rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad

Question: Castle Heidelburg

25 messages from 15 participants · 16 June 2003 – 18 June 2003
original thread on Google Groups

Phoenix

Can you use Spirit Marionette to take control of a vampire, drain it of everything it has with Heidelburg, including any blood, and then bleed your prey with it? For completeness sake: Spirit Marionette Cardtype: Action Discipline: Obeah/Dominate [dom] (D) Bleed at +1 bleed. [obe] (D) Bleed at +1 bleed, and tap a ready minion controlled by your prey (even if the target of the bleed is changed). [OBE] +1 stealth action. (D) Take control of any ready untapped minion until the end of the next action. That minion must bleed your prey unless he or she must hunt. Now, forgive me if I read this wrong. I play Spirit Marionette. Let's just say nobody blocks or can block, so the action is succesful. As a result I get my chosen vampire. That vampire now MUST bleed, BUT Spirit Marionette says specifically that I keep control of it until after the NEXT action. This obviously implies that this next action is the obligatory bleed action. Anywhere between the succesful Spirit Marionette and the bleed there is a time when there's no action. I theory, I could tap Heidelburg at this point to totally drain that vampire. That same question is by the way relevant with a card like Temptation. Can I do this or is it really a broken combo? On a related note, switching weapons. I have two muddled vampire hunters in play and a single Sengir Dagger. Let's say MVH#1 has the dagger. I attack someone's vampire and torporize it. Now I tap Heidelburg and transfer the Dagger to MVH#2 and attack something else. Can I do that too? Oh, I just realized you can't use Heidel for allies, but you get the point. The same trick can of course be done with a Treasured Samajdi, that !Malk bleed puppet thing and many, many other weapons. Isn't there some errate "can only be used during master phase"? I'm getting increasingly annoyed with the amount of ridiculous combo's that you can get out of this card.

Andreas Nusser

Phoenix wrote: > Can you use Spirit Marionette to take control of a vampire, drain it > of everything it has with Heidelburg, including any blood, and then > bleed your prey with it? NO since he has no blood left. > For completeness sake: > > Spirit Marionette > Cardtype: Action > Discipline: Obeah/Dominate > [dom] (D) Bleed at +1 bleed. > [obe] (D) Bleed at +1 bleed, and tap a ready minion controlled by your > prey (even if the target of the bleed is changed). > [OBE] +1 stealth action. (D) Take control of any ready untapped minion > until the end of the next action. That minion must bleed your prey > unless he or she must hunt. > > Now, forgive me if I read this wrong. I play Spirit Marionette. Let's > just say nobody blocks or can block, so the action is succesful. As a > result I get my chosen vampire. That vampire now MUST bleed, BUT > Spirit Marionette says specifically that I keep control of it until > after the NEXT action. This obviously implies that this next action is > the obligatory bleed action. Anywhere between the succesful Spirit > Marionette and the bleed there is a time when there's no action. I > theory, I could tap Heidelburg at this point to totally drain that > vampire. That same question is by the way relevant with a card like > Temptation. > > Can I do this or is it really a broken combo? The way you want to do it you can't. However you may bleed and then tap Heidelberg. > > On a related note, switching weapons. I have two muddled vampire > hunters in play and a single Sengir Dagger. Let's say MVH#1 has the > dagger. I attack someone's vampire and torporize it. Now I tap > Heidelburg and transfer the Dagger to MVH#2 and attack something else. > Can I do that too? Muddled Vamoire Hunter is unique. > > Oh, I just realized you can't use Heidel for allies, but you get the > point. The same trick can of course be done with a Treasured Samajdi, > that !Malk bleed puppet thing and many, many other weapons. and is an ally. > > Isn't there some errate "can only be used during master phase"? I'm > getting increasingly annoyed with the amount of ridiculous combo's > that you can get out of this card. -- Andreas Nusser www.vekn.de a.nu...@vekn.de

