Assamite Clan Newsletter October, 2006 By Tom Duncan (sort of) For the month of October, the Assamite newsletter has been written by a variety of contributors (most of whom didn't know they were contributing until after they'd done so). Any further efforts by the V:TES community at large to expand upon information about the Assamites or provide new perspectives on their strengths and weaknesses is welcome. If you've got something you'd like to see in a future newsletter, feel free to contact Tom Duncan at "veknpontiac[AT]yahoo[DOT]com" or John Eno at "thisi_s_stupid[AT]yahoo[DOT]com". This issue will focus on the Third Edition set, and the cards in it which are useful (and harmful) to the Assamites. On thepathofblood.com, Cameron Murtagh composed a solid overview of the cards from Third Edition that Assamite players should look to use, presented with permission: (Editor's comments will be preceded with "Editor's Note:" and be contained in brackets[].) So what did the Children of Haqim get out of the release of Third Edition? Not much unfortunately, but that was to be expected for a set focused on The Sabbat, although I was hoping for some token bloodline representation. Vampires Kai Simmons Pander 1 Capacity cel Sabbat: Any other Methuselah`s titled Sabbat vampire may call a referendum to steal Kai for him or her as a +1 stealth political action. A nice little Pander, perfect for paring up with Basir. His drawback is kind of minor, who would want to call a vote to steal this guy, any way? Nice for a diablerizing guys after your bigger Assamites send them to torpor. He might even survive the blood hunt and gain a Quietus master. Bloodfeud !Malkavian 2 Capacity obf Sabbat Obfuscate weenies are always useful for lackey work, so a nice addition. Good for pinch blocking and for actions you can't be bothered wasting a better minion on or stealthy diablerizing. Old Neddacka !Nosferatu 2 Capacity obf Sabbat Ditto. Leo Washington !Gangrel 2 Capacity cel pro Sabbat: An older vampire opposing Leo gets an optional maneuver on the first round of combat. A nice little vampire, his disadvantage can be offset easily with celerity, he offers some support to Reza Fatir, but better celerity weenies exist. Rodrigo !Brujah 5 Capacity pot pre qui CEL Sabbat Something a little meatier. Potence/Celerity/Quietus has always been a fan favorite. He also offers his larger brother Hektor a little support, as well as Massassi. With the addition of the !Brujah to the allied clans a few new cards are opened up for use. The Bruisers offer continual location burning, that can be stealthed up with cloak the gatherings. Waste Management Operation gives a little recyclability to the clan, ideal for combat decks. The Sword of Judgment is also nice, but only usable by your !Brujah unfortunately. Also using both Hektor & Rodrigo gives you access to another hunting ground if you wish. Hektor !Brujah 9 Capacity for CEL POT PRE QUI Sabbat priscus: Damage from Hektor`s hand strikes is aggravated. Baali get +1 bleed when bleeding you. The vampire we're all talking about, access to four combat disciplines and in built aggravated hand damage, really makes this guy stand out as one nasty piece of work. Inferior fortitude can easily be upgraded for Forced March/Freak drive multi action madness. While his Priscus title & superior Presence make him a nice base for voting. As for his drawback, how often are the Baali seen? And how likely are you to be able to smash the stuffing out them when they do show their faces? Nice synchronicity with Massassi as well. One of the best non-assamite Assamites. [Editor's Note: Note, too, the Presence connection to Antara and Vardar Vardarian. Hektor, Mukhtar Bey, and Ubende all have inherent votes and Qui/Pre, and there is a lot of For and Obf sharing going on, too.] Library Abbot +1 stealth action. Requires a Sabbat vampire. Put this card on this acting Sabbat vampire and untap him or her. This Sabbat vampire gets +1 intercept against (D) actions directed at his or her controller. A vampire may have only one Abbot. A very nice little action. Great for use with the Sabbat Assamites, works well with the black hand tech available to most of them. Combine with sport bikes, Market Square & Black Sunrise for added fun. [Editor's Note: There are currently four Sabbat Assamites: Yazid Tamari, Joe "Boot" Hill, Reza Fatir, and Tariq ADV (but not merged - Abbot only benefits "This Sabbat vampire").] Blade of Enoch Unique melee weapon. 