Submission: Assassinate

jblacey wrote:

Only usable by a vampire that successfully used a minion phase action to enter combat. Play before range is determined during the first round of combat.
The opposing minion cannot strike this round of combat.
as
as with an optional maneuver.

This still leaves an extremely powerful effect, for a very low cost, in a discipline that can maneuver easily, with very few reasonable responses.

- Being able to maneuver defensively with gun is impossible, if you can't strike with it. (See Hidden Lurker rulings passim.)
- Similarly, you can't maneuver defensively with flung junk, like Thrown Gate.
- You can't Strike: Combat Ends.
- You can't Dodge.
- Most offensive combat options are neutered, because they will mostly rely on striking. (Yes, you might face a deck that uses a ton of Carrion Crows, Ghoul Retainers and Winged Seconds, but that's not very often.)

Obfuscate has access to Behind You! for maneuvers, as well as Swallowed by the Night for a combination of maneuver/stealth. A smattering of Forgotten Labyrinth can put an end to most block attempts, and if you're worried about blood costs, you should be fairly reliably offsetting those with Taste of Vitae against opponents who can do relatively little to you.


Against a swarm of weenie Obfuscate who can rush you, Disguise out a weapon or something along those lines, prevent you from striking, then run off cackling, it's quite unpleasant. The only major options are damage prevention and Obedience. And yes, a bunch of weapons - especially melee weapons - are normally bad, because they're expensive and unreliable, but you just made them super-reliable. Disguise out a Blowtorch, Ivory Bow, Sengir Dagger etc. and you're not facing decks that can S:CE and Dodge. You might face decks that can Immortal Grapple you (even if they can't strike), or nullify your equipment in some way (Terror Frenzy), but that also seems quite niche.

Consider something like the hilarious Madness Network Malkavian Out-of-turn rush decks. These are difficult to pull off, and the slight change in how out of turn acting works has hurt them somewhat (there is no "after the acting Methuselah has finished" type slot, so they can potentially sequence in another action to rescue their vampire). This arguably makes it much less reliant on the out-of-turn master tech from Rotschreck, because it can probably send you to torpor anyway with the agg damage it was using (a Protean claw, probably) while not getting hit. Not sure making this more resilient is a good way to go.

So your concern is that weenie obfuscate rush could be problem. Interesting, I am skeptical that is a viable deck. I played a Zoe, Watenda, Dancin' Dana deck back in the day in tournaments, but they seem outclassed by better cards now.

Let me explain, how that is that more threatening than weenie potence rush? Tupdog have superior potence as a 1 cap, they aren't unique and they can play Immortal Grapple (which doesn't require the rush action to be successful) and they have a built-in rush action. That means for no blood expenditure, they can guarantee a rush action and can easily torpor a much higher capacity vampire with less combat cards. Where as a weenie obfuscate rush deck, has to draw a rush action, pay more for the vampire, hope the action isn't blocked, then play Assassinate, along with potentially 2 other combat cards (disguised weapon + weapon) to make their combat more effective. Maybe I am wrong but I don't see it.

That said, let me give you a viable alternative. Where I expect this card could be very effective is... in an deck. In this deck you can play Drawing Out the Beast and Assassinate with a vampire which has a built-in rush action. In that deck you can run Deep Song. Note: this card purposely doesn't say acting minion. Animalism gives additional combat options as well as unlock and intercept.

From my review where Assassinate shines the most is a combat deck vs combat deck scenario. An Assamite wants to use a Contract to go after a target that happens to be another combat deck. If the Assamite has Assassinate they have an advantage.

James, while I'm ready to echo your concern about a potentially very powerful effect, I'd like to point out a few things where your argumentation goes a tad off course. Disclaimer time! I'm of the opinion as well that this kind of an effect should be monitored, and play tested thoroughly before being added to the game, if ever. Still, things are not so grim in the meta for this card as you'd think they are.

jamesatzephyr wrote:

This still leaves an extremely powerful effect, for a very low cost, in a discipline that can maneuver easily, with very few reasonable responses.



- Most offensive combat options are neutered, because they will mostly rely on striking. (Yes, you might face a deck that uses a ton of Carrion Crows, Ghoul Retainers and Winged Seconds, but that's not very often.)

