Today's card: the spider with funky lighting:

Palukoo (#8, U)
Planet Dilemma
Icons: Trouble with Tribbles, Countdown: 2 Large spider-like creature inhabiting the Bajoran moons.  One- time food source for Resistance fighters.  Caused Dax concern, since Trill/symbiont biochemistry cannot tolerate insect bites.
Unless Resistance OR ANIMAL present, "bites" a non-android (random selection).  If Trill with symbiont, dies now (discard dilemma); otherwise, disabled until countdown expires.

This dilemma definitely has the most stringent conditions to date.  I have never seen an ANIMAL present during a mission attempt (Spot is usually Devidian Door-ed to the opponent's ship where she can cause greater problems), and Resistance is commonly available to only one affiliation (well, that's not quite true, but I'll talk about that later.)  Having tough conditions is always a good start for a dilemma.  We'll see if it has a tough effect to match.

So what happens when somebody gets bitten by the furry spider?  In most cases, they'll be out of commission for two turns, although the "trill with symbiont" isn't as uncommon as it used to be.  Daxes are available for three affiliations, plus Symbiont Diagnosis players are stocking the support personnel Kareel Odan.  Obviously you can't plan on this dilemma removing one (although you can improve its chances by seeding Lack of Preparation + Palukoo if your opponent is stocking Symbiont Diagnosis), but you can usually rely on it taking somebody out of the picture for two turns.  How is that for an effect?

It's only decent.  It's not a wall, as it's placed on the personnel it afflicts.  If you're not playing Bajoran or using Reflection Therapy (or one of its kin), the odds of you getting through this unscathed are quite low. Dominion fans also have good chances with the often-used Kira Founder meeting the Resistance requirement, but other than that you're usually out of luck.  However, even if somebody is afflicted, all that happens is that one personnel is temporarily removed.

So, the natural question is, why not use an Armus (Skin of Evil, that is), which doesn't have *any* conditions to speak of, thus ensuring a kill?  Or what about the more versatile (read: planet/space and less random) killer Yuta?  Or Frame of Mind, which essentially renders a personnel useless?  Or even (don't laugh) DNA Metamorphosis, which is almost guaranteed to take a personnel out permanently, and is planet/space to boot?  Or the potent Q-type Android?

The answer is that each of these dilemmas has its drawbacks to it.  We'll see how Palukoo ranks among these.  Armus, while appearing quite strong at first (the planet-only aspect isn't really a drawback as Palukoo has the same restriction) has the drawback that the Away Team isn't "stopped."  And that's one of the stronger things about Palukoo: it's like an Arms Deal that's a virtually guaranteed stopper against most affiliations that also temporarily removes personnel and doesn't score points if it's overcome. Combo-ing Edo Probe with Palukoo has been done with pretty good success, although this doesn't prevent redshirting through it.  It's usually good for a 5-point hit if it's preceded by a Q-Flash with Pla-Net in it.  But back to Armus.  Also, the personnel dies, and is not merely disabled (as is usually the case with Palukoo), and thus can be saved by Genetronic Replicator (although those aren't seen much with Panel Overload around) or even Extraordinary Methods (Really!  It's won me games...)  Of course, its advantage is that, aside from a death-preventing card, there is *no* way around it.  Somebody dies.  Period.  And it's immediate, too.

What about Yuta?  I can tell you one thing: with the advent of Q-Continuum, she supplanted Armus in every single one of my decks.  If you're an attentive player, it essentially becomes a focused planet/space Armus. There's a couple good ways to keep track of Yuta numbers.  One is to remember what you're trying to get rid of with Yutas (depending on what else you seeded at the mission), and whenever your opponent reports a personnel that you want to get rid of, keep a mental note of the number.  Another way is to seed a dilemma to be encountered just before Yuta that lets you look through the opponent's crew/AT.  And for this, there's nothing better than a Q-type Android.  Remove one personnel of your choice, and then get one random selection from a group of 3-4.  Not bad at all.  And Yuta's drawbacks?  Like Armus, it doesn't "stop" the encountering crew/AT, and it can be prevented by anti-death cards.  However, it does require greater attention to the game (and does run the risk of being nullified by Marouk, sometimes seen in Going To The Top decks), but in the hands of a good player it's light-years above Armus.

