Assamite Clan Newsletter May 2006 By Tom Duncan "Of the Anathema, Tariq is the most innocent of the accusations made against him, and one of the most dangerous. The Camarilla has spread a great deal of propaganda about him, most of which is blatantly false and tolerated by his clan. Tariq has disconnected his emotions; he saves all of his passion for the pursuit of his spirituality. He is a callous and careful killer, used by less scrupulous members of the Camarilla and Sabbat to rid themselves of tenacious enemies. The price he charges is always high. "He trusts no one and allows no appeals or treaties to sway him from his path of destruction." - from thepathofblood.com character profiles, attributed to Kindred Most Wanted sourcebook. Tariq is one of the clan's most feared cast members. When you flip him over to your controlled region, the other players in your game are likely to shift in their chairs, reorganize the cards in their hand, or look at their uncontrolled vampires to see who else they have available. Moans commonly accompany these activities. On the off chance you are unfamiliar with the reasons why: Tariq, The Silent Clan: Assamite (group 2) Capacity: 7 Disciplines: AUS FOR OBF QUI cel Independent: Tariq's capacity is reduced by 4 while he is controlled. Tariq can enter combat with a vampire controlled by another Methuselah as a (D) action. Blood hunts cannot be called on Tariq. The Blood Curse doesn't affect Tariq. Other vampires exist who can enter combat as a D action. Other vampires exist who are immune to blood hunts. But no other vampire has both right out of the box. (Theo Bell can enter combat as a D action, but is only immune to Blood Hunts if you control a ready Prince or Justicar.) Tariq's serious disadvantage affords him a spectacular discipline spread, which makes Tariq one of the most dangerous vampires in the game. Though players of Assamites will forever bemoan his inferior Celerity, at three capacity and with free reign to diablerize, acquiring a Celerity skill card is simply his first order of business. You'll get all this: Disguised Weapon Type: Combat Requires: Obfuscate Only usable before range is chosen if you have a weapon card in your hand. [obf] Equip this vampire with that weapon (and pay cost to equip as normal). [OBF] As above, but usable when choosing a strike. A staple of Assamite combat decks, Tariq can use his special ability to pick a fight, providing ample opportunity to acquire weapons without having to take additional actions. The Ivory Bow, Kali's Fang, and Rowan Ring are all excellent surprise bombs to drop on your hapless opponents. Other times, a good old-fashioned .44 Magnum will do. Taste of Death Type: Combat Requires: Quietus Cost: 1 blood [qui] Strike: 1R damage, aggravated. Only usable at long range. [QUI] Strike: 2R damage, aggravated. Only usable at long range. I don't think I have to say much here. Pursuit Type: Combat Requires: Celerity [cel] Maneuver. [CEL] Additional strike. Tariq has precious few blood to spend, and Pursuit is useful for getting to range at inferior and a great benefit once superior Celerity has been acquired. Rolling with the Punches Type: Combat Requires: Fortitude [for] Prevent 1 damage. [FOR] This vampire burns 1 blood to prevent all damage from the opposing minion's strikes this round of combat. Perhaps the most useful prevent card for Tariq - sometimes you'll take hands for one, others you'll be grappled and punched for twelve. The inferior can also be used against environmental damage, making it extra playable. Aura Reading Type: Combat Requires: Auspex Only usable before range is chosen. [aus] The opposing minion's controller plays with an open hand for the remainder of combat. [AUS] Your hand size is increased by 2 cards for the remainder of this combat. Discard down to your hand size at the end of combat. A vampire can play only 1 Aura Reading at superior each combat. Not sure whether or not you should maneuver with the .44 or a Pursuit? Find out if your opponent is just going to end combat or can prevent damage before you drop a bunch of cards. The superior is good for improving your combat hand and dumping chaff afterward. Note that the above cards are the tip of iceberg when it comes to Tariq's combat possibilities based on