OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 5 NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 2002
Legbiter
2002
IN THIS ISSUE.....
FICTION: A [Nec]Romantic Dinner for Two.
DECKS: Sigmund Bjornstein's Ahrimanes/!Gangrel deck and Draxx's
!Gangrel/Miller deck.
FICTION: A [Nec]Romantic Dinner for Two.
In Southern England spring materialises pretty regularly on St
Valentine's day which puts one in the mood for love, even when one is an
Ancient Vampire like m'self. So here i am, the servants all having been
sent off on leave, happily cooking a Romantic supper for the Brides of
Legbiter. Ding-Dong! And here they are, fashionably on time, which is
lucky considering the menu. One last check on the flower arrangement,
and i open the door.
"Hullo Darling, we've brought a friend. He said you wouldn't mind."
"Erm ... Nonono, of course, welcome Uncle Augustus! What a very pleasant
surprise!"
i bend my head to kiss the golden ring on his finger. He ruffles my hair
and chuckles throatily.
"Leggy, Leggy, i wait and wait by the phone and it's only by chance that
i run across your lovely brides, and learn of tonight's little soiree.
And now, my darlings, your partner and i have business to discuss.
Rafaele is waiting in the limousine, and he has instructions to see to
your entertainment for the rest of the evening. Ciao, bellissimi!"
The Brides depart, looking gorgeous and disappointingly unsulky, from my
point of view. i hang up Uncle Augustus's big coat while he inspects the
preparations in the kitchen.
"Frito Misto Di Mare, my favourite! You really gotta share this recipe
with us all, dear boy."
"Whatever you say, uncle, you know my only purpose is to serve you."
"That's my boy. And as it happens, i do have a little task for you. It's
about Baltimore. i was slightly disappointed that you didn't support the
clan in the recent London business, y'know."
"Well, i'm sorry Uncle, but Cousin Adam won it for us with the Zombie
hordes, didn't he?"
"And well done him. But that's only the first battle, not the war. What
are YOU going to do to stop me from feeling hurt and disappointed,
Leggy?"
And so it is that much, much later i am still at my desk, writing out
the following decklist for those, like me, who really OWE the family a
big favour or two.
**********************
This is a version of a soul-gem combo deck which was invented by Rehlow
and played with some success by him at the recent tournament in Butler.
i built this deck the moment i read it and have been tinkering about
with it ever since so's to make it a storyline-legal Giovanni deck. In
so doing i discovered structural features of the deck which make it
uncompetitive in the UK environment, and so i have adjusted it quite
significantly, finally managing to win a game with it on Sunday night
[3rd February]. In this form i think you could win a few games with it
but you need to be clear that it's a trick-deck and although it works
beautifully when it does work, it can grind to an embarassing halt every
so often. Definitely one to keep around for laughs, though, and i shall
probably play it in a storyline tournament some time this month.
DECK NAME: One-third of the Beast [222 = 666/3; played in a friendly on
02/02/02, and 20 masters/20 actions/20 action modifiers]
CONCEPT: Rehlow's The Combo made legal for Storyline tourneys, and
tweaked so as to at least approach competitiveness in the UK metagame.
Basically, the Baron brings out your entire crypt in one turn.
CREATED BY: The basic idea is ENTIRELY Rehlow's, and good work by him.
All i [Legbiter] have done is tweak it.
