The Akunanse Letters - Nkule Galadima http://Wanderers-Counsel.tripod.com By coming and going will a bird weave its nest. -Ashanti proverb Nkule Galadima Akunanse 8 capacity Animalism, Auspex, Presence, superior Abombwe, Superior Fortitude Lasombra cannot cast votes in referendum called by Nkule (including in the prisci sub-referendum). While he is ready, if you burn the Edge for a vote, you gain an additional 2 votes. Laibon magaji. Group 4 The Akunanse can pursue many strategies. Nkule Galadima is built to bring out the best in our ability to oust our prey with successful political actions. With his awesome vote related specials, Nkule Galadima will be the focus of this second letter and the associated deck. As Uchenna and Nkule Galadima are our only vampires with built-in titles, we will need to exert our influence on those vampires we have used Abombwe to bring to prominence in other clans. Tsunda of the Ravnos and Ugadja of the Guruhi will help to ensure that we have plenty of distinct titles in play. As only Ugadja, Nkule Galadima, and Amavi have any access to presence, we will need to rely on alternate vote increasing options. There are two types: permanent votes from master cards / equipment / Kholo, and temporary votes from action modifiers / master cards. First, we will discuss the master cards: Ancestor Spirit Esgrima Legendary Vampire Orun Powerbase: Rome Ancestor Spirit is a definite include in our Akunanse vote deck, as we will plan on having many Laibon with capacity greater than four in play, and +1 bleed will be a good fall back ability if we have no political actions to call at the moment. That it only gives its additional vote when that vampire is taking the political action is certainly a drawback, but still worthwhile for a deck with few vote increasing options. Esgrima is a two-edged sword, and it should be considered carefully. If included in the deck, playing it will be a significant tactical choice if there are other decks at the table that are likely to call votes. If you draw it late enough in the game to know that you need it, and that it will not enable votes against you to pass, then it is powerful. If you play it too early and another player is also calling votes, then it can work against you significantly. We will need to play our deck in order to make friends of our two cross table allies, and enemies only out of our predator and prey until such time as we have ousted our prey and our allies become our enemies. During the turns that our predator or prey has Esgrima, we will need to avoid calling votes that cannot pass by a clear majority in spite of the three votes we have given them. These will be good turns to bleed, hunt, or remain untapped to defend. During the turns when we or our allies have Esgrima, we will choose the terms of our referenda to ensure that they tap it in our favor. Esgrima is not a card for those new to vote decks, and should be excluded if you are not completely comfortable working a table to get your votes to pass. Legendary Vampire is a great choice for us to include, as our crypt is likely to have six vampires of capacity seven or above, and the vote to remove it is frequently overlooked by the other players. We will plan on using the additional two bleed infrequently, with our focus in this deck on voting. Orun is not going to be of any significant use to our vote deck, as Orun requires three copies in play on the same vampire to grant a single vote. This would require nine to twelve copies in the deck, and we will require those spaces for the political actions and other cards to ensure the votes pass. Orun will not go into many Akunanse decks. Powerbase: Rome is a good choice for vote decks that can gain multiple master phase actions and can use one to two additional votes every turn or so. Powerbase: Rome is part of Ethan Burrow's vote lock module, that also includes the Parthenon and Rumors of Gehenna. As we are already planning on playing many master cards to support our voting strategy, we will include a version of this vote lock module ourselves. http://wiki.vekn.org/index.php/Voting_Modules Second, we will discuss the action modifiers available to ensure our votes pass: Akunanse Kholo Aura of Invincibility Bribes Cryptic Rider Mob Rule Those Who Endure Judge Wanderer's Counsel Akunanse Kholo and its companion cards for the other Laibon clans will form the basis of the Laibon vote module, probably joining Ancestor Spirit, Legendary Vampire, Kduva's Mask and Powerbase: Rome in most vote decks for Laibon clans. Two copies will be the recommended number for inclusion, to ensure it comes up early enough in the game to matter without clogging our hand in the end game. Akunanase Kholo can be cycled onto a vampire that already has that title without any adverse affect. As Kholo will move from a vampire in torpor to the oldest non-titled Akunanse, it is one of our most robust voting modifiers. Aura of Invincibility should only be included if you expect to encounter a low title environment. There are no terms that can be set on referenda that should enduce the other players to vote in favor of the referendum when you attempt to put this card into play. If played sufficiently early by Nkule Galadima when you have the Edge, it can make a significant difference in the outcome of the rest of your game. Only include this card if you have experience with the players you expect to encounter. This card is much more likely to see play in a presence based deck than in one that expects to negotiate