V:EKN Official Tremere Newsletter, March 2005 I. Introduction II. Strategy Discussion - Bruise and Bleed III. Crypt Focus - Valerius Maior, Hell's Fool IV. Library Focus - The Name Forgotten V. Deck Focus - Dark Thaumaturgy VI. Conclusion I. Introduction Many apologies for the long wait for this Newsletter! Since November we have seen the Tenth Anniversary Set reprint all the Group 1 Tremere as well as a handful of excellent new cards, including Bowl of Convergence, a powerful equipment and seemingly tailored to a Tremere intercept-combat deck. Now we have Kindred Most Wanted, a set mostly based around the Independent clans, Baali, and Gangrel antitribu. There is something for everybody, though, since there are many new vampires with Thaumaturgy, a new Tremere crypt card and an action requiring Thaumaturgy! Along with a few rules changes to Anarch Revolt and Infernalism we get a brand-new Red List trait, so this promises to be an exciting set even though my clan is not in the spotlight. This month we will discuss some strategy that has been debated quite a bit recently, then go over the new cards available to us in Kindred Most Wanted. II. Strategy Discussion - Bruise and Bleed Bruise-and-bleed (B&B) is considered a classic Tremere strategy. The idea is to mix offensive combat with heavy bleeds to wear done your prey's pool and vampires. When you bleed, you create a no-win situation for your prey - either he will burn 3 pool or lose a minion. This article will not discuss whether B&B is a viable strategy or not; we will simply explore how to implement it with the Tremere. For our purposes, the bleed discipline is Dominate and the primary combat discipline is Thaumaturgy. In order to keep pressure on your prey you need to be capable of doing two things: bleed for significant amounts, and rough up any blocking minions. This often requires a careful choice and balance of library cards. Bleed is the easy part; often 10 copies of Conditioning in a 90-card deck will work. You may be tempted to include lots of Govern the Unaligned but it is not as useful to your offense because it lacks the surprise value that helps B&B work (in other words if you bleed without Govern the Unaligned your prey does not know for sure if you have Conditioning or not). Combat is much harder to balance because you need to be able to regularly survive combat, deal some damage, and hopefully torporize a vampire when you need to. On the other hand you do not want to have so much combat in the deck that you often find your hand jammed. I recommend around 30 cards, built around Theft of Vitae. Stealing 2 blood at range stops damage prevention, feeds Blood Dolls, and can recover blood lost to ranged attacks (like guns). If you see a lot of Strike: Combat Ends you may want to mix in an appropriate number of trumps like Thoughts Betrayed, Telepathic Tracking, or Perfect Clarity. Note that if you add such cards you may have to rework your crypt slightly to accomodate discipline requirements. Here are some suggested combat packages for a Tremere B&B deck in 30 cards or less: Play-It-Safe - great vs. other press-combat and when you don't care about torporizing vampires. 12x Movement of the Mind 12x Theft of Vitae DOM/THA burn - maneuver + Theft combat which can occasionally burn a vampire. 12x Apportation 10x Theft of Vitae 4x Thoughts Betrayed 4x Walk of Flame AUS/THA burn - Use Telepathic Tracking at inferior when possible to protect your Tremere. 8x Apportation 6x Telepathic Tracking 10x Theft of Vitae 6x Walk of Flame And if all else fails, simply use Magic of the Smith to equip your big, nasty weapon of choice. Now you have bleed, a combat package, and probably some reactions to take advantage of our Auspex and Dominate. But when you play you still run into problems with hand-jam: maybe no one blocks and you have a hand full of red when you need bleed, or you have a hand full of bleed when you are in combat. Naturally this is a problem for all kinds of decks but some are able to cycle cards better. In that case you need to include the ability to move cards out of hand quickly, and there are two good ways to do that. The first is to include some enter-combat