True Brujah Newsletter November 2005
Merlin
Mark Merlin Petersen, editor
mpet...@oakland.edu
I've wanted to give a little back to the Vampire: the Eternal
Struggle community for a long time. Becoming a newsletter editor seems
to be the least time-consuming of the possibilities. I can only hope
that whatever babbling I do herein helps someone else's game. To that
end I am concentrating on strategy in these articles.
Share and enjoy.
There is a certain stigma attached to the Scarce clans because of the
3-pool penalty when bringing an extra member of the clan into play. I
understand the mechanic and the way it reflects the rarity of these
vampires in the original role-playing game (RPG), Vampire: the
Masquerade, but the benefits do not seem to outweigh these penalties.
This is especially true for the True Brujah. Is the Scarce trait a flaw
that reaps no benefit, much like the Assamite Blood Curse?
Compared with other Scarce clans (Abominations are not included in this
elucidation):
True Brujah have one vampire out of six that can play bleed-bounce
cards as-is (Krassimir), by comparison the Nagaraja have six out of six
for 100%, and the Salubri have 4 out of six for 66.7%. Not having any
access to bounce is detrimental in a competitive environment where
bleed is plentiful.
True Brujah have no access to reliable intercept. Only inferior
out-of-clan (OOC) disciplines give the True Brujah any decent chance of
blocking a stealthy opponent. Both of the other Scarce clans have
access to Auspex as an in-clan discipline, and even some permanent
intercept (Matthias, Salubri 7-cap, has +1 intercept). Not being able
to block actions makes playing the True Brujah a proactive experience.
Combined with the lack of bounce, it makes pool defense a tough
prospect at best.
True Brujah have higher average capacity at eight for both groupings
than any other clan. The average is six for Group 2 (G2) Salubri and
both G2 and Group 4 (G4) Nagaraja. G4 Salubri have an average capacity
of 6.67. Having to spend an extra pool or two (than for a member of the
other Scarce clans) for a clan that has a difficult time defending pool
is a pretty hefty disadvantage in and of itself.
These points lead to the conclusion that the True Brujah are relegated
to "support" status, and that (more so than other Scarce clans)
they are not intended for use as a single unit. Most of them can lend
excellent support to other clans in one role or another and this
newsletter will focus on these support roles. I'll start with the
"weakest" (in terms of clan disciplines) True Brujah from the new
Legacies of Blood set.
Card Name: Al-Muntaquim, The Avenger
Cardtype: Vampire
Set: LoB
Sect: Independent
Clan: True Brujah
Group: 4
Capacity: 8
Discipline: TEM POT FOR obf pre
Cardtext: During your untap phase you may burn a Caitiff
you control to give Al-Muntaquim +1 bleed for the remainder of
the game. Al-Muntaquim untaps whenever a Gehenna card is
played. He cannot use cards that require Celerity. Scarce.
What does Al bring to the table? He has the True Brujah staples of
superior Temporis and Potence, disciplines no True Brujah in the
Vampire: the Eternal Struggle game lacks. His inferior Presence means
he does not pack the vote-punch that other True Brujah possess, and his
out-of-clan disciplines and special abilites define his difference from
the remainder of the clan.
Superior Fortitude has many applications, the most common being damage
prevention. Damage prevention has never been the hallmark of the True
Brujah, and barring Nu's ability to play Adaptability and Synesios &
Nehemiah's opportunities for Typhonic Beast and Skin of the Adder,
aggravated wounds have traditionally been a thorn in the side of the
True Brujah. Fortitude is often used for multi-acting via freak-drive,
but Temporis serves this purpose for the True Brujah. The most
effective use for superior Fortitude for Al is probably Masochism,
which can reduce the cost of expensive Temporis cards like Lapse and
Rewind Time. Other possibilities include using Shared Strength and
Inspire Greatness to give an ally or younger vampire (Hermana Menor +
Immortal Grapple, maybe?) +1 strength and the ability to play Fortitude
cards at the superior level.
Al's inferior Obfuscate allows him some great opportunities. With
superior Temporis and Fortitude, he can multiact, and Obfuscate allows
him to push his actions through via +stealth action modifiers. He can
gain maneuvers from Leapfrog and Behind You! (First round only), and a
press from Vanish from Mind's Eye or Fade from View. In addition, he
can gain a free +1 bleed via True Love's Face, and tap a vampire via
Blackmail or Mind Numb with inferior Presence. If he is given a
Changeling Skin Mask or an Obfuscate Skill card, he can play Elemental
Stoicism at superior to treat aggravated damage as normal damage.
He shares his four non-Temporis disciplines, in one way or another,
with Marcus Vitel (Advanced), Lucinde Alastor, Jaroslav Pascek, both
versions of Count Germaine, and Mukhtar Bey. All of these vampires have
superior Presence, and all except Jaroslav have superior Fortitude. All
of them except Mukhtar are affected by Zillah's Valley, and all of
them except Mukhtar can be brought out quickly at a slightly reduced
cost by the Tomb of Ramses III.
