INTRODUCTION - the Giovanni newsletters AN ASPECT OF CLAN GIOVANNI - a look at the Giovanni family FOCUS ON A CARD - jar the soul DECK IDEA - Giovanni tap and bleed deck INTRODUCTION - the Giovanni newsletters Welcome to the first official V:EKN Giovanni Newsletter. Feel free to comment on the content of this newsletter or to suggest areas of interest for future newsletters. SHORT STORY AN ASPECT OF CLAN GIOVANNI - a look at the Giovanni family Carlotta Giovanni 7 - NEC POT dom obf As a +1 stealth action Carlotta may burn 1 blood to exchange any library card in your ash heap for any card in your hand. With her ability Carlotta is one of the more notorious vampires - the ability is brilliant and thankfully doesn't hike up Carlotta's cost. The ability comes with +1 stealth and with necromancy and even obfuscate it should commonly succeed especially if you're going after a card you want. Her ability is so useful she has turned up in decks which only use her dominate discipline. With two superior in-clan disciplines, and ability, she could be in most Giovanni decks. Cristofero Giovanni 3 - nec pot A rather unexciting Giovanni who at least has no draw backs. His small capacity and inferior necromancy can find him in many Giovanni decks taking care of business that the clan elders can't be bothered to get their hands dirty with. Enzo Giovanni, Pentex Board of Directors 8 - NEC DOM pot tha ani Enzo may attempt to block any political action attempted by and Methuselah; he gets +1 intercept against any political action not attempted by a Prince, Justicar, or Inner Circle Member. As the Giovanni don't have nearly enough votes as their RPG cousins might suggest they should have this ability can come in handy for ensuring that votes go your way even if you don't have voting power. With both of his abilities he can ensure to block any weakly attempted voting action - superior necromancy should ensure he can block those nasty Camarilla votes. But the question is, what does he do once he's in combat - he only has inferior potence. Francesca Giovanni 4 - nec pot dom A stock standard 4 capacity vampire, no more no less. Gaspare Giovanni 6 - POT nec cel During your master phase, Gaspare may burn 2 blood to move a burned vampire from your ash heap to the top of your crypt. +1 hand damage. Superior potence and minor celerity with +1 hand damage make Gaspare a little fighter who fight fairly effectively. On the other hand he's also an archetypal Giovanni with minor necromancy and his ability. The ability is perfect as it just happens - no tapping, no nothing. It's cost is a little high for someone designed to be in a fight and this may be Gaspare's biggest failing - that his two sides don't really meld together all that well. Recent rulings with Return and Golconda and agg damage have also lessened the amount of times his ability might be used. Gloria Giovanni 4 - DOM nec With her low capacity and superior dominate Gloria is a vicious little bleeder, the inferior necromancy can also ensure that those bleeds get through. Mario Giovanni 3 - nec pot (see Cristofero Giovanni - literally). Patrizia Giovanni, Collector of Secrets 5 - nec tha qui As an action, Patrizia can employ a retainer in your ash heap. She still pays the employment cost as normal, but she burns one additional blood. A 5 capacity vampire with only one in-clan discipline and even _that_ is at inferior - that is crap! Oh, but wait she has an ability, which is at least in keeping with the necromantic ideal. But on close inspection the ability is crap as well. It only gets retainers and these cost 1 more blood. Compare to Compel the Spirit. At minor you can also get allies as well and it only costs 1 blood. At superior, which more accurately mimics Patrizia's ability the retainer OR ally enters play still for only 1 blood. OK, with Patrizia you don't have to immediately have a card on hand you can wait a while but whatever your argument Patrizia is crap - use Compel the Spirit, unless of course you playing one of them nec that qui decks which are oh so common. now I've gotten that out of my system Rafaele Giovanni 6 - NEC obf cel As a D action, Rafaele may bleed your predator. +1 bleed. As Enzo is a vampire who can get into combat easier than most vampires but lacks the superior potence to back it up, Rafaele is a vampire with whom you can have fun bleeding with but this time he doesn't even have his in-clan discipline of dominate at inferior. His saving graces are the disciplines that he does have. At least he has superior necromancy which is always handy and his inferior disciplines correspond with other Giovanni vampires. Regina Giovanni, The Right Hand of Augustus 10 - NEC POT DOM for aus Regina has 2 votes. Recruiting allies and employing retainers costs Regina 1 less pool (but never less than 0 pool). The only Giovanni vampire who has all three in-clan disciplines at superior, the only Giovanni vampire with votes - alas also the highest capacity Giovanni vampire. But wait, look at that ability it directly offsets her high cost. You might be spending 10 pool to get her but you spend 1 less pool for all those allies out there. Rudolpho Giovanni 3 - NEC Necromancy is a very useful ability to have at superior and being only 3 capacity this makes Rudolpho a very useful vampire to employ. Stefano Giovanni 6 - DOM nec pot pre During a political action, Stefano may burn 1 blood to gain one vote. As mentioned above the Giovanni don't seem to have nearly enough votes but with Stefano as well as the few scant other options you can piece something together. The superior dominate and even inferior presence are also in keeping with his ability as either an aide to voting or as voting defence. Vittorio Giovanni 5 - nec pot dom for Vittorio follows the poorer cousin template of 5 capacity vampires with no in-clan disciplines at superior and no ability. Compared to Patrizia, however, Vittorio is a veritable gem. Overview of vampires - capacity Looking at the capacity of vampires there is a good number of small