Welcome, welcome, welcome. As usual, I came up with all of this, so, umm...don't mess with forces you don't understand and all that jive. (I had a deck idea inspired in a conversation with Legbiter, but I can't find my notes on it right now, so it will have to wait until next month's issue, and due credit will be given...) And what is in store for you? This month, there will the usual selection, including some completely off the top of my head sucky short fiction (if you want me to axe the short fiction, let me know...), a last-minute attempt to examine a card in-depth, and a couple of deck ideas. This month there will be no review of notables in vampiric society, however, stay tuned next month as we examine some of those who have received instruction at our hands, and their usefulness to our cause. Short Fiction Leaning back in the oversized chair carved entirely from some ancient creature's enormous fang, Ulugh Beg let his senses expand, and he focused in turn a number of his master's pawns. Merrill Molitor, deep in Africa, seeking out ancient rituals...Sarah Cobbler and Muaziz studying in Vienna...Dr. John Casey providing a useful distraction for the enemy's minions...Astrid Thomas, working her ways into the halls of power to confound the Ventrue...all these and many others. Ulugh Beg thought upon all this and smiled. He knew that this new year was going to be very eventful indeed. Focus on a Card Seeds of Corruption Action Cost: 2 blood Discipline: Thaumaturgy +1 stealth action (D) Put this card on a vampire controlled by your prey. If the vampire is a Follower of Set, he or she burns 2 additional blood for each action he or she performs; otherwise, he or she burns 1 additional blood for each action he or she performs. The vampire with this card cannot use his or her special abilities. Any vampire(s) may burn this card with two +1 stealth actions. (S) As above, but the vampire burns 2 additional blood for each action; Followers of Set burn 3 additional blood. I believe that many people realize that Seeds is a good card, but it is hard to use effectively. (Not to mention that I find it hard to get more than the couple of copies I have...) In JOL73, there was a very effective Tremere antitribu deck that mainly used Seeds, Cryptic Missions, and Succubi. I was *very* impressed. IIRC, it won the game. Actually, I have to admit that I have little experience using Seeds myself, but I'll take my best shot at it. It is quite powerful, although in some ways it's a shame that it can only be used on vampires controlled by your prey. For quite a while, I missed the line about the vampire not being able to use its special powers. Very nice. So, ideally, you want to place this card on a vampire that is somewhat low on blood, enough so that it will have trouble taking the two actions to remove the Seeds of Corruption. To do this, you will likely have to get into combat with the vampire somehow. Intercept & Theft of Vitae popular with anyone? I'm not a huge fan, but that's the method I took in the deck following. Anyway, the card, especially used in multiples on as many vampires as possible can be quite entertaining. Deck Concepts Seeds of Doom Crypt 2x Violet Tremain Tzimisce 6 dom pre tha vic weird hand damage thingy 2x Anvil Brujah 6 CEL dom POT pre tha Primogen 2x Lydia Van Cuelen Tremere 6 aus dom pre tha +1 bleed 2x Bryan Van Duesen !Tremere 7 aus DOM pre THA +1 bleed Rebekka, Chantry Elder... Tremere 8 AUS pot PRE THA +1 stealth, etc. Spiridonas Tremere 9 DOM pot pre THA Prince, burn X+2 blood for +X bleed Bindusara Ventrue 9 AUS DOM FOR PRE tha +1 bleed, some other stuff Kemintiri Follower of Set 10 aus dom OBF PRE SER THA bunch of stuff Average 7.2, worst 36, best 24 Library Masters (16) 2x Presence skill card 2x Thaumaturgy skill card 2x Auspex skill card 5x Blood Doll 3x Mob Connections 2x Arcane Library Action (32) 18x Seeds of Corruption 6x Praxis Seizure: Various 6x Kindred Restructure 2x Clan Impersonation Action Modifier (6) 6x Bewitching Oration Reaction (20) 5x Spirit's Touch 7x Eaglie's Sight 8x Forced Awakening Combat (16) 10x Theft of Vitae 6x Walk of Flame Okay...so the idea is to get out a couple of Praxis Seizures, hit your prey with a bunch of Seeds, and then sit your prey in your predator's spot, putting whoever you want in front of you. This way, although your prior prey can still block & such, he's going to have a hard time taking any actions against you. Hmm...not horribly exciting, but still amusing. The combat is in there more for defense, and to deplete your prey's vampires of blood. Clan Impersonations instead of that little "you are now Camarilla" equipment, because though it costs blood, it