His ability to burn a Caitiff to gain +1 bleed is pretty amazing, and
he can combine with Caitiff and Gehenna cards to both gain extra bleed
and untap. Mukhtar Bey can create expendable Caitiff with Third
Tradition and Embrace actions (Freak Drive for both in the same turn)
and both create a weenie horde and build a bleed monster. His
Gehenna-disadvantage doesn't mesh well with Al's special, however,
so build decks with this in mind.
He also has some interesting applications with the use of damage
prevention and Disarm. Used in conjunction with Ibn Khaldun, Scholar,
another new True Brujah, Al can use the Path of the Scorched Heart to
cancel Presence Strike: Combat Ends cards and/or cancel frenzy cards
used upon him. This gives him an advantage in combat against
traditional vote-and-bloat decks that use Presence as a combat defense
discipline.
Card Name: The Path of the Scorched Heart
Cardtype: Action
Set: LoB
Cost: 0 blood
Requires: True Brujah.
Cardtext: +1 stealth action. Path.
Put this card on the acting True Brujah and untap him or her. Frenzy
cards cannot be played on this True Brujah. While this True Brujah is
acting, minions cannot play reaction cards that require Presence.
Minions opposing this True Brujah in combat cannot play cards that
require Presence. A vampire can only have one path.
Even the Pillar himself will benefit from this card, as many Nu decks
use either Assault Rifles or the Eye of Hazimel for combat support.
Protection from Frenzy cards make the True Brujah able to use equipment
in combat no matter the frenzy capacities of their opponents, beating
out cards like Drawing out the Beast and Terror Frenzy. Combined with
Kiss of Lachesis to pull equipment out of the ash heap for half-cost
the True Brujah can be terrifying opponents, canceling Majesty and
Staredown and shooting for four with an Assault Rifle or two ranged
aggravated wounds with a flamethrower.
The "minions cannot play Presence reaction cards while this minion is
acting" clause is cornercase at best. There are only eight reaction
cards that require presence, and four of them are actually the
outferior versions of Bloodlines-discipline cards using the disciplines
Melpominee (Madrigal), Obeah (Pacemaker) and Temporis (Internal
Recursion and Rewind Time). There are also two combination-discipline
cards, Scalpel Tongue (with Celerity) and Iron Heart (with Potence).
The other two are pure Presence, and are seldom seen except in
vote-denial decks (Treachery and Dread Gaze).
Still, any combat deck can gain great benefit from this card as well as
the next.
Card Name: Hourglass of the Mind
Cardtype: Action
Set: LoB
Cost: 1 blood
Discipline: Temporis/Potence
Cardtext: +1 stealth action.
[pot] Draw three cards. Discard afterward.
[tem] Draw four cards then put four cards from your hand on top of your
library in any order and untap this vampire.
[TEM] Put this card on this acting vampire. During your untap phase,
this vampire may burn 2 blood to add a counter to this card. While this
vampire is ready, you get +X hand size, where X is the number of
counters on this card.
Hourglass of the Mind is a great card for combat decks. It increases
hand size, which increase the amount of transient cards available.
Combat cards are all transient unless they turn into equipment etc.
after being played, so an increased hand size is always good for a
combat deck. Using HotM in a deck with Al-Muntaquim and his
partner-in-crime, Ibn Khaldun, can increase the chance of drawing into
the right combat card at the right time. Al-Muntaquim also has a
Gehenna-special, and Hourglass of the mind can help to circumvent the
"do not replace" drawback of many Gehenna cards.
Combine with Palatial Estate, the Rack, Trophy: Hunting Ground and/or
Tabriz Assembly to gain blood every untap and get an extra card in your
hand.
Deck Name: Al-Muntaquim Bleed-hell
Author: Mark Merlin Petersen
Description:
This deck attempts to use Al-Muntaquim to abuse your prey with heavy
bleeds and Caitiff support. If your prey is running bounce, leave the
Caitiff up to bleed him w/ several minions per turn. If he is not, burn
the Caitiff to give Al-Muntaquim a larger bleed and bleed heavily with
him. Al's special works well with many Gehenna cards, as does Afifa,
the herald's special.
Turns out the deck does okay because it uses 9x tiny vamps, computer
hacking, and obfuscate. We'll call it a True Brujah deck because
Caitiff isn't considered a clan, right? I think they still trigger
Recalled to the Founder, so if you find yourself at a surplus of
minions and RttF is in play, burn a Caitiff to give Al the +1 bleed
every turn you can until you aren't affected by the card.
If you have Afifa and no events in-hand and can't afford her drawback,
burn her to give Al +1 bleed.
If Eddie is forced to hunt (or if anyone is forced to hunt against a
wall-deck), burn them to give Al +1 bleed.
If you have a Caitiff in torpor, burn them during untap to give Al a +1
bleed.
You get the idea.