James Coupe

In message <84a43beb.03061...@posting.google.com>, Phoenix <izaak.h...@o2.nl> writes: >Can you use Spirit Marionette to take control of a vampire, drain it >of everything it has with Heidelburg, including any blood, and then >bleed your prey with it? Yes. >Now, forgive me if I read this wrong. I play Spirit Marionette. Let's >just say nobody blocks or can block, so the action is succesful. As a >result I get my chosen vampire. That vampire now MUST bleed, BUT >Spirit Marionette says specifically that I keep control of it until >after the NEXT action. This obviously implies that this next action is >the obligatory bleed action. It is, unless another mandatory action turns up from somewhere. (e.g. you untap after the Marionette with a Freak drive and end up empty.) >Anywhere between the succesful Spirit >Marionette and the bleed there is a time when there's no action. Correct. Just like any other action. >I >theory, I could tap Heidelburg at this point to totally drain that >vampire. That same question is by the way relevant with a card like >Temptation. > >Can I do this or is it really a broken combo? You can do it. No-one has yet managed to successfully abuse it if, indeed, it is abuseable. This isn't significantly different to Mind Rape or Temptation or similar. And - needing Salubri to pull it off - provides an obvious point of weakness. >On a related note, switching weapons. I have two muddled vampire >hunters in play No you don't. It's unique. >and a single Sengir Dagger. Let's say MVH#1 has the >dagger. I attack someone's vampire and torporize it. Now I tap >Heidelburg and transfer the Dagger to MVH#2 and attack something else. >Can I do that too? > >Oh, I just realized you can't use Heidel for allies, Correct. >but you get the >point. The same trick can of course be done with a Treasured Samajdi, >that !Malk bleed puppet thing and many, many other weapons. Between two vampires, once per turn, yes. >Isn't there some errate "can only be used during master phase"? I'm >getting increasingly annoyed with the amount of ridiculous combo's >that you can get out of this card. No. You simply can't use it during an action. And they're not exactly 'ridiculous' combos. And if you want to, you can always use location destruction to get rid of it. Or contest it. Or Sudden it. It's hardly unstoppable. And since you're talking about equipment, with guns being quite popular these days, generic equipment defence is hardly a bad option. -- James Coupe PGP Key: 0x5D623D5D Lucky that my breasts are small and humble, EBD690ECD7A1FB457CA2 So you don't confuse them with mountains. 13D7E668C3695D623D5D

James Coupe

In message <bckco4$ku5$1...@stu1id2.ip.tesion.net>, Andreas Nusser <time...@NOSPAMscram.de> writes: >> [OBE] +1 stealth action. (D) Take control of any ready untapped minion >> until the end of the next action. That minion must bleed your prey >> unless he or she must hunt. > >The way you want to do it you can't. However you may bleed and then tap >Heidelberg. Incorrect. You can't use Heidelb[ue]rg during an action. And at the end of the next action, you send the vampire back to its proper controller. You don't have control outside of an action, when the bleed finishes. (You do have control outside of an action between Spirit and the bleed, however.) [ quoted text not captured ]

Andreas Nusser

James Coupe wrote: > In message <bckco4$ku5$1...@stu1id2.ip.tesion.net>, Andreas Nusser > <time...@NOSPAMscram.de> writes: > >>>[OBE] +1 stealth action. (D) Take control of any ready untapped minion >>>until the end of the next action. That minion must bleed your prey >>>unless he or she must hunt. >> >>The way you want to do it you can't. However you may bleed and then tap >>Heidelberg. > > Incorrect. You can't use Heidelb[ue]rg during an action. > > And at the end of the next action, you send the vampire back to its > proper controller. You don't have control outside of an action, when > the bleed finishes. > > (You do have control outside of an action between Spirit and the bleed, > however.) > I thought there is time after the actions has completed! Didn't you have a choice what to do first? [ quoted text not captured ]

Timlagor

> In message <84a43beb.03061...@posting.google.com>, Phoenix > <izaak.h...@o2.nl> writes: >>Can you use Spirit Marionette to take control of a vampire, drain it >>of everything it has with Heidelburg, including any blood, and then >>bleed your prey with it? > Yes. You must leave one blood on if you want to bleed. Otherwise you have to hunt with it. Personally I would choose to leave one and bleed (with a decent chance of being blocked and being able to lose the combat convincingly ;-) >>Now, forgive me if I read this wrong. I play Spirit Marionette. Let's >>just say nobody blocks or can block, so the action is succesful. As a >>result I get my chosen vampire. That vampire now MUST bleed, BUT >>Spirit Marionette says specifically that I keep control of it until >>after the NEXT action. This obviously implies that this next action is >>the obligatory bleed action. > It is, unless another mandatory action turns up from somewhere. (e.g. > you untap after the Marionette with a Freak drive and end up empty.) In this case it can (and should if you have any sense) still be the bleed as you can choose the order of multiple mandatory actions. Of course if youi strip it completely you may not then want to hunt with it...

