Official V:EKN Clan Salubri Newsletter Vol.2 No.1 (January 2003) Of interest to Scholars and Slanderers Editor: Ben Peal In this issue: 1. Introduction 2. Miscellanea et Demonica - Salubri and combat 3. The Dwinding Few - Omaya 4. The Powers of the Righteous - Vitae Block 5. The Hosts of Heaven - Dreamers plus an updated Crusaders and Saracens 6. Conclusion --------------------------------------- 1. INTRODUCTION --------------------------------------- A lot has gone on in the past nine months. We have a new expansion. We have new North American and European Champions. The Salubri also have a tournament-winning deck, which I hope to feature in the next issue. I've also gotten a few deck submissions, and I plan to feature at least one of them in every issue, starting with this one, and for as long as I get submissions. This issue discusses Salubri in combat, with a deck submitted by Patrick van der Reest illustrating the concept. --------------------------------------- 2. MISCELLANEA ET DEMONICA --------------------------------------- In the last issue, I discussed ways of getting your actions to succeed, via stealth or the threat of Kiss of Ra. However, the Salubri do have combat options as well, albeit limited. The difficulty they face is dealing damage to an opposing vampire or otherwise sending it to torpor. There's the obvious Vitae Block, which can be a devastating mid-game to late-game card, as blood is spent off of vampires during the course of play. It's not as strong early on, as the larger vampires will still have most or all of their blood. If you're willing to play a more defensive, build-up style game, you can make good use of Vitae Block. Another option is Dawn Operation, which combos quite well with Anaesthetic Touch. The rest of the combat options amongst the Salubri disciplines are almost entirely defensive, given that it's Fortitude and Auspex, though don't forget Nose of the Hound if you're looking to rush. Looking outside of disciplines, the changes to Concealed Weapon open up some options. A Concealed Meat Hook plus Superior Mettle has a lot of appeal, especially if you look to be more aggressive with your combat. To help defeat Strike: Combat Ends while using Concealed toys, you've got access to Telepathic Tracking. As with options for stealth, other clans can help provide options for combat for the Salubri. Tzimisce, Gangrel, and !Gangrel both look to help out well, due to the matching disciplines as well as the outferior abilities of Anaesthetic Touch and Vitae Block. Vitae Block is especially good in combination with these clans, providing a press for another round of Carrion Crows damage. This is a helpful option throughout the game, and it provides a good early-game combat option until you can take advantage of Vitae Block with your Salubri in the mid-game and late-game stages. Rounding things out, the !Ventrue and !Salubri can be good supporting clans for a Fortitude-Auspex deck with Concealed Weapon. --------------------------------------- 3. THE DWINDLING FEW --------------------------------------- Omaya Gangrel-antitribu Capacity 7 ANI FOR AUS pro Sabbat: Omaya may prevent one damage each combat Omaya is a great example of a vampire that can support the Salubri in a combat role. She's got matching superior Fortitude and Auspex, and her superior Animalism allows her to take full advantage of Carrion Crows plus the Vitae Block press. Her built-in damage prevention makes her rather robust, and you may find that you won't be needing to refill her with Renewed Vigor quite as often. --------------------------------------- 4. THE POWERS OF THE RIGHTEOUS --------------------------------------- Vitae Block Combat Obeah/Animalism Play before range is determined. Only usable if the opposing minion is a vampire. A vampire can play only one Vitae Block each combat. [ani] Gain 1 optional press this round. [obe] Put this card in play, and move up to 2 blood from the opposing vampire to this card. During your uptap phase, return the blood counters to that vampire and burn this card. [OBE] As [obe] above, butup to 3 blood to this card. Again, the power of this card comes in the mid-game and late-game stages, or against smaller vampires, as blood is spent off of your opponents' vampires. It's not as useful early in the game, when the larger vampires are still full. It combos well with supporting vampires with Animalism, using Carrion Crows and/or Song of Serenity, due to the press in the outferior. If you can find a way to get the vote to pass, Vitae Block also combos especially well with Anathema. --------------------------------------- 5. THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN --------------------------------------- This month's featured deck comes from Patrick van der Reest of Ohio (by way of the Netherlands), who astutely noticed that Omaya has a great discipline set for working with the Salubri, particularly in an intercept-combat role. Listed