Official VEKN Nosferatu Newsletter for January, 2005
Peter D Bakija
Crazy. Iąve been churning these newsletters out on a semi consistent basis
for, what, 7 years now? Well, as they say, nothing changes New Yearąs Day,
so here is issue 47 of the VEKN Nosferatu Newsletter.
Anyway, some months ago, when looking at the new Black Hand vampires for our
Nosferatu pals, I said the following about Tock in issue 41:
ł...Clearly, heąd fit into some sort of Pot/Pre/Obf deck--in fact, it was
like he was specifically designed for such a strategy basis, but what,
really, are you gonna do with such a deck? Tock can get together with the
likes of Amadeo, Harrod, and Cailean, but overall, Iąm not seeing such a
deck as that handy--stealth vote rush? Stealth bleed with hit back combat
defense? Certainly possible ideas, but unless you are *really* stuck on
making a Nosferatu deck with both Potence and Presence in it, Tock isnąt
likely to see much play. **˛
Right. I tried some wacky Cailean based deck (see: issue 42) that used Tock,
and tried to pass it off as a deck that really got mileage out of Tock, but
it was kind of a sham--mostly the deck used Animalism (which Tock doesnąt
get), and he was no better than any other random vampire with Obf/Pre. Which
was sad, as I really wanted Tock to go somewhere--I mean, really, he might
have some crazy long arms, but he is very well dressed. He is putting in the
effort, so I figure so should I. After messing around with various crazy
deck designs trying to capitalize upon Tock, I finally hit pay dirt, and
built a deck that really makes Tock good. In fact, it makes a lot of under
utilized Nosferatu good. Here is that deck:
łTock! Youąre Home!˛
Crypt:
2x Harrod (11) POT, OBF, pre, IC, +2 bleed
2x Ellison Humboldt (9) POT, OBF, PRE, Primogen
2x Amadeo (8) POT, OBF, pre, Primogen
1x Synesios (8) POT, obf, PRE, 2 votes
1x Murat (7) POT, OBF, Prince
2x Sundown (6) POT, obf, pre
2x Tock (4) pot, obf, pre
Avg: 7.6
Library:
8x Minion Tap
3x Information Highway
3x Presence
1x The Labyrinth
1x Major Boon
8x Kine Resources Contested
2x Conservative Agitation
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power
1x Banishment
1x Disputed Territory
1x Peace Treaty
1x Reinforcements
1x Command the Harpies
1x Honor the Elders
1x Praxis Seizure: Brussels
1x Crusade: London
8x Lost in Crowds
6x Elder Impersonation
4x Forgotten Labyrinth
8x Iron Glare
8x Voter Captivation
4x Bewitching Oration
1x Awe
2x Legal Manipulations
7x Majesty
4x Thrown Gate
What we have here is a pretty focused Stealth Vote deck that benefits from
being Nosferatu by virtue of being able to get some serious mileage out of
the incredibly useful Iron Glare. By using Nosferatu with added Presence,
you can sneak votes past intercept, push them through with Presence vote
modifiers, gain blood and pool with Voter Captivation, and switch to pretty
significant Stealth and Bleed without much effort if necessary.
Looking at the Crypt, there are two each of the good Nosferatu with
Presence--Harrod is very useful with his permanent 4 votes and +2 bleed
modifier (make sure to look at an uncontrolled vampire of your preyąs every
turn, if for no other reason that you can...); Ellison is the perfect
vampire for the deck as he starts with POT, OBF, PRE and can own your
opponentąs Princes; Amadeo is perfectly reasonable with appropriate good
disciplines; Sundown, likewise has good disciplines and a built in vote
gaining special (which stays around if he becomes Prince of Brussels,
unlike, say, Amadeoąs Primogen vote); Tock is the 4 with the three needed
disciplines. For rounding out the crypt, we have Synesios who gets 2
permanent votes and starts with POT/PRE for maximum Iron Glare action and
Murat, who lacks Presence but brings pretty cheap Prince hood. The deck
doesnąt have a huge amount of permanent table votes (unless Harrod gets in
play), but all the Presence backs it up. Cailean with his POT/OBF/PRE could
have been in the deck, but I wanted to avoid another totally huge vampire,
and as it is, the deck is Storyline legal for the next Storyline event
(whenever that may be). It is also a really big crypt, but with the reliable
Minion Tap/Voter Cap combo, it isnąt that difficult to get out even 3
vampires in a given game, even if one isnąt Tock.