LSJ

Andreas Nusser wrote: > James Coupe wrote: >> Incorrect. You can't use Heidelb[ue]rg during an action. >> >> And at the end of the next action, you send the vampire back to its >> proper controller. You don't have control outside of an action, when >> the bleed finishes. >> >> (You do have control outside of an action between Spirit and the bleed, >> however.) >> > I thought there is time after the actions has completed! Didn't you have > a choice what to do first? No. There isn't a "give this card to his former controller" effect that you can order. There is just a "you have control of this vampire until the end of the next action." If that next action has ended, you no longer have control. -- LSJ (vte...@white-wolf.com) V:TES Net.Rep for White Wolf, Inc. Links to V:TES news, rules, cards, utilities, and tournament calendar: http://www.white-wolf.com/vtes/

Jon Stahler

"Timlagor" <Timlagor...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message news:zcqgl5ild8x5$.h6gxcjlexs0.dlg@40tude.net... > > In message <84a43beb.03061...@posting.google.com>, Phoenix > > <izaak.h...@o2.nl> writes: > >>Can you use Spirit Marionette to take control of a vampire, drain it > >>of everything it has with Heidelburg, including any blood, and then > >>bleed your prey with it? > > Yes. > > You must leave one blood on if you want to bleed. Otherwise you have to hunt > with it. Personally I would choose to leave one and bleed (with a decent > chance of being blocked and being able to lose the combat convincingly ;-) I have a deck which uses this method for gaining blood back. Its basically filled with minion taps, heidelberg and spirit marionette's. Did fairly well the first tourney I took it to as well. You may want to consider packing about 4 or 5 daring the dawns. That way you can spirit marionette pesky vamps like, oh, Arika, drain her with Heidelburg and then use inferior Daring the Dawn to have her hunt unblockably. Then, ordering effects as you see fit, you take the 2 agg first and she burns. Yummy. [ quoted text not captured ]

salem

"Jon Stahler" <!NOSPAM!sta...@ilir.uiuc.edu> wrote in message news:<LhkHa.18898$6P6.2...@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>... [snip] > I have a deck which uses this method for gaining blood back. Its basically > filled with minion taps, heidelberg and spirit marionette's. Did fairly > well the first tourney I took it to as well. You may want to consider > packing about 4 or 5 daring the dawns. That way you can spirit marionette > pesky vamps like, oh, Arika, drain her with Heidelburg and then use inferior > Daring the Dawn to have her hunt unblockably. Then, ordering effects as you > see fit, you take the 2 agg first and she burns. Yummy. what effects are you ordering to get her to burn? she hunts, and it's successful. she gains a blood. now, "after the action is complete" (card text), she takes 2 agg. the first point 'wounds' her, the second point she must burn a blood, or be burned. this isn't a choice part here. she must burn a blood. if she has no blood to burn, then she burns. you'd be better off leaving one blood on her and bleeding instead of hunting, again with an inferior daring the dawn, and playing some action modifier that costs a blood. conditioning springs to mind. or perhaps neutral guard. hmmm. play neutral guard first. so blocking vampires must pay a blood to attampt to block, then play the inferior daring the dawn. your bleed goes off and arika explodes. w00t. being an Obeah deck in the first place means neutral guard fits in nicer. and whatever vamp you steals that can play the daring the dawn can play neutral guard at outferior. salem.

DeistMutts

A friend did that to me.. his salubri deck as my predator while i was his prey and playing with my ventrue vote deck.. minion tap one of his vampires to 1 blood, spirit marionette my Natasha Volfchek, heidelberg all her blood to the drained minion of his, and Natasha forced to hunt, then force of will bleed me with daring the dawn if I tried to block the 3 bleed from my own damn vampire.. after 3 minions.. i just decided not to bring any vampires out..but still died from the painful bleed..*shiver* it was then i decided to make sure every deck of mine has some intercepts... can't even let one action go like that.. "Jon Stahler" <!NOSPAM!sta...@ilir.uiuc.edu> wrote in message news:<LhkHa.18898$6P6.2...@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>... [ quoted text not captured ]

hawk_the_demon

DeistMutts wrote: > ... and Natasha forced to hunt, then force of will bleed me with > daring the dawn... can't do that, Natasha returns immediately after the hunt. -- Direct access to this group with http://web2news.com http://web2news.com/?rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad

Joshua Duffin

"James Coupe" <ja...@zephyr.org.uk> wrote in message news:TN1B$a3fyb...@gratiano.zephyr.org.uk... > In message <84a43beb.03061...@posting.google.com>, Phoenix > <izaak.h...@o2.nl> writes: > >Can you use Spirit Marionette to take control of a vampire, drain it > >of everything it has with Heidelburg, including any blood, and then > >bleed your prey with it? > > Yes. As Timlagor pointed out, you can't drain it of *all* its blood and then bleed your prey with it. If you do that, it'll have to hunt instead of bleed. You can tap Heidelberg to take all but one of its blood and then bleed your prey with it, though. [between actions, use Heidelberg] > >I > >theory, I could tap Heidelburg at this point to totally drain that > >vampire. That same question is by the way relevant with a card like > >Temptation. > > > >Can I do this or is it really a broken combo? > > You can do it. > > No-one has yet managed to successfully abuse it if, indeed, it is > abuseable. > > This isn't significantly different to Mind Rape or Temptation or > similar. And - needing Salubri to pull it off - provides an obvious > point of weakness. It's a strong combo. One of the nice things you can do with Spirit Marionette. As you say, Temptation + Heidelberg and Mind Rape + Heidelberg are also nice. Josh at 2 stealth because i'm repulsive!

