VENTRUE ANTITRIBU CORPORATE REPORT November 2001 EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW Hmph. No games played during the entirety of October, as Chicago's Prince has abdicated, removing the last shreds of Kindred organization locally. Can the wolves be far off? My latest !Ventrue effort did manage to lose really badly (didn't draw into my combo once, had no grandpredator, _and_ my predator was the Tzimisce interceptor) in a single pickup game early this month, so I have played, but I can't say my record (or the clan's) is improving. In this issue, a whirlwind review of in-clan cards, politics !Ventrue style, and, as always, more ways to get things done... CONTENTS - Banner - Executive Overview - Contents - Analyst Recommendations: In-Clan Investing - From the Chairman: We're not the Ventrue - Market Research: Pyramid Scheme - Insider Trading: Intercept & Die? - Forward-Looking Statements - The Fine Print ANALYST RECOMMENDATIONS: In-Clan Investing This month, clan scion Gustav Mallenhous reviews in-clan equities you might consider adding to your portfolio: Card Symbol Rating Comments Corporate Hunting Ground (CORP) Hold Every clan has one; every clan needs one. Of course, if you aren't using a fair amount of !Ventrue, this one won't help much. So start using more !Ventrue. Demonstration (DEMO) Strong Buy This is an incredibly useful card. One pool buys you the equivalent of the biggest title on the table (assuming that isn't already yours too). This is worth putting into any deck that has four or more !Ventrue in its crypt; vote defense doesn't come much cheaper. Combine it with Powerbase: Madrid and a single Bishop, and you may even manage vote lock... It's just too bad it can't be used during Blood Hunts. Innocent Bystander (OOPS) Strong Sell It has a nice picture... Kindred Manipulation (MANI) Buy Let's read that again: 'Change the votes of a younger vampire to votes of your choice.' Only Kindred Coercion _at superior_ has a comparable effect, and that's a reaction. This fills in for the missing dominate political action modifier card - and only we can use it. Once again, a lone (oldish, say 9-cap) Bishop can be a force to reckon with... Political Antagonist (ANTI) Neutral I don't think this guy gets enough respect. He's not great by any stretch of the imagination, but he's also hardly wallpaper. For the cost of KRCG, you get +1 intercept vs. political actions, only usable by !Ventrue, which is two limitations over KRCG. On the other hand, Polly isn't unique, so he's not going to be contested, and he does have a bleed of one. If you'd rather go the bounce direction than the intercept path, but still might want to piss off that Ventrue deck sitting next to you, Polly is the man for the job. Recruiting Party (HRX) Accumulate A decent card. If you're planning to play a lot of !Ventrue, and you're not planning to go through your crypt in a hurry (or packing Effective Management) this is a good way to gain a lot of pool quickly, assuming you can get it done with no inherent stealth. This card would see a lot more use if dominate wasn't an in-clan discipline; as it is, Govern and Scout are more multi-purpose. Ventrue Investment (BUY) Buy Free pool. If you're planning to play a lot of !Ventrue (or _create_ a lot of !Ventrue) and you either have extra master actions or aren't planning to use a lot of master cards anyway, this is a good way to gain bonus pool. Of course, if you can vote, you might be better off using Consanguineous Boons. Then again, masters can't be intercepted... FROM THE CHAIRMAN: We're not the Ventrue Sure, we both have dominate and fortitude in-clan, but that's really where the similarities end. Most of the other antitribu clans (with the obvious exceptions of the !Malkavians and the City Gangrel) mix pretty well with their Camarilla cousins. But unless you're running the old Bonding, Seduction, Kiss of Ra kitchen-sink do/fo bleeder (which is admittedly pretty popular), or a mono-dominate or mono-fortitude deck (which will probably have all sorts of other clans represented), you're not likely to see the Ventrue and !Ventrue hanging out in the same deck. And nowhere is this divergence more apparent than in the respective clans' approaches to politics. The Ventrue are _the_ political clan; with a plentitude of titles, presence, access to the Traditions, and useful in-clan cards, they, more than any other clan, are designed for voting. The !Ventrue, on the other hand, began their V:TES existence with one of the weakest political organizations in the game, though thankfully there has been significant improvement since the days when Lazverinus and Quentin were the only titled vampires in the bunch, with Kindred Manipulation, Kyle, and Vincent arriving in Sabbat War, and Gustav in Final Nights. Still, it was a pretty big surprise for most to see the !Ventrue Sabbat War starter as the first pre-con _vote_ deck. (Heck, it was a big surprise to see _any_ sort of !Ventrue pre-con, given that they only did four of the ten Sabbat clans). And I think it's fair to say that !Ventrue politics is not exactly a frequent or feared deck style. There are two immediate reasons for this: 1) it's generally easier to make a Camarilla vote deck work, given the Traditions and Camarilla only votes like Parity Shift, and 2) trying to make a !Ventrue