his disciplines. I chose one card for each discipline he has, but do not forget Telepathic Tracking and Psyche! for battling Strike: Combat Ends or Swallowed by the Night, Selective Silence, and Blur for even more combat superiority. Freak Drive and Soak are strong Fortitude considerations, as well. But the single most effective combat card for Tariq requires no disciplines at all: Amaranth Type: Combat Only usable by a vampire who can commit diablerie. Only usable when the opposing vampire should go to torpor. Diablerize the opposing vampire instead. Not usable by a vampire going to torpor. Because he can always get into combat, and because he is immune to Blood Hunts, Amaranth allows Tariq to destroy vampires outright. It is what makes the Ivory Bow, Rowan Ring, and Taste of Death so deadly in his employ - all he has to do is get the opposing vampire going to torpor in order to destroy it. Oftentimes, a point or two of aggravated damage is enough to accomplish this task. It doesn't all end with burning the opposing vampire, either. There are benefits for doing so beyond 'one less minion to worry about'. Draught of the Soul Type: Action Modifier/Combat Requires: Auspex & Quietus Only usable when this acting vampire burns another vampire. [qui] This vampire gains 1 blood. [aus][qui] This vampire gains 1 blood. Put this card on this vampire. The vampire with this card has +1 intercept. [AUS][QUI] As [aus][qui] above, and this vampire gets +1 bleed when bleeding the controller of the burned vampire. An excellent tool-up card, and completely stackable. Tariq can be a block-and-bleed-aholic by mid-game. And since I've brought the first multi-discipline card into the discussion, let's look at the other two-discipline cards Tariq can utilize. It is his ability to use so many of these cards that moves Tariq to the head of the class. Elemental Stoicism Type: Action/Combat Requires: Fortitude & Obfuscate [for] Prevent 1 non-aggravated damage. [for][obf] This vampire treats all aggravated damage as normal damage for the remainder of combat. [FOR][obf] +1 stealth action. Put this card on this acting vampire. The vampire with this card treats aggravated damage done in combat as normal damage. Burn this card if the vampire goes to torpor. Forced March Type: Action Modifier Requires: Celerity & Fortitude A vampire can play only one Forced March each turn. [cel][for] Only usable when an action is successful. This vampire untaps. [CEL][FOR] +1 stealth, and at the end of the action, the acting vampire may burn 1 blood to untap if the action is successful. Lessons in the Steel Type: Combat Requires: Auspex & Fortitude [aus][for] Only usable when damage is successfully inflicted on this vampire. Look at the opposing minion's controller's hand, and this vampire gets an optional press this round. A vampire can play only one Lessons in the Steel each round. [AUS][FOR] As above, and that Methuselah discards a card of your choice. Martyr's Resilience Type: Combat Requires: Auspex & Fortitude Only usable by an untapped vampire not involved in the current combat. [aus][for] Prevent 1 damage to a minion or retainer in combat. [AUS][FOR] Burn X blood to prevent X+1 damage to a minion or retainer in combat. Masque of Judas Type: Combat Requires: Auspex & Obfuscate Cost: 1 blood A vampire may play only one Masque of Judas each combat. Only usable against an ally or a younger vampire. [aus][obf] Maneuver with an optional press. [AUS][OBF] Only usable before range is determined. The opposing minion's controller discards 2 cards at random. Those cards are not replaced until after combat. Quicken Sight Type: Reaction Requires: Auspex & Celerity [aus][cel] +1 intercept, with an optional maneuver in the resulting combat if this vampire successfully blocks. [AUS][CEL]As above, but with +2 intercept. Shadow Feint Type: Combat Requires: Celerity & Obfuscate Cost: 1 blood Only usable before range is determined. [cel][obf] This vampire gets first strike this round. [CEL][OBF] As above, and this vampire's strikes cannot be dodged this round. Truth of Blood Type: Action Requires: Auspex & Quietus [aus][qui] (D) Bleed at +1 bleed. If this action is blocked, the controller of the blocking minion discards two cards at random from his or her hand (before combat, if