[Strategy Event] The Unmasking by The Lasombra ON THE CARE AND FEEDING OF ALLIES When considering a deck built on Allies, there are three cards that may be considered essential, or if not essential, then a mistake to not include. These cards are: Charisma [FN:R2] Cardtype: Master Unique master. Put this card on a ready vampire. This vampire's recruit ally actions cost 1 less blood or pool (but never less than 0 blood or pool). Artist: Talon Dunning Fortschritt Library [Gehenna:R] Cardtype: Master Master. Search your library for a Gehenna event card. Show it to all players and add it to your hand. Discard down to your hand size afterward. Only one Fortschritt Library may be played per game. Artist: William O'Connor The Unmasking [Gehenna:R] Cardtype: Event Gehenna. Do not replace until your next discard phase. Allies get +1 intercept when attempting to block vampires. Artist: Steve Ellis If you only recruit one ally over the course of a game, then your Charisma may as well have been an Ascendance. Charisma is strongest when the intention to bring allies into play is a repeated occurrance, and when the cost of the allies is greater than 1 pool or blood each. In particular, decks based around Abyssal Hunters, Black Spiral Buddies, Couriers, Escaped Mental Patients, Gargoyle Slaves, Ghouled Street Thugs, Guardian Ghouls, Hell Hounds, Heralds of Topheth, Loyal Street Gangs, Marijava Thuggees, Neighborhood Watch Commanders, Nephandi, Outcast Mages, Political Antagonists, Puppeteers, Rafastio Ghouls, Renegade Garous, Rock Cats, Rom Gypsies, Shadow Court Satyrs, Shambling Hordes, Succubi, Survivalists, Terrorists, or War Ghouls. Basically, any deck that intends to get out multiple copies of non-unique allies that cost blood or pool will benefit from Charisma. Charisma does tend to make its vampire a target, so some form of combat defense for that vampire is necessary and appropriate. In order to gain that defense, you will want to use Fortschritt Library to acquire The Unmasking and then put The Unmasking into play. This will allow your newly recruited ally to act as an effective blocker with +1 intercept during its first turn. Allies cannot act on their first turn in the game in any case, so their best use is as defenders / discouragers / deterrents. The Unmasking can also help defeat the stealing of your valuable allies. Entrancement is an action that starts at +1 stealth, so the +1 intercept of The Unmasking will increase its likelyhood of being used as a bleed. Far Mastery is only at +1 stealth, and many decks that play with Far Mastery will not have additional stealth added to the deck to make the action succeed. Restructure does not start at stealth, but the dementation required and the obfuscate that usually accompanies it will usually have more stealth to get the action thru. Lure of the Serpent also starts without stealth, but the Settites are always likely to have that extra stealth hanging around. Making them use it on this action rather that on a bleed or damaging vote is definitely a good use of your ally's last minutes under your control. The Unmasking will still be worth playing if you see Restructure and Far Mastery played with stealth, as your ally can now act as a deterrant to undirected actions that are normally expected to succeed at +1 stealth. Hunting will be postponed, or avoided entirely when an effective ally has +1 intercept and is untapped. Kindred Segregation is less likely to be successfully called if you have minions with +1 intercept available and especially looking for the vote. I will recommend using 2 copies each of Fortschritt Library and The Unmasking. If you pull The Unmasking from your deck first, you can still play the Fortschritt Library to pull the other copy of The Unmasking from your deck and discard it at the end of your turn. With 4 cards dedicated to getting this intercept in play, you should see it relatively early in the game. Any more copies than this and you start to have too many that will interrupt your card flow later in the game. The Unmasking is definitely an Enabling Event when used in this fashion, and can also be a Gateway Event if you wish