OFFICIAL VEKN CLAN VENTRUE NEWSLETTER: NOVEMBER 2007
The Lasombra
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Ventrue and Obfuscate
3. Vampires of the Month
4. Deck of the Month
Introduction
Greetings, and welcome to the November edition of the VKEN Ventrue
Newsletter. It’s been a few months; class and work have kept me busy.
Let’s get this rolling.
Ventrue and Obfuscate
Continuing with my review of Ventrue and off-clan disciplines, this
month I’m tackling how the discipline of Obfuscate helps Ventrue
efforts of city domination. Many players consider Obfuscate the best
off-clan discipline for the Ventrue and it’s easy to see why. The
Venture clan discipline spread makes them one of the most offensive
(pun intended!) clans in the game; few things are as devastating as
something like Democritus Parity Shifting you then immediately
following that up by Freak Driving and then bleeding you for 7. The
only thing stopping this from being a regular occurrence is that those
actions aren’t very sneaky and get blocked more often than not. Which,
of course, is where Obfuscate comes in…
The single best and of course most obvious thing Obfuscate does is
provide stealth for all those vicious actions you want to victimize
your prey with. As of the most recent set, Lords of the Night, there
are 19 Obfuscate cards which provide your minions with some form of
stealth, which is certainly a large field from which to choose. Are
some better for the Ventrue than others? Since Obfuscate is an
off-clan discipline you may not have it on the majority of your
vampires unless you’re using lots of skill cards, and having it at
superior may only be limited to one or two vampires. Also, Ventrue
tend to like Obfuscate to help them get their bleeds and votes
through. With that in mind, here is a quick review of each
stealth-providing Obfuscate card, rated from one to five stars. A one
or two-star card is less useful for Ventrue, a three-star is just as
useful to the Ventrue as anyone else, while a four or five-star may be
more useful to the Ventrue than your average Obfuscate possessing
vampire.
Blithe Acceptance ***
I haven’t had a chance to use this card, but looking at its effects,
standing +1 stealth is really strong for a clan that doesn’t have a
stealth discipline. Normally it doesn’t stay on the vampire too long
if it’s played at inferior, which looks like the more common scenario
for Ventrue, but since they have access to Obedience, that may
mitigate this somewhat if the minion gets rushed.
Cloak the Gathering ****
One of the staple stealth cards. Since it’s a likely scenario that not
all of your vampires are going to have Obfuscate, being able to give
them stealth is a great boon. Arika or Vitel (or even Suhailah) can be
your stealth provider for all your other minions.
Domain of Evernight *
You really only see this card used at the outferior level in heavy
Obfuscate decks that need as many different stealth modifiers as
possible in order get huge amounts of stealth. Since that’s a highly
unlikely deck concept with the Ventrue there’s really no reason to use
this card.
Elder Impersonation **
At the cost of one blood this card is only worth playing at the
superior level, and really only after you have at least one or two
stealth on the action already. Both of these facts limit its
usefulness to the Ventrue.
Faceless Night ***
A staple stealth card for just about any deck that uses Obfuscate.
Forgotten Labyrinth *****
This card was practically made for the Ventrue, in my opinion. Sure,
it does cost a blood and it can’t be used on bleed actions, but
Ventrue are known for being quite fond of politics, and this card is
the gold standard of stealth cards for getting those mean political
actions into referendum. Adding +3 - or even +2 - stealth to an action
that already has an inherent +1 stealth virtually guarantees your vote
isn’t getting blocked. And the 1 blood cost will probably just be
recouped by an eventual Voter Captivation anyway.
Hag’s Wrinkles **
A weak card in general (at least at outferior), and the Ventrue aren’t
known for being equipment happy. Pretty cornercase.
Hidden Pathways *
This rarely seen card provides permanent +1 stealth for all non-bleed
(D) actions against your prey. Unfortunately, the two most popular
Ventrue activities, voting and bleeding, get nothing from this card.
Pretty much useless.
Into Thin Air ****
The nature of this card tends to dictate usage in decks that don’t
have a great deal of stealth modifiers. Since Obfuscate isn’t a clan
discipline for Venture, you probably aren’t going to be able to
dedicate as many slots to Obfuscate as a clan that has the discipline,
so this card merits strong consideration.
Lost in Crowds ***
Another one of the staple stealth cards. Getting +2 stealth from a
single card is good for decks that don’t have a lot of card slots to
dedicate to Obfuscate, but it’s only better than any other stealth
card if the vampire using it has superior Obfuscate, which probably
isn’t going to be common for the Ventrue. That kind of evens things
out.
Marked Path **
One of the best Obfuscate cards out there, but really best suited to
dedicated stealth-bleed decks. Ventrue like to vote a lot, which
limits this card’s usefulness to them.
Mask of a Thousand Faces *
You need superior to get the +1 stealth, and beyond that the Ventrue
are often taking minion restrictive actions such as Parity Shift or
Third Tradition, which further limits its use.
Night Moves *
Between Dominate and Presence, the Ventrue have more bleed actions
than anyone else in the game. Usually the best use for this card is
for getting the edge or annoying your predator, but the Ventrue can do
that anyway with votes.
Psychic Veil ****
Ventrue princes are known for making baby vampires, and this card is
certainly a boon to them because most likely you’re putting Dominate
or Presence on said baby vampires. Even when you’re playing the big
large cap vampires it can be quite useful because large cap Ventrue
are often multi-acting with Freak Drive.
