Submitted by Telak on Fri, 02/03/2006 - 20:00
(3) Bre'Nan RitualDual "Your worthiness to join our house will now be judged...according to the traditions of my family." Characteristics: dilemma with a cost of 3 or more, "place on mission" dilemma, "randomly select" dilemma, "randomly stopper" dilemma. Card logging info: Logged by openCards team at Jan 1st, 2008. |  |
This Card-Review article was written by openCards user Graves and was published first on "Decipher's Website (decipher.com)".
The Bre'Nan is a Klingon pre-marriage ritual administered by the Mistress of the House into which the bride will be entering. In You Are Cordially Invited, Jadzia is put to the test by Sirella, Mistress of the House of Martok. Sirella is upset that Jadzia is not a Klingon, and upon her arrival on Deep Space 9, has her mind set on failing Jadzia. This three-cost dual dilemma nicely reflects that situation, and its text is as follows:
"Place this dilemma on this mission. At the start of each mission attempt at this mission, randomly select a personnel to be stopped. When this mission is completed, place this dilemma beneath your incomplete non-headquarters mission."
Bre'Nan Ritual falls into the same category as Skeleton Crew and Timescape insofar as it cannot interact with the ongoing mission attempt when it is revealed. Rather, it will make your opponent reconsider his or her strategy on future mission attempts. For some, it will suffice that there is a picture of Jadzia on this card, thus rendering it worthy of their dilemma pile. For others, it is clear that this is a great anti-'minimum personnel attempt' card. No matter how many dilemmas are already overcome beneath a mission, as long as it is incomplete, each attempt there will have to make do with one less personnel. The three cost may seem a little high, but can be justified by the fact that the dilemma is dual, is placed on the mission, and has a guaranteed effect. What makes this dilemma especially great is the fact that the stop is random; even more so, your opponent won't be able to use his or her 'cheater' cards "While facing a dilemma..." to circumvent any unwanted loss of skills/attributes.
If you can combine the Ritual with a Machinations / A Royal Hunt combo, your opponent could be in for a nasty surprise just when he or she thought that your drawing zero dilemmas would grant a free walk. The flipside is that once Ritual's mission is completed, the Bre'Nan will go under an incomplete, non-headquarters mission. So, if you have the counters to spend, and like an investment in the future – which any good marriage should be – then this is certainly a card you should take a look at.
