The Book of Jason Blood

[IAmBatman]

No strong opinion. I trust those who are following more closely.

[Shiftrex]

Ok, I see quite a bit of support for the price to be lowered. I like the idea as well, unless someone voices a strong objection in the near future... we are moving his price from 120 to 80 officially.

[Splash]

Anything you're wanting to see in the next tests @Shiftrex ?

[Karat]

Personally, I'd recommend a test with the Batman (Occult), Jason, Etrigan combo (630 point base) and/or Jason, Etrigan, Wong, Scareglow combo (690 point base). As both really seem like his best pairings to me.

[Shiftrex]

Absolutely agree!

[Splash]

Sorry for the wait, the sick is gone but the cough and stuff stuck around.
Hoping to get these in a day or so.

[Shiftrex]

No worries, thanks for tackling the last playtest!

[IAmBatman]

We should be playing tonight!

[Splash]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Jason Blood
VERSION TESTED

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = Jason Blood
SECRET IDENTITY = N/A

SPECIES = Human
UNIQUENESS = Unique Hero
CLASS = Investigator
PERSONALITY = Conflicted

SIZE/HEIGHT = Medium 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 3
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3

POINTS = 80

ARISE THE DEMON ETRIGAN!
If you have a figure named Etrigan in your Army, it does not start the game on the battlefield. If Jason Blood would be chosen for a special power at the start of the game, Etrigan is also considered to be chosen or have any markers that are on Jason's card. After taking a turn with Jason Blood, you may replace his figure with a figure named Etrigan in your Army. After placing Etrigan, you may make an immediate attack with him. If Etrigan is not engaged at the end of any round, replace his figure with Jason's.

EXORCISM WARDING
If an enemy figure begins their turn adjacent to Jason Blood, immediately roll 1 unblockable attack die against them. If a blank is rolled then you may remove an Order Marker from that figure's Army Card.

MAGICAL DEFENSE
When Jason is attacked by an opponent's figure that does not have the Magical Defense special power, the most wounds Jason can take for this attack is one.

Army Test
Map: Dark Dimension.
Units: Hellboy II, Etrigan, Jason Blood, spells (Healing, Hypnotize, Nightmare) (800) vs Nightwing, Changeling, Starfire, Cyborg (800) - IAmBatman

Spoiler Alert!

Hellboy chooses Jason Blood and Changeling’s species. Hellboy dealt some wounds to Gar and Starfire got mad. A Titans Go on round 2 turn 1 after initiative win smushes Jason into paste. Hellboy did pretty good solo the rest of the game, but it was kind of an inevitable loss.

Damage Done (Normal Attack): Inflicted 0 wounds
ARISE THE DEMON ETRIGAN!: Died before it could happen
EXORCISM WARDING: 1 wound to Changeling.
MAGICAL DEFENSE: Helped, but TItans Go and angry Starfire cut through.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Nightwing (1 remaining), Cyborg (full).

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: City Park.
Units: Batman Occult, Jason Blood, Etrigan, Spider-Noir, Question, spell (Temporal) (1,000) vs JL Green Arrow, JL Black Canary, JL Wonder Woman, and Hawkwoman (1,000) - IAmBatman

Spoiler Alert!

Etrigan did 2 wounds to Black Canary and did some big tree setup that paid off later, but I didn’t manage to get anyone else out there to prop him up and he fell down. The rest of the game was pretty back and forth, but Green Arrow squeezed out a win against Batman.

Damage Done (Normal Attack): Inflicted 0 wounds
ARISE THE DEMON ETRIGAN!: Used early this time, Etrigan managed to stay engaged too long, I wanted to switch him back before he died XD.
EXORCISM WARDING: Nope.
MAGICAL DEFENSE: Fought and died as Etrigan, not the form of man.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Green Arrow (2 life remaining)

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Two losses, not heavy though, but also not sure how much the Etrigan/Jason combo helped, aside from early game distraction. They fell early both games, so the lowering of the cost was a good idea. I might also mention I may have played him poorly, I should have held him back between rounds in game 1 so Titans didn’t Go him and the second game he didn’t really have much backup heading up to him. There was a fun turn with Occult Batman where I got to turn with Jason, and then take a turn with Etrigan in one go.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: I think he has potential to do pretty well with the combo, clearly it’s just not something I could grasp in two games. It was definitely the right choice to drop his points, looks like he had plenty of wins in the earlier tests so I’d call him good.

[IAmBatman]

I think a big thing with this combo is that having the opportunity to take out two figures by killing one puts a really big target on his head that directly impacts how much Jason is worth.

In theory getting the extra attack in with Etrigan during the figure swap is nice, but Jason isn't packing a lot of offensive heat, and just bringing both together means that you have a chance to take out either more easily. I can't help but wonder if the upside of that one extra attack per game (because once Etrigan is engaged, you're probably not swapping back) is really worth the ability to kill off one of the two figures much more easily?

As is, I worry both figures are worth more without the other in the same army.

I think one way to counter this might be to put a "kill switch" on Jason that if he's destroyed, you do the replacement.

[Splash]

Yeah, agree with Bats here. It could definitely be worth either having Jason be replaced with Etrigan on death or the other way around like Ericth pointed out.

[Yodaking]

I agree on the concept. I also struggled to assess their combined value when one death killed both. I tried to switch back and forth so both cards took some hits, but it was hard to do. So having one die only to become the other should help make them both feel worth it when drafted together. I'd even consider it working either way, so both cards see their full life use. Whoever goes down first, is replaced by the other. Cut cut back on life here if that were the case.