Lasombra Newsletter March 2007 INTRODUCTION Sword Of Caine has arrived and it seems that the general response is positive. A number of cards within the set appear to offer whole new approaches, such as Veil the Legions, while Empowering the Puppet King has made Dominate even more powerful. The Uncoiling looks it may be the viable defence from Gehenna events that of players have been calling for and the set has a whole seems to significantly increased the power of the Black Hand itself. All in all it looks very promising! PLAYING WITH THE LASOMBRA As promised this month we'll be taking a look at politics. In Vampire the Masquerade the Lasombra are the political leaders of the Sabbat and as a whole the clan has a rather political bent. This is represented in VTES by a strong splattering of titles on a number of Lasombra vampires. The Lasombra suffer in the political region compared to a number of other clans due to two main reasons; the first is that they lack Presence as a clan discipline (though it can be found on a number of Lasombra), which is an extremely powerful asset to any political deck. The second is that they as a clan are Sabbat rather then Camarilla, which means they do not have access to what are arguably the most powerful political cards in the game; The Traditions and Protect Thine Own. Despite this the Lasombra can be quite effective when pursuing politics, due to the nice range of titled vampires they can field and the fact that they have access to easily available stealth (from Obtenebration) to ensure their political actions don't get blocked. They also have Power Structure, which will be discussed later. The main benefit of politics in VTES is the vast range of effects political actions offer and the fact that they all come with an automatic +1 stealth, making them harder to block. You can have smaller vampires perform large numbers of political actions, supported by the titles of your larger vampires, making a powerful swarm effect quite possible. The disadvantages come from the fact that both one's prey and predator may attempt to block a political action and that the referendum must be passed even if it's not blocked. Though it is possible that in a metagame relatively devoid of political decks the passing of a referendum would be easy all political decks that wish to be success should ideally be able to force the table to accept a referendum, which can be quite card intensive. Since there are a vast number of political actions I will only present a small sample here that stick out either for their common utility, or significant power. This discussion will be limited to the most powerful political actions usable by the average Lasombra, which is to say Protect Thine Own will not be included. Ancient Influence Type: Political Action Successful referendum means each Methuselah may choose a ready vampire he or she controls. Each Methuselah gains an amount of pool from the blood bank equal to his or her chosen vampire's capacity. Each Methuselah then burns 5 pool. Only one Ancient Influence can be played in a game. Rarity: Jyhad:C VTES:C SW:PT/PV CE:C LoB:PG Ancient Influence is an obvious card to include in a political deck that makes use of large vampires which many do. Ancient Influence allows you to gain a significant amount of pool (assuming you're making use of a large capacity vampire), while at the same time hurting any weenie decks at the table, which are usually quite a threat to a political deck making use of a single large vampire. Due to the fact that Ancient Influence has the capacity to benefit other players as well as yourself it's not always too hard to pass, as a number of other Methuselahs may well support you to gain pool themselves. Auto-da-fé Type: Political Action Requires: cardinal,regent Requires a cardinal, regent or Inquisitor. Choose a vampire with capacity less than 8. Successful referendum means that vampire's controller burns X pool or burns that vampire, where X is the difference between 8 and that vampire's capacity. Rarity: Third:U There has been a significant amount of debate as to whether or not this card is actually all that good, or whether or not it would be better to simply include another copy of Kine Resources Contested. Obviously the card is far weaker then Protect Thine Own and so suffers by comparison, but Protect Thine Own is blatantly overpowered, so this is probably a good thing. The ability to burn another Methuselah's vampire is obviously an extremely powerful one. This is offset by the fact that the action can only target vampires with a capacity below 8, and that the targeted Methuselah may choose to burn pool instead to protect their vampire. In general it seems unlikely that this will be a very hard choice unless the vampire in question is of capacity 4 or 5, any higher and it's likely that they will simply choose to burn a small amount of pool, any lower and they'll probably be prepared to loose their small vampire. The most damage you could ever realistically expect to deliver with this card probably averages out to either the burning of a 4 cap, or the loss of 4 pool. If pool loss is your straight out objective then logically it would make a lot more sense to simply use a copy of Kine Resources Contested therefore. However the ability to burn a vampire, even a small one is actually more powerful then it may appear. A number of decks include small vampire with AUS or DOM to act as bleed bouncers, particularly in support of superstars who cannot do this. Being able to remove these vampires can be extremely helpful, or if the Methuselah you're targeting