VEKN Official Clan Tremere Newsletter February 2001 Volume 2, Issue 3 February 5, 2001 Please direct all correspondence and commentary to Xian (xian@waste.org). [Legal stuff to the tune of: I wrote all this, so give credit where it's due, etc.] I apologize for the long delay between newsletters. I had been busy experimenting with different deck concepts, and had gotten away from playing Tremere enough to offer detailed commentary on the decks I was playing. I have, however, rectified this situation and have rededicated myself to playing the Tremere consistently. I hope that the deck in this issue proves noteworthy, as it may be the best Tremere deck I have ever built. It is, so far, the most consistently successful against a wide range of decks. Focus on a Card Machine Blitz Combat Thaumaturgy Inf: Choose a weapon possessed by the opposing minion. Strike: ranged; X damage, where X is the amount of damage [the chosen weapon would inflict as a strike]. Sup: As above, with +1R damage. I have trouble thinking of much of a use for this card. It is more useful, I guess, than Up Yours! or Twisting the Knife, but only marginally. The best use I can think of for this card is if you see the Crimson Sentinel a lot in your group. Even then, I'm not entirely certain that this combination will work, due to the whole weirdness of counters. Anyway, throw a couple in your deck, wait until the Crimson Sentinel has a pile of counters on it, then get into combat, maneuver away to long, and hit the vampire weilding that evil toothpick for a pile of damage. Otherwise, I suspect this card, like most weapon hosers, is still pretty useless. Unless you manage to maneuver away from the Talbot's Chainsaw weilding maniac. Of course, if it's Ambrosius, you're screwed anyway. Unless you Theft or press to second round. I can't decide if this card is better or worse than Drain Essence, and that's really sad. Strategy Corner Hmm. I'm not sure what to say this month. I think it would be most appropriate to focus on bruise-bleed strategy, as that is what the deck of the month does. With the Tremere, you have a couple of options on how to go about destroying your prey. The most common options are: *tap and bleed *stealth and bleed *seduce and bleed *straight bruise and bleed I think most beginning players are most comfortable with the limited stealth and bleed that the Tremere can acquire with Bonding, and supplement this with Seduction or Blood Bond, as well as Misdirection. Not bad, but there are a lot of decks that you won't get past with that. Not to mention, unless you get the Govern the Unaligned as well, a bleed for 2 at +1 stealth doesn't go too far. Seduce and bleed and tap and bleed improve upon this, but tapping with Misdirection has gotten a lot harder, and Seduction only takes care of one vamipre. I am considering adding a few Seduction into the deck of the month, but I am looking to do a little more testing of the deck as is before I add anything. My recommendation is to use the Tremere for straight bruise and bleed, with no fancy tricks. Throw down big bleeds, let your prey block with whichever vampire he is able to, and then render that vampire useless. Eventually, you will be able to punch through a few big bleeds in a row, and that should finish your prey off. By using some of the smaller clan members, you will maximize your investment. Sarah Cobbler, Merrill Molitor, and Jing Wei are extremely useful, as is Astrid Thomas, though she becomes more expensive to influence out. Among the Sabbat, Kurt Strauss and Reverend Blackwood are notably useful for this sort of work, and Brooke is pretty good as well. By focusing on bleeding and combat, adding a little defense as necessary, with a little practice, you should be able to figure out what proprotions of each card you require to have the correct balance for your playstyle. Straight bruise and bleed without any additional tricks is one of the more difficult strategies to employ, but it can also be highly efficient at attaining your goal of ousting multiple prey. The most difficult part, I find, is knowing how to best bluff your prey into blocking or not blocking, as necessary. One of the most useful methods, when you know they can only block a limited number of your minions, yet you don't have enough combat in hand, is to bleed with the smaller (less threatening) minions first, and then take an unrelated action with the more threatening minion. For example, if you have Sarah Cobbler, Jing Wei, and Reverend Blackwood available, and your prey appears to only be able to block one minion, use Sarah and Jing Wei to bleed first, then have the Rev hunt or just sit and wait to deflect. This will frustrate your prey to no end, knowing that he let a few large bleeds through in anticipation of a successful block against a seemingly more threatening minion. On the other hand, if you have a lot of combat available, you may find it more useful to bleed with the most threatening minion first, in hopes that your prey blocks, walking into your trap. There are a number of variations you can pull on this basic tactic, just make sure to do your best to draw out your prey's bleed bounce as soon as possible...that may be the most important tactic to surviving and winning with this style of deck. Sample Deck Title: Rededication Author: Xian Crypt 1x Astrid Thomas 1x Brooke 1x Bryan Van Duesen 1x Cardano 1x Jing Wei 2x Kurt Strauss 1x Lydia Van Cuelen 1x Merrill Molitor 1x Reverend Blackwood 2x Sarah Cobbler Average: 5.33, Best: 14, Worst: 29 Library(90) Masters (16): 2x Arcane Library 2x Barrens 4x Blood Doll 1x Chantry 1x Dominate 4x Haven Uncovered 2x Thaumaturgy Actions (20): 6x Bum's Rush 12x Govern the Unaligned 2x Rutor's Hand Action Modifiers (10): 10x Conditioning Combat (35): 12x Apportation 12x Theft of Vitae 6x Thoughts Betrayed 5x Walk of Flame Reactions (9): 4x Deflection 2x Pulling Strings 3x Wake with Evening's Freshness This deck may be the best Tremere deck I have ever created and by that, I mean most effective. In 5 games, I have not failed to gain a victory point, I have swept 3 times, and in only one game did I not win the table. That game is being discounted, as my predator was playing a Nosferatu Antitribu rush deck with more than 120 cards in a 5-player game. I feel that he likely would have run out of combat and stalled if the deck had been at a tournament-legal size. If it isn't obvious, the deck is meant to bleed lots, and if it enters combat, to be able to survive, but also be able to take out an opposing minion if required. I have been thinking about throwing in some Blood Fury or Soul Burn, as I've encountered a few weapons (Flamethrowers), but I think this may be premature. I admit that this may not work as well in a metagame with heavy or smart bleed bounce. It seems to work in the extend groups I play with, as once a bleed reaches 3, they tend to bounce it, and not wait for a Conditioning. Also, I am relatively safe laying down the Conditioning after they have failed to bounce the Govern. So far this deck has had the most trouble with aggravated damage, but it hasn't proved a huge problem. Against the Tzimisce, I seem to have enough maneuvers, and against Flamethrowers, I have been able to whittle the minions away, keeping them busy hunting and such. I have had Sarah Cobbler burnt with Anarch Investigation after a Govern & Conditioning bleed, but it hardly slowed me down. This deck won't work in every metagame, but even a deck with heavy bleed bounce can't continue to bounce bleeds of 3 or more every single turn. Eventually you will get through. Also, if your prey has one vampire that is the primary bouncer, there are enough Bum's Rushes in this deck to virtually guarantee that you will pull one by the time the bouncer is active. You should be able to enter combat and drain enough blood off the bouncer to keep him ineffective for a few turns, possibly even torporize him, rendering that vampire useless for even longer. With the exception of the Arcane Library, this deck uses mostly common cards and should be relatively easy to build for most anyone. Have fun trying it out, and good luck! Next month: Stuff that I've been promising for ages, and decks other than mine. Xian Chronicler of Clan Tremere -- I'd tell the world and save my soul, But rain falls down and I feel cold. A cold that sleeps within my heart, It tears the earth and sun apart. --_Shellshock_, New Order www.waste.org/~xian