Volume 3, Issue 3, July 10, 2002 Please direct all correspondence and commentary to Xian (xian at waste dot org). Yikes. Been a while since I wrote one of these. I kept meaning to (man, I wish I could produce something, anything as regularly as Legbiter), but crazy old life kept getting in the way. Finally having gotten around to writing something, I have some thoughts on equipment, reflections on my experiences at Origins, and a deck from Norm Brown. I have been meaning to build something similar to Norm's deck, but I haven't had the chance. So many decks, so little time. Additionally, I think that in the month before Origins, I only got in about 5 or 6 games, so I haven't had much time to hone any of my decks, much less really tweak any of my Tremere decks (which make up probably one-fourth of my decks). Anyway, on to the newsletter... Cards of the Month Recently, I have taken an incredibly liking to Magic of the Smith. Grabbing your choice of equipment at +3 stealth is amazing, even at the cost of one blood. So far, it has only failed me once recently, when I drew the last piece of eqiupment in my deck as the replacement card for the just-played Magic of the Smith. Of course, rather than talk about Magic of the Smith itself, I have decided to go over some of the less-used, but still very useful pieces of equipment that you can go fetch with it, as well as some of the old stand-bys. Ankara Citadel - This should really be a staple in any Tremere-based deck. At least one copy. How can you go wrong? Deflections for free, Blood to Water for 1 blood, it's all good. Catacombs - Perhaps not the most intuitive addition, but if you're running a deck with lots of Burst of Sunlight or Rutor's Hands that will be played at inferior, it might just be worth it for the additional stealth alone. Paying one blood less will start to pay off once you rescue the second vampire. And of course, if you're really bored, you can combine it with Humanitas, or put it on Javier Montoya. IR Goggles - An old standby, to be sure. Permanent maneuvers are always good, but I generally prefer just to include Apportation/Movement of the Mind instead, so that I don't have to take the equip action, and for the press available. Ruins of Villiers Abbey, Belgium - One that I haven't used in the past, but which I intend to use in the near future. With the ability to break even on 2 maneuvers with a Theft of Vitae (at THA), your minion should be able to stay at long range and save your maneuver cards for other, more needy minions. Signet of King Saul - This has made its way (along with Ankara Citadel) into one of my standard decks, simply because it is so incredibly useful. In general, at least one of the decks at the table will be mostly vampires above 7 capacity, so it is certain to come in handy at some point. Beyond that, it only costs one pool, so it's not a major investment, even if you only get to use its effects a few times. Strategy Corner This is primarily a commentary on Origins, with some notes about the tournament metagame that I observed. So, having finally made it to GenCon last year, I decided to hit Origins this year (in addition to GenCon). It looks like next year may see me making Dragon*Con, with Origins being questionable. I arrived on Thursday, too late to play in the tournament, but I got to meet most of the newsgroup regulars that were hanging around, and did stay up to play in the Newsgroup Invitational. Nothing of major import happened there, except that I played my "Dragos and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" deck, and never saw Dragos in the first 6 vampires, even though there are 5 copies in there. Stupid odds biting me in the ass. This gave Noal a coveted VP for his Baali deck, which, by all reports, is pretty good, with the exception of the whole "hemorrhaging pool like a sieve" bit. :) Friday saw me playing my Shadow Twin deck in the constructed tournament...I had a promising initial round, but got shut down thereafter. Saturday, I (as mentioned in my unofficial tournament report) decided to play my current version of Murmur of the False Will, after realizing how large the tournament field was. I did well enough in the first two rounds to be third seed (8 VP, 2 TW, and a successful ousting of The Lasombra included in there...that'll make my day *any* day), despite gaining 0 VPs in the final round. The final was a disaster, what with Alex Harmon (my predator, playing weenie dom bleed) contesting Sarah Cobbler through the whole game, but it was a lot of fun, and all of the games that day were a struggle. I meant to get a couple of games in later that evening, but got sucked into going out to a club for booze and music instead, and had a pretty good time with that. As someone else has pointed out, there seemed to be a fair amount of intercept at Origins. Robyn Tatu also mentioned during the tournament that there was a lot of rush combat running around, including Theo Bell at four tables simultaneously. I did not see a lot of dedicated intercept decks, but a fair amount had some transient intercept, including 2nd Tradition and a number of !Malkavian decks with random