any). Those cards are not replaced until the end of this action. [AUS][QUI] As above, but bleed at +2 bleed. As can clearly be seen, Tariq has great capabilities that are usually reserved for nine, ten and eleven capacity vampires, or at least vampires of particular clans, due to his unique discipline set. How much would you pay? But wait! There's more!! Tariq, The Silent Advanced Clan: Assamite (group 2) Capacity: 7 Disciplines: AUS FOR OBF QUI cel Advanced, Sabbat. Black Hand. Red List: Tariq's capacity is reduced by 4 while he is controlled. He may steal 1 blood as a ranged strike. The Blood Curse does not affect Tariq. [MERGED] Independent: Tariq's capacity is not reduced by his card text. That's right - for just one Pool (and four transfers) more, we'll throw in two traits and another combat special! Act now, and we'll even remove the capacity restriction for NO ADDITIONAL COST!! (some restrictions apply, see LSJ for details. Void where prohibited.) The boost in capacity makes Tariq a much more significant threat, and his blood steal can be used to make up the blood deficiency if diablerie can't. A popular strategy to employ when using merged Tariq is to have him perform Atonement before he is merged. Atonement will not be burned when Tariq's capacity increases to six or more. The blood cost becomes troublesome, but a Blood Doll and Life in the City can make it up quickly. Stack a couple on him before the merge, and you can get your opponents coming and going. Atonement Type: Action Requires: capacity below 6 Cost: 2 blood Requires a ready vampire with a capacity below 6. +1 stealth action. Put this card on the acting vampire. This vampire gets +1 intercept when attempting to block. He or she does not tap when blocking a vampire of the same age or younger. Any vampire may burn this card as a (D) action; Followers of Set get -1 stealth when attempting that action. Advanced Tariq comes with Sabbat and Black Hand status, but cannot enter combat as a D action, nor is he immune to blood hunts. Being on the Red List dares other vampires to come after him, though this isn't likely to happen unless there is a dedicated trophy-collector on the table (and a very arrogant one, at that). An inherent blood steal strike is useful for thwarting prevent, and is often as good as a prevent when dealing with hitback. Once merged, however, Tariq becomes one of the meanest vampires available. Merged Tariq's text would read: Independent. Black Hand. Red List. Tariq can enter combat with a vampire controlled by another Methuselah as a (D) action. Blood hunts cannot be called on Tariq. He may steal 1 blood as a ranged strike. The Blood Curse does not affect Tariq. Trading the capacity restriction for the Red List trait is an excellent deal. The obligatory Celerity skill card puts you even on Pool Cost vs. Capacity, and the only thing left to do is fill the Silent One up to capacity in preparation for a killing spree that even your victims will admit is impressive. The Black Hand trait will allow you to build your library around a Black Hand crypt, if such is your desire, but even if Tariq is your only Hand member, you can still splash the occasional Art of Memory, Corporal Reservoir, or Weeping Stone. Refer to the February 2006 Newsletter for a deeper look at Black Hand Assamites. Order yours today! Or, if you are in the mood for a little disorder... Skullduggery Type: Action Requires: anarch, Obfuscate/Presence/Protean Requires a ready anarch. [obf] (D) Bleed at +1 stealth, with an optional maneuver in the resulting combat if the action is blocked. Friend of Mine Type: Reaction Requires: anarch, Fortitude/Necromancy/Obtenebration Cost: 1 blood Requires a ready anarch. [for] Reduce a bleed against you by 2. Undue Influence Type: Action Requires: anarch, Chimerstry/Presence/Quietus +1 stealth action. Requires a ready anarch. Choose a vampire in your uncontrolled region. [qui] Put 1 blood counter on the chosen vampire. If the number of counters equals or exceeds his or her capacity, move that vampire to your ready region. Smoke and Mirrors Type: Action Modifier Requires: anarch, Chimerstry/Obfuscate/Obtenebration Requires an anarch. [obf] +2 stealth. Not usable during a bleed or political action. Diversion Type: Combat Requires: