Siskoid's Rolodex #118 ... Siskoid ... [3/14/99 08:33]

[Siskoid's Rolodex offers spot reviews of all the cards judging them by their less tangible qualities, searching for the elusive perfect card: their picture/graphics, lore, Trek sense and stockability. Each on 5 points (so on a total of 20). Mondays, I do Premiere. Tuesdays, AU. Wednesdays, Q-Continuum. Thursdays, First Contact. Fridays, DS9. And Saturdays, Premium cards. Sundays, I back-end the Premiere set from the Zs. It's so darn big, I do it twice! (At this rate, I should be done sometime in the next 4 years.) Comments always welcome.]

#118-Varon-T Disruptor, Artifact
"Only five of these pistols were made before being banned by the Federation. These vicious weapons disrupt the body from the inside out, causing a slow and painful death."
-Use as Equipment card. Doubles all of your personnel's STRENGTH where present.(Not cumulative.)

PICTURE: The purple velvet background really sets it apart from other prop shots, clearly saying: "This is an artifact. This is special". I'm almost inclined to overlook how ugly the actual piece of machinery is. Almost: a 3.1.

LORE: Pretty much covers it. It even mentions the rarity issue, and we hardly ever see that on the cards. The Future Enterprise doesn't say "ultra-rare ship" for example. ;-) It's actually only a bit better than average at 3.1.

TREK SENSE: Well of course it has to be used as Equipment, it's a hand weapon. The effect though, isn't in line with that of other hand weapons. Here's why: hand weapons generally confer bonuses to the entire Away Team or crew. So in effect, we're dealing with more than one Romulan Disruptor (even though the card is singular), really, it's a bucketload of Disruptors, one for each party member. The Varon-T though is supposed to be mega-rare, so only one could be found and used at any given spot. It would have been more proper to double the STRENGTH of only one personnel present. Of course, that would have made a lousy card, but we're not debating usefulness quite yet. And should the Federation really have the right to use it? Note that I have no problem with the STRENGTH x2 effect itself. If the Varon-T only has a kill setting, you can bet it's not going to waste its time stunning or wounding personnel. It goes for the throat (or in this case, the atomic matrix). A 2.6.

SEEDABILITY: This happened in a game I was involved with. A Romulan player with two regular Disruptors, a War Room and a Varon-T jacked up his personnel's STRENGTH to dizzying heights. The Sisters of Duras were particularly strong! There's just no way to lose a fight when your guys all have on the upward of 25 STRENGTH! So for all you battle-hungry players out there, this artifact is for you. It's a hand weapon, so it can be used to solve some missions and dilemmas too. And is just one more dealer of death the Borg will have to adapt to. Limited, but oh so nice. A 4.

TOTAL: 12.8 (64%) Not a bad artifact, though its design is pretty simple.

COMPARISON CHART

Adapt: Negate Obstruction - 18.4 (92%)
[...]
Amanda Rogers - 13 (65%)
Aid Fugitives - 12.9 (64.5%)
Amarie - 12.9 (64.5%)
Amaros - 12.9 (64.5%)
Compromised Mission - 12.9 (64.5%)
Varon-T Disruptor - 12.8 (64%)
Albert Einstein - 12.7 (63.5%)
Anti-Matter Pod - 12.7 (63.5%)
Archer - 12.7 (63.5%)
Antique Machine Gun - 12.6 (63%)
Alien Groupie - 12.5 (62.5%)
Assimilate This! - 12.5 (62.5%)
Vekma - 12.5 (62.5%)
[...]
Zibalian Transport - 7.1 (35.5%)

Siskoid (one of only 4 in existence)