Official V:EKN Clan Salubri Newsletter Vol.5 No.3 (June 2007) Of interest to Scholars and Slanderers Editor: Joel Tate In this issue: 1. Introduction 2. The Dwindling Few - featured vampire(s) 3. The Powers of the Righteous - featured card(s) 4. The Hosts of Heaven - featured deck(s) 5. Conclusion - summary & theme for next issue --------------------------------------- 1. INTRODUCTION --------------------------------------- Hello everyone and welcome to the third of the newsletters for 2007. Having reviewed some of the new cards for the Sword of Caine, I'm looking forward to completing the Gehenna & events review, started back in February. This month, Section 3 will be devoted to Gehenna, Governments and Inconnu cards, rather than Obeah / Salubri cards. Since Section 3 is fairly length, I've decided to skip a featured strategy this month, but never fear, it will be back in the next issue. Maldavis is this month's featured vampire, her disciplines linking up well with the Salubri. --------------------------------------- 2. THE DWINDLING FEW --------------------------------------- Maldavis Caitiff (Group 3) Capacity 4 for pre AUS Camarilla: Any ready primogen can burn 1 blood from Maldavis as a +1 stealth (D) action. Maldavis gets -1 bleed when bleeding a Methuselah who controls a ready primogen. Maldavis is one of the cheapest vampires with superior Auspex, and as a result is a great aid in the Auspex defensive package. Her additional discipline spread of basic Fortitude and Presence makes her a great addition to Enrage rush deck with Saulot, or a minion to Telepathic Counter opponent's bleeds. Maldavis' in built weakness to Primogen is annoying, but a minor one since the Presence can provide a work around to the reduced bleed, and her Auspex can be used to block the blood burn action. Overall a handy support vampire to the Salubri, and ideal to mix with either the Group 2 or 4 Salubri. --------------------------------------- 3. THE POWERS OF THE RIGHTEOUS --------------------------------------- Slow Withering, The Type: Event Gehenna. Do not replace until a vampire commits diablerie. Requires at least one other Gehenna card in play. Cards that require any superior Disciplines cost an additional blood to play. Any vampire who commits diablerie is immune to this effect until the next Gehenna card is played. The Slow Withering is one of the standard cards found in any weenie Gehenna deck, aiming to reduce the effectiveness of disciplines being played by vampires at superior, as these decks tend to use non- discipline cards like dodge; likewise being for imbued decks. So from this perspective, the card hasn't much use for someone playing a Salubri deck. However, in a deck which diablerises other vampires deliberately, then this card's affect will only impact for a short period of time. For example, with Saulot and Fueled by the Heart's Blood in play, Saulot is immune to Blood Hunts when eating younger vampires, so after the first torpid vampire is eaten, Saulot is free play cards at superior with no penalty, well at least until the next Gehenna card is played. Thirst Type: Event Gehenna After a Methuselah has finished all of his or her minion phase actions, each ready vampire he or she controls with capacity less than the number of Gehenna cards in play who did not hunt in that minion phase burns 1 blood. Good anti-weenie hose, to force them to hunt or take damage, so handy for Salubri block decks with Dr Marisa Fletcher (see below for description). Also good for building up Gehenna Events to play others, as no requirements. The only Salubri which I won't pair Thirst with is Mr. Noir, seeing as it won't fit as well as with a 3 cap. vampire. Torpid Blood Type: Event Gehenna. Do not replace until a vampire moves from torpor to the ready region. Actions taken by vampires in torpor cost an additional blood. Rescuing an older vampire from torpor costs an additional blood. Torpid Blood is a handy event for keeping vampires in torpor, once Salubri have knocked them there. Combined with Dragonbound, pool loss is difficult to avoid for opponents, without willingly burning blood to rescue vampires. So if you decide to play Torpid Blood, go after the eldest vampires first. Having said all this, I am still not fully convinced about this card, since I would rather burn the vampire when they next hunted by Dr Marisa Fletcher CDC (see below). The "do not replace" is an added disincentive. Unmasking, The, Type: Event Gehenna. Do not replace until your next discard phase. Allies get +1 intercept when attempting to block vampires. Great card when