Once and Future Kings Ventrue Antitribu Newsletter (Jan. 03) 1 - Introduction 2 - Feature - Fortitude: Beyond damage prevention 3 - Vampire of the Month - Edward Neally 4 - Card of the Month - Denial of Aphrodite's Favor 5 - Deckstravaganza 6 - Final Words 1 - Introduction Well, the time has come to open up a new chapter in an oft ignored and frequently denigrated bloodline that I quite enjoy. The Ventrue Antitribu possess a unique discipline package that stands to be quite effective in almost any meta-game. This is but my first foray into uncovering the many neglected secrets that are heir to this royal line. Bear with me, as I will unfortunately be covering the elementary materials before I get to be very creative. So, sit back, have some tea, and enjoy the first of hopefully many of the new Ventrue Antitribu newsletters. 2 - Feature - Fortitude: Beyond damage prevention Now I'm not saying you can't use it for damage prevention, and in fact short of Thoughts Betrayed the Ventrue Antitribu have very little in regards to not getting cosmically splattered whilst in combat. However, I would like to take a slightly wider look at this seemingly one-dimensional discipline. What else does fortitude do? Well, not a heck of a lot, really, but what it does do it does really well. Freak Drive has always been a core card for those fortitude decks. Since the number of actions that you can get in one game is relatively small anything that can boost the number is certainly advantageous. Surely we've all played a game where Mr. Ventrue took 12 minutes taken 17 actions with his Inner Circle member. The benefits are immediate, and tangible, and with the modified NRA probably even more potent than before. Fortitude makes you think twice about blocking a minion. A kiss from Ra and your day can be seriously ruined. It can also put you into combat inflicting aggravated damage. Or, or if you're more inclined, you can just make the action entirely unblockable. This is right up the alley of those heavy bleeding decks who don't mind short term sacrifice for victory points. With the change to the 5th Tradition, bloat has become more difficult. Fortunately for you there are ways that a fortitude heavy deck can cope. Ventrue Antitribu and Salubri are as good a match as any in the game, and between them they can cycle the blood like there's no tomorrow. Even when in torpor a minion is not helpless. A regeneration coupled with a freak drive and a rapid healing can fill a mid sized vampire up and take him out of torpor. In combat decks, fortitude can be used to get your way, manoeuvring and pressing to your black little heart's content. With Masochism you get to play further combat cards for free. Lastly, and perhaps most strangely, it can be used to bleed. The Gangrel took particular notice of the Force of Will, but it is still a sound tactic in any deck with fortitude. By harassing your prey with non bleed actions you can tap him out, leaving you with clear fields in which to use Deadly Bleeds. 3 - Vampire of the Month - Edward Neally Edward Neally Capacity: 7 Disciplines: DOM, FOR, aus, pre Abilities: If Edward is ready, you can use a master phase action to increase your hand size by 1 card for the remainder of the turn. Edward can look at your prey's hand as a +1 stealth (D) action that costs a blood. Coming from the newfangled Camarilla set, Edward Neally is a solid vampire for its capacity. The out of clan presence gives Edward the ability to merge very well with existing Ventrue. The lack of superior auspex, and no title do not seriously affect the worth of this guy, since both of his abilities are practical. Compare Ed to Vanessa (who share identical disciplines), and you'll see that the 1 extra blood you pay goes a long way: If you find you're short on master cards, he can increase his hand size by one. This allows you to possibly get at a card you might need and also gives you the ability to cycle one more card. If your predator isn't letting you get your reactions out of your hand, then this ability doubles your precious, precious cycling capacity. Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know the value of seeing what cards your prey has. Have you ever wondered if your prey has a Wake or Deflection? Worry no longer; Edward's ability takes most of the guessing game out of the picture. Although the one blood cost can be aggravating, it 's less annoying than wasting all of your bleed cards thinking falsely that your prey was helpless, and much less annoying than falling prey to an Archon Investigation. 4 - Card of the Month - Denial of Aphrodite's Favor [dom] [for] Burn an action card a younger vampire plays that requires Presence as it is played. That card has no effect. Any cost paid is retrieved. Untap the acting vampire; that vampire cannot attempt the same action again this turn. [DOM] [FOR] Burn an action modifier or combat card a younger vampire plays that requires Presence as it is played. That card has no effect. Any cost paid is retrieved. Frankly, I've never used this card in a deck before, but I get shivers down my spine when I think of Lazverinus tearing up a signpost, increasing his strength, and punching with undead strength for 9, and cancelling the unsuspecting adversary's majesty. Unlike immortal grapple this card can be used at long range, and doesn't need to be played until the strike is made. Not only does it nullify the card, but it also doesn't say anything about letting them pick another strike. Even the inferior version is handy. If some no good weenie presence deck runs into this card, it's going to be sorely upset when it can't play a certain card for an entire turn. It also sticks it to those pesky mind numbs and other miscellaneous presence actions that are bound to come up from time to time. 5 - Deckstravaganza Well, here's a shoddily thrown together deck that I'm sure everyone could rip to pieces. The obvious hole here is rush defense, though a couple of sniper rifles might make things a little better. This will be the bane of Malk stealth bleeds, as they repetitiously go bouncing all over the place. As an added bonus there are even some decent voters in here, though not enough to gravely swing the balance. Next month will be better, I promise. Deck Name: The Classic Created By: Derek Rawlings Description: VA reaction based deck, let others do your dirty work then pick up the pieces. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 13, Max: 36, Avg: 6.08) ---------------------------------------------- 1 Ingrid Russo DOM for 4, VA 1 Samson dom 2, VA 1 Billy AUS dom for 5, VA 1 Vanessa aus DOM FOR pre 6, VA 1 Marlene AUS dem DOM for tha 6, VA 1 Dominique ani AUS dom FOR vic 7, VA 1 Gustav Mallenhous AUS DOM for obt 8, VA, Priscus 1 Quentin AUS cel DOM FOR obt 9, VA, Bishop 1 Lazverinus AUS DOM FOR POT pro 10, VA, Archbishop 1 Roxanne AUS DOM FOR OBF pot 9, Malkavian, Primogen 1 Aleph AUS dom 4, Malkavian 1 Isabel de Leon AUS 3, Toreador Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (11 cards) 4 Blood Doll 1 Demonstration 1 Direct Intervention 1 Hungry Coyote, The 2 Minion Tap 1 Sudden Reversal 1 Ventrue Investment Action (19 cards) 8 Govern the Unaligned 2 Precognizant Mobility 4 Recruiting Party 1 Regeneration 4 Restoration Action Modifier (20 cards) 4 Conditioning 4 Foreshadowing Destruction 8 Freak Drive 4 Sleeping Mind, The Reaction (30 cards) 8 Deflection 4 Enhanced Senses 2 Precognition 2 Spirit's Touch 6 Telepathic Counter 6 Telepathic Misdirection 2 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (10 cards) 10 Skin of Steel 6 - Final Words Well, I'm just getting into the swing of things here, and have a heck of a lot more to say. I should have an edition out at least every second month. Stay tuned, and feel free to do any of the following: a.. Comment on this newsletter, scathing or otherwise b.. Send me material, including decks c.. Send me non-sequential bills (American currency preferred) Thanks for your attention. next month we'll aim for even an even better newsletter, featuring Dominate - More than Bleed and Bounce. Derek Rawlings