1 Pool. Strength+1 damage each strike, only usable by a vampire with capacity above 5. Damage inflicted by this weapon on a Brujah or Brujah antitribu is aggravated. This vampire with capacity above 5 is immune to the effects of Frenzy cards. The utility of this weapon will vary based on your local metagame. Combine this with Sire's Index Finger for added immunity to Rotschreck. Nice to also be able to put down foaming at the mouth Brujah easily. Codex of the Damned Unique equipment. While the bearer has Thaumaturgy [tha], he or she is considered to have superior Thaumaturgy. Each time the bearer with Thaumaturgy commits diablerie, each other ready vampire you control gains 1 blood, and each one younger than the victim may receive a master: Discipline card from your ash heap, hand, or library (shuffle afterward). Good for the Sorcerors of the Clan, most of which don't have superior thaumaturgy, they can get benefit from this. Combine with Veneficorum Artum Sanguis to round out the Sorcerors ability in the clan. Unfortunately the second part of the game text is harder to use, requiring a Tajdid. It might be interesting to give thaumatury to Tariq the Silent and make use of the book. [Editor's Note: I would give the Codex to Samat Ramal-Ra and let him diablerize after Parnassus and Al-Ashrad do their butt-kicking. With Devikki in the build, you could run the gamut of weenies, or even Fida'i, and 8-10 Master Skill for a sorcerers crescendo of devastation.] Danse Macabre Master. Choose a ready Sabbat vampire you control. Once this turn, when the chosen Sabbat vampire performs a successful action, he or she may burn a blood to untap after resolving that action. Another toy for our Sabbat brethren. Note this has to be a successful action, but luckily we have obfuscate for stealth. Still using Flurry of Actions might be an easier way of getting a free untap. [Editor's Note: Or use in conjunction with Flurry for two untaps! All Sabbat Assamites have CEL. I think the biggest drawback to this card is it's cost of a Master Phase action. While the Danse may prove useful to Sabbat clans without discipline-based untap, for us it is inferior tech unless the crypt is very focused.] Forger`s Hammer Action Modifier. Only usable when this vampire successfully equips with a non-unique melee weapon from your hand. [pot] Put this card on the weapon. This weapon inflicts +1 damage each strike. [POT] As above, and the cost of this weapon is reduced by 1 blood or 1 pool. A little harder to integrate into a deck than some of the new cards, it does give the warriors with potence a nice way of equiping with +3 damage Bang-Nakh and double strength stakes. [Editor's Note: It's a crying shame there are no Assamites with POT. This card would make Garrote playable. Perhaps a POT obf vampire (Agatha) could be used to produce free uber-garrotes for your assassins to pick up at Raves, during Nods, or while passing through Germany.] Frontal Assault Master. Put this card in play. Each ready minion you control may enter combat with any minion controlled by your prey as a (D) action. You gain 1 pool each time a ready minion controlled by your prey is burned or sent to torpor. During your influence phase, burn this card and burn 1 pool for each ready minion controlled by your prey. One of the big cards from the set, perhaps the best use for us is with Web of Knives Recruits to swarm your prey, late game. [Editor's Note: I predict FA will be pivotal in those end game situations, but seldom useful early. A good Storage Annex card for the later lunge. A recent newsgroup post confirms that FA's stack, providing multiple reward and penalty Pool bonuses (and rushes if multi-acting). Of course they burn on your turn, so you'd need multiple Master phase actions, too. Just be sure you can take down half or more of your Prey's vampires to break even, and for Pete's sake please have Pool damage tech like Tension in the Ranks or Fame in place when you do this, else the risk-to-reward ratio just isn't in your favor.] Glancing Blow Combat. Do not replace until your next untap phase. Prevent 1 damage from the opposing minion`s strike. Very nice, if expensive, prevent. Combine with Sideslip to get some moderate prevent for the clan. [Editor's Note: Does not require a discipline at all, so include it in builds that feature Devikki, The Ghouls of the Plaza Moreria, Imbued, or any other Ally you'd like to help keep around.] Grooming the Protege Master. Move up to 3 blood from a ready vampire you control to a younger vampire of the same clan in your uncontrolled region. Great card. Really speeds up decks and gives more benefits to those who invest in fatties early. My favorite use would be on a multi-action Ur-Shulgi to Grooming+Govern+Khabar and bring out an eight capacity vampire for free. Also acts as a limited minion tap if you're desperate. Harvest Rites +1 stealth action. 1 Blood. Requires a Sabbat vampire. Put this card on this acting Sabbat vampire. Once each turn, when the vampire with this card successfully hunts, he or she gains 1 additional blood. A vampire can have only one Harvest Rites. Sabbat now have the choice of Harvest Rites or Procurers, depending what fits your deck better. Has some poential with the Sabbat Assamites using Harvest Rites and Succulent Vitae for quick recovery. Also Combines well with Aaron's Feeding Razor and Inbase Discotech for massive bloat potential. Makes Blanche Hill want to join the Sabbat. [Editor's Note: Blanche Hill Clan: Salubri (group 2) Capacity: 6 Disciplines: FOR OBE aus Independent: Once per turn, when Blanche successfully hunts, untap her at the end of the action. Scarce. I'd use it on Rabbat, personally. Also, Perfectionist is still better!] Heart of Nizchetus Unique equipment. 