VEKN Official Baali Clan Newsletter - feb,2005
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OFFICIAL VEKN BAALI NEWSLETTER
Tome 1, Prologue
February, 2005
==============Fiction==============
Redemption
"From the back of the chapel, in a deep basso voice, someone called:
-Come in, dear. Here you are safe, and we´ll keep it that way.
The thumping of heels on the ancient stone floor was flattened against
the huge dimensions of the chamber. The young woman making that noise
was certainly scared, though she grew more confident with each step.
When she startedaising her eyes to see her host, that same voice
sounded once more:
-I advise you not to attempt that, child. There are things best left to
shadows and dreams. I know it´s not usual for one such as yourself to
be placed in this position, and I cannot thank you enough for allowing
me this small quirk. Please, take a sit by the altar, and we shall
talk.
While the few steps that separated Isabel from the assigned seat were
taken, she felt the air grow colder, and the knocks from her shoes
against the floor echoed farther and louder. When she finally sat, her
interlocutor once again spoke
-I am well aware of the dealings some of your kind arranged between our
lines, but I still cannot see what brings you to this
temple, Isabel. You wanted to meet me, and yet, when the oportunity
showed itself, you had second thoughts.
- I was only....
- Do not interrupt me, if you be so kind. You are well aware of the
protocol which I follow, and so i demand you to follow it
as well. As I was saying, you seeked me, and yet you were not certain
of your intentions, am I wrong? No, i´m not. You may
think I am little but a Devil, but you´re more like me than you can
imagine. So, please, tell me, what it is that you want me
to do for you?
Thunders roared in the outside of the church at mention of the Devil,
and Isabel shrugged when the flash of lightning let her
take a quick look at the other vampire."
===================================
YES! This is the first Clan Newsletter I write - there are a few about
the Baali, but they´re from 2002 - I´d check them if I were you - and
as so I hope ou will all forgive me for any misshap that might take
place (i´ll do my best to correct them whenever they´re pointed out,
and also for them not to happen too often). So, now i´ll cut to the
chase and talk about our little F(r)iends, the Baali. See, ever since
Bloodlines came out I thought about building a Pure (or at least
Storyline Legal) Baali deck. I finally made it long before the rumors
about our Pre-Con being released with KMW, and actually before the
Infernal Plague Storyline was put on open for us all to see. In this
first Newsletter, I´m going to do what i feel safe enough to do, that
is, talk about my experience with the clan, and perhaps share a bit of
it with you fine folks.
-- Also, on side note, I´m writing this Newsletter before KMW
Pre-release events, and i plan to publish it before the same events, so
that i´ll have a bit more insight in this whole task when it finally
comes to deal with some Major (yes, a capital M to this) changes and
upgrades for the infernal lot.--
This Volume will deal with:
Fiction: "Redemption" (written by me up to now, and a new piece of the
story will join this first with each newsletter. Cooperation
appreciated!)
Vampire of the Month: Sargon
Deck/Strategy of the Month: The Updated Infernal Rule and It´s Impact
on Playing Baali.
Vampire of the Month:
=====================
Let´s take a closer look at Sargon, shall we?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sargon
5 cap, dai obf pre cel
Independent. Whenever Sargon successfully performs an action, you get
the Edge. +1 strength. Infernal.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously, being the only Baali in the Bloodlines set without DAI makes
you think twice when you´re trying to bring the full force of evil
into your deck. A Sanguine Instruction (or perhaps some new card we
might get in the Kindred Most Wanted set?) will correct that. His extra
strength doesn´t hurt - but doesn´t help either - anything the Baali
are really good at, and then we have a special that probably makes him
extremely worthy.
First of all, no Baali up to now has votes (afterall, Maureen is not
yet released), and so having the edge might prove very useful every now
and then, when trying to save yourself through some votes (i´ll talk
about Evil Politics on a later issue), be it an Ancient Influence/Reins
of Power when you haven´t controlled Huitzi yet or an attempt to vote
off an Anarch Revolt.
Another nice way to enjoy the full effect of sargon´s "I hunt and I
get the edge" ability is when you put him in a setite deck. Obviously
having obf and pre helps a lot, and a Serpentis skill is nothing but
useful to him. and then you can entice twice each turn, if you´re
lucky enough to have enough copies of Enticement in your hand and deck.
All in all, he´s also the smaller capped Baali, and if you´re lucky
enough to go first in the table, you´ll probably bring him into the
game at the same time other people will get their minions out, or maybe
even before.
Strategy of the Month:
======================
The Updated Infernal Rule and It´s Impact on Playing Baali.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Before KMW, the infernal penalty was paid to avoid tapping the infernal
vampire in the untap phase. Now, as of KMW, the infernal penalty is
paid to untap the infernal vampire (who now doesn't untap as normal).
So if the vampire is untapped already at the start of your turn (either
because he didn't tap or because he untapped some other way via Majesty
or Change of Target or the like), you don't have to pay to keep him
that way.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Now at least the turn after they´re influenced out, all Baali will act
without spending that precious pool. And this is a good thig after all,
it was terribly frustrating to get Sargon out and leaving him tapped in
the first turn you could do some of the good uses described above. or
even worse, waiting several turns until that Blood Doll, Path of Evil
Revelations or Minion Tap to get to your hand later in the game so that
you could untap your minions and do something to finally give that
coupe de grace in your prey. Also, some of the underrated cards that
were useful to Baali now are to be considered major help, such as
Concordance:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Concordance [BL:C1]
Cardtype: Action
Cost: 1 blood
Discipline: Daimoinon/Serpentis
+1 stealth action.