first is Patrick's version, followed by my modified version of it. This is the initial draft of Patrick's version, which he has since modified (I hope to include the updated version in the next issue). Deck name: Dreamers Concept: Salubri/Omaya intercept deck Creator: Patrick van der Reest Crypt: (12 vampires, average capacity 6.5) 1 Givran Dalaal (Ravnos, 5, ani aus FOR) 1 Monique (!Gangrel, 5, ani aus for) 1 Blanche Hill (Salubri, 6, aus FOR OBE, free hunt action, scarce) 1 Sarisha Veliku (Ravnos, 6, ANI FOR) 1 Dominique (!Ventrue, 7, ani AUS FOR, vandal special) 3 Omaya (!Gangrel, 7, ANI AUS FOR, prevent 1 per combat) 4 Matthias (Salubri, 7, AUS FOR OBE, +1 intercept, scarce) Library: (90 cards) (Master cards: 12) 3 Animalism 3 Blood Doll 3 Millicent Smith - Puritan Vampire Hunter 1 Powerbase: Washington, D.C. 2 Smiling Jack (Allies, retainers and equipment: 8) 1 Ivory Bow 1 J.S. Simmons Esq. 1 Mr. Winthrop 3 Raptor 1 Sniper Rifle 1 Tasha Morgan (Actions: 11) 3 Army of Rats 2 Pulse of the Canaille 4 Renewed Vigor 2 Unburdoning the Bestial Soul (Modifiers: 6) 4 Freak Drive 2 Neutral Guard (Combat: 28) 7 Carrion Crows 7 Rolling with the Punches 4 Telepathic Tracking 5 Terror Frenzy 5 Vitae Block (Reaction: 24) 5 Cat's Guidance 5 Eagle Sight 2 Melange 4 Rat's Warning 4 Read the Winds 4 Telepathic Misdirection My version starts by loading the crypt with 5 copies of Omaya, who is the central vampire of the deck concept. Blanche Hill and Matthias, also being key components, take up a total of 4 slots. The crypt is rounded out with some weenie "helper" vamps, who help with blocking and run errands. It also drops a lot of the action cards from Patrick's version, and adds in more combat and reaction cards. Dreamers (Boston remix) CRYPT 1 x Leon (3): for ani 5 x Omaya (7): FOR ANI AUS pro 2 x Blanche Hill (6): FOR OBE aus 2 x Matthias (7): FOR AUS OBE nec 1 x Wendy Wade (3): ani aus 1 x Juan Cali (3): for aus LIBRARY 1 x Sight Beyond Sight 1 x The Barrens 1 x Dreams of the Sphinx 2 x Smiling Jack, the Anarch 2 x Millicent Smith, Puritan Vampire Hunter 4 x Blood Doll 3 x Effective Management 1 x Animalism 1 x Mr. Winthrop 1 x Ivory Bow 1 x .44 Magnum 1 x Sport Bike 4 x Wake with Evening's Freshness 4 x Forced Awakening 2 x Raven Spy 7 x Carrion Crows 2 x Army of Rats 5 x Cat's Guidance 4 x Telepathic Tracking 3 x Eagle's Sight 2 x Enhanced Senses 2 x Precognition 4 x Telepathic Misdirection 5 x Vitae Block 4 x Anaesthetic Touch 2 x Renewed Vigor 2 x Repulsion 5 x Rolling with the Punches 3 x Resilience 3 x Indomitability 2 x Hidden Strength 2 x Bone Spur 4 x Read the Winds In the previous issue, I featured a deck that used Assamites with Auspex and Fortitude that supported the Salubri actions by playing Cloak the Gathering at superior to help boost the stealth. However, the deck I published, though illustrating the concept, turned out to be a piece of junk. I took the deck back into the shop and retooled it, and the new version won Detection: Boston on December 14. Admittedly, it was only a 6-player tournament, but at least the deck isn't a piece of junk. Here's the updated version, and my apologies to those who attempted to use the previous version: Crusaders and Saracens CRYPT 1 x Tansu Bekir (4): OBF cel 1 x Yusuf, Scribe of Alamut (5): obf cel aus qui 1 x Kalinda (6): OBF CEL tha 2 x Tariq, The Silent (7): OBF FOR AUS QUI cel 2 x Bajazet al-Nasir (8): OBF QUI FOR pre cel 2 x Blanche Hill (6): OBE FOR aus 3 x Matthias (7): OBE FOR AUS nec LIBRARY 1 x Market Square 1 x Kali's Fang 1 x Sight Beyond Sight 1 x The Barrens 1 x Information Highway 1 x KRCG News Radio 1 x Heidelberg Castle, Germany 3 x Minion Tap 3 x Blood Doll 3 x Effective Management 2 x Sudden Reversal 1 x Obfuscate 1 x Tasha Morgan 1 x J.S. Simmons, Esq. 1 x Ivory Bow 1 x .44 Magnum 1 x Gas-Powered Chainsaw 1 x Improvised Flamethrower 8 x Wake with Evening's Freshness 4 x Enhanced Senses 4 x Spirit's Touch 3 x Eagle's Sight 2 x Telepathic Misdirection 6 x Telepathic Counter 4 x Spirit Marionette 4 x Renewed Vigor 6 x Repulsion 4 x Skin of Rock 4 x Skin of Steel 2 x Unflinching Persistence 2 x Resilience 8 x Cloak the Gathering 1 x Spying Mission 1 x Lost in Crowds 1 x Faceless Night 1 x Swallowed by the Night --------------------------------------- 6. CONCLUSION --------------------------------------- Well, that's all the time I've got for this issue, but I'll have a second issue out this month, as well. It should feature an updated version of Patrick's Dreamers deck, as well as a focus on Josh Duffin's tournament-winning Salubri deck. If you have a deck or strategy you'd like to submit, feel free to email me at fudjo@mindstorm.com. I'm currently archiving the newsletters here: www.mindstorm.com/~fudjo/newsletters/ My apologies to Legbiter, to whom I told I would work on a !Gangrel deck for his newsletter. Instead, I was submitted and featured a !Gangrel deck for my Salubri newsletter. Ah, irony. See you next time! - Ben Peal