OFFICIAL V:EKN BRUJAH ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER -- December 2001 Volume III, Issue 3 IN THIS ISSUE... * Prelude * Story Time! * Found in the Dustbin: Templar * Center Stage: Amelia * Deck of the Month: Ghoulishly Cheerful Promptness * Scholars' Corner: Nu, the Pillar * Taming the Elephant: Who needs Deflection? =================================================================== PRELUDE =================================================================== Bloodlines is here now! And we get a good a bit of help, although not as much as some other clans. Two different POT/FOR clans have made their appearance -- the Blood Brothers and Gargoyles. While the Gargoyles are much more suited for use with the Tremere, this doesn't mean we can't borrow a vampire or two of theirs on occasion, and the same with the Blood Brothers. We might even be able to sneak a Baali in there... And, of course, everyone has been frantic to see what the True Brujah and Temporis are going to be like. This means a new section is being added to this newsletter focusing specifically on the True Brujah and just what they can do as support for our clan. None of the "Trujah" are able to play Celerity cards, so they won't fit quite as well in a straight-up ass-beating deck, but their Temporis effects should WELL make up for that deficiency... and as you'll see further down, at least ONE vampire is going to help things out a great deal. =================================================================== STORY TIME! =================================================================== "Hey... I heard there's some new guys in town..." ==================================================================== FOUND IN THE DUSTBIN: Templar ==================================================================== Templar, Political Card - Worth 1 Vote. Called by any Bishop, Archbishop, Priscus or Cardinal at +1 stealth. Choose a Sabbat vampire. Successful referendum makes the vampire a templar. A templar may enter combat with a ready vampire controlled by another Methuselah as a +1 stealth (D) action. Any Sabbat vampire may call a referendum to remove this ability as a +1 stealth political action. It's a Sabbat version of Archon, but slightly inferior. You don't burn a blood to block a Templar, nor can a Templar commit diablerie with impunity. This has already relegated the card to the status of "coaster" in many people's minds, making them overlook the real potential of Templar: it's callable by a Bishop, unlike its counterpart which requires a Prince/Justicar. And will you look at that; the !Brujah already have two Bishops who are eminently playable for their disciplines alone: Sela and Amelia. Both of these Bishops also have superior Presence, meaning they have the political oomph to pass your Templar votes by force if necessary. If you're brave, you can go up a little higher and grab Salinger and Bronwen's titles, but I'll freely admit to being skittish about playing anything higher than an 8-cap in a clan with no bleed bounce capability. As much as the metagame is changing these days, big bleed is still a very common sight. Stepping outside the clan slightly, we also find some other titled vampires to help us: Lisette Vizquel from the Lasombra, and Olivia/Kendrick/Calebos from the !Nosferatu. None of these vampires have Presence (although Calebos has inferior Celerity), so passing a Templar vote with any of these will be slightly trickier. Clever table talk and use of Powerbase: Madrid could well see you through, however. This immediately suggests an interesting twist on a traditional bruise-and-vote strategy. Typically, the difficulty with bruise-and-vote comes in when nobody is able (or willing) to muster up the +1 intercept to block your votes; you end up slowly stifling on your own combat cards. Adding in multiple Rush actions is card-intensive and doesn't provide a whole lot of effectiveness. However, stocking your deck with a few Templars (3-4) can give you the enter-combat ability you'll need, even if people DO manage to muster the votes and spare actions to remove them later. Turning Richter or Jacko into a Templar can provide a very convenient "enforcer", while they can also be targets of a Cardinal Benediction vote later -- as can Beast. I'll lay out that deck in more detail next month, though... and we'll have a surprise addition to it as