Phoenix

> As Timlagor pointed out, you can't drain it of *all* its blood > and then bleed your prey with it. If you do that, it'll have > to hunt instead of bleed. You can tap Heidelberg to take all > but one of its blood and then bleed your prey with it, though. Well, I know that, but that wasn't really the point. It's just that I think it's kinda broken since I've lost two games in a row now because of the damned HeidelBurg/Spirit Marionette combo. Turn 1: predator throwns down Heidel I play some master (or not) and influence some Turn 2: predator influences out that 7 cap Salubri with OBE I influence out one of my own 7 caps (or 8 caps or whatever. Usually bigger than 7) Turn 3: predator minion taps his Salubri, Spirit Marionettes my vampire (which is at +1 stealth, which is basically the only broken thing about the whole combo), Heidelburgs all but one blood, bleeds me with it (for 1) and if I'm lucky my vamp didn't have fort so it isn't happening with Daring the Dawn or some Day Operations. Turn 3 I end up with a zero blood vamp in torpor or with some luck one with one blood left, while my predator just gained an amount of blood equal to that what you gain if you oust someone. Pretty crippling, no?. That's basically a bleed for 9-some in turn three, aside from the fact that you'll be defenseless for a while. Now imagine that you mix them up with pure dominate/fort ventrue (which conveniently allows the Daring the Dawns too) and you're looking at another six easy pool. And who says I can't repeat the same trick the next turn? It isn't as devastating when you play with smaller vamps, but most decks really need to get out a fattie first. The point that you need Salubri to play the card is mute as they are a very powerful clan and with just their two powercards (Spirit Marionette and Renewed Vigor) they are a GREAT addition to ANY deck that packs fortitude or auspex. Maybe toss in some Neutral Guard if you have the slots leftover and it gets even nastier. Contrary to polular believe, I think the Salubri are one of the better Bloodlines clans, since they mix so well in so many decks without you having to devote your whole deck to it. I suppose tournies are a lot more fast paced than my average games, and I also suppose that it's in no way more crippling than, say, losing a vampire to wolf claws/amaranth in turn 3, but at least I get the chance to fight back. Intercept is very tough to come by early on, unless you play Auspex. That's by the way also why weenie S/B is so powerful. I suppose I'll just have to Sudden the Heidelburg or DI the stupid marionette. I personally believe that any card where you lose control of a vampire to someone else, even if it's for just a short while, is a very abusable card in itself. At least Graverobbing and cards like Temptation have *some* requirements to get it done. And Graverobbing is just a (D) action without inherent stealth. V:TES just relies too much on those few vampires you have around to have them just stolen away.

Jon Stahler

"DeistMutts" <psydu...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:a3baa2e3.03061...@posting.google.com... > A friend did that to me.. his salubri deck as my predator while i was > his prey and playing with my ventrue vote deck.. minion tap one of his > vampires to 1 blood, spirit marionette my Natasha Volfchek, heidelberg > all her blood to the drained minion of his, and Natasha forced to > hunt, then force of will bleed me with daring the dawn if I tried to > block the 3 bleed from my own damn vampire.. after 3 minions.. i just > decided not to bring any vampires out..but still died from the painful > bleed..*shiver* it was then i decided to make sure every deck of mine > has some intercepts... can't even let one action go like that.. > Just tap out all of your minions and then you can't be spirit marionetted. :)

Jon Stahler

"salem" <salem_ch...@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:293af2cc.03061...@posting.google.com... > "Jon Stahler" <!NOSPAM!sta...@ilir.uiuc.edu> wrote in message news:<LhkHa.18898$6P6.2...@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>... > [snip] > > I have a deck which uses this method for gaining blood back. Its basically > > filled with minion taps, heidelberg and spirit marionette's. Did fairly > > well the first tourney I took it to as well. You may want to consider > > packing about 4 or 5 daring the dawns. That way you can spirit marionette > > pesky vamps like, oh, Arika, drain her with Heidelburg and then use inferior > > Daring the Dawn to have her hunt unblockably. Then, ordering effects as you > > see fit, you take the 2 agg first and she burns. Yummy. > > what effects are you ordering to get her to burn? she hunts, and it's > successful. she gains a blood. now, "after the action is complete" > (card text), she takes 2 agg. the first point 'wounds' her, the second > point she must burn a blood, or be burned. this isn't a choice part > here. she must burn a blood. if she has no blood to burn, then she > burns. You can order the resolution of the action however you like, so you can make the vampire take the blood after the completion of the action after the 2 agg is dealt, if I recall correctly. Its very similar reasoning to how you'd order effects of a vampire with Fame taken by SM. The action resolves, but before the minion takes the two aggravated, you send the vampire back to its controller so they lose 3 pool. Regardless, she'd be in torpor with no blood. Still not too shabby when you're talking about an Inner Circle member. > you'd be better off leaving one blood on her and bleeding instead of > hunting, again with an inferior daring the dawn, and playing some > action modifier that costs a blood. conditioning springs to mind. or > perhaps neutral guard. hmmm. play neutral guard first. so blocking > vampires must pay a blood to attampt to block, then play the inferior > daring the dawn. your bleed goes off and arika explodes. w00t. being > an Obeah deck in the first place means neutral guard fits in nicer. > and whatever vamp you steals that can play the daring the dawn can > play neutral guard at outferior. True...might have to add a few in. I have 3, but haven't used them in the deck as I saw limited use for my obeah monsters.