its votes into passing as our Akunanse deck will. Bribes is a must include, for the early game when you need to convince your allies that you are working with their best interest in mind, and for the late game, when pool gain is almost as important as passing the votes. A few should be scattered into the deck. Cryptic Rider is a tough call. In order to gain more permanent votes, Overseer practically demands that another vote pass prior to it. With magaji titles so difficult to acquire, Cryptic Rider will appear in our deck today. Only a few copies, so that our allies don't get the idea that we are simply using them for our own good, but, of course, we are. Once a Cryptic Rider has seen play, it is difficult to get experienced cross table allies to continue to support our less essential votes. Mob Rule is a bad idea for us. We do not gain lots of blood thru our master cards or other actions, so opponents that temporarily have more blood than we do will be able to fail our votes when this action modifier is used. It will not be included. Those Who Endure Judge is a must include for our Akunanse vote deck. This action modifier cycles when the action is announced, so it need never jam our hand when we are searching for additional political actions. This can be played on a hunt, an enter combat action, a bleed, or a political action and that is certainly only when we will plan to use it. Gaining two additional votes and burning the Edge for three more will grant a significant vote swing while Nkule Galadima is ready, and will have a great affect in ensuring that our votes pass. Wanderer's Counsel appears at first glance to be a great card for a vote deck. It grants a vote as either an action modifier or as a reaction, and can be cycled on a hunt action for an additional blood if necessary. Too many copies will actually keep us from including more appropriate cards for the deck, like combat cards or reaction cards, so a sprinkling is appropriate, but probably no more than three or four should make the final cut. Third, we will discuss the political actions that allow Akunanse to gain additional votes: Overseer Overseer is designed to prevent a return of weenie vote decks. It has two significant restrictions. The first is requiring the acting vampire to be of capacity above four. The second restriction is ignoring all votes cast by magaji vampires already in play. In the first turn or two of the game, it can be passed, but any time later you will need a miraculously title free table or a Cryptic Rider to get it successfully passed by an Akunanse vampire. Guruhi and Ishtarri are much more likely to be able to successfully call this vote later in the game, having access to presence vote modifiers. The Kikiyaon, Sanjo, and Amavi can call the vote, but are unlikely to be able to pass it. If we forgo the use of Cryptic Rider due to space considerations, then we should forgo the inclusion of Overseer as well. Last, we will discuss the equipment that grants additional votes: Kduva's Mask Kduva's Mask is definitely one of the best cards to consider including in any Laibon-based vote deck. Its two pool cost is managable, and the extra point of bleed is good as another fall back option similar to Ancestor Spirit. Together with Kholo and Ancestor Spirit, it will form the basis of any Laibon-based vote module and you should expect to see it frequently if your opponents are playing Laibon clans. It is important enough to this deck that we will include at least two copies in hopes of seeing it early. If we have Uchenna in play, he can burn the extra copy from our hand during the master phase for a blood. Discussion of any specific political actions will have to wait until we have decided our crypt, as that can make a significant difference in our choices. We will begin composing the crypt now. We have access to four magaji with Abombwe, so they will form the basis of our deck. Each other Akunanse vampire will be included, with the exception of Matata and Kamiri wa Itherero, as their nine and ten capacities will take too long to influence when the vampires do not directly add to our total number of votes in play. Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity average: 6.17 ------------------------------------------------------------ 2x Nkule Galadima 8 ABO FOR ani aus pre magaji Akunanse:4 2x Uchenna 7 ABO ANI FOR magaji Akunanse:4 1x Ugadja 10 ABO ANI POT PRE dom for magaji Guruhi:4 1x Tsunda 6 CHI abo ani dem magaji Ravnos:4 1x Amavi 8 ABO ANI FOR pre pro Akunanse:4 1x Sanjo 6 ANI FOR abo chi Akunanse:3 1x Kikiyaon, The 5 FOR abo ani Akunanse:4 1x Hasani 4 ABO for Akunanse:4 1x Dolie 3 abo ani Akunanse:4 1x Meno Ngari 2 abo Akunanse:4 No discussion of Laibon voting decks would be complete without discussing the other two new political actions added in Legacies of Blood: The Eldest Command Undeath The Secret Must Be Kept The Eldest Command Undeath appears to be a reworking of Protect Thine Own, with many of the more popular fixes included. First, it only targets your prey. Second, it has a significant cost that cannot be recovered on the same action. Third, it doesn't target any specific clan or sect so that it is fair to all potential prey. From the backstory, come two significant quotes: Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom, page 27. "The Eldest Command Undeath is regarded as the most abused Tenet. Elders handle it delicately. Young Laibon openly hate and fear it." "Any Laibon may choose to create or destroy any Laibon younger than he so