Once and Future Kings
Ventrue Antitribu Newsletter (July 03)
1 – Introduction
2 – Feature – Auspex: Beyond Intercept
3 – Stratagems – #2 "Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao"
4 – Vampire of the Month – Joseph O'Grady
5 – A call to arms!
6 – Deckstravaganza – Laz-Man Standing
7 – Final Words
1 – Introduction
Well, not two weeks should pass after having released the February
edition of Once and Future Kings and what should happen but a second
!Ventrue win. Ben Swainbank, with his victory at the NE regional
qualifier has become my hero of the month with his "Laz-Man Standing"
deck, which I will be shamelessly featuring in this newsletter.
Now, as the rebirth of the !Ventrue begins, grab a tea and join me on
yet another frolicsome adventure in Once and Future Kings.
2 – Feature – Auspex: Beyond Intercept
Finally, the third feature, on Auspex. After this issue, I'll be able
to get a little unconventional with these features. Though intercept
and bounce are the staples of the Auspex discipline, there are other
applications as well.
First off, Auspex can be of benefit in the voting circle, as Telepathic
Vote Counting can force an abstention, and return vote cards to your
hand if things don't look good.
In combat, it can be used to cycle cards, and has a few cornercase dodge
and press effects. Primal Instincts allows an acting minion to choose a
new strike, coming out of nowhere to seriously inconvenience that person
who played a strike thinking you were striking for hands. Despite its
blood cost, it allows you to test the waters before committing to a more
expensive strike, and fortunately, if you hit them hard enough, you can
Taste the blood cost back. Fast Reaction is another handy, though
rarely used Auspex combat card. The ability to strike your adversary
without him being able to S:CE or strike at all for that matter is
almost worth tapping two vampires to use. Nose of the Hound grants an
optional manoeuvre and grants rush stealth at no cost, and is thus
superior to an ambush in just about every way.
For bleeding, Pulse of the Canaille is a real doozy. Permanent +2 bleed
makes your little vampire just as destructive as an Inner Circle
member. The cost is quite high, but the card cannot be removed once
there, and in most cases it triples the base bleed of your minion. The
basic version even has its uses in a pinch, though I'll confess that
I've only ever used it at basic once in all my days of Jyhad playing.
Precognizant Mobility allows any of your AUS weenies to untap your big
ugly vampires so that they can do a second big and ugly action. This
can be quite useful in some cases, because your vampires that are best
at doing things can do more things.
Eagle Sight mimics the ability of the old Toreador Justicar, and boy can
it come in handy. When playing a reactive deck, it can block anything,
providing that you then have enough intercept. It allows for cross
table deals to be easily made and kept, and also can prevent your prey
from ousting their prey… In general Eagle Sight just makes you a pain in
the but for anyone you don't like.
Next month I want to look at Anarch potentials for the !Ventrue. There
are many untitled mid cap !Ventrue with huge disciplines spreads at
basic, which makes them ideal for tri-discipline cards. I'll get more
into things next issue.
3 – Stratagems – #2 "Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao"
Our second strategem, "Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao" teaches the value of
restricting your opponents assets. Force an opponent to tap out
attempting to block actions so that they become vulnerable to the big
bleed. This can be as easy as trying to claim their Rack, Fragment, or
PB: Montreal, or as complex as equipping with equipment you know will
not be allowed out to draw out their intercept.
If you can do an action that is seriously bad news to your prey, and
they don't interfere, odds are they don't have the necessary resources
to respond to an even worse danger. Draw out their Wakes with
frivolities, and then strike at the heart when they do not respond.
Key to this is taking the initial risk. Put a small vampire of yours in
a possible torpor situation to see if he can or will take the bait. If
not, up the ante.
Read their faces, and their body language. If a person rifles through
their cards when you announce an action and they don't respond, chances
are they can't. If a person stares at your vampire in mock disbelief,
chances are they can't do anything about it. If a player admits that
vulnerability, then you know where to go next. Most young players, when
they say "I decline to block" while looking hungrily at their cards,
mean that they don't have the ability to block. Tough on them for
having a lousy poker face.
Never forget precedence. Some people never break deals. Others only
break deals at the exact moment when it wins them the tournament.
Others still are just stinking liars. Some people have certain cues
that they'll say whenever they are or are not capable of something.
Learn these, and you'll master your meta-game. Unfortunately it's not
too handy in large tournaments.
So to summarise, take small risks to bait the block, if it doesn't come,
seize the opportunity. Most players aren't don't think about keeping a
straight face; learn their signs and abuse them.
4 – Vampire of the Month – Joseph O'Grady
Joseph O'Grady
7 cap
aus cel DOM FOR
Sabbat. During a referendum, Joseph may burn 1 blood to gain 1 vote. +1
strength.
New from the Anarch set, Joseph O'Grady isn't half bad. He's a 7-cap
without a title, which makes him a thoroughly viable target for Cardinal
Benediction.
He has superior Fortitude, for multiple freak drives and superior damage
prevention. I have been racking my brain though, and for me celerity
just doesn't flow. Though Quentin and Dylan also have cel, it only
really grants additional restricted combat ability to the !Ventrue,
which isn't really necessary. cel / for or cel / dom aren't
particularly commonly seen, unless you want to pack Joseph in a
euroBrujah deck… there are better, cheaper choices available though.
