El Fantasma
Pirates - Spanish Main and Crimson Coast

#001 and 003 - This ship may dock at an enemy home island and load one treasure. If able, she must leave on your next turn.

#026 -This ship may doc at an enemy home island and load one treasure. If able, she must leave on your next turn. If this crew is eliminated, place it o your home island.

Type - Crew
Collector's Number
-  GC-001 and PC-003 and 026

Piece Ratings:

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.

Date Reviewed - 08.26.05

Pirates of the Spanish Main – Ghost Crew

Name: Ghost Crew

Set: POSM

Card #s: #PC-006 (1^st) #GC-003 (LE) #034 (Unl)

Type: Crew

Cost: 6 Points

Rarity: Common

Faction: Pirates

Link: El Fantasma

Ability: “This ship’s crew cannot be eliminated unless she sinks.”

Flavor Text: Some say the Ghost Crew are damned men cursed to sail these waters until they send enough souls to hell to get theirs back. Others say that El Fantasma and his crew are human, just tricky enough to terrify their opponents before they fire the first shot.

This piece has GREAT card art, and unfortunately that’s about all you can say.  SIX points is just way too expensive, though, if you have enough points in your fleet build, you just might consider it.  Sure, some other characters might have a similar ability, but that wouldn’t extend to the entire crew.  The ENTIRE crew of this ship cannot be eliminated.  Heck, use this and a raft, and your guys are almost invincible. 

This is another game piece with three different editions.  The original and the unlimited version are both common pieces, though they are somewhat more desirable as trade fodder than your normal common piece.  Personally I’ve traded three or four of these bad boys already.  Even still, one of these on ebay went for a whopping $8.01!!!  I’m not kidding!  http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=5226570294  All I can say is that I guess the bidder thought that it was the LE version.  You shouldn’t pay more than 2 bucks for the common version.

But then there’s the LE.

Ghost Crew LE #GC-003 Completed Auction Review – 8-22-05

# of completed Auctions: 2

High Amount: $9.99

Low Amount:  $5.50

Average Amount $7.75

This LE piece has nothing but potential, as it’s NOT included in WizKid’s Pirates Plunder promotion.  While every other LE Ship from Spanish Main will be dropping in price like a ROCK in the next month or so, this piece might actually rise in value, simply because it’s pretty much unavailable at this point. 

My Ratings

Playability 2.5 of 5 (all versions)

Pirates of the Spanish Main – El Fantasma

Name: El Fantasma

Set: POSM

Card #s: PC-003 (1^st), #031 (Unl), #GC-001 (LE)

Type: Crew

Cost: 4 Points

Rarity: Common

Faction: Pirates

Link: Ghost Crew

Ability: “This ship may dock at an enemy home island and load one treasure. If able, she must leave on your next turn.”

Flavor Text: “Sailing into and out of the mists, El Fantasma uses stealth as his major weapon. None know for sure whether he and his crew are even human — they seem to appear and disappear at will and are almost impossible to hit with cannons.”

Linking this piece to Ghost Crew will cost you a total of ten build points, but only one cargo slot.  Personally I don’t think I’m that much of a fan as to want to do that, but you might be.  This El Fantasma shares his ability with two ships (HMS Gibralter and Freedom).  In order to utilize this ability properly, you need to have a VERY fast ship that is able to get into a home island and out quickly.  That’s actually not the hard part; the hard part is actually getting it to work.  It’s a nifty ability though, and for 4 points, you might actually try it.  It’s not so pricey as to be out of the question, though it is enough to make you think twice about it.

Like Ghost Crew above, El Fantasma has three different versions from the Spanish Main set.  The 1^st and Unlimited are both commons, and the LE is of course, an LE. 

El Fantasma LE #GC-001 Completed Auction Review – 8-22-05

# of completed Auctions: 5

High Amount: $6.19

Low Amount:  $1.50

Average Amount $3.75

This LE has the same outlook that the LE Ghost Crew has, since it also wasn’t included in Pirate Plunder.  This one might be worth a tad bit less though, since Ghost Crew already had some cachet value before it was LE-ized. 

My Ratings

Playability 2.5 of 5 (all versions)

But WAIT I’m not done yet…today is a SUPER-SIZED Crewfer Review…

BECAUSE  EL Fantasma was given a SECOND piece in the Crimson Coast set!

Pirates of the Crimson Coast – El Phantasma

Name: El Phantasma

Set: POCC

Card #s: 026

Type: Crew

Cost: 5 Points

Rarity: Common

Faction: Pirates

Ability: “This ship may dock at an enemy home island and load one treasure. If able, she must leave on your next turn. If this crew is eliminated, place it on your home island.“

Flavor Text: “Does a man seek the shadows or is he forced there by the machinations of others? Some whisper of a horrific betrayal, some of years spent isolated in a French prison, and others of unspeakable torture at the hands of the Moors. Whatever the truth, El Phantasma and his sepulchral crew do not intend to make amends for their crimes.”