At the Magic: The Gathering Star Trek debut on Monday, there were several cards I liked, and one that made me roll my eyes so hard I may have actually damaged something. That card was Seven of Nine, Unassimilated, and I bet you can already guess why I don’t like it.
Yes, it’s the transformation ability that gives her a 7/9 statline that irks me. The rest of the card is absolutely fine. She’s got an ability related to differently named lands, representing exploration, and she loots, representing accumulated knowledge. Then she gets stronger from all that exploration, I guess. It doesn’t have much to do with Seven of Nine’s journey in particular, I think, and would arguably work for literally any Star Trek character with a story arc, but ho hum.
I’m in danger of making a mountain out of a molehill here, but I just find Magic’s habit of spotting a number in a character’s name and then building the card around that number so damn dull. It feels lazy, corny even, and makes it seem like the designers are just phoning it in.
They’ve done it so many times now, too. From the Ten Rings to Doctor Octopus, Eleven to The Fantastic Four, and I hate it every single time. This isn’t even the only example in this set – they also gave Deep Space 9, 9/9 stats and a station and mana cost of 9.
At its best, Universes Beyond incorporates and adapts the characteristics of our favorite franchises into the game system that is Magic: The Gathering. From a Weeping Angel becoming a harmless artifact when you play a creature to Boromir sacrificing himself to save your other creatures, it feels great to see these moments and characters thoughtfully encapsulated on a card.
I don’t mind when they get cute with it, either, like using reminder text so Shadowfax can show us the meaning of haste or the split-second mechanic to represent pausing the game so you can do some Fallout Inventory Management.
But just slapping numbers onto stuff doesn’t do this. Seven of Nine’s character has nothing to do with the numbers seven and nine, just as Eleven’s character has nothing to do with the number 11. I really don’t see who this is for. Surely this doesn’t please fans of the character or Magic fans. The joke is overplayed, no one thinks it’s clever anymore
I genuinely would prefer this card if it was exactly the same, but became an 8/8 instead.
Source: Wargamer
