Collector-Info for ST2E | openCards

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Collector-Info for ST2E

Welcome to the openCards Colletctors-Information for ST2E

The collector's info on openCards describes all relevant information regarding a specific card from the point-of-view of a collector. This includes the rarity, to which expansion it belongs, if it's a foil card or not, if reprints of this card exist and so on. Here is a list of all those card details as they are differentiated on openCards (independent of the game to which the card belongs):

  • the card's rarity
  • which expansion or special set the card belongs to
  • copyright information printed on the card
  • information regarding the 'print style'. This includes
    • print color discerning between color / high color / black & white
    • border color (white border, black border, silver border)
    • special printing effects (non-foil, foil, hologram card)
    • the card's orientation (standard upright or resembling a widescreen)
    • is the card printed on both sides?
    • does the card contain different parts relevant to the game,
      e.g. does it represent "two-cards-in-one"?
  • list of reprints of this card
  • list of 'personas' regarding the card

Here is a thorough description of separate details regarding Star Trek First Edition:

A card's rarity
For collectors the rarity of a card is one of the most important bits of information. Which rarities may exist depends upon the different games. Each manufacturer has his own agenda on the number of distinct rarities necessary. For more information see tab "Rareties".

In general the rarity depents on the print run of a particular card. Cards that were printed more often are worth more than cards printed only comparitively less. In almost all game systems the split into common, uncommon and rare cards can be found, which expresses this relation.

Apart from this there are other rarities e.g. for "fixed" cards to be found in starter boxes or for specially produced cards like tournament foils. Which levels of rarities are represented in distinct game systems is therefor not discussed here, but at the respective game systems.

In the long run supply and demand will determine the worth of a card. The demand will be influenced by the collectibility (depending upon the image on the card or the artist who painted it) and the game strength of a card. This matter is complicated by the fact that in most cases the manufacturers do not provide exact information on print runs. Because of this you can't simply assume that two rare cards from different expansions of a game system have the same amount of copies printed.


Which expansion or special set a card belongs to
On openCards all cards are catalogized by expansions. This helps in identifying cards and to distinguish between different reprint or similar cards. Furthermore we distinguish between "normal" expansions and special sets, even though this is not made easier by some general factors concerning all game systems, and for each and every game system these "special sets" exist with different parameters.

For Star Trek Second Edition we follow Decipher's official numeration. All sets that count in Deciphers collectors info (printed on the card) as full expansions are here a "normal expansion" while all remaining cards have been associated with special sets. An overview over the distinct sets is provided on our "expansions und special sets"-page - see tab "expansions".


Copyright
For all cards showing copyright information this has been included in the Collector's Info. The year of copyright may be different from the actual street date of an expansion. That is why we included information on the actual dates when cards were made available to the public in our section Inside - Expansions.


Information regarding the so-called 'print style'
Under the heading 'print style' we provide the following information:

  • print color
  • border color
  • special printing effects
  • orientation of a card
  • double-sided print
  • differentiation of distinct regions

print color
Here we distinguish between cards printed in color or black & white (remember the "Captain Proton" cards of First Edition?). Furthermore we use the term "high color" for cards printed with an especially luxurious quality like the cards from the First Edition Fajo Collection. For ST2E now such cards are known.

Border color of a card
In general collectible game cards are printed with a black border, probably, because black can both be clearly distinguished from the remaining printed image, but looks also "neutral" compared with the colorful images and icons.

But other border colors like silver or white also exist to show the difference of a reprint to the original or indicate that cards belong to an unlimited print run.

In Star Trek Second Edition exists only card wih black border till yet.

Special effects on a card
Examples for "special effects" would be foil-enhanced cards or holograms. We distinguish between non-foil cards, foil cards and hologram cards. For Star Trek Secaond Edition several foil cards have been manufactured, e.g. tournament foils or cards from Reflections 2.0 or Second Edition Anthology. So far, no hologram cards exist in this environment.

Orientation of a card
Unter this heading we distinguish the orientation of cards, i.e. how you have to hold it to read it. In 99% of all cases cards are printed with the shorter edges at top and bottom and the longer sides to the left and right. But there are also cards where the larger edges are to be orientated at the top and bottom to be read without difficulties.

At this time we have two cards with alternate orientation: Queen's Borg Sphere, Contingency Vessel and U.S.S. Enterprise, Earth's Savior from the Star Trek Second Edition Expansions Genesis.

Double-sided printing
Here we distinguish cards that are printed on both sides with information relevant to the game. Most cards in a game system have the same "backside", but there are exceptions.

In ST2E there are no cards printed on both sides at this time.

Differentiation of distinct regions on a card
Another rare special case is the collection of game-relevant information on a card that virtually makes this card "two-cards-in-one". The orientation of the card may in this cases be responsible for the proper use in the game.

There are no such cards in ST2E.

 

Reprints
In this section all reprints are listed. Afurther discussion of the term "reprint" (what exactly IS a reprint? etc.) is to be found in the section Universal-Card-Tools-ID (see tab "UCT-ID").

In the Collector's Info every reprint is listed with its UCT-ID and the expansion or special set, from which it originates (the card title of original and reprints is always the same, not counting errata concerning the title). We also inform you if the listed cards are "first prints", meaning the chronological first print of a reprinted card. In this cases we added "first print" in brackets after the card's listing.

 

'personas'
the concept of 'personas' is used in several game systems in order to indicate that several distinct cards all relate to the same person.

In Second Edition a lot of cards have a title and a subtitle seperated by a comma. Each cards with exacly the same title count as 'persona'. In ST2E we find 'personas' for the card types personnel and ship.

In the 'personas'-list we always list the card title, the UCT-ID of the card and the expansion (or special set), in which it was published.

Let's see an expample:

The personnel Jean-Luc Picard exists in the game in several versions like

"Jean-Luc Picard, Starship Captain" or

"Jean-Luc Picard, Bearer of Ill Tidings".

Both have the same title 'Jean-Luc Picard' and therefore they are 'personas'.