vote deck that works like a Ventrue vote deck will fail every time. !Ventrue voting is a deliberately marginal affair - !Ventrue votes tend not to pass by a landslide (which is fine, since we don't have the presence to Voter Cap anyway) - but winning by a narrow margin is still winning. I've already mentioned what we don't have; a list what the !Ventrue _do_ have in their favor when voting is in order, as it is not inconsiderable. In-clan, and thus discussed already in this issue, are the excellent Demonstration and Kindred Manipulation. In our crypt, besides our Cardinal, Kyle, and everybody's favorite Archbishop, 'Nuts, are three very powerful voters: Quentin, Gustav, and Vincent. Quentin has the best title in the game - he gets one more vote than anybody else in play. For the cost of one blood, Quentin outvotes a Legendary Arika, or any other single vampire. So, yes, he _is_ a 9-cap Bishop, but you should make anyone who stops reading there pay for their ignorance. Gustav Mallenhous, our Priscus, has a similar special, inasmuch as it allows him to outvote his betters. For the price of a successful action (there's always a catch...) he can _permanently_ remove any Prince or Archbishop's title. Permanently. And a Prince with no title can't use Traditions... And then there's Vincent. No title, it's true. But he can be worth as much as a Bishop, a decent deal for a 5-cap Sabbat. And if you're facing a Free States Rant-happy Setite, two votes for the Edge can mean an awful lot. (You just have to manage to get the Edge away from the Setite...) Looking at !Ventrue in-clan disciplines, there's no presence, but there's plenty of auspex, including the superior, which makes Telepathic Vote Counting very usable. TVC can be used to flush out transient votes at inferior, or can duplicate Quentin's ability at superior. At a voteless table, though, TVC can jam things up. And, of course, in dominate there's Pulling Strings and Kindred Coercion, two very powerful defensive reactions. Additionally, a few generic Sabbat political cards worth mentioning in the context of !Ventrue voting. Powerbase: Madrid - let your opponents waste their actions removing your votes. Cardinal Benediction - use its built in Private Audience to bolster your titles, remembering that without the use of Master: Discipline cards, Dominique is the only !Ventrue eligible as its target who doesn't already have a title. Of course, Cardinal is generally a better title than Bishop, Priscus, or even Archbishop... And Investiture is an obvious followup here. Finally, it's possible to turn the rarity of Sabbat political decks into an advantage the Camarilla generally just can't match: use Private Audiences to exclude everyone _but_ Sabbat voters from your referenda. This is one of the few places where clan specific hosers can be useful. The only Sabbat voters the !Ventrue are even vaguely likely to encounter are the Lasombra, and possibly the Tzimisce. I like to include the Crusades that contest all of the Lasombra archbishops; it only takes one more to hose the Tzimisce archbishops as well. And while Vicissitude Poisoning won't really help, Detection can keep a pesky Lasombra out of the picture for as long as you can keep it on him... Of course, as long as you've got titles on the table, there are a number of non-political action Archbishop-, Priscus-, or Cardinal-only cards worth considering - none of which I will delve into right now. As to the votes themselves, while many of the nastier ones are Camarilla only, there are plenty left. This month's deck tries to capitalize on in-clan !Ventrue cards, including Ventrue Investment for bloat, and the auspex/dominate bounce cards, and so concentrates on political actions that bloat, deal mass damage, or reorganize the table, but there are a variety of possibilities, so get out there and start permuting! Something's gotta work eventually... ----- This month's deck also tries another answer to our eternal question, this time reaching out-of-clan for answers. I mentioned protean stealth as an option in the context of a variant of last month's deck. With this month's focus on politics, obtenebration seemed a natural choice, as two of our four voters already have it, Gustav and Quentin. Obtenebration ties with potence for off-clan discipline representation among the !Ventrue at three, with Gerard the third in the case of obt. (Of course, two of the potent !Ventrue have theirs at superior.) Three of fifteen isn't a lot, but with doubling and supplemental skill cards, it's workable. For a less dogmatic (and thus probably much more successful) meeting of !Ventrue and obtenebration, try out this deck from the master of obtenebration, the Lasombra: http://www.thelasombra.com/decks/lvac.htm Obtenebration provides cheaper (Shroud of Night is free) and more plentiful stealth (three mods vs. two) than protean, presuming you're not using it to bleed, and this month's deck shouldn't. And since those non-bleeding actions are also undirected, the Creepshow Casino can up the stealth as well, at least once per turn. The result is hardly encroaching on the Ridiculous Stealth (TM) trademark, but it should be able to regularly muster +2 or +3 stealth on its actions, which will make it hard for casual intercept to catch it. Which means that if I could just play a game in which