deck too. But how do you set that up from hand? Quantum Incursions isn't my first choice.The Great Material Continuum is expensive and the opponent could nix your plan or make you lose something valuable. Other options require you to wait for a little later in the game, so if you draw something you wanted to bank early, it's hard to make that work.

"Oh, my Marauder Mo action figures. I thought you'd thrown these out."

"All these years I've been keeping them in storage for you. I figured you'd want to take them back to Deep Space Nine with you."

"I sure do. Do you have any idea how much these are worth?"

"Not as much as if you'd kept them in the original packaging, which is what I told you at the time."

"Even then you were handing out sound financial advice. Thanks, Moogie."

-- Quark and Ishka, DS9"Ferengi Love Songs"

But now, here comes Obol to change all that. You draw a ship you want to sell with Omag to get your bonus points running early? Obol puts it back in its packaging. You draw an extra Jadzia Dax and would like to offer up one to Farek for his...studies? Obol's your guy. Wanna do a third thing so that this article can use the Rule of Three? Do it on your own. But Obol can help and the possibilities are endless.

And that's before we take into account what he can do when he's out. Unfortunately, his attributes aren't anything to write home about, but I often look to my support personnel to back up mission selection. He's good at cargo runs. He knows his comets. He can even help with the more aggressive tendencies of the Ferengi enhanced in Heroes and Demons.

Obol might only be the star of the show in his mind, but he might have just earned a place in my next Ferengi deck. Go Mo!

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