playing allies, otherwise less so; that will be a Salubri-Ally/Imbued deck then that will play the card. Also quite handy for building up Gehenna mass, as only a temporary "do not replace". Veil of Darkness Type: Event Gehenna. Do not replace as long as this card is in play. Each turn, when a vampire plays his or her first card that turn that requires any Disciplines, that vampire's controller reveals the top card of his or her library (before drawing to replace). If it is a master card, the original card has no effect (no cost is paid), and in addition, if the original card required Obtenebration [obt], the vampire burns 2 blood. Veil used to be my bane card, people kept playing it, and I didn't have one, well until half a year ago. Good for when playing few/no discipline cards or few Masters, so will work well for weenie decks, Imbued or Allies; both of the last two the Salubri combine well with, although disciplines are used to heal the Allies/Imbued, so a potential double edged sword. Wormwood Type: Event Requires: 1 Gehenna card Gehenna. Do not replace until your next discard phase. Requires at least one other Gehenna card in play. Put 10 counters on this card. Burn 1 counter whenever another Gehenna card is put in play. A vampire whose capacity is greater than X is treated as if his or her capacity is X (minimum of 1), where X is the number of counters on this card. Wormwood, good card overall for Salubri Gehenna decks, as you can bring opposing vampires down to a manageable capacity (like in Ben Peal's Matthias deck in the VTES Players Guide). However, not a good card to combine with Saulot, as that just would reduce his effectiveness. Requiring only one Gehenna Event in play, not problematic, and neither is the temporary "do not replace". However there are better Events out there for Salubri decks, so not something I'll regularly use. Blood Cult Awareness Network Type: Event Inquisition. Requires a ready imbued in play. Whenever there are any ready imbued in play, any action to put vampire or ghoul in play or to add counters to an uncontrolled vampire gets -1 stealth and costs an additional blood or life. Requiring an Imbued, this will suit only Salubri-Imbued decks, else unplayable unless someone else is playing Imbued, then your just helping someone else (and that isn't always the best plan). Otherwise, fairly pointless, since Salubri don't tend to govern/scout, and if you want to block, then Salubri just generate intercept. Break the Code Type: Event Gehenna. Imbued get -1 intercept when attempting to block monsters. A ready monster can enter combat with an imbued as a (D) action. Perfect anti-Imbued card, which has no do not replace, so perfect to use as a building block to bring out more dangerous Gehenna Events. Ok for general Salubri decks, however bad for Salubri-Imbued decks. Dr. Marisa Fletcher, CDC Type: Event Government. During your untap phase, add two counters to this card from the blood bank. When a vampire with capacity less than X is blocked while hunting, where X is the number of counters on this card, burn that vampire and all the counters on this card. Dr Marisa Fletcher is the one Government card which almost appears to be written for a Salubri blood denial & block deck. The one problem is it doesn't go well with Blanche Hill, who tends to return her investment by hunting at least once a turn. Even so, great card for Salubri decks, which are ideally kitted out to block. The fact that combat isn't even reached, it can save on valuable combat cards. Edge Explosion Type: Event Requires: 1 Gehenna card Requires at least one other Gehenna card in play. Each Imbued can have (and use) one power card for which he or she doesn't meet the requirements. An imbued that performs a successful action may gain 1 conviction from his or her ash heap. An Imbued can only gain 1 conviction this way each turn. A card that is great for Imbued, and no benefit for vampires has only one use, in a Salubri - Imbued deck. Unlikely to see play in a standard Salubri Gehenna deck, this card will be addressed in full in a subsequent issue covering Imbued. FBI Special Affairs Division Type: Event Government. When an ally is burned in combat with an acting vampire, put a counter on this card, and that acting vampire takes 2 unpreventable damage (after combat ends). Burn this card when it has 4 counters. FBI is good when playing allies or Imbued, otherwise not so useful. For the Salubri deck, this is a perfect card to link with cards like Heavens Gate, Healing Touch etc..., which all are Ally focused. I can't see this card otherwise