04/26/2003 Editors Corner - Ethan Burrow - Texas Justicar Having played the Toreador Antitribu hardcore now for over 3 years, I realized I didn't know too much about them in the RPG. I decided to spend some time researching the clan, posting in alt.games.white-wolf and asking our local WoD junkies. What I found is surprisingly not a whole lot more than is readily available, but I will point you to some interesting sites if you want to read up a bit about them as I have : http://www.geocities.com/karik_ventrue/toreador_origin.html - I want to say this stuff is from the Guide to Sabbat Handbook. http://www.charlestonbynight.com/vampire/sab_rites.htm - All the Sabbat rites, gives a bit of background to several cards. thread on alt.games.white-wolf - A thread where I asked the community about some background info, and learned a couple of things from the Mexico City by Night book. But general things I did learn that I didn't know before my research is that the Toreador Antitribu are considered the 3rd most powerful clan in the Sabbat. And one of the most recent Regents was in fact a Toreador Antitribu by the name of Melinda Galbraith (apparently this information is in the Mexico City by Night sourcebook). If anyone else has any more background info, especially involving any of the existing vampires, could you please share on this thread or point me to the source? This then led me to realize that the Toreador Antitribu gaining Vicissitude is very thematic with the role playing game. Being purportedly the 3rd largest clan, means a lot of mingling with the other 2 larger clans - and thus more discipline spreading. The more I plan with vic/pre, the more I would really like to see celerity get replace with vicissitude for future Toreador Antitribu vampires. I admit that it is purely my own opinion based on my playing style, but I would warmly welcome more Toreador Antitribu with vicissitude in future sets. Unless they're group 4! Merging the Tzimisce and the Toreador Antitribu in deck form is something I've recently explored, and The Rose seemed like a perfect fit when Camarilla was released. I only just now got around to talking about her, although I've played with her in many decks - noteably PAAD Presence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vampire of the Month - The Rose Creamy Jade's packmate The Rose is an excellent vampire, with an amazing discipline spread for a mid-capacity vampire. Having presence and vicissitude both at superior makes her an ideal bleeder or voter, with the stealth to back it up. She has ample combat options at her disposal if she were to be blocked, and has the potential to even be aggressive (Vicissitude by itself is a decent combat discipline). She can still block and reduce bleeds if needed, but frankly she should be taking actions every turn. For those as interested in PRE/VIC as I am, she's only one of two with both at superior...and she's the cheapest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Card of the Month - Rotschreck The current prevailing combat trump card in Texas, is more easily used as defense/deterrent than used offensively. For decks that don't want to use a lot of their slots for combat defense, might be able to focus on token aggravated damage with the followthrough of Rotschrek to trump prevention, S:CE, or a stronger combat deck. The end result is most often getting one turn of respite from your predator, but take care not to weaken your predator's position too much to where they cannot defend themselves. A shocked buffer is better than a new stronger predator. Most clans have access to some form of aggravated damage through off-clan disciplines, so any deck should be able to slide some aggravated damage cards with a few Rotschrecks. But remember, you cannot play Rotschreck on your own turn. I repeat, you cannot play Rotschreck on your own turn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethan Burrow's South Central Qualifier Deck - 'Bow Down Before Matteus' This is the deck that I qualified with (barely). The goal was to tap/stealth-bleed and then wake and block on my predators turn. In a pinch I could eagle sight my prey to prevent them from getting an oust, which I pulled off in the final round to get the game win. This is the first deck where I tried to abuse Breath of the Dragon with Rotschreck using only inferior vicissitude. When the card flow was working, I managed to shut down my predator while still bleeding for 4+ a turn. After having played it several times I think I can pull some or all of the flashes. The original intention was to give some combat defense for vampires that didn't have vicissitude yet, but in practice that never became a problem. I'll probably swap out 2 flashes for 2 Spirits Touch, 1 flash for 1 more Telepathic Misdirection, 1 flash for another Breath of the Dragon, and replace 2 Wakes with 2 Forced Awakening. Deck Name: Bow Down Before Matteus Created By: Ethan Burrow Description: !Tor Vic/Pre/Aus Stealth/Bleed deck with aggressive defense. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 19, Max: 37, Avg: 6.58) 3 Matteus AUS CEL PRE VIC 10, Toreador Antitribu, Priscus 1 Greta Kircher AUS CEL obf PRE 7, Toreador Antitribu 1 Sheila Mezarin AUS cel for PRE 6, Toreador Antitribu 1 Jost Werner ani AUS PRE 6, Toreador Antitribu 1 Ian Wallingford aus CEL PRE 6, Toreador Antitribu, Bishop 1 The Rose aus PRE VIC 5, Tzimisce 1 Mercy AUS cel dom pre 5, Toreador Antitribu 2 Creamy Jade aus cel PRE vic 5, Toreador antitribu 1 Remilliard AUS pre 4, Toreador Antitribu Library: (90 cards) Master (18 cards) 6 Blood Doll 1 Dreams of the Sphinx 1 Fetish Club Hunting Ground 1 Hungry Coyote, The 1 Palla Grande 4 Rotschreck 4 Vicissitude Action (15 cards) 6 Enchant Kindred 1 Intimidation 4 Mind Numb 2 Propaganda 1 Sanguine Instruction 1 Soul Painting Action Modifier (9 cards) 1 Aire of Elation 8 Changeling Reaction (19 cards) 3 Eagle's Sight 2 Enhanced Senses 4 Forced Awakening 4 My Enemy's Enemy 1 Spirit's Touch 1 Telepathic Misdirection 4 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (23 cards) 1 Aura Reading 4 Breath of the Dragon 4 Chiropteran Marauder 6 Flash 8 Majesty Retainer (1 cards) 1 Mr. Winthrop Combo (5 cards) 5 Plasmic Form ---------------------------------------------------- Ethan "Visited the UK and only met 4 players" Burrow http://texas.vekn.org/ http://monger.vekn.org/