CRYPT [16 vampire cards, 75% giovanni]
Le Dinh Tho
6 x Pochtli
Andrea Giovanni
Egothha
Rafaele Giovanni
Gillespi Giovanni
Kanimana Belghazi
Carlotta Giovanni
The Baron
Rudolpho Giovanni
Isabel Giovanni
LIBRARY [60 cards]
MASTERS [20]
6 x Minion Tap
2 x Dreams of the Sphinx
4 x Vast Wealth
6 x Coroner's contact
Elder Library
The Barrens
ACTIONS/EQUIPMENT [20]
9 x Possession
2 x Soul Gem of Etrius
9 x Force of Will
ACTION MODIFIERS [20]
2 x Faceless Night
5 x Seduction
3 x Spectral Divination
6 x Call of the Hungry Dead
2 x Cloak the gathering
2 x Lost in Crowds
PLAYING NOTES: Aim is to get The Baron out as quickly as possible, you
have to remain ABSOLUTELY focussed on that. Once he is out, minion tap
him down to one, and equip with the soul gem. Force of Will at inferior
- The Baron burns, triggering the Soul Gem. The new vampire possesses
the baron out of the ash-heap using superior necromancy. The Baron taps
to take the soul gem, and bleeds with Force of will as before. If you
have Pochtli out and the new vampire is another Pochtli he burns and you
get the NEXT vampire. If you have Kanimana or Le Dinh Tho out and you
get the other Nagaraja you don't have to pay another three - the Scarce
rule only refers to situations where you move the vampire from your
uncontrolled to your active region, not to cases where you move the
vampire from the top of your crypt to your active region.
*********************
O, and here's that recipe.
Buy half-a-pound [250g] of sprats or other small marine fish for each
person you intend to feed, plus half-a-pound extra. Dip them in flour
which you have previously salted and peppered [liberally; cayenne and/or
black pepper to taste]. Shallow-fry in hot oil until they are crisp.
Serve with lemon wedges. Heaven.
********************
DECKS: Sigmund Bjornstein's Ahrimanes/!Gangrel deck and Draxx's
!Gangrel/Miller deck.
Here are two Gangrel-anti-ish decks posted on the newsgroup during
January, in each case with a request for comments. So here is me,
reposting and commenting like a good 'un.
Sigmund Bjornstein (bjorn...@yahoo.com)
Subject: Help me out with Ahrimanes?
Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad
Date: 2002-01-16 12:15:23 PST
Hello.
Here's a deck that I came up with over the weekend. I tried it out
yesterday and it didn't do too badly... but I'd appreciate comments on
how I could make it work better:
Crypt:
- Caitlin
- Omaya
- Gunther-Beast Lord
- Bear Paw x 2
- The Siamese x 2
- Howler x 2
- Nettie Hale
- Juanita Santiago
- Cynthia Ingold
Library (Master):
- Animalism x 2
- Presence x 2
- Powerbase: Montreal
- Information Highway x 2
- Feral Spirit x 4
- Blood Doll x 2
- Dreams of the Sphynx x 2
Library (Minion):
- The Wildebeest x 2
- Sanguine Instruction x 4
(Presence):
- Enchant Kindred x 5
- Legal Manipulations x 4
- Social Charm x 6
(Animalism):
- Cat's Guidance x 3
- Rat's Warning x 3
- Carrion Crows x 6
- Terror Frenzy x 4
- Drawing out the Beast x 3
- Aid From Bats x 6
- Scorpion Sting x 4
(Spiritus):
- Engling Fury x 3
- Swiftness of the Stag x 5
- Strength of the Bear x 4
- Nose of the Hound x 3
- Chameleon's Colours x 3
- Falcon's Eye x 3
- Speak with Spirits x 4
Comments, please? How does it look to you?
Thanks,
-- Sigmund
My comments: i think this could use some blood gain. The Rack and
palatial estate, i'ld suggest.
**********************
Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad
From: Draxx <drax...@hotmail.com>
Subject: (DECK) Anti Gangrel combat deck
Date: 23 Jan 2002 02:10:24 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/
Hi There,
I really have so much fun playing with combat decks. I am writing down
one of my favorite.
