Hello All,
I've always liked this card, I played in in the release but since then, it never makes the cut. Anyone have anything good to say about it?
Kingston Penitentiary, Ontario
Type: Master
Cost: 4 pool
Master: unique location. Hunting ground.
During your untap phase, you may move 1 blood from the blood bank to a ready vampire you control. Any other Methuselah may give you a pool during his or her untap phase to tap this card to move 1 blood from the blood bank to a ready vampire he or she controls. A vampire can gain blood from only one hunting ground card each turn.
best,
D
More evidence that your deck need not be good in order to win:
thelasombra.com/decks/twd.htm#2011tottco
Never seen it in play. Sad, cause the Owain Evanish mechanic is kind of fun though. I guess 4 pool is too much?
"My strategy? Luck is my strategy, of course."
> Dervish wrote:
> I've always liked this card, I played in in the release but since then, it never makes the cut. Anyone have anything good to say about it?
>
> Kingston Penitentiary, Ontario
> Type: Master
> Cost: 4 pool
> Master: unique location. Hunting ground.
> During your untap phase, you may move 1 blood from the blood bank to a ready vampire you control. Any other Methuselah may give you a pool during his or her untap phase to tap this card to move 1 blood from the blood bank to a ready vampire he or she controls. A vampire can gain blood from only one hunting ground card each turn.
>
It's an often-include in Parity Shift decks. That's about the only place I've ever seen it played.
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The card is just too expensive imho. If you leave the card untapped in order to get a pool, and nobody is willing to utilize it, you have just lost a turn. It may be a good way to keep you in the game, if one of your crosstable buddies is giving you pool each turn, but for the cost of 4 pool it's going to pay off only after 5 turns. So why spend the 4 pool upfront at all? I think a good alternative text would be that the controller of the card can the tap card to gain blood on one of his vampires in any untap or discard phase, so that you wouldn't loose a turn if nobody is willing to give you the pool.
I have never seen the card being played iirc.
It's a "burn 1 pool to tap the card and gain 1 blood" effect, which means that more than 1 Methuselah may use it. I say it's usable alongside with Owen. Offer 2 blood for 1 pool.
> floppyzedolfin wrote:
> It's a "burn 1 pool to tap the card and gain 1 blood" effect, which means that more than 1 Methuselah may use it. I say it's usable alongside with Owen. Offer 2 blood for 1 pool.
>
No, it's "burn 1 pool to tap the card TO gain 1 pool".
Prince of Paris, France
Ratings Coordinator, Rules Director
> Ankha wrote:
>
> > floppyzedolfin wrote:
> > It's a "burn 1 pool to tap the card and gain 1 blood" effect, which means that more than 1 Methuselah may use it. I say it's usable alongside with Owen. Offer 2 blood for 1 pool.
> >
> No, it's "burn 1 pool to tap the card TO gain 1 pool".
>
I knew waking up early wasn't a good idea
> extrala wrote:
> The card is just too expensive imho.
> *If you leave the card untapped in order to get a pool, and nobody is willing to utilize it, you have just lost a turn.
>
No, you never lose a turn.
> Card wrote:
> During your untap phase, you may move 1 blood from the blood bank to a ready vampire you control.
>
It always acts as a hunting ground for the person that put it in play/controls it.
It is an opportunity for you to control things like Restricted Vitae/Thirst, and for you to siphon pool from your prey because they don't want their own prey to have blood on their blocking vampires....
(Not saying that it is good, but it doesn't have the downside you've stated.)
> Adonai wrote:
>
> > extrala wrote:
> > The card is just too expensive imho.
> > *If you leave the card untapped in order to get a pool, and nobody is willing to utilize it, you have just lost a turn.
> >
> No, you never lose a turn.
>
He who can read card text is mighty .. I stand corrected, makes the card slightly less bad.
Math is smth like this:
2 pool for hunting ground (generic, which is good, but HG, which is not so good)
2 pool for "gain 1 pool sometimes" effect.
You need at least 3 such "sometimes" to get profit.
"Sometimes" may, imo, happen only if said metusela got vamp with no blood and does't want to hunt. In half cases it will be your prey or predator, so you will suffer more, than you gain, so for real profit you need 7-8 such "sometimes".
So it's very unlikely.
NC Russia
It does help make the get to four players more rapidly.
