VEKN Brujah Newsletter November 2003
Introduction:
Black Hand has finally arrived at was met with a lot more enthusiasm
than Anarchs. I agree that the cards seem better, and it's a good
expansion by the look of it, but I'm also aware that my reaction is
mainly due to the new cards addressing the obvious aspects of the
game: stealth, intercept, etc. I didn't hear many complaints about the
Black Hand mechanism itself, although all-Black Hand decks seem to be
even more difficult than all-Anarch decks what with only one way to
go: Blooding. But maybe a well-placed Black Hand vampire is enough to
make the difference... It remains to be seen. I share the feeling of
disappointment surrounding Anarchs, but I also see this as a challenge
- some good deck types will eventually emerge out of this expansion
and will be recognized by the community as such, I hope.
A discussion of new cards:
Definetely the time has come (or so the designers wish) for
Cel/pot/pro to claim the throne of ultimate combat gonzos. Many new
vampires with this combo...: Skryta Zyleta (Gangrel Antitribu 5, CEL
obf pot pro), Henry Taylor (Brujah Antitribu 6, cel POT pre pro),
Soldat (Gangrel Antitribu 7, cel dom obf POT PRO) and the scary Black
Hand Seraph Jalan Aajav (Gangrel Antirtribu 9, ani CEL FOR POT PRO). I
remain sceptical if this mighty combo will change the face of combat,
but Flesh of Marble alone makes the inclusion of Protean into a
cel/pot combat deck worthwhile. Still: The weenier, the better is
still the golden rule of successful combat decks (muti-rush aside) -
so hopefully we'll see interesting times and not a new monculture. And
of course Steve-O will see a lot more playing now that he has all
these folks to hang around with...
A couple of new cards, though within the context of the expansion
clearly geared towards Brujah Antitribu, are great additions to the
Brujah arsenal. The most obvious one is
Iron Glare
Action modifier
[pot] [pre] Only usable during a referendum. This vampire gains 2
votes.
[POT] [PRE] +2 bleed. After playing this card, you cannot play another
action modifier to further increase the bleed for this action.
The great stuff about this one is the flexibility it offers in any
mixed vote/bleed environment. Sure: Bewitiching Oration is at least as
good with only Presence, and Aire of Elation costs a blood, but
doesn't need Potence. But how often have you stared at a hand full of
vote modifiers without a proper vote card? Now you can just cycle the
Glares out and (hopefully) do some serious pool damage on the way. I
don't say it's a must for every Brujah deck (not for pure combat ones,
anyway), but everything with a vote angle will profit - this card
alone makes the default bleed option pretty scary. Clan Brujah
classically being CEL/pot/pre, the vampire selection is not that ace,
but as you will see below some fine decks are waiting to explore this
card.
Every discipline got one goodie in Black Hand, here's the stuff for
our in-clan skills:
Rooftop Shadow
Reaction, 1 blood
[cel] +1 intercept. Not usable if the acting minion has Celerity
[CEL] +1 intercept. Not usable if the acting minion has superior
Celerity.
This card delivers what The Mole promised to do: Casual transient
intercept from a Brujah in-clan discipline. It's not a great card, as
always when Celerity mimmicks effects in the stealth/intercept arena,
but backed up by serious combat it will give many players that think
+1 stealth is enough a hard time. Coupled with the also new Legwork
(see below) and the usual media outlets, Moto Guzzis and Ole Winthrop,
there's some mileage now for intercept combat based on Brujah outside
Second Tradition (which, truth be told, in the right deck is still far
superior to this thing).
Brick Laying
Action
[pot] (D) Burn a haven on an ally or younger vampire, or tap an ally
or younger vampire.
[POT] As above, and inflict 1 damage on that minion
Strangely enough it's not the primary effect that catches the eye here
(Rampage and Mind Numb are maybe better in that respect), but again
the dual use and the superior "inflict 1 damage" effect. If it weren't
for the nasty "younger vampire" clause, I could envision a bruise and
destroy sort of deck, similar to Shadow Twin, but with "Potence
stealth" as backup. Card is on my list of stuff I have to try...
Mask Empathy
Combat
[pre] Strike: ranged. Burn a retainer employed by the opposing minion
(usable at close range).
[PRE] Play before range is determined. This vampire burns 1 blood to
burn a retainer employed by the opposing minion.
Weird thing, this... And rare to boot. Kills Dog Packs for Majesty
wielders... Or any intercept retainer for those "I'll try my luck with
+1 stealth actions" political decks that admitedly are still more
successful as they should - at least locally. At the moment I could
see this as a prayer card, but I'm not excited about it. Then again:
Did Presence need another power card? There you go...
While a good portion of the expansion is geared towards Black Hand
vampires and the Sabbat clans, there are a few cards of general
utility.
Black Gloves
Equipment, 3 pool
Unique Melee Weapon
Strength+1 aggravated damage each strike. Bearer takes 1 damage during
strike resolution when this weapon is used, but only once each combat.