becomes obsessed with protecting that vampire they may well forget just how much pool it's costing them over time. Banishment Type: Political Action Choose a younger ready vampire. Successful referendum means that the chosen vampire is moved to the uncontrolled region (breaking any temporary control effects). The vampire is uncontrolled. Any cards and counters on that vampire stay with him or her (but they are out of play as long as the vampire remains uncontrolled). Rarity: DS:U2 FN:PS CE:PTo/PV KMW:PAn2 LoB:PG For maximum effect Banishment obviously needs to be used in a deck with a relatively large vampire; ideally accompanying some strategy that will allow you to remove large amounts of blood from other vampires, meaning that they cannot simply be influenced back out with little or no effort. The advantage of this card is that it allows you to remove a troublesome vampire from play; even if it's only for a short time it can make all the difference, particularly if said vampire has some irritating special ability. Banishment can become horribly effective is used on a vampire such as Tariq, or scarce vampires who will have to pay the scarce penalty if they are to be brought back out to the ready region (assuming other vampires of the same clan are still ready). Cardinal Benediction Type: Political Action Requires: sabbat Requires a Sabbat vampire. Title. Choose a Sabbat vampire with a capacity over 6. If this referendum passes, put this card on that vampire to represent the Sabbat title of cardinal. Camarilla vampires cannot vote during this referendum. Rarity: Sabbat:U SW:U Third:U The power of this card is obvious; it allows you to create for yourself a vampire with a powerful title and prevents any Camarilla vampires from trying to vote down your referendum. Consanguineous Boon Type: Political Action Boon. Choose a clan. Successful referendum means each Methuselah gains 1 pool for each member of that clan he or she controls. Rarity: Jyhad:C VTES:C Sabbat:C SW:PL/PV3 FN:PG/PS CE:PTo3/PV2 BH:PTo4 LoB:PG2 Third:C/PB One of the major benefits of politics is that it offers some very strong options for bloating. Consanguineous Boon is one such option; which is extremely effective when combined with large numbers of Creation Rites, or Embraces (which, conveniently fits nicely with Power Structure). As you can choose the clan that receives the boon you can ensure that you are the principle (and perhaps only) one to benefit, or you can use the card to prop up another Methuselah, if you don't want to see him ousted just yet. Disputed Territory Type: Political Action Choose a location and a Methuselah. Successful referendum means the chosen Methuselah takes control of the chosen location. Rarity: Jyhad:C VTES:C Sabbat:C SW:PL/PV2 FN:PG CE:PN/PV Anarchs:PAB BH:PTo LoB:PG Third:PB Far cheaper then Political Seizure Disputed Territory is a create way to get rid of a pesky location that's been causing you trouble, allowing you to take it for yourself and enforce your own position. One or two copies of this can be quite beneficial in a number of political decks, assuming space can be found. Kine Resources Contested Type: Political Action Allocate 4 points among two or more Methuselahs. Successful referendum means each Methuselah burns 1 pool for each point assigned. Rarity: Jyhad:C VTES:C CE:C/PTo2 Anarchs:PAB3 BH:PM5 LoB:PG3 Third:PB6 The damaging vote of choice for almost every political deck out there. Kine Resources Contested, in my opinion, is strictly superior to Conservative Agitation, because it will always offer the capacity for the loss of 4 pool, whereas the utility of Conservative Agitation will diminish as the games goes on (and is only likely to ever be able to remove 5 pool anyway). Kine Resources Contested is great because it cannot be bounced and allows a significant amount of damage in a single card. Most players choose to allocate 3 points to their prey and 1 point to their predator, though more canny players start allocated the final point to their grand prey once they feel they are close enough to ousting their prey that this will aid them and not their prey. Political Stranglehold Type: Political Action Successful referendum means each Methuselah gains 3 pool for each vampire he or she controls with capacity above 7. Only one Political Stranglehold can be played during a game. Rarity: Sabbat:U SW:U/PL FN:PG LoB:PG Third:U Just like Ancient Influence Political Stranglehold is a great card to use to bloat in political decks using large vampires. This is also one vote that you may not have too much difficulty passing, as their will almost certainly be someone cross table who will benefit from it. Reins of Power Type: Political Action Successful referendum means each Methuselah may choose a ready vampire he or she controls. Each Methuselah gains 6 pool. Each Methuselah also burns an amount of pool equal to the capacity of his or her predator's chosen vampire. Only one Reins of Power can be played or called in a game. Rarity: Anarchs:C KMW:PAn Third:PTr Reins of Power is slightly riskier then Ancient Influence and Political Stranglehold, as you run the risk of taking damage yourself. Despite this, if your deck uses a large vampire and has a strong bloat module this can be an excellent way of whacking your prey for a few chunks of pool, while perhaps gaining some yourself, especially if you take measures to ensure your predator doesn't HAVE any large capacity vampires ready. Templar Type: Political Action Requires: sabbat,titled Requires a ready titled Sabbat vampire. Choose a Sabbat vampire. If this referendum is