Mot's Useless Card Review #93: Phoenix

For over a year, the Phoenix was far from binder fodder. But neither was it really appreciated for any strategic value. It was very rarely in anyone's actual deck, but rather waited in a nearby box to be brought in from outside the game when someone played the Montana Missile Complex. Recently the well-known strategy of sending people involuntarily to that time location took a huge hit with the release of Operate Wormhole Relays in The Dominion.

Of course, Montana can still see deck time now that timeline disruption has become a viable strategy for the Borg affiliation. With Population 9 Billion - All Borg creating huge incentive to go back in time, and with the two critical cards (Stop First Contact and the Missile Complex) each downloadable by the other, you may still find need to pull in a Phoenix from outside the game.

Still, this is no more a strategy for the Phoenix than the Wormhole Field Trip deck... both use the card only because they are required to. Hardly respect for Earth's first faster-than-light ship. Enter the game text few players were actually using. It may land and take off once per game, and is worth 10 points while in orbit. Players have been known to go to great lengths killing off Kova Tholls or Devidian Dooring Samuel Clemens to collect similar bonuses; just how hard is it to collect this one?

Not all that hard, it turns out. Like any other AU ship, it can be reported normally to one of your facilities (if you have the means to report AU cards). Zefram Cochrane is needed to fill the staffing requirements so you can undock it and put it in orbit, but fortunately he is listed as the ship's matching commander. That puts you one Ready Room Door and two staff-icon assistants away from an easy 10 points. But it can be easier still.

Enter Headquarters. Unlike most outposts and stations, which are in space, Headquarters allow reporting to a planet-based facility. When you report the Phoenix to one, it enters play already in orbit! No crew, no nothing, it just shows up floating above the Headquarters. And since it is Non-Aligned, any Alpha Quadrant affiliation...