OFFICIAL VEKN GIOVANNI NEWSLETTER Vol.III No.1 Jan.2001
In this Issue:
FICTION PRELUDE: Employee Interaction Skills I
INTRODUCTION
CARD OF THE MONTH: Vagabond Mystic
STRATEGY OF THE MONTH: Giovally Module
DECK OF THE MONTH: Giovanni Tap Dance (with Unauthorized Bonus Giovanni!)
CONCLUSION/PREVIEW
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FICTION PRELUDE: Employee Interaction Skills I
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%"I'm sorry sir, he's in a meeting."
"Of -course- he is, sweetheart. He's -always- in a meeting. I understand.
You're his -secretary-; you answer the phone, people ask to talk to him, and
you tell people he's in a meeting. That's what secretaries DO. I know,
really I do. I have several secretaries myself."
%"Would you like to leave a message, sir?"
"No, actually, I wouldn't. But I -would- like to tell you a little story.
You like stories, don't you? Good. This is a story about a little
secretary- called Six Feet Fred. Do you know WHY he's called Six Feet
Fred? Go ahead, guess."
%"I'm sure I haven't any idea, sir. Would you like to wait on the line
while I see when his meeting lets out?"
"You know, I think you're getting warmer. Are you -sure- you haven't heard
this story? Well, this -little secretary- called Six Feet Fred, who
couldn't have been more than, oh, an inch over five feet..."
%%"Quit wasting my staff's time and get to the point."
"Well, speak of the devil! Your helpful -secretary- and I were just talking
about you! And I didn't even get to finish telling my story..."
%%"Now you're wasting -my- time. Tell me what you want; you have ten
seconds."
"Ok, -Mister- Meeting: The Camarilla and the Sabbat are infesting the place
like gnats, the personnel you left us need help from cats to find their way
out of grocery bag, we've got just enough cashflow to make a collect call,
and not even enough hardware to go deer hunting!"
%%"Everything is on schedule to arrive in June."
"JUNE! Wha.."
%%"June, which is more than you deserve, at that. You'll have to make do
with what you have, which should be sufficient if you would remedy your
crude mis-management skills. I'd recommend starting by using your time more
wisely than telling stories to my -secretary-. Speaking of time, your ten
seconds are up."
"Don't you DARE hang up on me!"
%"Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?"
"Get him back on the line! And do it now! And so help me God if you call
me 'sir' one more time I'm going to rip your lungs out and use them for
slippers!"
%"Of course you will sir; you're a thug. That's what thugs DO. I know. I
have several myself."
*CLICK*
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INTRODUCTION
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Welcome to Volume III of the Clan Giovanni Newsletter for the new
Millennium. While I'm hoping there will be much more interest in the
Giovanni come June, when Final Nights hits the streets, until then we have
to "make do with what we have." And, while it's tough to win tournaments
with the Giovanni, they've been given a bit of a bad rap, and much of their
poor showing is due to "crude mis-management skills."
So, over the next 6 months, I'll be detailing what the Giovanni can do and
what they can't do, and how to make decks to use their strengths and
overcome their weaknesses. I hope to cover a bit of everything, except
maybe the Talbot's Chainsaw trick; we've all seen it already.
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CARD OF THE MONTH: Vagabond Mystic
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STRATEGY OF THE MONTH: Giovally Module
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If this can even be said, the Giovanni got even less out of Sabbat War than
the Camarilla did. Telepathic Tracking helping out the Tremere, Victor
Tolliver helping out CEL on all fronts, and Rabble Razing keeping the
Ventrue from being rolled over by those damn weenie hordes. However, one
occasionally maligned card from Sabbat War was a perfect addition to almost
any Giovanni deck: the Vagabond Mystic.
The Giovanni have great allies. One idea in deck building is "modules,"
packets of cards that work together that can be slipped into many decks,
usually noticed by *being* in many decks. The "classic" module is the Bleed
Module, consisting of:
Tasha Morgan,
J.S. Simmons,
1-2 Laptop(s), and
1-2 Heidelburg Castle(s).
