My Watchlist

We know the BCP has a watchlist for cards that are under review for banning/nerfing.  With the upcoming changes to Ashur Tablets and Emerald Legionnaires announced, but not detailed, I thought I take a few minutes to talk about some cards that I feel are problematic in the game.  I'll forego any talk about the upcoming changes. (I don't know what they are and any more talk about those cards at this point is just tilting at windmills.)

My Watchlist

This probably isn't my full list, but it's what is on my top of mind right now, which means they're important enough to remember that I have problems with them and important enough to think about what we need to do about it.

Veil of Darkness

A card that Black Chantry must be concerned about because it wasn't even reprinted in Echoes of Gehenna.

The effect is powerful, a permanent chance to cancel cards.  There may be some problem with the effect, which is never going to be applied evenly.  Some decks run more Master cards, some fewer discipline-based cards, but any deck that is running it will likely be built in a way that will avoid the effect entirely.  Common deck types that use this card: any Imbued deck, Legacy of Pander, some Brujah Debate variants, weenie Computer Hacking, etc.

The real problem with this card is that it's never managed properly.  The addition of a new step in the card-playing mechanics that is seen rarely means that some cards will be played improperly, forgetting to check for the Veil effect.  The rollbacks alone are not worth keeping this in the game.

Proposal

Ban it: deleterious effect on game play, hard to monitor, prone to rollbacks, time-consuming.

Life Boon

This is a card that I see in a lot of European decks and hear about from Euro players.  It's not something that I often see in the US meta (thankfully).

Life Boon is a way to prevent an oust.  It not only snatches a VP (and 6 pool) from the hands of a Methuselah, it gives the next VP that the saved player would have earned to the giver of the boon.  The card has a unique timing window to allow it to save the ousted player.  (A timing window that should have been made more clean when the card was reprinted in the 25th Anniversary box.)

I don't like this card because it breaks the fundamental goal of the game, which is to get ousts and earn VPs.  Not only does it prevent an oust, but it also reassigns the rewards for ousting.

Proposal

Ban it: for breaking game fundamentals and producing an effect that is the opposite of the goals of the game.

Organized Resistance

Introduced during the first V5A releases, this card has become a staple for Anarch decks that have any Barons.  The card is versatile giving an unlock and intercept to the reacting vampire or to any other Anarch vampire that you control.  Decks running multiple Barons can stack this card, allowing a single vampire to be the recipient of several Organized Resistance.

The card, I think, has proven to be too powerful for the cost, which is nothing but a Baron requirement.  Between the plethora of Barons and the ease in becoming one via a Fee Stake, the card is ubiquitous.

We need a way to cut some of the power in this card.

Proposal

Nerf it: add a blood cost (or "burn blood to" effect) for giving the unlock or intercept to another vampire.  Running the Baron out of blood will prevent them from giving the power of Organized Resistance away.  This add more strategy around both the use and the counters for Organized Resistance while maintaining its flavor.  It will fall more in line with Second Tradition: Domain in terms of cost.

Chameleon

Minion theft is always a huge swing.  They lose a resource while you gain a resource.  Temporary theft like Spirit Marionette or Temptation is strong.  In general, permanent theft like Entrancement (allies only) or Form of Corruption (counters equal or exceed minions blood) have narrow effects or high opportunity costs.

There really isn't a high opportunity cost with Chameleon other than the target being a vampire than entered play since your last turn.  (That also includes contested vampires returning to play, not just influenced vampires.). The card cost is expensive, costing 1 blood per capacity of the target.  However, any deck that intends to run Chameleon has already taken this cost into account.  It's easy to recoup the cost via Heidelberg Castle or even Rave.

On top of that the action starts at 1 stealth.  Graverobbing, at least, begins at 0 stealth and can only target vampires in torpor.  So, theoretically, that torporized vampire did something before it was stolen, even if that something was to be rushed and fail to play combat cards; they hit back for 1.

Proposal

Nerf it: remove the inherit stealth and change the target to be a vampire with X-2 capacity.  The latter part needs to be playtested, but I think is necessary.  In the land of 6-cap Barons, stealing a Baron of the same capacity, lets you steal another vampire of the capacity (or younger).

Your Watchlist

What cards do you think the game would be better without?  What cards do you think need to be rebalanced?