V:EKN Official Tremere Newsletter, February 2004 I. Introduction II. Vampire Focus (Goratrix Advanced) III. Library Focus (Inscription) IV. Deck Focus (Aurora Nocturnis) V. Conclusion I. Introduction Welcome to the Tremere Newsletter! Our old Chronicler, Xian, has fallen deeper and deeper into "real life" and approved of me taking up the duties. I hope I can provide quality insight into the game through my favorite clan. Since this is my first newsletter, it will be a short summary of Black Hand through (Camarilla) Tremere eyes. As far as Clan Tremere goes, we have not seen many new cards or strategies added since Camarilla Edition. Recent expansions have added great new options in general deckbuilding and strategy, as well as a few Tremere- or Thaumaturgy-specific gems. Black Hand brought the resurrection of our Sabbat counterparts, which adds a great deal of crypt variety for Tremere decks of every grouping, but most of the library cards have a Sabbat-centered nature and don't work with standard Tremere. That said, we are the only Camarilla clan to get a vampire printed in the set: Goratrix. II. Vampire Focus Goratrix (Advanced) Clan: Tremere Capacity: 10 Group: 2 vic ANI AUS DOM THA Camarilla, Advanced: Goratrix can burn a Tremere antitribu as a (D) action. [MERGE] Once each action, Goratrix may burn 1 blood to get an additional +1 bleed. Goratrix (Advanced) does a better job of reflecting the storyline of the World of Darkness rather than advancing Clan Tremere. Presumably this is our Clan Founder, Tremere, using Goratrix's body (I will leave the details out, ask your local WoD fanatic). Played alone, his special ability is very harsh and potentially game-breaking: versus only the Tremere antitribu. No doubt with their resurrection the antitribu will be more prevalent in gaming groups worldwide, but a clan hoser is a clan hoser. Compare it to the original Goratrix' everpresent built-in strike (steal 2 blood) and you may find the Advanced version lacking. I personally believe that his real strength is apparent when you merge the vampires: with Goratrix's natural +1 bleed and the merged ability, he can bleed for 3 without expending a card! Now, most bleed decks are going to have a handful of action modifiers to drop when a bleed is successful. With Goratrix, there is no need for modifiers for a modest (and AI-safe) bleed. The deck space saved on bleed modifiers can be used for more combat, combat defense, intercept, stealth, you name it! Throw on top of that the fact that you rarely need to play a strike card due to the innate theft, and you have an incredible amount of room to work with when building a deck around Goratrix. For a quick example of Goratrix's potential view Ben Peal's tournament-winning Go-Go-Goratrix at http://www.thelasombra.com/decks/twd.htm#2k2bangor III. Library Focus Inscription Equipment Thaumaturgy [tha]: Put this equipment on a ready vampire and put a card that requires Thaumaturgy from your hand on it (this acting vampire pays the cost of that card). The vampire with this equipment can burn this equipment to use the basic Thaumaturgy ability of that card. [THA]: As above, but the vampire can use the superior Thaumaturgy ability of that card. There has been a little bit of buzz about the possibilities of this card in various forums, mainly centering around Rutor's Hand. Sadly, its best uses will probably be in the hands of vampires other than Tremere due to the availability of Thaumaturgy in-clan. Still, one could easily imagine a deck focused around a particular Tremere or set of Tremere handing out Thaumaturgy cards to friends. Yet another possibility for a Gargoyle Slave deck! Here are some favorite options: Rutor's Hand - Who couldn't use an untap for an aggravated damage or 3 blood? Magic of the Smith - Could have been used by the Inscribing Tremere instead and transferred... but good for locquipment or clan-specific equipment. Perfect Clarity - for Big Bleeds! Burst of Sunlight or Blood to Water - for some sicko in combat, I suppose. IV. Deck Focus Today's deck is a preview of next issue: the Auspex paradigm in Group 3 Tremere. Extra comments are included within the decklist. Deck Name: Aurora Nocturnis Created By: Dorrinal Description: Here is an AUS/THA intercept deck with a handful of useful permanents. Typically block crucial actions of your predator's and block your prey's actions when you can do some serious harm. Guardian Angel (+ Precognition) + Burst of Sunlight is rather useful against vampires who cannot prevent damage, and use a Rotschreck if a minion insists on S:CE. Conditionings can be squeezed in when your prey's defenses are down. Be prepared to hover at low amounts of pool :) Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 15, Max: 27, Avg: 5.45) 3 Carna AUS DOM THA 7, Tremere, Primogen 1 Eugenio Estevez AUS dom for THA 6, Tremere 1 Elena Mendoza Vasquez dom obt AUS THA 6, Tremere Antitribu 1 Selena AUS DOM THA 6, Tremere Antitribu 1 Yasmin, the Black dom pre AUS THA 6, Tremere Antitribu 1 Hannigan AUS dom THA 5, Tremere Antitribu 1 Aisling Sturbridge AUS dom THA 5, Tremere 1 Richard Tauber AUS tha 4, Tremere Antitribu 1 Blythe Candeleria aus THA 3, Tremere 1 Martin Franckel AUS tha 3, Tremere /* A wide selection of the new vampires available. Carna is key because she saves time by having a +1 intercept built-in. In a Kiss of Ra heavy metagame I'd recommend multiple copies of Eugenio Estevez. */ Library: (90 cards) Master (15 cards) 4 Anarch Revolt 2 Blood Doll 2 Guardian Angel 1 Metro Underground 1 Powerbase: Montreal 4 Rotschreck 1 WMRH Talk Radio /* I thought I'd try Anarch Revolts after reading Derek Ray's thoughts on Wall Decks (http://www.thelasombra.com/walldecks.htm) and by seeing how well this deck did when an opponent played an AR-heavy deck. Other master options include Minor Boon - great when you encounter many deflections. */ Action (8 cards) 1 Atonement 5 Magic of the Smith 1 Pulse of the Canaille 1 Revelations Action Modifier (6 cards) 6 Conditioning Reaction (30 cards) 8 Eagle's Sight 4 Enhanced Senses 10 Forced Awakening 4 Precognition 4 Telepathic Misdirection Combat (25 cards) 10 Apportation 9 Burst of Sunlight 6 Theft of Vitae Retainer (1 cards) 1 Mr. Winthrop Equipment (5 cards) 1 Ivory Bow 1 Sniper Rifle 2 Sport Bike 1 Starshell Grenade Launcher V. Conclusion Even though the clan hasn't seen much action since Camarilla Edition look for great support in the form of antitribu vampires and thaumaturgy cards, and look toward the next expansions. Gehenna is sure to have something to offer everybody. Fortunately though, the lack of Tremere-specific expansions allows us to dig much deeper into the strategies available to us in earlier expansions. That wraps up a much-needed installation of Clan Tremere newsletter. In the future look for a discussion of the new focus on Auspex, as well as a closer look at the larger vampires since Camarilla Edition. Please direct any comments or questions to the newsgroup, or feel free to email me at dorrinal @ hotmail . com Dorrinal Blackmantle Chronicler of Clan Tremere