[Submission] Corpse Decoy

Corpse Decoy
Combat
X

X is 0. Strike: Combat Ends.
X is 1. As above but inflict 1 damage to the opposing minion once combat ends if the range is close.
X is 2. As above but if this vampire is acting, the action continues after combat ends at +1 stealth (even if not yet needed) as if unblocked. Only one Corpse Decoy may be played per action.

Art notes
A Samedi has taken cover while a decoy stands in matching clothing. There is a grenade tied to its back with a string from the pin held in the Samedi's hand.

Compelling game need
"Raise the Corpse to Service" got me thinking about Samedi using guile and deception: by using an 'animated corpse' in the same clothing as a Samedi they'd look similar enough: add a grenade and it's also a trap; or use a really convincing decoy capable of pulling the pin themselves and the acting Samedi could get on with their business while the blocking minion fights the decoy.

Seems like it should be an Action Modifier.

Corpse Decoy v2
Action Modifier
1 blood
+1 stealth
The current block attempt fails, the blocking minion cannot attempt to block this action again and takes 1 unpreventable damage. Continue the action.

Artwork
An attacker comes from a narrow space and a vampire is clearly ordering a zombie to engage with that vampire.

Juggernaut1981 wrote:

Seems like it should be an Action Modifier.

I'm not sure why? It doesn't seem to be a problem for Form of Mist to work in a similar fashion.

Juggernaut1981 wrote:

Corpse Decoy v2
Action Modifier
1 blood
+1 stealth
The current block attempt fails, the blocking minion cannot attempt to block this action again and takes 1 unpreventable damage. Continue the action.

Feels like it's misfiring.

At inferior, that's very expensive stealth for a clan that has Obfuscate on almost every minion. No-one would really want to play it at inferior.

At superior, it's giving the clan a third way to access block fails (Call of the Hungry Dead, Elder Impersonation) which doesn't seem like an altogether nice direction to be taking the clan.

Corpse Decoy
Action Modifier
2 blood
+1 stealth. If this action is blocked, cancel the resulting combat and move a vampire from the bottom of your crypt into play as a non-unique zombie ally with half the vampire's capacity in life. The zombie may play combat cards as if she possessed the basic level of disciplines. This zombie starts combat with the blocking minion. Remove the crypt card from the game at the end of combat.
as above, and untap this vampire if blocked.


I'm a really big fan of "Illusions of the Kindred." It's a wall of text, sure, but I do enjoy a combat with nothing to lose

Think you've hit the nail on the head there Direwolf

However, I would argue that for 2 blood and 2 superior disciplines, the second needs to be tweaked slightly. Illusions of the Kindred needs just one discipline and can be used at any time. Necromancy obviously brings things back from the dead so I'd suggest the superior level returns the crypt card to the crypt and, given the variability of disciplines Samedi have, they are specified for ease.

Corpse Decoy
Action Modifier / Combat
2 blood
+1 stealth. If this action is blocked, cancel the resulting combat and move a vampire from the bottom of your crypt into play as a non-unique zombie ally with half the vampire's capacity in life (round up). The zombie may play combat cards as if she possessed and begins combat with the blocking minion. Remove the crypt card from the game at the end of combat.
As above, but usable before range is determined. Untap this vampire following combat and shuffle the crypt card back into your crypt.

direwolf wrote:

Remove the crypt card from the game at the end of combat.

Potentially problematic wording on a card for a clan with Necromancy, given the way that burned vampires work with Illusions of the Kindred:

If you can find a reliable way to burn yourself in combat, you can Possession yourself out from the ash heap.


The basic reason is that cards in the ash heap aren't legal targets by default. So you can change that with a small amount of extra text.