to use Absimilard's Army to bring out a horde of defenders or bleeders. If you should decide to use your allies for defense, definitely consider Leather Jackets to be your new best friend. Leather Jacket and Left for Dead are both 'get out of death free' cards that can keep your ally around for extra combats, extra actions, or extra deterrence. The only card more effective for saving allies is Memories of Mortality. Unfortunately, Memories can only effect one vampire per copy of the card in play, while Leather Jacket and Left for Dead can save your ally from whichever vampire would attempt to kill them. Leather Jacket [Sabbat:C, SW:C/PB/PT/PV, FN:PS, CE:PTo/PTr, BH:PN] Cardtype: Equipment Equipment. If the action to equip with the Leather Jacket is successful, untap the acting minion at the end of the turn. Bearer may burn Leather Jacket to prevent all the damage from the opposing minion's strike. A minion can have only 1 Leather Jacket. Artist: Timothy Bradstreet & Grant Goleash Left for Dead [FN:R2] Cardtype: Master Master: out-of-turn. Only usable as an ally is burned in combat. Combat ends. Put this card on that ally; that ally is not burned. Put 1 life on the ally from the blood bank if he or she has no life. Tap the ally. If the ally with this card enters combat, he or she is burned. Burn this card instead of untapping the ally during his or her next untap phase. Artist: Brian LeBlanc Memories of Mortality [AH:U5, CE:U] Cardtype: Master Cost: 1 pool Master. Put this card on a vampire; this vampire cannot attempt to block allies. Any damage this vampire inflicts on allies is reduced to 0. This vampire may burn 1 blood during his or her controller's influence phase to burn this card; he or she then goes into torpor. Artist: Scott Kirschner A deck built primarily around the successful use of allies should consider the following combat cards, with different importance depending on the fragility of the ally in question. Presses can keep your ally fighting when the opponent is weak and can be torporized, or can keep that Animalism Aid From Bats opponent from sendin us to the great beyond. Boxed In is to be preferred for its versatility and usefullness to allies. Dodging an opponents single strike will keep our ally alive for another day, and its value for those allies with optional maneuvers can not be overstressed. Maneuvering away from those vampires that can do enough damage in a single strike to destroy our ally is a very strong tactic, as many decks will not include sufficient maneuvers to deal with the quantities of minions with which we intend to harass them. For allies that have any form of regeneration or damage prevention or large starting life, or if we have our backup of Leather Jacket available, Lucky Blow followed by a Pulled Fangs can provide quite a nasty shock for that low blood opposing vampire. Boxed In [Jyhad:C, VTES:C, Sabbat:C, SW:PL/PV, CE:C/PN3, Anarchs:PAG] Cardtype: Combat Do not replace until after combat. Press. Artist: William O'Connor or Matt Cavotta by version Dodge [Jyhad:C, VTES:C, SW:PV, CE:C, Anarchs:PAB/PAG] Cardtype: Combat Do not replace until after combat. Strike: dodge. Artist: L. A. Williams Fake Out [Jyhad:C, VTES:C, Sabbat:C, SW:PT, CE:PN3/PTr2, Anarchs:PAG] Cardtype: Combat Do not replace until after combat. Maneuver. Artist: Mark Poole or Corey Macourek by version Lucky Blow [Jyhad:C, VTES:C, SW:PT, CE:C, Anarchs:PAG] Cardtype: Combat Do not replace until after combat. Strike: make a hand strike or melee weapon strike at +1 damage. Artist: Pete Venters Pulled Fangs [Jyhad:R2, VTES:R, SW:PB, CE:R2, Anarchs:PAG] Cardtype: Combat Only usable at the end of a round of combat in which this minion inflicted more damage at close range than the opposing vampire. Not usable by a dying ally or a vampire going into torpor. Put this card on the opposing vampire, and this minion inflicts 1 point of damage. The victim cannot hunt until this card is removed. Any vampire(s) may burn this card with two +1 stealth actions. If the victim must hunt and cannot, he or she goes into torpor. A vampire can have only 1 Pulled Fangs. Artist: Edward Beard, Jr. Bloodlines