10/1/99 Editors Corner - Ethan Burrow, Prince of Austin
With the Crusade of our city just around the corner, and the recent
events with Hasbro, this previous month for me has been the most
rewarding experience with regards to the online community that we have
forged.
However this fuzzy feeling has been countered by the drought of Sabbat
cards. I now find it impossible to find any Sabbat as well as Ancient
Hearts. How can we be expected to play Sealed or Draft tournaments when
we have no cards to play with??? We all know that Sabbat is the best set
to use for Sealed/Draft, otherwise why would it be sold out.
We need reprints Wizards! There's obviously money in it if there's still
a demand. The only cost to you is reprinting and packaging, everything
else is gravy. --simplification mode off.
Vampire of the Month -
Matteus, Flesh Sculpter
Matteus can fit into any Toreador-Antitribu deck provided you can afford
him. He should be in every political deck you play in unless your focus
is weenies. He can also fit well into a Tzimisce combat intercept deck,
but he's a bit expensive for the crypt since he doesn't have animalism.
He's most useful in Politics. He has a priscus vote, and unless you're
playing Sabbat sealed, having to contend with other Priscus is usually
rare.
He also has his special abilities which are quite nice in actual play.
He can play Archbishop and Cardinal only cards such as Sabbat Inquisitor
and War Party by burning an additional blood. With the small selection
of titled Sabbat vampires, this is quite useful. For this reason alone,
he might be worth putting into a Tzimisce rush deck.
He can also get + Intercept against Cardinal's and Archbishops trying to
call votes. This really isn't an ability that you can plan for in a
game, but every now and then it could really make a difference.
Card of the Month -
Psyche!
One of our clan's ability to compete with Combat Ends, this card at the
superior can make it much harder for Strike : Combat Ends(S:CE)
opponents to protect his minions. Since you play Psyche! after combat is
over, his minion has to face you again in another combat. For every
Psyche! you play, your opponent must play an additional S:CE to protect
his vampire. You should try not to play Psyche! twice on the same
minion, as the value of the card then begins to decrease. You can draw
an additional S:CE if you save your Psyche! for another minion.
Example :
If you Psyche! twice on the same minion, he plays 3 S:CE to
avoid combat entirely. However if you play Psyche! on two
different minions (one combat each), your opponent must play 4
S:CE (2 per minion) to protect them. Until you know your
opponent is out of S:CE, you should play only 1 Psyche! per
minion to draw out the additional S:CE on the next minion. At
this rate, you are using more of his S:CE than you are Psyche!
and eventually you'll catch him....and punish him.
I hope I managed to convey my point, it does seem kinda confusing now
that I read it...but I've edited the paragraph 3 times already, so I'm
gonna leave it that way for now ;-)
Sometimes the press is also useful, so you don't have to waste flashes
when you have a vamp with inferior celerity in a trap for example.
Which vampire do you put in your crypt most often?
This question is posted as an online poll on my web version of the
newsletter at http://whitestar.ddg.com/vtes/TorA100199.html Please note
that I allow you to add vampires to the list, but please only include
ones that you clearly include in at least 30% of your decks.
Deck Medic/Strategy Corner
How to use Celerity to Control Combat
Combat Decks employing Celerity should usually have the upper hand in
combat against any other deck, except facing a deck that also has
Celerity. By upper hand, I mean you can control what happens - not
necessarily that you will crush your opponent. Let's look at some of the
main types of combat you will face, and if I missed one we can always
discuss how to deal with those :
1.Strike : Combat Ends - you can use Psyche! and Akram to catch
them....eventually.
2.Potence : You can maneuver - Celerity allows you several cards with
maneuvers, use them. And if you're not grappled you can also dodge. You
also have more press cards than they do. Don't try to fight them, just
run circles around them.
3.Animalism Trap decks - While they can do a lot of environment damage,
it's not enough to torporize you. Maneuver to long if you can to avoid
their close strike. Use Sideslip to prevent what you can and press to
end.
4.Tremere Combat - While they can use thoughts betrayed to prevent you
from dodging, you can still press to end to avoid the second round of
pain. If they have more presses than you do, then shame on you :-) If
they don't steal two blood from you the first round, you can prevent
what you can with sideslip...which ironically can be used to prevent
damage from the fortitude hosers ;-)
5.Avoidance Decks - A lot of decks try to pack maneuvers and dodges to
keep their vamps alive. Since we can usually outmaneuver them, and use
additional strikes to get past their dodges, this type is more of a
nuisance.
6.Fortitude - Since they can prevent all damage for an entire round,
your best bet is to either maneuver to long and not bother fighting at
all to jam their hand...or using your presses wisely to draw out all of
his entire round preventers. Once you do this, you can additional strike
him. Pay attention to his discards before you decide which strategy to
use.
--
Ethan Burrow - Prince of Austin
ethan@ddg.com
http://whitestar.ddg.com/vtes/