I didn't sit next to dedicated intercept, I might do well... MARKET RESEARCH: Pyramid Scheme Deck Name: Pyramid Scheme (v.2) Created by: Alex Broadhead Description: Vote 'n' bloat with a twist. !Ven + ot. Crypt: (12 cards) [Min: 15, Max: 34, Avg: 6] 1 Billy (AUS dom for, Ventrue Antitribu, 5) 1 Dominique (AUS dom FOR, Ventrue Antitribu, 7) 2 Gerard (aus dom for obt, Ventrue Antitribu, 5) 2 Gustav Mallenhous (AUS DOM for obt, Ventrue Antitribu, 8, Priscus) 1 Juan Cali (aus for, Ventrue Antitribu, 3) 2 Quentin (AUS DOM FOR obt, Ventrue Antitribu, 9, Bishop) 1 Samson ( dom, Ventrue Antitribu, 2) 1 Vanessa (aus DOM FOR, Ventrue Antitribu, 6) 1 Vincent Day (aus dom for, Ventrue Antitribu, 5) Library: (88 cards) Master (18 cards) 1 Corporate Hunting Ground 2 Creepshow Casino 1 Demonstration 1 Hungry Coyote, The 1 Inbase Discotek, Frankfurt 3 Life Boon 4 Obtenebration 1 Powerbase: Madrid 4 Ventrue Investment Action (8 cards) 4 Embrace, The 4 Govern the Unaligned ActionMod (22 cards) 2 Blanket of Night 3 Cryptic Rider 1 Day Operation 3 Freak Drive 1 Kindred Manipulation 3 Private Audience 2 Shadow Play 6 Shroud of Night 1 Telepathic Vote Counting Political (19 cards) 3 Anarchist Uprising 1 Cardinal Benediction 4 Consanguineous Boon 3 Conservative Agitation 1 Crusade: Atlanta 1 Crusade: New York 1 Crusade: Pittsburgh 1 Disputed Territory 3 Dramatic Upheaval 1 Rumors of Gehenna Reaction (12 cards) 1 Cardinal Sin: Insubordination 4 Deflection 2 Obedience 4 Telepathic Misdirection 1 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (9 cards) 1 King of the Mountain 2 Skin of Rock 2 Skin of Steel 2 Superior Mettle 2 Unflinching Persistence WARNING: This version of this deck is completely untested. It's predecessor held on to time for .5 VP in both its test runs. NOTE: If you aren't foolishly trying to limit your total deck size to 100 cards for purely aesthetic reasons, you'll probably want another Rumors and maybe another Private Audience... The concept is to vote yourself the prey of the biggest (stealth) bleeder at the table. Bounce his bleeds to your prey while you bloat and opportunistically vote damage. Life Boon your prey, grandprey, and grandpredator if possible. Don't be afraid to spread the love around to the entire table with Boons and/or Conservative Agitation. You want everyone to have about the same (small) amount of pool. Then oust everyone at once with Anarchists... If this works, you know where to send the royalties. In practice, I never got a single Creepshow in hand, and never had enough stealth to accomplish anything. I have upped the stealth somewhat, and decided to try adding Embraces/Ventrue Investment to the mix for this revision. I took out the uncompleteable Recruiting Parties and the overly expensive Lazverinus and Kyle; PB: Madrid, Demonstration, and/or Private Audiences in combination with either Quentin and/or Gustav generally constitute a plurality locally. The hard part is calling the question. Suggestions for improvements (that aren't of the form, "Stop playing !Ventrue!") are appreciated. INSIDER TRADING: Intercept & die? As a sort of contest, I am making the following inflammatory assertion: The Ventrue Antitribu can't do dedicated intercept (using in-clan disciplines) successfully.* Counter-examples in the form of decks are solicited (posted or emailed). The winner (if any - winner to be judged by the management) will receive any or all of the following prizes: 1) the editorship of this newsletter, or 2) a never-played copy of the Jyhad card 'High Stakes', or 3) the acclamation of his/her peers. (Prize has no cash value.) *Unless you count Lazverinus-based wall decks, which I'm not. What I'm looking for is something that is more a !Ventrue deck than a Lazverinus deck. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS In light of the recent tragedy and the ensuing downward adjustments in the market, the management of the !Ventrue Newsletter regretfully must make a few adjustments of their own. Namely, we've decided to sack the lot of you. We're sure you understand. Seriously - given the relative paucity of play I've had recently, and the relatively large amount of effort that goes into these things - plus my desire to actually playtest the decks I publish - I have decided to put the !Ventrue Newsletter on hiatus for the near future. This is not for lack of material - heck, I haven't even talked about the obligatory kitchen sink bleed approach, and I have several single card feature issues in the works as well - but for simple lack of play opportunity. If things locally heat up again, or if I move into a more lively play community, I'll be back. That is, unless someone else would like to take over/fill in? Until next time... Submissions and feedback to me: alex.broadhead@clearband.com. THE FINE PRINT The information contained herein is based on sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Decks constructed using the !Ventrue may lose games. Decks are not insured against loss by the author, Lazverinus, rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad, LSJ, White Wolf, the government, or your mother. Please _don't_ email the author requesting a full disclosure of the !Ventrue's finances. For a full disclosure of the editor's shortcomings, however, please see past and present Executive Overviews. Caveat Emptor.