Table of Contents: 1. Jyhad War Stories: How's the trip to hell? 2. Stupid Death Pact Tricks 3. Focus on the Family: Vittorio Giovanni 4. Deck: Selling your Soul Short Firstly, I must apologize for not getting out a newsletter last month. That's the life of a Ph.D. student, and I don't recommend it for anyone unless you like putting your very existence on hold for the love of science. Secondly, I must wish everyone a happy 7/7! Jyhad War Stories: How's the trip to hell? I recently tried out "To Hell and Back" (see February 1999 Giovanni Newsletter for particulars) in a JOL game. It performed rather well, earning 3 VP before being ousted by a weenie vote/bleed deck, which looks like it will win with the other 5 VP. Here's the skinny on the game: Intercept was very light on the field. It certainly seems to be that the JOL metagame is very anti-intercept right now, but I suppose that makes sense. So, I ended up not even needing to pull the burn-and- return trick ever, since a simple Bonding or Spectral Divination guaranteed the success of the action. Also, I didn't dare leave anyone in torpor, because at least two players used Grave Robbing, and one of them (my predator, no less) took Gloria early in the game! My predator was eventually ousted by the weenie machine, which allowed me to Possess Gloria back to my side. I had replaced the Skins of Rock with Skins of Steel, and it helped immensely against my first prey, who had a Beast-loving combat deck. Despite not winning, still being able to pull out 3 VP is what I'd consider a victory in a JOL 8-player game. Stupid Death Pact Tricks This month I'd like to talk about a card that seems a lot like wallpaper: Death Pact. What are the particulars of the card? Here's the text: Death Pact Action/Retainer Necromancy 1 blood This card is an action card that becomes a retainer card. +1 stealth action. (D) Put this card on a ready vampire. If that vampire is burned, put this card on the vampire who brought this card into play. This card then represents a retainer with 2 life. Once each combat, the vampire with this retainer may change one damage from aggravated to normal. Sup: As above, but the retainer has 3 life. A clarification to this card tells us that the target vampire can be burned in any way, even if it's because the vampire's controller is ousted. Note that things like Golconda or Return to Innocence won't work because the vampire in question is removed and not burned. Now, let's face it, this card gives horrible returns. Paying one blood for a retainer that changes 1 point of aggravated damage to normal would be considered a reasonable investment all by itself. However, with this card, you have to put it on another vampire and then burn the target vampire. That's considerably more difficult, and considering that there's lots of other things a vampire can do in the meantime, it seriously reduces the use of the card, right? Right. However, thanks to a year old wrinkle in the rules, directed actions can be directed against yourself. So, you can take this card and put it on one of your own vampires, like Julius or Franciscus, and then just toast the weenie in any one of a number of ways. You can even place it on one of your own larger vampires and find lots of other ways to burn them. Remember that the Giovanni don't mind self-sacrifice from time to time as long as it has a purpose, because they've got Possession and other tricks to get their vampires back quickly and cheaply. In addition, you can heap up the Death Pacts on a single vampire and then toast the single vampire to give everyone else you've got a brand new retainer. Secondly, there's the issue of the card's final effect. The retainer that hopefully you'll eventually create changes 1 damage from aggravated to normal in combat. Now, unless you can be sure to face Gangrel or maybe Tzimisce, chances are that you won't face one point of aggravated damage in combat. So, you'll just have to create it if you're really going to get any use out of the card! Methods of guaranteeing that aggravated damage come mostly from Fortitude and Thaumaturgy, by way of Dawn Operation and Burst of Sunlight. In addition, if you're going to use this card, you have to expect combat and lots of it. You can't use this card to get around aggravated damage from Rutor's Hand, Daring the Dawn, or Force of Will, so that's not the strategy to take this time. If you choose the Fortitude route, you'll want Vittorio and Regina. If you choose the Thaumaturgy route, you'll want Enzo and Patrizia. For/Pot and Tha/Pot are both reasonable combat vehicles, so a deck using Nec, Pot, and Tha/For should do all right. Focus on the Family: Vittorio Giovanni Vittorio is weak for a 5 capacity vampire. He only has four discipline points (nec pot dom for) and they're all at the basic level. If you're running a straight Giovanni Nec/Pot/Dom deck, you're better off with Francesca, who's a 4 cap, and leaving Vittorio back in the car. So, the only reason to pull Vittorio off the shelves and into your deck is if you plan to use that Fortitude, and use it often. However, as I've mentioned throughout this newsletter, Fortitude is a beautiful discipline that works quite well with Necromancy. Daring the Dawn, Force of Will, and Possession, for example, lets you make infinite suicide runs to great effect. A successful Death Pact makes Dawn Operation combat enjoyable. Although I'd recommend other vampires for your regular Pot/For or Dom/For usages (Jimmy Dunn, Ingrid Russo), the sheer flexibility of Vittorio should be apparent. In a deck that uses Nec, For, and either Dom or Pot, you can customize Vittorio to whatever role the rest of your vampires can't provide. Also, since he is larger than weenies, he has more blood available to him for spending before he needs to hunt or whatever, increasing his overall use. In conclusion, although Vittorio is not as strong as other vampires his size, he provides the benefits of Nec/For strategies and instant flexibility to a crypt. Both of these powers can be used to great effect. Deck: Overdrawn at the Soul Bank Crypt: 12 Jimmy Dunn x 4 Vittorio Giovanni x 2 Rudolpho Giovanni x 2 Mario Giovanni Cristofero Giovanni KoKo Rufina Soledad Library: 90 cards Master: 13 Fragment of the Book of Nod x 2 Haven Unconvered x 4 Fortitude x 3 Potence x 2 Necromancy x 2 Action: 18 Possession x 3 Death Pact x 5 Force of Will x 2 Bum's Rush x 8 Equipment: 1 Hand of Conrad Action Modifiers: 8 Dawn Operation x 5 Daring the Dawn x 3 Combat: 50 Spiritual Intervention x 2 Immortal Grapple x 8 Disarm x 8 Taste of Vitae x 5 Torn Signpost x 6 Undead Strength x 8 Hidden Strength x 5 Skin of Steel x 3 Skin of Night x 2 Unflinching Persistence x 3 Jimmy Dunn is a linchpin for this deck. In fact, having 2 Jimmy Dunns is even better. Let everyone load up Death Pacts on Jimmy as the game progresses, but be more of a combat force than anything else. If Jimmy dies, Possess him back. When you're ready, you can either toast Jimmy with a Daring the Dawn suicide run or pull out a second Jimmy, burning the first. If someone else pulls out Jimmy, it's even better! Simply Possess your Jimmy back into play whenever you feel like it, and that will guarantee you'll never see Jimmy change sides again. Until next month or two... John Baker Official Clan Giovanni Newsletter Editor