long as it is done within the scope of the other Tenets." Notice that the V:TES card does not adhere to the restriction mentioned in the second quote. This will certainly make it more playable. It is still likely to be openly hated and feared as Laibon vote decks come into greater circulation. We will include a few copies because it is too powerful not to, but Banishment may be a wiser tactical choice in the long run. The Secret Must Be Kept is much more metagame dependent. If intercept retainers or ally based decks are in vogue locally, definitely consider a pair of these. Locally, that is not currently the case, so we will pass on it in this go round. We will choose the following political actions with the above in mind: Political Action [24] 1x Anarchist Uprising 1x Ancient Influence 1x Ancilla Empowerment 2x Banishment 4x Consanguineous Boon 1x Disputed Territory 2x Domain Challenge 2x Eldest Command Undeath, The 7x Kine Resources Contested 1x National Guard Support 2x Rumors of Gehenna The National Guard Support will help to induce blocking bleeds on the part of the entire table, as it will make directed actions at -1 stealth. This will make it harder to bleed at stealth, and allow the small amount of intercept we are going to use work much harder for us. The rest form a fairly common vote module borrowed from The Lasombra. http://www.thelasombra.com/decks.htm#vote Now that we have our crypt and our main objectives decided, we will decide on the master card support that is appropriate to ensuring our goals are met. Master [20] 2x Ancestor Spirit 1x Esgrima 1x Giant's Blood 1x Information Highway 2x Legendary Vampire 2x Major Boon 1x Mbare Market, Harare 6x Minion Tap 1x Parthenon, The 1x Powerbase: Rome 2x Sudden Reversal Most have already been discussed, but the Minion Taps should perhaps be explained. As we will not be including any combat cards that cost blood, and only The Eldest Command Undeath and Those Who Endure Judge will have a blood cost, we can get a significant refund on our pool investment from the vampires we will have in play and still successfully pursue our strategy. The Akunanse do not have access to bleed bounce, so bloating our pool with Consanguineous Boons and Minion Taps will be essential. The only equipment we will have time to acquire is Kduva's Mask. Equipment [2] 2x Kduva's Mask Now that we are aware of the vote potential that we can have in play, as the crypt, master cards, and equipment are decided, we will next tackle the action modifier selection. Action Modifier [18] 2x Bribes 2x Devil-Channel: Throat 4x Freak Drive 1x Strange Day 6x Those Who Endure Judge 3x Voter Captivation Action Modifier / Reaction [5] 2x Akunanse Kholo 3x Wanderer's Counsel The Voter Captivations are sufficiently similar to Giant's Blood when used at inferior presence that we will include a few copies. We can potentially have three vampires in the ready region that can play them when appropriate. With the selections made to this point, we have 21 card slots remaining in our 90 card library. We will need to make the most of these, as the cards will need to both fulfill our reaction ability and our combat ability. All of our reactions cards will allow either untap or intercept in the same card. We are not intending to block enough actions to allow our deck to have cards that can only be used for one or the other. Reaction [10] 4x Cats' Guidance 6x Predator's Communion This leaves only 11 card slots for combat. To make the most of these slots in another clan's vote deck, we would choose Strike: Combat Ends as our preferred selection. As the Akunanse do not have access to Strike: Combat Ends aside from Alpha Glint which requires our vampire to be older than their opponent, we will primarily choose defensive cards for this specific deck. Combat [11] 1x Devil-Channel: Hands 3x Invoking the Beast 2x Skin of Steel 5x Soak As a review, the deck will now be presented in its entirety. Deck Name : When Nkule Comes To Town Author : Wanderer's Counsel Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity average: 6.17 ------------------------------------------------------------ 2x Nkule Galadima 8 ABO FOR ani aus pre magaji Akunanse:4 2x Uchenna 7 ABO ANI FOR magaji Akunanse:4 1x Ugadja 10 ABO ANI POT PRE dom for magaji Guruhi:4 1x Tsunda 6 CHI abo ani dem magaji Ravnos:4 1x Amavi 8 ABO ANI FOR pre pro Akunanse:4 1x Sanjo 6 ANI FOR abo chi Akunanse:3 1x Kikiyaon, The 5 FOR abo ani Akunanse:4 1x Hasani 4 ABO for Akunanse:4 1x Dolie 3 abo ani Akunanse:4 1x Meno Ngari 2 abo Akunanse:4 Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Action Modifier [18] 2x Bribes 2x Devil-Channel: Throat 4x Freak Drive 1x Strange Day 6x Those Who Endure Judge 3x Voter Captivation Action Modifier / Reaction [5] 2x Akunanse Kholo 3x Wanderer's Counsel Combat [11] 1x Devil-Channel: Hands 3x Invoking the Beast 2x Skin of Steel 5x Soak Equipment [2] 2x Kduva's Mask Master [20] 2x Ancestor Spirit 1x Esgrima 1x Giant's Blood 1x Information Highway 2x Legendary Vampire 2x Major Boon 1x Mbare Market, Harare 6x Minion Tap 1x Parthenon, The 1x Powerbase: Rome 2x Sudden Reversal Political Action [24] 1x Anarchist Uprising 1x Ancient Influence 1x Ancilla Empowerment 2x Banishment 4x Consanguineous Boon 1x Disputed Territory 2x Domain Challenge 2x Eldest Command Undeath, The 7x Kine Resources Contested 1x National Guard Support 2x Rumors of Gehenna Reaction [10] 4x Cats' Guidance 6x Predator's Communion Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Mon Jan 02 17:36:45 2006]