isn't vulnerable to equipment destruction. So there you have it...a semi-exciting Seeds deck. Beh. I'm not as impressed as I was at first, but I keep liking the Kindred Restructure trick. And Pre/Tha/Aus is interesting. And, just for the heck of it, I'm going to post my recently re-tooled version of the classic Tha/For deck. Mine is Dom/For/Tha...you really need to get them to block somehow, and with Dom, if they don't block, a bleed from 3 to 6 is coming their way...the question becomes whether or not it is more worthwhile to have a vampire in torpor, or suck a significant bleed. Hmm...okay, this isn't the recently re-tooled one...I'll use the crypt I have listed, and make changes to the library as necessary. Will probably post a follow-up with the real stats after Josh Duffin & a few others get together for Jyhad this weekend. I Used to Think that My Life would Depend on the Morning Sun... Crypt 2x Cardano 2x Muaziz 2x Marlene, the Infernalist 2x Iliana Merrill Molitor Ulugh Beg Ian Forrestal Bindusara Avg: 7.5 (this has got to be one of the toughest-luck crypts for a fairly common deck...), Worst: 37, Best: 24 Library (Total: 90) Master (?) 2x Fortitude Skill 2x Thaumaturgy Skill 1x Dominate Skill ?xBlood Doll/Minion Tap 1x Arcane Library Action (21) 6x Scouting Mission 2x Govern the Unaligned 6x Graverobbing 4x Bum's Rush 2x Arson 1x Clan Impersonation Action Modifiers (19) 8x Threats 8x Dawn Operation 3x Freak Drive Reaction (12) 12x Deflection Combat (24) 8x Weather Control 8x Skin of Night 6x Soul Burn Retainer (1) 1x Dog Pack Equipment (1) 1x Ankara Citadel, Turkey Hmm...I'm still missing some stuff, but some of the numbers on Scouting Mission/GtU/Threats may be off. I do recall that there are exactly 8 Weather Control/Skin of Night/Dawn Op in the deck, though. There are likely a couple more Tremere locations & such, but that's about it. No Thoughts Betrayed. Do I say that often enough? Dog Pack & Clan Impersonation to get around continual S:CE, and Arson/BR + Soul Burn to hurt pesky minions. Again, I know it's a little rough, but I'll post the real deck in a couple of days... That's it for now... Xian, too many decks, and not enough time. I've got at least one deck ready for next month already...plus the Legbiter-induced one mentioned...sigh... ---- Addendum ---- Here's that Dominate/Thaumaturgy/Fortitude deck I promised. People will probably stop blocking quickly as soon as they realize that there's no hope of ending combat not in torpor, so there's only 8 Skin of Night & Dawn Ops...a few more Weather Control. The biggest problem I have noted so far is the tendency to have all your vamps running low on blood. That is quite the problem. I don't want to put in the Rack because it will likely just get stolen. Beyond that, I used mainly Scouting Mission & Threats to keep the blood expenditure low & to allow for scaling the bleeds...max bleed of 4 with Scouting Mission/Threats, 5 with GtU/Threats (6 with Bindusara...), but it's easy to keep below 4 if you're scared of Archon Investigation. Oh well. Here goes. "I Used to Think that the Day Would Never Come, that My Life Would Depend on the Morning Sun" (as corrected by Chris...) Crypt 2x Cardano - Tremere 9 DOM FOR THA ani aus cel, Prince 2x Muaziz, Archon of Ulugh Beg - Tremere 7 dom for THA aus, +1 stealth, etc. 2x Iliana - Gangrel 7 DOM FOR tha PRO, no Contracts blah blah 2x Marlene, The Infernalist - !Ventrue 6 DOM for tha AUS dem Ian Forestal - !Tremere 8 AUS DOM THA, all other disciplines at inferior Ulugh Beg, The Watcher - Tremere 10 DOM for THA AUS cel pot, Justicar Merrill Molitor - Tremere 5 dom THA aus, 1 aggravated -> normal 1/combat Bindusara, Historian... - Ventrue 9 DOM FOR tha AUS PRE, +1 bleed, find stuff Library (90) Master (12) -- maybe I should switch one Tha skill card for a For skill card...not all that necessary though, as Weather Control works fine at tha... 4x Fortitude skill card 1x Thaumaturgy skill card 1x Dominate skill card 3x Blood Doll 1x Minion Tap 1x Arcane Library 1x Academic Hunting Ground Action (26) 3x. Bum's Rush 6x Scouting Mission 6x Graverobbing 4x Restoration 1x Rutor's Hand 2x Arson 2x Govern the Unaligned 2x Slaughtering the Herd (recent afterthought...getting that 1 blood might be nice for the deck...) Action Modifier (19) 8x Dawn Operation 3x Freak Drive 8x Threats (to make them nervous about *not* blocking...) Reaction (10) 10x Deflection Combat (23) 10x Weather Control 8x Skin of Night 5x Soul Burn (in case someone Bum's Rushes...) Unfortunately, it's been hard dealing with rush combat. A few Skin of Rock/Steel would be nice, but I can't figure out what needs to be removed... Ah well, hope this is useful... Xian