Planned for a release date of February 25th, the new set Necessary Evil is only 40 days away but there is still not that much information about it. The reason for that might be the cards' approvals that take some time, but Decipher did show some early cards. So lets have a look at the new cards as an example for new mechanics we'll get in Necessary Evil.

Currently there are four card images available, they are Data - Loyal Brother, Tim Watters - Valiant Captain, William T. Riker - Exchange Officer and Odo - Impartial Investigator.

As the new Data, Loyal Brother was the first card from the upcoming Necessary Evil set, we really didn't know what to expect that time. But nevertheless we may assume what use Data, Loyal Brother has when he is available for our decks... First of all there is the remarkable difference between costs of 5 for Data - Aspirer and 1 for the Loyal Brother, which means the new one doesn't need Common Ground to enter play cheaply (well, as he is non-aligned he can't use it anyway). To balance these costs and the multi-usability for any affiliation except Borg he may only be used in his first round without any additional costs. Should you need Data a second time or at any other round later in the game you have to discard an event from hand - otherwise bad old Data is stopped for the remainder of your turn. This means you could put Data in your deck to only play him when you really need some guy of cunning 9 or strength 10, but as more used events is a goal of the game-designers you could include them (the events). We don't know what will come in NE but even at the moment there are some events you could include as well as using them to unstop the Loyal Brother. Think of Crowd Control, Pickpocket or other unique events.

At the moment most efficient way to use the new Data is putting Athos IV - Maquis Base in your deck to download For The Cause, thus replacing any card with an event to unstop your Data in the following turn! As you see, the Data - Loyal Brother offers great possibilities, but let's go to the minor differences, to his alter ego Data - Aspirer. Both have most of their skills the same, but while the Federation Data has Exobiology and Officer the Non-Aligned one can use Biology and Treachery. Their attributes differ in integrity (6/3) and cunning (10/9) which is easily explainable as Loyal Brother suppresses some of his abilities. Especially Treachery and the huge strength of 10 make the new Data an excellent addition to any Maquis deck, while Romulans, Thiefs or Cardassians would also appreciate being friends of him. The odd cunning helps with Chula: Echoes, and with his the low integrity Data may be discarded to overcome the nasty Drumhead - simply play a new unstopped one next round! So we have a Data for everyone (except poor Borg Queen) now and may use him to improve a lot of current decks as well as the whole bunch that will hopefully come with Necessary Evil...

Tim Watters - Valiant Captain on the other hand is a completely new type of personnel as he doesn't have any skills available unless he is facing a dilemma. For a cost of 1 he helps overcoming everything that needs Diplomacy, Leadership, Officer or Physics and additionally is a commander for the U.S.S. Valiant that was announced to be released in NE. His attributes of 5-5-6 are increased by +1 for any dilemma, but that doesn't really help those dilemmas picking on any Leadership personnel, as Trabe Grenade does. The keyword Cadet, found on the premiere Nog as well, will add some new thematic dynamics to the game - we have to wait for more information for the the moment, but his compatibility with Earth allows inclusion in both TNG and typical 2-Headquarters DS9/Earth decks. As we might see more useful 1 cost personnel of his kind, Crow Control may be a valid option for future decks - simply put Data - Loyal Brother in to use it any way. :-)

As for the Federation, we also had a first glimpse at the new Klingon cards where William T. Riker made his appearance as the Exchange Officer. His ability to get any skill from a present Klingon during a mission attempt by discarding a card strongly supports The Promise that are currently one of the best "cheater"-strategies available. As he may get as many skills as you have cards in your hand (similar to multiple Physics on an interlink Borg drone) he may also serve as a resource for the mission requirements, because he keeps all learned skills till end of the mission attempt. You have a lack of Security for Brute Force? Simply discard 2 cards at the first dilemma and hope Riker will pass all dilemmas to make him the hero of the day! On the other hand Klingons will become a target for Racial Tensions again as Riker fits too well in solving concepts to not include him there. His attributes of 6-6-6 are not that high, but especially the cunning might help in some situations where the brain has to be used rather than fists. Anthropology is a good skill for Klingons but also makes History Repeats Itself more useful against Klingons, while Leadership, Navigation and Officer are classical ones found on many personnel. Nevertheless Officer help to run bloody attacks with Born For Conquest or We Will Not Surrender, and allows to download these events using Coordinated Attack.

A not totally new but now advanced concept is introduced with Odo - Impartial Investigator. He is one of many cards that allow special effects by losing points you have to earn first. In the case of Odo, he lets you lose 5 points to capture a non-Honor personnel at a non-headquarters mission. First of all, you do have to solve a mission or capture an opponent's personnel to score points via Labor Camp. But the moment you have your Labor Camp on duty your Investigator may place an opponent's personnel in the brig once every round (he is stopped after capturing) and still earning additional 5 points per turn! So reduce your opponent's crew with Arrest Order, Odo and Taken Prisoner on a planet or a ship (go there with Dimensional Shifting - once you're there keep on capturing!) or support them with Standard Cardassian Procedure - even with your own personnel aboard that opponent's ship. :-) As for normal skills Odo brings Anthroplogy, Exobiology, Honor, Law and Security along, and Law especially may help overcoming those nasty dilemmas such as Drumhead or Flim-Flam Artist. Attributes of 6 for integrity and cunning are high enough to support your Cardies, while strength of 8 is an excellent addition to typical Cardassian missions as Kressari Rendevouz or Search for Survivors.

Fazit: With those four personnel alone we got some strange new concepts of interaction between effect-cards and personnel as well as personnel and points - lets hope Decipher has the approvals for showing more cards soon so we have more of these fantastic new game elements to go where no deck has gone before!

Jaglom Shrek, STCCG-Turnier.de

// Editor's note, the new Crosis foil card can be viewed at Decipher's site as of today!