V:EKN Official Tremere Newsletter, November 2004 I. Introduction II. Strategy Discussion - Anarchy III. Crypt Focus - Eugenio Estevez IV. Library Focus - Loose Cannon V. Deck Focus - Crusaders and Loose Cannons VI. Conclusion I. Introduction Welcome to our new bi-monthly Tremere Newsletter! In the past month the Kindred have been assaulted by a new Infernal Plague and are fighting all over for control. My own haven of Salt Lake City was won by Tremere, against the infernalists. Oddly enough, I was not the one playing the deck! Congratulations to Tim Bentkowski, who played an intercept-combat deck and let the infernal cost wear down his opponents. This newsletter will focus on my recent experiments with Anarchs cards. The two cards of note are Diversion and Loose Cannon, which both have Thaumaturgy powers. Loose Cannon is an interesting card fresh out of Gehenna, so it has not seen much play yet. II. Strategy Discussion - Anarchy Anarchs get access to good cards that only Anarchs can play, including cost-efficient masters, their own titles, and the famous three-way cards. This Newsletter will stay away from the Anarch Barons - perhaps we will entertain the idea in a future edition. Here is a list of Anarchs cards that may make it worthwhile for Tremere: The Anarch Free Press - Cheap permanent intercept is well at home in most Tremere decks, and the boost to hunting is a nice bonus. Anarch Railroad - Tremere are often in desparate need of stealth on critical actions. Diversion - Arguably the strongest three-way card, Diversion combines Thaumaturgy with two abilites from common out-of-clan disciplines. Hospital Food - Good hunting can be used after a Rutor's Hand, if you can not get into combat to play your Theft of Vitae, or with Kyoko Shinsegawa's special ability. Loose Cannon - see Library Focus below. Reformation - Use it to deny victims of their hunting grounds when playing Cryptic Mission or a similar deck. The Status Perfectus - A permanent Fast Reaction with the ability to shuffle blood between your Anarchs; good synergy with all the hunt-enhancing cards. Stolen Police Cruiser - Nothing wrong with +1 bleed and conditional "stealth"! There are two primary costs to building a deck based on Anarchs: speed and deck space. Any vampire can go Anarch as a cardless action which can be blocked and slows down any of your other strategies. To compensate for that speed, one can use either Go Anarch or Galaric's Legacy. Galaric's Legacy is a better option than Go Anarch in almost all situations because it is not an action that can be blocked. How do we build a deck with these constraints? I have gathered some good advice from other methuselahs who have been experimenting longer with Anarchs, and it is fairly simple. Start by building an 80-card deck with the ratios you would use in a deck that size. That might be the hard part if you build 90-card decks regularly like I do. I found that taking one or two copies of each card I would use in a 90-card deck will do the trick for me. For instance if you play 10 Govern the Unaligned and 8 Deflection, consider 8 and 6, respectively. When you are happy with the deck add 8 Galaric's Legacy (maybe one Seattle Committee) and you have a reasonably efficient Anarchs deck; tweak ratios to meet your taste and metagame. Now that we have an idea what Anarchy can do and what we might want to do with it, let us look at a few cards we may want to use to implement an Anarchs-based deck. III. Crypt Focus - Eugenio Estevez Eugenio Estevez Clan: Tremere Capacity: 6 Group: 3 dom for AUS THA Camarilla. Eugenio may be a curious choice to a lot of people, due to his lack of any special abilities. However his blandness, so to speak, may be his greatest asset. He fits into the dom/AUS/THA paradigm, mixing well with Aisling Sturbridge or Hector Trelane as well as the rest of the Group 3 vampires. The only extra ability he has is his Fortitude, which can provide him with a few advantages: Everyone who plays with intercept has lost a vampire to Kiss of Ra at least once. If you expect Kiss of Ra in your metagame, double up on Eugenio and you have a strong blocker. In my intercept decks, he is second only to Carna in importance. Fortitude provides Eugenio with good combat options. Damage prevention works well with close combat or Burst of Sunlight. He can utilize a classic combination of Dawn Operation with Skin of Night and Weather Control to send a blocking vampire to torpor with unpreventable aggravated damage before range is determined in combat. Freak Drive is another advantage which is free after he equips with Ankara Citadel, Turkey. Note that the latter two options work best with superior Fortitude, so pack discipline masters if you want to build a Fortitude-based deck with Eugenio. Eugenio Estevez is a solid staple for Group 3 and he belongs in most decks in his group range. Do not forget him when filling out a crypt or looking for some Fortitude vampires! IV. Library Focus - Loose Cannon Loose Cannon Action Modifier Dementation, Thaumaturgy, Vicissitude 1 blood Requires an anarch. Only usable as the action is announced. If