Bound By The Dragon

I am really in a love-and-hate relationship with the VtES card Dragonbound since it was first published in the Gehenna expansion back in 2004.

First, I really liked the card. It was the third in the trio of cards that are canon for combat decks, namely Fame, Tension in the Ranks, and then Dragonbound. All three cards deliver pool damage to your opponents as consequence of your combat activities. And timed properly they can guarantee, that you can oust your prey or even make the game win then.

Afterwards my love for the card really cooled down, initially because of the handsize reduction when playing the card. You don't want to play Dragonbound early on, but if you keep the card then your handsize is effectively reduced by one, too. When you finally play the card your handsize is permanently reduced by one. And most combat decks, intercept and even more so rush combat, need a decent handsize.

But the timing issues irritated me more and more. You have to draw the card at the right time and play it at the right time, whereas a card like Fame you can play and decide to torporize the vampire later on.

Finally the damage of Dragonbound is rather harsh, but in contrast to Fame the damage is not primarily directed at the prey, and therefore can do more harm than good if playing the card not timed properly.

In the end, for me the timing issue is the final nail in the coffin for not playing the card on a regular basis in combat decks anymore. At least until somebody convinces me of the contrary. Maybe (only maybe) it is an idea to use either recursion (via Ashur Tablets or Sudario Refraction) or use a card like Storage Annex to handle the timing issue ..

P.S.: The picture on the top right shows the front of the t-shirt issued by the Boston playgroup in Boston. Coincidentally I saw a German VtES player wearing said t-short during the last tournament I attended in Germany.