Gargoyle Clan Newsletter
January, 2006
Contents:
I. Introduction
II. Vampire of the Month: Ublo-Satha
III. Gargoyle Strategy: Bruise Bleed with the Slave Mechanic
IV. Deck of the Month: Exploiting the Slaves
V. Closing Remarks
I. Introduction
With the calendars now rolling over into 2006, it's been quite some
time since anyone has posted a newsletter for the Gargoyles. I've
decided to at least temporarily claim mastery over the stone slaves,
but if anyone out there in internet-land still feels attached to this
project and is bothered that I'm doing it, let me know.
I figured I should start my first newsletter with some personal
information, as it relates to playing Jyhad. First and foremost, I
should note that for a player who takes the game as seriously as I do
(or imagine I do) my spending on the game is quite miniscule. I'm
currently in college, with practically no end to it sight, and my
expendable income has been rather smallish the past few years. If I
were interested in playing certain other card games, I would certainly
be totally unable to compete. You might be wondering why all of this
matters. The bottom line is pretty simple: my intent with this
newsletter is to describe decks and strategies that can be played on a
small budget. Every deck I post will be one that I can build out of my
own collection, and will hopefully have done so and play tested it. My
theory is that if I can build the deck, most readers should be able to
as well. It's also worth noting that most of the Gargoyles' important
cards are fairly easy to acquire in sufficient number, since they have
been rather unpopular to date and not many of their cards have use to
other clans. With some of the new cards that arrived in Legacies of
Blood, the Gargoyles' popularity may be on the upswing, so you might
want to get trading fast!
The other thing about my playing habit is that I seldom attend
tournaments. I would like to play in them more often, but it's at
least a 2 hour drive in any direction to the nearest venues--and I
don't drive. Nonetheless, Dave Clooney (currently the author of the
Gangrel newsletter) and I have made a few pilgrimages out to Boston to
play at events there. So far my track record has been fairly poor, but
I blame it on seating. Really. As a result of this, my slant on the
game is much more in the direction of what people call "casual" play.
I'm really not down with the former term though. The games we play are
nasty, unrelenting, and every bit as "competitive" as any tournament
game I've seen. I have a certain distaste for the way many people
approach tournaments. I'm absolutely not a fan of the way time limits
are implemented, and I believe that they can seriously alter the way
the game is played at all levels of engagement--from deck building on
up. I really don't want to turn this newsletter into a forum for
arguing about such things though, so just take my prejudices as given.
II. Vampire of the Month
Given how recently Legacies of Blood was released, I'm sure people
would expect me to focus on some of the newer cards and vampires that
came out there. I'm going to take a somewhat more conservative
approach however, and start off with some of my old favorites from the
vault. This will give the dust more time to settle around the new
arrivals, and give me more time to experiment with them. Needless to
say, Tupdog will be a major feature in some future article as will
Raking Talons, Roll, Rockheart, etc. I couldn't help but touch on some
of these new cards this time through, however. So without further ado,
our vampire of the month is the rock solid combat monster Ublo-Satha:
Ublo-Satha
Capacity: 7
Clan: Gargoyle
Disciplines: FOR POT VIS cel
Camarilla Tremere Slave: Ublo-Satha may prevent 1 damage each combat.
Brujah get +1 bleed when bleeding Ublo-Satha's controller. Flight.
For starters, Ublo-Satha is 1 of only 2 Gargoyles in groups 2/3 with
all 3 in clan disciplines at superior. The other Gargoyle sharing this
claim to fame is Ferox, who is not a Tremere slave (which can be either
an advantage or disadvantage depending on deck design). Toss in basic
Celerity and Flight and you're looking at minion who effectively has
access to 5 combat disciplines (Flight is not actually discipline, but
I'm sure you're following me regardless). In addition to that, Ublo
comes out of the box with not one but two specials that help him fight
or get into fights. As Omaya has proven time and time again, cardless
damage prevention is an extremely useful ability. Ublo-Satha can get
into a combat for one of your Tremere without worrying about agg-pokes
and cutting even potence or weapons-based damage down to more
manageable numbers.
You can back that up with damage prevention effects from both FOR and
VIS to make Ublo practically invulnerable in combat. The best picks
for these slots would probably be cards that provide secondary effects
along with preventing damage. The classic example is Indomitability.
