Assamite Clan Newsletter Volume 3 Issue 1 (October 2002) Written by Jeff Kuta ==================== Assalam 'alaikoom! I know what you're thinking--AN ASSAMITE CLAN NEWSLETTER!? Yes, that's correct. It has been nearly one year since the last newsletter and the Assamites are back and bloodthirsty! I contacted David Cherryholmes and volunteered to write a newsletter for the Assamites. With his blessing, I am guest-writing this edition. It is only my hope that I earn the Assamites respect as a rafik. If this newsletter is well-received by methuselahs who have chosen the right Path, I will continue in future months to explore the depths of the mysterious yet lethal Clan Assamite. Congratulations are long overdue to Remy Auclair and Henrik Isaksson who have each won a tournament for the Assamites in the past year. Remy even used a significant amount of Quietus in his deck! Mabrouk! VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH Jalal Sayad Assamite 6 CEL pot QUI Independent: Once each turn, after completing combat, Jalal may burn 1 blood to begin another combat with the opposing minion. (Blood Cursed) Jalal is simply just an incredible combat machine. He has both clan combat disciplines at superior, plus inferior Potence if you want to work in some Immortal Grapples. I prefer my Assamites to focus on their clan disciplines, and conveniently Jalal is quite adept. Our venerated former Scribe of the Assamites, Todd Bannister, has discussed in previous newsletters the necessity for Assamites to deal with S:CE as well as make efficient use of their actions. He has also dealt with this topic extensively at his Assamite web site, The Path of Blood (www.thepathofblood.com). Jalal is a perfect example of compactness and efficiency. He can also thwart S:CE as a special. Any time Jalal takes an Rush action, he can engage his target twice. If he takes out a Contract, he can engage them twice every turn. With sufficient presses and card cycling, he can almost assuredly incapacitate any opponent he faces nearly every turn. CARD OF THE MONTH Tension in the Ranks Master Unique Put this card in play. Whenever a ready minion is burned or sent to torpor, the controller of the minion burns a pool. Any Methuselah can burn this card by discarding 2 master cards as a master phase action. One of the classic ways for Assamites to burn their prey's pool is the old Fame/Torpor combo. Tension in the Ranks from the Camarilla edition gives them yet another tool for burning pool via combat. This card should fit in any Assamite combat deck since there are no combat clans the Assamites need fear if they build their decks properly. One side benefit of using Tension in the Ranks is that the other combat decks at the table will start getting bloodthirsty as well. Even if you have a combative predator, they may be more likely to go upstream rather than face losing both minions and pool against your superior combat skills. I still haven't decided how many TitR are appropriate for a combat deck (and I still only have one TitR), but a single one works well in conjunction with a pair of Fame (which is still stronger because your prey takes the biggest hit). DECK OF THE MONTH I was inspired after reading the tournament report for Precognition: Torrance from July, 2002. Rob Acevedo created a masterful Beast/Theo all-rush, all-the-time deck with no blood control yet an incredible amount of combat. It contained just enough bleed defense that it would be scary to face, even for a serious stealth bleeder. I have tried to adapt it for the Assamites and had a decent amount of success so far. It is Storyline legal so perhaps some methuselahs out there will give it or a variant a shot. This deck is a blast to play. I always feel like I am doing the Assamites justice with the enormous amount of combat in this deck. "Gratuitous" Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 17, Max: 27, Avg: 5.50) ---------------------------------------------- 3 Parmenides CEL qui 4, Assamite 3 Abd al-Rashid CEL obf QUI 5, Assamite 3 Jalal Sayad CEL pot QUI 6, Assamite 3 Parnassus aus CEL QUI tha 7, Assamite LIBRARY Master (15) 4 Guardian Angel 2 Contract 2 Dreams of the Sphinx 2 Fame 1 Tension in the Ranks 1 Humanitas 1 Market Square 1 Path of Blood 1 Quietus Action (11) 4 Bum's Rush 7 Clandestine Contract Ally (1) 1 Ghouls of the Plaza Moreria Retainer (2) 1 J.S. Simmons, Esq. 1 Tasha Morgan Equipment (2) 1 Catacombs 1 Inverary, Scotland Reaction (4) 4 Forced Awakening Action Modifier (1) 1 Succulent Vitae Combat (54) 9 Blood Sweat 7 Flash 7 Taste of Vitae 6 Pursuit 5 Taste of Death 5 Infernal Pursuit 4 Psyche! 3 Blur 2 Khabar: Honor 2 Sideslip 2 Rapid Thought 2 Pulled Fangs Strategy is very straightforward: Cripple your predator; cycle your cards; start to bleed. There are of course numerous flaws with this manner of play, especially if your predator is a hyper-bleed deck which has no capability of playing a defensive game. And usually, it's not that sort of predator that is the real problem--it's the stronger grand-predator who is now after you once you trash your predator's minions. The biggest hurdle for this deck is getting an initial hand without a rush action or the first couple of cards. There are 13 available (9 of which are Contracts), so your odds are pretty good. If you don't get a Contract, just bleed as best as you can, or equip, recruit or hire. Generally don't even bother blocking unless you have a weenie horde as your predator. These Assamites are cheap enough that you can expect to bleed your prey for a few early on because they will most likely fear for their minions (and absolutely fear after you burn the first blocker) once they attempt to block. S:CE can be somewhat problematic for this deck, but that's where Jalal comes in. He and Parnassus should be your big combat vampires. If you suspect S:CE, Parnassus should just beat on them with his hands while you cycle cards. Jalal can do the same thing, but you have enough presses that you can continue combat to a second round if they don't S:CE and tear them apart once you've been shown an opening. If your local metagame features lots of S:CE, you may want to switch the Rapid Thoughts for Psyches! Use them wisely and strike hands often. Obedience is another issue for this deck since the biggest vampire is only a 7 cap. Combat for this deck is often a situation where you need to use some feints to accomplish your goals. For example, Flash to long range and wave for your first strike, then Pursuit/Blur and use the additional strikes after they decline to use S:CE. It's also often worth burning maneuvers (use Flash first and save the Bum's Rush maneuver for after your press )just to cycle cards, especially if you have an Infernal Pursuit going. I am convinced that Infernal Pursuit is key for this deck--don't take them out! Generally, Jalal and Parnassus should be your fighters while Abd and Parmenides block/bleed/rescue Famed vampires. Parmenides can be a great fighter, but there's a LOT of Quietus in this deck so until he has superior, he's better off bleeding. Plus, he can't make use of the Clandestine Contract until he's a 5 cap with QUI. One last suggestion is don't overextend yourself--only influence out two minions to start, saving the third for when you get your first oust or have your predator under control. It takes a while for your bleed defense to get set up (GA/FA) so cycle cards until you've got some in place. I sometimes go for three minions if I can get Parmenides out on turn 1--depends on the predator. To date, this deck has managed to burn countless minions and taken2 table wins (swept once) out of the 5 or 6 times I've played it. Not a bad record for the Assamites IMO. The name "Gratuitous" comes from the Prince of San Francisco. I really pissed him off one late night at a recent Con when I had Fame/Torpor/Rescue going on against Gratiano. Gratuitous Violence is indeed what this deck is all about, but the Assamites wouldn't have it any other way now, would they? ;) Next month: Akbar khali-lil haftir loftan. Ma'assalama.