well. ;) ==================================================================== CENTER STAGE: Amelia ==================================================================== Amelia, 7-cap Brujah Antitribu, CEL POT PRE, Bishop "Amelia can enter combat with any vampire of capacity below 4 controlled by another Methuselah as a +1 stealth (D) action." People have frequently lauded the 7-cap vampires for each clan such as Gilbert Duane and Gitane St. Clair who possess all the in-clan disciplines at superior. Amelia joined our ranks in Sabbat War as one of these, with the additional bonuses of a minor title and a built-in Rush action. If you're worried about weenie bleeders, voters, or in fact weenie ANYTHING, Amelia can really help you out. While not as capable of completely shutting down a weenie horde as Justine, *ANY* built-in Rush is never a bad thing. If nothing else, her special can be used cross-table to help you cycle out some combat cards for another Rush, bleed card, or vote, although you might have to apologize to someone for vaporizing his Smudge. In addition, she fits quite well in any !Brujah deck with all three superiors; and her capacity brings her JUST above the line for a Cardinal Benediction of her own. ==================================================================== DECK OF THE MONTH: Ghoulishly Cheerful Promptness ==================================================================== Deck Name: Ghoulishly Cheerful Promptness Created By: DSR Description: December !Brujah showcase deck. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 13, Max: 23, Avg: 4.67) ---------------------------------------------- 1 Frederick the Weak pre 2, Brujah Antitribu 1 Evangeline cel pot pre 4, Brujah Antitribu 1 Dodd CEL dom pre 5, Brujah Antitribu 1 Sela cel obt POT PRE 6, Brujah Antitribu, Bishop 2 Rigby aus CEL pot PRE 5, Brujah Antitribu 2 Julian Sanders CEL pot PRE 6, Brujah Antitribu 2 Brachah for CEL PRE 5, Brujah 1 Mariana Gilbert cel PRE 4, Toreador 1 Gideon Fontaine PRE 3, Ventrue Library: (75 cards) ------------------- Master (11 cards) 1 Amusement Park Hunting Ground 1 Anarch Troublemaker 2 Celerity 1 Coven, The 1 Creepshow Casino 1 Hungry Coyote 2 Misdirection 2 Presence Action (25 cards) 8 Enchant Kindred 1 Entrancement 6 Legal Manipulations 4 Mind Numb 6 Social Charm Action Modifier (18 cards) 4 Aire of Elation 8 Alacrity 2 Blood Brother Ambush 4 Change of Target Combat (16 cards) 6 Flash 8 Majesty 2 Trap Retainer (5 cards) 5 Marijava Ghoul Stealth/bleed with the !Brujah? NOBODY expects Alacrity! This certainly isn't a tournament-quality deck by any means, and intended much more as a "fun" look at what this clan's capable of. The piles of superior PRE that are sitting out there mean you should be able to get maximum effect from all your actions. Get Marijava Ghouls as fast as you can, and preferably get the first one on someone "old" so you can do the Enchant Kindreds at +3 stealth with Creepshow Casino. Notice a recurring theme here, by the way? The !Brujah are notably lacking in intercept and Deflection capabilities; their best defenses against fast bleed decks are either combat or bloat. Superior EK goes a long way towards keeping yourself afloat. Once you've got yourself up and running, bleed forward lots. You won't get much stealth on the action at all, but careful use of the Mind Numbs, Change of Target, and Trap/BBA will help a lot -- in a way this is largely a tap, sneak, and bleed deck. It isn't much on surviving Rush combat, but feel free to lie and intimidate your way past people at first; people aren't really going to believe that you've got some of these vamps out without being prepared to hand out beatings. It does a lot better at surviving when blocked; Alacrity's maneuver at superior and Majesty combine well, and the Flash will also get you out of trouble. Change of Target will help you waste transients. Your vamps will lose blood ridiculously, so the Hungry Coyote will help out a lot. ==================================================================== SCHOLARS' CORNER: Nu, the Pillar ==================================================================== Nu, the Pillar: 9 capacity True Brujah [ani aus POT PRE pro TEM] "Independent: Once during your minion phase, Nu can burn a blood to untap. Nu cannot use cards that require Celerity. Scarce." Two words: Oh My. Nu is the most expensive of the True Brujah at 9, but he's more worth it than any other 9-cap I've seen so far, and