!Ventrue newsletter Jan. 03

Once and Future Kings Ventrue Antitribu Newsletter (Jan. 03) 1 - Introduction 2 - Feature - Fortitude: Beyond damage prevention 3 - Vampire of the Month - Edward Neally 4 - Card of the Month - Denial of Aphrodite's Favor 5 - Deckstravaganza 6 - Final Words 1 - Introduction Well, the time has come to open up a new chapter in an oft ignored and frequently denigrated bloodline that I quite enjoy. The Ventrue Antitribu possess a unique discipline package that stands to be quite effective in almost any meta-game. This is but my first foray into uncovering the many neglected secrets that are heir to this royal line. Bear with me, as I will unfortunately be covering the elementary materials before I get to be very creative. So, sit back, have some tea, and enjoy the first of hopefully many of the new Ventrue Antitribu newsletters. 2 - Feature - Fortitude: Beyond damage prevention Now I'm not saying you can't use it for damage prevention, and in fact short of Thoughts Betrayed the Ventrue Antitribu have very little in regards to not getting cosmically splattered whilst in combat. However, I would like to take a slightly wider look at this seemingly one-dimensional discipline. What else does fortitude do? Well, not a heck of a lot, really, but what it does do it does really well. Freak Drive has always been a core card for those fortitude decks. Since the number of actions that you can get in one game is relatively small anything that can boost the number is certainly advantageous. Surely we've all played a game where Mr. Ventrue took 12 minutes taken 17 actions with his Inner Circle member. The benefits are immediate, and tangible, and with the modified NRA probably even more potent than before. Fortitude makes you think twice about blocking a minion. A kiss from Ra and your day can be seriously ruined. It can also put you into combat inflicting aggravated damage. Or, or if you're more inclined, you can just make the action entirely unblockable. This is right up the alley of those heavy bleeding decks who don't mind short term sacrifice for victory points. With the change to the 5th Tradition, bloat has become more difficult. Fortunately for you there are ways that a fortitude heavy deck can cope. Ventrue Antitribu and Salubri are as good a match as any in the game, and between them they can cycle the blood like there's no tomorrow. Even when in torpor a minion is not helpless. A regeneration coupled with a freak drive and a rapid healing can fill a mid sized vampire up and take him out of torpor. In combat decks, fortitude can be used to get your way, manoeuvring and pressing to your black little heart's content. With Masochism you get to play further combat cards for free. Lastly, and perhaps most strangely, it can be used to bleed. The Gangrel took particular notice of the Force of Will, but it is still a sound tactic in any deck with fortitude. By harassing your prey with non bleed actions you can tap him out, leaving you with clear fields in which to use Deadly BleedsT. 3 - Vampire of the Month - Edward Neally Edward Neally Capacity: 7 Disciplines: DOM, FOR, aus, pre Abilities: If Edward is ready, you can use a master phase action to increase your hand size by 1 card for the remainder of the turn. Edward can look at your prey's hand as a +1 stealth (D) action that costs a blood. Coming from the newfangled Camarilla set, Edward Neally is a solid vampire for its capacity. The out of clan presence gives Edward the ability to merge very well with existing Ventrue. The lack of superior auspex, and no title do not seriously affect the worth of this guy, since both of his abilities are practical. Compare Ed to Vanessa (who share identical disciplines), and you'll see that the 1 extra blood you pay goes a long way: If you find you're short on master cards, he can increase his hand size by 1. This allows you to possibly get at a card you might need and also gives you the ability to cycle one more card. If your predator isn't letting you get your reactions out of your hand, then this ability doubles your precious, precious cycling capacity. Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know the value of seeing what cards your prey has. Have you ever wondered if your prey has a Wake or Deflection? Worry no longer; Edward's ability takes most of the guessing game out of the picture. Although the one blood cost can be aggravating, it 's less annoying than wasting all of your bleed cards thinking falsely that your prey was helpless, and much less annoying than falling prey to an Archon Investigation. 