OFFICIAL VEKN GIOVANNI NEWSLETTER Vol.III No.4 Apr.2001
In this Issue:
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH: Stefano and Enzo Giovanni
CARD OF THE MONTH: Bribes and Whispers from the Dead
STRATEGY OF THE MONTH: Deck Building and Card Counting
DECK OF THE MONTH: When in Rome, Vote with the Romans
CONCLUSION/PREVIEW
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PREFACE
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I hope you believe in better late than never, since this WAS going to be out
before midnight, but as I was whipping the newsletter together, all the
inspiration hit at once, so it's going over the midnight hour and
(technically) into May.
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INTRODUCTION
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Trick deck month, everyone! Time to make the Giovanni do what they don't do
best: vote. But, on the way, let's take a look at how to make the Giovanni
can get some political leverage from their vamps, and try to figure out how
to make a trick deck actually get VPs, instead of, in the words of Derek
Ray, "do the trick and then explode gloriously."
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VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH: Stefano and Enzo Giovanni
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Back in the Giovanni Newsletter III.1, I wrote:
"If it's one thing the Giovanni don't have, it's intercept and votes.
Well, okay, that's two things, but intercept will in many cases take care of
vote defense, so card for card, it's the best way to take care of votes.
Stefano and Enzo (blocking all the Sabbat called votes he wants!) do make an
appearance, but more for their DOM for Governing out minions than their
special abilities."
I'd like to take a moment to focus on, rather than slight, their
anti-vote power.
======
Stefano Giovanni:
Capacity: 6
Disciplines: DOM nec pot pre
Card Text: {Independent}. During a political action, Stefano may burn
1 blood to gain one vote.
First off, Stefano is the second cheapest Giovanni to have DOM, letting
him Govern out any of the useful-3 caps (getting them for free) or even
Gloria Giovanni, everyone's favorite bleed bouncer.
He's the cheapest Giovanni with all 3 in clans, but Dominate at
superior. I suppose I'd love him to have NEC instead of Presence, but as a
"Voter," it kind of fits.
And, of course, his cool special. Simply saying "Stefano has one vote"
would be more cost effective, but he IS a 6-cap, so he can burn a few choice
blood in the course of a game. Also, if by some twisted plan (see "Deck of
the Month" below) he gained a title, he can still burn a blood to gain an
extra vote. Also, it's not unlike having the Edge. You don't always HAVE
to burn the Edge to vote a vote down, just the fact you *could* allows you
to deal. Also, his ability can sometimes gain you pool (see "Card of the
Month: Bribes," below).
Alas, the vote is not usable during the Blood Hunt vote. Stay out of
your torpor region, and for that matter, keep your nose out of everyone
else's. Unless of course you're Graverobbing, Necromatic goon that you are.
Stefano will hold a special place in my heart for the vote he shot down
in the last minutes of a tournament game, insuring that if *I* was going to
get only 1/2 VP, David Tatu cross table sure wasn't getting 1.5 with that
KRC. For the same reason, he holds a special place in Tatu's heart, but
it's a less hospitable place.
======
Enzo Giovanni, Pentex Board of Directors
Capacity: 8
Disciplines: DOM NEC pot tha ani
Card Text: {Indepedent}. Enzo may attempt to block any political
action attempted by any Methuselah; he gets +1 intercept on any political
action not attempted by a Prince, Justicar, or Inner Circle member.
This month we will NOT be talking about the Trap/Thoughts
Betrayed/Terror Frenzy/Fake Out/Theft of Vitae deck, despite Enzo's, er,
"tempting" set of out of clan disciplines.
Enzo, after Stefano, is the next cheapest vampire with all three in
clans with DOM. I should hope that for the sake of the Giovanni that this
fact NOT be true after Final Nights is released. He's old enough that he
can make quite a lot of vamps Obey, a "must-have" strategy for playing Enzo
and/or Regina.
Most importantly, he is the Anneke of the Giovanni. He can block votes
cross table, has superior Necromancy for +1 intercept, and gets free +1
intercept on, well, ALL the Sabbat, and ALL the Independents trying to call
votes. This is an excellent tool for threatening that 4th point from the
KRC, or not being the poor sap being Dramatically Upheaved into the worst
spot at the table.