anarch, Celerity/Fortitude/Thaumaturgy Requires a ready anarch. [cel] Gain one additional strike. [for] Prevent up to 2 damage. Principia Discordia Type: Action Requires: anarch, Auspex/Quietus/Serpentis +1 stealth action. Requires a ready anarch. [aus] (D) Burn an equipment card. [qui] (D) Burn 1 blood on an untapped vampire and tap that vampire. Improvised Tactics Type: Combat Requires: anarch, Auspex/Potence/Protean Requires a ready anarch. Only usable before range is determined on the first round. A minion can play only 1 Improvised Tactics each combat. [aus] During the press step each round, draw one card. Discard down to your hand size afterward. Mole, The Type: Reaction Requires: anarch, Animalism/Celerity/Dominate Requires a ready anarch. Only usable when a non-anarch minion is acting. [cel] +1 intercept. Not usable if the acting minion has Celerity. Going Anarch opens Tariq up to all sorts of new options, some better than others (I can't see using The Mole over Spirit's Touch unless the rest of your crypt supports it, for example). Diversion-based combat, however, can be very strong. With Tariq to remove your opponents Anarchs, or block their attempts to become so, Anarch Revolt becomes a strong play. A well-timed lunge with Khabar: Glory in play could yield spectacular results. Operators are standing by! With so many options to explore, building a Tariq-based deck will test your ability to focus. I know my first attempts were very tool-boxed, to the point of inefficiency. There are a couple of tried-and-true designs, most notably Tariq Eats World. My apologies to the originator of this build - so many variants exist that I am uncertain who should get the credit. The emphasis, however, is on the Rowan Ring and Amaranth. The Ring strike sends the opponent to torpor, and Amaranth provides Tariq with a replenished Blood supply and allows him to retain the Ring for his next victim. Standard 'Combat Ousting' (see Decmber 2005 and January 2006 Newsletters) strategies apply. Note that an Amaranthed vampire never goes to torpor, so adjust your Fame placement accordingly. A popular variant on this concept is to include necromancy in the crypt so you can use Daemonic Possession to move your opponents' deceased vampires to your controlled region. This is the absolute best conceivable use of Rudolfo Giovanni, ever. With the introduction of Tariq Advanced and new toys for Assamites and Quietus in Kindred Most Wanted, new possibilities have been opened. I was fortunate enough to solicit the following dissertation from one of the clan's most prolific players, Mr. David Cherryholmes: Deck Name: tariq-bh-merged Author: David Cherryholmes Description: Most people are familiar with "Tariq eats the world" style decks. This deck takes that concept as a point of departure and refines it, so I'll focus mainly on the differences. Firstly, rather than utilize a lot of freak drives (or forced marches) for multirush, it uses wakes and eagle's sight. While differences exist, bum's rushing your prey's vampire and snagging him when he twitches with an Eagle's both amount to the same thing: combat with your chosen target. And in the case of Tariq, you will always have one proactive rush available every turn. This means your opponents can't try to stymie you by not acting with the vampire they care most about (although that scenario isn't exactly a loss for you, either). There are miscellaneous advantages to "inverting" the combat vehicle towards an Eagle's platform. For example, it addresses the question "what to do about politics, what to do about PTO?" There's no 100% answer to Arika calling a PTO cross table, but ES and permacept at least give you a chance. Focusing on ES also gives you a nice answer to Obedience decks, traditionally a hard bone to rush strategies. The next significant difference between this Tariq deck and the baseline is that it uses Atonement and the merged special. First, while he's still a low cap vampire, you Atone him. After that, you merge him. Now you have a 7+ cap vampire who doesn't tap to block, is running eagle's sights, and is building up permacept via Draught of the Souls. Black Sunrise also covers the window in which Atonement might (should) be burned by the horde at your back, when you are tapped out from getting