On Parity Shift 6. "problematic card".

bakija wrote:

But it does provide an unprecedented swing in relative pool (i.e. 10). And is more powerful than any other vote in the game in any reasonable situation, by a significant margin. And, generally speaking, probably *should* replace most other damaging votes.

I have a lot of objections :
* the "pool swing" is a false concept. Parity shift does 5 pool damage and bloat 5 pool, two very distinct effects that only rarely can be compared.

Both effects are very desireable, but it's pretty easy to see that a 10-pool damage vote would be much more powerful than parity shift, and a 10-pool gain vote, while very broken, would have an extremely different usage than parity shifts.

The middle ground of Parity shift make it much worse than a 10-pool action. I admit that Parity shift can be a lot less powerful than a 10-pool damage action *and* be overpowered. But I want the whole '10-swing' nonsense put to an end.

* You have not convinced me that Parity shift have made every non-parity shift deck futile. They are documented sabbats votes decks, and they are far from being unplayable.

* even the bests vote deck does not play only parity shift. It may be a reason behind this, like the fact that Parity Shift is not alway the best option.

* no deck have good reason to stop playing immediatly when they see a parity shift. While very powerful, it does not shut down decks completely, or have huge and unavoidable effects. That's why I believe Graverobbing is more powerful than Parity shift, because the effect can be much, much more drastic.

To sum it up, I see a lot of strong words against Parity Shift, but not a lot of strong arguments.

Jeff wrote:

Q: What is the strongest political action that doesn't require setup (RevCo) or a younger vampire (Banishment)?

A: PARITY SHIFT

Not sure if this is some sort of irony, but here goes.
Define "require setup" in a way where it includes having a baron and at least one other untapped anarch vampire but does not include having a prince/justicar and less pool than at least one other methusaleh. Or did I miss anything in your Q and A?

Con- 5 pool loss and 5 pool gain is to much for any vote without limitations.

Only targeting a meth with more pool is easy to build around.

The title requirement is laughable as those vampires have access some of the best "title required" cards in the game and the votes to pass it.

Second Tradition
Temptation of Greater Power
Alastor
1st Tradition Progeny


I recommend changing the requirement of Prince/Justicar to Primogen.
This makes PS harder to pass (i.e. less votes) and removes synergistic cards.

Shard wrote:

Second Tradition
Temptation of Greater Power
Alastor
1st Tradition Progeny

In my opinion, the accumulation of thoses cards added to the fact that prince is a title is indeed much more of a problem than Parity Shift.

If we compare thoses cards to the blacks hands card, the black hand card are equally powerful (more or less), much more difficult to play, and not by titled vampires. And the sabbats titled card aren't exactly up to speed, at least in my opinion.

Shard wrote:

I recommend changing the requirement of Prince/Justicar to Primogen.
This makes PS harder to pass (i.e. less votes) and removes synergistic cards.

Gameplay-wise, maybe. But it make no lore sense at all. Thoses cards are important in the sense they do show that camarilla princes are indeed very powerful, where sabbat is a lot less centralized.

In our play group there is normally one (sometimes two) political deck packing Parity Shifts or a Reckless Agitation deck. Most of our players pack either confusions of the eye, delaying tactics, D.I and of course intercept.

Prey of a parity shift decks are normally smart enough to try to keep their pool out of parity shift range if they can, however Reckless Agitation/voter cap seem do very well also (not over powered though).

I think Parity Shift is a powerful card, however not excessively so.