The Master selection is very straight forward--enough Minion Taps to play
them early and often, 3 Info Highways for a reasonable chance of getting one
in play early, 3 Presence skill cards to bolster up your vote power and
activating the devastating bleed aspect of Iron Glare, and a Labyrinth
which is always useful. The only fringe Master is the Major Boon. I wanted
at least 1 OOT Master for synergy with Synesiosąs special ability, and while
a Sudden Reversal or a Direct Intervention might be more useful in that
slot, this deck certainly can use some extra bleed defense.
The main body of the deck starts with a huge chunk of Political Actions.
With so many vote modifiers, the deck wants to be able to regularly take
Political Actions, so a lot is a good idea. Building on a base of 8 KRC and
2 Con Ag (in case of, say, Delaying Tactics), there are then a lot of wacky
PA cards for many situations. There is some good pool gain (Ancient
Influence, Stranglehold), some cards to shore up a good political situation
(Harpies, Disputed Territory to steal, say, a Ventrue HQ, and Banishment),
and some good utility cards (Anarchist Uprising, Peace Treaty,
Reinforcements). The deck might be a tad more kill happy with a few of the
fringe votes replaced with more KRCs or whatever, but it works pretty well
as it is, and is more rounded out than a deck with, like, 22 KRCs would be.
The two title cards are the Nosferatu/Anti-Nosferatu special vote
cards--Tock is destined to be the Arch Bishop of London, and many vampires
in the crypt can benefit from the extra capacity from being the Prince of
Brussels (especially Sundown, who doesnąt lose his inherent vote like Amadeo
and Ellison do when they become Prince).
For vote support, there are the vital Iron Glares, some Bewitching Orations
(which stack on the Iron Glares for extra push action), an Awe (Iąd probably
use more, but I only own the one...), and the important Voter Captivations
which gain you pool, fill up your vampires, and gain you more pool. The Iron
Glares are fantastic in this deck, as in a situation where you either donąt
need the votes (Ścause you have vote lock) or you canąt really use the votes
(Ścause everyone else has vote lock), you can switch over to be a
significant bleed threat--occasionally, Harrod will accidentally bleed for 7
with a Legal Manipulations when no one expects it. Granted, to really get
mileage out of the Iron Glares you probably need a skill card (as only 3
vampires in the crypt can play the superior without one), but usually by mid
game, someone has gained superior Presence, which kicks the deck into high
gear.
In the general support category, there is enough stealth to get most of your
actions through, including enough Elder Impersonations to get around a
single vampire huge intercept wall (like Lambach with the Bowl of
Convergence and a few Raptors). The blood cost of the Elder Impersonations
and Labyrinths are rarely an issue due to the Voter Captivations. For combat
defense, we have 7 requisite Majesties and a few Thrown Gates to possibly
avoid the occasional Immortal Grappling.
The strengths of the deck include strong reliable stealth and good vote
pushing abilities, and the possibility of switching to a significant Stealth
and Bleed threat on the fly. The obvious weaknesses are a total lack of
reaction ability and limited defenses against a serious Immortal Grapple
Rush opponent. A really fast bleed predator might cause a problem too, but
between the Minion Taps, Voter Caps, and pool gaining votes, if the deck can
hold on in the early game, it can usually survive most bleed threats,
especially as theyąll quickly choke on stealth cards. As mentioned earlier,
the crypt doesnąt have a huge number of table votes available, but with the
Presence action modifiers, it can usually push votes through, and between
Ellison, Command the Harpies, and pinpoint Banishment, you can often manage
the table situation well.
The old Nosferatu Newsletters can be found at:
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html
Peter D Bakija
pd...@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6
"How does this end?"