4 - Card of the Month - Denial of Aphrodite's Favor [dom] [for] Burn an action card a younger vampire plays that requires Presence as it is played. That card has no effect. Any cost paid is retrieved. Untap the acting vampire; that vampire cannot attempt the same action again this turn. [DOM] [FOR] Burn an action modifier or combat card a younger vampire plays that requires Presence as it is played. That card has no effect. Any cost paid is retrieved. Frankly, I've never used this card in a deck before, but I get shivers down my spine when I think of Lazverinus tearing up a signpost, increasing his strength, and punching with undead strength for 9, and cancelling the unsuspecting adversary's majesty. Unlike immortal grapple this card can be used at long range, and doesn't need to be played until the strike is made. Not only does it nullify the card, but it also doesn't say anything about letting them pick another strike. Even the inferior version is handy. If some no good weenie presence deck runs into this card, it's going to be sorely upset when it can't play a certain card for an entire turn. It also sticks it to those pesky mind numbs and other miscellaneous presence actions that are bound to come up from time to time. 5 - Deckstravaganza Well, here's a shoddily thrown together deck that I'm sure everyone could rip to pieces. The obvious hole here is rush defense, though a couple of sniper rifles might make things a little better. This will be the bane of Malk stealth bleeds, as they repetitiously go bouncing all over the place. As an added bonus there are even some decent voters in here, though not enough to gravely swing the balance. Next month will be better, I promise. Deck Name: The Classic Created By: Derek Rawlings Description: VA reaction based deck, let others do your dirty work then pick up the pieces. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 13, Max: 36, Avg: 6.08) ---------------------------------------------- 1 Ingrid Russo DOM for 4, VA 1 Samson dom 2, VA 1 Billy AUS dom for 5, VA 1 Vanessa aus DOM FOR pre 6, VA 1 Marlene AUS dem DOM for tha 6, VA 1 Dominique ani AUS dom FOR vic 7, VA 1 Gustav Mallenhous AUS DOM for obt 8, VA, Priscus 1 Quentin AUS cel DOM FOR obt 9, VA, Bishop 1 Lazverinus AUS DOM FOR POT pro 10, VA, Archbishop 1 Roxanne AUS DOM FOR OBF pot 9, Malkavian, Primogen 1 Aleph AUS dom 4, Malkavian 1 Isabel de Leon AUS 3, Toreador Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (11 cards) 4 Blood Doll 1 Demonstration 1 Direct Intervention 1 Hungry Coyote, The 2 Minion Tap 1 Sudden Reversal 1 Ventrue Investment Action (19 cards) 8 Govern the Unaligned 2 Precognizant Mobility 4 Recruiting Party 1 Regeneration 4 Restoration Action Modifier (20 cards) 4 Conditioning 4 Foreshadowing Destruction 8 Freak Drive 4 Sleeping Mind, The Reaction (30 cards) 8 Deflection 4 Enhanced Senses 2 Precognition 2 Spirit's Touch 6 Telepathic Counter 6 Telepathic Misdirection 2 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (10 cards) 10 Skin of Steel 6 - Final Words Well, I'm just getting into the swing of things here, and have a heck of a lot more to say. I should have an edition out at least every second month. Stay tuned, and feel free to do any of the following: a.. Comment on this newsletter, scathing or otherwise b.. Send me material, including decks c.. Send me non-sequential bills (American currency preferred) Thanks for your attention. next month we'll aim for even an even better newsletter, featuring Dominate - More than Bleed and Bounce. Derek Rawlings

"Rawlings family" <raw...@telus.net> wrote in message news:tQpZ9.20174$dd1.8...@news0.telusplanet.net... > > 4 - Card of the Month - Denial of Aphrodite's Favor > > [dom] [for] Burn an action card a younger vampire plays that requires > Presence as it is played. That card has no effect. Any cost paid is > retrieved. Untap the acting vampire; that vampire cannot attempt the same > action again this turn. > > [DOM] [FOR] Burn an action modifier or combat card a younger vampire plays > that requires Presence as it is played. That card has no effect. Any cost > paid is retrieved. > > Frankly, I've never used this card in a deck before, but I get shivers down > my spine when I think of Lazverinus tearing up a signpost, increasing his > strength, and punching with undead strength for 9, and cancelling the > unsuspecting adversary's majesty. Unlike immortal grapple this card can be > used at long range, and doesn't need to be played until the strike is made. > Not only does it nullify the card, but it also doesn't say anything about > letting them pick another strike. This brings up an interesting point. LSJ, is the cancellation of a card via superior DoAP the same mechanic as Direct Intervention, and hence the same set of rulings should apply (where applicable)? Kevin M., Prince of Henderson, NV (USA) "Know your enemy, and know yourself; in one-thousand battles you shall never be in peril." -- Sun Tzu, *The Art of War* "Contentment... Complacency... Catastrophe!" -- Joseph Chevalier