In the short term, this allows some extra bleed to show up. In the long
term game, this allows 2 minions to have +3 bleed, by using the castle to
move the stack of goodies around. Pretty good for just a few slots.
The Giovanni have an Ally Module (the "Giovally Module"):
Ambrosius, the Ferryman,
Leonardo, the Mortician,
1+ Blood Dolls,
Scapelli, the Family "Mechanic,"
Guiseppe, the Gravedigger, (yes, I know he's a retainer)
2-4 Zombies and/or Ghoul Escorts, (these, too, I know)
1-2 Compel the Spirit, and now,
Vagabond Mystic.
Previously, the only way to get life onto these allies was by having them
burn and then Compelling them. The Mystic allows Scapelli to bleed with
near impunity, Leonardo to block, and Ambrosius to actually get plinked with
the Ivory Bow. You have to actually bother spending combat cards on him to
get rid of them, and if you don't, you just restore them with the Mystic.
The "key" thing about the Vagabond Mystic is that you only have to TAP him
to put life onto an ally. Once the Mystic is out, the regaining of life is
unblockable.
The key to using Ambrosius in the Module is getting retainers that you can
burn before the Pathos removes them from the game. Zombies are always good,
since you can put them on for free and burn them for 2 blood. Also good,
and sometimes better, is the Ghoul Escort, kind of a "forward-Obedience"
card, good for keeping your guys alive. The trick is that they have to
block before 3 turns are up; I find that bleeding with Dominate bleed cards
brings out lots of blockers, even if you're bounced. For more "bruise-ey"
decks, go for Zombies, for the extra punch (even if you just Dodge with
Spiritual Intervention and let the corpses go at it), for more sneaky decks,
go for Ghoul Escorts.
Leonardo, the Mortician: Key words being: "...to any ready vampire."
Leonardo is eminently saleable. If you need a guy rescued from torpor,
agree to give him the two blood (half in advance, and half on receipt, of
course.) If you're tossing around The Society of Leopold, and it gets onto
"the wrong guy" you can help him out to keep him from being burned, or maybe
even escape from the "infinite hunt loop." And, of course, in low intercept
environments, he's blood gain with your Blood Dolls. The Vagabond Mystic
makes him even better, since he can block or be blocked and afford to be
punched for one.
Scapelli just rocks. He can bleed, a HUGE bonus for an ally; it makes him
actually worth spending pool on. He can also smack you for 4, something the
Gyspies, say, can't. The Vagabond Mystic makes him able to KEEP smacking
people for 4.
Really, the best thing about the Giovanni allies is the conception that
allies suck, and the Giovanni ones are all pretty good! There are many
cards that hose allies pretty badly, but a few cases where they stand out as
better than vamps (like, you can't Taste of Vitae an ally, and Daring the
Dawns can be blocked). The perception that allies suck, however, nearly
insures you that people's decks will NOT be built to expect, much less
properly hose, your allies.
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DECK OF THE MONTH: Giovanni Tap Dance (with Unauthorized Bonus Giovanni!)
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Created using the Elder Library Deck Builder 2.06. Thanks Dave!
Deck Name: Giovanni Tap Dance
Crypt: (13 cards) [Min: 12, Max: 29, Avg: 4.54]
1 Aleph (AUS dom, Malkavian, 4)
1 Cristofero Giovanni (nec pot, Giovanni, 3)
1 Dorian Strack (AUS cel, Toreador, 4)
1 Enzo Giovanni (ani DOM NEC pot tha, Giovanni, 8)
1 Gloria Giovanni (DOM nec, Giovanni, 4)
1 Isabel de Leon (AUS, Toreador, 3)
1 Mario Giovanni (nec pot, Giovanni, 3)
1 Regina Giovanni (aus DOM for NEC POT, Giovanni, 10, 2 votes)
1 Rudolpho Giovanni (NEC, Giovanni, 3)
1 Stefano Giovanni (DOM nec pot pre, Giovanni, 6)
1 Victoria (AUS cel obf, Malkavian, 5)
1 Zöe (AUS cel obf, Malkavian, 3)
1 Petrucchio Giovanni (aus dom NEC, Giovanni, 5)
Petrucchio Giovanni is the optional "13th Man." He can be found as part
of the V:TES Atlanta Expansion cards at the V:TES Atlanta Site. Or, you
will, as soon as we get the cards online, but it's not quite ready to be put
up, and I didn't want to delay the newsletter any longer, much as it would
have been cool to have the printable .jpgs up online in time.