it. Sunrise up, block the burn action, and stay untapped to block further attempts. Then we move on to the Anarch portion of the deck. Granted, this is another moving part that isn't absolutely essential, but I believe the overall advantages of going anarch are worth it. Firstly, you must consider that Tariq decks are weapon decks. As such, immortal grapple and DotB/Terror Frenzy are going to be your major trumps (there are others of course, but these are the most common in a tournament). Groundfighting plugs this hole, and is perfectly cyclable as a free maneuver or press if need be. Another advantage of going anarch is the ability to play Anarch Revolts. You of course are an anarch yourself, so you don't take any damage. You allow the rest of the table to go anarch, but either block your prey's attempts or rush whatever anarchs he has with Tariq's inherent rush in order to focus damage on him. Later, you can rush your grandprey's and great-grandprey's anarchs to yank the rug out from underneath them. Eagle's Sight and general intercept give you a chance to block attempts to call the vote to remove it, and you can always employ the threat of a rush..... carrot: "Don't call that vote to remove it and I'll torpor your prey's anarch" .... stick: "If you call that vote to remove it I'll burn your best vampire." Miscellaneous anarch advantages include Powerbase: LA, which has great synergy with your overall strategy of untapping and then staying untapped to block via Atonement. Another is Diversion, one of the earliest "playable" anarch cards. Tariq's Black Hand attribute isn't exploited very much in this deck. The only card I'm using at the moment is Corporal Reservoir. However, that is a great card, and helps out the last major component of the deck: Events. The events are focused on hosing disciplines, or at least making them more difficult to play. Your deck is largely disciplineless (Atone, cardless rush, weapon strike, amaranth), so on the whole you should benefit from it. The events may not make you popular with the rest of the players, but I've had enough experiences of easily-manipulated tools ignoring an Arika deck, in order to blow Tariq off the table (yes, I'm looking at *you*, EC 2005), so you can probably assume a lineup of hysterics screaming like little girls about your deck anyway. Screw 'em. The last bit of flavor is the dollop of Dementation sprinkled on the deck. Of course Psyches would be great, but there really isn't room for enough to make them more than a prayer card. Instead, the deck relies on getting Blessing of Chaos (which provides additional benefits) and NSA Trio. It's not a super-trump to S:CE but, then again, you are blocking, bleeding for a significant amount with Draughts, hitting with unbounceable pool damage from Anarch Revolts, and not wasting any cards in a combat in which they must strike first. No, it's not as good as 12 Immortal Grapples, but I consider the issue addressed. Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity average: 5.34 ------------------------------------------------------------ 4x Tariq, The Silent 7 AUS FOR OBF QUI cel Assamite:2 3x Tariq, The Silent Adv 7 AUS FOR OBF QUI cel Assamite:2 1x Dan Murdock 3 aus obf Caitiff:1 1x Dollface 3 aus obf Malkavian:1 1x Lena Rowe 3 aus obf pre Pander:2 1x Watenda 3 obf Malkavian:2 1x Zoe 3 AUS cel obf Malkavian:2 Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Action [6] 4x Atonement 2x Blessing of Chaos Action Modifier [2] 2x Lost in Crowds Action Modifier/Combat [7] 5x Draught of the Soul 2x Swallowed by the Night Combat [28] 10x Amaranth 4x Disguised Weapon 5x Diversion 5x Groundfighting 2x Rolling with the Punches 2x Unflinching Persistence Equipment [10] 1x Flamethrower 3x Ivory Bow 1x Kali's Fang 3x Rowan Ring 2x Sengir Dagger Event [3] 1x Blood Weakens 1x NSA Trio 1x Slow Withering, The Master [20] 3x Anarch Revolt 3x Corporal Reservoir 1x Dementation 1x Effective Management 7x Galaric's Legacy 1x Gift of Experience 1x Pentex Subversion 2x Powerbase: Los Angeles 1x Vast Wealth Reaction [14] 3x Black Sunrise 7x Eagle's Sight 4x Forced Awakening Thank you, Dave. Class, I hope you were paying attention. In preparation for this Newsletter, I explored a different approach to Tariq - Bleed. In a post on thepathofblood.com, the user known as Barone contemplated the use of hand reduction tech based on cards like Hand Intervention, Aggresive Tactics, Masque of Judas, and Truth of Blood. Interested parties can find the discussion here: http://www.thepathofblood.