OFFICIAL VEKN CLAN VENTRUE NEWSLETTER Vol.III No.2 April. 2002
INTRODUCTION
AGITATION NATION - Opening gambits.
DECKS OF THE MONTH - Martin Cubberley's 'Suhailah dares the dawn' and Pierre
Rebstock's 'Fear no Mekhet'
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INTRODUCTION
Apologies for the lack of newsletters over the last couple of months, I have
had very little time to play cards and write. What with the imminent arrival
of our firstborn around the middle of June and other inconvenient work
stuff, I have been pretty damn busy. Anyway, enough feeble excuses I thought
I'd get my shit together and fire up the old brain again as the Camarilla
set is out in five months so my favorite purple politicians will have loads
of new toys and sleazy buddies to play with.
This letter features two decks from my good friends Martin and Pierre as
well as a sort of prequel to the Agitation Nation article on the endgame
from a few months ago.
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AGITATION NATION - Opening gambits.
There are definable points in most games of VTES when you see shifts from
beginning to mid to end game. I think different strategies can (and possibly
should?) be applied to each to maximise these differences. I shall
concentrate on the first few turns, which for ease of scribing I shall call
the opening stage.
Right from the outset you can deduce a lot about a player from the way they
set up. Players really do set up differently. Someone who starts by cutting
your deck, then cuts it again and arranges their own stuff meticulously (and
possibly carrying his/her cards in a briefcase :o) is likely going to be a
stickler for the rules. They would NOT like to be proven wrong and/or
humiliated (then again who would?). If you are confident enough with the
rules and can undermine him/her and upset the established 'control', you are
a long way toward unsettling them and forcing mistakes. I won't harp on too
much about psychological hokum, but a great example of making it work for
you is learning a few things to look for in people who are lying or
conversely if you know what to avoid when lying yourself :o) All adds
another few bullets in your gun and we all know how useful your gun is.
Your number of starting transfers will obviously determine how you bring out
your initial crypt. I always think it's a good idea to have a few model
patterns of influence in your head so you know what vamps are coming out
when (barring Brainwash, Cairo and other nasty transfer messing effects).
This can free up the old grey matter to deal with the first few turns and
allow you to concentrate on demonising your Prey :o) It is slightly more
probable that you will begin on 4 transfers than on 1, 2 or 3 as you will be
on 4 if you are either 4th or 5th in the order of play. Allocate your
transfers to allow you to play the cards in your hand as soon as possible.
Look at your starting crypt in relation to your starting hand, you can
easily see which vamp is best to bring out to utilise most of the cards in
your hand. I always try to take into account both shock value and disguise -
It can be good or bad to bring out a vamp that makes everyone sit up and
take notice. Eg. bringing out Anson as your first Vampire is generally a
good move as you can clear any masters you may have clogging your start
hand, use his Prince title etc etc. It does however draw attention to your
probable weakness to (D) combat decks, ability to use two masters a turn and
possible reliance on Prince titles amongst other things. Blindlingly obvious
example but you get the idea, basically I'm trying to say that surprise can
be an invaluable tool (as Didi whips out an Ivory Bow and sends Beast to
torpor where as he may have been a tad more cautious of spiky Zebulon :o)
The first vampire every player influences into play is one of the most
important in any given game. You can use your experience and knowledge of
the game to assess what deck is most likely to be coming from the first
vampire to hit the table. As an extreme example - you are playing a Tzimisce
intercept/combat deck and the first vampire your predator turns over is
Gilbert Duane. You would be fairly safe in not starting to discard the
intercept cards in your hand :o) and you can to a certain extent get the
basics of your gameplan together. Please don't take this as gospel but it
does help in freeing up your mind to tackle the tricky task of harvesting VP
's :o) The above stunt is becoming more difficult as fragmented sets like
Bloodlines come out that are designed to promote cross-clan decks and
oddball discipline and combos.
Of course you may elect to spread your transfers and not bring anyone out
for a few turns until you see the lay of the land in a broken wings /
Q -ships variant. As a blind tactic this can be questionable as you don't
really know if you are going to get walloped for early bleed / crippling KRC
damage from a weenie deck. If you know what the other players are playing
and you anticipate Beast or some other deviant coming out you can be safe in
the knowledge that you will only lose 3-4 pool from one point bleeds. In the
right situation and hands this can be used to great effect, rolling out 3 or
4 minions in one turn rather than presenting targets one by one in an
orderly fashion.
I discussed an interesting mini-tactic lately over email - A good friend put
forward the theory of waiting to play your important master card until turn
2-3 when the chance of an initial Sudden Reversal is less. There is obvious
advantages to slamming down a 1st turn Info. Highway or Dreams but there is
also several unpleasant disadvantages. As I said, the chances of getting
your 1st turn master SR'ed are greater than if you leave it a turn or two.
