Nosferatu-Antitribu Newsletter Volume 1: July 25, 2001 edition Table of Contents: 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Antitribu / Camarilla Differences 1.3 Conclusion 1.1 INTRODUCTION Greetings. This is the first installment of the Nosferatu-Antitribu Newsletter. I am a Jyhad player from the first release of the game, and have been a casual player for many years. This is what you can expect from this newsletter now and in the future. 1) Decks and Deck Concepts may or may not be "competitive": I have played VTES tournaments since back when they were DCI sanctioned. I've won my fair share of them. I like competition, but I am no longer a slave to it. That means that my ideas and decks will always be designed to gain Victory Points, but they will rarely be finely tuned tournament monsters, and will generally include a wide variety of cards rather than 22 copies of anything. 2) This newsletter will be the germ of ideas: I am not so arrogant to think myself the ultimate authority on VTES in general or the Nosferatu Antitribu in specific. I know many Usenet readers are going to be able to take my thoughts and improve upon them 1000%, and I relish that. 3) Why I write: I write because I enjoy this game and I love to write. I also love receiving mail from people who enjoy the game, and whose minds work differently than mine. That said, this is a Usenet Newsletter, not an exercise in self-aggrandizement. Please, please, please email me your deck ideas for the anti-Nos. Email me when I write something profound. Email me when I am completely off base. Email me your combos, your single card strategies, etc. I'll be the shill for the Usenet's collective wisdom on the Nosferatu Antitribu. That said, lets dig right in. 1.2 CAMARILLA / SABBAT DIFFERENCES Having separate Newsletters for the Camarilla and Sabbat versions of the Nosferatu is a difficult and potentially fruitless pursuit. They share all their base disciplines (unlike the Ventrue and Malkavians) and from a White Wolf story perspective, the two sects of the Nosferatu work in close conjunction together. It is easy to build Nosferatu based decks that utilize the strongest vampire choices from both sects. So why have a separate newsletter? Let us look at the differences in the two sects. Criteria Camarilla Sabbat Total Vampires 24 15 Total Votes 20 11 Cards Requiring Clan 10 7 Permanents Requiring Clan 8 5 Total of Superior Clan Disciplines 28 23 The bottom stat is the key advantage the Antitribu have over their Camarilla counterparts. Of 15 Vampires, there are 23 total superior clan disciplines vs. 28 to 24 ratio. Simply put, the Antitribu Nosferatu are stronger vampires across the board as long as you plan on sticking to in-clan disciplines when designing the deck. This means that an Antitribu based deck will in general require less Master Discipline cards to operate at peak efficiency. At closer look, the differences come to immediate light when looking at the 4 - 6 capacity vampires in both clans. Each clan has a 4 cap with one superior and one minor discipline. (Aggripina for the Camarilla with Superior OBF and minor POT, Agatha for the Antitribu with Superior POT and minor OBF). Here is where the similarities end. The Antitribu Nosferatu have two 5 caps with two Superior clan disciplines (heck, one of them has a vote!), a 6 cap with two superiors and a powerful special ability (increases your hand size by one) and a 6 cap with all three clan disciplines at Superior! In stark contrast, the Camarilla Nosferatu 4 - 6 capacity vampires are considerably weaker in terms of clan disciplines. As mentioned above, Aggripina is a 4 cap with one Superior discipline. Camarilla Nosferatu have only one 5 cap with a Superior discipline, and the two 6 caps only have one superior discipline each! It sure seems that the strongest Ancilla amongst the Nosferatu have defected to the Sabbat! In terms of cards requiring the Nosferatu, the sect advantage is not so clear-cut. The Camarilla Nosferatu have Storm Sewers as a range-setter (which suffers from the "only usable as the action is announced" tag). The Anti-Nos have the same exact function in Gang Tactics, but where Storm Sewers is a re-useable Master Location, Gang tactics is a one-shot Action Modifier. (Of course, Gang-tactics is my favorite Art in the whole darn game, but that doesn't influence a game-mechanics discussion). EDGE: Camarilla The Camarilla also has access to a low cost Master Location that provides stealth to a Nosferatu in The Labyrinth. This allows you to slim down on the obfuscate stealth cards needed in deck design. The Antitribu do not have such a location, but have something arguably better. The Nosferatu Kingdom acts as a Eco-terrorist for the Anti-Nos, allowing you to put a blood from the blood bank onto an uncontrolled Anti-Nos. This is a location that keeps on giving, returning the cost to your pool in two turns. EDGE: Anti-Nos The other cards are rather a wash. The Camarilla have the Secret Library of Alexandra which helps clear hand-jam, Patagia which acts an IR goggles that can't be stolen or destroyed, Kindred Intelligence to replace Effective Management, and a slew of near-useless corner case cards. (Destructive Secrets, Nosferatu Hosting, Spawning Pool, and Nosferatu Performance Art). Again I must note that Nosferatu Performance Art ranks up there with one of my favorite pieces of art in VTES. For the Antitribu, their other clan-specific cards (i.e. not mentioned above) are decent but corner-case. Using the Advantage gives you an additional pool if you possess the Edge during your master phase, which seems powerful but in a 5-person game Edge-retention is not very common. It is non-unique, so it can become very powerful in multiples, but it has a one pool cost, which means that you need to get two uses out of each card to net any pool gain. Sadly, the only deck I've seen that abuses Using the Advantage is more of a Malkavian deck than a Nos Antitribu deck. Steam tunnels is a nice, free way to prepare for your turn by seeing the top three cards in your prey's library during your master phase. Dirty Little Secrets is even more corner case, and takes up valuable Library spots as a non-renewable resource. Finally, Courier is a nifty little non-unique ally that costs blood instead of pool and has BLEED! This card does repeatedly what DLS does as a one shot, and can be part of a swarm tactic. This Courier deck concept will be featured next time (assuming I can get Noal to pony a deck list over) EDGE: None. 1.3 CONCLUSION Are there enough differences between the Camarilla Nosferatu and the Nosferatu Antitribu to warrant a second Newsletter? Probably not. Peter is a world-acknowledged expert of things Nosferatu, and everything I outlined above has probably been covered in his past Newsletters. However, how bad will it be to have two different Nosferatu newsletters each month? Don't the Masters of Information deserve two newsletters? I'll leave it to you do determine whether you want two newsletters or not. Email me your input, both on this newsletter and whether you think two Nosferatu-based newsletters are redundant, to sven@chartermi.net. I'll not waste your bandwidth if you don't want me to. I have adamantly stood by my belief that VTES players are a community, and we are all minor players in a greater whole. In short, it's your Usenet group and I live to serve. NEXT TIME: I'll discuss the viability of long-range combat for the Nosferatu Antitribu and hopefully have an interesting Courier-based decklist for you all. Matt Latham Keeper of Elysium for the Prince of Metro-Detroit Sheriff for the Prince of Lansing, MI Blood-bound to the Prince of Columbus, OH