added five new ways to help keep your allies in play, Infection, Martyr's Resilience, Panacea, Rayzeel's Song, Renewed Vigor and Resurrection. They are each sufficiently cornercase that they do not merit inclusion in the vast majority of ally decks. Infection [BL:C1] Cardtype: Combat Cost: 2 blood Discipline: Thanatosis/Fortitude [for] Prevent all damage from the opponent's strikes this round. [thn] Prevent all damage to a ghoul (ally or retainer) in combat. Usable by a vampire not involved in the combat. [THN] Only usable at the end of a round in which this vampire successfully inflicted damage on the opposing vampire. Put this card on the opposing vampire. The vampire with this card cannot block the vampire playing this card. Artist: Steve Ellis Martyr's Resilience [BL:R1] Cardtype: Combat Discipline: Auspex & Fortitude Only usable by an untapped vampire not involved in the current combat. [aus][for] Prevent 1 damage to a minion or retainer in combat. [AUS][FOR] Burn X blood to prevent X+1 damage to a minion or retainer in combat. Artist: Durwin Talon Panacea [BL:C1] Cardtype: Action Discipline: Obeah/Auspex +1 stealth action. [aus] This vampire burns 1 blood to untap a younger vampire. [obe] Add 1 life to an ally who has fewer life than his or her starting amount. [OBE] As [obe] above, and untap that ally at the end of the turn. Artist: Andrew Trabbold Rayzeel's Song [BL:C2] Cardtype: Action Discipline: Valeren/Animalism [ani] Burn one blood to untap an ally. [val] (D) Bleed with +1 bleed. [VAL] +1 stealth action. Add 1 life from the blood bank to an ally that has fewer life than his or her starting amount. Artist: Becky Cloonan Renewed Vigor [BL:C2] Cardtype: Action Cost: 1 blood Discipline: Obeah/Fortitude +1 stealth action. [for] Put this card on this acting vampire. During your untap phase, if this vampire is in torpor, you can burn this card to move him or her to your ready region. A vampire can have only one Renewed Vigor. [obe] Move a vampire in torpor to his controller's ready region, or restore an ally or retainer to his or her starting life (with life counters from the blood bank). [OBE] Choose any other vampire. That vampire gains enough blood from the blood bank to reach full capacity. Artist: Becky Cloonan Resurrection [BL:R1] Cardtype: Action Cost: 1 blood Discipline: Obeah/Valeren +1 stealth action. Only usable if a retainer or ally has been burned since your last turn. [val] Move the retainer or ally card from your ash heap to your hand. [obe] Move the retainer card from its Methuselah's ash heap to this acting vampire, with life from the blood bank equal to its starting life. Use the normal version, if it requires a Discipline. [OBE] As [obe] above, but move the ally card instead. Put it in your ready region, untapped. Artist: Steve Ellis Compel the Spirit can be useful if your vampires have necromancy anyway, and you expect to be able to suicide your allies on the turns that you have Compel the Spirit in hand. Compel the Spirit [DS:U2, FN:PG] Cardtype: Action Cost: 1 blood Discipline: Necromancy +1 stealth action. Only usable if a retainer or ally you control has been burned since your last turn. [nec] Move the [ally or retainer] card from your ash heap to your hand. [NEC] Move the [ally or retainer] card from your ash heap to your ready region, even if this vampire doesn't meet the requirements, if any, of the card (use the normal version if it requires a Discipline). Move X life counters from the blood bank to the card, where X is the number of life printed on the card. If a retainer is chosen, it must be placed on the acting minion. Artist: Stuart Beel If the vampires that will be recruiting your allies do not have an inherent stealth discipline, or if the stealth available to them is very expensive, consider adding a copy of Creepshow Casino. This will add a cost of 2 pool to that first ally acquired, but can definitely be worthy of inclusion in many ally decks. Creepshow Casino [FN:R2] Cardtype: Master Cost: 2 pool Master: unique location. Only usable when a vampire you control is performing an undirected action. Tap this location when the action is announced to