Official VEKN Baali Newsletter
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VEKN Official Baali Clan Newsletter
January, 2010
This Edition includes:
- Introduction
- Fiction: A plan coming together
- Vampire of the Month: Cybele (again)
- Strategy of the Month: Girls will find inner peace
===================================================================
INTRODUCTION:
=============
I enjoyed the Baali ever since the excellent Darg Ages Clanbook for
them.
Although they are no player characters by nature they still have their
charm as super-villains :)
Naturally I tried to be successful with Baali decks. From simple
presence
stealth bleed over Sargon gets the edge for an Enticement and Call the
Great Beast strategies, even Nergal wall decks to the newest Gem which
features Cybele.
So just before the rise of Heirs to the Blood and with it new Baali,
Daimoinon, Maleficia and Striga cards I want to shed light upon this
wonderful Bloodline created by ze man himsel Saulot.
====================================================================
A PLAN COMING TOGETHER:
=======================
Seldomly had they met in such a rush, but even the deranged Lutz von
Hohenzollern seemed speechless at the events that had unfolded
during the past months. As he now sat around the table with Adana de
Sforza, Mistress Fanchon and Rafael de Corazon they were discussing
frantically about the reasons or whatever lay behind the motivations
of this Gangrel Antitribu and the other events that had happend
surrounding here.
"This cannot be coincidence", Fanchon snarled, "First the reappearance
of the Red Star, then some of the Ashur Tablets and now the
liquidation
of our own Ashur assets". "Indeed it binds in perfectly timed with
assaults on
our resources from the anarch whom we had thought being a non-problem
at the moment", replied Rafael.
Lutz was having none of it though: "I can see no pattern at all to
that. It just looks like coincidence when I peer at the omens. Though
I
heard news of our foe Ossian turning to the infernal side, entranced
by
the powers they offered to him.". "That weakish cub will pose no
threat
to us my friends", Adana countered," he is nothing than a meatball in
our hands, what is estranging me is that a Gangrel Antitribu is
supposed
to have reached Golconda and is now residing in Switzerland, just
months after attacking our resources. From Evil to Good in a month?!?
That cannot be..."
"This is madness, why that Daclau women? She has been a mischieveous
thorn
in our side for some time. To mischieveous to attain such a high moral
for sure. You cannot be true!!!", Lutz screamed. But the others fell
silent as they too had heard this rumor and more than a rumor it was.
"It is true!", Fanchon replied in an unnaturally silent tone. "Several
Ghouls of Troius have seen her strolling around during mid-day in
Geneva. When confronted she did not even try to harm them, but just
vanished. Behaved as if she were mindwashed somehow they said. But we
must be wary, we don't know nearly enough about this state of mind,
she might as well just return and pose an ever bigger threat."
"Yeah with a Vengeance...", De Sforza uttered, "What we'll now have to
do is too muster our resources and influences to increase our standing
and leverage in this situation, so we will be ready when she
ressurges,
we must not let it get out of hand!!!".
"Agreed!", replied the other three.
If only her master could see it, it was the sweetest smile of all,
that of a perfect plan coming perfectly together. Cybele looked into
the mirror that was so beneficial in showing her this meeting. Even
that preposterous witch Fanchon could not fathom the powerful magic
that was woven into it by herself...what a foolish woman.
Aksinya's actions worked out just as planned. After putting the
anarchs
up onto the camarilla her mind was relieved to such an extent and
putten
on the right path to be actually one of the chosen few. None of the
others doubted her for a bit. Praise to the dark lord and his
influence in her.
Those camarilla snobs weren't half-wrong though about her coming back,
as she was as they now say...a sleeper, but that too was already
anticipated.
Cybele watched as the four disassembled to summon up their
mighty politics. Good they did not know, she too would benefit from
it and above it her master who lined out this masterful plan which
started aeons ago in Zillah's Valley and the Parthenons of old...
===================================================================
VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH (AGAIN)
============================
Cybele
-------
G4 / ANI DAI OBF PRE SER THA
Cap - 10
Independet. If Cybele is untapped during your master phase, you get an
additional master phase action. Cybele may bleed at
+2 bleed as a D action that costs 1 blood. Infernal.
She already was Vampire of the month in the last newsletter, although
that was a while ago. She has been most famous for her use in Call
the Great Beast decks, where her Thaumaturgy and Serpentis where key.
In the Girls will find inner peace deck, it's mostly only Presence and
Obfuscate with a sprinkle of Animalism and Thaumaturgy. It is her
master
ability and bleed action that make her so worthwile, easily offsetting
the infernal trait.
====================================================================
DECK OF THE MONTH
=================
Adam Esbjörnsson's Tournament Winning Deck
Deck Name : Girls will find inner peace
Author : Adam Esbjörnsson and friends
Description : Thanks to Teemu Sainomaa, Erik Torstensson, Isak
Bjärmark Esbjörnsson and Alex Ek for perfecting and evolving the
original deck by Teemu.