Sadly, it is likely you will be the first to go. I do wonder if House of Sorrow or that new end combat location make make it more playable.
In my experience, no one will pay you for it unless it helps them oust.
I've only seen this card played a few times, sometimes by me, but the real problem with this card, as I see it, is that you have no control over who usess it. For example, the few times I've seen it played it was left unused by other methuselahs until that one turn when they needed a blood so they would not have to hunt. Then, they proceed to bleed you for three for the oust. Or something else that sets them up for the GW. I seem to remember this happening 50% of the time. 4 pool is too much to pay when that lack of control comes with it. Owain gives you control and this creates bargaining options for you. I could see it having some value for a parity shift deck but other than that it is a real gamble to put on the table, IMHO.
edit: I wonder if it appears in the TWD? If so how many times?
Five tournament winning decks with Kingston Penitentiary (one copy each): [url=http://www.secretlibrary.info/index.php?deck=view&id=5684[/url]NAC Qualifier Colorado 2011: Weenie Animalism Wall[/url] -- Burt Sheldon -- Mar 5, 2011 Texas Qualifier 2010: Giovanni Real Estate -- Michael Leonard -- Jun 26, 2010 Plagues Of Egypt - Swarm: Saulot the Puppeteer -- Adrianna Pinska -- Jan 5, 2008 Communal Haven: TempleCon: Deploy the Hannibal -- Oscar Garza -- Jan 27, 2006 Great Lakes Qualifier: Legacy of Pander -- Jay Kristoff -- Apr 23, 2005
Excellent feedback all, thank you!
I had originally thought the tap effect was not useful, but have now read it properly, which is when I came here to start the thread.
More evidence that your deck need not be good in order to win:
thelasombra.com/decks/twd.htm#2011tottco
I got to use it once, with a tremere combat deck. unfortunately I got out-combatted and couldn't drain my prey's vampires. I think it only got me 1 pool from my grand-predator, as a "don't get ousted" pity gift.
Unless you're losing 4 pool to play Parity Shift, you probably need to engineer a situation where vampires are low on blood. Young Bloods, Hunger Moon, combat, stuff like that. preferably forcing your prey to tap it to oust them faster. You may not be able to control who uses it, but sometimes it's okay to let your prey get a blood so they can keep their forward pressure. just don't let them oust.
it's 2 pool for the HG effect, so if other players use it twice you've at least broken even. if it's your prey, only once is still not bad (you paid 1 extra and your prey lost 1)
also consider that it's one of the three generic hunting grounds any clan (e.g. bloodlines) can use, next to Club Zombie (4 pool) and Threestar Cab Company (3 pool). if you feel like you need a HG in the first place, it's got to compete with those two.
alternate "protection racket" strategy: slap it on the table. find a suitable player to threaten every turn. if they don't give you a pool, you're gonna rush their best vampire to torpor.
> Dervish wrote:
> I've always liked this card, I played in in the release but since then, it never makes the cut. Anyone have anything good to say about it?
>
Yeah, I can't imagine that it sees much actual play. I mean, granted, there is one actually in play in one of the JOL tournament games I'm in currently, played by some sort of pot/ani/Anarch weenie deck, but the deck doesn't seem to be doing so hot, so I can't imagine that the Funky Kingston is going to help much.
At 4 pool for a non clan hunting ground that might gain you a pool once and a while, it is just not a good card. In theory, as it could gain you all sorts of pool (due to people paying you a pool every turn around the table to give their guy a blood), but I can't imagine that someone will pay you that pool particularly often. I'd imagine that gaining 1 pool from Funky Kingston a game would be on the top end of the "does that ever actually happen?" curve. And I suspect that most games, it won't gain you any pool at all, at which point it is just a 4 pool hunting ground.
Having it in Parity Shift decks (as noted) might be worth doing, but Club Zombie is probably a generally better bad master card that costs 4 pool. And a Secret Horde (assuming you can count) is generally better than either for this particular purpose.
Maybe in some sort of hilarious Santaleous (the guy who gets +1 bleed for each HG in play) deck?
Yeah, Funky Kingston is just a mostly bad card.
> Haze wrote:
> I got to use it once, with a tremere combat deck. unfortunately I got out-combatted and couldn't drain my prey's vampires. I think it only got me 1 pool from my grand-predator, as a "don't get ousted" pity gift.
>
Sheesh. At that rate, just play Extremis Boon!
Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
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