Thursday, January 3, 2008

Comparison of discipline-less "wake" cards

There are quite a number of different "wake" cards -- named after the grandfather "Wake with Evenings Freshness" of this type -- with no requirements nowdays compared to times (back in the VtES expansion day) where players were restricted to "Wake with Evenings Freshness".
  • "Wake with Evenings Freshness" (WwEF) -- the classic card, but has the drawback of not being replaced until your next untap phase. This is also the reason you do not this card that often in competitive decks. Especially now when having the choice of playing "On the Qui Vive" instead.
  • "Forced Awakening" (FA) -- this is not a good card when you actually want to play a bleed bounce/reduction card or generally you are not able to block efficiently, since not blocking costs the vampire a blood after the action has resolved. On the other hand this card is the first choice for a intercept/wall deck, since it is replaced immediately and can be played multiple times for each vampire. The drawback isn't too bad for wall deck since it is expected that you can block most actions.
  • (c) 2006 by White Wolf Inc."On the Qui Vive" (OtQV) -- the legimate successor of "WwEF", since it does not punish failed blocks and is replaced immediately. The drawback is that a minion can play it only once until your next untap phase. This drawback can be critical, although in most cases it is not. Nonetheless for a dedicated wall deck, the card is only semi-suitable and should be mixed with larger amounts of "FA". Usually when playing this card you either want to block or you want to play a reaction which doesn't directly involve blocking (like Bleed Bounce or "Delaying Tactics"). Another advantage of the card is the fact that it is the only library card without any requirements which can make a tapped Ally block/react; there is "Angel of Berlin" for the Imbued, but this is limited to the number of Master Phase Actions (usally one) a player has. For an Ally it has the disadvantage that the Ally does not untap in your next Untap Phase, so this should be used only in emergency situations.
  • "Filip" -- this one is tricky, since it requires a second and older vampire (which can be tapped), to let the first react. And your are not always sure that this second vampire is really the one you want to react with. The only real need for this card is when you need multiple untaps for the same vampire, but you don't like the drawbacks of "FA", "WwEF" or "EtAM". All in all I find this card too restricting to be good (or better than the other discipline-less untap cards). A cornercase situation is the use for untapping vampires which cannot play reaction card by themselves (like "Lorrie Dunsirn") or due to some other card's effect.
  • "Eluding the Arms of Morpheus" (EtAM) -- this is the only card which really untaps a tapped vampire, but also forces him to block the ongoing action. This comes with the cost of one blood though. This definitely a card for those who can either avoid the cost of the card (e.g. "Nergal" or a "Tremere" with "Ankara Citadel") or those can directly benefit from the untap (i.e. an "Infernal" vampire, a vampire playing "Obedience" or "Deflection" at superior "Dominate") and stay untapped.
All in all I like the versatility of these reactions cards since each has its specific advantages and disadvantages, But there is no general statement which of the cards is the best reaction card in terms of reacting/untapping, each of them has their special area of use.

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