To begin, I'd like to thank the former editor of the Ventrue Antitribu newsletter, Derek Rawlings, for his excellent work on !Ventrue strategies. We know not what happened to Derek one lonely night in a darkened ally when no one was looking (really, we don't!), but we suspect it was Camarilla trickery. Ventrue Antitribu Newsletter (September 2004) I. Introduction II. Gehenna and the !Ventrue III. Spotlight on Card Cycling IV. Spotlight on Lessons in the Steel V. Some Final Words Introduction – The Final Nights Gehenna shipped with a resounding cry in the night – assume nothing! At first (and I must admit even second) glance it seemed as if nothing much changed for our clan, we who endure. But as the depths of possibilities unfold with regard to the Gehenna cardset, I think we'll be pleasantly surprised at our clan's reactions to the final nights. The future holds much change for us as we explore the potential of crypt 4. What new kinds of crypt strategies will emerge if we avoid using the crypt 2 foundations in Quintin and Lazverinus? Whatever will we do without the strong support of our friendly bloodline, the Salubri? Yes, these nights are nights of change, but we shall endure them and bring the final death to both our foes and those deluded Ventrue fools. As we have known from the beginning, Gehenna is upon us! Gehenna and the Ventrue Antitribu Gehenna brings with it many library cards of great use to our clan of toolbox-y minions. Crocodile's Tongue might actually let us get a vote to referendum once in a blue moon (especially during the late game). Principia Discordia is a real boon to the !ventrue anarchs among us, granting us the ability to just destroy those pesky permanents that can wreck our games: I R Goggles, Sport Bikes, and Sniper Rifles. Chain of Command adds some interesting surprise oust potential with our legions of dominate weenies, and Reformation might be one of the greatest assets ever for our anarch friends, since for a single blood we can try to steal away someone else's hunting ground. Friend of Mine isn't such a boon for our anarch brothers, since so many of us have access to a much better discipline for bleed reduction (auspex) or just to bounce the bleed along to our table enemy (auspex or dominate), but Soak is simply amazing since we're almost perpetually in combat with our lessers. As if these goodies weren't enough, Gehenna holds many treasures for our clan, but I shall speak more of these in future editions of this newsletter. Spotlight on Card Cycling One of the features of our astounding crypt 3 vampire set is their facility with card cycling. Three vampires boost our abilities to cycle unwanted cards from hand, and I'll briefly review each of them here. Katherine Stoddard (4 cap, dom/fort) With Katherine as a standard addition to your crypt, you can afford to include slightly more auspex reactions and actions than you might otherwise consider due to her awesome special ability to let you cycle out an auspex card once during each of your minon phases. Load up 10 copies of Eagle's Sight or throw in a couple Precognizant Mobility's. If your hand jams on intercept, she can be used to clear it out, or use her to cycle out Anarch auspex multi-disciplines you can't or don't think you'll be using. And when you no longer need her anymore (or as that last bit of ousting push) she can take one for the team by taking an action, then Force of Will bleeding with a dominate modifier. The dom/fort disciplines work well in all !ventrue decks, as you can use her as a standard vote caller, Freak Drive-ing, bleeder. She's pretty much perfect. Blackhorse Tanner (7 cap, AUS/DOM/FORT) Blackhorse is the ultimate card cycler because he can let you make some very important card choices each and every turn, additionally, you don't lose anything he cycles, it all goes back into your library. With Blackhorse in your crypt, you should be focusing on reactions: lots of reactions; Eagle's Sight was always a good card, now it's even prettier with Blackhorse in your controlled region. Get as many favors as you can from your table, and cycle, cycle, cycle to set up your hand for your own turn. Blackhorse is also an amazing candidate for promotion among the Sabbat through either Cardinal Benediction or The Blooding or for Anarch goodness, depending on the focus of your deck. Edward Neally (7 cap, aus/DOM/FORT/pre) Not a card cycler, per se, but good enough with his outstanding "Yes, I'd like to increase my hand size, please" special ability (all for nothing but a master phase action, I might add). And since he has superior fortitude, there's no reason why your prey should be able to hide any secrets from him due to his second special ability (if he's blocked, thank your prey for tapping and use your mighty aus/dom/fortitude combat justice to destroy the fool). Afterward, you can cackle manically as you Freak Drive him and grant him some Revelations, or bleed, or vote, or do any number of other vile things. To add some cream onto this sugar, I hope you did notice his presence (which is definitely needed in our clan). He also has all the optionality of Blackhorse with regard to deck tuning: he can go Cardinal, Black Hand, or Anarch at your desire. Edward is a surprisingly effective vampire, and should be a real boon to almost any deck type that uses his discipline spread. Spotlight on Lessons in the Steel Card Text: aus/fort: Only usable when damage is successfully inflicted on this vampire. Look at the opposing minion's controller's hand, and this vampire gets an optional press this round. A vampire can play only one Lessons in the Steel each round. AUS/FORT: As above, and that Methuselah discards a card of your choice. Now my brothers and sisters, I ask you is there a better card to punish those who would so cavalierly block our votes? (No doubt some of you will point to Kiss of Ra, Day Op, or any number of other punishment cards, but this one's good, too!) Not only do we get to strip a key card from the vile fiend's hand, but we also see what he or she has in store for us before we determine whether or not to press the combat into another round (thus enabling us to give the fiend another lesson in the steel). When combined with Marlene, the Infernalist, we can use Weather Control with Lessons in the Steel during the pre-range step to determine if we should play Thoughts Betrayed or simply bide our time until another combat (such a shame that Marlene lacks superior fortitude). I urge you to consider using this in your decks to put the hurt on those who would block us. Some Final Words Our clan should welcome the pending changes to our world of darkness and explore all the ways of exploiting Gehenna in our quest for further and greater power! Fear no darkness my friends! In next month's newsletter, expect to see a deck featuring Bruce de Guy, further strategy sections which discuss Black Hand and Gehenna options, and an analysis of crypt 3's functionality with our favorite clan of political manipulators. If you have fiction, decks, strategy articles, or game-play archetypes you'd like featured in a future newsletter, send them my way for inclusion. You know where I lurk. Chris Berry | http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~cmberry/