Buried under rubble - non combat potence card

Buried under rubbles
Action modifier
Only usable when this acting minion is blocked (play before combat, if any).
: end the current action without combat. Tap the blocking vampire and inflict one damage to it.
: as above, and the blocking minion cannot block or play reaction card until its controller next untap phase.

WoD source : not a direct power, but using potence to bury someone under rubble or pin it with something heavy is both portrayed in lore and used by RPG player.

Game need : this card help potence clan to deal with wall deck by disabling a blocker for the turn. It also allow to damage the blocker without taking any risk. To compensate for that, it work only on blocked action, meaning it lack versatility and depend on your opponent to be playable. Also, the action end unsuccessfully without untap.

An alternative would be for the superior to do 2 damage. It would be stronger against people that villein to hard and with combat strategy, but it would not help your other action to actually do something.

Add this to Horseshoes and it becomes "Would you like to take 1/2 from Horseshoes, or block and take 1/2 anyway?"

Horseshoes
Action
Inflict 1 unpreventable damage on a ready minion.
Inflict 2 unpreventable damage on a ready minion.

Miasmat wrote:

Add this to Horseshoes and it becomes "Would you like to take 1/2 from Horseshoes, or block and take 1/2 anyway?"

You mean, like when you block a rush where you have either a combat or a combat ?

Ohlmann wrote:

You mean, like when you block a rush where you have either a combat or a combat ?

No, more like your Obedience / Revelation of Despair is stuck in your hand and you've taken the damage I couldn't give you because there wouldn't have been a combat anyway.

I object more to the cost, as I'd compare the card to Kiss of Ra , which requires the blocker not to have a specific discipline and costs 3 blood.
In the late game, or after a Villein , this could be better.

I don't think Lasombra or Brujah need more ways to neuter bounce. Seduction and Approximation of Loyalty already are solid, but last only for the turn. This provides partial lock down for several actions (and a whole table round for your predator).

Basic recoups no action, just eliminates combat -- an area where potence shines -- in exchange for a ping. Barely even comes out as a wash, mostly a bad exchange. Superior removes minion interaction greater than a Seduction or Approximation. Strong, but to what real metagame benefit?

VtES is a game of small effects. It's why it survived so many expansions. However, it's better to explore power laterally and with restrictions. This is too little to cycle at basic, and possibly too much for heavy bleed at superior.

What is your goal with this design?

@Azel:
Seduction does NOTHING to stop bounce.
There are few ways in VTES to deter flick. VTES might be a game of 'small effects' but there are enough ways for vampires to avoid a combat (S:CE, S:D, Obedience, etc) that adding in a variation of this card wouldn't cripple the tournament scene. We haven't seen a sudden forest of Horseshoes decks appearing, so letting take actions to ping people for blood hasn't obliterated the tournament scene. Basically because decks tend to have issues getting actions through, or if they can (i.e. Las, Nos and !Nos) they'd prefer to be doing other actions at stealth.