VEKN Official Clan Tremere Newsletter July 2003 Volume 4, Issue 1 Introduction It's been a long time since I've written one of these newsletters, mostly because of (surprise) real life intruding upon, well, everything else. As a matter of fact, I haven't written a newsletter since before the general release of the Camarilla Edition. My playing has been relatively spare since then, but I've had more chances recently, and in order to get back in the game, I've had to review some of the new cards on my own, without a chance to see them in play much, though with the benefit of the newsgroup to filter ideas from. I'm still not entirely sure what to make of the new discipline spread showcased in CE, namely the focus on Auspex, as opposed to Dominate, and the common additional disciplines of Presence and Necromancy. There is very little Potence in this group, as opposed to the earlier groups, but there is an approximately equivalent amount of Fortitude, and more Celerity. Dorrinal thoughtfully submitted an analysis of the Tremere released since Camarilla Edition, and I will include his analysis as well, at least on the points where we disagree. I should also take this point to thank him for getting me in gear, and working on a newsletter again. I've been working on playing with the Group 3 Tremere, but I haven't had a lot of time to do so, and therefore, I welcome any and all commentary, suggestions, article or deck submissions that you, my loyal readers care to send my way. xian (at) waste (dot) org Review of CE Almiro Suarez 2 aus Rounds out the 2-capacity vampires for Clan Tremere. Not very exciting, but cheap. With a skill card, might be useful for Telepathic Counter or Telepathic Misdirection, or on his own, as a cheap swarm bleeder. *** of a possible 5 stars Ehrich Weiss 3 dom tha The group 3 version of Jing Wei, one of my favorite cheap Tremere from the original set. She's okay on her own, bleeding with Govern the Unaligned and Theft-ing, or give her a skill card or two, and she's about all you need. *** of a possible 5 stars Masika St. John 3 THA Finally, a 3-capacity Tremere with a superior discipline! Superior Dominate seemed highly unlikely to ever be seen, and superior Auspex was already available in Isabel de Leon. Highly useful in a Cryptic Mission deck, as well as any sort of deck that intends to use THA-based combat. Obviously lacking in support disciplines, but that can be remedied. **** of a possible 5 stars Pieter van Dorn 4 dom pre tha Pieter may burn a blood from a ready Tremere as a (D) action. The first of the "new breed", Peter is somewhat unusual in that he lacks Auspex. To truly be the paragon of the group 3 Tremere, Pieter should have had Auspex instead of Dominate. That might have synchronized a little too well with the Toreador, but currently he works fairly well with the Ventrue, so it can't have been that great a concern. Again, he has both Dominate and Thaumaturgy at a relatively cheap price, and could provide greater crypt variation if you include him in a deck with Ehrich Weiss. His special is not all that useful unless you play a lot of sealed or draft, or, I guess, see a lot of Tremere played. Still, it's a zero-stealth Cryptic Mission, which is okay, but not amazing, with the limitation. ** of a possible 5 stars Cohn Rose 5 aus dom pre THA I really want to like Cohn Rose. He is apparently Merrill Molitor's counterpart, with superior Thaumaturgy, and he is really the first truly classic group 3 Tremere, with all of the clan disciplines as well as Presence. The unfortunate thing about Cohn is that he only has one superior discipline, Thaumaturgy. I prefer 5-capacity vampires like Isabel Giovanni, with two superior discplines and one inferior, or one superior and a good special, like our old buddy Merrill. Additionally, I still haven't figured out what to do with the Presence on group 3 Tremere, except maybe use them as "Ventrue-lite" by throwing a few Bewitching Oration into a more vote-y deck or something. All in all, Cohn is pretty good, but could stand to be better. *** of a possible 5 stars Kyoko Shinsegawa 5 aus cel dom for Kyoko hunts by stealing a blood from another ready vampire as a +1 stealth (D) action instead of performing the usual hunt action. Although she doesn't have Thaumaturgy, Kyoko is interesting in that she has a number of useful disciplines along with an interesting special that has been made better by the recent ruling [find google link] that modifiers to hunts apply to all varieties of hunting. The lack of Thaumaturgy hurts, but when you're dealing with vampires under 6 or 7 capacity, you