Well here it is 1:20 AM Mountain Daylight Time and I am finally getting around to writing this article.  Gee I don’t procrastinate do I? Nah never. Anyway, another busy CCG-less month for me, but that is about to change!  I am moving on May 25th!  Yea!!  Closer to tourneys, I will be. I am counting down the days.  And since my birthday is on the 17th I am counting it as a present to myself. ?

 Now on to the topic of the month, ST:TCG.  Now I said a few things about this on the special discussion board but I am quite sure they have all been deleted by now so, I will delve into them here.

 Many people are making this into a bigger issue than it really is.  There is really only one question Decipher is asking, “Should we make a new game, continue with the old game, both, or neither.”  My answer is, after a great amount of thought, is that Decipher should do both.  I fully support a pro-new game decision from Decipher. I do this because all card games have time limits.  ST:CCG, as much as I love it, has been winding down now for a while.  Voyager was, to steal a phrase, “ST:CCG’s last, best hope for survival.”  This does not mean I wish Decipher to stop producing new cards for it.  That would be irresponsible of Decipher, both to the players and the collectors.  I know I have spent way to much money on this game, around 3 to 4 grand by my estimate, to see it die in front of my eyes just as I start to move out of the mediocrity that has plagued me for so long.  So, I have a proposal.  I want Decipher to makes both games.  With the TCG leading the way with 3 expansions a year spaced out at even 4-month intervals, one in February, one in June, and one in October.  I also want to see a new CCG product ever year.  Around either May or December.  The reasons for these 2 months are that they make great presents. ;)  This set should be an oversized set, with a more limited print run, more cards in a pack, and just a bit more expensive.  Maybe 20 cards a pack for a round 4.50 to 5.00 USD?  Yea, yea, yea, I know its shades of reflections, but this is with new cards, and would basically be for players playing already.

 Now I know some people are asking, “Why do we need a new game?  Why can’t we fix the old one?”  One word sums it up, Cheese.  It stinks.  It fills up the rulebook, glossary, FAQs, and Current Rulings.  It has made the game so complex that if you happen to get a new player into the game, he or she will never make it past the first tournament.  Let me tell you a little story.  I have been playing since white boarder premier came out, oh about 8 years ago, but I didn’t start in tournaments until the MM prerelease in 2000.  I then went to a few other tourneys, and then to the MM scenario tourney.  Now as some of you may remember I almost walked away from the game because of this tourney.  I wrote a long BBS post and I think I got the major really annoyed since I responded to almost every response, and within a matter of hours the post covered half a page.  Whoops.  Anyway, I went to the tourney with a deck I built that was well, believe it or not, mirror quadrant centered!  The first game I played was a two turn loss, against a Q-Bypass.  This did not make me happy. Then in the third game I played against someone with a PNZ deck. I just about lost my top.  Now if cheese can turn a player of many years off, just think what it could do to a rookie!  But cheese is also an accepted part of tournament play today, that’s why we have the ref cards.  Yet some people say that to save the game we must revamp the rules.  Okay guys, how? What cards are you going to make useless with these changes?  How many rules will you change?  By the time you are done with it, the game will no longer be the game I learned to love oh so many years ago.

 Other people say that Decipher is just greedy and wants to make money.  Well, to you I say, “DUH!”  Decipher is a company, have you ever seen a company that does not want to make money?? Neither have I.  It does not surprise me to hear that Decipher has not been making money off of Trek. It is just not as good a property as it was a few years ago.  Also, the complexity of the game has made it overwhelming to newcomers willing to try.

 So, yes, a new game is the way to go, it will keep Decipher afloat better financially, allow new players to come into the trek universe, and ensure that my cards I have now are not made totally useless, as I will now have people who at least can comprehend what a Star Trek card game is.  It is more then definitely time to, “..boldly go where no one has gone before!”

Nathaniel White
Nate@Churchofbrad.com

P.S. I mentioned in the last issue about player of the month, I only got one response, and I am hoping for a bit more, and the fact that I ran out of time and space with this issue too, so send those nominations in!

P.S.S. It is now 2:32 AM MDT And I am going to bed. ;)
Nate