Masochism + The Eldest Command Undeath

Hello!

An interesting concept came to me recently and just wanted a clarification on the workings and rulings of these cards together.

- Can I use the rush counters from Masochism in the referendum to pay for the card? If yes, can I use blood and rush counters in any distribution I want?

- Can I burn an older vampire with the vote? The card doesn't specify it, but technically you shouldn't be able to burn more blood than what your vamp's cap is, so older vamps would normally be out of question.

Thanks, in advance!


Masochism
[Fortitude]
+1 stealth action.
[for] Put this card on the acting vampire. Whenever damage is successfully inflicted on this vampire, put 1 rush counter on this card for each point of damage. Remove rush counters in excess of the vampire's capacity. Whenever this vampire plays a card, you may remove X rush counters from this card to reduce that card's blood cost by X.
[FOR] As above, but put an additional rush counter on this card at the end of any round of combat in which this vampire takes damage.

Eldest Command Undeath, The
Requires a Laibon.
Choose a vampire controlled by your prey with capacity less than X. Successful referendum means that vampire is burned. This acting vampire cannot gain blood this action. Any blood he or she gains goes to the blood bank instead.
[Blood Cost] X

1) No. Burning blood is no "damage inflicted".
2) Only if you managed to put "The Ankara Citadel, Istanbul" on the Laibon taking this political action.

About the 1st point: your answer is how exactly related to the question I asked? You technically stated a fact, it's just not an answer to the question. If I have rush counters already available, that should count as a blood substitute, as far as I can tell, so in-theory I should be able to have a vamps capacity doubled for the consideration of cards requiring blood to play.

If what is say is correct then I can technically have enough resource to burn a higher cap vampire than the one who called the political action, if the card sets no other boundaries, which this card doesn't.

The vote has a cost, so you can use the rush counters to reduce that cost. You may choose to use the rush counters and real blood in any combination.

Nothing prohibits you from having X be larger than the acting vampire's capacity, as long as the action is legal to take when it is announced. Given that, you'd need an effect that will reduce the cost of the action from X to some number that the vampire can actually pay for with its own blood.

That means you have to burn the rush counters when announced because of the text on Masochism (also because there's no way you'd have blood to do this if the target is larger). See also Ravnos Carnival, The Shard, etc. for effects that will reduce costs in this way.

Oh, okay, that makes sense.

So I can use the rush counters without any problems if the target I call it on is smaller than me and have to burn only if it passes (in whatever distribution of rush or blood I want), but if it's older than the one calling the referendum I cannot 'pre-finance' the cost of the card from rush counters and the action just simply fails because I cannot even call it out to reduce it after (I could only call it if I could theoretically pay the card by myself, by default).

You must always use the rush counters when you announce the action, per card text:
"Whenever this vampire plays a card, you may remove X rush counters from this card to reduce that card's blood cost by X."

This is different than some other cost reduction effects which can be used when it is paid.