can usually afford to include skill cards if you need them. Alternatively, Kyoko could combine with some of the newer Ventrue, who have some Auspex among them. ** of a possible 5 stars Dorrinal's comments: Kyoko gets the thumbs down for two very important reasons: she is a 5-cap with no superior disciplines, and she does not have thaumaturgy. Without Thaumaturgy, she is a poor choice for most Tremere decks, since they tend to focus on or use thaumaturgy extensively. Eugenio Estevez 6 AUS dom for THA Prior to Camarilla Edition, the Tremere had only one 6-capacity vampire with any superior disciplines, Thomas Thorne. As a matter of fact, this capacity was the hallmark of shame for the Tremere...Thomas Thorne has superior Dominate and a lot of promise, but all those inferior disciplines make him hard to use. Elisabetta Romano with her grand total of 4 inferior disciplines and no superior disciplines might have been the worst vampire in Ancient Hearts, if it weren't for Patrizia Giovanni. Anyway, Eugenio is excellent, and deserves a look for any group 3 mid-cap deck you're thinking about building. The inferior Fortitude also gives him immunity to Kiss of Ra, if you see that much, and allows you to splash Fortitude cards into the deck, or combo with the !Ventrue. **** of a possible 5 stars Valois Sang 6 AUS DOM nec tha I'm still not sure what to make of Valois. Again, he's comparable to Thomas Thorne, in that he has inferior Thaumaturgy, and is 6 capacity. On the other hand, he has superior Dominate, at 6 capacity, tied (with good old Tommy again) for lowest-capacity Tremere with DOM. The inferior Necromancy is interesting, but hard to put to good use. *** of a possible 5 stars Carna, the Princess Witch 7 AUS DOM THA Primogen During your untap phase, Carna can burn 1 of her retainers to gain 2 blood. +1 intercept. Carna is pretty much just what the Tremere have been waiting for. 1 vote, all in-clan disciplines at superior, and +1 intercept. Her other special is interesting, but rarely useful. She lacks versatility, not having any out-of-clan disciplines, but she more than makes up for that with focus, and the always handy +1 intercept. In many ways, it seems players value +1 intercept more than +1 stealth (even though +1 stealth is incredibly good). So many default actions taken by vampires are at a default +1 stealth, it is worthwhile to have a minion that can stop those actions without having to play a card. The only fault I can find in Carna is that she doesn't have any interesting out-of-clan uses to add a little spice. ***** of a possible 5 stars Virstania, the Great Mother 7 AUS dom pre THA vic If Virstania is ready, any ready slave Gargoyle may remove his or her slave status and become an independent vampire as a +1 stealth action, and non-slave Gargoyles can bleed at +1 bleed as a (D) action that costs a blood. Virstania is unusual, at best. Although her special that grants Gargoyles better bleeding abilities is interesting, in the process of "freeing" the Gargoyles, they lose one of their most useful traits, that of being able to take over a combat through the Slave Rule. Her disciplines aren't really all that special, though they are very much in-line for the Group 3 Tremere, and she has Vicissitude as well. There might be some use for Vicissitude, but currently, only 4 vampires (and Ian Forrestal) have both Thaumaturgy and Vicissitude. The applications seem somewhat limited, though using Plasmic Form (and perhaps skill cards to be able to use Changeling) for stealth is a possibility. * of a possible 5 stars Dorrinal's comments: Virstania almost seems good at first, and she fits into three of the new Tremere archetypes: dom/AUS/THA vampires, dom/pre/tha vampires, and Gargoyle assistants. Unfortunately, she does not excel in any of those categories. dom/AUS/THA: she is more expensive than Eugenio, and is outclassed by Carna. dom/pre/THA: for 7 pool, you get neither a title or PRE. She's filler, not a focus. Gargoyles: Her special can do a lot for gargoyle bleed decks. However, she will be hard to incorporate as she costs a lot of pool and shares no disciplines with the Gargoyles. I think a lot can be done with her and the Gargoyles but I don't see it being very competitive at all. Time will tell. And what is with the Vicissitude? This one truly is an anomaly. Anastaszdi Zagreb 8 ani AUS cel dom THA Justicar If there are any other justicars ready, Anastaszdi gets 1 fewer vote from his justicar title. Anastaszdi may steal 1 blood as a ranged strike. Anastaszdi (or Anastasz di) Zagreb is easily one of the best new Tremere. A justicar