Official VEKN Nosferatu Newsletter for August, 2001 Ok then. I guess I'm the official Nosferatu Newsletter guy now. Matt Latham is writing a second Anti-Nosferatu newsletter as well, and we will probably overlap a lot (as I generally ignore the fact that the Nosfratu and the Anti Nosferatu are two different clans...), but that is good, as everyone loves the Nosferatu and the more information about how to make the work out there, the better. This month I have another deck design I have been playing of late that has been moderately sucessful. It is based on a deck that I saw Robin Merril playing at Origins in a pick up game (I actually saw it the hard way, as Famous Huang got used in and out of torpor like nobody's buisness...). It is essentially a weenie, all Obfuscate horde deck, but with guns for defense. It gets to fin under a Nosferatu deck by virtue of being all Obfuscate based, and by having 5 Nosferatu in the crypt. I present: "Hey! What's That In Your Pocket?" 2x Agripina (4) OBF 2x Tansu Bekir (4) OBF 1x Duck (3) obf 1x Dan Murdock (3) obf 1x Shannon Price, the Whisperer (3) obf 1x Watenda (3) obf 1x max Lowell (3) obf 1x Dimple (2) obf 1x Normal (2) obf 1x Basil (1) obf Total of 36, average of 3, worst 16, best 8 7x Tribute to the Master 6x Obfuscate 5x Effective Management 1x Gird Minions 1x Haven Uncovered 1x The Parthenon 1x Archon Investigation 22 out of 90 or 24% 4x Bum's Rush 6x Wake 2x Rumors of Gehenna 2x Delaying Tactics 2x Pack Tactics 9x Saturday Night Special 3x Gas Powered Chainsaw 1x Ivory Bow 5x Dragon Breath Rounds 10x Disguised Weapon 10x Swallowed by the Night 6x Vanish from Mind's Eye 6x Hidden Lurker 2x Behind You As one might imagine, this deck gets out a good number of minions pretty quickly and bleeds for 1 a lot. You don't mind if you are blocked, as you can then pull a pistol out of your watch, manuver to long range, and punk someone for a point or two, and then just go bleed with someone else. Against a slow prey, you can overwhelm them pretty quickly and wear them down. It has trouble against decks with significant long range combat, and speedy bleed predators are a problem as well. It has pretty good combat abilities for what it is. Everyone has a free manuver every combat, the 10 Swallowed by the Night and the 2 Behind Yous pretty much ensure long range when you want it, and the generally useless Hidden Lurkers are actually pretty good in this deck--you have lots of minions, so you aren't concerned about wasting actions, no one is ever afraid to block you (so the Hiddens can work), and a Hidden Lurker can cause a good deal of damage with a disguised pistol and some Dragon's Breath Rounds. It has a high percentage of Masters (as I always want to have an Obfuscate skill card in my hand), but with the Parthenon and 2 Rumors of Gehenna, it isn't too difficult to get a second master phase action, so they flow pretty quickly (there aren't any votes in the deck to help pass the Rumors, so you need to either draw it early or make friends with someone across the table). And ahh, the Gird Minions. No one respects the Gird Minions. I figure as I am taking so much blood from my minions, it might be useful to be able to put some back at some point for a killing swarm, but in practice, I am yet to do anything with it other than discard it (or play it for zero...). Again, it has trouble against a fast bleed deck (although with 7 Tributes you can stay alive for a while) and decks that can kill it at long range. S:CE defense isn't really an issue, as I waste nothing aganst a S:CE opponent (I manuver to long with the gun and don't have to play ammo until Iknow what their strike is), and have plenty of minions anyway (and if they S:CE after blocking, I can Hidden them...). It could probably use a second Ivory Bow, and the Chainsaws are more funny than effective, but sometimes they are good in a pinch (get blocked, Chainsaw someone, Hidden Lurker, burn them with a DBR). The crypt, obviously, can be adjusted to taste, as there are, like, a billion 3 point vampires with obfuscate. I'm considering swapping out the second Tansu Bekir for a Grendel the Worm Eaten (just to up the Nosferatu contingient, and his special is kind of useful in a deck that gets out lots of vampires), but we'll see. Peter D Bakija PDB6@aol.com http://www.geocities.com/bakija6 "The giant robot, with bird like head. The giant robot, he is my friend." -The Aquabats!