actions so that when you need to torporize a minion you can choose your target and play cards without waiting for someone to block. Many sophisticated B&B decks try to run 2-6 rush actions. The second method is to simply include flush tech such as The Barrens or Fragment of the Book of Nod. Another consideration is Deflection. Arguably the strongest defense in the game, and also the best way to deal with a B&B predator. Thankfully you will be bleeding at 0 stealth, so a deflected bleed is easily blocked. I recommend using Change of Target for just this situation. In addition, many decks can afford to play Perfect Clarity on bleeds, eliminating Deflection and Redirection. So how do you play this B&B deck? Perhaps moreso than any other deck, you need to keep your prey on a leash. I recommend bringing out a small vampire like Jing Wei or Ehrich Weiss on your first turn, then bleeding for at least 3. Your prey will have fewer pool with which to influence vampires, and so his minions become more precious. That way you can relax the leash, maybe tool up a bit with Govern the Unaligned and other cards. Also try to make the first combat you are in count; at least torporize the vampire if possible. This sends a message to the table that you mean business and it will enable you to bleed more often, even help with bluffing a strong combat hand. Bruise-and-bleed is very psychological in nature, which makes it a very rewarding strategy to play. III. Crypt Focus - Valerius Maior, Hell's Fool Valerius Maior, Hell's Fool Clan: Tremere Capacity: 7 Group: 4 nec pre AUS DAI DOM THA Camarilla. Red List: If Valerius strikes with a strike that requires Thaumaturgy, he gains an optional additional strike, only useable to strike with a strike that requires Thaumaturgy. Infernal. Valerius Maior, Hell's Fool Clan: Tremere antitribu Capacity: 7 Group:4 nec pre AUS DAI DOM THA Advanced, Sabbat. Red List: If Valerius attempts to block, the acting minion cannot play action modifier or combat cards that require Chimerstry [chi] or Obfuscate [obf]. Infernal. [MERGED] Independent: Valerius becomes non-infernal and non-Red List as he merges. While merged, his capacity is reduced by 2. It is sad that a member of the clan has fallen into infernalism - but that will not stop us from influencing him! Valerius Maior is a monster of a vampire with the disciplines and abilities of a 10-cap on a mere 7-cap. He has many strengths and possibilities but two harsh weaknesses: Infernalism and Red List. When you incorporate the Camarilla Valerius into a bruise-and-bleed deck he opens a new avenue of possibilities. His special ability allows him to play multiple strike cards, which can be devastating in combat. But more importantly, this can allow you to cycle more cards in combat if you need to - thus reducing any hand-jam problems you may have. His Daimoinon gives him access to Fear of the Void Below to assist with maneuvers, Conflagration for easy aggravated damage, and the new Ignoring the Searing Flames to handle aggravated damage. Valerius Maior, Advanced is huge when playing intercept-combat. His special stops popular stealth disciplines cold. You can still play Rotschreck with Conflagration, or stick to Burst of Sunlight and use Concordance and Ignoring the Searing Flames to survive your own damage. Additionally, if you merge Valerius Maior, he is eligible to play Atonement. He could also use Psychomachia in conjunction with Seduction and Crocodile's Tongue to get actions passed without worrying about combat at all. Inferior Necromancy and Presence are not particularly exciting, but can offer a few options if he were to Go Anarch, namely Gear Up. His weaknesses are harsh, so we must consider ways to mitigate the penalties. Infernalism is not a new concept but it has changed a bit. You can avoid paying the infernalism cost by keeping him untapped in an intercept-combat deck using the Advanced version. In a bruise-and-bleed deck you can use Blood Dolls consistently fed by Theft of Vitae to cover paying the cost to untap him. Red List can be harder to deal with since some of the control is in the hands of other methuselahs. An obvious solution is to simply build a combat