When you can pull up a Signpost, Grapple, and prevent damage all night
long presses can really go a long way. The newly printed Stonestrength
provides options very similar to Indomitability, and might even
wallpaper it in Gargoyle decks. The card is strictly better at the
inferior, and provides an additional point of prevention at superior.
Lacking however is the ability to prevent and press from the same card,
which is pretty clutch to the way Indomitability works. For now, I'm
playing with a mix of the two cards to see which I end up liking more.
In the end, a mix might be best. Unflinching Persistence is another
possible pick, but Flight offers much better maneuvers, such as Roll
and Swoop. If you really want to go to long range (which is far from
inconceivable) you could use High Ground.
The defense angle being covered, we can look at some of the ways
Ublo-Satha can pound his enemies into the ground for daring to
interfere with the master's plans. To a very great extent, the oldest
trick for this purpose is still the best: use potence. Torn Signposts
and presses make a very efficient offensive package, and you can easily
include Immortal Grapple for insurance (and the additional press).
Pounce more or less replaces Undead Strength in the classic potence
combat package, and provides additional protection against
multiple-striking Brujah or what-have-you. Don't play Pounce without
thinking though, because the downside of missing can be quite painful.
Only playing Pounce under Immortal Grapple is a good policy, and I'd
recommend sticking to it unless you're absolutely certain the enemy
can't dodge. If they can, they'll probably have been sitting on the
card for just that oppurtunity--or at least for a Grapple-free combat.
Adding the brand new Raking Talons to this offensive mix is just plain
over the top. The Gargoyles are now the only clan with access to free
in clan aggravated hand damage and Potence, a combination that smells
suspiciously like fried chicken. To get the most mileage out of your
cards, don't play Raking Talons until you're certain you can get to
close range and play Immortal Grapple. It would be a shame to see a
card that good go to waste. Note that Raking Talons can be played on
the second or subsequent rounds of combat, so with all the pressing you
plan on doing you might be able to time things just right to burn your
enemy far more often than your opponents would like. Disarm is another
good addition to your offensive, and with Ublo's damage prevention
ability there's a chance you can play it after an otherwise cardless
combat.
For those who prefer the long range approach there are multiple options
coming from both Potence and Visceratika. From Potence, the primary
choices are Thrown Sewer Lid and Earthshock (note that Gargoyles are
immune to the latter, but can still play it). I personally prefer the
Lid, but a detailed argument regarding both cards is available on the
newsgroup at http://tinyurl.com/cr38h. If you really want to go nuts
with damage prevention, there's Stunt Cycle as well. Visceratika
offers some additional choices in the form of Stone Quills and Collapse
the Arches. The former is really much easier to play, and it basically
functions as a Lid with a built in maneuver for the cost of a
blood--and no press. Unlike Lid it is playable at close range.
Perhaps most importantly, the card has a decent outferior effect for
Thaumaturgy, which could help your Tremere masters put up a fight. If
your opponents waste all their combat defense fighting Ublo-Satha and
the other Gargoyles, 2R damage coming from a Tremere might be enough to
put them over the edge. The power vs. opportunity cost on Collapse the
Arches is very interesting. I would probably reserve heavy use of the
card for a Gargoyle wall deck that tries like hell to block and get to
long. Other than that, 1 copy in a 90 card deck isn't too likely to
stick up your hand, and it just might catch someone in a very nasty
way. My sense is that close range beating is probably the most
damaging combat available to the Gargoyles, but the long range stuff
might work with fewer cards in a deck focused more on something else.
The biggest question now is what to do with Ublo-Satha's basic
Celerity. Many of the abilities granted by it have already been
covered in a round-about way by the other disciplines at Ublo's
disposal, but it's still tempting to put the little lightning bolt in a
box to work. It's possible to try to match up the out of clan
discipline with the various Tremere who have it, but this strikes me as
a poor proposition. However, in a deck with multiple copies of
Ublo-Satha, you could easily get away with splashing in a handful of
cel cards to confuse, surprise, and torporize the enemy. Coming from
the strictly cel angle, the cards of choice would have to be Flash and
Blur. Flash allows extreme versatility in controlling the range and
duration of combat in a way that few other cards can do. There are
much better ways for the Gargoyles to get maneuvers or presses
separately, but Flash does both, allowing for flexibility during play
and greater efficiency during deck design. While Blur is clearly much
better at its superior use (2 is more than 1) it's still worthwhile to
consider a few copies in an Ublo-Satha combat deck. Springing an
additional strike when your opponent thought you couldn't can come in
very handy, especially if people start preparing presses to end.
