"The Prime Directive doesn't apply. These people are not indigenous to this planet. They were never meant to be immortal. We're simply restoring them to their natural evolution."
"Who the hell are we to determine the next course of evolution for these people?"
-- Matthew Dougherty and Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: Insurrection
The Continuing Committee and the Department of Second Edition are proud to introduce to our community the next 2E expansion, Heroes and Demons. You'll see this fifty-four (54) card virtual expansion unveiled slowly over the next two week before its release on Friday, May 7, 2021 with articles and decks on which to begin basing your new strategies. We'll go in depth into specific cards here, but don't forget to check out our social media channels for additional spoilers.
Meet the Team
But before we get to those, dozens of your fellow community members deserve appreciation for their work in making sure this expansion comes to you at the high quality we've come to expect. Dozens of testers, rules consultants, story volunteers, art creatives, and proofreaders have made suggestions that have molded the original ideas into what they are today, all of which is indispensable to providing depth and definition to the game. As a representative of the Design Team, I can't thank those people enough. Always and forever.
At this point, I'd like to introduce the members of the design team for Heroes and Demons:
Michael Shea [The Prefect], Lead Designer
Designer Profile: Michael Shea
Michael has become one of the more experienced designers in the 2E stable in this, his ninth project in development and the third for which he's been the lead. Michael actually pulled double duty on this set, acting also as Art Manager. When you see some of the images chosen for this set, make sure to let Michael and his Art Team hear your appreciation.
Nathan Miracle [GooeyChewie], Designer
Designer Profile: Nathan Miracle
Just edging out Michael on total expansions, this is Nathan's tenth contribution and the third in his Interaction cycle. I've always enjoyed working with Nathan, finding his approach to finding solutions and analyzing game mechanics extremely effective.
Lucas Thompson [edgeofhearing], Designer
Designer Profile: Lucas Thompson
And finally, our star-studded team is rounded out by another designer who has ran up a total of nine projects. Lucas further put quite a bit of effort into testing, with a focus on his demo and beginner decks, which will be expanded with this release. Lucas's ability to sift through data often comes in handy and as a result of his evaluation of tournament season decks, his knowledge of the meta is unparalleled.
The Focus of Heroes and Demons
Like its predecessors, All Our Yesterdays and Apocalypse Rising, this set focuses on certain properties of Star Trek, specifically The Next Generation and its movies. Specifically, more than half of the story selections come from Star Trek: Insurrection (the rest come from a smattering of TNG sources throughout the series, so plenty of love gets spread around), focused on the conflict between the principled advocates of Picard's crew and the selfish machinations of the Son'a. The cover sheet of Shore Leave asked if you would be tempted by the promise of immortality or fight for the principles of justice. Today we choose justice!
...but we can circle back to the immortality in a later article.
Unlike most introductory articles, I'm not going to give you a taste of everything this expansion has to offer. For one, there's just so many things that get a little support. But that'll also allow later articles to go into more detail about those new cards. Instead, we'll focus on the heroes of Federation side.
A Moral Choice
"Re-routing the transporter grid to avoid detection was wise, sir. However, the transporter is rarely used after 0200 hours."
"Taking the Captain's Yacht out for a spin?"
-- Data and Deanna Troi, Star Trek: Insurrection
The Enterprise crew gets a new ship option in the Cousteau, Picard's captain's yacht. (Aside: Did you know that the Enterpirse-D also included a captain's yacht? Located in the center of the underside of the saucer section, this ship was never mention in dialogue or seen operated, despite being suggested for use in multiple episodes and detailed in the Technical Manual.) The Costeau can play to the same mission as the U.S.S. Enterprise-E, as long as it's in the Briar Patch region, as if undocking. While that currently only includes one option (and it is a very good option for a deck based around this set), several more are on the way. Of course, once the ship appears, you have the option of downloading a Dissident personnel. Go ahead and grab Stefan DeSeve, Disillusioned Expatriate if you want. I'm personally going for one of the new versions of the TNG crew, all Dissidents.
Deanna Troi, Principled Heart, for instance, can expose an opponent's hand. In true Federation fashion, she does this for both players, but her owner can be a little more selective with her ability by beaming her up and down. The TNG Dissidents, like several Dissident groups before them, have a theme that is resonant with Deanna: an interest in protecting Honor personnel. And while several options are already available, this expansion also (re-)introduces a few Ba'ku to stay within the story.
The Ba'ku in Heroes and Demons all have some defining text: "This personnel may (and must) play to Ba'ku Planet. At the start of your turn, if this personnel is not on Ba'ku Planet, remove her/him from the game." (Aside: The language might seem a little odd, but the designers wanted there to be no ambiguity on how these cards work. Simply saying they play on Ba'ku Planet could open to the door to the interpretation that they could also be played on a headquarters mission that allowed it. While saying simply that they "must" play there didn't actually give them permission, thus the necessity for both "may" and "must.") Anij, Guiding Light further allows for a nice card draw engine. A certain number of personnel present with her early game could provide for quite the card advantage as you could focus counters simply on plays and then refill your hand with her ability. Of course, her restriction forces her to remain a target for an opponent's interaction strategy, should they care to partake. Hopefully, the TNG Dissidents have an option to combat those strategies...
A Blood Fued
"Moving them is one thing. Killing them all..."
"No one hated them more than you, Gal'na. We've come a long way together. This is the moment we've planned for so many years."
-- Gallatin and Ru'afo, Star Trek: Insurrection
The Son'a also have a plan for the Ba'ku. And while I'll let a future article spell it out, I'll just mention that while the Federation has their version of Ba'ku Planet, so do the Son'a with Ba'ku Planet, Collect Metaphasic Particles. It seems they've given up on trying to relocate the Ba'ku and are going full Emperor Palpatine ("Wipe them out. All of them."), getting rewards for the blood they spill. So, while the Ba'ku, like Anij, are useful to the TNG Dissidents, they're also in play for the Son'a. But you'll have to wait for an appropriate article or make assumptions based on information gleaned from spoilers, which is part of the fun of the release process.
I hope you'll enjoy the next two weeks of spoilers and articles. In the mean time, follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more spoilers ahead of the expansion's release, as well as getting them on this website over the next two weeks. And don't forget to visit the Gameplay (2E) forum where the design team will be answering questions as you have them. All of this will be building up to the official release of Heroes and Demons on Friday, May 7th, 2021. We hope you're as excited to see these cards and we are to show them to you. And I'll see you across the table.
...
Speaking of, other things I see:
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