The Star Trek Customizable Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game based on the Star Trek universe. The name is commonly abbreviated as STCCG or ST:CCG. It was first introduced in 1994 by Decipher, Inc., under the name Star Trek: The Next Generation Customizable Card Game. The game now has two distinct editions, though both forms of the game have many common elements.
Standard elements
The standard central goal for a player of STCCG is to obtain 100 points, primarily by completing missions or objectives. This is done by bringing personnel, ships and equipment into play, then moving an attempting team to a mission. Once a mission attempt starts, the personnel will create away teams to encounter dilemmas which will challenge them in some way. Often if the personnel have the required skills or attributes they can overcome certain dilemmas' effects. Once the required dilemmas are passed, the personnel still active in the attempt must have the skills and/or attribute totals required by the mission to solve it. If the mission is solved, the player earns the printed points.
Other aspects of the game increase player interactions: ships and personnel can battle, or otherwise affect each other; cards like events and interrupts can alter the environment for one or more players; and points can be scored using methods other than mission solving.
One of the most attractive themes of the game is affiliations. These are groupings of ships and personnel based on the major interstellar powers of the Star Trek universe, and decks will be based around one, or perhaps more, of these groups.
First Edition What is now known as First Edition (commonly abbreviated "1E" among players) is the original conception of the game, through various designers and iterations. It was first licensed only to cover Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the first three card sets were limited to that show's universe. As such, the only affiliations created were the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans, plus a group for other cards that didn't fit into the three main affiliations called Non-Aligned. This narrow scope had little attraction for players, and it was felt that only five more sets could be released before running the full course of available material.
In 1997, Decipher announced that a wider scope had now been licensed for the game: Deep Space Nine, Voyager and The Next Generation movies would soon be depicted in new cards, thus the game's name was shortened to the existing title. The First Contact set arrived late that year, based on the film Star Trek: First Contact; that set introduced the Borg affiliation, among other new concepts.
This was soon followed by several sets based on situations in Deep Space Nine; these introduced affiliations for the Bajorans, Cardassians, Dominion, and Ferengi, along with enhanced systems for battling and capturing. The era of these expansions is considered by many players to be the 'golden age' of First Edition.
Two more sets featuring Original Series cards came next (when that property was added to the license), followed by sets drawing heavily on Voyager which introduced the new, but smaller Kazon, Vidiian, and Hirogen affiliations. It was after this that the game began a serious decline in popularity and sales.
Sales faltered during the release of the last two sets, based on the films and on holodeck scenarios. This dip in sales resulted in Decipher taking a serious look at the game's future.
Releases Full expansions are listed in regular type, boutique/special cards in italics
1E Premiere (release: November, 1994) The first edition premiere set contained 363 cards (121 each of rare, uncommon, and common) and introduced the affiliations of the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans, along with Non-Aligned cards. It was available in randomized 60-card starter boxes (generally not playable right out of the box, with 2 rares, 13 uncommons, and 45 commons) and 15-card expansion packs (1 rare, 3 uncommons, and 11 commons). The initial 'limited edition' print run had a black border and the following 'unlimited edition' runs (December 1994 and 1995) had a white border, making the black-bordered cards rarer, even though that color would become the staple of all later sets. In fact, all printings after the first were planned to be white-bordered, but no more printings were made. The Limited Edition print run of 45.9 million cards consisted of 19,339 of each rare card, 78,843 of each uncommon card, and 281,157 of each common card. The white-bordered edition print run was 162 million cards. Both were printed by Carta Mundi in Belgium.
Data Laughing (release: 1995) A promotional card that had ties to the first three sets. It was originally available as a mail-in redemption included in the Official Player's Guide published by Brady Games. The card was later included in the Introductory 2-Player Game.
Warp Pack (release: August, 1995) The Warp Pack was a selection of 12 white-bordered common cards to help make decks playable out of the box. Two of the cards that had not been seen before would be released in the next set, Alternate Universe. The packs were available for free from the Decipher website.
Alternate Universe (release: December, 1995) Alternate Universe was a collection of 122 cards that focused on cards from the past, future, and alternate timelines. It also contained the first ultra-rare card, the Future Enterprise. It sold in 15-card expansion packs. The expansion marked the point where tournament play was sponsored by Decipher, Inc.
Collector's Tin (release: November, 1995) This collector's item had a limited run of 30000 units and contained one of each of the premiere set's 363 cards with a silver border.
Q Continuum (release: October, 1996) The next expansion, Q Continuum was another standard set of 121 cards and introduced the Q Continuum and the "Q-Flash" side deck to the game. An important mechanic introduced in this expansion was the "Q's Tent" sideboard.