used in other types of Salubri deck, however I shall revisit this card when covering Imbued later in the year. Inconnu Tutelage Type: Event Inconnu. A Methuselah may spend four transfers and remove a vampire in his or her uncontrolled region from the game to search for any card in his or her library and put it in his or her hand (discarding and shuffling afterward). Can anyone say "Tutor". Great for Twisters, or any decks relying on specific cards, no do not replace, although opponents can also use. Problem is, most Salubri decks tend to have sufficient multiples of cards to not require the use of Inconnu (ok, maybe a Multi-rush or Salubri Twister). Needless to say I still praise this card highly, just because it's good for my Twister. NSA Trio Type: Event Government. During the first combat between an acting vampire and a blocking vampire each turn, neither combatant may end combat as a strike in the first round. A Methuselah may use a discard phase action to burn this card if his or her minions attempted no actions in the current turn. Handy card for the Salubri, as it prevents one of the ways opponents get around Anesthetic Touch (SC:E), however doesn't prevent the combat ending as a result of the strike (Touch doesn't count as an SC:E strike). NSA has a strong affect, but is easily undone by a clever opponent (i.e. they do no actions & burn the card / use a discard phase action). NRA PAC Type: Event Government. Any minion who successfully performs an equip action untaps at the end of the turn. Yet to work this card into a Salubri block deck, however I can see great potential more for the vampires alongside the Salubri, rather than the Salubri themselves (Anesthetic Touch is far too cool). Nothing better than equipping with, say, a Sniper Rifle or Flame Thrower, and blocking fun begins. So a good card for equipment intensive Salubri decks, else less of a key card. Port Authority Type: Event Government. When a Methuselah uses a discard phase action to discard a card, he or she doesn`t draw to replace that card until his or her next untap phase. Perfect card for operating a card flow denial strategy, problem is that the Salubri don't tend to operate in that way; and being a double edge card, Port Authority is one event which equally mess with your own deck. Shame really. --------------------------------------- 4. THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN --------------------------------------- This month I've posted the revised version of my Salubri/Harbinger deck from a few months ago, to fix a couple of apparent (post play test) deficiencies. The outing pre-revision was not particularly successful, however the new version won its initial outing, which is a promising sign. Deck Name: Old school Salubri / Harbinger Tricks v1.1 Created By: Joel Tate Description: Revised version of the Salubri / Harbinger deck from Issue 1 of the newsletters for 2007. Matthias proves that he truly is still one of the best vampires in the game, Blanche earns her keep, hunting for up to 3 a turn and effective pool gain in one turn can be over 15 a turn. The Kiss of Ra is an added threat to all those minions without Fortitude. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 24, Max: 32, Avg: 6.91) ---------------------------------------------- 2 Unre dom ser thn AUS FOR NEC 9 Harbingers of Skulls 2 Egothha obf AUS FOR NEC 7 Harbingers of Skulls 3 Matthias nec AUS FOR OBE 7 Salubri 2 Agaitas for AUS NEC 6 Harbingers of Skulls 3 Blanche Hill aus FOR OBE 6 Salubri Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (14 cards) 1 Maabara 1 Parthenon, The 3 Blood Doll 5 Minion Tap 1 Elder Library 1 Perfectionist 1 Fragment of the Book of Nod 1 Sight Beyond Sight Action (11 cards) 1 Guard Duty 2 Summon Soul 5 Renewed Vigor 3 Pulse of the Canaille Action Modifier (5 cards) 3 Repulsion 2 Kiss of Ra, The Reaction (19 cards) 5 Eagle`s Sight 10 Forced Awakening 4 Telepathic Misdirection Combat (29 cards) 10 Anesthetic Touch 7 Vitae Block 12 Unflinching Persistence Equipment (4 cards) 1 Sargon Fragment, The 1 Aaron`s Feeding Razor 1 Erebus Mask 1 Bowl of Convergence Event (8 cards) 1 Anthelios, the Red Star 1 Break the Code 1 Dr. Marisa Fletcher, CDC 1 Nightmares upon Nightmares 1 Thirst 1 Blood Trade 1 Dragonbound 1 NSA Trio --------------------------------------- 5. CONCLUSION --------------------------------------- Well, that's it for this newsletter, next issue we shall look at a few of the additions made from the 10th Anniversary set. If you have any ideas, comments or additions please feel free to contact me. Joel Cambridge, UK