Voodoo Doll
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Contents
Overview
Voodoo Doll is a tricky Darkness card with an odd passive skill. If Voodoo Doll survives any damaging or otherwise negative effect (from spells, permanents, or creatures), the damage/debuffs are immediately transferred to the opponent or the opponent’s weapon depending on what type of effect was inflicted upon the Voodoo Doll.
General Use
Quick Facts:
- All damage dealt to a Voodoo Doll from spells, permanents, or other creatures will be afflicted to the opposing player, as long as the Voodoo Doll survives the damage
- Poison applied to a Voodoo Doll will also be applied to the opponent
- If the Voodoo Doll is stunned, the opponent’s weapon will also be stunned (or frozen), making the weapon incapable of dealing damage or using its ability
- Healing and buffing spells have no effect on the opposing player
Voodoo Doll’s passive skill, ‘Voodoo’, is an unusual passive skill that can’t be removed. Whenever Voodoo Doll survives the damage or debuff effect of any mechanic, the effect is also delivered to the opponent simultaneously (if it’s damage) and their weapon (if it’s a non-damage effect). A special thing to note is that none of the damage done via Voodoo Doll can be reflected, so spells (like Fire Lance or Drain Life) can bypass reflective shields when used on the doll. Since it only costs 2 
quanta, Voodoo Doll is cheap to play, but has no attack power aside from cards that can increase its stats. Its HP on the other hand (16 non-upped, 20 upgraded), is high enough so that damage and stuns can be delivered to the doll repeatedly to whittle down your opponent.
It’s important to note that killing effects (such as Immolation on a Voodoo Doll) will not cause any damage to your opponent whatsoever. This means that any ability that doesn’t cause damage (Paradox, Devour, etc.) won’t affect the doll or the player. Also, while damage passes, the opposite doesn’t; healing the doll will not heal the opposing player, so increasing or recovering its HP will not help the enemy.
Voodoo Doll isn’t completely unstoppable though. An early Quintessence on a non-buffed Voodoo Doll can actually render it completely useless, as there are no ways to effectively damage it via spells or other effects (shields included, as the Voodoo Doll has no attack unless you have Nightfall or Eclipse on the field). Rewinds often remove the buffs and damage accumulated from a doll, which can make strategies revolving around high-HP Voodoo Dolls futile, as the doll would be reset to its original stats. Various other cards (Mutation, Flooding, etc.) can also cause the doll to be nothing more than a waste of quanta, so it’s important to notice that effects that do not damage or delay Voodoo Doll will actually counter it effectively.
Synergies
Many people have developed numerous tricks to make Voodoo Doll one of the most devious creatures to fight against. One particular spell, Gravity Pull | Gravity Force, is a notorious card to use with Voodoo Doll; as Gravity Pull redirects damage away from the player and onto the target instead, the creatures will then attack the doll, triggering the Voodoo. This will then redirect damage to the enemy player (assuming that the doll survives the attacks). In a sense, Gravity Pull then acts as a way to reflect creature damage back to your opponent, countering adrenaline-affected creatures or creature-spam decks.
Rage Potion | Rage Elixir also has fantastic synergy with Voodoo Doll; unlike most buffing spells, such as Blessing or Chaos Power, which improves both stats to help the creature survive and output more damage, Rage Potion effectively has a double-dipping effect with Voodoo Doll. When used, the Rage Potion will deal 5 (6 upgraded) damage to the doll, hurting the opponent; and because of the positive attack, the Voodoo’s attack will then deal up to 5-6 damage again as the turn ends. In this case, Rage Potions help improve the combination of 
and cards with high offensive potential, rather than defensive potential (via Gravity Pull).
Finally, stun effects can hinder your opponent in another, unique way. If the opponent has a weapon, delaying/stunning a Voodoo Doll will also cause the weapon to be frozen for the corresponding amount of turns. Basilisk Blood | Basilisk Blood (and to a lesser extent, Freeze) are both effective stun cards that can help disable (not destroy) the opponent’s weapon, meaning that the weapons cannot deal damage nor can they be used for their unique abilities (like Eternity or Trident). Basilisk Blood is used more often than Freeze though, due to the fact that it increases the HP pool (by 20) of Voodoo Doll, allowing it to absorb more damaging effects. Applying multiple Basilisk Blood alchemy cards on the same Voodoo Doll can be both very risky and also rewarding depending on the combination of cards you use alongside the more durable doll. Conversely, using Adrenaline will not make the opposing weapon attack multiple times (again, similar to the healing factor mention above).
Other Cards With Synergy
Voodoo Doll can also transfer poison counters to the opponent with the right cards. Aflatoxin can be applied to the Voodoo Doll (inflicting the opponent with two poison counters), and upon ending the turn, the doll will receive 2 damage (thus, the opponent takes 4 damage total from their own poison and the doll’s poison damage). Because of this, Parasites (or Bloodsuckers) are extremely useful as poison-applicators. Their ability for 1 
quanta, ‘Infect’, can be used repeatedly on a Doll to accumulate poison quickly on an opponent; combined with other Death cards (Arsenic, Deadly Poison, Deathstalkers with Eclipse), and the opponent will then have to deal with various poison afflictions on your field and within your deck.
There are also a few secrets and tricks regarding Voodoo Doll. For example: because it starts with no attack, Butterfly Effect can be applied to it, making it an incredibly dangerous creature to handle; reusable permanent control on a creature with fairly high HP that will deal damage back to the enemy if damaging creature control is used. Another surprise is Twin Universe. Using Twin Universe on a damaged Voodoo Doll will also reapply that same amount of damage (HP missing) from the second doll to the opponent again; with enough damage done to a Voodoo Doll (with multiple applications of Basilisk Blood), one could deal a massive hit by using Twin Universe on a doll, which can often score a victory for the player. Pandemonium can also be a brutal card with the doll; with a field full of dolls on your side against the opponent's creatures, Pandemonium will not only apply random creature control effects (Freeze, Shockwave, Gravity Pull, etc.) to your dolls, but will also apply such effects to the opponent's creatures, making it a chaotic (but fun) spell to use. Overdrive can also be given to a Voodoo Doll and thus increase its attack while dealing damage to it (similar to Rage Potion), but with a higher ATK:HP ratio (+2/-1 or +3/-1). However, these secrets are very specific and require precise timing to use properly, as it can backfire if you don’t manage to pull off the right card combinations in time.
Conclusion
No matter how a Voodoo Doll is used, the creature is a true symbol of indirect affliction; pain done to it, shall be done unto the foe.
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