OFFICIAL VEKN GIOVANNI NEWSLETTER Vol.III No.12 December.2001
In this Issue:
INTRODUCTION
WHISPERS FROM THE DEAD: Nobody Does it Better
CARD OF THE MONTH: Acquired Ventrue Assets
DECK OF THE MONTH: Giovanni Blood Bank 2.5
CONCLUSION/PREVIEW
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INTRODUCTION
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Whaddyaknow, I actually managed to keep it up for a whole year. Sure, I
missed a deadline or two, but I still got out 12 newsletters in 12 months,
and it's been a lot of fun. It's been good for my playing, too; having to
make a new deck and test it every month keeps your decks from getting too
stale (though, seeing the Giovanni over and over might get stale to my
playgroup =).
Bloodlines is here! But...I don't have any yet, and I'm not sure when
I'll pick any up. I know I need copies of Le Dinh Tho and Matthias for
their excellent utility in Giovanni decks, but being scare, that probably
means some trading.
Amusing note: Le Dinh Tho is a 5-cap with [aus dom NEC], identical
disciplines to Petrucchio Giovanni. So, for the couple of decklistings that
required you to use the "unofficial bonus Giovanni" Petrucchio, simply sub
out for Le Dinh Tho. You're still out of luck for Conchita Giovanni, a 4
cap [dom NEC] from the Austin expansion, so you'll have to get the .pdf and
print her. =)
No Bloodlines related deck or cards this month, but the 3 more clans
with Necromancy should make for some good use of Bloodlines as support
vampires (as intended), and maybe even some mixed clan decks with the
non-scarce Samedi and Harbingers of Skulls. And Matthias. *drool*
Probably lots of decks with Matthias.
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WHISPERS FROM THE DEAD: Nobody Does it Better
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Last month's Conclusion/Preview, I said the following:
"Also, I may finally get to fully addressing Peter Bajika's claim that the
Giovanni don't win tournaments because they don't do anything that some
other clan can't already do better. While, on the surface, there is a lot
of truth to that statement and it says a lot about what you *shouldn't* be
trying to do, the counterpoints will highlight what you *should* be doing if
you're trying to be sucessful with the Giovanni."
Bajika's exact words were:
"The Giovanni aren't real strong for various reasons, none of which have
anything to do with a card limit or lack therof. Any strategy the Giovanni
can do well, somone else can do better (Stealth and Bleed-The Malks; Bonding
Bleed-the Ventrue; Bruise and Bleed-the Brujah). The Giovanni are good at
weird corner case strategies (ally based decks, recursion), but these don't win
that often."
I can't believe that was only a month ago. Not too long after that
statement, two Giovanni bleed decks won tournaments: David Davila's here in
Atlanta,
http://www.thelasombra.com/decks/twd.htm#crusade_atlanta_2k1
and Luis Duarte's in Oporto, Portugal.
http://www.thelasombra.com/decks/twd.htm#crusade_oporto_2k1
So, it's vaguely moot as to "why Giovanni don't win tournaments,"
because, well, now they can, and have. Both decks relied upon
Seduction/Call of the Hungry Dead/(Sleeping Mind), and all the new NEC/DOM
vampires that Final Nights brought us, most notably Isabel(5), Andrea(7),
and Gillespi(7). Great for "responsible" bleeding that is hard to block,
but often 0-stealth when bounced.
Another thing to note: A while ago, while everyone was speculating
about Final Nights, James Coupe made the obseravtion that Necromancy was set
up to be a great discipline and the Giovanni a great clan, if they could get
a few more useful cards and vampires. Necromancy had stealth, intercept,
and S:CE, all useful staples.
Not suprisingly, both winning decks also featured Spectral Divination
for it's dual capability as stealth or intercept, and Spiritual Intervention
for combat defense.
You could try and do this with the Malkavians, using Elder Intervention
instead of Call of the Hungry Dead. But the DOM/OBF vampires are Mariel(7)
and Gilbert (7), and then it's 9-cap and up.
Sure, to be fair, you could go with Luis's trick of having a couple
DOM/nec bleeders like Gloria(4) and Stefano(6), and a couple Necromancy
skill cards. How about DOM/obf vampires, and Obfuscate skill cards? No
good: Smallest is Didi Meyers (5), but no other Malks. Go out of clan, and
you get Reverend Blackwood (6), and then 8+ (amusingly, Didi is the ONLY
DOM/obf Malkavian).
You could go for OBF/dom vamps, and add Dominate skill cards, but that's
not as reliable; you can't play Seduction out of the gate on older vamps.
And, you only get Zebulon (5), and Greger Anderson (5), but you can go out
of clan for the Assamite Badr al-Budur and the Setite Count Ormonde (5).
