Mot's Useless Card Review #51: Mona Lisa

This card has defense written all over it, primarily from Armada and outpost destruction decks. 25 points is a daunting blow to your opponent's score for destroying your ship or outpost with the Mona Lisa. Granted, if you are about to run away with the game, an opponent will probably take that hit, but then they'll have to work their way out from under that deficit to come back and win it. There's simply some peace of mind to be had in cruising the spaceline in a ship with the Mona Lisa, especially for the Federation (and non-aligned ships), which cannot hide behind the protection of a cloaking device (save the Future Enterprise).

Mona Lisa can also work in equipment defense. Plasmadyne Relays are worth putting in many decks. Some players use the Echo Papa 607 Killer Drone. You'll see the Kits and Tricorders in a handful of strategies. Indications from the infamous playtesting quotes are that come First Contact, phasers and disruptors will be more desirable, too. And I imagine many of you will be thinking of stocking IP Scanners (at least in your Tent) with the new vicious DNA Metamorphosis dilemma. And then there are the great artifacts that play as equipment cards: Data’s Head, Interphase Generator (for a Pegasus Search dash), Orb of Prophecy and Change, and more...

...all vulnerable to Disruptor Overload. But Disruptor Overload is an interesting card, in that it plays on a ship or Away Team, not a piece of equipment itself. It destroys one equipment card present in that crew or Team at random. Which means that as equipment becomes more and more popular, bringing with it Disruptor Overloads, you can add Mona Lisa to your decks, and tote the painting with you wherever your valuable equipment goes. Challenge your opponent to take that 50/50 stab at either destroying your precious equipment or taking an unexpected 25 point loss.

Or, go aggressive. The brand new Persistence of Memory card is one of my personal favorites, and I suspect it will become a favorite of many players. One of the many cards that can be reversed by Persistence of Memory is Mona Lisa, creating a three card combo to make your opponent lose 25 points. Just grab Mona from one mission, and Persistence from another, and then destroy Da Vinci's classic. (Persistence of Memory does not play as an equipment, so you don't need to endure the random selection described above).

But then again, what a waste to destroy two valuable pieces of art. They must be of value to some collector somewhere.... like Kivas Fajo. Kivas Fajo gives you a 5 point bonus for every unduplicated artifact present with him. That means it has to be in play on the spaceline, and he must be at that location. Your Horga’hn, Betazoid Gift Box, and Ressikan Flute (fan favorites) don't count. But if you have Mona Lisa in play, and play Persistance of Memory on that, you've got 10 points in unduplicated artifacts. 10 points is enough to put the classic two high-point mission decks over the top without monkeying around with Samuel Clemens or Lakanta. Either be sure your opponent isn't using Disruptor Overload, or wait until after you already have 90 points, when timing rules work in your favor. (If opponent Overloads Mona Lisa before Persistence is in play, they lose 25 points... but if they wait until Persistence is in play, you have already scored 10 points for the two of them - that can put you over to victory conditions if you save it for the endgame.)

And with that, I invite you to consider the joys of art collecting... :-)