The combination of FOR cel offers some other possibilities, the most
notable of which is Forced March. Note that you cannot play Forced
March after taking over a Tremere's combat with the Slave mechanic, but
you can use it after bleeding, fetching a Razor Bat, rushing, etc.
Forced March could play a vital role in an Ublo-Satha multi-rush deck,
saving precious blood that would otherwise be burnt to play Freak
Drive. The other for cel combo card of note is Diversion, if you're
willing to forgive the weirdness of an Anarch Slave. The damage
prevention on Diversion is clearly beat by other FOR effects, but it's
still nice to have around, while the free additional strike at basic
cel is just plain awesome. Additionally, you have a tha "outferior"
that could help protect the Tremere in the deck. Props go to Matt
Winner for coming up with this idea several years ago, though he could
never quite get it to work.
All in all, Ublo-Satha is an incredibly powerful and versatile minion
in combat. How then can we best send our ferocious slave to wreak
havoc among the enemy? I can see three major options, which are not
mutually exclusive. The simplest is rushing, with the FOR cel combo
offering great potential for multi-rush. Sadly, you'll need to control
at least 1 ready Tremere to give the sic! command. A weenie with
dominate is the most obvious choice, giving you cheap access to bounce
and the occasional Conditioning, but there's also the outside
possibility of using Martin Franckel, who could play Precognizant
Mobility for additional untap that doesn't cost Ublo-Satha any blood.
If Martin gets blocked untapping the main man, you'll hopefully have
another slave, like Saxum, ready to back him up. The next possibility
is intercept combat. With Razor Bat, Patrol, Scry the Hearthstone, and
Defender of the Haven, the Gargoyles have access to a nice cache of
permanent and transient intercept. The biggest problem is that much of
that intercept cannot be used against undirected actions, so blocking
your prey is likely to be very difficult. Last but not least,
Ublo-Satha and the other Gargoyles can exploit the Slave mechanic in a
bruise bleed style deck, which will be the focus of the strategy
discussion below.
III. Gargoyle Strategy: Bruise Bleed with the Slave Mechanic
Since the Slave rule comes up so rarely in most games, it seemed
prudent to paste the text from the rulebook below.
Slave: Some minions are identified as slaves to a specified clan. A
slave cannot take a directed action if his controller doesn't control
a ready member of the specified clan. Also, if a member of the
specified clan controlled by the same Methuselah is blocked, the
controller can tap the slave to cancel the combat and to untap the
acting vampire and have the slave enter combat with the blocking minion
instead.
My first impression of this mechanic is that it absolutely screams to
be utilized in one of the Tremere's oldest strategies: bruise bleed.
I've said some pretty negative things about this strategy in the past,
and I still stick by them, but the Gargoyles really ratchet the
possibilities to a new a level. For anyone prepared to fight and
defend himself in combat, Thaumaturgy is really not all that
frightening. Gargoyle combat, on the other hand, is quite certainly
among the most intimidating there is. With the Gargoyles as back up,
weenie Tremere can push forward unafraid of being blocked by even the
most dangerous of enemies while packing a Conditioning under one arm
and the slave's leash in the opposite hand. The really nice thing
about this equation is that after the Gargoyle jumps in to cream the
offending blocker, the acting Tremere untaps. You can't bleed again,
but you can sure as hell Deflect, hunt, give one of your Gargoyles
Defender of the Haven or Soul of the Earth, etc. Since your Gargoyle
slave is now tapped, and never actually bled, you can use Force of Will
to continue the pressure against your prey. If you don't feel like
fighting, and your prey (or grand prey if bounced) tries to block, you
can play Change of Target to come out of the deal untapped and ready.
The Gargoyle can't bleed again, but your other Tremere sure can, and
there's no restriction against using the Slave mechanic multiple times
in a turn. Those same CoT's will come in handy any time you get
bounced and don't feel like fighting your grand prey. There's even the
outside option of untapping after Force of Will with either Freak Drive
or Forced March, and then Rapid Healing to pop out of torpor. Bolting
Dominate masters onto your Gargoyles can greatly increase the overall
effectiveness of your bleeding offensive.
