dr jest advanced

Present version is:

Dr jest

Malkavian
Capacity: 8
Group: 1
OBF aus dom for pre
Camarilla primogen: If Dr. Jest is untapped at the start of your turn, then during your untap phase, you may make your prey discard one card at random from his or her hand (and draw back up to his or her hand size afterward).

Advanced version
Cap 8
group: 1
OBF AUS dom FOR pre ani
Primogen: dr jest can call a referendum to move a non-discipline master card on a minion to another minion as a +1 stealth political action.
Merged: dr jest may move a blood from an uncontrolled minion to your pool as a action.

I am curious as to your reasons for the changes in the Advanced version. If you follow the card submission guideline and provide additional information it will help us reading it understand the intent of the card and make informed comments and suggestions.

1) It is unusual for advanced vampires to have so many additional disciplines. I understand part of making an advanced version of a group 1 vampire is to "fix" the disciplines, but three points of disciplines is a huge swing.

2) The advanced ability and the merged ability are both different from each other as well as the original special ability. Usually there is a synergy. Being a Malkavian, perhaps it is intentional.

For the points i made a miscalculation...
My first idea was to follow more the concept that the card name bore rather than synergies... in fact i found very few synergies possible and none of them was the kind of fun i would expect from a card with the name jest on it...
the closer to it was:
- during your predator s untap if jest tapped, you may look at a card at random in his hand.
Merged: if jest is untaped during a methuselah discard phase, this methuselah may discard another card.

Furthermore: the card initial basis have many "troubles" to solve:
- cap 8 with only 6 disciplines point
- only one discipline at superior.
- wide range of disciplines but primogen so cannot become anarch without the proper card to change titled vampires into anarch
- the ability of basic version sounds fun but to use it, as you need to be untapped, you have to have untap cards knowing that majesty for instance is out of jest hands, freak drive is not bad but limited and that most of untapping cards are in animalism...
and besides efforts to be untapped to discard a card at random seems a bit irrelevant as this power seems to be weak, (without freak drives, the basic version seems.to be able to use his ability only if jest is doing nothing nor action nor block in order to not get tapped, which is quite depressing for a 8 cap vampire) the only synergies which comes to mind in g1 and g2 is with harbinger of skulls slaughterhouses... but even then would i put the inferior version which for 8 has 2 disciplines in inf...

- special comment for the table reversal + madness network: as jest has pre and OBF and is titled, he could be a nice option on paper (bewitching,...) so i thought there was maybe also a clue for improvement on this side...

So..
- i put AUS to allow him to be able to fit more easily with habringers and strenghten a little the discard aspect (not much but allowed him to play judas mask at sup)... or even maybe to find a small place in a deck with ventrue antitribe...
- FOR was to allow freak drives more efficiently as to help this card to fit better in hos decks. Beside i may be wrong but i think there is a few other fortitude cards not much played to untap as a reaction.
- ani was an idea to be able to play feline saboteur (still the discard point) and to get access to some untap cards
=> but as a total it makes 9 and not 8 so i need to remove one of these change.

Sect and titles:
- i really wondered to turn jest anarch in order to use more of his disciplines and to put constant revolution in play...

the ability:
I had big troubles for the ability my first idea was:
- if jest is ready and untapped, during any metgusrlah untap phase, this methuselah discards a card at random.
Merged: jest does not tap when successfully blocking undirected actions.

then i told myself that it missed the jestering aspect so
1st / I then thought about if it was possible to make something with such cards as malkavian pranks, malkavian games and so on... I played a few times against a malkavian pranks decks and thought it to be quite fun... i wondered if an ability related to play them more easily such as making malkavian masters to be trifle or to recover them via a discard phase or an action (a little like the gone anthelios: "you may use a discard action phase to move from your ash heap to your hand a card requiring malkavian, discard a card at random afterwards"....) t:
- but i was afraid about interactions with madness network: as it would allow to play it over and over...
- i realised that many "prank"-ing cards were for malkav antitribe and they had a puppet wearing a jester cap as well but combination with them for crypts and disciplines did not seemed to work well (dementation instead of dominate, proportions of malkav and malkav antitribe in a crypt..)

