OFFICIAL VEKN KIASYD NEWSLETTER VOL II ISSUE III JULY 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. EDITORIAL I am writing this after a month break and the Origins Convention in Columbus, Ohio, USA. It was my first convention and I had so much fun. I met a lot of new people, who were not only quality players, but also quality people. I am never suprised by how great it is to be a part of this game. Having purchased very little Gehenna before the tournament, I felt slightly behind the curve with respect to the new "tech." Combat seemed to be a big theme in the post-Gehenna world, changing my expectations of the typical tournament environment. Since this newsletter marks the review of the last Kiasyd in the clan, next month we will start looking at vampires that work well with the Kiasyd. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH Beatrice L'Angou [BL:U2] Cardtype: Vampire Clan: Kiasyd Group: 2 Capacity: 5 Discipline: aus dom nec MYT Sabbat: Cold iron vulnerability. Beatrice is a solid 5-capacity vampire for the clan, but she lacks Obtenebration, which limits what we can do with her. As the smallest Kiasyd, Beatrice will work well in many decks. Her superior Mytherceria allows you to use some of the best cards in the game at the superior level. She can Folderol any methuselah and is a great aid to wall type decks, since she can use her Auspex to block. As a clanmate, she is weakened by her lack of Obtenebration and I have often replaced her in stealth-bleed decks for 4- and 5-capacity Lasombra. Her weakness as a Kiasyd is her mismatched discipline spread. She works really well with Bartholomew and together the two of them can form some interesting decks. Her Necromancy, likes Bartholomew's, is quite interesting to me. The vampires work well with Necrospex decks and Mytherceria adds new dimensions to that strategy. All in all, Beatrice is a support vampire and not a star. She will find more use outside of her clan than within. Next month: Talley, The Hound -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. CARD OF THE MONTH The Grandest Trick [BL:R2] Cardtype: Action Modifier Clan: Kiasyd Cost: 2 blood Burn Option Only usable when an action is announced. Vampires cannot block this action. This acting vampire is treated as a mortal ally for the duration of the action (cannot spend or burn blood, cannot use Disciplines, will burn if reduced to 0 life, etc.). This vampire's blood represents his or her life while he or she is an ally. Only usable on an action that doesn't cost blood or require a vampire, clan or Discipline. Well, I posed the question last month of whether The Grandest Trick is useful or useless. I think the answer is Yes. The Grandest Trick can be thrown into any Kiasyd deck; an virtually unstoppable bleed of one can sometimes be enough. To take full advantage of the Grandest Trick, you need to make a deck that focuses on what it can do for you. So, let's review what basic actions you can and cannot use Trick for. Bleed: Yes. Hunt: No. Equip: Maybe. Employ Retainer: Maybe. Recruit Ally: Maybe. Action Card: Maybe. Political Action: No. Leave Torpor: No. Diablerie: No. Become Anarch: No. The obvious first choice for any Grandest Trick action is bleeding. Most retainers and equipment that aid in bleeding are able to be performed while using the Grandest Trick. This months deck features the Grandest Trick in this fasion. Adding the Trick to any Kiasyd deck is not a bad idea. There is almost always action that you would not like to be blocked, if this action is default +1 stealth most allies wouldn't be able to stop you. Grandest Trick out a Mylan Horseed or Tasha Morgan. The trick of the Trick. The is an interesting timing window with the Grandest Trick. It is played as the action is announced, but other cards may also be played during the announcement phase. As the controller of the acting minion, you may order these modifiers in any way you see fit. This allows you to play an action modifier that requires a vampire, clan, or discipline as long as it is played when the action is announced and before you play the Grandest Trick. Most of these as-announced modifiers will be useless to us, since they duplicate in some way what Grandest Trick is doing. Seduction is a limited version of Grandest Trick, so there is no reason to double up, using both Seduction and Grandest Trick on the same action. You, of course, might want to do this anyway to cycle cards, but typically you would not combine the two modifiers. Let's take a look at a few modifiers that might be more interesting and useful when combined with the Grandest Trick. 1) Approximation of Loyalty: The inferior version can keep an ally from blocking. This helps eliminate an ally blocker. No Kiasyd have Presence, which is a negative, but only inferior is needed so one skill card can turn a Kiasyd into a nigh-unstoppable machine. 2) The Art of Memory: This requires a Black Hand vampire. Being Sabbat, any Kiasyd can become Black Hand via Blooding. Now, you can use The Art of Memory to regain your Grandest Trick and do it all over again with another Kiasyd. 3) Creepshow Casino: Most likely allies will not be blocking undirected actions, but with The Unmasking it is not out of the question. Using the Creepshow Casino to give another stealth to these undirected action will keep all but the most dedicated allies away. 4) Deed the Heart's Desire: Wow. Keep an opposing vampire from bouncing. Now all we need is a vampire with superior Quietus. Unlike Approximation of Loyalty, this card will never be combined with Grandest Trick. 5) Shroud Mastery: --Invalid removed by archivist-- 6) The Sleeping Mind: The inferior is cyclable like Seduction. The superior can keep those vampires with Dominate or superior Auspex tapped, requiring your opponent to have both a wake-up and bounce. I think this combination could be very useful. 7) Stealth Ritus: Gain stealth on a bleed to get by Jake Washington or some other ally. Gives you the added bump to strike home with a bleed. After some careful review of The Grandest Trick, I think it is definitely worth its weight. I plan on including it in more of my Kiasyd decks as well. Next month: Riddle Phantastique -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. DECK OF THE MONTH This month's deck will focus on Beatrice and Bartholomew and The Grandest Trick. This deck is a slow building deck. Keep Bartholomew untapped for pool gain and Folderol. Use Beatrice for Folderol or equipping/recruiting. Use the other vampires to recruit/equip. Heidelburg goodies around. Use Revelations for responsibility and The Grandest Trick for bleeds. Deck Name: It's Tricky to Rock a Rhyme Created By: Karl George Schaefer Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 12, Max: 29, Avg: 4.92) ---------------------------------------------- 3 Bartholomew AUS dom MYT NEC obt 8, Kiasyd:2 3 Beatrice L'Angou aus dom MYT nec 5, Kiasyd:2 2 Roger Farnsworth aus OBF 4, Malkavian antitribu:3 2 Mariano Pomposo aus cel pot 4, Brujah antitribu:3 2 Piotr Andreikov aus 2, Tzimisce:3 Library: (79 cards) ------------------- Master (16 cards) 2 Auspex 4 Blood Doll 2 Chanjelin Ward 1 Creepshow Casino 2 Effective Management 2 Heidelberg Castle, Germany 2 Perfectionist 1 Weeping Stone Action (20 cards) 4 Blooding 6 Computer Hacking 4 Reunion Kamut 6 Revelations Action Modifier (14 cards) 4 Art of Memory, The 6 Grandest Trick, The 4 Stealth Ritus Reaction (18 cards) 8 Folderol 6 Telepathic Misdirection 4 Wake with Evening's Freshness Ally (1 cards) 1 Mylan Horseed (Goblin) Retainer (2 cards) 1 J. S. Simmons, Esq. 1 Tasha Morgan Equipment (8 cards) 1 Blood Tears of Kephran 6 Laptop Computer 1 Palatial Estate -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. SIGN OFF Thanks for reading. The next newsletter will be in September. Karl Schaefer kschaefe@alumni.nd.edu