Card type idea: Master - Flaw

Juggernaut1981 wrote:

Why not just Sense-Dep, Pentex, Mind of a Child or any number of other things you could do to make someone cry about their recently wasted 9 pool on a vampire that didn't get to do anything...

I'd like getting a flaw more than being pentexed or sens.deped to be honest.

Luna, your cards remember me on
New in Town
Unique master.
Put this card on any vampire with a capacity below 8 who was moved to the ready region in any Methuselah`s influence phase since your last turn. This vampire gets -1 stealth. This vampire can burn this card as a action.

A card I never thought of when building decks. That kind of cards are probably just too cornercase to add them. Or would be too strong if they were not removable. I don't know. It is a nice idea reminding on the roleplaying game. It seems too difficult to implement it into the game.

Largely, cards like this get overlooked because they're master cards.

The problem of being a master card is that - in most games - only a few are played, especially non-trifle master cards. So you're in the situation where I'm perhaps playing 8, 10, 12 non-trifle master cards in a game. Every time I play one, I have to think whether it's better than the "big guns" I could be playing. For example, would I rather have drawn into Flaw: Wallpaper Allergy, or:

- Villein
- Blood Doll
- Pentex(tm) Subversion
- Ashur's Tablet
- Giant's Blood
- Dreams of the Sphinx
- Direct Intervention
- Sudden Reversal / Wash
- Lilith's Blessing

These are the things you're competing against in quite a lot of decks. And obviously, specific decks may have their own needs - Smiling Jack or an intercept locations for a wall, Aching Beauty or Grand Ball for a Toreador deck, or whatever.

So, when I play it, I want it to matter as much to me as Giant's Blood does, or Dreams of the Sphinx does. So it wants to be pretty good. Then if it's only going to be good some of the time, it needs to make up for that - perhaps it's easy to cycle, perhaps it's more powerful than normal when it does work.

That sort of mechanism means the card is potentially going to have to be better than Pentex(tm) Subversion when it is played - and that's a very potent card indeed.



However, having debilitating effects isn't all bad. Options you might consider exploring include:

• Trifles - potentially a bit weaker, but a little easier to play
• Alternative options for the card, so the 'main' use of the card doesn't have to be so strong to warrant inclusion in a deck. For example, if every Flaw: X card said "Alternatively, play this card (without putting it in play), and burn an Archetype card controlled by any Methuselah." The alternative use could (perhaps!) mainstream it a little.
• Perhaps you could use the same sort of disbenefits, but impose them in a different way. Perhaps they're revealed as blackmail material by another vampire, or perhaps they're easily played reactions. Maybe the -1 stealth to actions isn't the result of overconfidence, but a punishment laid down by a titled vampire for a Masquerade breach.
• Include a built-in cancellation mechanic, such as is found on Golconda. (It doesn't have to be the same mechanic, obviously!) A choice of "Accept this flaw, or take some other punishment" is a potentially interesting choice that might stimulate deck-building creativity.

Additionally, restricting things to uncontrolled minions often means that you need to draw them early, or not at all. (At that point, alternative uses are good.) I mean, you can still play them in the mid-to-late game, but a lot of decks aren't bringing new vampires out then anyway.

Master. Flaw.
Put this card on a vampire you control. [This vampire gets small negative ability.] Search your library for a Master Archetype card and place it on this vampire. Shuffle library afterward.

Not so bad perhaps. You could pick flaws which have minor impacts on your deck design, but Archetypes which are more positive.

It's certainly a decent idea, but since vampires can only have one archtype and there is already almost no reason whatsoever to play any archtype other than Perfectionist, you might as well add in extra perfectionists and have them without the [small negative ability] attached.

Rebel is nice archetype, in some decks Dabbler or Monster or Cavalier or Capitalists are good too. There is more choices than just Perfectionist.

Nothing can save traditionalist or bravo, but many others are playable and even strong in some decks.

The card Jeff proposed actually is playable, since you can play multiple of those and few archetype cards, and fetch archetypes from your deck (so you don't draw them later thus less 'dead draws' and higher chance to have those archetypes in play when playing 70-90 library cards total).

Rebel is nice archetype

Rebel being trifle still doesn't make it worth slotting in a deck. It has a huge opportunity cost and will not do anything for you in 2 out of 3 games. It's in all reality better substituted with a Life in the City.

Dabbler

I don't think this is a good card, actually. If it was two disciplines, then yes, but three... really? Care to come up with a sample deck where it's better than just more Freak Drives or Perfectionists?

Monster or Cavalier

Ye sure, those are useful card in some decks and one of the reason I said "almost no reason..."

Capitalists

Limited to Sabbat only and while it can have its place in G2 !malk bleed decks, it's almost always better as a Perfectionist because they trigger from pretty much the same thing anyway (note that you need to bleed your *prey* for capitalist to trigger).

There is more choices than just Perfectionist.

Printed, yes. Playable? Not so much.

The card Jeff proposed actually is playable, since you can play multiple of those and few archetype cards, and fetch archetypes from your deck (so you don't draw them later thus less 'dead draws' and higher chance to have those archetypes in play when playing 70-90 library cards total).

Wait, what?

How is this card less of a dead draw than an extra archtype is? Unless you are interested in spending an MPA to make one of your vampires worse...