texasjusticar wrote:
> It seems I always write a newsletter after some big event. Having just
> come back from Gencon Indy 2005 I have once again felt compelled to
> write a newsletter. It seems that there are now more game variants for
> V:TES than ever before, and I had a chance to try out some of them.
> Hella fun. I had more fun with Create a Clan
> (
http://www.white-wolf.com/vtes/index.php?line=cac) than I was
> expecting, and I had a blast playing clan Previcus as well as making
> them.
> You can read my quick synopsis of Gencon 2005 at
> http://presence.vekn.org/viewtopic.php?t=24.
> ----------------
> Vampire of the Month - Jessica (Advanced)
> I think I've finally made the decision that Jessica (Advanced)
> practically wallpapers the original Jessica. For basically one more
> pool, you get all the same disciplines, titles, etc. with the addition
> of +1 stealth on political actions. That's worth a pool! Unless you're
> desperate for the Archbishop title I also don't think merging is really
> necessary. Sure you can bring up the basic and then merge for a total
> of 8 pool. But you could also just play with the advanced version for 8
> pool and never need to merge. So unless you really need an archbishop,
> or for some reason you absolutely must have a 7 cap in your crypt, I
> see no reason to play with the basic version of Jessica anymore.
> Now that she's an 8 cap as advanced, she has all the following
> advantages over her basic version :
> 1. can be target of Zillah's Valley
> 2. can be target of Honor the Elders
> 3. can be target of Political Stranglehold
> 4. cannot be target of Hostile Takeover
> 5. can use Crocodile's Tongue, etc. on 7 cap vampires now
> 6. and many others which I'm sure are out there.
> -------------------
> Card of the Month - Powerbase: Rome
> I love playing sealed/limited as it exposes me to potential cards I
> normally wouldn't have bothered to use otherwise. Recently I was
> playing in a league with the Ravnos starter and desperately needed vote
> defense. Kelly Nine had a Powerbase: Rome that he was willing to trade
> me, and we double checked the recent text (since we knew it was updated
> in Final Nights) to confirm that I could use it. I put it in and played
> a few games with it. I found that once in play I had several turns with
> no masters, so rather than waste the master phase action I always
> remembered to add counters. Over the course of the game I had vote lock
> for at least one vote a turn, and in league it was enough. Fueled by
> this success, I decided to splice Rome into some of my constructed vote
> decks to give it a try.
> I put in the usual Parthenon/Rumours to increase my master phases,
> reasoning that even if opponents took the action to remove the
> counters, I could still amass 2-3 counters after untap if I needed to.
> What resulted was amazing success as I abused Rome with Voter
> Captivations and bloated like mad, winning tables with several large
> titled vampires.
> With the updated text, Rome is now strong. Any clan can use it (and the
> Giovanni actually get extra use out of it). Other than the fragility of
> it being a location, it is now something that can stay in play. Much
> like Madrid you don't need to defend the action to remove the counters
> if it'll cost you too much. And most importantly, it's now a free card.
> However the strongest value I didn't expect came from how the votes are
> generated. It doesn't become associated with any vampires in play, nor
> have any titled restriction. By card text, it appears that you the
> Methuselah gain the votes. So all the new 'Vote Pull' cards that
> negate/switch vampire votes do not affect the votes generated by Rome
> at all. This fact makes those votes far more useful than those
> generated by Madrid for example, and should be noted if intend to play
> with both.
> ----------------
> Vote Lock Module
> So being a module whore, once I realized the utility of Powerbase: Rome
> I set out to make a module that I could plug into vote decks. This
> module assumes that you want to generate votes by using Rome rather
> than the traditional vote push cards, so it should be easy to pull out
> Bewitching Orations and Awe from existing decks to put in this module.
> With the module's push on gaining more master phase actions, the
> additional masters this module uses should be negligible for master
> ratios of the deck you're bolting it onto.
> Vote Lock Module
> (5 cards) (By: Ethan Burrow)
> 2 Powerbase: Rome
> 1 Parthenon
> 2 Rumours of Gehenna
> Not surprising, I tend to play Sabbat vote decks that also have
> Powerbase: Madrid. This enhanced module accounts for this as well as
> including the Church of the Order of St. Blaise which can be used for
> either Powerbase to good effect. This is the module I use in all my
> current Sabbat vote decks.
> Sabbat Vote Lock Module:
> (7 cards) (By: Ethan Burrow)
> 2 Powerbase: Rome
> 1 Parthenon
> 2 Rumours of Gehenna
> 1 Church of the Order of St. Blaise
> 1 Powerbase: Madrid
> ------------------
> Deck : Vote Lock Test
> Author : Ethan Burrow
> Description : Deck built to take advantage of the vote gaining
> powerbases.
> Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 6 max: 10 average: 8.17
> 2x Jessica 7 AUS CEL OBT PRE bishop !Toreador:2
> 2x Jessica Adv 8 AUS CEL OBT PRE bishop !Toreador:2
> 1x Donatien 9 AUS PRE cel pot cardinal !Toreador:2
> 1x Marcel de Breau 9 CEL POT PRE ani pro archbishop !Brujah:3
> 1x Salinger 9 CEL POT PRE tha archbishop !Brujah:2
> 1x Lachlan, Noddist 8 AUS CEL PRE dom archbishop !Toreador:2
> 1x Greta Kircher 7 AUS CEL PRE obf !Toreador:2
> 1x Sela 6 POT PRE cel obt bishop !Brujah:2
> 1x Bronwen 10 CEL POT PRE dom obt priscus !Brujah:2
> 1x Matteus, Flesh Scu 10 AUS CEL PRE VIC priscus !Toreador:2
> Library [90 cards]
> Action [2]
> 2x Eternal Vigilance
> Action Modifier [9]
> 1x Under the Skin
> 8x Voter Captivation
> Ally [1]
> 1x Goth Band
> Combat [15]
> 7x Flash
> 4x Majesty
> 4x Staredown
> Master [24]
> 1x Creepshow Casino
> 1x Information Highway
> 8x Minion Tap
> 1x Parthenon, The
> 1x Pentex(TM) Loves You!
> 2x Powerbase: Madrid
> 2x Powerbase: Rome
> 1x Retribution
> 4x Sudden Reversal
> 3x Zillah's Valley
> Political Action [29] 1x Ancient Influence
> 4x Banishment
> 3x Deploy the Hand
> 3x Disputed Territory
> 2x Finding the Path
> 7x Kine Resources Contested
> 2x National Guard Support
> 1x Political Stranglehold
> 2x Reinforcements
> 1x Reins of Power
> 2x Rumors of Gehenna
> 1x Year of Fortune
> Reaction [10]
> 6x Telepathic Counter
> 4x Telepathic Misdirection
Nice article Ethan. I like PB:Rome a lot too, making fair use of it in
Modified Multi-taskamites. With that in mind, I'd make a couple
Otherwise it looks great to me. :)
