Tariq and merging

ICL wrote:

I would say the mechanic is a problem. I don't care to build star vampire decks.

There is plenty of empirical evidence of people having success with star vampire decks. Your valid personal preference doesn't invalidate the evidence.

In decks where you run multiple copies of the same vampire just because you could merge them, you decrease the ability to get a more diversified crypt.

Yes, that's one of the drawbacks, along with the risk taken of putting a lot of eggs in one basket.

I found my Pot/Dom deck with both Sutphens was just strictly better without both.

That doesn't invalidate merging a vamp or playing a star vampire deck. That just shows that particular crypt card was a poor choice for the deck you wanted to build.

But, really, if the idea is to merge, then the merged minion needs a power greater than that of the Jurai Royal Family.

So, really, the idea is to make something grossly overpowered? I think we can achieve something less hyperbolic and still suitable.

If the idea is that you can casually merge, both versions need to be worth playing, which is a problem with older vampires that have suck versions when creating advancies for them.

That raises the question of whether it's ok to wallpaper a card that was already functionally wallpapered from the start.

elotar wrote:

BenPeal wrote:

You're a weird man, sir.

One deck in 20 years - not a good track record for mechanic.

First advanced vampires came out 2003 (Anarchs had few advanced vampires and Lambach (adv) was released as storyline promo)

I second Klaital's comments on Sebastian Goulet, especially in today's Ally heavy environment.

Also, stand by for this year's Ropecon's TWD list, features some Advanced vampires from PDF expansions.

elotar wrote:

Lönkka wrote:

The guy said that "I cant think of a single tournament winning deck that uses it."

I showed him six examples.

No one said that you need to have X or Y amount of advanced vamps...

No.

tE said "Advancing vampires is one of the weakest new mechanics added", everything else is not relevant, and your ansver is "there are 6 decks in twda with basic and adv vampires in the crypt".

Yes.
I never contested the fact that the mechanic ain't one of the hottest one.

I merely corrected his faulty supporting statement.


Nice troll BTW...

BenPeal wrote:

ICL wrote:

If the idea is that you can casually merge, both versions need to be worth playing, which is a problem with older vampires that have suck versions when creating advancies for them.

That raises the question of whether it's ok to wallpaper a card that was already functionally wallpapered from the start.

Expanding on this thought a bit, if creating a new, Advanced version of a vampire that's good on its own would wallpaper the original base version, then that could be a case for having a strong merged special. You could still play the Advanced version on its own without merging, but you'd have the deck design option of merging if you wanted to, hopefully avoiding wallpapering the base version.

elotar wrote:

I think this is the only TWD which really used epiphanies:
www.secretlibrary.info/index.php?deck=view&id=19596

There's also this one from Matti Palomäki, which also has 5 Epiphanies in the deck to merge Hannibal, its star vampire:

www.veknfrance.com/decks/twd.htm#2k9mondaymayhemx

And there's this one, ironically enough from Ian Lee (ICL):

www.veknfrance.com/decks/twd.htm#2k7wonThursday

Ian's deck, however, appears to be less invested in merging its two mergeable vamps. It looks like it's more of a toolbox option.