2ndly/ as reading again malkav and malkav antitribe cards i came over reality mirror...
i thought it possible to make a synergy between jest basic ability (discard) and the fact that the prey ash heap would get filled as allowing jest something as
basic: whenever jest successfully bleeds a methuselah, put a card from this methuselah library into his ash heap for each pool bled.
merged: jest can play card in your prey ash heap as if they were in your hands with an additionnal cost of 1 blood. Remove from the game any card played that way
... the basic had an interest as mixing with hosk strategies (slaughter and so on), it would have kept the "random" effect dear to malkavian... but i felt concerned about the merged as i feared it to be too strong (even if restrained by the fact that jest had no offensive at sup) and despite it could even give a sense to the wide variety of discipline of jest... .

3rdly/ i came to the version i posted yesterday... i was quite tired then and i wondered that could be the action bringing chaos or random at a table... and as well as what could be considered as "static" in the game: when i realized that master on minion had very few ways (or sometimes even none) to be moved...
Calling a vote to move a card such as: pentex, fame, blood doll, secure haven,... could really make all plans change at a table... (i m more waken up than yesterday so i wonder if it would be possible to move a legendary vampire that way or card requiring clan such as art of pain). jest by the way does not have much votes (only 1) but he has presence for bewitching and there is still such cards as bribes ... and i turned it as a vote to avoid rule troubles linked to action (ex: if i would have made it a action, if i would have a pentex owned by my predator on my prey, could have only my grand pred being able to block ?)
the merged action is kind of weak in comparison and/or irrelevant, i realize only this morning... it sounds more ravnos (danya, laza dobrescu,..) than malkavian... i thought it could give some uncertainty on the table, as to move pools from allies or to slow the predator or the prey but i m not so convinced this morning.

as i realize too that i suggested about 4 ways to make an advancement, i will try to clean it a little later : s

version 1:
concept: milling, discarding, synergies with basic version (need to stay untap, and increase of discard effect), beside milling the table and so possible to add to a hsk deck.
made anarch in order to allow constant revolution. Auspex increased to be able to play juda mask at superior (discard effect) and animalism added to allow use of animalism untap cards and to use feline saboteur.
please note the unmerged power affects his controller as well.

Dr jest
Malkavian, Capacity: 8, Group: 1
OBF AUS dom for pre ani
independant: if jest is ready and untapped, during any methuselah untap phase, this methuselah discards a card at random.
Merged: anarch. jest does not tap when successfully blocking undirected actions.



version 2:
concept: the trickster, increasing the number of malkavian pranks played in a game, giving ways to recover them...
dem is added to allow more interaction with malkav anti tribe.

Dr jest
Malkavian Capacity: 8 Group: 1
OBF AUS dom for pre dem
Camarilla primogen. During any methuselah untap phase, you can tap a minion or master requiring malkavian or malkavian anti tribe to have jest burn a blood to untap.
MERGED: You can use a discard phase action to move a card requiring malkavian or malkavian anti tribe to your hand. Discard a card from your hand at random afterward.




version 3:
concept: getting advantage of chaos at the table and to play more political way. unmerged aspect would allow some benefit to be drawn from be bounced (and in conjonction with basic version: would allow to be untapped to make the prey discard). advanced level allows to increase the political pressure.
dominate has been increased to make jest look more scary.
presence has been increased to allow majesty untaps and to strenghten the voting aspect.

Dr jest
Malkavian Capacity: 8 Group: 1
OBF aus DOM for PRE
Camarilla primogen. if jest bleeds successfully a methuselah other than your prey, he untaps unless your prey gives him a pool.
MERGED: dr jest can call a referendum to move a non-discipline master card on a minion to another minion as a +1 stealth political action.




version 4:
concept: the seer. blocking the actions at the table, revealing plans....
auspex and fortitude increased in order to suit better in a wall deck (ventrue ! or HoS)

Dr jest
Malkavian Capacity: 8 Group: 1
OBF AUS dom FOR pre
Camarilla primogen. during every methuselah untap phase, reveal a card at random from this methuselah hand. If a master card is revealed that way, jest can spend a blood to untap.
MERGED: jest can play card in your prey ash heap as if they were in your hands with an additionnal cost of 1 blood. Remove from the game any card played that way.

Well, I asked for it. And got more than I asked for!

In a perfect world we could print them all! There is no reason you can't have more than one different advanced versions of a vampire.

One of the design goals is to have cards distinct enough that you don't confuse them, so Ideally the artwork would be different for each version. If the designers were willing to overlook that caveat we could have multiple versions of advanced vampires with the same image. This would allow a greater variety of play with minimal investment of time and resources.