for even cheaper than Sheldon's cost (you can get him out in 2 turns), and he has a discipline spread that is pretty good for his capacity (even if he does lack DOM). His drawback, while annoying, shouldn't come up too frequently, and even if you do see lots of justicars in your playgroup, most of the time, the opposing deck would have had vote superiority anyway. The only time you should really be annoyed is if you find yourself just shy of tying numerous votes in a row. His special ability, while not as good as Goratrix's, is still quite good. The inferior Animalism and Celerity also provide interesting combinations to explore. ***** of a possible 5 stars Erichtho 8 AUS cel DOM obf THA Actions to recruit or employ mages cost Erichtho 1 less pool or blood. With inferior Obfuscate, Erichtho is reminiscent of the Group 1 Malkavians Lucian and Mariel, and one certainly can employ Erichtho in this manner, bleeding for a whole lot at stealth, along with the 9 other Group 2 and 3 vampires with Dominate, Obfuscate, and Thaumaturgy. However, it seems like it would be more worthwhile to use Erichtho for her special, perhaps with the assistance of Charisma for bargain-basement prices on a multiplicity of mages, getting added value from the Obfuscate to get the actions through. The superior in-clans are great, and the Celerity could come in handy, depending on who else you add to the deck. ** of a possible 5 stars Lille Haake 9 AUS DOM nec pre THA Primogen Lille gets +1 bleed when bleeding a Methuselah who controls a ready Sabbat vampire. During your master phase, you may use a master phase action to discard a card from your hand. Lille is another vampire I have high hopes for, but so far, they have been unrealized. Primarily, this is because I haven't built any decks including her yet, but it is also partly because her out-of-clan disciplines don't have any screamingly obvious uses. Both Necromancy and Presence are useful, but in general, she can get many of the effects these disciplines produce from her in-clan disciplines. The stigma of being a 9-capacity Primogen is hard to overcome, even with two relatively useful specials. +1 bleed, even with a (depending on your playgroup) relatively easy to satisfy condition is good, and the discard option could come in handy at times. Perhaps she is a primary candidate to make Will of the Council useful. ** of a possible 5 stars Dorrinal's comments: Lille Haake will probably be the least-used new Tremere, next to Virstania. Spending 9 pool on only a Primogen (see Carna and Anastaszdi) is steep, and she only has nec or pre. For the necromancy or presence angles, she is probably too expensive. For standard Tremere strategies, there are far better choices. Oliver Thrace 9 AUS DOM nec obf pot THA Vampires opposing Oliver in combat may not end combat as a strike. Once each action he may burn a card that requires Thaumaturgy from your hand to get +1 bleed. Everyone seems to love Oliver Thrace, but I'm not sure he's that good. His specials are good, and his disciplines are pretty good, but 9 capacity is generally pretty awful, and he doesn't have a title either, not even a nasty little Primogenature. (I'm sensing a Lille + Oliver Of Noble Blood/Will of the Council deck in the near future.) Inferior Necromancy, Obfuscate, and Potence are all useful, and combine well with some of the other Tremere. Superior in-clans are expected at this level, really. I guess I'm not as excited about the anti-S:CE ability as others seem to be. Useful, yes, but I generally don't design my decks to worry about S:CE much. Sometimes it's annoying if they do, but either I have a remedy for it, or I don't care. I guess the special means that you could pack fewer Telepathic Tracking in your intercept deck or something, but he's too expensive to include in a deck unless you're making use of more than just his in-clan disciplines. *** of a possible 5 stars Lucas Halton 10 AUS CEL DOM qui THA Prince of Houston Once each turn, when Lucas blocks an action, he may burn a blood instead of tapping for the successful block (before combat occurs). Another winner from the Camarilla Edition, Lucas has a great set of disciplines, which, though seemingly smaller than usual for a vampire of his size, is made up for in synergy as well as through his special ability. Superior in-clans are assisted by superior Celerity, possibly the best combat-support discipline for the Tremere. Inferior quietus is an interesting addition that lets Lucas combo with the Assamites (specifically Parnassus and Al-Ashrad) or lets you splash some Quietus into your Tremere