Card "starvation" bleed defence

I agree, Semsith and Blood Weakens are both fairly easy to get into play, Semsith having a major drawback.

That said, a reaction card played by a minion to "card starve" a player is only effective for a single action, whereas both Semsith and Blood Weakens are effects that stay in play, and are difficult to remove.

A reaction card, with a small opportunity to play with a blood cost and an effect limited to a single action... should be strong.

A player facing such a card will either:
A) play the cards they have because they didn't plan on bleeding with all their minions
or
B) don't play any more cards because they have other minions to use up cards in hand

"do not replace cards until end of minion phase" for a single action is not nearly as powerful as "Meddling of Semsith" or "Blood Weakens."

So,
The first two cards I drafted go into play with X counters (should add a burn clause, didn't). But the downside is they are only used on bleeds.

The Anarch card, to give it a bit of grunt, is usable on any action but doesn't go into play.
Hadn't thought too far about what to give it for discipline flavours...

Obstructive Haven
Unique Master. Trifle. Haven.
Put this card on a vampire. This vampire has +1 intercept against actions directed at her. When a minion takes a directed action against this vampire, the minion's controller does not replace minion cards played until the end of the current minion phase.

Max Hammerman, P.I.
Unique Retainer. 2 life.
1 pool.
This vampire may bleed at +1 bleed as a action. When the vampire with this retainer is attempting to block, the acting minion's controller does not replace minion cards played until the end of the current minion phase.

I don't have any comments about the specific cards proposed, but I wanted to say that I love the idea of incorporating further card starvation in future sets. I hope the Design Team makes use of the mechanic.

DeathInABottle wrote:

I don't have any comments about the specific cards proposed, but I wanted to say that I love the idea of incorporating further card starvation in future sets. I hope the Design Team makes use of the mechanic.

The mechanic of "card starvation" may be effective if used right, however it makes the game very un-fun for the player on the receiving end.

I won a tournament with a Meddling of Semsith deck and I saw the pain in each of my predators.

Card starvation is already in the game, but very limited. Expansion of this mechanic should be used judiciously. Limiting it to cards played during a single action is one step.

VtES will benefit from more nuanced winning strategies only if they do not come at the expense of another player's enjoyment of the game, or if it does not slow the game down.

Card starvation as a concept slows the game down, at least for the player affected (and therefor affects their enjoyment of the game.)

One only has to look at the Imbued or Ashur Tablet. Playing an Imbued deck or Ashur Tablets deck often consumes game time with additional shuffling and maintenance of the game state.