Mot's Useless Card Review #45: Goddess of Empathy

This card is a perfect fit in the average tournament deck. I know, most of you must be thinking Mot's gone completely off his rocker with that assertion. ;-) But take a look at the current tournament scene: right now, players run very low on Amanda Rogers in order to run high on Kivas Fajo - Collectors and Kevin Uxbridges. In the process of doing so, they leave themselves open to vicious attacks from any and all of the following strategies:

Rogue Borg Mercenaries. There's little quite so frustrating as being Rogue Borged, whether it be an en masse attack (with or without Crosis), or being pecked at slowly by solitary invaders (so as to escape nullification by Hugh).

Incoming Message. Believe it or not there are some players out there that use their Tents for things other than critical cards. ;-) These are the kind of players that stock one of each of the three Incoming Messages, the same players that will let you get just far enough away from your outpost for a return trip to be time consuming and annoying.

Temporal Rift/Time Travel Pod. There is nothing worse than being Podded or Rifted. (Except maybe being Podded or Rifted after have your node doored....) ;-)

Wormholes. The mission you have reached has been disconnected. Please try again later...

Barclay Transporter Phobia. Attrition of people to fear of the transporter is an pesky and semi-recurring strategy.

Brain Drain. I don't need to explain how obnoxious this can be to anyone who has had a critical skill Drained before they could complete a mission, or worse, just in time for a difficult dilemma.

Notice one commonality to all these? (Of course you do, since I already revealed what this review is all about...) They're all Interrupts. Now, rather than trying to stock the Amanda Rogers, Alternate Universe Doorways, Plexings, Intruder Force Fields, I.P. Scanners, Hughs, and other cards it would take to nullify them, why not pack one Goddess of Empathy and block them all from ever entering play? This fits perfectly into the current tournament strategy, where most players score most or all of their 100 points on one or two turns. Just build up the necessary personnel, and then play a Goddess of Empathy to prevent your opponent from interfering with your quick win.

Bring enough Q2s to protect that Goddess of Empathy. That will be less than you might think. As with an Event protected by Rishon Uxbridge, the Interrupt war over a Goddess of Empathy must be fought on a level playing field - your opponent can try to nullify your Goddess with a Kevin Uxbridge, which you can counter with a Q2, but then your opponent cannot play an Amanda Rogers to nullify your Q2 (as it is an Interrupt restricted by the Goddess); he can only re-target the Goddess with a new Kevin.

And of course, if the two turns the Goddess provides you isn't enough for you to accomplish all your goals, you can always play extra copies. A Manheim Dimensional Door might help you get them out faster, especially if you've got a Kevin Uxbridge in your hand.... ;-)