Ahrimanes Newsletter #13 24.05.06 ==================================================== [ AHRIMANES NEWSLETTER ] ==================================================== 1.0 - Editorial 1.1 Word From the Editor 1.2 Next Issue 2.0 - Concepts 2.1 Crypt Card Focus 2.2 Library Card Focus 3.0 - Decks 3.1 - Ahrimane New Wall 3.2 - Number of the Beast 3.3 Sign Off --[1.1 - Word from the Editor]----------------------- Well Nights of Reckoning is here, and there is very little for non-Imbued decks to play with, but a whole lot to play against! Playing at the UK ECQ they didn't make as much of an impact as I thought they might, however I am sure they will start making appearances in finals around the world. An Ahrimane deck won the UK ECQ; unfortunately not mine, as I was playing a Mexico Blood Brothers deck. Michael Jorgensen presents this deck below with comments. Also in this month's newsletter we look at Effie Lowery, and Victim of Habit - an often-overlooked card. --[1.2 -Next Issue]------------------------------------ Next time I will look at the Laibon, and Sobayifa, who is an honorary Ahrimane, and in many ways better than the other honorary Ahrimane - Maria Stone. Also I will have hopefully played a few more games of Phased Motion Format, probably not with Ahrimanes, but I will give a few opinions and ideas on it. --[2.1 - Crypt Card Focus]-------------------------- Effie Lowery Clan: Ahrimane (group 4) Capacity: 5 Disciplines: ANI SPI obf Sabbat: Sterile. Rarity: LoB:U Effie is the new Queen of Ahrimane decks, in that she has both ANI and SPI and is also small enough for Atonement, making Effie a lynchpin of Ahrimane wall decks. Of course the crypt support in group 3-4 is weaker, as there is a smaller number and it features Maria Stone ADV. Hopefully there will be another Ahrimane or at least a vampire with SPI in the forthcoming Sabbat base set, but even without that there is plenty to be going on with. Previously you needed to bring out Howler to have ANI SPI, and that was your lot, where as group 3-4 has both Effie and Muricia ready to rock. To this you can easily add in Janey Pickman and Celeste Lamontagne, who with a couple of Sanguine instruction gain SPI quite easily, and could share the secrets of PRO. Of course Effie also has obf, which currently adds only a little as most obfuscate cards require superior OBF to really kick off, one card that might be of use is Hidden Lurker as it over comes one of the weaknesses of the Ahrimanes, that being combat ends. With Hidden Lurker the opposing minion cannot strike, and is thus open to all the unpleasantness you throw at them! --[2.2 - Library Card Focus]------------------------ This month it is an older, slightly overlooked card that we will investigate. Victim of Habit Type: Action Cost: 1 blood +1 stealth action. Put this card in play and choose a card in your prey's ash heap by name. During any Methuselah's untap phase, you may tap this card to remove three copies of the chosen card in your prey's ash heap from the game to cause your prey to burn 1 pool. Rarity: KMW:R Now when this came it out it seemed like a limited option for additional damage. Which of course it still is, and can prove very useful damaging your prey after they have played their third Deflection - however you will have seen those coming with Cull the Herd right? Anyway with Nights of Reckoning and those annoying Conviction cards it has another very good use for removing them from the Ash Heap to prevent those Imbued being powered up each Untap. Of course you will have to wait and see what Conviction cards are being used the most, and hope Victim of Habit doesn't get Determined when you try and play it - who gave those Imbued a Direct Intervention each turn? Either way Victim of Habit is a good way to spoil your preys plans for recursion. Plus a while back I mentioned that a lot of the most successful or tournament winning decks can inflict damage in ways other than bleeding, which means it is more difficult to defend against. --[3.1 - Deck: Ahrimanes New Wall]------------------------------------- Well here is Effie, the star of her own deck. However this is not All-Star deck, as Effie needs support, with other blockers and bleeders. To that end there is a nice cheap crypt, and an ally Ohoyo who can help with the blocks. I did consider some ally untap, but Ohoyo can't do much else so it seemed a waste. Unlike Michaels deck