Nocturn - how does it work ?

The nocturn is a card that look very promising, but can be really confusing too. I have not found any extended faq on how it work (contrary to Mask of a thousand face for exemple), so I have some question.

First, the card :

Nocturn [SoC:C, HttB:PKia2]
Cardtype: Ally
Cost: 1 blood
Discipline: Obtenebration
Demon with 1 life. 1 strength, 1 bleed.
[obt] Move Nocturn to the ready region when recruited. If this is this vampire's first successful recruit action this turn, he or she untaps. Nocturn can play non-ally cards that require basic Obtenebration as a vampire. Burn Nocturn during your untap phase.
[OBT] As above, and this vampire may perform this action again this turn, with the cost increased by 1 blood.
Artist: Leif Jones

1 - If a vampire recruiting Nocturn have superior [OBT], must I have another Nocturn in hand to perform the action again ? Or can I just create another nocturn from thin air ?

2 - If a vampire recruit a nocturn again in the same turn, does the vampire untap ? I suppose not, but I have seen threads with people talking about a nocturn that cost 7.

3 - If I use a compel the spirit on a nocturn, will the nocturn burn at my next untap ? Will the vampire untap ? Same question with others ally-retrieving card like Pressing Flesh, etc, or, with alternate way to play ally, like Summon history.

Compel the Spirit [DS:U2, FN:PG, LotN:PG]
Cardtype: Action
Cost: 1 blood
Discipline: Necromancy
+1 stealth action.
[nec] Move an ally or retainer that was burned from play since your last turn from your ash heap to your hand.
[NEC] As above, but move it to your ready region (ignore requirements and cost) with X life from the blood bank, where X is the starting life of the ally or retainer. If it is a retainer, place it on the acting minion.
Artist: Stuart Beel; Eric Deschamps

Last thing, if I want stratefic advice on a card, in which section should I make a thread ? Deck clinic ? I have found some deck lists with nocturn, but without explanation on how they are supposed to be used nocturn is more or less a proxy of computer hacking.

Thanks.

Ohlmann wrote:

1 - If a vampire recruiting Nocturn have superior [OBT], must I have another Nocturn in hand to perform the action again ? Or can I just create another nocturn from thin air ?

you must have another Nocturn card in hand.

Ohlmann wrote:

2 - If a vampire recruit a nocturn again in the same turn, does the vampire untap ? I suppose not, but I have seen threads with people talking about a nocturn that cost 7.

no. it says explicitly in the card text that it untaps after first successful recruit.

These answers are correct.

One last question. Does superior nocturn allow only additional nocturn recruit, or any other ally recruit, like a war ghoul ? In other word, the same action refer to the "recruit an ally" or to "recruit an ally playing the nocturn card" ?

Ohlmann wrote:

One last question. Does superior nocturn allow only additional nocturn recruit, or any other ally recruit, like a war ghoul ? In other word, the same action refer to the "recruit an ally" or to "recruit an ally playing the nocturn card" ?

A vampire can recruit two different allies in a turn anyway, without any special text. (Obviously, they need to untap somehow.)

A vampire is prevented from taking the following actions more than once per turn (with the restricting 'taint' kicking in when the action resolves, successfully or not):

• any bleed
• any political action
• the same action card by name (e.g. you can't play two Govern the Unaligneds, one for inferior one for superior; you can't employ two Wolf Companions)
• an action from a card in play (e.g. my Arika has a single Haven Uncovered on her - your Theo Bell can't use it twice to rush her in the same turn, but if Arika had two Haven Uncovereds on her, you could use each separetely; my Wynn has a built-in rush action on him, which he can take once per turn)
• the 'built-in' Red List rushes if you mark the vampire (by the text in section 11)

A vampire can employ Nocturn + War Ghoul in one turn. Or Shambling Horde + Nocturn. Or Renegade Garou + Nocturn + War Ghoul + Shambling Horde.

But not two Shambling Hordes or two War Ghouls, because that's the same action card by name. (Like playing two Governs.)

Nocturn + Nocturn is, of course, allowed by Nocturn's own text.


The tournament floor rules, many years ago, did restrict actions by type e.g. only one hunt per turn, only one recruit per turn. Those rules don't exist now. (And strictly only applied to tuornaments, though were common in home games.)