But, it's 7 and up from there. (All of this is from the interesting fact
that the "most common in-clan" discipline for the Malks isn't Dom or Obf,
it's actually Auspex!)
Add to that the lack of S:CE, and needing to include separate cards for
intercept, and the Malkavian version is a bit less durable. And that's even
before we talk about dumpster-diving.
While being like Stealth Bleed, it's something the Malkavians actually
*don't* do better than the Giovanni, because it's not the same as pure Sneak
and Bleed. Sure, you could do like Ben Peal did with "Short Leash Bleed,"
and in fact Davila's deck does contain Change of Target under the same
principle, but you could ALSO add the Media Outlets to the Giovanni to be
that much more effective at "responsible bleeding." Fact is, the Giovanni
are currently the "most responsible bleeding" clan in the game; they have
the cards, and the vamps to play them. They can win with it, and they have.
It's a strong tactic that's taken advantage of the metagame: bounce-heavy
decks and intercept walls, in effect becoming a sneak and bleed deck that
foils some of the standard sneak and bleed defenses. And, depending on a
more local metagame, the Giovanni can tune to Obedience, S:CE, or "hit back"
as combat defense.
While the Game Win scoring is going to push back intercept walls,
bleeding and bleed bounce are probably going to be big, and having both
Deflections and Responsible Bleeding is going to make the Giovanni quite
attractive still. Watch out for contesting in 2002. =)
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CARD OF THE MONTH: Acquired Ventrue Assets
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One of the bonus improved reprints from the Final Nights starters was
Acquired Ventrue Assets, which got that nasty 2 pool cost taken off, turning
it from one of the many Dark Soveriegns wallpapers into a card worth playing
with:
Acquired Ventrue Assets
Giovanni
Master.
Put an amount of blood counters (from the blood bank) on this card equal to
the number of Giovanni you control. During your master phase, you may move 1
blood from this card to any Giovanni you control. Burn this card if there is no
blood on it. This card may be burned by any minion who is not Ventrue as a (D)
action.
2 pool for a burnable card is pretty harsh, so the cost being removed is
nice. It did get a compensating weakness, though; the DS version allowed
you to take off one blood during *each* Methuselah's master phase, pretty
much guaranteeing you getting 2 blood back from the card, one when you play
it, and another in your prey's Master phase, before anyone can come at it.
And, in practice, that's like a Gird Minions with possible other blood
gain, and in practice, when you actually saw the card played, nobody really
went after it.
However, it's still a good card; lets you drop a blood onto any minion
right away, and have more saved up for later, depending how many Giovanni
you have. Also, no one *gets* the counters on it for destroying the card,
making it not unattractive to bother doing. What's more, your predator
destroying it isn't "bleeding for 6" and your prey destroying it isn't "Sens
Depping your key vamp." They can feel free to waste the action.
Oh, and it's not unique, so you can stack them up, and even pile the
blood onto one guy if you need/want to, unlike Hunting Grounds.
It is a pure-Giovanni card, however. It won't be of much use for your
Nagaraja or Harbingers, even in mixed-clan decks. But for pure bloating
pleasure, and paying for all those 1-blood Necromancy cards, it's actually
pretty good, and even worth the master slot. Even moreso if you build a
deck around it...
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DECK OF THE MONTH: Giovanni Blood Bank 2.5
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Deck Name: Giovanni Blood Bank 2.5
Created By: Orpheus edited by Patrick OShea
Description: Invest early and often, to be able to afford a lot of Giovanni
on the cheap. Multiple masters make "Investment" cards worth playing, and
make Acquired Ventrue Assets and Blood Dolls a great combo.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 15, Max: 32, Avg: 6.08)
----------------------------------------------
1 Enzo Giovanni ani DOM NEC pot tha 8, Giovanni
1 Isabel Giovanni DOM NEC pot 5, Giovanni
1 Francesca Giovanni dom nec pot 4, Giovanni
1 Andrea Giovanni DOM NEC pot vic 7, Giovanni
1 Ambrogino Giovanni aus DOM NEC POT THA 9, Giovanni, 1 vote
1 Marianna aus DOM nec POT THA 8, Giovanni
1 Gloria Giovanni DOM nec 4, Giovanni
2 Carlotta Giovanni dom NEC obf POT 7, Giovanni
1 Rudolfo Giovanni NEC 3, Giovanni
1 Chas Giovanni Tello DOM POT 4, Giovanni
1 Gillespi Giovanni aus DOM NEC POT 7, Giovanni
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
[Mostly] Masters (21 Masters total)