Anyway, his cardtext reads:
Independent: Petrucchio may take a +1 stealth (D) action to tap a minion
controlled by your predator or prey.
For a "real" game, or if you don't have a printer and glue, just take him
out of the crypt. (To all the critics: I've never actually run the deck
using him, so don't think it requires you to make up vampires to make the
Giovanni go. =)
Also, Victoria's special can be awfully useful sometimes (especially in
a deck with bounce, intercept and a few Telepathic Counters) so I think
she's worth the 5 pool. If you don't, she and Dorian Strack are equally
interchangeable with Remillard, Devout Crusader or Idalia, the Prophet of
Guadalajara. But not Aleph, since he has Dominate; he rocks in this deck.
And not Ayelea¹s Puppet Dick, since his disability might actually matter.
Library: (90 cards)
Master (16 cards)
5 Blood Doll
5 Effective Management
1 Morgue Hunting Ground
3 Necromancy
2 Society of Leopold
Action (32 cards)
1 Compel the Spirit
9 Govern the Unaligned
9 Jar the Soul
7 Precognizant Mobility
1 Release of the Shackled Soul
2 Revelations
3 Scouting Mission
ActionMod (3 cards)
2 Sleeping Mind, The
1 Threats
Reaction (13 cards)
3 Deflection
2 Enhanced Senses
2 Spirit's Touch
4 Telepathic Counter
2 Telepathic Misdirection
Combat (13 cards)
6 Read Intentions
7 Spiritual Intervention
Ally (5 cards)
1 Ambrosius, The Ferryman (Wraith)
2 Leonardo, Mortician
1 Scapelli, The Family Mechanic
1 Vagabond Mystic
Retainer (4 cards)
1 Ghoul Escort
1 Guiseppe, Gravedigger
2 Zombie
Combo (4 cards)
4 Spectral Divination
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.
So, via Govern and Scouting Mission, the deck brings out both Auspex and
Necromancy weenies. There's not *too* much intercept in there, but that's
partially to keep you from getting clumped in case you don't have an AUS
weenie in your opening crypt, and have to pay to have it out, or draw into
an Effective Management. Also, only half the job of the AUS weenies is to
help intercept; the other half if Precognizantly Mobilizing the larger
Giovanni, allowing them to Govern/Scouting and then be able to act again, or
be untapped to Deflect, etc. One Govern and one pool gives you Dorian
Strack, who can untap Enzo 4 times with his blood, not counting the blood
Leonardo gets back for him.
The Necromancy weenies Jar Souls forward, to allow the minions with
Dominate a much easier run at your prey, occasionally helped out by a well
placed Society of Leopold with Jar the Soul at superior, burning the
victim's last blood.
It might be a tad toolboxy for some players¹ taste, and has a bit of
trouble with "dedicated kick-your-ass intercept" but I never failed to get a
VP in all the weeks I played this deck with the second iteration of its
design. This is actually the third; as I added one Vagabond Mystic and 2
Revelations, due to Sabbat War (Revelations being notably more common, not
to mention there being one in every Tzimisce starter.)
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CONCLUSION/PREVIEW
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That's enough for one month, and maybe even a bit of backlog, I hope.
(though I just got the job around December) I'll be back next month with
the Card of the Month "Jar the Soul" (which you might have thought I'd do
this month, eh?) and the "Giovanni Tournament Losing Deck" that after the
tournament, pulling 10 cards out, never failed to get at least one VP in
local play. (Despite the name, I'll be posting the 80 card version that
actually does well, not the 90 card version that actually didn't get any VPs
in the Dragon*Con tourney last year, earning it's name =)
--
Pat Ricochet
Soul Jar'rn Fool of Atlanta