Introductory 2-Player Game (release: January, 1997) This set contained two separate pre-constructed 60-card decks, one Federation and one Klingon, both of which are white bordered. Each edition included the same three premium cards (a black-bordered Admiral McCoy and Data Laughing and a white-bordered Spock) and 11 new white-bordered mission cards. Edition #1 (in a blue box) contained a set of three new black-bordered premium Federation cards and Edition #2 (in a red box) contained a set of three new black-bordered premium Klingon cards.
First Anthology (release: June, 1997) The First Anthology (a concept that would return twice more) included six premium cards that would all later be featured in upcoming sets and was the first to feature cards that were not exclusive to The Next Generation. The box also contained two white bordered Premiere 60-card starter sets, two 15-card packs of white-bordered Premiere, two 15-card packs each of Alternate Universe and Q Continuum, and the Warp Pack.
The Fajo Collection (release: December, 1997) This special collection contained 18 super-rare cards and had a print run of 40,000. Each set contains a presentation binder, a signed certificate of authenticity, a Fajo Collection rules document, a collectible art poster showcasing the entire Star Trek CCG universe at that time, a business card featured on one of the cards, and a stick of gum associated with another. The cards were available from a Decipher subsidiary, the Eccentric Order, and were promised not to be reprinted in order to retain their value. The collection introduced the concept of a "set icon" printed on every card in that set that would continue until the end of 1E. Because of the low print runs, Decipher was able to include some special features on the cards, including metallic ink, UV-light sensitive ink, better color saturation, artwork bleeding onto the card border, and even a card (Qapla'!) printed entirely in Klingon (the design for which is markedly different from every other card in the game).
First Contact (release: December, 1997) This set of 130 cards focused entirely on the movie Star Trek: First Contact, greatly changed gameplay and added the first new affiliation in the Borg. It was available in 9-card booster packs, greatly reducing the number of repeat common cards.
Away Team Pack (release: May, 1998) This pack contains two cards featuring The Traveler (from the episode "Where No One Has Gone Before" and The Emissary (Benjamin Sisko's role in the Bajoran religion). The cards were designed to honor Decipher's Star Trek CCG product managers Marcus Certa (The Emissary) and Kyle Heuer (The Traveler), who functioned as traveling game evangelists using those pseudonyms. The packs were made available as an insert in an issue of Scrye magazine and were also handed out by the traveling evangelists themselves.
Official Tournament Sealed Deck (OTSD) (release: May, 1998) The Official Tournament Sealed Decks contain the same fixed deck of twenty new cards, designed to allow any other cards to be able to work together in a sealed format. Also included in each set were four white-bordered Premiere expansion packs and one Alternate Universe expansion pack. There were six different box designs (each representing an affiliation: Bajoran, Borg, Cardassian, Federation, Klingon, and Romulan).
Deep Space Nine (release: July, 1998) This set of 276 cards introduced the characters, aliens, and more from Deep Space Nine as well as two new affiliations: the Bajorans and the Cardassians. The USS Defiant was a special "twice as rare" white-bordered preview card. The set was available in 60-card starter decks and 9-card expansion packs.
Starter Deck II (release: December, 1998) This set attempted to solve again the problems of playing the game straight from the box by including a 60-card Premiere starter deck along with eight new cards designed to allow the cards in the starter to work together. A collaboration with Activision included a giveaway of a Starter Deck II with the pre-order of Star Trek: Hidden Evil.
Enhanced First Contact (release: January, 1999) The Enhanced First Contact boxes consisted of four packs of the First Contact expansion packaged with three new cards and one transparent Borg assimilation overlay. There were four different assortments of the new cards, and each group of three would always occur together in the same package, along with the same transparent Borg overlay. A cutout on the back of the box allowed buyers to know which new cards they were buying.
The Dominion (release: January, 1999) This set of 130 cards introduced the Dominion affiliation. It also included four special white-bordered preview cards that would all be reprinted in subsequent expansions. It was sold in 9-card expansion packs.
Blaze of Glory (release: August, 1999) Blaze of Glory was a 130-card expansion that enhanced the battling mechanic that had remained unchanged since the beginning of the game. It also featured an 18-card foil subset - the first in any Star Trek CCG expansion. It was sold in 9-card expansion packs. Many players point to this expansion as the high point of the game.
Rules of Acquisition (release: December, 1999) This 130-card set introduced the Ferengi and their rules. It was sold in 9-card expansion packs.
U.S.S. Jupiter (release: 2000) This card was inserted into the PC game Star Trek: Armada by Activision as a promotional tie-in.
Second Anthology (release: March, 2000) The Second Anthology included six premium cards that would not be featured in upcoming sets. The box also contained two Starter Deck IIs, two First Contact expansion packs, two Deep Space Nine expansion packs, and two Dominion expansion packs.