And with today's review, we're one-third of the way through the Trouble with Tribbles set.  At this pace, it will take two more years to get through it all, but with any luck it will go faster. :-)

Make It So (Rare [TT], #26)
Icons: Trouble with Tribbles
Seeds or plays on table.  Once each turn, if your staffed ship has its matching commander aboard, you may "unstop" it (once per game per Ship card title) OR download Ready Room Door (to download a Captain's Order) OR if that ship is in battle (even during opponent's turn), download a Tactic card (once per game per Tactic card title).  Discard incident after use, unless that matching commander has [EE] icon.

This is a truly awesome card, and any battle player knows its power well. It has other uses besides battle, but it features most prominently in battle decks -- each of its three uses is well suited to an aggressive attack strategy.  I'll first discuss its use in such decks, and how every option on the card supports that strategy; then, I'll discuss its use in other decks.

In a battle deck, the ability to "unstop" a ship is great.  It's not uncommon at all to have a ship/matching commander pair in a ship battle deck.  With Defend Homeworld and Assign Support Personnel, it's very easy to get, especially with Romulans who can Spacedoor a D'deridex and use ASP to get Tomalak.  In any case, this first use essentially means that you only have to hit a ship to destroy it -- after you hit it once, "unstop" your ship and attack again.  The big advantage is that you usually only need one beefed-up ship to score a hit.  Captain's Log and a Tactic on a decent-sized ship will almost always be enough, and since you only need to contribute one ship to the effort, you can move around much more easily with Wormholes. With a large fleet, you need many more Wormholes to get around; also, in general you need to devote less crew to staffing one ship than to a fleet. As a result, you can do other things with your personnel -- like solve missions -- while you've got one marauding ship to take care of your opponent.

Again, this works really well with a Romulan strategy.  Spacedoor for a D'deridex, ASP for Tomalak, DH for Cretak, and you're all set (using one of mission specialists to complete staffing).  Get a Captain's Log on the table (Make It So is also useful here, more on that later) and use a Battle Bridge, and you've got about 17 ATTACK by the first turn, which is enough to hit almost anything.  When your opponent gets "stopped" (it pays to use a lot of dilemmas with weird conditions and Mission Debriefing when playing this type of deck), Wormhole in and blast the ship away, using Make It So if you need a second attack.

Note that Make It So does not restore your ship's RANGE (a la Distortion of Space/Time Continuum), but merely "unstops" it and any crew aboard, so you can't use it to help catch up to an opponent by getting extra RANGE.

Its second function makes it easy to get ship-boosting Captain's Orders out, usually Captain's Log, although Defiant Dedication Plaque, Divert Power, and Tactical Console are options.  You can either protect the Event with the Ready Room Door, or you can replace it on your deck, so you can use it next turn to either get another Captain's Order out, or download a matching commander for another ship -- Make It So only limits Ready Room Door to Captain's Orders when it's first downloaded.  After that first use, you are free to use Ready Room Door for any of its other functions.  You can also get Mission Debriefing out to ensure an opponent will be "stopped" after a mission attempt, giving you a window for attacking.

Lastly, you can download a particular Tactic.  This is perfect for future ships that want to use Maximum Firepower.  I'm sure we all know about the infamous four-card battle bridge: two Maximum Firepowers and two "Crimson Forcefields" (or two Borg Cutting Beams if used by a Borg deck).  There's an 87% chance of drawing a Maximum Firepower, which will let you flip three damage markers totaling 100% HULL damage onto the target.  Is a 5/6 chance not good enough for you?  Make It So will let you get it in a pinch.

You can also download a Quantum Torpedo for its great ATTACK bonus without having to worry about a 15% HULL Tactic being flipped as a damage marker if you only stock one in your Battle Bridge and use Make It So to download it (once per game, of course.)  Or, if you're feeling Breen, you can get the Energy-Dampening Weapon.  In any case, you can stock more specialized Tactics and ensure using them without having to clog up your Battle Bridge with multiple copies.

Now, Make It So isn't limited to use in battle decks.  In fact, it can often be one of the best weapons *against* one.  If you're "stopped" by Mission Debriefing or a dilemma, there's no easier way to get "unstopped" without worrying about a counter.  The same ship-enhancing Captain's Orders used to strengthen attacking ships can also be used to strengthen defending ships trying to avoid being damaged.  And, you can download more defensive Tactics like Evasive Maneuvers, or if you're feeling particularly flashy, Chain Reaction Pulsar with a Ricochet seeded.  Picard Maneuver is another option, since you've got a matching commander aboard your ship anyway.  If you seem hopelessly outgunned and your ship would take heavy damage (or be destroyed) regardless of the DEFENSE value of a Tactic you choose, you can take your 50-50 and download Picard Maneuver.

You can use it in more specialized contexts, like using it to "unstop" a ship after it travels through a Wormhole (Bajoran or Barzan), or after Kes sends it for a ride with The Gift.  A number of Dominion decks have used this, because a big weakness in Dominion Alpha Quadrant strategies is keeping your opponent from blowing you up when you're "stopped" after traveling through the Wormhole.  It's more flexible than Wormhole Navigation Schematic, and can't be as countered as easily as Distortion.

A commonly-used strategy is to use Make It So to download Ready Room Door to download Senior Staff Meeting to speed up mission-solving.  Of course, Feedback Surge from The Borg will limit this in a few weeks.  Make use of it while you still can!

Or, you can use it to download Crew Reassignment if you're playing a cross-quadrant deck.  Crew Reassignment works great in an Enterprise-E-themed deck, which will also work well with Make It So since [EE] Picard will keep Make It So from discarding after using it.  He can also download it, saving you a seed slot.  Of course, you do need to get both First Contact Picard and the Enterprise-E out first, which isn't so easy since neither is downloadable with seeded cards.  Tenting for the Enterprise and Ready Room Door for Picard seems the most reliable option.  For added fun, FC Picard also commands the Stargazer, so you can use the "unstopping" ability twice, once on each ship he commands.

Regent Worf also downloads it, but KCA is probably one of the weakest "affiliations" currently.  You can move through the Bajoran Wormhole without worry of being "stopped," though, should you choose to use Make It So here.

The final verdict: A very powerful and flexible card.  It's primarily used for offensive battle decks, but it can be equally good for battle defense (this is one of the subtler battle bullets in Tribbles).  It's found a home in a number of more specialized decks as well.  All in all, it's a great card.  Each of its uses has a variety of functions, and we get yet another incentive to match up ships with their commanders, which improves the game's storyline qualities without hurting gameplay.  Make It So finds its way into nearly all of my battle decks, and a good portion of my more traditional decks as well.

Next in line, a [Ref] card: Panel Overload

Steve "Sergei Rachmaninoff" Boyles