With Sabbat War still going pretty strong, with Lasombra, !Toreador, and
even !Brujah vote decks about, AND with Setite vote almost certainly about
to hit in June, Enzo's ability is becoming a quite useful response to the
metagame.
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CARDS OF THE MONTH: Bribes and Whispers from the Dead
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I was thinking about concentrating on the Mausolem instead, but really,
if you want to pass votes, Bribes is such a winner.
======
Bribes:
Only usable during a political action before votes are
cast. Gain 1 pool. Any other Methuselah who votes
in your favor and does not vote against you gains 1
pool when the results of the vote are tallied.
I'm sure there's some metagame effect, but during any vote that's
called, "You got Bribes on that?" is the most common question asked, even
before blocking! Often a predator *wants* to block your actions, but *has*
to block his prey's actions, and they don't really *want* to use that untap
on you, but know they probably should. But, let them know that they'll gain
a pool with that one Bishop, and they'll let it go.
Ok, now that we're not blocked, we're at the referendum. Drop the card,
and gain one pool. For all you Jyhad only players, read the online text,
and note that you gain 1 pool, period. YOU can vote against the vote (say,
to burn your own Anarch Revolt), get some pool to everyone, and if you can
still vote it down, the vote may stay callable. If you can call 3 unblocked
votes, and Bribe each one, you GAINED 3 POOL, no matter if they all got
voted down.
And, of course, the cascading greed. If the vote is going to pass
anyway, everyone else will vote along with it, making it pass by a bunch,
keeping those pesky pushed vote cards and spare Dread Gazes at at bay.
With most votes, you need a coalition of people in favor of a vote.
With Bribes, you just need a coalition who think that gaining one pool is
more valuable than voting the vote down.
Late in the mid-game, before anyone is ousted, but when players are all
low on pool, saying "I got Bribes on that" usually results in a
pirhanna-like feeding frenzy of chucked Edges, tossed cards, and pool
grabbed out of the blood bank, with no regard for the terms of the vote.
Everyone "already knows" that "everyone else" is going to be greedy and go
for the pool, so wheeling and dealing is off for a group of pool-starved
Methuselahs.
======
Whispers from the Dead
Cardtype: Action
Cost: 1 blood
Discipline: Necromancy
Take one library card from your ash heap and place it in your hand. Discard
down to your maximum hand size afterward. (S) As above, but with +1 stealth.
Everyone knows what this card is for: It's how to make the Giovanni
into a pack of raving Carlottas, everyone's fave Giovanni. But there is a
subtle side effect. Consider Carlotta's text:
As a +1 stealth action, Carlotta may burn
1 blood to exchange library card in
your ash heap for any card in your hand.
Note that both cost a blood, and both do 2 things: They get a card out of
your ash heap, whether played or discarded. While this power is unfound and
unmatched by any clan or discipline (and never should be, since it's
Necromancy's "thing,") we won't go into any more detail.
The other thing it does, that we *will* look at, is give you a discard.
Carlotta lets you pick from one of the 7 cards you're looking at. Whispers
takes up a card slot, but it does let you pick your discard from any of the
other 6 cards in your hand AND the next card you draw up, just as you play
the Whispers. While the Whispers is taking up a card slot, if you play it,
you get something you WANT, and you've cycled the Whispers, essentially
moving 2 cards, one of which you really don't want right now, for 1 card you
really DO.
Another sideline bonus of Whispers is that it is a Necromancy action,
whereas Carlotta's ability is not. Seeds of Corruption will not keep you
from doing it (I have been blessed enough to never have had Seeds played on
my Carlotta, and I pity the poor victim who has), and Guiseppe gives you
another +1 stealth on it. And, thinking ahead, should Final Nights release
a Path of Bone(s) (and if they release a "Path of Paradox," they'd damn well
*better!*), then the action could be at 2, even 3 stealth, and free!
And your trick deck needs more discards, since you've only got 12 of
them. Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
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STRATEGY OF THE MONTH: Deck Building and Card Counting
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In my recent blatherings on the newsgroup, I've come to a few new theories
and conclusions on the newsgroup that has greatly affected my thinking about
deckbuilding, almost too much, since I've been thinking about deck building
more that actually, say, building decks. But, let me try to sum up:
Some premises to consider:
1) The objective of games is to win VPs, not neccesarily be the last man
standing, much less "not run out of cards."
2) Games take about 12 turns, average, and that's when the *last* guy is
ousted.