"Kevin M." wrote: > "Rawlings family" <raw...@telus.net> wrote in message news:tQpZ9.20174$dd1.8...@news0.telusplanet.net... > > 4 - Card of the Month - Denial of Aphrodite's Favor > > > > [dom] [for] Burn an action card a younger vampire plays that requires > > Presence as it is played. That card has no effect. Any cost paid is > > retrieved. Untap the acting vampire; that vampire cannot attempt the same > > action again this turn. > > > > [DOM] [FOR] Burn an action modifier or combat card a younger vampire plays > > that requires Presence as it is played. That card has no effect. Any cost > > paid is retrieved. > This brings up an interesting point. LSJ, is the cancellation of a card via superior DoAP the same mechanic as Direct Intervention, and hence the same set of rulings should apply (where applicable)? I suppose. If the card is a strike card, then the minion still gets to choose a strike, if that's what you're asking. -- LSJ (vte...@white-wolf.com) V:TES Net.Rep for White Wolf, Inc. Links to V:TES news, rules, cards, utilities, and tournament calendar: http://www.white-wolf.com/vtes/

<snip a bit> [ quoted text not captured ] An interesting article. There is probably a little more to add to this: Unblockable actions - the ultimate stealth modifier! Daring the Dawn and Day Operation are sometimes the !Ventrue's best friend - "when you absoulutely, positively have to call that vote..." Environmental damage - King of the Mountain can bounce the damage back! Plus it can damage weapons... at a high blood cost, sure, but look how shiny the benfits are! Dawn Operation - In conjunction with Skin of Night, this card alone makes a type of bruise and bleed deck archetype to be feared... Great in conjuncion with his Laz-ness. Might be some more as well. > 3 - Vampire of the Month - Edward Neally > > > > Edward Neally > > Capacity: 7 > > Disciplines: DOM, FOR, aus, pre > > Abilities: If Edward is ready, you can use a master phase action to increase > your hand size by 1 card for the remainder of the turn. Edward can look at > your prey's hand as a +1 stealth (D) action that costs a blood. > > Coming from the newfangled Camarilla set, Edward Neally is a solid vampire > for its capacity. The out of clan presence gives Edward the ability to > merge very well with existing Ventrue. The lack of superior auspex, and no > title do not seriously affect the worth of this guy, since both of his > abilities are practical. Compare Ed to Vanessa (who share identical > disciplines), and you'll see that the 1 extra blood you pay goes a long way: > > If you find you're short on master cards, he can increase his hand size by > 1. This allows you to possibly get at a card you might need and also gives > you the ability to cycle one more card. If your predator isn't letting you > get your reactions out of your hand, then this ability doubles your > precious, precious cycling capacity. Hot. Really hot. I like this a lot - a free "Mini Dreams" for as long as he's upright. > Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know the value of seeing what > cards your prey has. Have you ever wondered if your prey has a Wake or > Deflection? Worry no longer; Edward's ability takes most of the guessing > game out of the picture. Although the one blood cost can be aggravating, it > 's less annoying than wasting all of your bleed cards thinking falsely that > your prey was helpless, and much less annoying than falling prey to an > Archon Investigation. You are really talking about ditching bleed bounce and wakes with this special. It is AWESOME! AND he can freak drive and Revelate (inferior) for twice the fun. Add him to Lee Dihn Zho and you have a very powerful vampire mix. Possibly the most important thing about this guy is that he is right in the zone for having the all important Cardinal vote called on him - the most important vote the !Ventrue have access too, and great for Cryptic Riders. <snip out> DH Toying with some ideas now...

