Sunday, June 16, 2013

Simple Repack Theatre, Vol. 9 - "Fractured Time" Star Trek Second Edition CCG's First (Worthwhile) Bundle!


The Good: Excellent new cards, Not too rare, yet still collectible, Boxes, Fun additions to game
The Bad: Getting harder to find, Collectors end up with duplicates from boxes.
The Basics: Fractured Time reintroduces some of the coolest and deadliest adversaries and concepts into the Star Trek Second Edition CCG, with only minimal recycling of older product!


It seems like when Decipher, Inc., makers of the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, rebooted the game with the Second Edition, they were generally smarter about it than they had been when they started their company with the trial and error that came with their First Edition and other CCGs. The marketing department, for example, clearly learned from the mistakes of the prior incarnations and figured out quite quickly how to repackage cards so as to get the greatest number of sales with minimal complaining from collectors. Thus, with their first Second Edition repackage product, "Fractured Time," Decipher's effort resembles "Second Anthology" (reviewed here!) more than "First Anthology" (reviewed here!). What did the First Edition learning curve teach them? Players and collectors who are being saddled with the leftover product want new, original cards, not preview cards that will eventually be released in a "proper" form.

As a result, "Fractured Time" remains one of the very successful, mildly hard-to-find products from the Second Edition: it gave fans forty new cards, making it palatable for collectors to take on the leftovers from the first three sets.

Basics/Set Composition

"Fractured Time" is a boxed Star Trek CCG product that is an exclusive set of 40 cards packaged in a collectible box with a few leftover goodies from Decipher. Each box contains the 40 card set plus a booster pack each of Premiere (reviewed here!), Energize (reviewed here!) and Call To Arms (reviewed here!). As well, each box has one of the starter decks from either Premiere or Call To Arms, which means that each "Fractured Time" box has a rulebook in it and is playable right out of the box!

The concept of "Fractured Time" is to introduce into the Second Edition game some of the most popular, reality-bending characters and situations from the Star Trek franchise. As a result, there are Cardassian Occupation-era characters, like Dukat, Prefect Of Bajor, and Mirror Universe characters, like Worf, Regent Of The Alliance, as well as simple one-shot alternate universe characters like Worf, First Officer, from "Parallels" (reviewed here!).

The forty card exclusive set is the reason to purchase this boxed set as it is the only unique aspect of the product. And what a set it is! All forty cards are premium rares and they tend to be powerful and intriguing cards that allow the player to take the game to a new level by adding some real twists and turns. The forty card set is comprised of: 3 Dilemma (cards that featured obstacles faced by the crews, like a Temporal Misalignment or the appearance of The Clown), 15 Event (cards that feature longer-standing changes to the game or situations, like the Cardassian Protectorate taking over a planet or the Borg Expanding The Collective), 2 Interrupt (cards that feature quick turns of events that allow players to retaliate during their turn, like suddenly Fitting In in another time period so your opponent cannot find your character!), 1 Mission (cards that form the "board" of the game), 16 Personnel (2 Bajoran, 2 Cardassian, 2 Dominion, 3 Federation, 2 Klingon, 4 Non-Aligned, and 1 Romulan card), and 3 Ship cards (1 Bajoran, 1 Borg, 1 Federation).

The collectible boxes this comes in are highly collectible as there are different colors and affiliation symbols on each one, making them quite desired by fans.

Playability

Because the rulebooks are included in this set, this is an easy enough place to learn to play the Star Trek Second Edition CCG. The new cards add a little intrigue but the cards tend to have text on them that tell players exactly what they do and how and make the game quite easy to learn and play with others.

Rule Changes

There are no rule changes in this expansion. All that changes with this expansion is the addition of the alternate universe colored icon on the cards. Cards that this icon become relevant for refer to the icon and make it quite easy to know when and how to play the alternate universe style cards. There is also a Decay function mentioned on some of the event cards, but the text of the cards explains that. Essentially, certain events stay in play for a certain number of hands before they are lost.

Highlights

The Fractured Time set is a set almost entirely of highlights! This is a set rich in character cards and the few ships are not to be trifled with. Fans and collectors and players all loved that this set included the first character card from Star Trek: Enterprise, Daniels! The Temporal Agent bears a lot in common with The Traveler, who also appears in this set. And while this set was sold on the fact that it has the first Second Edition incarnation of James T. Kirk, it is hard to argue he is more popular than the leather catsuit-clad Kira Nerys, The Intendant!

But probably the key card in this set is the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, Future Enterprise. Coveted almost as much as its first edition counterpart, this card represents the three-nacelled Enterprise-D as seen in "All Good Things..." It is a powerful ship and one that players who love to win love to use! Here is appears in the Second Edition, quite powerful and quite expensive to play. It's a constant favorite from this set.

Collectibility

Who doesn't love exclusive cards?! This set is a favorite because with forty powerful cards, it provides a lot and it almost makes up for getting twice as much recycled product in addition to the goodies. Collectors might object to the extra packs, but most tough-it-up and are happy for something to sell back to recoup some of the cost of the exclusives with! Players are always looking for cards and they tended to like this set because of the extra recycled product, as opposed to in spite of it.

The boxed sets originally retailed in the $40 - $50 range and they dropped in price for a while and now are on their way back up, especially as they become harder and harder to find. Now, the forty-card exclusive set tends to sell in the $40 range alone! It has been an investment set that seems to be going up in the market, making it a good collection in the long term.

Overview

Collectors of the card game, players and investors all make out well with this set. It was rare, but not impossible to find, so it never became cost-prohibitive for investors. It is fun for the players and allowed them to transfer some of their favorite First Edition plays into the Second Edition and collectors are likely to enjoy how easy it is to assemble the set.

It's hard to argue with all that!

This set was preceded by "Necessary Evil" (reviewed here!) and followed by "Reflections 2.0" (review pending).

This is a set I sell in my online store. Please check out my current inventory by clicking here!

This set culls images from:
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
and Star Trek: Enterprise

8/10

For other gaming card reviews, please check out my Gaming Card Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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