Keras (#96, R)
Romulan Personnel
Expert strategist.  Followed orders despite misgivings about provoking another war with the Federation.  In a different reality, he could have called Kirk friend.
OFFICER
Icons: Command, Alternate Universe, Trouble with Tribbles, Original Series
- Leadership x2  - Astrophysics   - Geology       - Honor
[SD] Engage Cloak [SD] Auto-Destruct Sequence
INTEGRITY 8             CUNNING 9               STRENGTH 8

Four skills, two special downloads, high attributes across the board, a matching commander... this guy's already got a lot going for him.  However, are those skills and downloads -- two of the most important things to consider on this guy -- worthwhile, or are they just a lot of nothing? (B'Etor is a good example of the latter: five skills, but only a few that are valuable, so she isn't used much.)

First, he's got double Leadership.  Two isn't much better than one, but it doesn't hurt, either.  Leadership is common among all affiliations and non-aligned, and unfortunately his is unlucky enough to be vulnerable to Fightin' Words, which cost me a game last tournament when I realized all but one of my Romulan/Dominion personnel lost their Leadership to that nasty Q-card.  Complementing this is high INTEGRITY, making it conceivable that Romulans might be able to pass a Q dilemma without using a Q2 or  lots of personnel.  The STRENGTH 8 is a little high, but common enough that this guy might make it through a Chula: the Chandra unscathed (also helping against Chula: the Chandra-Friendly Fire).  The double Leadership is also useful for a number of missions, but this isn't really a big concern for the Romulans.

The Astrophysics is, on the other hand, quite useful.  It's needed for a variety of space missions, and also assists with the occasional Stellar Flare, etc.  A note here: his Astrophysics complements his science officer's (The Centurion's) Stellar Cartography well.  The two actually work together quite well both in space and on planets, as we'll see next.  Astrophysics and Stellar Cartography are the base for the high-point Romulan space missions, which many a Romulan player still uses -- 40+ point missions with virtually the same requirements are nothing to laugh at.  Combine these two with Dr. Telek R'Mor and the mission specialists Tomek and Tarus, and you've got a fairly easy two-mission win, plus triple redundancy on the Astro and Stellar Cartography, not to mention highly useful classifications (the 3 SCIENCE for Scientific Method, in particular).  You've also got the three Honor for Khitomer Research, if you really want to surprise your opponent. ;-)

The Geology is a planet-based skill, meaning this guy has both a planet skill and a space skill.  I cited this ambiguous orientation as a drawback in my review of The Centurion, but with the ease of downloading The Big Picture and all the point-deprivation arriving in Tribbles, you'll need to be able to complete as many of your missions as you can, and want to be competent at both planet and space missions.  Again, this Geo complements The Centurion's Exobiology, leaving you only one Exobiology short of passing Odo's "Cousin," one of the major planet walls.  The two actually work really well together (sort of a Kirk/Spock duo for the Romulans), together lending you important skills regardless of the mission.

Lastly, he's got Honor, which barely is worth mentioning.  Romulans have virtually no use for Honor, and this skill might actually be more of a drawback.  Something is *not* always better than nothing, as this guy is costlier if assimilated by Borg (either as a counterpart or with Add Distinctiveness), hit by a Mandarin Bailiff, makes it more difficult to use Reflection Therapy or pass Worshiper, etc.  Of course, none of these are big enough to make him a bad card, it's just that the Honor contributes less than the risks it entails.

OK, so he's got two good skills, one so-so, and one bad.  That really isn't too bad, especially as there's still his classification, downloads, and matching-commander status to look at.  His classification -- OFFICER -- is one of the five most useful ones, and he's again a big help at space missions with Maglock, on planets with Crisis or Punishment Box, and with Hazardous Duty at both.  He also makes it easier to enable Senior Staff Meeting, especially with the download that his ship has.  We've yet to see all of the Romulans in Tribbles, but if there's any more [OS] ones with ENGINEER, MEDICAL, or SECURITY, it's even easier to use SSM because his ship can download an extra classification if you need it.

Now, his downloads.  Engage Cloak is a biggie.  That's a very powerful card IMHO, perhaps one of the best for avoiding attack decks.  Cloak (or phase) a ship, stick it on Engage Cloak, and accumulate RANGE until you're ready to go.  Your opponent will have no idea where your ship is going.  If playing an armada, he'll have to spread his fleet out -- hopefully giving you the time to do a mission, or at least prevent him from scoring a direct hit on your ship.  Against an Invasive Beam-In or Assimilate Counterpart deck, it's even better.  Against IBI, they have no way to know where you'll be headed, so they can't follow your ship around and wait for you to de-cloak as they could normally.  With Assimilate Counterpart, it's very unlikely they'll have enough cubes out to cover the whole spaceline (at least three are needed, maybe even four if the missions have high span).  They'll have to use Scouts or Spheres, which are vulnerable to attack once you de-cloak and move.

His Auto-Destruct Sequence download... well, that one's not so good.  It's another way to defend against Invasive Beam-In or Borg Assimilate Counterpart, but that's about it.  With Captain's Log, you won't catch a whole fleet of opposing ships with SHIELDS<8, but if you really need to finish off a ship in one shot, you could special-download the Auto-Destruct, then attack to damage it and reduce its SHIELDS, then damaging it again at the end of the turn.  Of course, a Distortion of Space/Time Continuum is much more versatile, but then again, it can't be downloaded.  Still, I'd rather go with a DS/TC, because it's so much more useful.

Finally, he's the matching commander of the Gal Gath'thong (which, much to my chagrin, did not have a Neutral Zone-related special ability).  An [AU] ship that can download another [OS] Romulan.  You can essentially STP-drop six personnel on this ship free of It's Only a Game.  Drop it with four personnel, Ready Room Door Keras, then use the ship to download another [OS] Romulan.  I've talked a lot about STP-drop in these reviews, and it's looking to be very powerful come Tribbles release due to all the [OS] personnel.  Five free cards anywhere in play with virtually nothing to stop it is *extremely* powerful.  In a recent tournament, my opponent and I were playing very similar decks, but his included STP-drop.  He ended up winning by one turn, and the STP-drop was what gave him the necessary speed.  Even if not doing this, you can still report the ship, RRD him and download The Centurion, providing very excellent support to any Romulan deck: for one card play, get OFFICER, SCIENCE, Astro, Stellar Cartography, Exo, Geo, double Leadership, lots of attributes, and a few extra skills and downloads to boot.  Along with Defend Homeworld, AMS, ASP, dual HQs, etc., it's possible for the Romulans to get off to a very fast start.

The final verdict: A good card for space decks with planet backup.  Along with The Centurion (the two just go together so well) he's got the two most important (and rarest) skills for Romulan space decks, and if you need to solve planets, you don't have to go out of your way to find the skills for Odo's "Cousin."  They're right there on personnel that are just as good in space.  He's also a good speed card if included along with his ship.  Is he going into my Romulan decks?  Space decks, for sure.  Planet-based decks... perhaps.  I might want to use Telek R'Mor in the Tent instead, as he provides both space skills on one card, and I'll have plenty of both Geology and Exobiology.

Next (in about two weeks): Defend Homeworld

Steve "Sergei Rachmaninoff" Boyles