You paint a bit red target on your head from turn one (trust me I know all
about this one) slapping down a turn one Highway etc. obviously makes every
(decent :o) player on the table look at you as a larger threat than before.
Luckily this phenomenon is in my experience, fairly short term as players
tend to either forget about your useful Highway or turn their attentions to
other matters closer to home.
I can't decide which is better, early power or greater chance of deployment
???? I guess it depends on the situation and other stuff as usual. Useful
to have in mind though.
Another useful stalling trick if you have a lousy starting crypt or need a
few turns to set up is to 'accidentally' let it slip that you have a SR
burning a hole in your hand at the start of the game even if you don't. You
might find that pred/prey are a bit wary of playing an early power master
giving you a bit more leeway ? On the other hand they will probably just
call you a bullshitter and play it anyway :o)
If you have the first vamp on the table, an early second turn bleed of 2 or
3 (Govern, Legal Manipulations etc.) is, most of the time worth going for.
Without wishing to state the obvious the chances are you will retain the
edge until your next turn giving you a bit of vote advantage and free pool.
I think an opening title is always worth going for, a second turn Praxis /
Justicar vote or a second turn Volker can hold vote sway alone for a couple
of turns until the heavy hitters come out. Not to mention scuppering a lot
of 'set-up' tactics with copious amounts of early 2nd trads.
There is a venerable time in most decks deployment that can be as short as a
turn or as long as it takes to get all the moving parts into action. Either
fluking recognition or being able to recognise this is great, as you can
pick and choose what to stop or attack to make the deck crumble. Eg. A deck
using a module based on skill cards and maybe a discipline-giving piece of
equipment is going to stutter quite a bit if you SR an early skillcard and
block the action to equip with the Hand of Conrad/Sargon Fragment etc.
So there you go, some thoughts on set-up and the early game, often skipped
through too quickly. A bit of rethinking can give a real boost in the first
turns of a game.
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DECK OF THE MONTH #1
The first featured deck to go under the microscope this month is Martin
Cubberley's Watford winning Suhailah / Heart of Darkness deck. I have been
looking at a lot of the Ancient Hearts / Dark Sovereigns cards lately and
trying to build cross clan decks with the new Final Nights and Bloodlines
stuff in practice for the influx of new vamps in the Camarilla set. I
remembered Marty's deck using Heart of Darkness holding up pretty well in a
particularly rough game at my house :o)
Deck Name: Suhailah Dares the Darkness
Created By: Martin Cubberley aka. 'Pork and Leek'
Description: Get Suhailah to tool up with the Heart of Darkness then Force
of Will/Daring the Dawn your prey out of existence.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 17, Max: 40, Avg: 7.67)
----------------------------------------------
1 Arika aus cel DOM FOR OBF PRE 11, Ventrue, Inner Circle
1 Celine Chevalier obf ser 3, Followers of Set
1 Dedefra nec obf SER 5, Followers of Set
1 Nikolaus Vermeulen ani for obf POT 7, Nosferatu, Prince
2 Queen Anne aus DOM FOR obf PRE 10, Ventrue, Prince
1 Rufina Soledad for 2, Ventrue
1 Selma the Repugnant ani for OBF POT 8, Nosferatu, Prince
4 Suhailah FOR OBF pot ser 9, Ventrue, Prince
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (15 cards)
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
2 Hostile Takeover
1 Legendary Vampire
6 Minion Tap
4 Serpentis
1 Ventrue Headquarters
Minion (75 cards)
2 Cloak the Gathering
8 Daring the Dawn
1 Dramatic Upheaval
2 Faceless Night
6 Fifth Tradition: Hospitality, The
7 Force of Will
2 Forgotten Labyrinth
3 Freak Drive
6 Heart of Darkness
2 Hidden Strength
2 Indomitability
6 Kine Resources Contested
3 Lost in Crowds
1 Masochism
2 Parity Shift
2 Resilience
8 Second Tradition: Domain, The
3 Skin of Steel
2 Superior Mettle
4 Temptation
2 Unflinching Persistence
1 Wake with Evening's Freshness
The aim is pretty simple. Tool Suhailah up with the Heart of Darkness (or
Queen Anne/Arika with a Serpentis master), call Kine Resources Contested,
then Force of Will/Daring the Dawn for a steady 7 pool damage a turn.
Obviously this deck does NOT like bleed bounce, so could probably benefit
from a few Spying Missions, however, as the bleeds are only for 4, they
don't tend to cripple your grand-prey.
Also, the only combat defense it has is Fortitude - which is rarely enough.
The odd Entombment or Coma REALLY stings. Maybe a couple of Behind You!
might assist.
I added a Legendary Vampire, another Heart and a Dramatic Upheaval
(replacing a Fortitude Master, Form of Corruption and a Wake) before playing
this at the tourney, unfortunately they had no impact whatsoever as I never
saw them all day.
