[Astroking112]

Originally Posted by NecroBlade

Shift being only before (or after) moving was my preferred version, but got changed. Going back to that would simplify the timing somewhat. "They teleport when shot at, they teleport before moving". "They teleport a lot" doesn't bother me since that's the theme behind the unit.

I think that allowing the before or after movement distinguishes them from some designs like the Ninjas of the Northern Wind. If Shift only works before moving, then it essentially becomes a limited form of Disengage in most situations, but letting it activate after movement as well gives them a lot more options, such as teleporting past a screen, jumping up towers, or teleporting through walls.

If we're looking at making Shift the full focus of the design, then I think that keeping the flexibility of using it before or after movement is important. The choice on its own doesn't add too much complexity, but it adds a lot to the gameplay, and it feels more thematic that these sci-fi aliens can jump between dimensions with more control.

BLINK
When a Velnesh Alpha is targeted for a normal attack by an opponent's non-adjacent* figure, you may immediately move that Velnesh Alpha with Shift. A Velnesh Alpha cannot use Blink more than once per turn.

I'm still fine with this on principle, but I think that it still kind of runs into the same problem of being confusing for brand new players to get their head around. Obviously it's not nearly as bad as having two distinct forms of teleportation, so I hope that this would be more manageable. This does make the design harder to use, requiring players to either hide adjacent to walls or count out spaces and ranges in order to use the power well.

I added some placeholder text to remind us that this power would have to be limited to once per turn, since they otherwise just keep getting retargeted and teleporting away until they're out of range.

Originally Posted by NecroBlade

At any rate, I think the two power card here is better than either one by itself. Blink alone is just bad Thorian Speed. Shift alone is a little more interesting, but we're also terrain-limited in this set which hinders it somewhat.

I agree that just Shift on its own has some issues, and just Blink on its own feels like it will be pretty underwhelming for most newer players (given that it doesn't ignore the attack afterward). We don't necessarily need to have both on the same design, though.

If we want to keep this direction, then I think that the revised Blink to just let them Shift when targeted is workable, or we could look at a gameplay style redesign if we want more substantial changes. Any other potential second powers need to be considered with what purpose and role these guys are supposed to serve, so I'd like to discuss that first if we're going down that route.