deck. This is probably best for an intercept-combat deck or bruise-and-bleed. You can also play Secure Haven on him, or maybe play a few copies of Obedience. Merging Valerius Maior is probably the best solution, but has a couple of problems on its own. What you do about it depends on the deck. In an intercept-combat deck I would favor the Advanced version but keep a copy or two of the normal version. Then play Gift of Experience and rely on untappers to keep him useful. In a bruise-and-bleed deck, favor the original version and make up for the Gift of Experience with Rutor's Hand. Of course you could just go with 2 or 3 of each vampire and do a standard merge. Find whatever is best for you. Valerius Maior is a very strong vampire whose benefits will far outweigh the maintenance required to deal with his penalties. IV. Library Focus - The Name Forgotten The Name Forgotten Action Thaumaturgy [tha] (D) Put this card on a ready unique vampire. If the vampire with this card is burned, he or she is removed from the game instead, and all Methuselahs search their crypts, uncontrolled regions and ash heaps for other vampires with the same name. These vampires are removed from the game as well (shuffle all crypts afterward). [THA] As above, but this action is at +1 stealth. Here is a card for all the warlocks who have had enough with Turbo-style decks and master-card decks featuring many Golconda. This will stop either deck cold by removing the key vampire for the deck (be it Anson, The Baron, or whomever) completely from the game. Of course, burning the vampire is the hard part. This card is a good consideration for combat decks which include some Thaumaturgy, or as a threat in a bruise-and-bleed deck. To add insult to injury, put it in a deck focused on Etrius and call Protect Thine Own! Perhaps the most common use of this card should be in a Cryptic Mission or Loose Cannon deck, or any deck that burns a lot of blood. Use The Name Forgotten in conjunction with Society of Leopold to get the most out of this card. V. Deck Focus - Dark Thaumaturgy Deck Name: Dark Thauamturgy Author: Dorrinal Blackmantle Description: This is a bruise and bleed deck starring Valerius Maior, Hell's Fool. He will bleed, and if blocked, deliver multiple Theft of Vitae or a Conflagration. Included are several ways for other vampires to acquire Daimoinon. Crypt (12 vampires, Min: 23, Max: 28, Average: 6.42) ---------------------------------------------------- 3 Valerius Maior 7 nec pre AUS DIA DOM THA Tremere:4 3 Valerius Maior ADV 7 nec pre AUS DAI DOM THA !Tremere:4 1 Carna, the Princes 7 AUS DOM THA Tremere:3 1 Ladislas Toth, the 7 for AUS DOM THA !Tremere:3 1 Muhsin Samir 6 aus pot DOM THA Tremere:4 1 Selena 6 AUS DOM THA !Tremere:3 1 Yasmin, the Black 6 dom pre AUS THA !Tremere:3 1 Cohn Rose 5 aus dom pre THA Tremere:3 Library (90 cards) ------------------ Action (12) 2 Concordance 1 Contagion 4 Govern the Unaligned 2 Magic of the Smith 2 Rutor's Hand 1 The Name Forgotten Action Modifier (18) 5 Change of Target 8 Conditioning 2 Crocodile's Tongue 1 Perfect Clarity 1 Psychomachia 1 Seduction Combat (27) 5 Apportation 5 Conflagration 4 Fear of the Void Below 1 Ignore the Searing Flames 12 Theft of Vitae Equipment (2) 1 Ivory Bow 1 The Textbook Damnation Master (15) 1 The Barrens 4 Blood Doll 1 Dreams of the Sphinx 2 Effective Management 1 Fame 1 Gambit Accepted 1 Gift of Experience 2 Infernal Pact 1 Metro Underground 1 Secure Haven Reaction (14) 3 Deflection 2 My Enemy's Enemy 1 Redirection 2 Telepathic Misdirection 6 Wake with Evening's Freshness Retainer (2) 2 Infernal Familiar VI. Conclusion This wraps up another long Tremere Newsletter! I hope it was informative both for Tremere players and those interested in using and refining bruise-and-bleed techniques. We have only just begun the road Valerius Maior has opened to us, so I hope to hear many more ideas on the usual forums and the newsgroup. Next issue we will likely continue looking at 0/1-stealth bleed, but without all that messy combat. Please respond with any comments, questions, or disagreements! You can reach me via email at dorrinal@hotmail.com. Dorrinal Blackmantle Chronicler of Clan Tremere