3) Decks with more cards have the same *averages* of drawing cards, but the
first standard deviation is larger, i.e., they clump more. Simple card
counting lets you see that they *can* clump more, simple experience tells
you that they *do* clump more.
4) Decks should be build to win.
Some intitial conclusions:
1) I intend to build a deck that will be in 'til the end of the game. No
point in planned obselesence. So I'll design a deck for a 12 turn game.
2) I want a "perfect flow." That is, I want to play or discard all my cards
in a given (12 turn) game. Any cards consistently left over are only
increasing my chances of clumping, and making my deck run less smoothly.
3) Running out of cards is not The End of The World. Getting 0VPs is.
4) If a deck *always* runs out of cards, but *always* gets 2 or 3 VPs, this
deck is a success. Adding more cards may or may *not* allow it to oust
more, but it will very likely make it clump and stumble.
5) In a 12 turn game, I've got 11 or 12 Master Phases to use (many Master
Cards can't be played on turn one for one reason or another).
6) I've got 12 discards, that are normally used for avoiding clumping. Any
duplicate Unique cards or "prayer cards" are debited against those discards.
Some resulting strategies:
1) Since I intend to empty my library right at game's end, I want 11 or 12
Masters in my deck, and play one every turn.
2) The rest of my deck should flow about as many cards on an average turn to
remove "the rest of" my library. Example: 80 card library with 11 Masters,
I expect to play few cards the first 2 turns, but the other 10 turns I
should be playing about 7 cards a turn. If my deck type cycles less cards
than that, I should cut back the number of total cards.
3) I should limit or avoid multiple copies of extra cards.
4) Adding one copy of the Parthenon will show up in a "perfect flow" deck
about halfway down, on average, giving you about 5 or 6 extra MPAs.
5) Ditto on the Barrens, for discards. The Barrens, however, is free.
6) Adding 2 copies of either card gives you "on average" 7 or 8 extras, but
each requires a discard.
7) Adding 2 of both "gives" you ~19 MPAs and ~20 discards, but 2 discards
spoken for makes it ~18 discards. You come out ahead in both, but risk some
contesting and clumping. Nevertheless, most any deck with more than 12
Masters with neither of these cards could probably stand to put in 2 copies
of each and have another go.
8) Dreams of the Sphinx, of course, rocks. For 1 pool you can generate 3
pool, "discards," or a combination of the two. And since it burns, having 2
copies doesn't neccesarily mean you must discard the other.
I find that this kind of "card counting" in building decks is especially
useful when making "moving parts" decks; where some of the cards neccesarily
must be played before the other ones may be played. This is particularly
bad if the "pre-trick" card is a Unique Master (say, Fame), requiring enough
copies to consistently be in your hand by turn 2 or 3, but then needing to
discard the other copies to keep up cardflow. Simply saying "I'll just
discard them" discounts how useful the discard phase is in non-moving-parts
decks, keeping the right cards in your hand, and is trying to have your cake
and eat it, too. If you don't *design* the deck to get more discards
(Barrens, Dreams, Aura Reading, Whispers from the Dead), your deck won't
have that "natural" flow that you're used to from your 12 discard phases,
and odds are you'll end up with only 6 or 7 frustrating discard phases of
handjam before you're the first guy ousted, and going to pick up the pizza.
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DECK OF THE MONTH: When in Rome, Vote with the Romans
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Deck name: When in Rome, vote with the Romans
Created by: Patrick O'Shea
Description: Giovanni vote deck, wouldyoubelive?
