(7) • Chakotay, First OfficerFederation Personnel of Human species. "You're right, Captain. I do consider these my people because nobody else on this ship will look out for them like I will." Characteristics: affiliation, download, download - personnel, Voyager related, discard a card from hand, personnel who has a cost of 3 or more, personnel who has a cost of 4 or more, personnel who has a cost of 5 or more, Chakotay, Human species. Card logging info: Logged by openCards team at Jan 1st, 2008. | |
This Card-Review article was written by openCards user Graves and was published first on "Decipher's Website (decipher.com)" at Apr 2nd, 2007.
If you have to complete four missions, it is essential that you have speedy access to personnel and ships. When released, the Voyager sub-affiliation was already good at that, and now they are even better.
Chakotay, First Officer is an intriguing card. A 7-cost personnel with only three skills and 6-6-6 attributes is nothing to brag about, so you would expect a very good ability. Well, not only does he have a good ability, it is so well balanced that "b"-word doesn't even come to mind. (For those who don't know what I'm talking about, I'll give you a hint; it rhymes with another word that Chakotay has no intention of being: token.)
When you play this version of Chakotay, you may discard two cards from hand to download two Treachery personnel and place each where he or she could be played. Spending seven counters this way and discarding two cards to get three cards out is a good deal, but not something that you will use lightly. Also keep in mind that you cannot use Chuckles' ability in combination with the last sentence of U.S.S. Voyager, Home Away From Home's text because Chakotay is not played on that occasion. Of course, if you have no need for the download of the two extra personnel, placing seven counters for free could be considered a considerable bonus.
At this moment, Chakotay, First Officer has the choice to download two out of five qualifying personnel, from which Marquay is the only one who is non-unique. Seska, Cardassian Agent is the least-likely target, due to her low cost and her game text – which could hinder this version of Chakotay as well as other Leadership and/or Officer personnel. The other three are B'Elanna Torres, Straightforward Engineer, Kenneth Dalby, Insubordinate Crewman, and Joe Carey, Next in Line.
So, how do you play four turns' worth of counters with only three cards? It requires the perfect set-up and a lot of luck, but it's possible. If your opening hand contains U.S.S. Voyager, Home Away From Home, Chakotay, First Officer, Kathryn Janeway, Forceful Captain, and Tuvok, Chief of Security, then lightning speed is what you'll get. You'd start your first turn by discarding a card from hand to download Finding Our Way and playing it for one cost. Next, you'd play U.S.S. Voyager, Home Away From Home for six counters and use its game text to bring Kathryn Janeway, Forceful Captain and Tuvok, Chief of Security into play. Your second turn, you'd use your seven counters to play Chakotay, First Officer. Then you'd discard the two remaining cards in your hand two download B'Elanna Torres, Straightforward Engineer and Kenneth Dalby, Insubordinate Crewman and place them aboard Voyager. The result? In just two turns, and by playing only three cards, you've brought cards into play having a printed cost total of 27 counters, just one counter short of four turns' worth. If you happen to substitute The Doctor, Emergency Medical Hologram for Janeway in this scenario, you'd get the full 28 counters, but then you must face the fact that you won't be able to attempt and possibly complete Caretaker's Array on your second turn. Of course, the choice is yours.