Official VEKN Nosferatu Newsletter for Feb, 2005
Peter D Bakija
Teetering on the verge of a new expansion, Kindredąs Most Wanted, which
comes out in a couple of weeks, I figure Iąd look at a Nosferatu deck type
that is based on an old expansion, and one that has never been explored in
these Nosferatu newsletters. But first, we got a cheery surprise a few weeks
ago in the recent issue of Game Trade Magazine (actually, a catalog that is
called a magazine, and theoretically costs money, but my local game store
gives them out for free if you buy something), Echo, a Nosferatu preview
vampire from KMW!
Echo (7) POT, OBF, CEL, dom, aus. Camarilla. Gets +1 strength in combat with
a Red List minion. **** (out of 5). Group 4.
Echo is a very solid new vampire for the Nosferatu, and follows the current
model of being designed as a good cross clan vampire. Her POT, OBF means
that sheąs going to fit in with a lot of various Nosferatu type combat
strategies. Her out of clan CEL means she can fit in with the Brujah quite
nicely. Her out of clan dom is always welcome (team her up with Tar Baby
Jack for a Nosferatu Dominate conspiracy--two of each of them in a deck
allows you to sideline 6-8 Deflections safely into pretty much any Nosferatu
deck), and her out of clan aus matches her nicely with Jara Drory, Petra,
and Ingram Frizer for a deck using fringe intercept or something. Her
special remains to be seen as useful, but as we already know that you can
forcibly make opponentąs minion Red List, if you want it to pay off, you
have complete control of that--clearly, there will be an opportunity to
build decks around making minions Red List (replacing Rush actions with Red
List branding actions, saving you some effort in the long run), and Echo,
what with her CEL and all, is likely to be a staple in such a deck. All in
all, a nice package in a nicely sized 7 point vampire. And a cool portrait,
to boot (for some reason, she kind of reminds me of the VUąs Nico...)
So anyway, with Echo available, and me accidentally picking up an Anarchs
Barons deck, I figured Iąd try mixing together a Nosferatu based Anarchs
deck, as I havenąt even done so before, and see how it goes.
łPetraąs Resonance˛
Crypt:
1x Gemini (5) OBF, obt, pot, ani
2x Petra (5) OBF, ANI, aus
1x Skidmark (5) OBF, FOR, pot, aus
1x Gerard Rafin (6) POT, OBF, for, ani
1x Alonzo Guillen (6) OBF, pot, for, ani
1x Juggler (7) DOM, CEL, pot, obf
1x Teresita, The Godmother (7) POT, OBF, ANI, for
2x Echo (7) POT, OBF, CEL, dom, aus
2x Tarbaby Jack (8) POT, OBF, ANI, ser, dom
Library:
6x Blood Doll
4x Galaricąs Legacy
2x Powerbase: Los Angeles
1x Dominate
1x Anarch Free Press
1x Hospital Food
6x Go Anarch
8x Geminiąs Mirror
6x Swallowed by the Night
6x Lost in Crowds
4x Animal Magnetism
8x The Mole
6x Skullduggery
2x Smash and Grab
2x Principia Discordia
2x Reformation
3x Fee Stake (NY, Seattle, Boston)
8x Anarch Salon
4x Firebrand
4x Kine Resources Contested
2x Free States Rant
4x Car Bomb
Granted, this isnąt, like, the best deck ever, and probably not something
Iąd play in competition, but it does pretty well in casual play.
The crypt focused on OBF, and then mixing in as many useful backup Anarch
disciplines as possible. With 8x The Mole, there is a lot of untap and bleed
canceling possible from the Animalism and Dominate and some extra light
intercept from the smattering of Celerity. Reformation lets you steal a
hunting ground or two, or use Tarbaby to corrupt a weenie vampire (which no
one will expect). The fringe Auspex lets you burn equipment cards with
Principia Discordia (handy in the current łEveryone has an Assault Rifle˛
environment). It is likely that there are some more maximized vampires for
the crypt, discipline wise, but as it stands, the crypt has mostly OBF
(which makes the most out of the standard discipline based cards in the
deck) and the Nosferatu used have a lot of funny special abilities that
actually are useful. The only glaring inefficiency in the crypt is Skidmark,
who could easily be, like, Roger Farnsworth or someone, but I like
Skidmarkąs picture. And he needs a home somewhere.
In the master selection, there are a lot of Blood Dolls for pool management,
which works very well with the Anarch Salons. 4 Galaricąs Legacy play
virtually for free (being Trifles) and cycle out nicely with the Powerbase:
LA late in the game. A bit of Anarch support from the Hospital Food and Free
Press is always helpful, and a fringe Dominate master to back up the Mole
based defense the deck packs.
In the bulk of the deck, there is mostly a political angle, which sadly will
have trouble in the face of a lot of table votes. It could use a few more
Fee Stakes (I only own the 3 currently, but, ya know, itąs doing ok anyway),
but in general, make someone an Anarch, get some Fire Brands in play, and
there is a lot of good synergy--Blood Doll off some blood, call a Salon, use
the newly gained blood to pay to untap someone with Firebrand, then go and
Skullduggery someone or something. With the extra untaps from the Firebrands
and Go Anarchs, this deck often seems to take way too many actions a turn.
The biggest problem that most Anarch decks face is getting prevented from
going Anarch, but as the Nosferatu are oozing Obfuscate, that isnąt so much
a problem here. The Obfuscate available to the deck provides stealth,
manuvers, and dodges, all of which are handy. The 8 Geminiąs Mirror exist
Ścause this deck is played in a fairly high combat environment, but they
could easily be pared down to a smaller number. For defense, as mentioned
earlier, there are 8x The Mole, which let you untap, cancel a bleed, or
occasionally pick up some extra light intercept, all of which are very handy
(especially the cancel a bleed aspect of the card). Sadly, you canąt use The
Mole twice on the same action to untap *and* cancel the bleed, but by
cycling out extra Go Anarch or Galaricąs Legacy with Powerbase: LA, you
often have an untapped minion at the end of the turn anyway.
The deck has problems with really persistent Rush combat, but has enough
manuvers and dodges to often survive a half hearted attempt to Rush and kill
your minions. Really stiff table votes (like a big pile of Justicars and IC
members across the table or something) could be a problem, but an early Fee
Stake followed by a Firebrand will usually give you most of the votes you
need to operate, with a few Animal Magnetisms for back up when needed. While
it doesnąt have a ton of stealth, it has enough to get through important
actions, and playing some early combined with all the OBF will likely
convince folks to not bother trying to block you anyway, as they figure you
have a lot of stealth, so why let you cycle?
All in all, a reasonably handy Anarch based Nosferatu deck with strong
defense and pool gain, and a reasonable if not incredibly speedy offense.
Peter D Bakija
pd...@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6
"How does this end?"
"In fire."
Emperor Turhan and Kosh