Auspex intercept. The deck I played is specifically designed to defeat typical intercept decks as well as deal with rush combat (of which there was a lot as well). You have all seen it before, it's the deck I won the Shadow Twin tournament with last year, and it was originally proposed in my February 2001 newsletter (http://www.waste.org/~xian/geek/jyhad/news/tremere2-3.html) as Rededication. Basically, it's Tremere Power Bruise & Bleed, with Seduction thrown in to get around the "dedicated intercept" minion. Seduction has quickly been one of my favorite cards, after ignoring it for ages. At DOM, it can easily stymie the typical Tzimisce/Gangrel "one big blocker" deck, and it can usually be freely cycled if necessary. The bruise angle works well against intercept and run away decks, and it also allows the deck to hold its own against rush combat. Oh yeah, and Perfect Clarity shuts down Deflection quite nicely, thank you. My advice, in brief: when preparing for a tournament, do your best to ignore your local metagame, and prepare as much as you can for the typical tournament favorites, while at the same time including a sideline (or at least know how you will deal with) unusual decks. I don't fully agree with Ben Peal's "delivery system and payload" concept, but it is very close to the mark. Especially after the Camarilla set, I believe that combat will be an even more important mechanic, so to do well in a tournament, you can never ignore what you plan for combat is (even if it is simply "get more minions and ignore the losses"). At any rate, I had a great time, was very excited to meet some of the regulars that I have been itching to meet for years (Peter, Noal, and Dave McCarty, among others), and was wholly satisfied by the entire experience. During this process, I noticed again (and my friend Tim drew the same conclusion) that in general, V:tES players are a very interesting subset of the gamer population, and are generally somewhat more functional members of society (and more mature) than your average gamer (if just as obsessive). I cannot say how pleased I am to be part of such a high-functioning group of individuals, such that I do not dread talking to new V:tES players, and usually enjoy the wide range of conversation that is available outside of the structured setting of the game itself. Though smaller than GenCon, Origins definitely has its own charms, even if it was about a 14-hour drive for me. I would also like to congratulate Jay Kristoff, Prince of Columbus, on making sure there was an additional event on Sunday (even if I was unable to make it), and for generally providing entertainment and assistance where necessary. Deck of the Month Title: Rutor's Rush Author: Norman S. Brown, Jr (x_zealot@bellsouth.net) Crypt (12) 2 Aisling Sturbridge AUS dom THA 5, Tremere 1 Astrid Thomas aus DOM pot THA 7, Tremere, Primogen 1 Blythe Candeleria aus THA 3, Tremere 1 Bryan Van Duesen aus DOM pre THA 7, Tremere Antitribu 1 Hannigan AUS dom THA 5, Tremere Antitribu 1 Justine AUS DOM obf THA 8, Tremere, Primogen 1 Magdelena Schaefer THA 2, Caitiff 2 Merrill Molitor aus dom THA 5, Tremere 1 Muaziz aus dom for THA 7, Tremere 1 Sarah Cobbler dom THA 4, Tremere Min: 14, Max: 29, Avg: 5.25 Library (90) Master (15): 1 Academic Hunting Ground 1 Arcane Library 6 Blood Doll 1 Chantry 1 Direct Intervention 2 Haven Uncovered 1 Jake Washington (Hunter) 1 Mob Connections 1 Rack, The Actions (24): 3 Atonement 7 Govern the Unaligned 2 Graverobbing 5 Nose of the Hound 7 Rutor's Hand Action Modifier (4): 1 Conditioning 3 Perfect Clarity Reaction (6): 6 Deflection Combat (40): 10 Apportation 3 Burst of Sunlight 2 Telepathic Tracking 15 Theft of Vitae 4 Trap 6 Walk of Flame Equipment (1): 1 Palatial Estate Norm didn't include any detailed comments along with this deck, but it looks pretty solid to me. As far as I can tell, the only thing that I would add are probably some Wakes, maybe losing some of the superfluous master cards (the hunting ground, The Rack, Jake Washington) for them, and perhaps putting in a few more Nose of the Hound. The combat cards are very solid, with just the right amount of Theft of Vitae to Walk of Flame. A few more Apportations might help, but the Mob Connections assists that somewhat. Depending on what you normally face, the Telepathic Trackings could be replaced with more Perfect Clarity, in order to shut down Obedience/Majesty, or you could remove the Traps as well, relying on other sources of presses for more anti-S:CE cards. Substituting two Telepathic Misdirection for Deflections might help a little, as you are likely to see Aisling, Hannigan, or Justine in your opening crypt, and the additional +1 intercept can be handy from time to time, but substituting more might prove troublesome. All in all, it seems a very capable deck, in the right hands. That's it for now. Please feel free to comment on the newsgroup, or send me suggestions (or submissions) via email. And thank you to Emile Bosman, who sent a Rotschreck that I intend to include in an upcoming newsletter (after I see if there are changes to Rotschreck in the Camarilla set). Xian Chronicler of Clan Tremere