capacity vampires who can help fill-out any Giovanni deck although with no 2 capacity vampire there is one obvious lack. On the surface there appears to be a fair number of mid-range capacity vampires, although on closer inspection of their disciplines, below, a number of these vampires don't fit well into the Giovanni framework. And at the high capacity end of things there doesn't seem to be enough vampires to choose from. Given this all-Giovanni decks are somewhat a bit limited through the choice of vampires to put in - but it isn't impossible. Overview of vampires - disciplines As pointed out a number of Giovanni, especially those of mid-range capacity, have non-clan disciplines. Whilst this is a hindrance to all-Giovanni decks it is a veritable boon to the teaming of Giovanni with other clans, even though the Giovanni only possess these out of clan disciplines at inferior. obfuscate - this is always a handy discipline to have and with Carlotta and Rafaele. A Giovanni-Nosferatu potence-based deck is not out of the question, especially given the ease of Changeling Skin Mask. thaumaturgy - a fun option which both Enzo and Patrizia have allowing Giovanni-Tremere dominate-based decks to be built. And given the interesting amount of Tremere or Tremere antitribu allies such a union has merit celerity - a good combat option which both Gaspare and Rafaele have allowing Giovanni-Brujah potence-based decks. There is also a number of Brujah or Brujah antitribu allies which can benefit from the union of these clans with the Giovanni. fortitude - Regina and Vittorio both possess this discipline allowing Giovanni-Ventrue dominate-based decks to be built. presence - although only Stefano possesses this ability it is in-keeping with the vampire. auspex - not as useful in the card game Regina's auspex at least gives those more familiar with the RPG a warm fuzzy feeling. animalsim, quietus - why? Another family with whom clan Giovanni can be commonly be found associating due to their disciplines are the Lasombra. As they share two in-clan disciplines Giovanni-Lasombra dominate and/or potence based decks are also an option. In upcoming months I plan to deal with subjects such as allies, other Giovanni specific cards and necromancy cards. If you have a preference for one of the above or a suggestion of your own feel free to email me. FOCUS ON A CARD - jar the soul Given the deck below a view of the one card which makes the deck possible, Jar the Soul, may be in order. Jar the Soul necromancy +1 stealth action inferior - D Tap any ready minion. superior - D As above, and that minion burns 1 blood. For purposes of comparison we shall also look at Passion and Mind Numb Passion dementiate inferior - D Tap a minion controlled by your prey. superior - As above, with +1 stealth. Mind Numb presence, 1 blood inferior - D Put this card on any untapped vampire. Tap that vampire; he or she does not untap during his or her controller's untap phase. Burn this card at the beginning of your next untap phase. Superior - As above, with +1 stealth. Jar the Soul is the easiest to use and most versatile of these tapping-cards, and although Mind Numb taps the vampire longer it has some draw backs for what it does. Firstly, stealth. Jar the Soul is the only tap-card which comes with inherent stealth at inferior. This allows Cristofero, Mario or Francesca to perform the action successfully when they might not be doing anything else. Secondly, targets. Jar the Soul is the only tap-card which is indiscriminate with its' targets. You can Jar any ready minion on the table, with Passion you can only access minions of your prey - this is a disadvantage if you want to do something for a favour. With Mind Numb you can only tap untapped vampires this leaving allies free to block your subsequent no stealth actions. Since Mind Numb can also only be used on untapped vampires it prohibits the card from being conveniently discard outside your discard phase. Thirdly, cost. Mind Numb is the only one of the tap-cards that has an inherent blood cost. Fourthly, added bonuses. As mentioned above Mind Numb has the added bonus of performing its' ability for a lot longer. At superior, however, Jar the Soul also has an added bonus - the minion losing 1 blood. In the deck below this is merely that, an added bonus, but in the correct deck which utilises things like Charnas the Imp, Vampiric Disease, Cryptic Mission, Derange and finally Society of Leopold this added bonus is great. DECK IDEA - Giovanni tap and bleed deck Vampires Stefano Giovanni Rafaele Giovanni Vittorio Giovanni Francesca Giovanni 2 Gloria Giovanni Cristofero Giovanni 2 Rudolpho Giovanni Ingrid Russo Samson Royce Master Cards 3 Acquired Ventrue Assets Morgue Hunting Ground Necromancy 2 Dominate 3 Misdirection Anarch Troublemaker 2 Elysium: the Arboretum Anarch Revolt Antediluvian Awakening The Mausoleum Demonstration The Parthenon 2 Dreams of the Sphinx Dominate Cards 8 Govern the Unaligned 3 Scouting Mission 7 Conditioning 2 Bonding 2 Foreshadowing Destruction 4 Seduction 2 The Sleeping Mind 4 Deflection Necromancy Cards 5 Jar the Soul 4 Spectral Divination 4 Spiritual Intervention Allies 2 Leonardo, Mortician Akhenaten, the Sun Pharaoh (Mummy) Reaction Cards 2 Wake with Evening's Freshness 12 Vampires, average capacity of 3.75 70 Library Cards, 20 master cards, no card limit The deck is a rather simplistic bleed straight through deck. Hunting should be kept to a minimum and the only other non bleed actions are the tapping ones and the brining out of allies which can be done by those minions who don't have the dominate to bleed. The deck is not terribly friendly in a co-operative environment although it can be used to either aid in the defence against a political deck or even aid such a deck depending upon which is the better offer. The tap cards can also be used as bargaining chips in a hostile environment. But at the end of the day the deck works by plowing straight ahead quickly - and it does this adequately well even in hostile environments.