1 pool. During your untap phase, if the bearer is ready, you may draw up to three cards from your library and then move the same number of cards from your hand to the bottom of your library. Ouch, the ultimate in cycling tech, if you can keep your vampire alive and the Heart uncontested. Likely to help every deck it's used in. [Editor's Note: I think it will especially help combat decks. The ability to pitch out Masters that are jamming the flow but not have to Ash them is big. A couple of "shuffle your library afterward" opportunities would go well with it, of course.] Helicopter Vehicle. 3 pool. When a minion equips with the Helicopter, tap it. After resolving a successful action, this minion may tap the Helicopter to untap. A minion may have only one vehicle. A little overpriced and vulnerable, but it's always nice to have an additional untap. My favorite ways to use this would be to get around the equipment coming into play tapped, by not equipping it. Simply use Pier 13 Baltimore or Repo Man (who conveniently fetches it for you) to get the Helicopter. Ur-Shulgi with a Rutor's Hand & Helicopter is likely to make everyone sit up and take note. Inconnu Tutelage 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). The card we voted on. Another key word. Hmmm... maybe we will see the Inconnu expansion at some point. This card is a little better than Anthelios, in that if you prepare for it, you can get a lot more use out of it. Effective management now becomes make a wish, and Clotho`s Gift lets the Assamites get the best of the tutelage. [Editor's Note: Provided you are playing with a star + support crypt, IT allows you to turn those extra copies in the uncontrolled into a Khabar: Glory, or, since it happens at the end of your turn, the Black Sunrise that you didn't cycle into but need desperately.] Instability Master. Only usable if your prey controls the Edge or the Edge is uncontrolled. Your prey may take the Edge if it is uncontrolled. You gain 2 pool. Only one Instability may be played each turn. Kind of wallpapery. You probably have better uses for your master phase. [Editor's Note: But it becomes a better play the smaller the table gets.] Keep It Simple Reaction. 1 Blood. Reduce a bleed against you by one for each point of stealth the acting minion has when this card is played. This single card has breathed life into quite a few intercept decks. Very nice for the Assamite wall deck. Makes stealthing a massive bleed past the wall vampire counter-productive. Still wouldn't you rather catch the vamp with another bonus to intercept and pummel the offender, than merely reduce the bleed for one turn? [Editor's Note: Still not as good a play as Deflection, but gives intercept an out when it loses to massive stealth (which it always does). No discipline requirement means that even Kanya Ahktar could protect you from two heavily modified bleeds in one turn.] King`s Rising Master. If you have fewer than 6 pool, gain 3 pool. Otherwise, gain 1 pool. In either case, put this card in play. You cannot use transfers to move counters to or from your uncontrolled minions. If you control the Edge during your untap phase, burn this card. I like it, a late game card, that can turn the game around for you. But an element of risk attached. Martinelli`s Ring Unique equipment. Cards that require Malkavian, Malkavian antitribu, Dementation [dem] or Serpentis [ser] cannot target or be placed on this minion. Burn any cards on this minion that require any of those clans or Disciplines. A magic bullet for tempting and demented decks. More of a metagame card. Minor Irritation Reaction Only usable when this vampire successfully blocks an ally or a younger vampire (play before combat, if any). This vampire doesn't tap for successfully blocking. A limited cats guidance for everyone. Probably be better to just pack more untap. Mirror Walk Action Modifier Do not replace until your discard phase. [tha] +1 stealth. [THA] As [tha] above, and if this action is blocked, the action ends (with no combat). An interesting card, but the Assamites have better ways of getting stealth. Still, Parnassus might find it useful. New Management Action. Do not replace until the end of this action. (D) Take control of a location that costs less than 2 blood or pool. Love the reference to the Suck Club. A little more limited than arson and it can't target hunting grounds, still might have it's uses in a weenie obfuscate deck. NRA PAC Event. Government. Any