Frame of Mind?  On the surface, it appears to erase one of the drawbacks of the above two: there's no way to prevent the "death."  And it essentially leaves only a classification behind, as 3-3-3 attributes are downright sorry and you can choose skills that are of no value whatsoever (Barbering and a mismatched Espionage skill (e.g., FCA if the opponent's playing Feds, Tal Shiar if playing Ferengi, etc.) are the common skill replacements), plus you can always nab the target with Reflection Therapy.  However, the classification is often one of the most important parts of a personnel; and secondly, this dilemma can be cured.  It's tricky (3 Empathy), but by no means impossible.  Guinan, Madam Guinan, or Plexing can also take care of it.  And again, it doesn't stop the encountering crew/AT.  I'd rank it above Armus (mostly for the space/planet flexibility) but below Yuta (nowhere near as selective.)

Next is the oft-maligned DNA Metamorphosis.  Although it does have a cure (MEDICAL and I.P. Scanner), I wouldn't count on it being cured this way. Note that you can't cure it later: if you don't get the MEDICAL and I.P. Scanner there by the end of your next turn, you can just kiss the blue guy goodbye.  So, why don't people use it?  For one, the personnel is still usable for this turn and the next, and it doesn't "stop" the crew/AT.  In other words, it has no immediate filtering effect.  Usually you'll still have the personnel to the end of the mission attempt.  And it doesn't have the focus that Yuta has, either.  Yep, it goes on the bottom of the list.

Finally, the Trouble with Tribbles powerhouse, Q-type Android.  This dilemma, although it requires additional setup cards (Beware of Q or Q-Flash, and Q's Planet for maximum effectiveness), is extraordinarily powerful.  It strikes at either planet or space, is very difficult to nullify if you don't see it coming, can be set up to not even cost a full seed slot (i.e., in a Q-Flash), can't be prevented by Genetronic Replicator or Extraordinary Methods, and it has the potential to remove any personnel from the crew or Away Team, potentially permanently if your Q's Planet is protected by Fair Play.  Ouch!  The drawback?  First, if your opponent encounters this before the Q's Planet is out, its effect is minimal.  (This happened in a recent game against a player who planned on getting the Q's Planet from a Q-Flash.  I Revolving Door-ed the Flash, so all that his Beware of Q-seeded QTAs did was turn Suna into an android, and then back to human. :-)  And secondly, requiring a few extra support cards is a big drawback.  If you only use one seeded with Beware of Q, you're essentially using two dilemma slots for the one effect.  And it doesn't do any "stopping" either.  However, the ultimate flexibility of this card sends it right to the top of the killer list.

And where does Palukoo fit into all of this?  For one, it's planet-only, which is one strike against it.  And the personnel isn't permanently removed from play.  It will disable them temporarily, usually long enough to prevent them from being useful this mission attempt, but reactivated by the time of the next mission.  However, this is a "quasi-fate worse than death," because it can only be prevented by meeting the rather harsh conditions, although the effect isn't long-lasting.  The big thing about Palukoo, which all the above lack, is that it "stops" the entire crew or Away Team.  Where does it go in the list?  I'd put it above Frame of Mind and below Yuta.  Although it's only a temporary "kill," I wouldn't use this card to get rid of somebody.  No, use a Q-type Android or Yuta for that.  Instead, use it as a reliable "stopper" with the side effect of nailing somebody.

The final verdict: I don't really know if it's appropriate to rank it in a list of other killers, since I've concluded that it's more powerful as a stopper than a killer.  Note that the kill effect isn't too shabby, either; it's just not what the card is best used as.  I've thought about using this card in decks, and I wouldn't be surprised if it makes its way into a combo or two.  I'm just trying to think of something more creative (and reliable) than Edo Probe/Palukoo...

Next: Q Gets the Point

Steve "Sergei Rachmaninoff" Boyles