Submission: Dark Statue

Yeah probably, consider it just a janky typo on my part then

Gargoyles need stuff, and slave help = bad because Tupdog is the only good gargoyle. Hell, non- slave gargoyles can only win by dumb luck.

The vis textcis weak as hell. Armor of Terra isnt great, but it is 30 times better than this, even at inferior. VIS seems a bit much.
tha is maybe too good too. Try supporting JUST gargoyles:

Dark Statue
Action
[Reflex] cancel a D action that requires a discipline targeting this vampire as it is played.
pot: put this card on this acting Gargoyle. The Gargoyle eith this card gets +1 strength. Burn this card if this vampire goes to torpor, a vampire may have only one Dark Statue.
vis: As above, and this vampire treats aggravates damage as normal.
VIS: As above, and untap this vampire at the end of the turn. You may discard a card requiring VIS or Gargoyle from your hand to give this vampire +1 intercept against a D action directed at you or a Gargolye or location you control.

Or, you can make the first one POT and be anyone. that way, big potence gets a free standing strength card withoit printing another PS ripoff as meh as Heroic Might.

Reflex is mirroring your VIS, pot is something gargoyles need, especially as part of a vis ability, vis is a free version of Amer of Terra, which is useable but not great, and VIS stacks well with as the crow, since you can play this, untap, do something else, and be awake to block still, with a neat intercept/card cylce trick to boot.
Gargoyles who arent a team of Tupdogs can either:
A. Block and stay alive and win by luck and such
Or
B. Lose.
Spent alot of time honing this from hypothesis into vtes fact.

Outside of Gargolyes getting a card thats Kamut to another gargoyle at vis and patronage or intimidation at VIS, they need utility cards with extra strength. Maybe an anarch 3 way ith vis, pot, fortitude someday.

Klaital wrote:

VIS is purposefully strong, because gargoyles are not exactly top tier, not even among bloodlines, so they could use strong cards.

I'd much rather they got four or five good cards than one or two really strong cards. The trouble is that strong cards cause problems for future design because every time you think "Ooh, we could give them..." then you have to think "Ack, but that combos really awesomely with that super strong card we gave them three years back." Dominate suffers from that a lot. Potence has some issues in combat - most times you think of some cool new thing to give to Potence close-range combat, you have to think "But this can combo with Immortal Grapple" and it becomes hard to give Potence something new and cool without making weenie Pot more resilient.

In this particular case, a card design mechanic I really like is the simple one of putting the card on the acting minion, whether as equipment, a retainer, or just an action card that goes on them somehow. You instantly get a lot more potential for cross-table interaction in a way that's much reduced if it's just "Put this card in play". People can Banish the vampire, they can rush the vampire, they can Pentex Subversion the vampire so it can't act one turn (if acting is relevant to the card effect), it can be stolen with Mind Rape and the equipment or retainer 'borrowed', they can do a whole bunch of things that meddle with your minion in some fashion. And then because the card has a whole bunch of built-in downsides like that, it can be a bit more powerful and fun and flexible than a card that was just "Put this card in play".

But then you put such a card on a vampire who's practically immune to such meddling and it becomes a lot more troublesome.

Klaital wrote:

Also just sitting there untouchable isn't going to win you games, you can just do actions that the gargoyle needs to block and then kick their ass in combat, or just ignore it and stealth past if thats what your deck does.

Not all objections to new cards are power-related. V:TES is supposed to be a game of Methuselahs interacting with one another - with pool, with minions, with master cards etc. Reducing interaction can make a game a lot less fun.

Now, obviously, players do need to be able to fend you off, with Obedience, with Majesty, with Secure Haven, with Call of the Hungry Dead, with Day Operation. The minion cards there are relatively transient, though. But Secure Haven exists too, and isn't that just the same? Well, obviously it's similar but:

a) as a location, it's potentially affected by cards like Arson and Disputed Territory and Rewilding, cards that do see play (or will hopefully do so in the case of Rewilding)

b) as a unique card, it's harder to build around. You don't want your hand full of them, you can only have one on one vampire. Also, unique cards can be contested (which is definitely not the strongest strategy in the world, but does happen for popular cards).

c) you can still be hit by master cards, just they cost more - and there's also a downside for you as the controlling Methuselah if you find you do want to hit him with a Villein later.

Klaital wrote:

But yes its still vulnerable to votes, and to certain other things like anarch troublemaker, Intisar's special, superior Edged Illusion,

Superior Edged Illusion is a action with many targets. According to the text you posted, "this vampire cannot be the target of D actions". And so this falls under RTR 2008-AUG-08:

www.thelasombra.com/rules/RTR080808.htm

That wrote:

Some actions target more than one thing, some without the ability to
individually control the selection, like Edged Illusion or Jaroslav Pascek's
special ability. If one or more of the targets cannot be targeted (because of
Trophy: Safe Passage, Sleep Unseen, or Reality, for example), the action can
still be taken, and it will simply have no effect on the things it cannot target
(and have the normal effect on the allowable targets).

Trophy: Safe Passage (for comparison) says: "he or she cannot be the target of other Methuselahs' actions."

Klaital wrote:

Also for the tha effect, taking in that Flames of the Netherworld already exists,

Turns out my eyes had always glazed over the fallback level of that. Ooh.

Klaital wrote:

EDIT: Thinking about it more, could perhaps though change it so the superior effect is only active when the gargoyle with it is untapped.

That might be more interesting, in that it provides a trade-off between acting and immunity, and gives options and choices for Freak Drive. And interesting choices like that are good for the game ("Should I untap and rush that guy, or should I untap for immunity?") because they give scope for players to make the 'wrong' choice.

AmI the only one who sees the thaumaturgy effect and even the visceratika as too pwerful?
WHy isn't it treats aggravated damage as normal instead of immune?

Compare it to Ignore the Searing Flames and you'll find that the tha effect is not even close to well thought out, no way that should be as strong as DAI.

theEmperor wrote:

AmI the only one who sees the thaumaturgy effect and even the visceratika as too pwerful?
WHy isn't it treats aggravated damage as normal instead of immune?

Compare it to Ignore the Searing Flames and you'll find that the tha effect is not even close to well thought out, no way that should be as strong as DAI.

Have you actually ever seen anyone use Ignore the Searing Flames? A card being more powerful than a complete wallpaper card is not a bad thing. That being said, Ignore the Searing Flames can be used at any time, this one is pre-range which is considerably weaker.