Skullduggery *
I really like this card when I’m playing Anarch decks, but how often
are you going to play Ventrue Obfuscate Anarch decks? I guess they can
play it a Presence level too, if you’re actually going to try to go
that route.
Smoke and Mirrors *
Not only would you have to construct the aforementioned Ventrue
Obfuscate Anarch deck, but you’d have to have this deck do a lot of
something other than bleeding and voting. Next.
Spying Mission **
The upside of this card for Ventrue is that their bleeds are often
painful so you can spare your grandprey when you get bounced, but
unfortunately you have to have superior Obfuscate to do it. You’d
probably never use the superior version against your prey. Another
card more suited to heavy Obfuscate bleed decks or clans with limited
bleed modifiers.
Swallowed by the Night ***
The last of the staple stealth cards. Having a maneuver is nice, but
generally not a big deal for Ventrue since they have Presence and
Fortitude.
Veil the Legions ****
Another card that can give stealth to other minions, which is another
boon for the Ventrue. It can get blood intensive at superior, but with
Restoration, Fifth Tradition, and Voter Captivation, blood management
isn’t usually a problem for the Ventrue.
What other Obfuscate cards might the Ventrue be interested in? Behind
You! provides a first round maneuver and Fear the Void Below provides
a more costly generic maneuver. If you’re playing some form of Ventrue
combat with weapons Disguised Weapon is better than concealed weapon
and Hidden Lurker is another way around S:CE and Dodges. Memory’s
Fading Glimpse is a way to make sure that banished vampire goes away
for good. In general though, Obfuscate’s best benefit to Ventrue is
stealth, and that’s all they really need from it.
Vampires of the Month
Marcus Vitel
PRE OBT OBF FOR DOM
Camarilla Prince of Washington D.C. Marcus can burn a retainer as a +1
stealth (D) action. While Marcus is ready and a prince, Sabbat
vampires you control get +1 bleed when bleeding a Methuselah who
controls a ready Camarilla vampire.
Catherine du Bois
DOM pre obf for
Here are two of the G3 Ventrue which possess Obfuscate. Marcus is a
staple vampire for any G3 Ventrue voting deck, but you should really
be taking advantage of his superior Obfuscate if you’re going to
justify paying 10 pool for him. With Veil the Legion and Cloak the
Gathering he can be your stealth provider for your other Ventrue,
including (and especially) any progeny he or another prince makes. You
see him a lot in Lasombra decks because of his OBT and bleed special,
but what I find most underrated about him is his ability to destroy
retainers. Being able to eat pesky spying ravens and nosy Mr. Winthrop
is great for giving your votes a chance to get to referendum when
you’re not drawing into your Seductions or other stealth modifiers (if
you’re using Obfuscate).
Catherine is a standard 5-cap vampire with one clan discipline and
superior and two others at minor, plus an off-clan discipline, in this
case Obfuscate. She’s a nasty little bleeder since she has DOM, and
she gets those bleeds through more often than not with her obf. She
doesn’t have a title, but she can easily get one with pre and a Praxis
Seizure card. Unless you’re just using the big capacity titled
Ventrue, there’s no reason not to put her into any Ventrue deck that
uses Obfuscate.
Deck of the Month
Big Ventrue Voters
Crypt:
x3 Arika
x2 Lucinda Alastor
x2 Marcus Vitel
x2 Queen Anne
x1 Leandro
x1 Jaroslav Pascek
x1 Cailen
Library (80 cards):
Masters (11):
x6 Minion Tap
x2 Information Highway
x2 Zillah’s Valley
x1 Golconda
Actions (19):
x8 Kine Resources Contested
x2 Conservative Agitation
x1 Reins of Power
x1 Ancient Influence
x1 Political Stranglehold
x3 Parity Shift
x1 Protect Thine Own
x1 Reinforcements
x1 Heart of the City
Action Modifiers (21):
x6 Voter Captivation
x2 Awe
x1 Closed Session
x2 Cloak the Gathering
x3 Lost in Crowds
x2 Faceless Night
x2 Elder Impersonation
x3 Forgotten Labyrinth
Reactions (15):
x2 Elder Kindred Network
x2 Kindred Coercion
x2 Obedience
x4 Deflection
x3 Second Tradition: Domain
x1 Wake with Evening’s Freshness
x1 Eluding the Arms of Morpheus
Combat (9):
x4 Majesty
x1 Staredown
x2 Superior Mettle
x2 Rolling with the Punches
Multifunction (5):
x3 Swallowed by the Night
x2 Murmur of the False Will
A huge capacity stealth vote deck. The idea is simple; call votes and
use stealth if minions try to block. The biggest difference between
this and other large capacity vote decks commonly seen is the lack of
Freak Drives. Since I have no bleed actions or bleed modifiers, I
don’t have a second useful action often enough to justify including
Freak Drives. Another reason is the table hate; calling a successful
KRC every turn to make your prey burn 3 pool is plenty enough offense;
adding big bleeds on top of it tends to make the other players
perceive your deck as a much larger threat. What this deck likes to do
is take its time and steadily whittle your prey down while it builds
itself up. The key to this deck is getting the 3rd minion. If you can
get a third minion into play, you’re almost guaranteed a table
victory, in my experience.
-Luciano Mariucci, Prince of Minneapolis
macl...@yahoo.com