The idea is bringing out Ellen who hopefully hits very hard the key
figures of my prey primary and my predator if necessary. I play mid
cap vampires because not so much pool gain avaliable. The smaller cap
vamps are backups and supports (rescuing from torpor, additional
bleeds, etc...). After transferring Ellen the second vamp should be
eighter Kallista or Miller. Darrel Boyce is an option if not to much
intercept needed. I am thinking how to increase the bleed capacity of
the vamps (pulse, tasha morgan, etc.). Replacing the black spiral
buddies with pulse or tasha seems reasonable but the werewolf with a
sport bike is my favorite.
Please feel free commenting it. Moreover please share your experince -
who ever tried this angle - how his/her deck performed.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 13, Max: 32, Avg: 6.08)
4 Ellen Fence aus CEL OBF PRO 8, Gangrel Antitribu, Bishop
1 Huang pro 1, Pander
2 Kallista AUS CEL pre pro 6, Toreador
2 Miller Delmardigan aus CEL PRE pro 8, Toreador Antitribu, Bishop
1 Sadie pro 2, Gangrel Antitribu
1 Wren cel obf pro 4, Gangrel Antitribu
1 Darrel Boyce CEL OBF PRO 6, Gangrel Antitribu
Library: (90 cards)
Master (16 cards)
1 Archon Investigation
2 Auspex
3 Blood Doll
1 Campground Hunting Ground
1 Depravity
3 Gangrel Conspiracy
1 Hungry Coyote, The
2 Path of the Feral Heart, The
2 Protean
Action (5 cards)
4 Bum's Rush
1 Shadow of the Beast
Reaction (22 cards)
2 Eagle's Sight
4 Enhanced Senses
10 Forced Awakening
4 My Enemy's Enemy
2 Precognition
Combat (40 cards)
3 Amaranth
4 Body Flare
8 Claws of the Dead
6 Form of Mist
9 Pursuit
2 Side Strike
4 Stutter-Step
4 Wolf Claws
Ally (2 cards)
2 Black Spiral Buddy
Equipment (5 cards)
1 Flak Jacket
1 Ivory Bow
1 Palatial Estate
2 Sport Bike
Thanks in advance!
Bye,
Draxx
My comments: Hmmmm, maybe some lucky blows, maybe one Art of Pain? But
Miller decks are strong and there's enough forced awakening in here to
give even a Majesty deck some trouble.
******************
Alright, that's it for February. Good luck in all your storyline events
and see you next month!
--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG
John
> The Baron taps
> to take the soul gem, and bleeds with Force of will as before. If you
Am I correct in assuming that this avoids NRA problems as once the Baron has
reached the ash heap and returns he is a "new" vampire with respect to what
actions he has performed?
(Tried searching for this answer but I came up with too many other combos)
Thanks,
John
LSJ
>
> > The Baron taps
> > to take the soul gem, and bleeds with Force of will as before. If you
>
> Am I correct in assuming that this avoids NRA problems as once the Baron has
> reached the ash heap and returns he is a "new" vampire with respect to what
> actions he has performed?
Yes.
--
LSJ (vte...@white-wolf.com) V:TES Net.Rep for White Wolf, Inc.
Links to revised rulebook, rulings, errata, and tournament rules:
http://www.white-wolf.com/vtes/
hamdamcwa
> Le Dinh Tho
> 6 x Pochtli
> Andrea Giovanni
> Egothha
> Rafaele Giovanni
> Gillespi Giovanni
> Kanimana Belghazi
> Carlotta Giovanni
> The Baron
> Rudolpho Giovanni
> Isabel Giovanni
What happens if the Gem activates to influence a vampire that is
already ready either in yours or another Meths ready region? Surely,
the new vampire is burned and the action is effectively wasted?
DH
jeroen rombouts
"hamdamcwa" <dave...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9e10847c.02020...@posting.google.com...
again.
in another's ready region, contesting as normal.
J
Cameron
That vampire gets the gem, looks around and sees another copy of
itself in play, and burns (if its yours) or contests (if someone
elses). If it burns, then the gem activates, repeat. If not, then
you are now contesting the vampire with the soul gem equiped, and the
gem is therefore uncontrolled, along with the vamp its on.