Crypt: (12 cards) [Min: 13, Max: 38, Avg: 6.33]
1 Cristofero Giovanni (Giovanni, 3, ne po)
2 Enzo Giovanni, Pentex Board of Directors (Giovanni, 8, an DO NE po th)
1 Gloria Giovanni (Giovanni, 4, DO ne)
1 Mario Giovanni (Giovanni, 3, ne po)
3 Regina Giovanni, The Right Hand of Augustus (Giovanni, 10, au DO fo NE
PO, 2 votes)
1 Rudolpho Giovanni (Giovanni, 3, NE)
2 Stefano Giovanni (Giovanni, 6, DO ne po pr)
1 Vittorio Giovanni (Giovanni, 5, do fo ne po)
Library: (88 cards)
Masters: (14 cards)
1 Acquired Ventrue Assets
2 Barrens, The
4 Blood Doll
1 Fragment of the Book of Nod
2 Mausoleum, Venice, The
1 Morgue Hunting Ground
1 Necromancy
2 Powerbase: Rome
Minion: (74 cards)
Vote Stuff:
5 Bribes
2 Consanguineous Boon
5 Cryptic Rider
1 Disputed Territory
5 Kine Resources Contested
5 Praxis Seizure: Venice
7 Writ of Acceptance
Other Stuff:
2 Change of Target
5 Deflection
1 Embrace, The
2 Foreshadowing Destruction
5 Govern the Unaligned
1 Kine Dominance
1 Leonardo, Mortician
5 Obedience
4 Seduction
5 Spectral Divination
2 Spiritual Intervention
7 Wake with Evening's Freshness
4 Whispers from the Dead
Now, I know I've been going on about 12 turn games, and only putting in
12 Masters, but 3 of the 14 Masters are copies of Unique ones, and 2 of the
remaining 11 are Card cyclers, not to mention the Necromancy Skill card is
just there for the Embrace, (though if you need intercept badly, drop it on
a nec guy.)
It's also seems like a kind of big deck, at 88 cards, but the 2 Copies
of the Barrens and the Fraggy are a neccessity of playing a "moving parts"
deck. The deck NEEDS the large number of Writs to have one show early
enough, but you really only need *one* of them. The other 6 are discarded
in the course of the game, as is the second copy of the Mausoleum and the
Barrens, and now it's an "80" card deck. The deck should cycle 6 or 7 cards
in a turn, and, in practice, it does, usually about 4 offensively and 2 or 3
defensively.
And, of course,
*** THE TRICK ***:
ASAP, get a Writ of Acceptance. Next turn or so, that vamp calls a
Praxis Seizure, with Bribes if possible. Between Regina, Stefano, the
Mausoleum and/or the Powerbase:Rome, you should be able to pick up a couple
extra votes, giving you usually about 4 or 5 votes in favor of the Praxis
(all Giovanni having an extra vote). Stealth and Seductions tossed in in
case of blockers, and a dash of combat defense including the all useful
Change of Target. Cryptic Rider on that vote passes some other vote.
On future votes, you have the same vamp dissolve parliament and call new
elections, but now you've got 2 more votes for re-seizing Venice for
themselves, but still the 1-per Giovanni bonus. Cryptic Rider, lather,
rinse, repeat.
Defense: You can't go wrong with Dominate: Obedience and Deflection.
Token intercept, but it's a trick deck, so it can't do everything. The 5
Bribes are almost certainly 5 pool gain, and the 2 Con Boons can be used as
gain or to save a grandprey from an untimely oust.
Definitely a "moving parts" deck, but on its test runs it's done
alright. Not tournament quality, but it's garnered some VPs, and even swept
a 4 player table, even ousting a visiting LA player, who will remain unnamed
to spare them the embarrassment of being ousted by a Giovanni vote deck. =)
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CONCLUSION/PREVIEW
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The Final Nights approach! I know that myself and the other Independent
newsletter writers, Norm Brown, Archon of the Swamp (Setites), Todd
Bannister, Scribe of the Assamites (Assamites), and the infamous Noal
McDonald* (Ravnos) are all looking forward to new life being breathed into
our clans, with new vamps and all new cards, not to mention preconstructed
decks to get new players quickly up to speed and interested in the coolest
of all the clans, the Independents.
*(Ok, so I don't *know* that Noal is excited; I haven't talked to him, and
he's been pretty quiet, and possibly a Deja victim. Apologies to Noal for
speaking on his behalf without his permission. But you usually don't take
on the banner of the Independent clans without some personal feeling.)
I'm certainly hoping to make some tournament-worthy decks out of the
Giovanni after Final Nights, so I'll try to get the "trick deck" ideas out
of my system before release, with the remaining month or two of Newsletters,
possibly a "Torment the Soul" deck, but the local Atlanta metagame isn't
really conducive to the deck, so it's hard to give it a good test run.
So, warm up your Independent lore, shake off those dusty Necromancy cards,
and get practicing your Giovanni decks to be prepared for the Final Nights.
And, as always, welcome to the family!
--
Pat Ricochet
Soul Jar'rn Fool of Atlanta
"You can't make a fact out of an opinion by raising your voice."