give the acting vampire +1 stealth; usable even though the stealth is not yet needed. Artist: William O'Connor Precognizant Mobility and Rayzeel's Song act as action multipliers for your effective allies. If your vampires already have animalism or auspex, consider adding these cards in to surprise your opponents with that extra rush or bleed or untapped minion with +1 intercept. Precognizant Mobility [DS:C2, CE:U/PM2] Cardtype: Action Cost: 1 blood Discipline: Auspex +1 stealth action. [aus] Untap a younger vampire or an ally. [AUS] Untap a vampire. Artist: Greg Simanson Rayzeel's Song [BL:C2] Cardtype: Action Discipline: Valeren/Animalism [ani] Burn one blood to untap an ally. [val] (D) Bleed with +1 bleed. [VAL] +1 stealth action. Add 1 life from the blood bank to an ally that has fewer life than his or her starting amount. Artist: Becky Cloonan In order to get your allies in play quickly, consider The Summoning if your vampires will have presence. The Summoning [FN:C2] Cardtype: Action Discipline: Presence +1 stealth action. [pre] Search your library for an ally or retainer. Show it to all players and put it in your hand. Discard down to your hand size and shuffle your library afterward. [PRE] Search your library for an ally. This vampire recruits that ally (he or she must meet the requirements, if any, of the ally). Pay cost as normal. Shuffle your library afterward. Artist: Talon Dunning There are quite a few decks built using the ideas presented in this article, many of them are here: http://www.thelasombra.com/decks.htm#ally Two that have recently won games with The Unmasking Module (2 Fortschritt Library , 2 The Unmasking, 2 Charisma) are documented below: ------------------------ ------------------------ Deck Name: Erichtho Unmasks the Outcast Mages Created By: The Lasombra Description: Use a Charismatic Erichtho to recruit Outcast Mages for 1 pool each. With the benefit of The Unmasking, the Outcast Mages can bleed or block with equal proficiency. Once your vampires have taken the actions to recruit the mages, their primary goal will be hunting to provide pool via the Blood Dolls. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 9, Max: 28, Avg: 4.08) 3 Erichtho AUS cel DOM obf THA 8, Tremere 2 Almiro Suarez aus 2, Tremere 1 Blythe Candeleria aus THA 3, Tremere 1 Ehrich Weiss dom tha 3, Tremere 2 Martin Franckel tha AUS 3, Tremere 1 Masika St. John THA 3, Tremere 1 Mustafa Rahman dom 2, Tremere 1 Pieter van Dorn dom pre tha 4, Tremere Library: (64 cards) Master (12 cards) 1 Barrens, The 4 Blood Doll 2 Charisma 1 Elysium: The Arboretum 2 Fortschritt Library 2 Memories of Mortality Minion (50 cards) 3 .44 Magnum 7 Autarkis Persecution 1 Charnas the Imp 8 Dodge 8 Fake Out 4 Leather Jacket 1 Mehemet of the Ahl-i-Batin (Mage) 4 Open Grate 9 Outcast Mage 1 Sport Bike 4 Telepathic Counter Event (2 cards) 2 Unmasking, The ------------------------ ------------------------ Deck Name: The Little Tailor of Prague Unmasks the War Ghouls Created By: The Lasombra Description: A Charismatic Little Tailor can recruit War Ghouls for 1 pool. Combined with The Unmasking, the War Ghoul is a wonderful Rusher / blocker. When last played this deck took 4 of 5 victory points without ever rushing my predator's minions. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 14, Max: 31, Avg: 5.58) 2 Little Tailor of Prague ANI AUS dem VIC 8, Tzimisce 1 Anton ANI AUS cel obf vic 8, Tzimisce 1 Dragos ANI AUS vic 7, Tzimisce 2 Caliban ANI AUS VIC 6, Tzimisce 2 Devin Bisley ANI AUS vic 5, Tzimisce 2 Terrence ani aus vic 4, Tzimisce 2 Wendy Wade ani aus 3, Tzimisce Library: (89 cards) Master (14 cards) 6 Blood Doll 2 Charisma 1 Creepshow Casino 2 Fortschritt Library 1 Library Hunting Ground 2 Short-Term Investment Minion (73 cards) 7 Aid from Bats 2 Autarkis Persecution 5 Carrion Crows 2 Changeling 3 Dead-End Alley 4 Dodge 6 Fake Out 3 Ghoul Escort 3 Guard Dogs 1 J. S. Simmons, Esq. 1 Jackie Therman 3 Leather Jacket 6 Lucky Blow 1 Mr. Winthrop 2 Owl Companion 2 Rayzeel`s Song 3 Revenant 1 Tasha Morgan 6 Telepathic Counter 1 Telepathic Misdirection 1 Vagabond Mystic 10 War Ghoul Event (2 cards) 2 Unmasking, The