InQuest 20 - 57 - Game Breakers
Gaia's Vengeance. Mouth of Sauron. Betazoid Gift Box. You've heard your friends talk of these
cards in awe. You've seen a quick flash of one or two in tournament players' decks. You
may even have been toasted by one of them, left to wonder, "Where can I get a card like that?"
These cards are the game breakers, and just about every CCG has at least one. Game breakers
are cards that are much more powerful than the average card in the game. Some are effective
because they out-right break the fundamental rules of the game that keep it balanced; others are
great because they're simply better than other cards with equivalent costs.
While playing with game-breakers won't guarantee you a victory, it certainly won't hurt. Below
are the most potent cards in 10 of the most popular games. If you play any of these games and want
to win, go out and get as many copies of the card as the game's deck construction rules allow.
These are the cards that should go in every deck.
STAR TREK: THE CARD GAME
Edge of the Galaxy
Type: Wild
Icon: Humanity
Text: Play as a Challenge card. Choose one
Crew in Landing Party. Chosen Crew doubles all rat-
ings, but loses all Abilities and becomes a Challenge
with the Outwit Action. If Challenge is defeated,
then chosen Crew is Neutralized and loses no XC.
The meat of the interaction between
the players in Star Trek: The Card Game
comes during challenges. There are some
pretty nasty challenge cards that can screw
your opponent, but the more powerful ones
cost you experience counters and there's
no guarantee that they'll actually hurt your
opponent's crew members. Now, the Edge
of the Galaxy...
cards in awe. You've seen a quick flash of one or two in tournament players' decks. You
may even have been toasted by one of them, left to wonder, "Where can I get a card like that?"
These cards are the game breakers, and just about every CCG has at least one. Game breakers
are cards that are much more powerful than the average card in the game. Some are effective
because they out-right break the fundamental rules of the game that keep it balanced; others are
great because they're simply better than other cards with equivalent costs.
While playing with game-breakers won't guarantee you a victory, it certainly won't hurt. Below
are the most potent cards in 10 of the most popular games. If you play any of these games and want
to win, go out and get as many copies of the card as the game's deck construction rules allow.
These are the cards that should go in every deck.
STAR TREK: THE CARD GAME
Edge of the Galaxy
Type: Wild
Icon: Humanity
Text: Play as a Challenge card. Choose one
Crew in Landing Party. Chosen Crew doubles all rat-
ings, but loses all Abilities and becomes a Challenge
with the Outwit Action. If Challenge is defeated,
then chosen Crew is Neutralized and loses no XC.
The meat of the interaction between
the players in Star Trek: The Card Game
comes during challenges. There are some
pretty nasty challenge cards that can screw
your opponent, but the more powerful ones
cost you experience counters and there's
no guarantee that they'll actually hurt your
opponent's crew members. Now, the Edge
of the Galaxy...
First of all, it's a wild, so it doesn't cost
anything to use and you can play it just
about whenever you want. Second, it auto-
matically removes a member of your oppo-
nent's landing party. Third, it creates an
incredibly nasty challenge that can thrash
your opponent's entire landing party. Even
better, the card has absolutely no draw-
backs and it's cheaper to use and more
powerful than any challenge card in the
game.
During the playtesting stage, this card
flip-flopped between being too powerful
and too weak. This is what they came up
with as balanced?
MIDDLE-EARTH: THE WIZARDS
Mouth of Sauron
Type: Hazard Creature or Short-event
Text: Unique. 3 marshalling points.
13/8. 1 strike. Playable as creature keyed to
dark-domain or dark-hold. If played as a short-
event, bring any hazard card from your discard
pile back into your hand.
anything to use and you can play it just
about whenever you want. Second, it auto-
matically removes a member of your oppo-
nent's landing party. Third, it creates an
incredibly nasty challenge that can thrash
your opponent's entire landing party. Even
better, the card has absolutely no draw-
backs and it's cheaper to use and more
powerful than any challenge card in the
game.
During the playtesting stage, this card
flip-flopped between being too powerful
and too weak. This is what they came up
with as balanced?
MIDDLE-EARTH: THE WIZARDS
Mouth of Sauron
Type: Hazard Creature or Short-event
Text: Unique. 3 marshalling points.
13/8. 1 strike. Playable as creature keyed to
dark-domain or dark-hold. If played as a short-
event, bring any hazard card from your discard
pile back into your hand.
Forget about the fact that the Mouth is
a creature. The only time we attacked with
it, our opponent grabbed three marshalling
points. What makes the Mouth awesome is
its ability to retrieve any hazard from your
discard pile. Once you've got enough cards
in your discard pile, you can change your
hazard strategy on the fly.
Did your opponent suddenly decide
to trek through dragon country? Grab
Smaug out of your discard pile and toast
his poor characters. Need to keep your
opponent's companies at bay? Get that
Snowstorm back and play it again. And
of course, let's not forget the ever-abu-
sive Mouth of Sauron/Uvatha the Horse-
man/The Nazgul Are Abroad combo.
With a big enough hazard limit, you can
grab a hazard from your discard pile
every turn!
The diversity of the Mouth makes it an
absolute must for any Middle-earth deck.
