At the risk of sounding like a broken record, don't forget to check out http://whitestar.ddg.com/vtes/TorA02012000.html if you have web access. The web version is more spiffy than this plain-text version :-) 2/1/2000 Editors Corner - Ethan Burrow, Prince of Austin Expansions, playtest, and new possibilities. That is one of the main goals of the V:EKN letter writing campaign. If you haven't yet signed the form letter and sent it to Wizards of the Coast, please do so. Letting Wizards know that there is still a solid player base for V:TES is the first step in encouraging more support. While there should be a mini-expansion forthcoming, our goal is to ensure more expansions and more card availability for the future. There have been several home-grown expansions created across the world, and a couple of domains have actually posted them to the web for all to enjoy. While I agree with the spirit of the cards, unfortunately posting them has ensured that Wizards will never use them - company policy. But they are fun to read and play with until we get our hands on the sanctioned expansion. So in the spirit of new possibilities, I am focusing this newsletter on Justin Fang's reknown JOL expansion cards. Vampire of the Month - Bane from Justin Fang's Playtest Vampires 7 AUS CEL FOR Sabbat Bishop : When Bane is brought into play, you may search through your ash heap, library, or hand to find an Art of Pain Master card and place it on him. Pay the cost for the card as normal. Ohmigod. I smell a combat/intercept deck with fortitude bleed capability with this guy. There are 2 other Toreador-Antitribu with fortitude : Lolita and Shelia. Build combat around AUS/CEL using Art of Pain and Depravity to give your vamps sizeable hand damage (and melee weapons if you wish), and you're gonna do some serious damage to anyone you block. Mixing up intercept with Spirit's Touch, Precognition, My Enemy's Enemy, Melange, etc. will give you extra abilities depending on the situation. When your prey is weak you can follow up with a Force of Will or Laptop and make it unblockable using any flavor of Fortitude action modifier. I want to note, that technically Bane will be a 9 cost vampire. 7 to bring out, and then you have to pay 2 for the Art Of Pain. While you can bring him out without playing Art of Pain, why would you want to. Due to his special, you only need to really pack one Art of Pain since you can always play it on him if don't already have Art of Pain on another vampire. Just make sure you put 2-3 of Bane in your crypt to get him in your opening crypt. Any way you slice it, Bane is going to be deadly in combat. Putting him into a deck not focusing on combat, while may be certainly useful, isn't using him to his full advantage. I think he might be undercosted at 7 capacity, but certainly not broken. Card of the Month - Sydney Opera House from Justin Fang's Playtest Clan Cards Toreador-Antitribu Master : Unique Location 1 pool Tap Sydney Opera House to untap a Toreador-Antitribu with capacity greater than 4. Better than a Metro Underground (which this is loosly based after I gather). While the Metro Underground is free, you need to pay a pool each time you untap a minion which can only happen at the end of your turn. The Sydney Opera House for an initial investment of 1 pool, will let you untap one minion - AT ANY TIME. Granted it requires the Toreador-Antitrbu to play, and it has to target older vamps, but with this card our clan could do some serious damage. You could untap minions after they complete actions, whether successful or not. You can untap blockers after blocking. You can untap minions which could not otherwise untap during their minion phase. And I'm sure there are a few other surprise uses to make this well worth putting into any Toreador-Antitribu deck. For example, using Bane above, he could rush opposing minions. And using Sydney Opera House in combination with Freak Drive and weeine AUS vamps playing Precognizant Mobility, he can continue rushing opposing vampires for possibly several times a turn. Bane and Sydney Opera House would definitely make the Toreador-Antitribu a fighting force to be feared in the meta-game. What's your favorite Drafting Style? I am hosting an online poll to determine what everyone's favorite drafting style is. Please visit http://whitestar.ddg.com/vtes/TorA02012000.html to vote. Deck Medic/Strategy Corner The following deck is based on the two cards we reviewed in this newsletter. Remember, that we included only 2 new cards that are not in the basic set...and already we have quite a different focus of cards and options for our Clan than previously seen. Imagine what a 30-50 card mini expansion will do to the metagame, if we are blessed with it this year. "Don't Do It....." Toreador Antitribu Combat/Intercept Deck Vampires 3 Bane 1 Carter 1 Ian Wallingford 1 Jessica 1 Lachlan, Noddist 1 Lolita 2 Remilliard, Devout Crusader 2 Sheila Mezarin Library 5 Acrobatics 2 Blur 6 Flash 5 Pulled Fangs 6 Sideslip 4 Taste of Vitae 4 Leather Jacket 2 Day Operation 2 Laptop Computer 2 Sport Bike 3 Force of Will 4 Social Charm 1 Art of Pain 1 Barrens 4 Blood Doll 1 Depravity 1 Fetish Club H. G. 1 Information Highway 2 Sydney Opera House 2 Enhanced Senses 5 Fast Reaction 7 Forced Awakening 3 Melange 2 My Enemy's Enemy 5 Precognition 5 Spirit's Touch 5 Telepathic Misdirection 90 Total library cards Aggressively block your prey's actions and kill his vampires. The use of the Sydney Opera House will help to offset the Fast Reactions, so you can handle S:CE, dodgers, and high hitting potence decks. When your prey's pool is low, bleed them out using your fortitude cards. -------- Ethan Burrow - Prince of Austin ethan@ddg.com http://whitestar.ddg.com/vtes/