Ahrimanes Newsletter #34 28.02.08
Jazzbeaux
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[ AHRIMANES NEWSLETTER ]
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1.0 - Editorial
1.1 Word From the Editor
1.2 Next Issue
2.0 - Deck Section
2.1 - The reincarnation of an ornithologist
2.2 - Vulture Eaters v1.0
2.3 Sign Off
--[1.1 - Word from the Editor]-----------------------
This month we have two decklists, one as promised is Erik
Torstensson's tournament winning 'The reincarnation of an
ornithologist', earlier versions of which have been featured in
previous newsletter. The second decklist is from the fiendish mind of
David V Vega, who has applied himself to the inner working of Vultures
Buffet, which led him to create Vulture Eaters v1.0.
--[1.2 -Next Issue]------------------------------------
Will have to see if the Ahrimanes can win another tournament before
the end of March, if not I will have to think of something else to put
in. So it's all a surprise at the moment, not least for me.
--[2.1 - Deck: The reincarnation of an
ornithologist]---------------------------------------
First up is the Tournament winner for 12th Jan, Gothenburg, Sweden
2008.
This was an 11 player (always awkward) tournament, with this deck
winning two of the three games it played in (including the final).
Here's Eriks deck (brought to you by "FistPig productions" - A fist
for the future)
Deck Name: The reincarnation of an ornithologist
Author : Erik Torstensson
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 7 average: 5.42
------------------------------------------------------------
3x Muricia 7 ANI PRE SPI Ahrimane:4
3x Effie Lowery 5 ANI SPI obf Ahrimane:4
1x Batsheva 6 ANI PRE obt pot Guruhi:4
1x Gentha Shale 6 ANI PRE pot spi Ahrimane:4
1x Célèste Lamontagne 5 ANI PRO for !Gangrel:4
1x Fish 5 ANI POT pre Guruhi:4
1x Bobby Lemon 4 ANI pro Gangrel:3
1x Stick 3 ANI !Nosferatu:4
Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [12]
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
1x Army of Rats
6x Enchant Kindred
1x Engling Fury
2x Entrancement
1x Muricia's Call
Ally [1]
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
Combat [22]
8x Aid from Bats
2x Canine Horde
8x Carrion Crows
4x Taste of Vitae
Combat/Action Modifier [6]
6x Swiftness of the Stag
Equipment [2]
2x .44 Magnum
Event [1]
1x Dragonbound
Master [16]
4x Blood Doll
2x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x KRCG News Radio
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper, The
2x Vessel
2x Wash
Reaction [25]
4x Cats' Guidance
2x Delaying Tactics
6x Falcon's Eye
4x Forced Awakening
2x On the Qui Vive
7x Speak with Spirits
Retainer [5]
5x Raven Spy
There are a number of changes between the previous version of this
deck, and the one here. I have listed the differences here:
Stick has replaced Mouse
-1 Army of Rats, -1 Enchant Kindred, -1 Aid from Bats, -1 Carrion
Crows, -5 Terror Frenzy, -1 Taste of Vitae, -1 .44 Magnum, -1 Blood
Doll, -1 Smiling Jack & -3 Forced Awakening.
+1 Aranthebes, the Immortal, +2 Canine Horde, +1 Carlton van Wyk, +2
Direct Intervention, +1 Dreams of the Sphinx, +1 Pentex Subversion(tm),
+2 Vessel, +2 Wash, +2 On the Qui Vive &+2 Delaying Tactics.
I would suggest that some of these changes are related to the local
gaming, however there are a few new cards that have shown up, namely
Vessel, Wash and On the Qui Vive. The two masters increase the
control aspect of this deck, along with the two DI's as Vessel
eliminates Blood Dolls and Wash knocks out key master cards. On the
Qui Vive is a straight forward replacement of Forced Awakening, which
doesn't have the burn blood penalty. Something that caught my eye is
Pentex Subversion, which I often forget about, but suits the Ahrimanes
in their usual intercept deck.
--[2.2 - Deck: Ahrimanes Vulture
Eaters]------------------------------------
Here the NL is taken over by David V Vega, Prince of Sydney, and
regular JOL player. Indeed it was on JOL that this deck came to
light, as he ousted my Kiasyd deck in short order - my fault for
straying from the light of the Ahrimanes. Anyway without further ado
I let David do the talking.
====== THE PURPOSE =======
My deck building strategy is usually one of two options: completely
fun no winning expected, or attempting to be serious.
Even when I attempt to be serious I just HAVE to use cards that seldom
see play from my local playgroup.
So it was with great joy I saw Vulture's Buffet in a booster. It had a
bloat mechanism that wasn't obvious and seemed to be a great deal of
work for little return. As an aside I think a Demdemeh deck could use
it somehow. He has pre and ANI so fits in with Ahrimanes a little,
plus he has that animal's ability.
So how do I use the card? I need some kind of minion in the ash heap.
This means I have to either burn vampires from myself or other
Methuselah's, or rely on everyone else playing retainers/allies, or
discard my own retainers/allies. So I scoured the FELDB and found that
the only minion that fit the bill was D'Habi Revenant. It had a
burnable option so it was easy to get rid of them for myself. This
also guaranteed I'd have a target for the card. It also made the deck
size effectively 10 cards smaller since you can discard one in a
Methuselah's untap phase (even your own). The deck is also shorter by
another 10 cards since the Vulture's Buffet doesn't tap your vampire,
so it is easily cycled out.