Rehlow's deck was all unique, to get around this, although we
considered adding extra Pochtli's in, as he is great for the deck, and
his cap make seeing another of him less than brutal.
Cameron
Matt Strehlow
>**********************
>
>This is a version of a soul-gem combo deck which was invented by Rehlow
>and played with some success by him at the recent tournament in Butler.
>
The success in Butler was actually quite limited. The table that the
combo was working was a slow table (much talk about LARPing) and the
combo did take extra long to set-up. After it ousted its first prey I
was in a strong position to finish off the table (my predator had
already fallen by then). I was in the middle of bleeding out my new prey
when time was called. I should tried to get the game moving quicker
earlier, but didn't want to attract attention to myself when I was
vulnerable.
>
>
>DECK NAME: One-third of the Beast [222 = 666/3; played in a friendly on
>02/02/02, and 20 masters/20 actions/20 action modifiers]
>CONCEPT: Rehlow's The Combo made legal for Storyline tourneys, and
>tweaked so as to at least approach competitiveness in the UK metagame.
>Basically, the Baron brings out your entire crypt in one turn.
>CREATED BY: The basic idea is ENTIRELY Rehlow's, and good work by him.
>All i [Legbiter] have done is tweak it.
>
>CRYPT [16 vampire cards, 75% giovanni]
>Le Dinh Tho
>6 x Pochtli
>
This could be problematic. If Potchli is in play, The Baron burns and
shows you Pochtli, Pochtli burns and triggers the Soul Gem. If this
vampire is Pochtli, Soul Gems other effect (Effective Management and
Soul Gem burns) kicks in because Pochtli is not older than Pochtli. I
could see having Pochtli in play and two Pochtlis in a row happening
quite a bit with 6 copies of him. Then again you do have Pochtli in
play, so he can always shuffle two cards into your library, one being
the newly burned Soul Gem, and once you have a Vast Wealth in play you
can go look for that new inserted card. Personally I wouldn't go past 3
Pochtlis in a deck (and probably stick to 2 since I am cursed with
pulling off the unprobable when it is a bad thingTM) I understand though
that this number was chosen to fit with the storyline 75% single clan rule.
The version I see Pochtli in contains a lot more obfuscate stealth
cards, probably at the cost of necromancy ones, but that is my personal
preference.
>
>
>PLAYING NOTES: Aim is to get The Baron out as quickly as possible, you
>have to remain ABSOLUTELY focussed on that. Once he is out, minion tap
>him down to one, and equip with the soul gem. Force of Will at inferior
>- The Baron burns, triggering the Soul Gem. The new vampire possesses
>the baron out of the ash-heap using superior necromancy. The Baron taps
>to take the soul gem, and bleeds with Force of will as before. If you
>have Pochtli out and the new vampire is another Pochtli he burns and you
>get the NEXT vampire. If you have Kanimana or Le Dinh Tho out and you
>get the other Nagaraja you don't have to pay another three - the Scarce
>rule only refers to situations where you move the vampire from your
>uncontrolled to your active region, not to cases where you move the
>vampire from the top of your crypt to your active region.
>
>*********************
>
Hope you find a version of this for Storyline you are happy with. I
would love to see lots of Giovanni decks win and have these guys take
over Baltimore.
Later,
~Rehlow
Fav Card is Still Soul Gem!!!
>
legbiter
Sigh, you're right. AFAICS it actually ISN'T possible to make a robust
storyline-legal variation of your deck, not even with Regina instead
of the Baron and Recruitments instead of Coroner's Contacts. But
that's the way you would have to go if you were determined, probably
often needing to play BOTH recruitments to clear out the duplicate of
Regina from your crypt - or at least, that's what i plan to tell the
muscular delegation from Uncle Augustus when they come a-calling.