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 9 max: 11 average: 10
------------------------------------------------------------
4x Cybele 10 ANI DAI OBF PRE SER THA Baali:4
4x Aksinya Daclau 9 ANI FOR PRE PRO cel tha !Gangrel:4
1x Adana de Sforza 11 CEL OBF POT PRE PRO aus inner circle
Brujah:4
1x Lutz von Hohenzoll 11 AUS DEM OBF PRE pot inner circle
Malkavian:4
1x Mistress Fanchon 11 AUS CEL DOM OBF THA VIC inner circle
Tremere:4
1x Rafael de Corazon 11 AUS CEL DOM OBF PRE inner circle
Toreador:4
Cybele and Aksinya are the main engine here. They are key to getting
much
pool with Villein+Golconda (or even better Giants Blood). This usually
leads
into bringin out the inner circle members. Coincidentally all vampired
in
this deck that can bleed for 3 have superior obfuscate and presence.
Once setup most decks will find it troublesome to survive a barrage of
stealthed bleeds for 3 while under a vote lock. All in all a difficult
to play deck with huge poolgain and damage potential. As soon as
others
will get what is going on you will be the table threat, so table
politics
need to be played as well to stay alive.
Library [77 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [4]
2x Entrancement
2x Intimidation
Intimidation is supposedly there for it's cost effectiveness, allowing
to
bleed for 3 without costing a blood, while Entrancement's versatility
as
bleed and Ally steal is always well liked by presence users.
Action Modifier [16]
2x Aire of Elation
2x Approximation of Loyalty
1x Cloak the Gathering
2x Elder Impersonation
1x Enkil Cog
2x Faceless Night
1x Into Thin Air
1x Lost in Crowds
2x Mirror Walk
2x Perfect Paragon
A nice rounded mix of stealth effects, with some bleed push and the
obligatory
Enkil Cog.
Combat [4]
4x Majesty
As is obvious this deck is prone to some combat strategies, but for
the occasional
rumble this package usually suffices.
Event [4]
2x Anthelios, The Red Star
1x Nightmares upon Nightmares
1x Scourge of the Enochians
Mastercard recursion is obviously a main strategy in this deck, so the
2 Anthelios
ar warraanted. Scourge of the Enochians and Nightmares upon Nightmares
provide
defense against weenie decks which too can be troublesome.
Master [41]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
6x Ashur Tablets
1x Blind Spot
1x Coven, The
1x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fortschritt Library
1x Giant's Blood
2x Golconda: Inner Peace
3x Information Highway
1x Jake Washington (Hunter)
4x Liquidation
1x Metro Underground
1x Misdirection
1x Monastery of Shadows
2x Parthenon, The
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
6x Villein
1x Wash
4x Zillah's Valley
There are several poolgain strategy in the deck. Villein (best paired
with Golconda or
Giants Blood), Liquidation and the Ashur Tablets. The Tablet recursion
is key
to getting they cards move by the liquidation. Also there are lots of
other
great masters to fuel Anthelios and Aksinya or just to be played. Note
that
Zillah's Valley, Information Highway and Dreams of the Sphinx make up
almost 12% of
the deck which should mean that 1 is bound to be in the first 10
cards.
Political Action [4]
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power
Just 4 votes of which 3 only can be played once in the game, but they
have a hefty
result in this deck. Ancient Influence and Political Stranglehold will
usually
gain 6 pool (with the Stranglehold even more potentially), while Reins
of Power
and Ancilla Empowerment put on the hurt to plow down any resistance
that is left.
Reaction [4]
1x Guard Dogs
2x Lost in Translation
1x Rat's Warning
The dogs and rats compliment Aksinyas bounce ability as she needs to
be untapped
to use it, while Lost in Translation enables the other vampires to
bounce all but
just a few vampires.
Cheers
Bernd Schwabe
VEKN Prince of Hanau
echia...@yahoo.com
Don't worry about featuring Cybele again. The last newsletter was back
in 2005, so plenty of things have changed since then. Plus, as a
different newsletter editor, you're able to give a completely
different perspective on her uses.
I especially liked how you tied the fiction into Cybele and the deck.
Hopefully, we'll continue to see more exciting newsletters from you in
the future!
Raymond Harnack
her she is second only to Nergal in the baali powerhouse department.
She and the Nerg will continue to outshine any baali we know of ATM,
even that one dude (the unnamed) so feel free to keep plugging her she
rocks.
As far as the deck goes I have just crawled out from under
a rock and out of a extended vtes hiatus and even before I took a
break the deck type was old news. Its been my experience that these
decks often succumb to table hate after you maul a table with it a few
times. Their reputations preceed them.This is probably contributing o
your low post count. Sit tight though we will have all sorts of neat'o
toys to play with just short of 3 days. I am looking forward to
reading what devious things can be conjured with the new shabbas. The
baali however awesome have gone a bit stale, thankfully this will not
be true in the very near future.