OFFICIAL VEKN Lasombra NEWSLETTER MARCH 2002 Welcome We look at a clan We look at a card We look at a vamp Deck of the Month Welcome to a new edition of the Lasombra Newsletter. As promised in last months teaser, we'll begin to explore the effects of bloodlines on the clan. The metagame for that seems to be settling down a bit, which means that the older clans will get a chance to react to the more recent strategies. The clan as a whole has faired well in the Final Nights, and the advent of the blood lines has given the Lasombra something better than antitribu, the Kiasyd. Marconius Why we care: Another 9-cap archbishop in a large enough field but with DOM/OBT/pot, +1 strength, and an uncontestable (for now?) title, Marc is useful. With superior DOM, Marc is probably better than Alvaro in a voting situation, and +1 strength makes up a bit for the lost potence. Julia Prima Why we care: At last we have a 7-cap Lasombra. Sure she doesn't have pot, but a bleed anyone special, and the ability to get +1 bleed gives her a nice position in a bleed deck. Further, at 7, her capacity allows her to become a cardinal. No lasombra above 6 needs the votes, excepting the non-sabbatLucita. So she's in a vote deck. And her OBT lets her fit into an OBT combat deck, if you're going that high. Kassiym Malikhair Why we care: A 6 - cap with OBT dom myt for. Not much to do except maybe in a Shadow Twin deck. Unless of course you want to play around with that fortitude. 9 vamps have obt/for, most also share dominate. There's probably a deck in there somewhere. Sure there are 2 other Kiasyd, but ummm... AUS NEC MYT is someone elses ballgame. Card of the month: Shroud of Absence action mod dom/obt: +1 stealth DOM/OBT: As above, and if this action is blocked, this vampire may end combat as a strike during the first round of combat. So, its another +1 stealth for obt. (Well not really, but of the 32 vamps with obt, 22 also have dom.) What's the big deal? Primarily, its the utility of the card that I like. in most lasombra decks (non weenie obt embrace) 6 lasombra can use this card at inferior and another 6 at superior. Another 3 vampires can use the superior (Marc, Julia and Ayelea.) So how does it effect deck building? Mainly it replaces other S:CE cards and other stealth cards in a non combat deck. This saves card slots that can be devoted to more votes, bleeds, pool gain, or whatever. Why is it better? 1) its free. Shadow Body costs a blood, as does Oubliette and Blanket of Night. 2) it has no restrictions. Shadow Body can continue a non bleed, non vote action. So a shadow twin or a hunt (overgeneralizing, but you get the idea.) Shroud of Night at inferior isn't usable on a bleed action. For this your forced to have a vampire with two inclan disciplines. This months Vampire is not a Lasombra. Sorry but somehow a Tremere Cardinal learned OBT, and now that her clan is gone, we're stuck with her. Ayelea, The Manipulator !Tremere 10 Cardinal AUS DOM OBT THA pre As a (D) action, Ayelea may allow you to take control of a Tremere Antitribu until the end of your next turn. at 10 capacity, Ayelea is an expensive vampire, but she fits in several Lasombra vote decks (namely regular and extra-presency). Further, she can goven backwards to those 9 cap Archbishops, in an effort to pay for herself. Her special isn't all that useful, unless you happen to live between Minnesota and Chicago, but can be game winning. Ayelea makes a good replacement for an extra copy of Moncada or Angelica. Finally, this months deck. This is what I've been playing in the Storyline events thus far. "If its not purple, it shouldn't vote" created by Cameron Domer Crypt: 10 Ambrosio Luis Moncada PRE/POT/DOM/OBT/for/aus Cardinal untap special 10 Angelica POT/DOM/OBT/cel/obf Cardinal intercept from master cards 10 Ayelea OBT/DOM/AUS/THA/pre Cardinal steal !Tremere 9 Antonio Delgado x2 POT/DOM/OBT/tha Archbishop untap after sucessful vote 9 Francisco Polonia PRE/POT/OBT/DOM/pro Archbishop burn blood for +bleed 9 Alvaro POT/OBT/pre/dom Archbishop 2 blood for abstain +1 bleed 9 Marconius OBT/DOM/MYT/pot Archbishop +1 str, pay less for MYT 9 Quentin FOR/DOM/AUS/obt/cel Bishop burn blood to cancel votes 8 Gratiano x2 OBT/DOM/pot/obf Priscus, +1 bleed, extra Priscus vote 6 Talley OBT/POT/dom/aus +1 intercept vs (D) actions Masters(16): Blood Doll x3 Elysian Fields Giants Blood Legendary Vampire Minion Tap x3 Path of Night, the x3 Zillah's Valley x4 Actions(42): Dominate Kine x3 Eternal Vigilance x2 Govern the Unalinged x14 Anarchist Uprising Ancient Influence Dramatic Upheaval x2 Cardinal Benediction x4 Conservative Agitation x3 Kine Resources Contested x7 Meddling of Semsith x3 Political Stranglehold Reinforcements Combat(9): Arms of the Abyss x5 Entombment x4 Action Modifiers(16): Blanket of Night x4 Shadow Play x7 Shroud of Absence x5 Reactions(8): Deflection x6 Wake wEF x2 Total: 91 with the third Meddling Notes: Starts quietly governing at superior. Then once an army is ready, bleed and vote at stealth to roll up the table. Keep in mind that two of the vampires can untap (Moncada's special and Antonio's special) The deck is a good political deck, although it could do with some more untap and bounce. Also, the combat and stealth portions are fairly mutable... to keep people guessing. Till next month, Cameron Domer submissions can be sent to orcaorcinus@NOSPAMhotmail.com just remove the nospam