minion who successfully performs an equip action untaps at the end of the turn. A great card. Okay everyone can use it, but if your packing more equipment than everyone else, you get the most benefit. [Editor's Note: Equip with permacept and be ready to block!] On the Qui Vive Reaction Only usable by a tapped minion. This reacting minion can play reaction cards and attempt to block as though untapped until the current action is concluded. If this minion is an ally, he or she does not untap as normal during his or her next untap phase. A minion may play only one On the Qui Vive between his or her untap phases. Another variation on Wake, pick the limitation you're most comfortable with. We have Black Sunrise anyway. Perpetual Care Political Action. Successful referendum means each Methuselah burns 2 pool for each vampire in torpor he or she controls. Nice for us, the Assamites often end up sending a few vampires to torpor, but not being able to diablerize, they just sit there. Maybe finally some use for all those stray votes on the Assamites. [Editor's Note: And Alamut!] Rumble Action. Requires a Sabbat vampire. (D) Enter combat with a ready minion controlled by another Methuselah. In that combat, your hand size is increased by one. If this acting vampire is not ready at the end of the action, you burn 1 pool. Another variation on rush, for our Sabbat brethren. Is the +1 hand size, worth the risk of losing a pool? You'd want to be damn sure of the combat's result. There's also the problem of drawing this when you're low on pool. Wash Master: out-of-turn. Trifle. Do not replace until your next untap phase. Cancel a master card played by your predator or prey as it is played (no cost is paid). That Methuselah gains a master phase action (if the canceled card is an out-of-turn master, it doesn't count against that Methuselah's next master phase). Was this necessary? [Editor's Note: I'm not sure I like it either. Now there's nothing to sacrifice for canceling a Master card except a card slot. This may make the game more frustrating if it sees heavy play.] Yawp Court Master: unique location. Requires a ready Sabbat vampire. Tap when a political action is successful, before the referendum, to have a ready untapped Sabbat vampire you control tap and enter combat with the acting vampire. If the acting vampire is still ready at the end of combat, the Sabbat vampire takes 2 damage, and the referendum is conducted as normal. Politics, Sabbat style. Once again only open to the Angels of Caine, but it's basically a good way of influencing votes outside of emptying Alamut. Maybe group 4/5 Assamites will allow for Sabbat politics. Lets hope we see Monty soon. Young Bloods Ally. 2 pool. Unique mortal with 3 life. 2 strength, 0 bleed. The Young Bloods can burn 2 blood from a tapped vampire with a capacity less than 8 as a +1 stealth (D) action. If a vampire controlled by another Methuselah burns the Young Bloods in combat or as an action, he or she gains 2 blood. My favorite card from the set. Combined with Ghouls of Plaza Moreria and Gregory Winter, this can be real headache for your predator or prey. If you wish you can even use the Sabbat Assamites for Marijava Thugees for added fun or send sorcerers on cryptic missions. So, what have I missed? CM [Editor's Note: I think you did fine! Also on thepathofblood, Finbury added:] I think the big things we gained were: Grooming the Protege: There are already some real advantages to playing mono-clan Assamites, and this card just makes mono-clan decks stronger. We no longer have be slow because we don't have Dominate for Govern the Unaligned. Helicopter: Let's see - do we have any big vampires with little or no way to untap? Yes, yes we do. Other nice additions: Blade of Enoch: Immediately replaces Sire's for every Fatima deck. Makes the Al's Army Apparatus/Fatima variant even more compelling. Abbot: We could already use Yazid and Raven Spies as a nice defensive module; this just makes that better. Young Bloods: So we can now have three unique blood-stealer minions floating around without going out of clan? Cool. Cards that are bad for the Clan: Wash: We are pretty dependant on certain master cards, both for defensive purposes (Yoruba Shrine, intercept locations) and for offensive ones (Alamut, Fame). Having a cheap and easy-to-cycle almost-Sudden around is just bad for the Clan. Mirror Walk, Hexaped: Yay, another clan that can bleed us for a bunch at +2 stealth (+3 if you count Bonding.) Not. Shattered Mirror: Another way for a wimpy clan to avoid bruise-bleed. And this one might be good enough to actually see play. Cards that are mixed blessings: New Management: Most folks are going to be running this to steal The Barrens, vote locations, or the Info Highway. Unfortunately, all the Assamite locations except Underworld Hunting Ground can be stolen here - Alamut, Yoruba Shrine, Market Square. On