The crypt is also pretty big so changes might need to be made here, and
would perhaps consider putting in one of the smallish Samedi to bring the
average down a little. Though them Nos princes can be pretty damn useful....
Marty
[Hmmm hmmm and hmmm, it is a cool deck isn't it ? Thanks for mailing it to
me with comments Marty. As you say it does get a right good kicking from a
decent bruise combat deck, not many worries from a poke deck though :o)
Reading the changes that you made before the tourney I think I agree with
most of them, I do like Form of Corruption though, really adds another level
of risk to your preys game. I saw a very good deck in action that used the
Form in a different way as a Trojan horse / endgame kicker. It slapped it
down early to mid game and left it there until it had ploughed its first
prey and IIRC the second as well, at this point it had been in play for
about an hour and has struck the mindgame fear into two successive preys.
Impressive on nine counters, took Meshenka if I recall.
Anyway, back to the deck. I think it worked pretty well from what I
remember, I like the multi-level thieving angle (Temptation, Hostile AND
consistent unblockable bleeds... nasty). I think there would be a solid
argument for a few Cull the Herd's as well. I see the deck is tight on
space, as all good decks should be :o) but the CtH's would let you 'remove'
nasty Daring the Dawn unfriendly Allies and have a peek at the Deflection /
AI situation as a precursor to the Force of Will hairy hammer.
DECK OF THE MONTH # 2
The second deck of the month is by Pierre Rebstock. A great bloat deck that
centres around massive vamps and SERIOUS blood gain. It is not one of Pierre
's newest decks (early last year if I recall mate ?) and I never played
against it but it looks like a bloody handful to deal with. I like the basic
engine of Minion Tap / 5th used to back up Anarch Revolt / Dramatic Upheaval
/ Life Boon etc. tactics.
Deck Name: 'Fear no Mekhet'
Created by: Pierre Rebstock
Crypt: (12 cards) [Min: 28, Max: 44, Avg: 9.17]
2 Arika (aus cel DOM FOR OBF PRE, Ventrue, 11, Inner Circle)
2 Gilbert Duane (AUS DOM OBF, Malkavian, 7, Prince)
2 Greger Anderssen (AUS dom OBF pro, Malkavian, 7, Prince)
2 Leandro (AUS cel dom OBF PRE, Malkavian, 11, Inner Circle)
2 Queen Anne (aus DOM FOR obf PRE, Ventrue, 10, Prince)
2 Suhailah (FOR OBF pot ser, Ventrue, 9, Prince)
Library: (90 cards)
Master (29 cards)
8 Anarch Revolt
2 Antediluvian Awakening
1 Elysium: The Arboretum
2 Hostile Takeover
2 Life Boon
6 Minion Tap
2 Parthenon, The
1 Succubus Club
1 Sudden Reversal
3 Tomb of Rameses III
1 Ventrue Headquarters
Action (10 cards)
7 Fifth Tradition: Hospitality, The
3 Judgment: Camarilla Segregation
ActionMod (12 cards)
2 Cloak the Gathering
2 Elder Impersonation
2 Forgotten Labyrinth
2 Kiss of Ra, The
2 Lost in Crowds
2 Voter Captivation
Political (20 cards)
2 Anarchist Uprising
1 Ancient Influence
2 Conservative Agitation
2 Dramatic Upheaval
2 Kindred Restructure
3 Kine Resources Contested
2 Parity Shift
1 Political Stranglehold
3 Protect Thine Own
2 Rumors of Gehenna
Reaction (14 cards)
3 Deflection
5 Obedience
2 Redirection
4 Second Tradition: Domain, The
Combat (5 cards)
5 Majesty
Loads of masters BUT 2 Parthenons + Rumours should counter almost all the
'extra' master slots. Also, IMO masters hold quite rightly the most powerful
effects in the game so keep up the numbers.... more Hostiles - I love the
sleaze.
Hmmm. I don't think 5 Obedience and 5 Majesty would be enough defense in the
current metagame a year after you first made it ? I think Wil's !Malk deck
had the right idea making the high point vamps very useful *and* almost
totally disposable (Minion Taps, Golconda's etc.). Can't decide if Secure
Haven would be cool, i think the vamps are big enough to offset the 1 extra
cost for master cards played.
Maybe Zillah's Valley would be better than Tomb? I also much prefer Info
Highway over Tomb these days. Because ...... it's permanent + the vamps come
out full making them harder to kill and easier to Minion Tap. It is harder
to tell on first turn what type of deck (Highway vs Tomb).
That all said, I think those changes would be cosmetic. I still wouldn't
want to come across it in a final :o)
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That's me for this month, I'll get another newsletter out in May but forgive
me if the June one is late or non-existent as I will be in a happy but
sleep-deprived, baby-shocked state for most of June !!
Any articles, decks, opinion, comment mail to the usual address
rob.treasure@btinternetNOJUNKTA.com and I'll give them some quality
bandwidth.
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