below I didn't go with High Top as I find him too expensive, however given his results perhaps I am wrong. There isn't lots of forward pressure, but if you have taken out most of the blockers then what there is will get through. Deck Name : Ahrimanes New Wall Author : Sam Marsh Crypt [13 vampires] Capacity min: 2 max: 7 average: 4.54 4x Effie Lowery 5 ANI SPI obf Ahrimane:4 2x Muricia 7 ANI PRE SPI Ahrimane:4 2x Gentha Shale 6 ANI PRE pot spi Ahrimane:4 2x Aiyana, The Wolfca 3 pre spi Ahrimane:4 1x Clarissa Steinburg 3 ani obf Nosferatu:3 1x Mouse 2 ani Nosferatu:3 1x Zip 2 ani Ravnos:3 Library [90 cards] Action [16] 4x Atonement 6x Enchant Kindred 2x Engling Fury 2x Nose of the Hound 2x Summoning, The Action Modifier [4] 2x Aire of Elation 2x Squirrel Balance Ally [2] 2x Ohoyo Hopoksia (Bastet) Combat [26] 10x Aid from Bats 10x Carrion Crows 2x Pack Alpha 4x Taste of Vitae Combat/Action Modifier [5] 5x Swiftness of the Stag Master [12] 6x Blood Doll 2x Effective Management 2x Guardian Angel 1x KRCG News Radio 1x WMRH Talk Radio Reaction [17] 2x Cats' Guidance 6x Falcon's Eye 3x Forced Awakening 6x Speak with Spirits Retainer [8] 2x Murder of Crows 2x Owl Companion 4x Raven Spy As yet this deck is untried, but it looks solid enough. --[3.2 - Deck: Number of the Beast]---------------------------------- I now hand over to Michael, with some comments he posted on the UKForum. Hi! First I want to thank Hugh and Laurie for being such great hosts, lots of beer (Danish J ), great company, and lots of fun. Here is my deck list, it is more intercept than fighting, but it can put a good fight, but it mostly uses Howlers specials (she is so good). I had a field day in this tournament, as nobody could fight me properly. The final went very fast, and I was lucky with the seating, I locked my predator down (because of very early raven spy, which is the only one), and my prey could not fight me. When he fell, and I stole Matsī (sorry Mats) Renegade Garou with the Ivory Bow and a Leather Jacket (at this point I had, Howler, The Siamese, 2 weenie and a Garou, and High Top) it was all over and just a question about time. One of the Key cards in the deck in this tournament was High Top, he ruled, because of his +1 intercept. The other card was Swiftness of the Stag, it's so useful in all kind of situations, and with Howlers special it's very good. Other than that it's a pretty straightforward deck, block your predator into submission, and bleed like crazy. Deck name: Number of the beast (Editors note, took me awhile to work out the name, until I saw the crypt average) Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 8 average: 6,66 ------------------------------------------------------------ 4 Howler 3 Siamese 2 Cynthia 1 Lisa Noble 1 Mouse 1 Dani Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Action [15] 3 Nose of the Hound 2 Engling fury 2 Entrancement (very good in the finals, and first game) 2 Legal Manipulations 1 the Wildebeest (never played it, should go) 1 Sanguine Instruction 1 Army of Rats 1 The Summoning 1 Tier of Souls 1 Trainer (mostly because of raptors, but never used it) Ally [2] 1 High Top (extremely good) 1 Ohoyo Hopoksia (played once, good against a Imbued deck I met) Combat [31] 1 Canine Horde (used once to destroy a Crusader Sword) 1 Pack Alpha 4 Majesty 6 Taste of Vitae 10 Swiftness of the Stag 9 Carrion Crows Equipment [4] 1 Ivory Bow 2 Leather Jacket 1 Laptop Retainers [4] 1 Owl 2 Murder of Crows 1 Raven Spy Reaction [20] 4 Cats Guidance 10 Speak with Spirits 6 Falcon's Eye Master [14] 5 Blood Doll 1 Dreams of the Sphinx 1 Animalism 1 PB Montreal 1 The Rack 1 Club Zombie (pretty good actually but I always had a lot of spare pool) 1 Depravity 1 WMRH Talk Radio 1 Guardian Angel 1 Rebel Again thx for the great hospitality me and my friends were shown. Regards Michael I am not going to comment on this deck, as my results on the day were less than spectacular... 0vps. Oh well, next time. I would also like to thank the Burton group for their hospitality, and hopefully will be able to return it at future Bath events. --[3.3 - Sign Off]------------------------------------- Well another issue done, and still a lack of feedback. Well no matter, here is some for you - I finally managed to play the Sandra's Buffet deck from issue 11, and it managed two game wins. Unfortunately only three player games, but it is a start. See you next time, Sam *