Card Extra

The Guardian of Forever from Evan Lorentz (11/22/2000)

More than an entry into the best-looking-doorway contest, The Guardian of Forever provides two great gameplay benefits. First, you may play it on planet Gateway and use it to time travel within the Alpha Quadrant. That's a pretty cheap and easy way to include time traveling in your deck, if you accept that you won't be able to take your ships with you.

With multiple copies of The Guadian of Forever, you have more than just a time-traveling device on your hands - you have a serious card-drawing engine. Each time one of your Anthropology or Archaeology personnel returns from a time lcoation to the Guardian, you can play a copy of the doorway from your hand, place it out-of-play, and draw up to four cards. Four! And it doesn't cost you your card play!

Efficient use of the Guardian can maximize your benefits. It only allows you to time travel once per turn, but if you team up multiple Anthropology and Archaeology personnel and send them to a time location all at once, you can then bring them back one at a time on following turns, allowing you to play The Guardian of Forever for several turns in a row rather than every other turn.

Combo:

• The Guardian of Forever + Beverly and Will: A very handy way to deal with your opponent's Hero of the Empire deck. Download the Guardian during the seed phase via Historical Research, then send back Beverly and Will to Sherman’s Peak when the need arises. As non-aligned personnel, they'll be compatible with Deep Space Station K-7 and thus become its crew, not an Away Team. This keeps your opponent from using Disruptor Overload as you then special download a tricorder to scan for the Tribble Bomb. With another Guardian of Forever in hand, you can even bag four card draws for Riker's Anthropology on the return trip!