|
|
|
TwT Card Review #30 - Classic Communicator
by Sergei Rachmaninoff No, I'm not dead, nor have I abandoned this series. :-) Fall quarter's over, so I can get back to writing these... that is, until winter quarter begins January 2. Sorry for the long break -- the last review was in early October, and now Christmas is near. And of course, as fate would have it, I was just finishing up this review when my computer crashed, and I hadn't saved yet. (Where's George Primmin when you need him?) So, this is the second time I'm writing about the: Classic Communicator (#11, C)
[Steve saves the file] Although equipment cards as a whole are more simplistic than other card types, the Classic Communicator is an exception to this rule. It definitely offers more strategy than the typical tricorder/PADD/disruptor cards do. This equipment can be found in nearly every Original Series-heavy deck. Because there are fewer [OS] personnel available, the ability to share a skill can be quite useful when encountering dilemmas like Odo's "Cousin," Horta, or Frame of Mind, even though you're still stopped by a wall the first time you encounter it. And it's very cheap as well: it plays for free at K-7, and very rarely is it a useless card. But don't sacrifice your personnel selection, justifying it with the Communicator. It's important not to rely on it. After all, it's not as good as a personnel in most cases: personnel have not just a skill, but also attributes, staffing, a classification, and usually multiple skills. There are exceptions to this rule, of course (for example, you can't change personnel skills as easily) ... but it's a good rule of thumb that if you have a choice between playing a personnel and the Communicator, it's best to play the personnel, all other things being equal. [Steve saves the file again] And it can have other uses besides just sharing skills. For example, it will buffer your personnel from a Common Thief and can be used for a Cargo Run, just like any other equipment card. It has a few offensive uses as well. Use the non-aligned Odo (who can download the Communicator) to share a SECURITY if planning on using Captured. Share a Geology when solving Geological Survey for some bonus points. Perhaps most prominently, a number of players have used this card to build It's Only a Game-proof Cochrane Memorial decks. Use the Classic Communicator to let all your [OS] humans share ENGINEER from Mr. Scott or Lt. Sisko, and you can probe freely. How to get Scotty or Sisko? You can either use a small draw deck and Masaka, Tent for them (this is not too advisable, since Q's Tent is a bad probe), or download them with an Equipment probe... such as the Communicator itself, or perhaps another ENGINEER-granting Equipment. And if worse came to worst, you could always use the Klingon Korax with the Organian Peace Treaty, but he's not a good probe. Oh, and it's fun watching an opponent burn a Q the Referee on an IOAG that's not going to hurt you any. :-) [Another save] The final verdict: Another very useful card in an Original Series deck. It plays for free, and it almost never hurts (if nothing else, it's a distractor for Disruptor Overload or Common Thief). I wouldn't put it in the Tent -- most decks shouldn't rely on it that much -- unless you're planning a specific strategy around it and you need it fast. In a OS VCM deck, I'd just stock multiple copies of it (and the other ENGINEER equipment) instead. In a Cochrane deck, probing for Equipment is the best possible outcome in any situation. And even if your Memorial is shut down somehow (assimilation, unable to remove opposition) you can put the extra Communicators to good use when mission-solving. Next: Classic Medical Tricorder And now on to the equally overdue State of the Metagame report... Steve "Sergei Rachmaninoff" Boyles [A final save] 
Comments? Post on the New WNOHGB BBS! |