"Kevin M." <you...@imaspammer.org> wrote in message news:<eksZ9.26198$LA4.2...@news1.west.cox.net>... [ quoted text not captured ] What is interesting about this is that the "same card can't be played" text is stated in the inferior's card text (assuming the above is the full text) but not in the superior. This is different and more powerful (although more niche) than DI. I would suspect if a combat card gets cancelled, another strike would be allowed since the card is cancelled, not the ability to strike. But with the spirit of the inferior in mind, I would suggest that another strike card the same should'nt be allowed. However, since there is nothing to support this, and the text allows it, currently another the same can be played - let's face it, we're pretty much talking about Majesty here (or Staredown, or Catatonic Fear). So the DI comparissons stack up as the text is, but is that just a typo? Was the intent to mirror the inferior with the "can't play another the same", which, given the abilities necessary to power the card, would be fairer... DH

>> Fortitude makes you think twice about blocking a minion. A kiss from Ra >and >> your day can be seriously ruined. It can also put you into combat >> inflicting aggravated damage. Or, or if you're more inclined, you can just >> make the action entirely unblockable. This is right up the alley of those >> heavy bleeding decks who don't mind short term sacrifice for victory >points. It might be helpful to note that generally you only need to worry about FOR vampires. Kiss of Ra is only a royal kiss in the @ss at superior and Dawn Op allows you to back out at inferior. Thus while you should be wary of blocking FOR vampires, there's usually not too much to worry about from for vampires. Interestingly enough, several of the !Ventrue fatties only have inferior Fortitude (Kyle and Gustav) which is something to remember. >> Lastly, and perhaps most strangely, it can be used to bleed. The Gangrel >> took particular notice of the Force of Will, but it is still a sound tactic >> in any deck with fortitude. By harassing your prey with non bleed actions >> you can tap him out, leaving you with clear fields in which to use Deadly >> BleedsT. Of course the Gangrel have to resort to this since that's pretty much all they can muster for bleed with their disciplines. With the !Ventrue, you can easily Freak Drive + Dominate bleed instead of wasting time with Force of Wills. >Unblockable actions - the ultimate stealth modifier! Daring the Dawn >and Day Operation are sometimes the !Ventrue's best friend - "when you >absoulutely, positively have to call that vote..." Of course don't forget that with Day Ops CE change, Fortitude no longer has true unblockability. Both DtD and Day Op allow the action to be blocked by allies which is, while rare, still a real possibility (and even more important since !Ventrue aren't known for stealth). >Hot. Really hot. I like this a lot - a free "Mini Dreams" for as long >as he's upright. Agreed. This special can never hurt. If you have a spare master phase increase your hand size and cycle. >> Deflection? Worry no longer; Edward's ability takes most of the guessing >> game out of the picture. Although the one blood cost can be aggravating, >it >> 's less annoying than wasting all of your bleed cards thinking falsely that >> your prey was helpless, and much less annoying than falling prey to an >> Archon Investigation. > >You are really talking about ditching bleed bounce and wakes with this >special. It is AWESOME! AND he can freak drive and Revelate (inferior) >for twice the fun. Add him to Lee Dihn Zho and you have a very >powerful vampire mix. > While his special can be nice at times, it's really not that great. Unlike Le Dinh Tho, you don't actually get to discard a card plus it costs a blood. In addition, it would be rather redundant to add him to Le Dinh Tho since he already lets you see your prey's hand (plus LDT isn't limited to just your prey). It might be helpful to know what your prey has at times, but Neally's special isn't really that much better than an Aura Reading or a (increasingly more common) Monocle of Clarity since it doesn't actually help you dispose of the appropriate cards. Generally the only times that this special may help IMO is if you didn't have space to pack any Revelations or you don't have many of them in your deck and need to make sure you use them only when you need to. Otherwise, using this ability when you can use an inferior Revelations instead is a bit of a waste. Halcyan 2

