Presents...

Chapter 2: The Expansion

            In December of 1997, Decipher released The Fajo Collection, an 18 card set sold for roughly $100.  The set contained many unique card types and functions that could not be found anywhere else to date (and some never).  Examples include Qapla'! (a card made entirely in Klingon), cards with images overflowing to other cards, and bubble gum.  It introduced a new affiliation, The Borg, as well as new functions such as downloading and the Nemesis icon (which proved to be useless).  These things were just a small sample of the major overhaul the game was about to receive.

            "I heard about this new expansion coming out, that only had 18 cards, but they were all really powerful.  Well, I got it and they weren’t all that powerful, but one of the cards was a Federation ship, and I just had to have that." -Blake Snortland

            Blake was the only one of the group to acquire the Fajo Collection and that was with the use of three $10 off coupons found in The First Anthology.  No one else had such money to spend at the ages of 11 and 12, especially on a mere 18 card set, no matter how powerful the cards may have been.  The new functions of these cards were not yet understood universally, but later that month an expansion would be released that changed that and revolutionized the game forever.

            "I remember being really excited for First Contact to come out.  It was the first new expansion to be released while I was playing the game.  I remember there being this really big build up to it's release, at least for me.  The night it came out I rushed out and bought a couple packs (it was all I could afford).  I didn't get anything great, but it was cool just to see brand new cards and a new affiliation, The Borg." - Jason DeShaw

            In late December, the First Contact expansion was released and redefined Star Trek CCG.  Although two expansions were already released, Alternate Universe and Q-Continuum, they only added a few new changes to the game.  The First Contact expansion revolutionized the game greatly in four main ways.

            1. Downloading - Downloading allowed a player the ability to find cards within their deck and put them into play, thereby making decks faster and more streamlined.  For Magic: The Gathering players, think Demonic Tutor effect only for specific cards.  For instance, Geordi La Forge could download the card Ocular Implants.  At any point in the game he could use this ability to search the deck or any side decks (such as the Q's Tent) for this card and put it directly into play.  This is what let decks become more streamlined because it allowed players to leave cards that would often clutter their deck in side decks.  This wasn't as useful right away, but as soon as more downloads became available in new expansions, they became an integral part of the game.

            2. Personnel Battles - Pre-First Contact, personnel battles were relatively useless.  For the most part you could only take out one of your opponents personnel a turn.  With First Contact, stronger characters could now take out weaker ones with new one-on-one combat rules.  Each personnel was randomly matched up against an adversary and the stronger of them would defeat the weaker.  This made personnel battle an actual effective means of weakening an opponent.

            3. The Borg - The Borg was the first new affiliation added to the Star Trek CCG universe, and was also the most unique.  Even when the game ended years later, no affiliation came close to how The Borg were played.  The Borg didn't attempt missions like other affiliations, but assimilated missions with new Objective cards.  Also, they could assimilate opposing personnel and use them as their own.  The Borg were also unique in that they were also the first affiliation with the power to beam through opponents shields and couldn't do whatever they wanted.  Once again, you needed an Objective card to do any more then moving from location to location.  This may seem like a limitation, but due to sheer power in numbers and the biggest ships in game, nobody could stop The Borg once they got going.

            4. The 30/30 rule - Before First Contact, your deck had consist of 60 cards between your seed and draw deck, split how you chose.  You were always limited to 60 cards.  With the new 30/30 rule, deck types changed dramatically with seed decks being a maximum of 30 cards and a draw deck a minimum of 30 cards.  This meant that draw decks could be as large or as small as you wanted.  For The Borg, this rule was required to exist, but it also benefited every affiliation.  This enabled much more variety in deck types for all affiliations, making such decks as "attack decks" a realistic option.  The introduction of this rule was perhaps the most radical change that any game has ever witnessed.

            "I was excited about the new 30/30 rule, but I was very anxious about playing the Borg.  I was looking forward to playing what the show portrayed as the most dominant force in the universe.  However, the Borg were initially clumsy and slow as a whole.  They didn't start on a spaceline, and had to use 3 cards to get to one.  It wasn't until much later that their full force would be unleashed, but if you got lucky and got the right cards, well, think steam roller."  - Brady Lewis

            It's undeniable that First Contact was a defining moment in Star Trek CCG history and also for the three (and soon to be a fourth) kids of Fargo.  Soon after First Contact came another addition to the Fargonian's Star Trek CCG world, this time in the form of sanctioned tournaments.  After a few years of aging and the new rules creating a stronger foundation for the game, organized play became a reality.  Within months of First Contact's release, the first Star Trek CCG tournament was held in Fargo at the local comic book store of Paradox and eventually expanded to All-Star Sports Cards as well.

            The player base grew as well.  Established players in the region such as Matt, Georgia, Andy, and Kurt (the current tournament director) were joined by many of the kids' friends.  People like Cole, Ben, Tom, Mike, and eventually Jordan joined in on the Star Trek CCG action creating a player base seeing anywhere from 12 to as many as 16 people in a tournament.

            "I loved playing at All-Star, except for the fact that it was way down in Southish Fargo, and I had to get a ride there.  My parents didn't like that too much.  The only other memories that I have of that place was getting one of the Federation ships I was missing, the Yangtze Kiang.  Some guy had it, and all I had to do to get it was buy him a pack.  I didn't see what he got, I had my card." - Blake Snortland

            As the player base grew and the game got larger, more and more cards were added into the pool.  Deep Space Nine and the Original Series slowly but surely made their way into the game, and each player had their own niche in what they collected and played.  Blake took to collecting Federation ships, while Jason collected Federation people.  With Brady on Romulans and Cole with Klingons, the original three affiliations were covered.  Later, Jordan joined and focused his collection on newer affiliations such as Cardassians and The Dominion.

            "Coming in late in the game I had missed out on most of the good personnel for the main three races.  I figured I would have to start with the fresh, new races.  I started collecting Cardassians.  I built and traded my way to a decent deck in the mean time until the new set came out.  Once the new set did hit I had to brand new playable races and pretty much an even field." - Jordan Gagelin

            "Romulans were my race for the longest time.  Until I was known for my Borg decks, Romulan was the race of choice.  They were just so versatile to me.  They had some very skilled personnel, large ships, and very little attack restrictions.  They seemed like they could adapt to any situation.  However, they didn't do anything better than anyone else.  Romulans just had no defined strength, as the Federation had many skilled people, and Klingons could fight the best.  They were always second tier in everything.  I guess I just liked the challenge of taking what seemed like the inferior affiliation to the top." - Brady Lewis

            "I pretty much fell into collecting Federation personnel by convenience.  Although my most notable decks were other affiliations, Federation was originally my deck of choice and I found myself having almost every person.  I was always only a few trades away from having every Federation person in existence, so it became my goal.  For awhile I actually met my goal, but in the later years I couldn't keep up. - Jason DeShaw

            "I've always liked the Federation ship design, very graceful.  So, I set about gathering up all the Fed ships I could get my hands on.  Now, there were those who said it was crazy, because there would always be more Fed ships, since Star Trek was about the Federation, but I stuck with it.  My collection is not complete... but its close enough.  After the 2nd edition came out, I just lost hope." - Blake Snortland

            With the expansion of the game as well as the players, the core group of Fargo's Star Trek CCG gamers had been formed.  Thus began the golden years of Trek...

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