"In fire."
Emperor Turhan and Kosh
Daneel
wrote:
[snip good deck and stuff]
> 1x Praxis Seizure: Brussels
Is there a reason you chose this over Nosferatu Justicar? That might be
better to pass, and gives you an additional vote (instead of an
additional capacity). Or you might consider the both...?
--
Bye,
Daneel
joscha...@gmx.de
Maybe he fears "Fear of Mekhet", at least over here a often played card
(and deadly it is!). Just a guess ;o).
Cheers,
Joscha
Peter D Bakija
> Is there a reason you chose this over Nosferatu Justicar? That might be
> better to pass, and gives you an additional vote (instead of an
> additional capacity). Or you might consider the both...?
Mostly 'cause it increases someone's capacity, which gives me more ability
to benefit from Voter Captivation. But really, a Justicar would probably be
just as good, if not clearly better.
Peter D Bakija
> Maybe he fears "Fear of Mekhet", at least over here a often played card
> (and deadly it is!). Just a guess ;o).
Nah. Just maximizing "clever" (+1 capacity/Voter Cap = tech, baby!)
Joscha
often played vampire. But he rocks.
pd...@lightlink.com
>>Cailean would fit perfectly in that deck by the way. Granted he is an
often played vampire. But he rocks.>>
Yeah--I mentioned him as a possibility, but:
A) He is another 10 point dude.
B) Adding more non Nosferatu makes the deck less useable for a
storyline type format.
Granted, both of these are pretty minimal issues in this deck, but
still, enough to make me figure that I could leave him out.
-Peter
Ankur Gupta
I know that Murat is a cheap prince with OBF, but Nikolaus comes ready to
go with POT/obf and costs the same for princehood and has a special which
seems to help with your deck concept. Also, once he gets presence, the low
blood count he invariably has is, well, not an issue. And I know that
Nikolaus is very very tired, since he gets thrown into well, every deck
with Nosferatu evar, but what can you expect when you're just that hot?
As far as Cailean is concerned, you can "remove" one disadvantage (the 10
pointiness) by considering a swap of one Ellison for one Cailean. Though
you increase your crypt size, you don't do it in that noticeable a
fashion, you don't lose PRE, and you get a little more crypt diversity.
Seeing Ellison and Cailean in your crypt is certainly better than seeing 2
Ellison. What is to be decided is whether it's better to see Cailean and
NOT Ellison. Ironically enough, you may choose to stick with Ellison
because of the Nikolaus change. (Thus shooting myself in the foot once
again.)
Ankur
pd...@lightlink.com
>> know that Murat is a cheap prince with OBF, but Nikolaus comes ready
to
go with POT/obf and costs the same for princehood and has a special
which
seems to help with your deck concept.>>
True, but with Nikolaus, comes the need to remove the Praxis Brussels
(which is a minimal hinderance, at best, but one that I considered) and
that starting OBF is pretty handy.
>>As far as Cailean is concerned, you can "remove" one disadvantage
(the 10
pointiness) by considering a swap of one Ellison for one Cailean.
Though
you increase your crypt size, you don't do it in that noticeable a
fashion, you don't lose PRE, and you get a little more crypt
diversity.>>
I'm standing on the ground point where I mostly *want* Ellison (to the
point where I almost put in 3...), so taking him out isn't that good of
a plan. Harrod is also a good option, so taking out on of him isn't so
much something I wanna do. Which goes to removing Synesios (who already
has the POT/PRE that is the advantage of Cailean) or a Amadeo (who is
an 8, which is a significant difference from a 10) or a Murat (who is a
7, which is much smaller than a 10).
>>Seeing Ellison and Cailean in your crypt is certainly better than
seeing 2
Ellison.>>
I don't know if that is actually the case--as I'm unlikely to get 2
huge vampires (I usually like getting out an 11-9; a 7-8; and a 6-4,
and that usually works out ok most of the time), especially as it means
I am that much less likely to get Ellison who has a *huge* special
ability.
All this being said, Cailean could probably fit in there without much
effort, really.
-Peter