"hamdamcwa" <dave...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:9e10847c.03012...@posting.google.com... > "Kevin M." <you...@imaspammer.org> wrote in message news:<eksZ9.26198$LA4.2...@news1.west.cox.net>... > > "Rawlings family" <raw...@telus.net> wrote in message > > news:tQpZ9.20174$dd1.8...@news0.telusplanet.net... > > > > > > 4 - Card of the Month - Denial of Aphrodite's Favor > > > > > > [dom] [for] Burn an action card a younger vampire plays that requires > > > Presence as it is played. That card has no effect. Any cost paid is > > > retrieved. Untap the acting vampire; that vampire cannot attempt the > > > same action again this turn. > > > > > > [DOM] [FOR] Burn an action modifier or combat card a younger vampire > > plays > > > that requires Presence as it is played. That card has no effect. Any > > > cost paid is retrieved. > > This brings up an interesting point. LSJ, is the cancellation of a card > > via superior DoAP the same mechanic as Direct Intervention, and hence > > the same set of rulings should apply (where applicable)? > > What is interesting about this is that the "same card can't be played" > text is stated in the inferior's card text (assuming the above is the > full text) but not in the superior. This is different and more > powerful (although more niche) than DI. The text above matches the WW spoiler list; I don't have a physical copy in front of me, but I expect it's correct. :-) > I would suspect if a combat card gets cancelled, another strike would > be allowed since the card is cancelled, not the ability to strike. But > with the spirit of the inferior in mind, I would suggest that another > strike card the same should'nt be allowed. However, since there is > nothing to support this, and the text allows it, currently another the > same can be played - let's face it, we're pretty much talking about > Majesty here (or Staredown, or Catatonic Fear). Yeah. There's nothing to support it, so it doesn't work that way. It'd be nice if it *did* prohibit the same strike again, as it does for actions (at inferior) and action modifiers (at superior, not by card text but by the rulebook playing-action-modifiers rule). Of course, the card would still be cornercase enough (anti-Presence and no other use) that it wouldn't be much more playable. :-) And Kevin - yeah, it uses the "cancel as it is played" phrasing, so it should generally work exactly like Direct Intervention, Rewind Time, and Iron Heart. With the exception of differences in card text, of course. (eg Denial's text prohibiting same-action at [dom] [for].) Josh every good boy denies favor

Howdy, > Ventrue Antitribu Newsletter (Jan. 03) I guess this means I'm off the hook for that CE Special Edition I've been procrastinating on since last August, huh? > Surely we've all played a game where Mr. Ventrue took 12 > minutes taken 17 actions with his Inner Circle member. Errr... I wasn't aware that there were any !Ventrue Inner Circle members. <insert smiley thing here> Seriously, though, cycling like that usually required heavy application of Majesty in combination with Freak Drive. For the !Ventrue this sort of cycling is made even more difficult by their lack of superior fortitude and the ease with which they are blocked. > Fortitude makes you think twice about blocking a minion. A kiss from Ra and > your day can be seriously ruined. It can also put you into combat > inflicting aggravated damage. Again, superior fortitude is what makes these work. > Or, or if you're more inclined, you can just > make the action entirely unblockable. This is right up the alley of those > heavy bleeding decks who don't mind... ...bleeding out their grandprey unblockably? > With the change to the 5th Tradition, bloat has become more difficult. > Fortunately for you there are ways that a fortitude