LSJ

Jon Stahler wrote: > You can order the resolution of the action however you like, so you can make > the vampire take the blood after the completion of the action after the 2 > agg is dealt, if I recall correctly. Its very similar reasoning to how No. The vampire gains a blood when the hunt resolves. The vampire takes two agg from Daring the Dawn after the action resolves, but before the action is ended. > you'd order effects of a vampire with Fame taken by SM. The action > resolves, but before the minion takes the two aggravated, you send the > vampire back to its controller so they lose 3 pool. Regardless, she'd be in No, you'd take the 3 pool loss, since the damage is done before the action is ended (which is, therefore, before the vampire is "sent back"). > torpor with no blood. Still not too shabby when you're talking about an > Inner Circle member. -- [ quoted text not captured ]

Joshua Duffin

"Phoenix" <izaak.h...@o2.nl> wrote in message news:bcnn47$rii$1...@reader10.wxs.nl... > > > You can tap Heidelberg to take all > > but one of its blood and then bleed your prey with it, though. > > Well, I know that, but that wasn't really the point. It's just that I think > it's kinda broken since I've lost two games in a row now because of the > damned HeidelBurg/Spirit Marionette combo. Ah, I see... > Turn 1: predator throwns down Heidel > I play some master (or not) and influence some > Turn 2: predator influences out that 7 cap Salubri with OBE > I influence out one of my own 7 caps (or 8 caps or whatever. Usually bigger > than 7) > Turn 3: predator minion taps his Salubri, Spirit Marionettes my vampire > (which is at +1 stealth, which is basically the only broken thing about the > whole combo), Heidelburgs all but one blood, bleeds me with it (for 1) and > if I'm lucky my vamp didn't have fort so it isn't happening with Daring the > Dawn or some Day Operations. Yes, it's a fairly devastating combo when it works perfectly. I was able to do pretty much what you describe in the Atlanta qualifier finals last year, which no doubt contributed a lot to my eventually winning that game. That said, it's really an "ideal case" sequence of events, and it's not likely that your Salubri deck will be able to do that every game. For one, they can't play a ton of copies of Heidelberg unless they have some way to avoid hand-jam when they keep drawing duplicates after the first one, so it's not all that likely they'll get to first-turn Heidelberg (or at least it wasn't that likely in my deck). Having any kind of intercept - 2 ideally to beat Repulsion, but 1 might well do it - will screw up their combo too, and if they don't get it the first time they'll probably never get it later on, since you can tap your vampires every turn to make the ineligible to be Spirit Marionetted. You don't have to be playing Auspex for this; Animalism, Obtenebration, Chimerstry, and Necromancy can do it, as can Prince/Justicars with Second Tradition, as can an early KRCG or London Evening Star or Rumor Mill of your own (or an ally's). (Celerity, Spiritus, Sanguinus, Melpominee too, but they're less likely.) And as you say, any deck that isn't all about fatties is much less vulnerable to this as well. > I personally believe that any card where you lose control of a vampire to > someone else, even if it's for just a short while, is a very abusable card > in itself. At least Graverobbing and cards like Temptation have *some* > requirements to get it done. And Graverobbing is just a (D) action without > inherent stealth. V:TES just relies too much on those few vampires you have > around to have them just stolen away. You're quite right, stealing vampires is a hugely good effect, possibly too good, even when it's temporary. The Salubri are "supposed" to pay for this by being Scarce and only having three vampires exist in the clan. They're still pretty good though, definitely on my top tier of Bloodlines clans. Josh and they're fun to play too! ;-)