successful, put this card on the chosen vampire. This vampire is a Templar. He or she may enter combat with a ready vampire controlled by another Methuselah as a +1 stealth (D) action. Any Sabbat vampire may call a referendum to burn this card as a +1 stealth political action. Rarity: SW:C/PB BH:PTo5 Third:C Templar is obviously not as powerful as the Camarilla equivalent Archon, which protects the chosen vampire from blood hunts and providing the effects of Camarilla Exemplary/Sabbat Priest on top of the permanent rush. All in all the additional benefits are well worth the fact that Archon cannot be called by a Primogen (whereas Templar can be called by a Bishop), making Archon a superior card. However since the Lasombra do not (in general) have access to Archon we must make do with Templar. Permanents are extremely powerful in VTES and a permanent rush can be a powerful asset when placed on the correct vampire (so long as you can defend it). Given the wide range of political actions it is difficult to suggest what the average politics-based Lasombra deck would look like. It depends if politics is being used as the primary ousting strategy (in which many copies of Kine Resources Contested would be expected), or if it is being used to support some other strategy, such as the combination of Templar and Perpetual Care in a combat deck. All politics decks should however include some stealth cards, or some another method of getting past blockers, as well as cards used to ensure that the vote can be forced through. Whether this takes the form of large numbers of titles, Presence cards such as Bewitching Oration, or the use of many small Lasombra babies and Power Structure will depend on the individual deck. MINION FOCUS Despite the fact that we have some new vampires from Sword of Caine to take a look at I've decided that this month I will take a look at a number of vampire from the various groups who are well suited to a political approach. Francisco Domingo de Polonia Clan: Lasombra (group 2) Capacity: 9 Disciplines: DOM OBT POT PRE pro Sabbat Archbishop of New York: Once per turn, Polonia may burn a blood to get +1 bleed for the current action. Rarity: SW:PL I've decided to be controversial and look at Polonia rather then Moncada or Gratiano. Polonia is great all round vampire; he has a useful title; Presence, giving him access to cards such as Bewitching Oration and Voter Captivation, which will help a vote deck no end. Factor in a practical special ability; all the clan disciplines at superior and inferior Protean to make those Potence strikes sting and you have a pretty useful vampire. Polonia is a useful addition to the group 2-3 Lasombra crypt, bolstering the ranks of those who have Presence. Marcus Vitel Clan: Ventrue (group 3) Capacity: 10 Disciplines: DOM FOR OBF OBT PRE Camarilla Prince of Washington, D.C.: Marcus can burn a retainer as a +1 stealth (D) action. While Marcus is ready and a prince, Sabbat vampires you control get +1 bleed when bleeding a Methuselah who controls a ready Camarilla vampire. Rarity: Promo:20020704 CE:V KMW:Pan Everyone knows that Marcus is really a Lasombra, just as we know that that his advanced form is far inferior to his basic form; so despite his sect and clan Marcus is my G3 political Lasombra of choice. Marcus is a great vampire (and a deadly addition to the Ventrue with Obf deck...); he has access to stealth through both Obfuscate and Obtenebration, multi-acting and damage prevention through Fortitude and off course the ever useful Presence. Add in superior Dominate, a title (even a Camarilla one) and a special ability that increases the utility of other Lasombra when attacked the hated Camarilla and you have the cornerstone of an effective Lasombra vote and bleed deck. Melinda Galbraith Clan: Lasombra (group 4) Capacity: 10 Disciplines: AUS CEL DOM POT PRE obt Sabbat cardinal. Rarity: Third:V Similarly everyone knows that Melinda is really a !Toreador. Despite this Melinda is probably one of the better group 4 "Lasombra" to attempt to build a political deck round, due to her superior presence. Such a deck is likely to have less of the regular Lasombra bent and the crypt may well end up being comprised of !Toreador. Regardless, Melinda is the Lasombra best suited to a political deck "out of the box" from G4. LIBRARY CARD FOCUS Power Structure Type: Master Requires: Lasombra Unique master. Put this card into play. Tap to give each Lasombra you control 1 additional vote for the current political action. Rarity: Sabbat:R SW:R Third:R An excellent addition to any Lasombra vote deck and probably any Lasombra deck that plans on having a decent number of minions active at any one time. Obviously Power Structure's power increases the more Lasombra you have, so Embraces and Creation Rites are an obvious combo, as well as mass-governing out weenies. Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of Power Structure is that it lacks a burn clause; and given that it is not a location it cannot be destroyed or stolen. So long as Power Structure isn't cancelled when it's played you can feel pretty sure it'll stick around. SIGN OFF I have exams coming up over the next few months, so it is possible that I may miss a newsletter or two. I hope to find the time to write them, but if something has to dropped for some time it'll probably have to be my card game hobby... Regardless, I hope to absorb the Sword Of Caine set between now and the next newsletter, whereupon I shall take a more in-depth look at it. Thanks must be given to my proof reader of the month Revampesque, who is attempting to learn VTES.