So that was how I was going to keep my Ahrimanes healthy: they lack a
clan hunting ground so I needed something. As a side effect they give
me 1 pool AND they untap after the hunt. The best thing, however, was
that it was a hunt action, meaning I could take it when I was forced
to hunt.
So now I had to make sure the hunt went through as regularly as
possible. In the same booster I had a Squirrel's Balance. Now don't
get me wrong, I'm not saying this deck was built on a single booster
basis, it was just that I focused on this booster a little more
carefully. So here was a great little card. It could be cycled in the
event of a no-block (since it gave blockers -intercept, not stealth),
and it was pretty strong for a non-stealth deck. This would make the
hunt effectively at 3 stealth. But just to make sure I also employed
the Unlicensed Taxi Cab. One of the great cards from the Anarchs Set.
I'm a fan of the set (stop snickering) and I've always loved the Taxi
Cab.
So there was the bloat mechanism. Now just to get the blood off them.
Blood Dolls of course (these could very well become Vessels) and
Minion Taps. The MTs were of more importance. I could pull a lot of
blood off a vampire (say 7 from Howler) and hunt for 2 (3 with Hungry
Coyote).
Okay now I had to oust my prey and somehow survive combat. Ousting was
a matter of using Presence. Of their 3 clan disciplines it is the only
one with effective bleed cards. I toyed with Enchant Kindred for a
while, which would give me more pool and cheap vampires, but settled
on Legal Manipulations and Social Charm for their pool gain. The deck
could be modified to include Capitalist or Perfectionist for more
blood gain on vampires I'm sure.
So every action so far in the deck gained me pool. That should hold
off a vote deck for a while, weenie DOM bleed was and is still a big
problem, especially if no Minion Tap is drawn. However I've survived a
mid-cap Dominate Bleed deck so maybe its drawing luck?
Combat ... no matter how much pool I had, combat would kill me
eventually. Sure I could bring more vampires out, but if they didn't
destroy the vampire, I couldn't self contest. So the obvious choice
was Majesty. However that cost blood, and being a greedy Methuselah
who knew that his minions needed their blood I chose Leapfrog instead.
It ended combat and had the minor effect of a maneuver, which made it
doubly effective against Immortal Grapple. I've been thinking about
Unholy Penance and maybe Majesty since it seems to generate blood
well. Just needs play testing.
So that's the theory behind the deck. Bloat to hold off the predator,
while bleeding at the same time.
Why are there no bleed modifiers in the deck? Because around my way
Archon Investigation is played a fair amount. So I general keep the
bleed to 3 or under. Sometimes I will take the risk with The Siamese
and a Legal Manipulations but very rarely.
To round out the deck I put in some defensive options like Sudden
Reversal, Direct Intervention, Aranthebes, and Swiftness of the Stag.
Things that could work: Majesty or Unholy Penance, Public Trust mixed
in with the Legal Manipulations (pool gain is just put on a vampire).
So enjoy, give it a go: those 10 Vulture's Buffet are expensive, and
finally you have a use for D'Habi Revenants.
====== AND THE DECK =======
Deck Name: Ahrimanes Vulture Eaters v1.0
Created By: David V Vega, Prince of Sydney, Australia
Description: Ahrimanes bleed and bloat.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 19, Max: 31, Avg: 6.33)
----------------------------------------------
3 Howler obf ANI PRE SPI 8 Ahrimanes
3 Siamese ani pro PRE SPI 7 Ahrimanes
2 Cynthia Ingold ani for pre SPI 6 Ahrimanes
1 Juanita Santiago ani pre spi 4 Ahrimanes
1 Maria Stone cel obf pro FOR 5 Gangrel Antitribu
1 Maria Stone (ADV) cel obf pre pro spi FOR 5 Ahrimanes
1 Nettie Hale ani cel pre pro spi 5 Ahrimanes
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (19 cards)
7 Minion Tap
4 Blood Doll
4 Presence
2 Sudden Reversal
1 Direct Intervention
1 Hungry Coyote, The
Action (29 cards)
10 Vulture`s Buffet
8 Legal Manipulations
8 Social Charm
2 Sanguine Instruction
1 Aranthebes, The Immortal
Action Modifier (8 cards)
8 Squirrel Balance
Combat (11 cards)
11 Leapfrog
Retainer (13 cards)
10 D`habi Revenant
3 Marijava Ghoul
Equipment (4 cards)
4 Unlicensed Taxicab
Combo (6 cards)
6 Swiftness of the Stag
This deck was last saved at 01:47:58 on 9/02/2008
Put together using Fragment of the Elder Library Deck Builder (FELDB)
Regards,
David V. Vega (quetzalcoatl @ JOL)
Prince of Sydney, Australia
====== THE END =======
As you can see it is a very interesting deck, and quite a step away
from the usual toolbox decks that the Ahrimanes tend to be. I really
like the pool generation, which can be a struggle normally. Also
being quite a different concept means that people will play against it
as they expect the Ahrimanes to play - wary of blocks and combat, and
probably not interfering with your plans before it is too late. I
will have to try it somewhere - probably not JOL, as it is bound to be
contesting with David, and that would be cruel.
--[2.3 - Sign Off]-------------------------------------
It is nice to have a big contribution to the NL, like David has
contributed this issue. If you have anything similar to add, please
email it to me and I will add it into a future NL. Given that that
included two popular skills - ANI and PRE, there should be lots of
things to talk about, so lets have them.
Sam
*