The expensive brother of the Sengir Dagger. Gives an extra damge so
might actually burn someone for the cost of an addtional pool and one
damage to the bearer. This can be quite nasty in the right deck, but
how often do you see the dagger?
Flaming Candle
Equipment
The vampire with this equipment may burn 1 blood when he or she
declares an action. If he or she does so, vampires cannot block this
action, and the candle is burned. Only one Flaming Candle can be
played in a game.
A variant on Concoction of Vitality, this one costs a blood to
trigger, doesn't cost a pool, is playable only once per game and has
the same effect - no vampires can block. Flaming candle allows you to
play modifiers requiring disciplines, but the "once per game" thing
alone turns this into a prayer card. Still, the not-so-stealthy Brujah
might have use for is occasionaly.
Kaymakli Barrier
Master, 1 pool
Requires a ready vampire. Unique
(D) Put this card on a younger ready vampire. You still control this
card. This vampire cannot block undirected actions. (D) actions cost
this vampire an additional blood.
A good hoser for politcal decks against that one guy with the Sport
Bike or Mr. Cock Robin and his Raptor Zoo. Seems nicely balanced
against Penetx Suberversion and might replace it in the right kind of
deck.
Last Stand has been discussed elsewhere, so I'll leave it out. It's
not really geared towards typical Brujah decks anyway, because they
rarely try to speed oust two players in one go.
Path of Death and the Soul
Master
Unique
Put this card into play. When a minion controlled by another
Methuselah is burned, you may tap this card to search your library
(shuffle afterward), ash heap or hand for a Master: Discipline card.
Move 1 blood from the blood bank and that card to a ready vampire you
control.
Well, it's not unheard of that when a Brujah decks is on the table, a
couple of vampires get burned. In case said Brujah deck is relying on
master skill cards to some extend, I might want to spare a master slot
for this Path. It's nice to get that Celerity on Theo for example,
even if he only vaporized Royce...
Sire's Index Finger
Equipment
Unique
The vampire with this equipment is immune to frenzy cards (including
Brujah Frenzy, Drawing out the Beast, Frenzy, Rotschreck and Terror
Frenzy).
Have you been humilated by an Animalism long-range combat deck
recently when playing you celeritous gun-slingers? Here's your way
out. Sure, it's unique, you can't conceal it out, but hey: It's for
free, it works as advertised. Ist usefullness depends larely in the
meta-game, but it can hose a whole type of deck.
Thin-Blooded Seer
Requires a ready non-sterile vampire of capacity less than 3.
Put this card into play; it becomes a 1 capacity vampire. This vampire
is clanless and sterile. This vampire is not considered unique, must
hunt this turn, and is the same sect as the acting vampire. Cards that
cost blood cost this vampire twice as much blood to play. During your
untap phase, you may tap this vampire to look at the top two cards of
any Methuselah's library.
I'm a bit surprised that such a weenie card made it into the set.
Thematic reasons, I guess. Anyway, it's a cheaper, weaker Embrace for
the total weenie players among us. And to be honest it's just as bad:
It can play Computer Hackings without any drawback (or, more
appropriate for Brujah: Immortal Grapple, Undead Strength and Disarm
once you have that Potence skill card on him) or diablerize. Do you
feel the synergy with Path of Death and the Soul? :-) And actually the
tap and see cards ability is pretty strong in my book - doing this
regularily will tell you a lot about your opponent's hand.
WMHR Talk Radio
Master, 1 pool
Unique Location
Tap to give any minion +1 intercept for the current action. If that
minion doesn't successfully block the action, burn 1 pool after the
action resolves.
This obviously compares to the Rumor Mill. Both are sellable cross
table, but the Talk Radio has a sharp drawback if the attempt fails.
No cost to the minion though, and while we're at it - this one gives
your Arms Dealers intercept as well. Still I guess I'll see it mainly
in wall-type decks as an additonal layer of defense.
I am not a clan fanatic to the extent of playing solely Cammie
vampires in my Brujah decks, so the new Brujah Antitribu are of
interest as well. Here they are:
Mariano Pomposo
Brujah Antitribu 4, aus cel pot
Sabbat. Black Hand
The older brother of Gengis, without the drawback. Still haven't tried
the Brujah with Auspex deck, but he-of-the-ridiculous-name is in.
(Also a very cheap Black Hand vampire, so when the !Bru start to go
down that path, expect to see him a lot.)
Wah Chun-Yuen
Brujah Antitribu 5, cel dom POT pre
Sabbat. Black Hand.
Great guy because of the cheap Dominate coupled with reasonable combat
skills. Same discipline set as Theo Bell, so you can't go amiss when
contemplating to employ him in that familiar environment.
Henry Taylor
Brujah Antitribu 6, cel POT pre pro
Sabbat. After an action, you may move a combat card Henry played
during that action from your ash heap to the top of your library.
