8/2/99 Editors Corner - Ethan Burrow, Prince of Austin I just sent off my application for Crusade : Austin, it's going to be held October 30, 1999. Please spread the word. I'd like to take this moment to say how much 10 hour work days suck, yet I still somehow managed to get this newsletter out - albeit shorter than normal. Hopefully we'll have some juicy info to pore over next month after Gen-Con. Vampire of the Month - Lolita Aside from being a good filler for Ventrue decks, she's also the cheapest capacity vampire in the clan with Presence. She's really only useful if your crypt is already too expensive, and you need to bring the average capacity down. Do NOT put her into a combat deck unless you somehow decided to experiment with Fortitude and Toreador Antitribu. Card of the Month - Alacrity The only +1 stealth action modifier card available to our clan. The superior really isn't all that useful, since you pretty much want the action to succeed if you're willing to pay 2 blood. It's really expensive, but sometimes the surprise stealth will give you a big advantage if your opponents are playing with light intercept. Otherwise you're better off expecting to get blocked. Playing inferior celerity on Jost may allow you to increase his stealth/bleed potential. See the March issue regarding Jost and Stealth/Bleed. How the Recent Rules Team Rulings affect the Toreador Antitribu Since the Toreador-Antitribu are among the few clans that can pull off voting decks, noting the new effects of banishment is important. You can re-influence your "created" vamps, and the owner of the vamp, not the controller, gets it during uncontrolled. Our playgroups exposure to the Mind Rape/Banishment deck brought about this ruling, and I applaud it. Soul Burn now affects the current strike as well as future strikes. So we're no longer as safe at range from the Tremere with our weapons. Expect them to start playing with more Soul Burns to stave off our guns. The life boon ruling is very annoying, so make sure to pack sudden reversals in tournament play if it's prevelent in your area. Deck Medic/Strategy Corner See the August Tzimisce Newsletter for the Vicissitude/Obfuscate deck I mentioned in the last newsletter. There has also been a lot of talk on the newsgroup regarding Toreador's ability to compete as a Clan. If you have any strategy or decks refuting this assertion (at least for the Toreador Antitribu) please forward them to me for inclusion in the next newsletter.