4/1/2001 Editors Corner - Ethan Burrow, Prince of Austin Well, looks like our Clan is now on the decline as the community gears up for Final Nights, and the Independent clans get the spotlight. Both Hesha and Fatima are now available through various means, and I recommend you grab them. They both are solid vampires that help out their clans, while providing some useful tools for other deck exploration. I plan on exploring Hesha some more in my Pre/Ani combo with Aisha, Bear Paw, and Jost...but that's another newsletter ;-) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Card of the Month - Propaganda While not one of the more popular Presence bleed cards, this card has it's uses and deserves to be in any presence deck that has any 'toolbox' slots. The key advantage propaganda provides is the inability for titled vampires to block. Many decks using high capacity vampires tend to also have titles attached. Also, many decks now try to take advantage of Eternal Vigilance or Second Tradition which also requires titles. Use their defensive strategy against them, by taking advantage of the very titles they depend on. At superior you get a bonus. If you bleed succeeds they must tap a minion. Sometimes people leave one vampire up to block, and sometimes they also don't have any untap cards in their hand. This allows the rest of your minions to hopefully sweep through for the kill. This followup strategy is best used when Propaganda is the first bleed of your turn. While useful, note the high blood cost coupled with the meager +1 bleed. Only use this card if you plan on facing titled vampires, otherwise it is probably better to pack more generally useful cards like Enchant Kindred. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homework Assignments - an exercise in creative deckbuilding Winning submission for High Museum of Art, Atlanta goes to TJ Fullington. His idea was to use it as bait for his intercept deck, dubbed Dogpile. DOGPILE v1.0 Crypt: 12 Dan Murdock Regillio Lena Rowe Dollface Watenda Zoe (2) Claven Victoria Greta Kircher Kite Anton Library: 75 Fake Out (4) Dodge (3) Read Intentions (4) Disguised Weapon (5) Hidden Lurker (7) Fast Reaction (7) Spirit's Touch (5) Eagle's Site (3) My Enemy's Enemy (1) Wake with Evening's Freshness (5) Forced Awakening (5) Pulse of the Canaille (1) Revelations (1) Tasha Morgan (1) JS Simmons Esq. (1) IR Goggles (2) 44 Magnum (1) Flamethrower (3) Ivory Bow (1) Sengir Dagger (1) Leather Jacket (4) Powerbase: Montreal (1) High Museum of Art, Atlanta (1) Blood Doll (5) Haven Uncovered (1) Auspex (2) Next months Homework Assignment - Due 4/30/2001 Design a deck that makes effective use of Frenzy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toreador Antitribu Tap 'n Bleed (Mucho Grande) by Greg Faulkner Editor's Note : This is a good example deck of a lot of my previous newsletter articles Description: Keep your prey tapped with Mind Numbs, and untap the acting minion with Patronage, so that you can bleed with the Palla Grande. It's kinda a stealth-bleed deck when all the actions (Mind Numb, Patronage, Precognizant Mobilty are performed at stealth). Reasonably good at defying prey who like to deflect. Crypt ( Min: 14, Max: 32, Average: 5.92) 1 Donatien (AUS cel pot PRE, Toreador Antitribu, 9, Cardinal) 1 Lachlan (AUS CEL dom PRE, Toreador Antitribu, 8, Archbishop) 1 Miller (PRE CEL aus pro, Toreador Antitribu, 8, Bishop) 1 Greta Kircher (AUS CEL obf PRE, Toreador Antitribu, 7) 1 Jessica (AUS CEL PRE OBT, 7, Bishop) 1 Jost Werner (ani AUS PRE, Toreador Antitribu, 6) 1 Sheila Mezarin (AUS cel for PRE, Toreador Antitribu, 6) 1 Ian Wallingford (PRE CEL aus, 6, Bishop) 1 Mercy (AUS cel dom pre, Toreador Antitribu, 5) 1 Remilliard (AUS pre, Toreador Antitribu, 4) 1 Lolita (for pre, Toreador Antitribu, 3) 1 Carter (cel, Toreador, Antitribu, 2) Library (75 total) Master (13 total): 5 Palla Grande 2 Blood Doll 1 Anarch Troublemaker 1 Sudden Reversal 1 Fetish Club Hunting Ground 1 Dreams of the Sphinx 1 Information Highway 1 Purchase Pact Action (27 total): 7 Mind Numb 6 Social Charm 1 Propaganda 3 Precognizant Mobility 3 Revelations 2 Pulse of the Canaille 4 Patronage 1 Art Scam Action Modifier (6 total): 6 Alacrity Reaction (11 total): 4 Forced Awakening 3 Telepathic Counter 2 Precognition 2 Telepathic Misdirection Combat (13 total): 11 Magesty 2 Flash 1 Sideslip Equipment (3 total): 3 Leather Jacket Yes, there are a lot of Action cards, but 7 of the action cards are designed to untap another minion, so they don't normally clog the hand. One of my favorite "tricks" with this deck is to equip the first minion with a leather jacket, use a second minion to untap the first minion, then take another action and still untap at the end of the turn (per card text on the jacket). Notice there are 15 card slots short of 90 cards. I originally tried to fill these slots with Domain Challenges and Bribes, but they prevented me from taking the important bleed actions while the Palla Grande was out. The 15 card void might be better suited with Aire of Elations and Art Scams instead of votes. ------------------------------- Ethan Burrow - Prince of Austin saark5@yahoo.com http://whitestar.ddg.com/vtes/