the plus side, we can steal other people's vote locations, as well as Secure Haven, and we have the Obfuscate to get away with it too... King's Rising: This is fine for us, because many of our new vampires late-game will come from Web of Knives Recruits. However, it's going to make it even harder for our low-bleed rush decks to oust folks in a finite amount of time... [Editor's Note: With all that in mind, I've attempted to put together an Assamite deck that puts some of these new cards to use. The following is what I came up with. Thanks to XZealot on PoB for posting a deck that started me thinking.] Deck Name : Third Ed Bruise and Bleed Author : Wookie Description : A reasonably straight-forward Bruise and Bleeder using Third Edition cards. Hektor and Rodrigo appear, giving the crypt enough Presence to include it in the library for the bleed actions. Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 9 average: 5.34 ------------------------------------------------------------ 2x Hektor 9 CEL POT PRE QUI for priscus !Brujah:4 2x Reza Fatir, The Da 6 CEL QUI obf pro Assamite:4 2x Vardar Vardarian 6 OBF QUI cel pre Assamite:4 2x Michael diCarlo 5 CEL obf qui Assamite:4 2x Rodrigo 5 CEL pot pre qui !Brujah:4 2x Basir 1 qui Assamite:4 >> Hektor and Rodrigo actually make Vardar a playable vampire. The focus here is on Sabbat Assamites otherwise. If there is no [pre] in your opening draw, FISH!!! To make this deck Storyline legal, one could drop a Rodrigo for another Vardar or a Hektor for Antara. I would go with the former over the latter. Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Action [13] 2x Abbot 1x Enchant Kindred 1x Entrancement 1x Games of Instinct 1x Heart of the City 1x Legal Manipulations 1x New Management 3x Rumble 1x Social Charm 1x Summoning, The Action Modifier [3] 3x Change of Target Action Modifier/Combat [4] 4x Swallowed by the Night >> This could be more focused if one were so inclined. I like having options, so chose single copies of several of the [pre] bleed cards. They will mostly be +1 bleed anyway, though there is a chance that the superiors will get some play. A few CoT for a sliver of responsible bleeding. SbtN is just so darned versatile, I have to include it. The stealth could be crucial for getting the Heart of Nizchetus or allies in play, and you never know when Vardar might need it for a manuever. Ally [2] 1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter) 1x Mylan Horseed (Goblin) >> To boost the defense, primarily. Combat [35] 2x Blur 6x Concealed Weapon 2x Infernal Pursuit 6x Psyche! 3x Pursuit 3x Selective Silence 2x Side Strike 3x Sideslip 4x Taste of Death 4x Taste of Vitae Equipment [8] 6x .44 Magnum 1x Blade of Enoch 1x Heart of Nizchetus >> Utilizing the fourth discipline for some combat staying power. Blade of Enoch provides anti-Frenzy and contests in a pinch. However, if it gets stolen one could be in trouble. Note combat is ranged and defensive enough to (hopefully) avoid close combat, though. Event [1] 1x Dragonbound >> Useful here due to the hand management tech of Heart of Nizchetus, Infernal Pursuit, Elder Library, and Waste Management Operation. This deck lacks any form of reliable intercept to block rescue attempts, so the idea would be to return Dragonbound to the bottom of the library (with WMO or HoN for use later) if it is drawn early. Later, when rescues are less likely due to their increased cost*, Db becomes much more useful. Of course, you still have to burn through your original 90 cards unless you can pull off the Summoning, which allows a shuffle. *Later in games, vampires tend to have less blood. It's supply and demand. Rescues still cost the same, but the action and blood counters are much more valuable. Master [16] 2x Blood Doll 1x Elder Library 1x Fame 2x Frontal Assault 1x Giant's Blood 1x KRCG News Radio 2x Minion Tap 2x Presence 1x Underworld Hunting Ground 1x Wash 1x Waste Management Operation 1x Yawp Court >> I might consider a Vast Wealth or two here, to get those extra shuffle opportunities and make the most of the recycle tech. Play testing will hopefully reveal the proper course of action. Until then, this package is basic Pool and Blood management with a few extras. I have tried not to overdo it with the new cards. Reaction [8] 4x Black Sunrise 2x Keep It Simple 2x On the Qui Vive Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Sun Oct 29 16:58:05 2006] >> At best, this build will offer +2 intercept to an Abbot listening to the radio. I think KIS will be a fairly easy card to cycle, though, so I'll give it a try. A Stealth Bleeder will certainly sink this ship in a hurry, anyway. Find everything you need to know about playing Assamites at www.thepathofblood.com! Comments, Suggestions, and Submissions should be sent to: veknpontiac@yahoo.com Special thanks to Cameron Murtagh, Finbury, John Eno, and Merlin Petersen for their contributions.