With a fairly solid bruise bleed core in place, you can fill out the
deck with master cards, toolboxy elements, and defense. The best
starting place is a good number of Deflections, some wakes, and a
handful of intercept cards. In case your prey refuses to block any of
your actions, or if you need to go upstream with a vengeance, a few
rush actions are vital. These actions have a place in every bruise
bleed deck. A couple Razor Bats won't hurt either. Master cards will
have to be fairly slim, given how fast a deck like this can cycle
cards. Some Blood Dolls are the obligatory starting point, followed by
2 copies of Fame for additional ousting power. As mentioned above,
some Dominate master cards will really help the deck move forward. The
few remaining master slots are more or less open to taste. I've chosen
to include Haven Uncovered, since it provides me (and every other
combat monkey at the table) with a cardless rush at +1 stealth.
Dropping a Haven Uncovered can even be a low commitment effort to help
other people balance the table. If the target tries to find a new
home, that's just one more opportunity for me to clobber the
sucker--provided I have the intercept at hand. Note that the action
to remove HU is directed, so all of the Gargoyles' intercept can be
used to block it. I'll nominate Ublo-Satha Defender of the Haven
Uncovered.
Many people would suggest running Tension in the Ranks in a deck like
this. I am not one of those people.
IV. Deck of the Month: Exploiting the Slaves
Deck Name : Exploiting the Slaves
Author : Cthulukitty
Description :
Gargoyle bruise, Tremere bleed.
There should definitely be a third copy of Ublo-Satha in the crypt, but
at this point I only own 2. Obsidian would probably be the boy to get
cut for him.
Another 1 or 2 copies of Roll, and about a billion more Raking Talons
would also help. Swoop is very cornercase, but it's so damn cool I had
to include it. The only major impediment to building this deck on a
small budget would probably be the 10 Immortal Grapples and 7 Torn
Signposts, which I've been trading like mad to get hold of for years.
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 2 max: 7 average: 4.75
------------------------------------------------------------
3x Saxum, Master of Slaves 6 FOR VIS pot pre
Gargoyle:2 Slave, Flight.
2x Ublo-Satha 7 FOR POT VIS cel Gargoyle:2
Slave, Flight,
Prevents 1 each combat, cornercase disadvantage
involving Brujah.
1x Luma, Stone Beauty 5 FOR aus pot vis Gargoyle:2
Slave, Flight.
1x Obsidian 5 VIS for pot
Gargoyle:2 Idependent, Flight.
1x Ignatius 4 aus dom tha
Tremere:1
1x Sarah Cobbler 4 THA dom Tremere:1
1x Jing Wei 3 dom tha
Tremere:1
1x Mustafa Rahman 2 dom Tremere:2
1x Roreca Quaid 2 tha
Tremere:1
Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [7]
1x Ambush
1x Bum's Rush
1x Defender of the Haven
2x Force of Will
1x Harass
1x Restoration
Action Modifier [9]
3x Change of Target
6x Conditioning
Combat [45]
1x Collapse the Arches
2x Disarm
1x Flow Within the Mountain
10x Immortal Grapple
4x Indomitability
2x Pounce
2x Raking Talons
2x Resilience
2x Rockheart
2x Roll
3x Rolling with the Punches
2x Stone Quills
1x Stonestrength
1x Swoop
3x Thrown Sewer Lid
7x Torn Signpost
Master [12]
3x Blood Doll
5x Dominate
2x Fame
2x Haven Uncovered
Reaction [15]
5x Deflection
5x Forced Awakening
4x Patrol
1x Scry the Hearthstone
Retainer [2]
2x Razor Bat
Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Tue Jan 03 16:26:07 2006]
V. Closing Remarks
I hope people enjoy this newsletter and find it useful in some respect
or another. I appreciate compliments as well as critcism, and will
happily receive offers to trade or donate Gargoyle related material to
the project. Post comments to the newsgroup we all know and love, or
send email to jessecn AT student.umass.edu. I'm looking forward to
what everyone has to say.
Jesse
(aka Cthulukitty)