Submission - Control of Financial Flows (trifle Sudden)

Ok, my previous answer was on the funny side, but the truth is...
I don't understand the logic behind
"Let's make a card that does this and that and prevent this and that" -While there are already generic cards which are perfectly suited for the same purpose. Sudden Reversal is here from day one. Why people would want to put some specific anti master where a wonderful, anti ALL master is at hand ?

Most of the cards that don't see play, are the most specific-stituation card. What's the point in playing a combat card that allows any minion to do agg damage against a baali if no one plays baali ? (Am I forced to play my deck only in mallorca ?)

So why would i want a specific sudden that only cancels trifles, and if my prey does not play trifle, i'm stuck with it and cannot reversal a Pentex put on my own vampire, despite having two copies of the proposed stuff in hand ?

There is a faulty logic in my opinion, and I want to know if i'm mad or something. Or if i'm just being down to earth. PLZ HLP !

Ankha wrote:

Do you know that thing they call metagame?

No. Dang, I should have asked your sister last night.

Like playing Scourge of the Enochians for instance when expecting weenie.

Except there is no card that does specifically what Scourge of the Enochian does : burning other methuselah's weenies without the need to attempt actions.

Maybe it lacks an "alternative" effect to make it look it isn't a simple silver bullet.

Some silver bullets are good. I play Fear of mekhet often because IC/J are very difficult to hanlde : hard to rush them (obedience, mental maze), can't banish them, plus they give a grip on the vote lock. Playing a silver bullet if you know "x" type will ruin your deck is perfectly acceptable.

Ankha wrote:

It won't save you from a Pentex, but is useful in other situations, such as restricting your prey's access to pool (Villein, Vessel) or blood (Coven, Life in the City).

I am not sure this card will hit his intended target.

I suppose the goal is (mainly) to help fight villein abuse, with the additional benefit of being useful at other moment.

However, the decks which are really keen on villein abuse often have multiple MPA too, since to do regulary villein for 8+ you often will need multiple MPA to play Zillah and cycle master with Anthelios. For thoses decks, this card is inconvenient, but if they have two MPA and two villein, all they lose is a villein and a MPA - the second villein will trigger the trifle. It's something they can live with, since they can do their villein and adapt their deck to add much more villein, something people already begin to do because of Wash.

On the other hand, a deck that sport villein because its main vampire is a 10-cap will be much more affected, since they can't play a second villein if the first one is cancelled by this card. So, they have to fall back on Minion tap, which have severe effect on their deck compositions.

In other words, this card make S&B better against non-MPA deck, and make MPA deck better because it weaken the opposition without really weakening them. I believe it's the polar opposite of the intended effect.

Another problem is that it can cancel non-pool related master. Wider view and Maleficia/Strige are the two most problematics, since they are very necessary to most deck playing them, and this card shut them down a lot harder than Wash. If your proposition were widely used, deck depending on strange crypt composition (slave gargoyle, for example), and Maleficia/Striga deck would be prevented from being playable entirely. I think it's another unintended side effect.

This card also snipes abombwe skill cards, along with some archtypes. I sont think that fits with the theme of the card, and i really dont see where keeping someone frm playing devil channel back or an archetype from BH is addressing a truly compelling game need. As stated, if such were the case, we have sudden and villein.

As a rule, 2 variants of the same master carx effect are plenty. See sudden/wash, minion tap/villein, blood doll/vessel, and mivimg to non-trifle pairs direct intervention/dark influences, or misdirection and anarch troublemaker.
So, while id be intrigued to see a second version of staples like info highway, archon investigation, pentex, hungry coyote, or even warsaw station(why not? Brujah got carthage parts 1 and 2...) i dont see a need for a third sudden. Especially since the effect is also aped by bleeding the vine, rewind time, and Santaleous.

Now, if you were to design a Hold that canceled or taxed a named card until some condition was met, id be onboard. Ezpecially since it would be the only playable hold, and no longer a narrow silver bullet. Like this:

Noble Ecatarinas Hold
Cost x pool
Master out if turn.unique.
Play this carx during another methuselahs untap phase to name a card and give Noble Ecatarinas Hold to that methuselah with x hold counters(x must be greater than 0 but less than 5). That methuselah cannot play the named card. During that methuselahs master phase, they may move a pool to this card. When this card has pool equal to its hold counters, burn the card, and the methuzelah who played it gains half the pool on it, rounded up.