Offical VEKN Nosferatu Newsletter for Dec, 2001 Right, so I have been writing these for over two years now, pretty consistiently. I'm fairly certain that this is issue 28, which is kind of crazy when you think about how much time I have wasted on this madness :-) Anyways, as I don't have any Bloodlines yet, I figure I'll post yet another Nosferatu deck, as I keep on making them, and they generally work pretty well. This one is basically a remake of the a deck I posted in, like, the second Nosferatu Newsletter, Dr. Doomlittle. That deck was desgined a long time ago (probably right after Sabbat came out), so this one has been buffed up with new vampires, crazy new cards, and lots of good new ideas. I figure I liked the funny name the first time, so I'll use it again... Dr. Doomlittle, Mk. IV Crypt: 1x Dani (2) ani 1x Dimple (2) obf 1x Shannon Price, the Whisperer (3) ani, obf 1x Panagos Levidis (3) ani, obf 1x Cicatriz (5) ani, obf 1x Nigel, the Shunned (5) ANI, obf 2x Calebros the Martyr (5) ANI, obf 2x Grendel, the Worm Eaten (5) ani, OBF 2x Christianus Lionel, the Mad Chronicler (6) ANI, OBF Average of 4.33 Library: 6x Blood Doll 3x Obfuscate 3x Animalism 1x Slum Hunting Ground 1x Shanty Town Hunting Ground 1x Labyrinth 1x Heidelberg Castle 1x Nosferatu Kingdom 1x Rumor Mill 10x Aid from Bats 8x Cat's Guidance 6x Carrion Crows 5x Guard Dogs 5x Raven Spy 2x Army of Rats 2x Song in the Dark 2x Terror Frenzy 1x Tier of Souls 6x Spying Mission 6x Swallowed by the Night 6x Cloak the Gathering 2x Rampage 5x Forced Awakening 3x Lap Top Computer 1x Tasha Morgan 1x Mr. Winthrop 1x Ivory Bow A well rounded deck that is easily built (it only has 7 or 8 rares, and most of them are easily replaced or omitted), capitalizes upon the few advantages that the Nosferatu have going for them, and is fairly effective. The crypt focuses on the strong mid range vampires available to the Nosferatu (and their antitribu bretheren)--Christianus Lionel is a powerful 6 capacity vampire with both neccessary disciplines at superior and a strong special ability, making the inclusion of two of him a total no brainer. The new Calebros from Final Nights is another powerful crypt inclusion, as he comes with ANI and a title for 5 points; very solid. Two, good, old school Grendel fills up two more spots int he crypt, as his inherrent OBF is defenitely handy, and his ability to check out the top of your crypt is often useful. Nigel the Shunned is another very solid vampire for the crypt, but having 3 duplicates seemed like enough doubles, so only one of him got in. After filling out the low end of the crypt with Dani, Dimple, (both fairly obvious and good for errand type actions) Shannon, and Panagos (clearly a neccessary pair in this deck), I was left with one crypt slot left. I didn't want another duplicate vampire, and I didn't want anyone larger than Christianus at 6 capacity, leaving me the choice of multiple appropriate 4 point vampires and a couple 5 pointers. I briefly considered using either Laurent or Josef (both 4's with ani, obf), but figured that for 1 more point, I could get the totally cool, yet difficult to justify Cicatriz, and for that one extra point, I got a vote (always good to have) and a useful special ability (with Cicatriz and Christianus in play, I effectively get a free Barrens and an Elder Library), making the use of (at least in this instance) Cicatriz perfectly justifiable. On to the Master card selection, I decided up front to go with 18 master card slots (20% of the deck)--enough to have them regularly, but not enough to jam up your hand frequently. The 6 Blood Dolls are the basis of this decks pool management, and with the 6 Blood Dolls, I figure that 2 Hunting Grounds are a good choice for a deck with master slots to spare. The 6 skill cards are important, as most of the minion cards have powerful superior versions to take advantage of, and only 2 vampires in the crypt have both skills at superior. The other locations are useful support cards--Labyrinth (a very useful, cheap card for the Nosferatu) for extra stealth; Nosferatu Kingdom for early speed and a late game pool gain engine (the Arcane Library type masters are incredibly powerful cards in a deck with at least half of a single clan in your crypt); Rumor Mill for cheap extra intercept; Heidelberg Castle to get double duty out of the many retainers and equipment cards inthe deck. In the minion card selection, I wanted to base the deck on reliable middling intercept, consistient forward pressure, and manuver based combat defense. To support these goals, I included a good supply of permanent intercept (Raven Spies, Mr. Winthrop, Rumor Mill) backed by light transient intercept (Cat's Guidance) and copius untap (Forced, Guard Dogs, and the Cat's Guidance again). To put pressure on my prey, I included a handful of permanent bleed boosters (Laptops, Tasha Morgan, Tier of Souls--I should have a J.S. Simmons in there, but I didn't have one to use for this deck) and a good supply of stealth cards, 2/3rds of which double as something else non stealth related, allowing me to cycle them even if my prey doesn't try to block me ever. A couple Army of Rats round out the forward pressure providers. For combat defense (as I don't want to get killed when I block or am Rushed), I fall back on the now fully appreciated Aid from Bats and Carrion Crows. An Ivory Bow is always a good thing to have in this sort of deck, the Swallowed by the Nights and Terror Frenzies help insure long range, and the Songs in the Dark are a handy surprise for those not expecting them. To add a bit of extra utility to the deck, a pair of Rampages (simply better than Arson, given the availability of Potence, and this being a Nosferatu deck, I have that in spades) go in to kill off important locations. Thus a deck that can keep itself alive pretty well with moderate pool gain (Blood Dolls, Hunting Grounds, Nos Kingdom), solid intercept defense in the mid game, reliable combat defense, and the ability to consistiently apply pressure on its prey. What will kill this deck? A very fast stealth bleed deck will be problematic, probably killing it before it gets set up; persistient long ranged (or heavy manuver based) Rush combat will probably be a problem as well, but it will certainly go down swinging. For those who are interested and haven't seen them yet, my Nosferatu Newsletter archive is at: http://www.geocities.com/bakija6/vtes.html Peter D Bakija PDB6@aol.com http://www.geocities.com/bakija6 "...and the only person I can stand to be around is a neutered vampire who cheats at kitten poker!" -Buffy