Mot's Useless Card Review #11: Lore's Fingernail

This card actually gets less "useless" as time goes on, of course. Now that Q-Continuum has added Juliana Tainer and Lal, there are a grand total of four Federation cards you can bend to the will of the Klingon or Romulan Empires. And this is the primary use for this card, naturally. Data (Prem) in particular makes a splendid addition to any deck, and his daughter and mother aren't bad either.

But, the question everyone seems to ask is: Why use the Fingernail? Why not just use a Treaty? And that's a good question. After all, only The Devil can kill a Treaty. Lore’s Fingernail is vulnerable to Kevin Uxbridge.

The answer is: battle restrictions. You can play a Treaty, but as soon as you bring one of the androids on board your warbird or battle cruiser, everyone becomes pacifistic. Since the entire crew is restricted under the most limiting battle guidelines, you won't be able to attack with Federation passengers. So use Lore's Fingernail to eradicate their peaceful programming, and start using them to mop up the spaceline! (And a Rishon Uxbridge will help protect your Fingernail, if you are worried about losing it.) In fact, with Lore's Fingernail in place, you'll also be able to add non-aligned Exocomps, a useful addition to a battle deck strategy. You can also initiate Away Team battles with your rather strong androids. (Maybe even use a Vulcan Nerve Pinch...)

Not to mention that every once in a blue moon, you'll really annoy your opponent who was trying to complete Investigate Time Continuum with their no longer Federation-affiliated Data. ;-)