U.S.S. Defiant: The True Story Of The Preview Card Within The Deep Space Expansion

Tearing open the wrapper of their just-purchased Star Trek Customizable Card Game Deep Space Nine expansion pack, some very fortunate players and collectors have, or will encounter a U.S.S. Defiant card. Is it real? Absolutely. Is it tournament playable? Definitely. So, what's the story behind it?

Though delivered via a Deep Space Nine expansion pack, it is not counted as one of the expansion's 276 cards (the Deep Space 9/Terok Nor flip card counts only as one), the U.S.S. Defiant is not actually part of the Deep Space Nine expansion. Rather, it is a white border unlimited preview card of a ship that will appear in the next full Star Trek CCG expansion, The Dominion (Fall 1998).

The card is "twice-as-rare" as each of the rares in the expansion. It will eventually be revealed on the Web site, as will all of the cards of Deep Space Nine expansion, in the normal fashion.

The Defiant was one, but just one, of the many aspects of this set that were discussed in the special Deep Space Nine Q & A Session, Thursday, July 23. The complete transcript of that event is available here on the Web site. However, for your convenience, here are some questions from the Star Trek CCG community, and answers from Marcus "The Emissary" Certa (with the assistance of our Game Designers), that are just about The Defiant.

from: anonymous
Q: Why did you decide to include the Defiant as a card within the set, and why make it WB promotional, rather than simply a surprise within the set with the DS9 icon.
A: The USS Defiant is not a part of this set. When the decision was made that the Defiant would be in the Dominion expansion, we realized that players and collectors wanted to see the Defiant. So with that, we wanted to give you a preview of what was in store.

from: Lee Jamilkowski - Bethesda, Maryland
Q: Does the Defiant come in only expansion packs, or can it be found in starter boxes also?
A: The USS Defiant will only be found in expansion packs.

from: Thomas Scott - Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England
Q: Both Worf and Sisko are matching commanders, right? So can the Defiant benefit from both of them, or just one?
A: It only benefits from one at a time.

from: Jarrod Meyer - Maple Grove, Minnesota
Q: So just how rare is the Defiant?
A: The white border USS Defiant does not have a specific rarity. The card is a preview card as designated by the special icon as seen on the Away Team cards and sealed deck premium cards. It should randomly appear roughly one half as often as any other rare card.

Q: What are the future plans for the Defiant card?
A: It will be a black border rare card within the Dominion expansion. It will have the same rarity as all other rare cards in the Dominion set.

from: Fed Prez Thomas
Q: Why didn't anyone get the Defiant at the pre-release? or did they?
A: We actually created special boxes that were free of the Defiant cards so that we could maintain our surprise for you.

from: Matt Farney
Q: Was that U. S. S. Defiant printed with the rest of the OTSD icon cards? (Were all of the 20 insert cards in the OTSD, Traveller, Emissary, and Defiant cards printed at the same time? Or is the icon being reused?)
A: That icon is now being used to represent premium and preview cards that are not included within a regular set.

from: Blair Franklin
Q: Will there be a difference in versions of the Defiant from this one to the limited edition black border Defiant that will appear iThe Dominion?
A: We have no plans to change it, though it will probably have the Dominion icon.

from: Nog, Son of Rom
Q: is the total amount of cards you can get in the set now 278?
A: There are 276 cards in DS9, counting Deep Space 9 / Terok Nor as one card. The Defiant is not part of the DS9 expansion, and is not considered a 277th card.

By: Rich Loftus
Web Writer(richl@decipher.com)
date: 24 July 1998