New Card: Animate Nightmare

Animate Nightmare
Action
Chimerstry & Obtenebration
Cost 2 blood
[chi][obt] Move X cards from the top of your library to your ready region, where X is the number of minions your prey controls. These cards represent nameless, textless allies with 2 life, 0 strength, and 0 bleed. These allies can strike for 3R damage, have an optional additional strike, maneuver, and press each round, and can enter combat with any ready minion controlled by another Methuselah as a +1 stealth action. At the end of combat, the opposing minion gains half of the blood he or she lost due to unprevented damage that combat (round down).
[CHI][OBT] As above, but move X+2 cards.

Could you make it a little stronger?

Sorry, that was an unreasonable request. There is no way to make it stronger.

Well I see what you are going for. You thinking of a card that would work like "Chain of Command" but focused for combat rather than bleeding.

As Suoli sarcastically mentioned, what you posted is too strong.

Lets look at "Chain of Command"


Chain of Command

Put X younger vampires from your uncontrolled region in play with 1 blood from the blood bank each (and with any blood they already have). You cannot choose any unique vampires already in play. Those vampires must bleed. When one of them bleeds successfully, or when all that can bleed have, move them all to the bottom of your crypt.
As above, but move X+1 younger vampires.


Lets turn that into a combat version:


Animate Nightmare

Put X younger vampires from your uncontrolled region in play with 1 blood from the blood bank each (and with any blood they already have). You cannot choose any unique vampires already in play. Those vampires must enter combat with a vampire controlled by your prey. When a vampire controlled by your prey leaves the ready region, or when all have acted, move them all to the bottom of your crypt.
As above, but move X+1 younger vampires.


Ok, that's a good start.

Two things: Since your idea was a dual-discipline card, with two non clan disciplines, you have a little room to improve on this card. Maybe add a maneuver or press. Maybe +1 strength.
Second: You should probably find a way to differentiate this card further from "Chain of Command." I kind of like using Library cards.

Here is what I suggest:


Animate Nightmare

Burn X cards from your library, where X is the number of vampires controlled by your prey. Move each combat card to your ready region as a vampire with 3 capacity and 1 blood (from the blood bank.) Those vampires must enter combat with a vampire controlled by your prey. When a vampire controlled by your prey leaves the ready region, or when all have acted, move them all to the bottom of your Library.
As above, but once each combat, the the vampire may play the card text on it's card as if from your hand, at the basic or superior level.


Ok, that version is silly, and has too much text. Not much worse than "Chain of Command" or "Illusions of the Kindred" in that respect.

As a side note, I would recall that about 4 vampires totals can play this card. An outferior would be needed, and the expansion of obt / chi vampire should precede this kind of card.

Nightmare curse, who is very difficult to play, have 24 vampires that can play its inferior, for comparison.

The card itself, regardless of its wording, will be not unlike tupdog in that it's combat where you don't have anything to lose. It will be powerful regardless of what you do.

The last direwolf version can be a nightmare to play against. If someone do the (difficult) feat of revealing mostly breath of the dragon (or burst of sunlight), your opponents will be a bloody mess quickly.

Well, it wouldn't be as bad as you say Ohlmann. Remember, they go away when a vampire controlled by your prey leaves the ready region.

In fact, "Mummify" would be a good defense against this card!

However, you may need another limiting factor... Perhaps 1 per turn? If using library cards, you might consider moving them to the ash heap or removing them from the game.

direwolf wrote:

Well, it wouldn't be as bad as you say Ohlmann. Remember, they go away when a vampire controlled by your prey leaves the ready region.

I would not have talked about nightmare if you were able to torpor multiple vampire, but of utter ridiculousness. For 1 action and 0 blood, you can put another vampire in torpor, and (with the original text), you can do it multiple time in a turn with untap or something.

Even in once per turn, it might be broken, since if you can torpor one vampire per turn with a cost this low, your prey will not be able to keep up, and considering the two vampire with also have ... (then again, you need quite some setup to regulary have a useful combat card as a nightmare.

Mummify is as bad as ever against this. If you go in torpor all by yourself, all the better.

Also, there is a bug in the formulation in that if all your prey vampire are in torpor (before you play the card), the created vampires will be able to do anything they want. Like diablerizing of bleeding.