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3371. I noted that Tariq can use both Truth of Blood and Masque of Judas, and theorized that a bleed of three or -4 hand size for my opponent in the ensuing combat is a win-win for me. In practice, I found that Truth of Blood is an excellent card. Masque of Judas, however, is too expensive to use in large quantities when Tariq is involved. Bleeding with Truth requires an untap to allow for an enter combat action in the same turn, as well, so Masque often sits in-hand while your prey would rather take the bleed than fight Tariq small-handed. I will likely try Truth/Masque again, though with Massassi, who's Potence will allow for Taste of Vitaes to help with the cost. Deck Name: Vitae Don't Lie Author: Tom Duncan Description: Use Truth of Blood as an incentive to let your bleeds through. Merge Tariq ASAP and allow his reputation to intimidate the table. Remove bouncy vampires with combat tech. Weapons are key, .44's particularly against Imbued. Deck lacks crypt movement tech, so be prepared to fish if needed. After several games, and with some excellent advice from friends (thanks, guys), I have come to this version. The "Tariq combat monster" support has been minimized to adopt a bleed-first approach, with build-up through surgical diablerie as a secondary strategy. 3x Deviki and 8x Skill Cards have been dropped from this latest version. The defensive package of Black Sunrise and Telepathic Misdirection supports combat first (BS requires a block attempt), but can be hosed by block-fails-stay-tapped stuff. Ideally, you attempt to block, and if not successful, can still bounce the bleed with TM. Alamut and Yoruba shrine offer protection from PTO and Banishment, Mind Rape, etc. This deck is not tournament ready, but should be fun try on your casual game. Note that my local game is combat-savvy, so I have included more damage prevention tech than you might need. Beware weapon-hosers (thus the Taste of Death's - I have not seen significant animalism combat in rather a while, so left out Sire's Index Finger), and target Truth of Blood with The Art of Memory if you can. I have built this deck from what my collection can support, and it contains all of my Truth of Bloods. Perhaps an 80 card build would be advantageous? Any revelations made should be reported to veknpontiac[AT]yahoo[DOT]com or PM'ed to Wookie813 on thepathofblood.com, and will be greatly appreciated. Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity average: 5.67 ------------------------------------------------------------ 3x Tariq, The Silent 7 AUS FOR OBF QUI cel Assamite:2 3x Tariq, The Silent Adv 7 AUS FOR OBF QUI cel Assamite:2 1x Cornelius Ottavio 8 AUS OBF pre qui Malkavian:2 1x Yusuf, Scribe of A 5 CEL aus obf qui Assamite:2 1x Tansu Bekir 4 OBF cel Assamite:2 1x Ali Kar 3 obf qui Assamite:3 1x Harika Guljan 3 QUI Assamite:2 1x Zoe 3 AUS cel obf Malkavian:2 Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Action [10] 2x Computer Hacking 2x Khabar: Glory 6x Truth of Blood Action Modifier [10] 2x Art of Memory, The 4x Forced March 4x Spying Mission Action Modifier/Combat [5] 2x Draught of the Soul 3x Swallowed by the Night Combat [28] 3x Amaranth 2x Disguised Weapon 2x Masque of Judas 4x Psyche! 5x Pursuit 4x Rolling with the Punches 3x Selective Silence 5x Taste of Death Equipment [8] 2x .44 Magnum 1x Blood Tears of Kephran 2x Ivory Bow 2x Leather Jacket 1x Rowan Ring Master [17] 1x Alamut 4x Blood Doll 2x Celerity 4x Corporal Reservoir 1x Guardian Angel 1x Market Square 1x Perfectionist 1x Underworld Hunting Ground 2x Yoruba Shrine Reaction [12] 6x Black Sunrise 6x Telepathic Misdirection ________________________________________________________________________________________ Find everything you need to know about playing Assamites at www.thepathofblood.com! Comments, Suggestions, and Submissions should be sent to: veknpontiac[AT]yahoo[DOT]com Special thanks to David Cherryholmes, John Eno, Jeff Kuta, and Merlin Petersen for their contributions.