deck. Lucas' special is, quite simply, incredible. Leave him untapped, or use it with 2nd Tradition, either way, it's great. I don't really think there's much more to say about him; Lucas has the most complementary set of disciplines in the Camarilla Edition Tremere, a title, and a special that just won't quit. Really, his only downside is his cost. **** of a possible 5 stars Card of the Month This issue, it's really got to be the new and improved Blood Fury. Blood Fury Combat 1 blood tha: Strike: strength + 1 damage, only usable at close range. This damage cannot be prevented by cards that require Fortitude. If the opposing vampire attempts to strike with a weapon this round, he or she does no damage. THA: As above, but for strength + 2 damage. Way way way back in the day, this was one of my favorite cards, because it was one of the few that would send my friends' Gangrel to torpor. Sure, I got hit back and usually ended up in torpor too, but it made them (somewhat) afraid to fight me too. Even back then, we wondered why it wasn't a hand strike, because that's what the power requires in the RPG. So, much like everyone else was, I was surprised to see this card changed in the Camarilla Edition. Surprised and pleased. Some of you may recall my early experimentation with Potence and Thaumaturgy, a trick deck, but one with which I had some success. This change, though, makes the concept much better, and allows vampires with superior in one of the disciplines to lack the other at superior. THA pot is approximately as effective as tha POT, though the former might be preferred for the maneuvers available. I'm not going to include a deck with this card for this month, but there have been a few posted in the last 6 months or so, if you want to google something up. Deck of the Month Deck Name: Fire and Magick Created By: Dorrinal Description: Dominate and Thaumaturgy bruise-and-bleed deck, with a few allies added in for support and flavor. In general, bleed away with dominate and recruit some mages and get a high number of minions out. Let your prey be afraid of your minions and bleed through as much as possible. Use the light intercept to catch a few crucial actions. Crypt: (13 cards, Min: 14, Max: 27, Avg: 5.00) ---------------------------------------------- 1 Muaziz aus dom for THA 7, Tremere 1 Bryan Van Duesen aus DOM pre THA 7, Tremere Antitribu 1 Astrid Thomas aus DOM pot THA 7, Tremere, Primogen 1 Reverend Blackwood DOM obf THA 6, Tremere Antitribu, Bishop 1 Merrill Molitor aus dom THA 5, Tremere 1 Kurt Strauss aus DOM tha 5, Tremere Antitribu 1 Hannigan AUS dom THA 5, Tremere Antitribu 1 Aisling Sturbridge AUS dom THA 5, Tremere 1 Sarah Cobbler dom THA 4, Tremere 1 Ignatius aus dom tha 4, Tremere 1 Thelonius aus dom tha 4, Tremere Antitribu 1 Brooke dom tha 3, Tremere Antitribu 1 Jing Wei dom tha 3, Tremere Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (14 cards) 1 Academic Hunting Ground 1 Arcane Library 1 Barrens, The 6 Blood Doll 1 Dominate 1 Dreams of the Sphinx 1 Mob Connections 1 Sudden Reversal 1 University Hunting Ground Action (6 cards) 4 Bum's Rush 2 Govern the Unaligned Action Modifier (8 cards) 8 Conditioning Reaction (20 cards) 6 Deflection 2 Eagle's Sight 2 Enhanced Senses 2 Melange 2 Precognition 2 Spirit's Touch 4 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (36 cards) 10 Apportation 3 Fake Out 3 High Ground 2 Telepathic Tracking 8 Theft of Vitae 4 Thoughts Betrayed 6 Walk of Flame Ally (6 cards) 1 Nephandus (Mage) 1 Outcast Mage 3 Rafastio Ghoul 1 Thadius Zho, Mage Commentary: Group 1/2 bruise & bleed...feels like coming home. I like the inclusion of High Ground, though I think that there are not enough Theft of Vitae, and too many Walk of Flame. The allies are a nice touch, and the reaction cards are a good mix. More Governs might be useful, but aren't necessary, with the small crypt average. As for the masters, 2 Hunting Grounds might be overkill, but should consistently feed the 6 Blood Dolls. 8 Conditioning is a good number, should provide significant bleed boost. All in all, this seems to be a pretty solid deck with a few tweaks to make it a little more toolboxy. Upcoming Issues I'll have some thoughts on AUS/THA Tremere, and I'll have a couple of Rotschreck-based decks, including one that's LONG overdue. I'll be reviewing the new stuff from Anarchs, and I'll take some time to go over other interesting aspects of the new set. Additionally, I hope to have some stories or experiences from GenCon to relate, as well as any interesting Tremere tech that I happen to see or hear about. Xian Chronicler of Clan Tremere