VEKN Official Clan Tremere Newsletter, March 2001 Volume 2, issue 4 Please direct all correspondence and commentary to Xian. [Legal stuff to the tune of: I wrote all this, so give credit where it's due, etc.] This month, I take a look at equipment, which I have disdained in the past. Conventional wisdom indicates that equipment is too slow for any quick-moving deck, whether it be combat, bleed, or whatever. This can definitely be offset by a number of tricks the Tremere have access to, and the upcoming Tremere Antitribu newsletter will look at this in more detail. However, if you are playing a deck that is a little more diverse than a straight-ahead bruise and bleed or combat deck, perhaps equipment might be what you're looking for. Focus on a Card Magic of the Smith Action 1 blood Thaumaturgy Inf: +1 stealth action. Go through your library, find a piece of equipment, and equip the acting vampire. [Pay cost to equip.] Reshuffle afterwards. Sup: As above, but as a +3 stealth action. Magic of the Smith is a card that I have generally wondered about. I mean, why not just include more copies of the equipment you want to fish out of your deck? What Magic of the Smith allows, however, is for you to pile in a number of different pieces of equipment, and then go look for the one that is right for the current situation. If for example, you have a Magic of the Smith in your hand, and your library contains a Laptop, IR Goggles, and a Hawg, you could pull out the one that was most useful depending on whether you want to crank up your bleed or become more effective in combat Also, Magic of the Smith at superior is handy in casual intercept environments. Does everyone in your playgroup include at least 1 KRCH or London Evening Star in every deck? If so, then perhaps using Magic of the Smith is for you. By going up to +3 stealth, only decks that are devoting a significant portion of their library to intercept are going to be able to touch you. Of course, this all depends on your metagame...it isn't going to help you if nothing ever gets blocked or if there's a wicked Tzimisce deck that a certain guy always plays. There isn't a whole lot unusual that you can do with Magic of the Smith, as always, it just lets you go look for a piece of equipment. Of course, you could use it to conjure up a Talbot's Chainsaw or a Sengir Dagger for extra punch. Also, if you use it after bringing out a Rutor's Hand, you can use your free action to get whatever equipment you need, as well as take your normal action. Much like most of the other Jyhad rares, Magic of the Smith is not for everyone, and you probably shouldn't use it that often. It's nice to use it to sneak a critical piece of equipment out of the bottom of your library at stealth, but it's not all that useful if you rely very little on equipment. Magic of the Smith is definitely one of the more interesting, but less-than-generally useful Thaumaturgy cards. Be careful when using it, and make sure you follow all of the precautionary measures listed in small print on the back of the card. Strategy Corner Not a whole lot exciting to talk about right now. I've suffered some defeat with my straight-ahead bleed deck, but I've still won over half the times I've played with it, and in the two defeats I've suffered I still eked out a victory point against oversized (approximately 130 cards each) decks. I've been challenged to come up with a working Tremere political deck, so that may be next on the menu. Haven't had much time to play this month, so not a whole lot to suggest. I'll have something useful next time. Sample Deck Title: Tremere Equipment Author: Tim Ejipe Crypt 1x Astrid Thomas 1x Blythe Candelaria 1x Cassandra, Magus Prime 1x Dr. John Casey 1x Ignatius 1x Jing Wei 1x Justine, Elder of Dallas 2x Merrill Molitor 1x Muaziz, Archon of Ulugh Beg 1x Roreca Quaid 1x Sarah Cobbler Average: 5.08, Best: 11, Worst: 32 Library(90) Masters (17): 1x Academic Hunting Ground 2x Arcane Library 2x Auspex 6x Blood Doll 1x Chantry 1x Dreams of the Sphinx 1x KRCG News Radio 1x Smiling Jack the Anarch 2x Tremere Convocation Minion (73): 6 Burst of Sunlight 1 Charnas the Imp 3 Conditioning 5 Deflection 2 Dodge 5 Enhanced Senses 3 Flak Jacket 5 Govern the Unaligned 1 Grave Robbing 1 Ivory Bow 4 Magic of the Smith 8 Movement of the Mind 1 Mr. Winthrop 2 My Enemy's Enemy 1 Palatial Estate 1 Revelations 1 Sengir Dagger 2 Spirit's Touch 2 Sport Bike 1 Talaq, The Immortal 1 Talbot's Chainsaw 8 Theft of Vitae 6 Wake with Evening's Freshness 2 Walk of Flames I unfortunately don't have much commentary from Tim on how this works, but it looks pretty straightforward in that it's kinda tool-boxish. It's got some bleed, some bounce, some combat, and it can go get whatever it wants with 4 Magis of the Smith. Next month: Some coordination with the Tremere Antitribu newsletter, hopefully plenty of other stuff. 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