Submission: Siblings of the Stone

name: Siblings of the Stone
Type: Action
Card Text:
+2 stealth action. Requires a non-slave Vampire.
Search your hand or library for a Gargoyle Creature retainer and employ that retainer.
As above, but reduce the cost by 1 pool or blood (never less than 0)

World of Darkness reference:
Gargoyle Creatures are also known as Children of the Stone and Gargoyles are basically "Embraced Children of the Stone". re. Dance Macabre book.

How does this card address a compelling game need?:
Cheapify Gargoyle Creatures for non-slave Gargoyles and add some extra utility in getting them into play. This way Gargoyle Creatures (old and new) can also remain expensive to attain without extra modification and still fit in nicely in both slave and non-slave decks.

Changes:
V2 - Changed text:
Search your hand or library for a Gargoyle Creature ally or retainer and employ that retainer or recruit that ally.
to:
Search your hand or library for a Gargoyle Creature retainer and employ that retainer.

GreyB wrote:

name: Siblings of the Stone
Type: Action
Card Text:
+2 stealth action. Requires a non-slave Vampire.
Search your hand or library for a Gargoyle Creature ally or retainer and employ that retainer or recruit that ally.
As above, but reduce the cost by 1 pool or blood (never less than 0)

World of Darkness reference:
Gargoyle Creatures are also known as Children of the Stone and Gargoyles are basically "Embraced Children of the Stone". re. Dance Macabre book.

How does this card address a compelling game need?:
Cheapify Gargoyle Creatures for non-slave Gargoyles and add some extra utility in getting them into play. This way Gargoyle Creatures (old and new) can also remain expensive to attain without extra modification and still fit in nicely in both slave and non-slave decks.

I would add "Search your hand, library OR ASHHEAP" to keep it in line with similar card effects and make it more useful.

I think gargoyles need more of this sort of thing to reduce pool/blood cost of allies/retainers.

I think that the ash heap should be avoided for thematic reasons. You aren't raising a Razor Bat from the dead, you're just seeking out an existing one. Compare to the text on The Summoning (which is a card with similar flavor):

The Summoning
+1 stealth action.
[ pre ] Search your library for an ally or retainer. Show it to all players and put it in your hand (shuffle and discard afterward).
[ PRE ] Search your library for an ally. This vampire recruits that ally (requirements and cost apply as normal). Shuffle afterward.

GreyB wrote:

name: Siblings of the Stone
Type: Action
Card Text:
+2 stealth action. Requires a non-slave Vampire.
Search your hand or library for a Gargoyle Creature ally or retainer and employ that retainer or recruit that ally.
As above, but reduce the cost by 1 pool or blood (never less than 0)

A couple of things to watch out for here:

- It makes Stone Dogs and Razor Bats cheaper, which is good, but it makes Rock Cats cheaper (and without Soul of the Earth), which might not be desirable.
- It speeds up Rock Cat decks a ton, as one can play Siblings of the Stone for a Rock Cat, As The Crow to untap, and then a Rock Cat out of your hand. Yikes.

A quick fix would be to simply limit the card to retainers. I don't know if that makes the card too narrow or not - we're only talking about 2 retainers (and 1 ally) after all.

BenPeal wrote:

GreyB wrote:

name: Siblings of the Stone
Type: Action
Card Text:
+2 stealth action. Requires a non-slave Vampire.
Search your hand or library for a Gargoyle Creature ally or retainer and employ that retainer or recruit that ally.
As above, but reduce the cost by 1 pool or blood (never less than 0)

A couple of things to watch out for here:

- It makes Stone Dogs and Razor Bats cheaper, which is good, but it makes Rock Cats cheaper (and without Soul of the Earth), which might not be desirable.
- It speeds up Rock Cat decks a ton, as one can play Siblings of the Stone for a Rock Cat, As The Crow to untap, and then a Rock Cat out of your hand. Yikes.

Been milling over this for a while as well. You currently see Rock Cats in combination with Tupdogs, since the pool costs here can be managed especially with the occasional Soul of the Earth. This card excludes Tupdogs. You could also do this with just Rusticus (4 cap) and basically have a Rock Cat deck minus the Tupdogs or use Fidus and forget about the discount and use in combination with Soul of the Earth, but that would take up some extra card slots in your deck where you already stacked 10 Rock cats in. (No... it requires a non-slave Gargoyle.)

When looking at existing non-tupdog Rock Cat decks, I get the feeling this card would get more in the way than be beneficial. If anything you'd probably see Giovani's using fidus with this card to grab one of the 4 rock cats they have in their ally deck. (No... it requires a non-slave Gargoyle.)

However, my main target for this card was retainers, where the utility is most needed. Razor Bats and Stone Dogs enhance "permanent" Gargoyles the most, Rock Cats just makes the "permanent" Gargoyles less important, which is not my goal.

brettscho wrote:

A quick fix would be to simply limit the card to retainers. I don't know if that makes the card too narrow or not - we're only talking about 2 retainers (and 1 ally) after all.

I was actually pondering this as well, just remove the Ally feature. Seeing as I took the idea from (indeed) The Summoning it would make sense to substitute the Ally option with the discount.

Conclusion, the ally feature does nothing to enhance Gargoyle, it turns Gargoyles utilitarian towards other strategies, so it can go.