So, wait, you're saying Carrion Crows is not a card played often? Weenie Animalism, at the moment with anarch support, is deemed one of the most effective and most played combat archetypes at the moment. At least in Europe, I'm not exactly sure about the American (either North or South) meta, but it's unquestionably a very powerful deck.

Also, you don't have to have tons of stuff to battle this kind of an effect. A few might be enough. It's not a card I'm seeing as a ten-of include.

What I'm saying, is that there ARE plenty of combat options that are not reliant on strikes. In fact, I'd argue that most combat played on a tournament level are less about strikes and their effects.

Obfuscate has access to Behind You! for maneuvers, as well as Swallowed by the Night for a combination of maneuver/stealth. A smattering of Forgotten Labyrinth can put an end to most block attempts, and if you're worried about blood costs, you should be fairly reliably offsetting those with Taste of Vitae against opponents who can do relatively little to you.

Against a swarm of weenie Obfuscate who can rush you, Disguise out a weapon or something along those lines, prevent you from striking, then run off cackling, it's quite unpleasant. The only major options are damage prevention and Obedience. And yes, a bunch of weapons - especially melee weapons - are normally bad, because they're expensive and unreliable, but you just made them super-reliable. Disguise out a Blowtorch, Ivory Bow, Sengir Dagger etc. and you're not facing decks that can S:CE and Dodge. You might face decks that can Immortal Grapple you (even if they can't strike), or nullify your equipment in some way (Terror Frenzy), but that also seems quite niche.

Fist of all, Obfuscate is scarcely the go-to manoeuvre discipline, even though it packs a few (both conditional). Those do make Obfuscate into a usable discipline in combat though, instead of just non-existent.

More on the cards that trump this: Fortitude has been a very powerful and much used discipline in a tournament environment (for other reasons than Freak Drive to boot) ever since the introduction of the !Ventrue grinder archetype from... five or so years back? Obedience is one of the most devastating anti-combat cards. Both, as you said, are answers against this card.

And, just to make sure I understand you correctly...

Are you saying equipment based combat (which you yourself stated 'bad') including cards like Blowtorch and Improvised Flamethrower should NOT get some extra use and love? Why? As you hinted yourself, it's mostly worse off than other combat modules.

Heck, I'm arguing (as many tournament players would agree), combat in any form is worse off than all other modules in this game.

You kind of, if I may, already answer your own questions in your post. You're saying that there are few alternatives to combating this effect, but continue with a rather comprehensive list of effects and cards dominating the combat packages in tournaments.

And whatever hate .44 combat gets, is mostly deserved.

Consider something like the hilarious Madness Network Malkavian Out-of-turn rush decks. These are difficult to pull off, and the slight change in how out of turn acting works has hurt them somewhat (there is no "after the acting Methuselah has finished" type slot, so they can potentially sequence in another action to rescue their vampire). This arguably makes it much less reliant on the out-of-turn master tech from Rotschreck, because it can probably send you to torpor anyway with the agg damage it was using (a Protean claw, probably) while not getting hit. Not sure making this more resilient is a good way to go.

That deck might be a problem, but then again it's already a problem, and this card does little to enhance it further. Some, sure, but adding a card like this to its arsenal is just a drop in an ocean.

Make no mistake, I don't intend to come on to you in any way, but rather point out some mistakes in your post. The arguments aren't exactly valid there, even though you certainly have them.

But, as I said, it's definitely a card that would require extensive play testing and monitoring. Not an effect that should be taken lightly, definitely, and to be fair the strike game should probably rather be reinforced instead of other more obscure combat effects. Streamline, streamline!

I'm open for a card like this. If it'd make obf equipment combat more usable, I'm all for it. It's not a great archetype, even though it has its places.

jblacey wrote:

Only usable by a vampire that successfully used a minion phase action to enter combat. Play before range is determined during the first round of combat.
The opposing minion cannot strike this round of combat.
as
as with an optional maneuver.

What we'd probably need to monitor is the effect when comboed with Entombment. That could be pretty harsh. But, well, meh. At least it's not another Stealth Bleed.

Krausedit\\ Even then, if someone's going to use a rush (1), probably a stealth card (2), this (3), and Entombment, and use 4 cards and 2-3 blood for almost guaranteed torporisation of someone, I'd be fine with that. It seems fair even.

I could imagine the wording could be tinkered with to enable additional strikes. See Lapse: www.secretlibrary.info/index.php?lib=1029

(which is really bad, unfortunately)