Phoenix

> > > You can tap Heidelberg to take all > > > but one of its blood and then bleed your prey with it, though. > > > > Well, I know that, but that wasn't really the point. It's just that I think > > it's kinda broken since I've lost two games in a row now because of the > > damned HeidelBurg/Spirit Marionette combo. > > Ah, I see... > > Yes, it's a fairly devastating combo when it works perfectly. > I was able to do pretty much what you describe in the Atlanta > qualifier finals last year, which no doubt contributed a lot > to my eventually winning that game. Don't get me wrong, this is not some "I lost a game so now I whine" thing, though it does sound like that in retrospect. I lost countless games through simple weenie bleeds and heavy DOM bleeds, as well as to blur/unpreventable damage Assamite combo's, but I never felt I couldn't counter it without devoting a part of my deck to it. This is such a case; two permanent intercept is not that easy to come by. Now if it was just 3 blood or some piece of equipment, then by all means, well played. Can be used quite effectively, but is not crippling. But it's *all* you have on that vampire. Many, many decks are built around a single vamp. A Baltimore Purge deck, for example, any deck involving Goratrix and the list goes on. A simple Spirit Marionette with Day operations = one useless vampire and in a some cases - a whole deck. I'm not sure if allies can get intercept. I believe some have it and you can give it to them with London Tabloid. But who uses that? > That said, it's really an "ideal case" sequence of events, > and it's not likely that your Salubri deck will be able to > do that every game. For one, they can't play a ton of copies > of Heidelberg unless they have some way to avoid hand-jam > when they keep drawing duplicates after the first one, so > it's not all that likely they'll get to first-turn Heidelberg > (or at least it wasn't that likely in my deck). Well, I'm probably on an unlucky streak then. It's not as if the guy in question consistently sweeps the table. Not at all. His prey is usually totally crippled and ousted a bit later, but it takes too long (since he plays Ravnos with those Salubri and Ravnos are not really known for their bleed speed), so his grandprey has time to build up. I am, however, very curious what would happen if you toss 'em in a Dom/For Ventrue deck. If the only working counter is outtapping, well, good luck vs a dominate bleeder... That said, I'll think up SOME way to at least prevent it from happening so early, as has been the case in quite a few games now (have been victim only twice). Direct Intervention and Sudden seem the most logical solutions. I really hate DI though, so I settle for 5 or so Suddens in my deck to get rid of every Heidel that's being played. Or I can contest it :-)

leviathan

"Phoenix" <izaak.h...@o2.nl> wrote in message news:bcns44$1vq$1...@reader11.wxs.nl... > Well, I'm probably on an unlucky streak then. It's not as if the guy in > question consistently sweeps the table. Not at all. His prey is usually > totally crippled and ousted a bit later, but it takes too long (since he > plays Ravnos with those Salubri and Ravnos are not really known for their > bleed speed), so his grandprey has time to build up. I am, however, very > curious what would happen if you toss 'em in a Dom/For Ventrue deck. If the > only working counter is outtapping, well, good luck vs a dominate bleeder... > I've used a Venture Salubri deck in NYC. It did extremely well. I included PRE bleeds in addition to DOM bleeds, because my ventrue could use both, and it increased the chances a vampire i borrowed had a skill to pump the bleed. Allies, heavy combat decks, ravnvos sense dep and contesting matthias/blanche were the only thinks that gave me problems. All it takes is one person on the table to play haven uncovered on you which your prey should be able to convince the table to do and it resorts to a dom/pre unblockable bleed deck which while decent really isn't any good in the super deflection environment that is new york. leviathan

David Cherryholmes

On Tue, 17 Jun 2003, Phoenix wrote: > plays Ravnos with those Salubri and Ravnos are not really known for their > bleed speed No, they aren't. ;) David Cherryholmes Duke Radiology P.E.T. Facility (919) 684-7714 david.che...@duke.edu