BTW i have now made a variant of your deck that works even better than
the one i posted, WITHOUT the need to cheat. Simply ROARED through
last night's pub-game table.
Markus Schlein
LSJ please confirm this.
Thanks,
-Markus
Cameron schrieb:
Rehlow
><snip accurate expose of Legbitery literary limitations>
>
>Sigh, you're right. AFAICS it actually ISN'T possible to make a robust
>storyline-legal variation of your deck,
>
Actually I think with the following crypt it would be playable as storyline:
1x The Baron
2x Pochtli
1x Enzo Giovanni
1x Carlotta Giovanni
1x Andrea Giovanni
1x Gillespi Giovanni
1x Kanimana Belghazi
1x Rafaele Giovanni
1x Isabel Giovanni
1x Le Dinh Tho
1x Rudolfo Giovanni
There is 9 Giovanni and 3 other so that fits the rules. There is the
icky situation of having Pochtli in play and pulling Pochtli who then
burns and shows Enzo, causing the not as cool effect of Soul Gem, but
that should screw the deck up less than bad card flow or too much intercept.
I would play the Library much the same, since a second Pochtli replaces
Egotha, which means slightly more stealth and Rudolfo replaces
Bartholomew, and Bart is just kinda neat in here, fun to leave untapped.
>
>
>BTW i have now made a variant of your deck that works even better than
>the one i posted, WITHOUT the need to cheat. Simply ROARED through
>last night's pub-game table.
>
Glad to here you had fun with it. The point of making it, was to get the
reaction "that's not right, but it is pretty cool even if it did just
oust me." I might have to bring it to a storyline tournament and give it
another go.
Later,
~Rehlow
LSJ
Confirmed. [RTR 11-JUL-2001]
Please avoid top-posting (posting a reply which references text quoted below it).
It makes it difficult to follow the conversation.
legbiter
> legbiter wrote:
>
> ><snip accurate expose of Legbitery literary limitations>
> >
> >Sigh, you're right. AFAICS it actually ISN'T possible to make a robust
> >storyline-legal variation of your deck,
> >
> Actually I think with the following crypt it would be playable as storyline:
> 1x The Baron
> 2x Pochtli
> 1x Enzo Giovanni
> 1x Carlotta Giovanni
> 1x Andrea Giovanni
> 1x Gillespi Giovanni
> 1x Kanimana Belghazi
> 1x Rafaele Giovanni
> 1x Isabel Giovanni
> 1x Le Dinh Tho
> 1x Rudolfo Giovanni
>
> There is 9 Giovanni and 3 other so that fits the rules. There is the
> icky situation of having Pochtli in play and pulling Pochtli who then
> burns and shows Enzo, causing the not as cool effect of Soul Gem, but
> that should screw the deck up less than bad card flow or too much intercept.
>
> I would play the Library much the same, since a second Pochtli replaces
> Egotha, which means slightly more stealth and Rudolfo replaces
> Bartholomew, and Bart is just kinda neat in here, fun to leave untapped.
Actually a correspondent [ahem] has pointed out to me that there IS a
way to make a storyline-legal Combo deck which has no instrinsic yuck
factor at all, at all. Good on you, correspondent, and i hope i never
have to play against your deck.
>
> >
> >
> >BTW i have now made a variant of your deck that works even better than
> >the one i posted, WITHOUT the need to cheat. Simply ROARED through
> >last night's pub-game table.
> >
>
> Glad to here you had fun with it. The point of making it, was to get the
> reaction "that's not right, but it is pretty cool even if it did just
> oust me." I might have to bring it to a storyline tournament and give it
> another go.
>
> Later,
> ~Rehlow
Yeah, do it. Did i heap praise upon your head for the idea? i do so
now, or again, it doesn't matter. Long may the Family Thrive, Semper
Ita Dicent Puellae Mortae [sorry to any Latin scholars [eg Damans],
fairly sure i have got a few endings in a twist there].