Mot's Useless Card Review #6: Masaka Transformations

Yes, I desperately wished for Masaka Transformations in my deck. Why? Because it is actually one of the most versatile cards in the game.

For example, Masaka Transformations is the one and only card capable of "nullifying" a Betazoid Gift Box. Remember that a player must play cards BEFORE they execute orders, so unless they grab interrupts (or personnel for a Devidian Door), it's gonna be one turn before they play the cards they grabbed through the Gift Box. On the turn you get before that happens, play Masaka, and stick everything they went to all that trouble for on the bottom of the deck!

Masaka Transformations was also sort of the precursor to Q’s Tent. Need that one special card right now? Well, you could Kivas, and if you've got a Traveller, that'll make 5 cards this turn you draw - that's not bad. But if you Masaka your own hand, then you could conceivably draw twice as many as that! Your odds of getting the needed card go up considerably. And unlike, Q's Tent, you still get a card draw after you've done it. Now really, that's no worse than randomly using your Q's Tent to take a card without looking. In my Barbering game, the one ship from my Q's Tent was destroyed - and all my others had somehow ended up on the bottom of my deck. A Masaka could have brought them considerable closer to me.

But of course, when you do this, you might throw away something decent in the process. That's where Zalkonian Storage Capsule comes in. Put one or two choice cards you don't want to lose into the capsule, and THEN play Masaka. You can always fish those cards out of the blue goo later . . . say, those personnel you couldn't play until you got your Red Alert! or that Q2 or Kevin Uxbridge, or the I.K.C. T’Ong that was sitting a hand with no personnel.

Masaka also makes well for annoying your opponent. Have you ever watched your opponent draw the card to end their turn, then smile broadly, or sigh in relief, or scream "YES!" like Data (Prem) in Generations? Avail yourself of that insight into their hand, and Masaka that card they wanted so badly into oblivion.

Bottom line: some deck designs can only function when the stuff comes up in a certain order. You can't use that Tox Uthat you obtained until you have a Supernova in hand. You can't play Ship Seizure until you have you actually have ships on the board yourself. If your opponent is close to tripping a Radioactive Garbage Scow you seeded, it might be nice to have a Destroy Radioactive Garbage Scow in hand. That's where Masaka Transformations comes in. While I would not advocate using it in PLACE of a well-stocked Q's Tent, it can make a very effective supplement to one.