Curevei

>> Turn 1: predator throwns down Heidel >> I play some master (or not) and influence some >> Turn 2: predator influences out that 7 cap Salubri with OBE >> I influence out one of my own 7 caps (or 8 caps or whatever. Usually bigger >> than 7) >> Turn 3: predator minion taps his Salubri, Spirit Marionettes my vampire >> (which is at +1 stealth, which is basically the only broken thing about the >> whole combo), Heidelburgs all but one blood, bleeds me with it (for 1) and >> if I'm lucky my vamp didn't have fort so it isn't happening with Daring the >> Dawn or some Day Operations. > > >Yes, it's a fairly devastating combo when it works perfectly. >I was able to do pretty much what you describe in the Atlanta >qualifier finals last year, which no doubt contributed a lot >to my eventually winning that game. > >That said, it's really an "ideal case" sequence of events, >and it's not likely that your Salubri deck will be able to >do that every game. Should they be able to do it in any game? While the "I win" effect isn't huge, the "you lose" effect can be insane. >For one, they can't play a ton of copies >of Heidelberg unless they have some way to avoid hand-jam >when they keep drawing duplicates after the first one, so >it's not all that likely they'll get to first-turn Heidelberg >(or at least it wasn't that likely in my deck). I don't think the idea of first turn Heidel is essential. Not going to act with a Salubri (most of the time) until turn 3. Even then, the combo is devastating at almost any time against quite a few match ups quite often. >Having any kind of intercept - 2 ideally to beat Repulsion, >but 1 might well do it - will screw up their combo too, and >if they don't get it the first time they'll probably never >get it later on, since you can tap your vampires every turn >to make the ineligible to be Spirit Marionetted. But, you are well aware of: the conversion into tap bleed this countertactic creates; the chance of Precognizant Mobility. >You don't >have to be playing Auspex for this; Animalism, Obtenebration, >Chimerstry, and Necromancy can do it, as can Prince/Justicars >with Second Tradition, as can an early KRCG or London Evening >Star or Rumor Mill of your own (or an ally's). (Celerity, >Spiritus, Sanguinus, Melpominee too, but they're less likely.) Daring the Dawn on the Marionette action can stop the intercept nonsense. Then, there's not always having the intercept in hand when the action happens. >And as you say, any deck that isn't all about fatties is much >less vulnerable to this as well. This may all be ancient history, but I didn't play weenie decks for the longest time (not interesting enough) until I played regularly with Fred and realize that so much of the obnoxious crap in this game can be defeated by playing weenies. It's not exactly a selling point for tolerating something that a not hard combo hurts fatties disproportionately. >and they're fun to play too! I only find gaming fun when other people have fun. An element to my disconnect with people who think screwing other people (with whatever combo, strategy, card) is fun I guess.

Snapcase

cur...@aol.commetal (Curevei) wrote in message news:<20030617190003...@mb-m21.aol.com>... >> Turn 1: predator throwns down Heidel >> I play some master (or not) and influence some >> Turn 2: predator influences out that 7 cap Salubri with OBE >> I influence out one of my own 7 caps (or 8 caps or whatever. Usually bigger >> than 7) >> Turn 3: predator minion taps his Salubri, Spirit Marionettes my vampire >> (which is at +1 stealth, which is basically the only broken thing about the >> whole combo), Heidelburgs all but one blood, bleeds me with it (for 1) and >> if I'm lucky my vamp didn't have fort so it isn't happening with Daring the >> Dawn or some Day Operations. > Should they be able to do it in any game? While the "I win" effect isn't huge, > the "you lose" effect can be insane. Is it really any worse than Mind Rape? Mind Rape tanks that minion for their controller's turn; and you can Rave/Heidelburg ALL the blood off the vampire. Not to mention they can take more actions than just "bleed" (namely diablerie). Or hell, PTO. Which would you have? Guy with 1 blood on him or a burned vamp? > I don't think the idea of first turn Heidel is essential. Not going to act > with a Salubri (most of the time) until turn 3. Even then, the combo is > devastating at almost any time against quite a few match ups quite often. Again, requires an untapped vamp of suitable size. And you still have to get the Heidel by turn 3 (and if you don't draw it in your opening hand, not taking any actions until turn 3 isn't going to help you cycle that much). > But, you are well aware of: the conversion into tap bleed this countertactic > creates; the chance of Precognizant Mobility. Precog is another moving part to the combo. And that's 2 actions you've taken to get the effect of 1 mind rape. Yes, it does encourage people to tap out; it's part of the reason the card's good. > Daring the Dawn on the Marionette action can stop the intercept nonsense. > Then, there's not always having the intercept in hand when the action happens. Daring the Dawn puts your own guy in torpor, and in the first 3 turns, it's very possible you won't have a guy to pull him out. Little risky, no? -- -Snapcase

Phoenix

> > Should they be able to do it in any game? While the "I win" effect isn't huge, > > the "you lose" effect can be insane. Couldn't have said it better. Though not a game-winner, the combo can single-handedly cost you the game. Keyword *can* here. > Is it really any worse than Mind Rape? Mind Rape tanks that minion > for their controller's turn; and you can Rave/Heidelburg ALL the blood > off the vampire. Not to mention they can take more actions than just > "bleed" (namely diablerie). Or hell, PTO. Which would you have? Guy > with 1 blood on him or a burned vamp? Yes. Mind Rape is a two-turn thing so you can prepare in advance if someone has Heidel too. You can for example drain it with Minion Tap, or just suicide it into your prey, at least taking something with you. Furthermore, Mind Rape is (D) and has no inherent stealth AND can only be used on younger vampires, which is a huge minus for the combo. > > I don't think the idea of first turn Heidel is essential. Not going to act > > with a Salubri (most of the time) until turn 3. Even then, the combo is > > devastating at almost any time against quite a few match ups quite often. It can, as you said be devastating late game too. Who said it isn't very crippling (the "You Lose"-effect again) if I lose my Goratrix on the, what, sixth turn? I will have to influence out a whole new one. That is, if you have the aforementioned Goratrix deck (which I personally don't have). What if there was a card that said: DOM: (D) at +1 stealth. Choose any ready untapped minion in play. Drain it of all but one blood and equipment and put the blood and equipemnt on a ready vampire you control. Your prey chooses one. He or she loses one pool, or the chosen vampire goes to torpor. No problems too? > Again, requires an untapped vamp of suitable size. And you still have > to get the Heidel by turn 3 (and if you don't draw it in your opening > hand, not taking any actions until turn 3 isn't going to help you > cycle that much). mute, but if you base a deck around it (very possible), you will have it by turn 3. [...] > > Daring the Dawn on the Marionette action can stop the intercept nonsense. > > Then, there's not always having the intercept in hand when the action happens. > Daring the Dawn puts your own guy in torpor, and in the first 3 turns, > it's very possible you won't have a guy to pull him out. Little > risky, no? With Obeah around? Why? In the first three turns usually nobody has a lot of intercept and later on, you can get your back back out of torpor SO easy...