Joseph's special ability gives the !Ventrue a little bit more voting
power, raising their total votes up to a potential 10 (1 bishop, 1
archbishop, 1 cardinal, 1 priscus + Joseph). Even with this though,
their political prowess is dwarfed by the Lasombra, Ventrue and
Toreador. As I've said before, the !Ventrue really need an improvement
on their mid cap vampires… Dylan and the like lack focus and political
savvy. Joe is upper mid, and is certainly a welcome addition, but
doesn't make the !Ventrue more playable than before.
A quick note on Joseph's +1 strength: He's like a little Laz Junior…
with cel instead of pot. Sure, you could pull a lot of fangs with him,
but it hardly makes him an unstoppable killing machine.
5 – A call to arms! – Semi-fiction
"Many of you have come a long way, and for this I am grateful. We are
all blessed, us who's blood is the descendant of kings, blessed with a
divine right that for too long has been belittled by the many of our
brothers and sisters of the Sabbat. This has continued for long
enough. I am half sick of shadows, and that is why I ask you to join
me.
Lambach has just found something. Something very powerful, and it is
guiding him to create an army. My peers inform me that he has broken
from his pack, and is pursuing this goal on his own. Lambach's
interests are no longer those of the Sword of Caine, and now it time for
that sword to strike him down.
This is an opportunity to wrest control from the traitorous Tzimisce,
and reclaim what is ours by birthright. To rule at the side of the
Lasombra, to rule the sect and wield it against those who claim our name
but who insult our blood by sullying it with traders and lenders.
Are we still the royalty, sons of our heritage? Are we fit to rule, or
do we cringe from the dais of leadership? Have we grown used to others
making our decisions for us, or can we raise arms and by opposing
re-earn our rightful place as sovereigns?"
Here's the deal… !Ventrue need a card, badly… Unfortunately unlike some
card fanatics I can't really offer much as far as bounty for fielding a
winning !Ventrue deck. You might just earn my unending gratitude, and
be featured incessantly in future newsletters, but that's about it.
However, if you want to give it a crack, I'm really really really
encouraging it… heck, ask me for my advice and I'll gladly give it…
My suggestion to the WW card Gods is that not only should the storyline
winning clan be a factor in these tournaments, but also take a look at
what clans are represented. If clans aren't being represented, clearly
it is because the players don't consider them tournament worthy. I plan
on packing a !Ventrue deck to at least one storyline tournament, but who
knows who else in the free world will be?
6 – Deckstravaganza
*---------------------------------------*
Here's my (winning) deck list from the NE Qualifier, with some notes
afterwards:
Name: Laz-Man Standing
Creator: Ben Swainbank
Crypt: 12 [avg=5.75]
4x Lazverinus, Thrall of Lambach !Ven 10 POT FOR DOM AUS pro
+2 Strength, Archbishop of Houston
2x Earl Ven 4 pot for dom
Ingrid Russo !Ven 4 for DOM
Lana Butcher Ven 3 for dom
Cameron Las 3 pot dom
Tom BB 3 pot for san
Samson !Ven 2 dom
March Halcyon Pander 1 for
Library: 90
Masters: 12
Haven Uncovered x4
Special Report x2
Blood Doll
Dreams of the Sphinx x2
Fame
Tension in the Ranks
Visit from Capuchin
Potence: 19
Pushing the Limit x5
Immortal Grapple x12
Disarm x2
Fortitude: 25
Rolling with the Punches x5
Unflinching Persistence x7
Indomitability x4
Freak Drive x9
Dominate: 9
Conditioning x4
Deflection x4
Grave Robbing
Protean: 5
Flesh of Marble x5
Auspex: 5
Aura Reading x3
Nose of the Hound x2
Action: 8
Harass x3
Ambush x2
Bum's Rush x3
Combat: 6
Taste of Vitae x6
Other: 1
Political Ally
Deck Notes:
Lazverinus is the star of the show. His job is to take out opposing
minions using multi-rush/freak drive to do multiple actions per turn for
lots of damage and rapid card cycling. This clears the way for the
support team to bleed my prey.
With Laz's +2 Strength I can have a combat deck with very few do-damage
cards (only 7) and focus more on picking fights, surviving them, and
beating combat defense. Lazverinus isn't stopped by Obedience and
Grapple-punch for 3-press-punch for 3 again takes most minions down.
*--------------------------------------------*
Lazverinus is a one man wrecking crew. After constructing a deck
similar to this, I've seen just what he can do. The unflinchings are
perfect for staying up close and personal, and the deck packs enough
bleed to seriously hamper your prey. This deck does a tremendous job of
cycling cards, and my only suggestion would be to include some Claws of
the Dead, to aggravate things just a little bit more.
Where this deck runs into trouble is fortitude. One Skin of Steel can
ruin its day. Fortunately the presses combat this. The other area it
has trouble is with unpreventable thaumaturgy, fortunately this is not a
frequent tournament participator. Lastly, I find that the Laz deck
suffers from the "all your eggs" difficulty. In one game I played Laz
got amaranthed and I didn't have enough pool to bring out another one…
game over.
I just await the day when Laz and Karsh tag team together to erase all
of the Kindred on the table… maybe they'll invite Torvus too.
7 – Final Words
Alrighty, that's volume three of the !Ventrue newsletter. I promise to
be more vigilant in the future. Stay tuned, and feel free to do any of
the following:
? Comment on this newsletter, scathing or otherwise
? Send me material, including decks
? Send me non-sequential bills (Those bills promised from the last
newsletter must have been lost in the mail) :)
Thanks for your attention… hopefully once more the poor relegated
Ventrue antitribu will once again see a glorious rebirth. Go forth and
win tournaments with them, so I can feature you.
Derek Rawlings