[ser] (D) Bleed. If more than 1 pool is bled with this action, ignore
the excess.
[dai] Requires an infernal vampire. Put this card on the acting
vampire. This vampire treats aggravated damage as normal damage and has
+1 strength and -1 stealth.
[DAI] As [dai] above, and this vampire has flight and may burn 1 blood
to untap during your influence phase.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
See what i´m talking about?? at [DAI], Concordance gives you the
ability to untap at the end of your turn, and so you´ll be able to
block those nasty votes that usually people use to put the Evil Clan in
danger. with some help from permacept and maybe a corruption counter or
two, even a steath-bleeder might get caught. And, if you don´t
need/manage to block anyone, well, you at least exchanged a pool for a
blood, and your baali is ready to act in te next turn.
Also, a already extremely useful card for the [PRE] wielding Baali now
becomes even better. I´m talking about Majesty here. Afterall, you can
try to block every now and then (and if you get some setites, or if
you´re using Contagion to boost your intercept with Sense the Sin) the
free untap you get from the s:ce will prevent your spending even more
pool to act the next turn, so i´d advise in pacing a few of those just
in case you need to block, or someone rushes you (Angra Mainyu is a
common target, btw).
And then, another little trick we get is that since Infernal minions
already don´t untap as normal, effects that would prevent them from
untapping (such as being targetted by Rötschreck, Mind Numb and even
the vile Sensory Deprivation) will do nothing to them!!! you can still
pay your pool to untap, which i think to be a better choice than having
a useless vampire (in the case of a Ravnos predator, usually) in your
table.
So, i´ll talk more about this after i get to play under those rules,
and check the true effect it will infuse in our everlasting crusade to
bring havoc through the demonic forces of the Baali. I hope you all
enjoyed this first attempt of mine in translating to words the
experience i got from playing this awesome clan, and hope you all want
to check back on the next chapters and tomes of our little black book.
As I said before, the next Issue will bring the Baali starter deck
reviewed, and an overall impression of whatever it is that KMW will
bring for us, players of the Infernal Lot.
You can contact me with Questions, Tips, Fiction, Decks, whatever at
the.b...@gmail.com. make sure you put "Baali Newsletter" in the
subject of your message, so i can sort it out soon, and reply asap.
Thanks a lot for reading this far in our Prologue, and wait until the
week after the 20th for the first real edition of the Baali Clan
Newsletter to come out of my hands, dealing exclusively with KMW.
CHEERS!
Luciano "Baital" de Sampaio
VEKN Anarch Baron de Curitiba
VEKN Baali Clan Newsletter Editor
id77...@gmail.com
> Sargon
> 5 cap, dai obf pre cel
> Independent. Whenever Sargon successfully performs an action, you
get
> the Edge. +1 strength. Infernal.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> get the edge" ability is when you put him in a setite deck. Obviously
> having obf and pre helps a lot, and a Serpentis skill is nothing but
> useful to him. and then you can entice twice each turn, if you´re
> lucky enough to have enough copies of Enticement in your hand and
deck.
He is the cornerstone of my "Sargon's self help clinic" deck, featuring
himself, a bunch of setites, and a few !malks
His first tip is to find yourself, one piece at a time [he gets the
sargon fragment]
Next, his orderlies [low cap setites] entice the patient [prey] to
build willpower
Finally, some reformed patients [!malks] sweet talk their way into the
patient's wallet [sybil's tongues, to get permanants]
its a funny deck, but not tournament worthy, as weenie computer hacking
works out to the same bleed, with less blood cost
although, most of the pool loss can't be deflected, and with Hidden
Pathways [this is the best use for this card, btw] the enticements are
really easy to get through
i can post the deck, later, if you want
-KB, Prince of Harrisburg
The Lasombra
>i can post the deck, later, if you want
People always want decks.
See also:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/rgtcjdeckarchive/
Almost 2700 VTES decks posted to this newsgroup in the last 4+ years.
Carpe noctem.
Lasombra
http://www.TheLasombra.com
Your best online source for information about V:TES.
Now also featuring individual card sales and sales
of booster and starter box displays.
press
id77...@gmail.com wrote:
> He is the cornerstone of my "Sargon's self help clinic" deck,
featuring
> himself, a bunch of setites, and a few !malks
> His first tip is to find yourself, one piece at a time [he gets the
> sargon fragment]
> Next, his orderlies [low cap setites] entice the patient [prey] to
> build willpower
> Finally, some reformed patients [!malks] sweet talk their way into
the
> patient's wallet [sybil's tongues, to get permanants]
cool idea.... :)
> its a funny deck, but not tournament worthy, as weenie computer
hacking
> works out to the same bleed, with less blood cost
> although, most of the pool loss can't be deflected, and with Hidden
> Pathways [this is the best use for this card, btw] the enticements
are
> really easy to get through
well, i´d add a protected resources and keep enticing them until they
bleed to death, but that´s just one way to do things...
> i can post the deck, later, if you want
> -KB, Prince of Harrisburg
please do.... (see TheLasombra´s post)