all because of his special: a built-in equivalent of Rutor's Hand. While it does cost him a blood to untap and Rutor's is free, Rutor's also costs an action and four blood to get in the first place, meaning Nu is still WAY ahead of the game until he's taken five extra actions. So what can he do with two actions per turn? Well, for OUR purposes, he's going to be older than almost everyone else in our decks -- so his first action can always be an Enchant Kindred at superior, for some well-needed pool gain. His second action can be a bleed, or a Rush, or whatever seems appropriate... but when he gets into combat, he's got all the Gangrel disciplines at inferior, meaning that yes, he can punch you for 5 agg with TS/IG/US/Claws. (That yo-yo Don Cruez and Nu should really get along quite well -- not to mention that a Nu-Wynn deck would be MOST inconvenient for anyone nearby). He could also go get a Raven Spy or two and be an interceptor who can take actions... something any !Brujah deck is likely to find convenient. And of course, he's got his own in-clans at superior, so he can play all the Temporis cards fully if they're suitable for your deck. While there are certainly a few that spring to mind immediately (and one in particular should be QUITE obvious), those can wait for next month's newsletter for a more detailed discussion... =) (After all, I don't want to run myself out of material right away!) ==================================================================== TAMING THE ELEPHANT: Who needs Deflection? ==================================================================== Our clan's worst weakness... the big bleed. We've got no inherent access to either Dominate or Auspex-based bounce -- while two of our clan DO have inferior Dominate, one is the relatively-useless Dodd, and the other is the excruciatingly-expensive Bronwen. This often means that a huge bleeder behind us can make short work of our day. So what can we do about it? We've only really got two tier-1 options. The first, and the one most commonly seen, is "Kill." Turn all your Rush actions to your right, and eradicate bleeders as necessary until there's no longer a threat. This has some drawbacks in that you're not ousting your prey by doing this, and you're potentially just giving yourself a different, stronger predator, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. The second is a lot less common, and is named "Bloat." Bloat? We don't have 5th Tradition... No, we don't. But we do have a LOT of PRE, and with PRE comes a host of good bloat options. The most obvious is Voter Captivation combined with Minion Tap -- and while it requires you to have relatively large vamps and pass votes, it's still quite effective. Also, I keep harping on Enchant Kindred's superior, and this is why: the card could also read "+1 stealth action. Gain 2 pool." and its effect wouldn't be much different. And it's free. Combine this card with plenty of Blood Dolls and Social Charms at superior, and you have the potential for a very effective bloat engine. It's not to the order of MT/5th, but it can certainly provide quite a bit of defense against those fast bleeders -- possibly enough time for you to actually oust your prey, or for the bleeder's predator to work him over a little bit. Or at least enough time for you to cycle to Rush cards. ;) Some other not-quite-tier-1 ideas include adding in more than just "light" intercept -- multiple Sport Bikes, Auspex skill cards, news locations, and Rigby will help out a lot there. Or, if you like, you can lean towards the Obtenebration angle and include plenty of Darksight/Eyes of the Night, and some OBT skill cards... and Eyes of the Night even provides a free maneuver or press, something a combat deck can certainly use. A very interesting approach in slowing down bleeders is to run VERY heavy on intercept and put Minor Boons in your deck -- nothing is more satisfying than catching Ozmo off guard and locking him down for most of the rest of the game. ==================================================================== Next Month... - Jacko, the Regent... meet Synesios - Charming Lobby, as seen on TV - a Full True Brujah overview and examination - ...and a high-powered bruise-and-vote deck! As always, any ideas or submissions are welcome! Send all ideas, crack- smoking accusations, etc. to: lorimer [at] yahoo [dot] com. -- Derek ...Vampire Squirrel has come to bite your nuts!