Tuesday, January 24, 2012

VtES Rules: "Spying Mission" Q&A

Some time ago we had (again) a question in our playgroup regarding Spying Mission, and therefore I checked the Usenet newsgroup for some answers and finally came up with the short "Questions and Answers" summary for the card. Most of the information is taken from the VtES Usenet Newsgroup "rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad".

Question: Do I gain the Edge after playing Spying Mission at superior?
Answer: While the action was successful, the actual amount of bleed was reduced to zero. So the bleed was not successful, and you do not gain the Edge.

Question: Can I play Freak Drive at inferior after playing Spying Mission (at superior)?
Answer: Yes, as stated above, the action itself was successful, even though the bleed was unsuccessful. And only the fact, that the action was successful allows you to play Freak Drive at inferior.

Question: Can I play second Spying Mission (at superior) when the vampire currently bleeding already has one (targeted at the same Methuselah)?
Answer: Yes, you can. After blocks, etc. have been declined, but before the bleed would actually inflict the pool damage, you can reduce the amount of bleed to zero by playing the second Spying Mission (at superior). And because then the bleed is not successful, the first Spying Mission (on the vampire) does not trigger.

Question: Can my opponent play Archon Investigation when burning a Spying Mission would increase the bleed to more than three?
Answer: No, you can't. As per card text of Archon Investigation you need to play it when a minion is attempting to bleed you, whereas Spying Mission is triggered later when the bleed is resolved.

Question: Can I bounce a bleed to another player when Spying Mission's effect triggers (e.g. by using Telepathic Misdirection or Deflection)?
Answer: No, you can't because reaction cards (including cards to redirect a bleed) need to be played before the resolution of the bleed.

Question: Can you reduce the bleed inflicted to you when Spying Mission's effect triggers by Telepathic Counter?
Answer: No, you can't. The same explanation as above holds, because reaction cards (including bleed reducers) need to be played before the resolution of the bleed.

References:

6 comments:

Lucas Halton said...

Thx! :)

Lucas Halton

Vincent said...

"Can you reduce the bleed inflicted to you when Spying Mission's effect triggers by Telepathic Counter?"
In fact, you can play Telepathic Counter during the bleed, which has the same effect.
Bleed for 1 > Reduce by 2 (down to -1) > +2 bleed from the Spying Mission (back to 1)

Prince of Lisboa said...

@Ankha
No, if you reduce the bleed to zero, it's not sucessful and you can not trigger Spying Mission.

For example, if you bleed your prey with Leandro and Night Moves, the amout of the bleed it's 3. At the resolution, it will resolve for 1. If you want to reduce bleed, you must do it before bleed resolution, so if you use TC to reduce the amount by 2, you will still get bled by 1.

Vincent said...

True, I forgot that the Spying wouldn't trigger when the bleed is reduced to -1.

aaron_clark said...

It all kind of makes you think that superior Spying Mission should burn 2 pool instead of giving +2 bleed. Exact same effect, no timing problems.

Prince of Lisboa said...

@aaron_clark

Not quite. If you had a 2 pool burn, you would be able to combine it with Night Moves and deal (at least) 3 pool damage with 1 bleed, instead of the current 1 pool damage (the excess bleed is ignored).