"Investments"
3 Acquired Ventrue Assets
2 Secret Horde
1 Short-Term Investment
1 Slave Auction
1 Morgue Hunting Ground
1 Leonardo, Mortician (not a Master)
1 Palatial Estate (not a Master)
[Remaining] Mostly Minion Cards
"Reinvestment"
7 Blood Doll
1 Information Highway
"Portfolio Enhancment"
2 Parthenon, The
3 Rumors of Gehenna (not Masters)
1 Fragment of the Book of Nod
2 Barrens, The
"Hostile Takeover"
1 Dominate Kine
6 Govern the Unaligned
3 Scouting Mission
4 Bonding
3 Call of the Hungry Dead
3 Seduction
"Legal Defense Fund"
5 Deflection
1 Kindred Coercion
2 Redirection
6 Wake with Evening's Freshness
"Securities"
4 Spiritual Intervention
3 Thrown Gate
3 Obedience
3 .44 Magnum
3 Leather Jacket
"Futures"
3 Summon Soul
3 Whispers from the Dead
1 Sargon Fragment, The
"Market Adaptability"
3 Spectral Divination
1 Haunt
3 Ex Nihilo
Orpheus posted a version of this to the newsgroup a while back, and I
recommended a couple lines of attack, one of them being to push the
multiple-master angle really hard, and pile up on the Investments and Blood
Dolls. He didn't have all the cards to do it, so I built it and tried it
out. Floundered the first game, getting a bunch of minions out, but not
ousting. Realizing that I had left out all the Governs, I pitched 6 in,
bringing it up to a full 90 cards, and it won the next table, and despite a
Tzimisce wall, enough 0-stealth actions will stuff up an intercept
predatorprey with nothing but Auspex cards, especially when you've
influenced out a horde of minions.
Note that it's a bit of a "trick" deck, with 21 Masters, 3 of those
being "Investment" cards taking even more MPAs. However, with 2 Parthenons,
2 Barrens, and 3 Rumors of Gehenna, it pushes to use or discard 2 or 3 each
turn. 3 Summon Soul, 3 Whispers, and the Sargon Fragment help you get them
back if you rack up the MPAs later on.
Govern and Scouting are to be used for bringing out more minions,
usually, but when you need to oust, they'll be there for you. The combat
defense is actually fairly versatile and effective. Permanent .44s are
usually easy to pay for, sucking off Blood Dolls like mad, and Ex Nihilo can
put a HUGE jam into all kinds of combat decks. The Gates, Obedience, and
Spiritual Interventions are actually pretty good at fending off even pure
rush decks for long enough for you to get off the ground, and for them to
get hand-jam.
BTW: I used to think that Ex Nihilo was mostly good for "focused trick"
decks, but no longer. I damn near made it Card of the Month from seeing it
in action. An Ex Nihilo'ed minion with a Leather Jacket makes a fantastic
combat-deterring blocker. ("You will waste one rush right here.") A really
nice touch is the multiple AVAs and other blood gain cards can be piled onto
one Giovanni (say, blood from 2 AVAs, the Hunting Ground, pushing through
the Blood Doll, and Leonardo), suddenly filling them up for the Ex Nihilo in
your hand. If combat is light, the extra stealth is always good for bleeds,
or for using the Sargon Fragment at stealth. The Ex Nihilo blood cost
really isn't that bad, in practice: losing one a turn for 5-6 turns is half
the game! Almost moving into the "one in every Giovanni deck" category, but
it certainly fits in well in this deck.
Light on vote defense most of all, but votes do let you cycle a spare
Rumors if you get a spare one in hand. Depending on your metagame, you
might add some more vote defense, but light intercept and bloating aren't
too bad.
All in all, fairly fun and robust, if a *bit* slow. Of course, being
slam-bang out of the gate will usually get you killed, so the usual "robust"
with "Dominate in hand" makes this a classic Giovanni deck that can get VPs
and win tables.
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CONCLUSION/PREVIEW
================================================================
Well, whether I pick up any by next month or not, I'm going to have to
address Bloodlines and it's effect on the Giovanni. The amount of
Necromancy out there is certainly capable of making some mono-Necromancy
decks, but beyond that, it gets a little fuzzier, on which disciplines to
cross over, and how not to get hurt by the fact that your new "allies" can't
use those cards with the "G" on them.
Also, with all the Bloodlines Newsletters rolling out, I won't need to
address *too* much of the new vampires, but certainly won't exclude them
from consideration out of hand. However, it looks like the Samedi and
Nagaraja are still open (according to the last VEKN Newsletter FAQ), so I'll
pick up the slack if they seem maligned.
I guess that wraps it up for this month, this year, and (probably) this
volume of the Giovanni Newsletter. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and
Merry New Year to all!
See you next year,
--
Pat Ricochet
Soul Jar'rn Fool of Atlanta