3/5/2001 Editors Corner - Ethan Burrow, Prince of Austin You know what, I don't really have anything pressing that I want to force you to hear this month. Although I did want to mention that getting together with other fellow VTES players and collaborating together on one deck has proven to be both fun and increase the strength of a new deck idea. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vampire of the Month - Rigby, Crusade Vanguard Surprise! Rigby is the only Sabbat vampire below 7 capacity that is not Toreador-Antitribu and has all 3 of our in clan disciplines. Jost and Remilliard are both missing Celerity, but at 5 Capacity Rigby helps fill in the mid capacity vampire void. I've never seen her disadvantage ever come into play, so it's not worth worrying about. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Card of the Month - Eternal Vigilance At our last tournament, TheLasombra showed that Eternal Vigilance in sealed is very powerful. In constructed it would be moreso if Sabbat vampires didn't have so much trouble with blood gain. Having permanent untap enhances the defense of any 'fatty' deck, so I guess the best help I can provide is all the ways to fill a Sabbat vampire : - Rush decks doing more than 2 damage a round can use Taste of Vitae - Voter Captivation - choose wisely whether you'd want 2 pool or 2 more blood on your Vigilant vampire - Even one Giant's Blood will give you several untaps - Since you already use titles, also use Blood of the Sabbat for rushing/bleeding - Tremere-Antitribu with Theft of Vitae (or Drain Essence if you're feeling saucy) - Sermon of Caine or Rave can be used to manage your vampires blood to ensure the vigilant vampire has enough. Combined with Hungry Coyote you could easily keep one vampire full, although there are probably too many moving parts to be effective. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homework Assignments - an exercise in creative deckbuilding Results - Violet Tremain The winner for this month is Mikael Hallin and his toolbox deck. Not only were all disciplines used, but he had several ways to use her special ability! Deck Name: Violette Tremain based deck(toolbox) Created by: Mikael Hallin Description: So what do you think? This deck shouldn't perform too bad, and although it prefers the other vamps to violet it still uses all her disciplines, and to good effect. Crypt: (12 cards) [Min: 22, Max: 32, Avg: 6.67] 2 Bryan Van Duesen (aus DOM pre THA, Tremere Antitribu, 7) 2 Ian Forestal (AUS DOM THA, Tremere Antitribu, 8) 2 Ranjan Rishi (DOM for PRE, Ventrue, 5) 2 Reverend Blackwood (DOM obf THA, Tremere Antitribu, 6, Bishop) 2 Sascha Vykos (ani AUS dom THA VIC, Tzimisce, 8, Priscus) 2 Violet Tremain (dom pre tha vic, Tzimisce, 6, Bishop) Library: (90 cards) Master (15 cards) 3 Blood Doll 2 Dreams of the Sphinx 1 Giant's Blood 2 Infernal Pact 1 Library Hunting Ground 1 Presence 1 Regent 2 Society of Leopold 1 Thaumaturgy 1 University Hunting Ground Action (14 cards) 2 Dominate Kine 8 Govern the Unaligned 4 Rutor's Hand ActionMod (10 cards) 4 Bewitching Oration 4 Bonding 2 Changeling Political (5 cards) 3 Dramatic Upheaval 2 Templar Reaction (15 cards) 7 Deflection 8 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (24 cards) 3 Breath of the Dragon 4 Chiropteran Marauder 3 Fake Out 2 Horrid Form 3 Majesty 3 Movement of the Mind 6 Theft of Vitae Retainer (2 cards) 2 Infernal Familiar Equipment (5 cards) 2 IR Goggles 1 Palatial Estate 2 Vial of Garou Blood This month's homework assignment - Due March 31st, 2001 Construct a deck focusing on High Museum of Atlanta. The Parity Shift combo is widely known, so to win you should probably try to think of something else. Good Luck! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tin Can Extravaganza - By Derek Ray Around here, a vampire with Fleshcraft on him is said to have tin cans tied to his ass... explaining the -2 stealth. =) The idea of the deck below is to simply leave Matteus untapped at all times, slurping off him with a Blood Doll or two. He uses Enhanced Senses and the permanents to block things. Once in combat, he plays Sideslip, Blur, Fleshcraft, and Majesty to untap and be ready to block again. =) Undodgeable, unpreventable; the only recourse is to play S:CE or be at long range, and since he's not the acting minion, he can save all the other stuff and just play his own Majesty to untap. =) IG decks rip his head off of course, but shit happens. =) And he DOES have a few hand-strike cards to piss off those grabby people, and one Blood of Acid. After awhile, you usually no longer need the transient intercept; your predator's vamps normally all have -2 stealth and are scared to take undirected actions because HIS predator will block. The idea is to get as much of it on your prey as possible, though, because that way HIS prey can spend lots of time defending. =) It's usually funny as hell, and it actually swept its first outing - the offense being weenie bleed doesn't hurt much, and enough of them have vic and can drop Changelings. It can't possibly be tournament-worthy without some work, but damn, it's amusing. I think in my played version I trimmed some dupes and put in 2-3 VIC masters to help the bleed offense. Not sure. ------ Deck Name: Tin Can Extravaganza Created by: DSR Description: Big Vampire Intercept with Matteus. Crypt: (13 cards) [Min: 7, Max: 40, Avg: 4.54] 1 Brazil (aus, Malkavian, 2) 1 Christine Boscacci (dom vic, Pander, 2) 1 Delilah Easton (pre, Toreador, 2) 1 Dieter Kleist (aus, Toreador, 2) 1 Franciscus (aus, Caitiff, 1) 1 Frederick the Weak (pre, Brujah Antitribu, 2) 1 Horatio (vic, Tzimisce, 2) 1 Lolita Houston (aus VIC, Tzimisce, 4) 4 Matteus (AUS CEL PRE VIC, Toreador Antitribu, 10, Priscus) 1 Vasilis (pre, Brujah, 2) Library: (80 cards) Master (13 cards) 8 Blood Doll 1 Fetish Club Hunting Ground 2 Guardian Angel 2 Rack, The ActionMod (8 cards) 8 Changeling Reaction (18 cards) 4 Eagle's Sight 8 Enhanced Senses 6 Forced Awakening Combat (34 cards) 1 Blood of Acid 8 Blur 1 Body Arsenal 1 Breath of the Dragon 8 Fleshcraft 1 Horrid Form 8 Majesty 6 Sideslip Retainer (1 card) 1 Mr. Winthrop Equipment (6 cards) 2 Leather Jacket 2 Palatial Estate 2 Sport Bike ------------------------------- Ethan Burrow - Prince of Austin saark5@yahoo.com http://whitestar.ddg.com/vtes/