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 8 average: 3
------------------------------------------------------------
3x Al-Muntaquim, The 8 FOR POT TEM obf pre True Bruj:4
2x Afifa, The Herald 1 dom Caitiff:4
1x Denette Stensen 2 obf !Gangrel:4
1x Hanna Redmonds 2 obf tha Caitiff:3
1x Krid 2 obf Nosferatu:3
1x Eddie Gaines 1 dem pot Caitiff:3
1x Lisa Noble 1 ani Caitiff:3
1x Nedal, The Careles 1 cel nec Caitiff:3
1x Sandra White 1 Caitiff:3
Library [84 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [22]
3x Clotho's Gift
15x Computer Hacking
4x Restoration
Action Modifier [26]
4x Cloak the Gathering
8x Domain of Evernight
3x Faceless Night
3x Lost in Crowds
2x Recurring Contemplation
3x Spying Mission
3x Tangle Atropos' Hand
Combat [12]
4x Majesty
3x Rolling with the Punches
2x Skin of Night
3x Skin of Steel
Equipment [3]
1x Changeling Skin Mask
1x Monocle of Clarity
1x Tapestry of Blood
Event [8]
1x Anthelios, The Red Star
1x Blood Trade
1x Blood Weakens
1x Conquest of Humanity
1x Recalled to the Founder
1x Restricted Vitae
1x Rise of the Nephtali
1x Wormwood
Master [13]
2x Blood Doll
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Effective Management
1x Information Highway
4x Obfuscate
1x Servitor of Irad
1x Stranger Among Us, The
1x Sudden Reversal
Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Sat Nov 26 10:27:02 2005]
Deck Name : Al & Ibn True Brujah multirush and aggpoke
Author : Mark Merlin Petersen
Description :
Finally two True Brujah in playable groupings share an out-of-clan
discipline!
Use concealed weapon to get both long- and close-range equipment for
your True Brujah or their support vampires. Disarm if @ close range and
not agg-poking. Decapitate if possible. Taste of vitae. Repeat until
prey is ousted. Move on to next prey.
Most of the Temporis cards in the deck have a Potence or Obfuscate
outferior for the non-True Brujah. Give Cedric the intercept to get
some mileage out of his special.
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 4 max: 8 average: 6.34
------------------------------------------------------------
4x Al-Muntaquim, The 8 FOR POT TEM obf pre True Bruj:4
2x Ibn Khaldun, Schol 7 POT PRE TEM for True Bruj:4
2x Skidmark 5 FOR OBF aus pot !Nosferatu:4
2x Wolfgang 4 for obf pot Nosferatu:3
1x Cedric 6 FOR obf pot vis Gargoyle:4
1x Gerard Rafin 6 OBF POT ani for Nosferatu:3
Library [86 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [13]
3x Ambush
3x Bum's Rush
3x Harass
2x Hourglass of the Mind
2x Path of the Scorched Heart, The
Action Modifier [8]
6x Domain of Evernight
2x Freak Drive
Combat [41]
3x Decapitate
4x Disarm
6x Disguised Weapon
4x Lapse
2x Pushing the Limit
5x Rolling with the Punches
5x Skin of Steel
5x Taste of Vitae
7x Undead Strength
Equipment [8]
1x Banshee Ironwail
1x Black Gloves
1x Crimson Sentinel, The
1x Ivory Bow
1x Palatial Estate
1x Sawed-Off Shotgun
1x Sengir Dagger
1x Sport Bike
Event [1]
1x Dragonbound
Master [12]
1x Archon Investigation
2x Fame
2x Haven Uncovered
1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
4x Minion Tap
1x Tabriz Assembly
1x Tension in the Ranks
Reaction [2]
2x Wake with Evening's Freshness
Retainer [1]
1x Mr. Winthrop
Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Wed Nov 30 22:39:51 2005]
Loadquo
> Card Name: Al-Muntaquim, The Avenger
> Cardtype: Vampire
> Set: LoB
> Sect: Independent
> Clan: True Brujah
> Group: 4
> Capacity: 8
> Discipline: TEM POT FOR obf pre
> Cardtext: During your untap phase you may burn a Caitiff
> you control to give Al-Muntaquim +1 bleed for the remainder of
> the game. Al-Muntaquim untaps whenever a Gehenna card is
> played. He cannot use cards that require Celerity. Scarce.
>
Snip
> Blackmail or Mind Numb with inferior Presence. If he is given a
> Changeling Skin Mask or an Obfuscate Skill card, he can play Elemental
> Stoicism at superior to treat aggravated damage as normal damage.
Surely he can play it at the highest level (Sup-inf) that it can be
played at, out of the box.....
Elemental Stoicism
Type: Action/Combat
Requires: Fortitude & Obfuscate
[for] Prevent 1 non-aggravated damage.
[for][obf] This vampire treats all aggravated damage as normal damage
for the remainder of combat.
[FOR][obf] +1 stealth action. Put this card on this acting vampire. The
vampire with this card treats aggravated damage done in combat as
normal damage. Burn this card if the vampire goes to torpor.
Rarity: BL:R1
Otherwise thanks for the interesting newsletter
Will
Merlin
Thanks for the correction, i didn't realize that ES was not a
double-superior card. I've been trying to use it w/ Assamites and the
FOR thing has been my focus. ;)
Merlin