Yes, this new Doppel card is surely one of the more complex ones FFG has released in the LCG era.

Tonight, several additional questions arose regarding Doppel and its actual card-state / status.

1.) Doppel is...by default....a card with No Printed Icons....and Skill = 0. When it copies something, it becomes "an exact copy"...of that targeted character. Most of us have assumed that includes everything ....Faction....Subtype (Deep One, Monster, etc)....all the Icons...the Skill...and any printed text or abilities the card has.

So what happens when Doppel is played, targeting a Dream Parasite (simple Hastur character with 2-Terror Icons and Skill 1).......the Doppel becomes the Dream Parasite......and then goes in on an attack to a Story. The Hastur opponent plays a Scotophobia

....this card is worded, " Action : Until the end of the phase, each character controlled by an opponent loses all of its printed (Terror) icons.

What happens now ? Does the Doppel-Dream Parasite actually lose the 2 Terror Icons it gained when it copied the "original" Dream Parasite....or is the Doppel completely immune from Scotophobia and similiar cards that affect "PRINTED ICONS" - because, technically, the original Doppel never HAD any "Printed Icons" for Scotophobia to affect !!!???!!!

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2.) Here's another situation..... you have Doppel in your hand...and you use it to target an opponent's G-Men card (Agency super-character with 5-Combat, Toughness+3, and Willpower)....it costs 6, so this is a very high cost for Doppel to pay.

Anyways...you do this, and now (effectively) have your own G-Men on your side of the table.

The turn passes to your opponent, who prepares to attack a Story that you plan on having your new G-Men help to defend. As a surprise, your opponent plays "Eye of the Deep"

- a 3-cost Cthulhu Event card that reads:

Action : Choose every character in play with printed skill 3 or lower. Those characters are considered 1 skill characters with no abilities and (Combat, Combat, Arcane) until the end of the phase.

Now, once again, what happens ? If we take it literally, the Doppel-G-Men *DOES* have a "printed skill of 3 or lower" - since the Doppel's "original printed skill value is 0"..... if we take it that the Doppel "gains" // "printed skills" when it copies something, then we could say "Oh, Doppel-G-Men won't be affected because Doppel now has 6-Skill, just like normal G-Men.

The "correct way" to play this is hardly clear - and very important to the way that turn would play out (as you can all see).

*** Lastly, have they mentioned Eye of the Deep in the FAQ at all ? Though I think I know how they "want" you to play it, naturally, it never actually says that the characters affected by its ability LOSE any of their original Icons...merely that they "are considered to have" Combat-Combat-Arcane. Could someone actually argue that their characters "Gain" those icons, in addition to any they naturally have, when affected by the card ?

I think this is actually the only one that is easy to rule on. Dopple's actual printed skill and icons are 0 and none respectively. Printed always means exactly what's on the card, regardless of any game effects.

Of course, I could be wrong, but I"m pretty confident in that one.

See...I'd like to agree with you Kal....cause "logically" that makes sense....but if you take that approach, then Doppel (uniquely among most cards in the entire game)....is "totally immune" to cards like Scotophobia, Eye of the Deep, and others like that which affect or modify "Printed Icons".... so he could be copying a Reawakened Elder Thing - with 1-Terror, 1-Combat, 2-Investigation.....gaining all those Icons...and be able to laugh off cards that would cripple an Ancient One ?

Yep he'd be immune to them, and I don't see any problem with that actually. Like Paul Lamond, who is really powerful when you have a lot of domains, he's also immune to the printed icon thing.

But Paul is not said to become "an exact copy of the character" - like Doppel. Many people would think you are essentially picking up Doppel....and replacing him on the table with whatever you chose to copy (essentially) - so if you copied an Undercover Security, your Doppel would actually BE an Undercover Security - meaning 2-Cost, 1-Combat, 1-Investigation, Willpower, Heroic, etc....

The "printed Icons" on Doppel, those people would say - are now 1-Combat and 1-Investigation.

If we took it how you are saying though, you think the "printed icons" on Doppel are still.....nothing....but it has "extra icons" on it, that you just have to keep track of separately in your mind / the game. It's yet another interesting thing that FFG will hopefully clarify, as I can see people on both sides of the debate with honest differences in opinion on how to play it.