CurtAdams

izaak.h...@o2.nl writes: >Yes. Mind Rape is a two-turn thing so you can >prepare in advance if someone >has Heidel too. You can for example drain >it with Minion Tap, or just >suicide it into your prey, at least taking >something with you. Your complaint was that SM can cost you a critical vampire and shut your deck down, which still happens here. Besides, it's not too often you've got a spare Minion Tap lying around or a useful suicide attack (especially considering your prey won't necessarily be too eager to smash up that vampire - he'd rather hurt one you'll continue to have) >Furthermore, Mind Rape is (D) and has no inherent >stealth AND can only be used on younger >vampires, which is a huge minus for the combo. Marionette can only be used by two vampires in the game *and* is much more limited in what you can do with the vampire (control for one bleed action only as opposed to control for an entire turn). A Mind Rape deck could, theoretically, take every vampire away from you in one turn! Besides Marionette isn't too hard to block without Daring the Dawn or the like, and with DtD the 0 stealth is irrelevant. Curt Adams (curt...@aol.com) "It is better to be wrong than to be vague" - Freeman Dyson

Snapcase

Phoenix wrote: > Yes. Mind Rape is a two-turn thing so you can prepare in > advance if someone > has Heidel too. You can for example drain it with Minion Tap, or just > suicide it into your prey, at least taking something with > you. Mind Rape taps the target vamp and they don't untap during their controller's next untap phase. Tanks the vamp for your turn, their turn, and then you steal them for your next turn. So no suicide for you. Minion tap does work; although with Heidel, I could easily transfer a blood back from one of my minions and have a fully functioning stolen vamp for the turn. > Furthermore, Mind Rape is (D) Last I checked, so was Spirit Marionette >and has no inherent stealth True. I wonder if there are any vamps with DOM that have access to a discipline that provides stealth. I'll have to look into that. > AND can only be used on younger vampires, which is a huge minus for > the combo. Spirit Marionette can only be used on untapped vamps. Furthermore, when it's stolen it can ONLY bleed, unless required to hunt. > DOM: (D) at +1 stealth. Choose any ready untapped minion > in play. Drain it > of all but one blood and equipment and put the blood and > equipemnt on a > ready vampire you control. Your prey chooses one. He or > she loses one pool, > or the chosen vampire goes to torpor. > > No problems too? Where to begin... 1. There are 2 vampires in the game that can play cards at OBE. I think there's a few more that can play stuff at DOM. I'll have to check. 2. Heidelburg is required with Spirit Marionette. 3. Why is the vampire going to torpor? He's bleeding you with 1 blood, probably for 1. You can block with a dingus and dodge. Or do you think plowing through combat cards on your own vampire is a solid idea? > mute, but if you base a deck around it (very possible), > you will have it by turn 3. How many copies do you have to include in a 90 card deck to ensure that you have it in your opening hand? 7? 8? 9? Statisics people, feel free to jump in. Say you got lucky and got the Barrens first turn... Reduces that number to 6 or 7, perhaps... That's still a lot of slots to dedicate to something that can be contested or arsoned. Sure, it's powerful. The tradeoff is the slots you lose to make /absolutely certain/ that you get the card you need. >> Daring the Dawn puts your own guy in torpor, and in the >> first 3 turns, >> it's very possible you won't have a guy to pull him out. Little >> risky, no? > > With Obeah around? Why? In the first three turns usually nobody has a > lot of intercept and later on, > you can get your back back out of torpor SO easy... Huh? If they were able to play enough intercept (read: +1, maybe +2) to force you to play DtD, they just might be able to block your Freak-Drive-and-Leave-Torpor play. Or were you planning on leaving him there for the turn? Let me know how that pans out. -- -Snapcase [ quoted text not captured ]