I mused about the cel/pot/pro stuff above. Henry is sort of expensive
for only superior Potence, but he has an interesting special -
especially when combo-intense combat strategies start to jam or you
suddenly need to reuse a certain card a lot to counter a specific
defense. Still Theo Bell is just around the corner price-wise, and
he's usually just better.
Miquel Santo Domingo
Brujah Antitribu 7, cel for POT PRE
Sabbat. Once each action, Miquel can burn 1 blood to give any other
Sabbat vampire you control +1 bleed for the current action.
All 7-caps compare to Theo, and Miquel doesn't make the cut. Even the
Fortitude doesn't thrill me, as now he compares to Pug Jackson and
Richter, both superior in combat.
Sela (Adv.)
Brujah Antitribu 7, cel obt POT PRE
Sabbat Archbishop of Rome. Sela gets +1 stealth on (D) actions
directed at a Methuselah who controls a ready bishop.
The commander was a good addition to many Brujah decks in the past,
now she has an addtional vote and some conditional stealth. My initial
thought was that Iron Glare was made for her - she's perfect for the
heavy handed votey/bleedy decks, and thus doesn't need to be judged
against the combat machine Theo Bell.
Doctor Streck
Brujah Antitribu 8, aus CEL OBF pot PRE
Sabbat. When Streck bleeds successfully, the target Methuselah
discards one card at random from his or her hand.
He fits into the Francois Villon scheme or any Presence stealth
bleeder, but I find him a little on the expensive side with no title
and no really powerful special. The picture has a certain similarity
to yours truly though, my mistress says, so I won't diss him any
further...
All in all while not a power boost to the Brujah (which I never
expected in the first place), Black Hand gave us some interesting
options, some good utility cards especially in the intercept
department, and some food for thought. Which is all I ever hoped for.
Deck:
As always when new cards come out the first impulse is to throw the
coolest looking stuff into a deck and see how cool it really is.
That's what I did, with Iron Glare and Rooftop Shadows. Out comes a
Brujah bruise'n'bleed deck with the occasional vote and a quite strong
casual intercept angle. It's certainly is an extremely powerful deck.
For me it's a vehicle to get a feeling for the new cards (and also the
avanced/merged stuff which I haven't used in a Brujah deck yet). At
the same time it should be a solid deck for newer players since it
hardly uses any rares, and those that are (Gift of Experience,
Aranthebes and Brujah Justicar) in can easily be replaced/left out.
The Iron Hand
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 19, Max: 39, Avg: 6,25)
1 Arnold Simpson (Brujah 2, pot)
1 Jeremy MacNeal (Brujah 7, AUS cel chi POT PRE)
1 Jeremy MacNeal (Adv.) (Brujah 8, AUS cel chi POT PRE)
1 Marlena (Brujah 5, cel POT pre)
2 Pug Jackson (Brujah 6, CEL for POT pre, Primogen)
1 Sela (Brujah Antitribu 6, cel obt POT PRE, Bishop)
1 Sela (Adv.) (Brujah Antitribu 7, cel obt POT PRE, Archbishop)
2 Sir Ralph Hamilton (Brujah 6, cel POT PRE ser)
2 Theo Bell (Brujah 7, cel dom POT pre)
Library: (89 cards)
Master (90 cards)
5 Blood Doll
1 Gift of Experience
4 Haven Uncovered
1 KRCG Newsradio
2 Presence
1 Warzone Hunting Ground
Action (7 cards)
1 Aranthebes, The Immortal
6 Enchant Kindred
Action Modifier (7 cards)
7 Iron Glare
Reaction (14 cards)
2 Delaying Tactics
6 Rooftop Shadow
6 Wake with Evening's Freshness
Political Action (6 cards)
3 Ancilla Empowerment
1 Brujah Justicar
2 Dramatic Upheaval
Combat (37 cards)
2 Disarm
5 Flash
7 Immortal Grapple
4 Pursuit
1 Shattering Blow
4 Taste of Vitae
6 Torn Signpost
8 Undead Strength
Equipment (4 cards)
3 Leather Jacket
1 Sport Bike
Retainer (1 card)
1 Mr. Winthrop
Final words:
As you might have noticed this newsletter is not coming out as regular
as it used to be, due to real life interferences above all (and some
laziness, admittedly). I hope to publish the next edition soon, and
you're welcome to send me ideas, comments etc. at
skaffen_amtiskaw"at"mailru.
Finally a few words with a big sorry to Patrick van der Reest: Thanks
for your mail and the deck, I tried to reply but the mail got bounced,
and then I forgot to retry later. I hope to send you my comments on
the deck soon, and if it proved itself in the game, I'll be happy to
include it in the next issue.
Thanks for reading
Skaffen
www.8ung.at/colddawn
"(...) Eyes of fire
Glared at me throbbing with a starved desire;
The hoarse and heavy and carnivorous breath
Was hot upon me from deep jaws of death;
Sharp claws, swift talons, fleshless fingers cold
Plucked at me from the bushes, tried to hold."
(James Thomson, 'The City of Dreadful Night')