this action is blocked, apply the following effect (before combat occurs): [dem] Tap a younger non-blocking vampire controlled by the blocking minion's controller. [tha] Move 2 blood from a non-blocking vampire controlled by the blocking minion's controller to this vampire. [vic] This acting vampire's hand damage is aggravated in the resulting combat. Here is a threatening card made for Anarchs of various clans: note that all three disciplines are "signature" clan disciplines for Malkavian, Tremere, and Tzimisce, respectively. The Dementation ability looks good at first, but the requirement of a younger blocker can hurt its utility. Vicissitude certainly is threatening but it is not a surprise to anyone blocking a Tzimisce - it is just cheaper than Body Arsenal and only requires inferior Vicissitude unlike Chiropteran Marauder. The Thaumaturgy ability has incredible threat value as you can drain your opponents of blood quickly with just a few blocked actions. Upon first examining the card, one might want to play this on bleed actions, forcing a "no block" response and then increasing the bleed. However this card must be played carefully on bleeds because if the bleed is deflected and your grand-prey wishes to block, you will take blood from your grand-prey's minions, which is usually not ideal. Then again, it is often a better deal for your grand-prey than getting bled for 3, and he/she can always deflect the bleed on to his/her prey. It appears that a bleed is not necessarily the best action to use Loose Cannon on. When one considers all the actions that are threatening enough to demand a block (Rutor's Hand, Magic of the Smith, political actions, etc.) one realises they are all at +1 stealth or greater. So using Loose Cannon may threaten potential blockers, but often you will find that there are no minions that can block these crucial actions. Based on that, I would put only a moderate amount of Loose Cannon (4-6 in an 80-card deck) in the deck to prevent wasted blood or hand jam. I would also put in powerful actions that would otherwise be blocked in your other decks. In my experience, playing Loose Cannon almost always ensures a successful action. You can enhance this ability by taking advantage of minions on low blood. Add a Society of Leopold or two and the table will think twice about blocking after a vampire burns. Use Crocodile's Tongue to take advantage of minions low on blood and push through "must-block" actions like bleeds that oust the blocking methuselah. Loose Cannon takes a common theme in Tremere bruise - the threat of blood theft - and removes it from combat. It is not the best for bleed actions in a high-deflection environment but one can still take advantage of it. It does not seem to be any better than traditional bruise-strategies for our clan, but it will create some new and interesting interactions at your table. V. Deck Focus - Crusaders and Loose Cannons Deck Name: Crusaders and Loose Cannons Author: Dorrinal Blackmantle Description: This is a bruise and bleed deck using Thaumaturgy three-way cards. Influence out three anarchs who have Thaumaturgy. Use Loose Cannon to push bleeds of 3 through, or drain your prey's vampires of blood; actions like Revelations and Charnas the Imp are sure to draw blocks from anyone with intercept. Once your prey's vampires are low on blood, deliver finishing bleeds with Crocodile's Tongue. Standard bleed defense provided by Auspex and Dominate. Combat is simple: prevent, prevent, prevent, and steal a little blood on the side. Crypt (12 vampires, Min: 20, Max: 30, Average: 6.17) ---------------------------------------------------- 2 Erichtho 8 AUS DOM THA cel obf Tremere:3 2 Muaziz, Archon of 7 THA aus dom for Tremere:2 2 Eugenio Estevez 6 AUS THA dom for Tremere:3 2 Marlene, The Infer 6 AUS DOM dem for tha !Ventrue:2 2 Kyoko Shinsegawa 5 aus cel dom for Tremere:3 2 Vincent Day, Palad 5 aus dom for pot tha !Ventrue:2 Library (90 cards) ------------------ Action (13) 8 Govern the Unaligned 4 Revelations 1 Status Perfectus, The Action Modifier (17) 4 Change of Target 4 Crocodile's Tongue 6 Loose Cannon 3 Seduction Combat (22) 2 Burst of Sunlight 16 Diversion 4 Skin of Steel Equipment (1) 1 Sword of Nuln Master (20) 1 Anarch Free Press, The 1 Anarch Railroad 1 Barrens, The 5 Blood Doll 8 Galaric's Legacy 1 Hospital Food 2 Information Highway 1 Society of Leopold Reaction (16) 6 Deflection 2 Enhanced Senses 4 Forced Awakening 2 Precognition 2 Spirit's Touch Retainer (1) 1 Charnas the Imp VI. Conclusion Going Anarch adds a new dimension to one's play and provides a deckbuilding challenge to many methuselahs. It can also grant Tremere access to a few things they normally would not have (see above). For those reasons I recommend experimenting with the mechanics and you will find that Anarchs have something to offer you. As always it is a pleasure to write a worthwhile newsletter for Tremere players world wide. Send any comments, questions, or submissions via email to dorrinal@hotmail.com. Look for the next Newsletter in January 2005! Dorrinal Blackmantle Chronicler of Clan Tremere