heavy deck can cope. > Ventrue Antitribu and Salubri are as good a match as any in the game, and > between them they can cycle the blood like there's no tomorrow. This is very true. Fortitude now provides the best blood gain in the game outside of Obeah (and one shots like Festivo dello Estinto and Giant's Blood) in the rarely used Regeneration, and superior Restoration is pretty darn comparable to the toned down 5th. > Even when > in torpor a minion is not helpless. A regeneration coupled with a freak > drive and a rapid healing can fill a mid sized vampire up and take him out > of torpor. The hard part being managing to not get munched while in torpor and/or while taking one stealth actions. > In combat decks, fortitude can be used to get your way, manoeuvring and > pressing to your black little heart's content. If you have superior fortitude, that is. And you don't - unless you're Vanessa (6-cap), Dominique (7-cap), Edward (7-cap), Quentin (9-cap), or Lazverinuts (10-cap), or are playing with skill cards. Sensing a theme here? > With Masochism you get to > play further combat cards for free. Masochism deserves some serious exploration in a future issue. I've recently discovered it to be much more useful than I ever thought it was. In a combat heavy metagame, esp. one that features a lot of Carrion Crows, and in combination with Undead Persistence, it can be a really good way to come up with enormous amounts of pseudo-blood very quickly. This blood cannot be removed by other vampires' actions - you get to use it for whatever (cards) you want, making ridiculously expensive cards like Thoughts Betrayed, King of the Mountain, Slaughtering the Herd, Dominate Kine, etc. much, much more playable. The thing to remember is that you gain counters for damage taken, not blood lost. So Vanessa with one blood in combat with some aniweenie slinging Carrion Crows can fill herself completely with Masochism counters with a single Undead Persistence (assuming the press isn't cancelled), as she takes six damage (but loses only one blood). Of course, she'll still need to leave torpor, but you're playing UP, so you've planned for that. > Lastly, and perhaps most strangely, it can be used to bleed. The Gangrel > took particular notice of the Force of Will, but it is still a sound tactic > in any deck with fortitude. By harassing your prey with non bleed actions > you can tap him out, leaving you with clear fields in which to use Deadly > BleedsT. As Halcyan2 already pointed out, this is usually a poor tactic for !Ventrue, as they have plenty of dominate, and so can come up with +1 bleed easily without losing two blood and going to torpor (more bleed and less cost at superior, but do you really want to put Vanessa in torpor for a +2 bleed, esp. when she _can_ use Freak Drive effectively to achieve the same effect?). > Edward Neally > If you find you're short on master cards, he can increase his hand size by > 1. This allows you to possibly get at a card you might need and also gives > you the ability to cycle one more card. If your predator isn't letting you > get your reactions out of your hand, then this ability doubles your > precious, precious cycling capacity. > > Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know the value of seeing what > cards your prey has. Have you ever wondered if your prey has a Wake or > Deflection? Worry no longer; Edward's ability takes most of the guessing > game out of the picture. Although the one blood cost can be aggravating, it > 's less annoying than wasting all of your bleed cards thinking falsely that > your prey was helpless, and much less annoying than falling prey to an > Archon Investigation. Edward is mighty useful, agreed. Just the extra cap for purposes of Cardinal Benediction makes him worth the extra pool, nevermind the one incredible special (the hand ability) and the other useful one (the recon power). > 4 - Card of the Month - Denial of Aphrodite's Favor Sorry. This card blows. I guess Lazverinus decks might like it for targetted use against Majesty, but I think I'd still go with Telepathic Tracking. > 5 - Deckstravaganza > > > > Well, here's a shoddily thrown together deck that I'm sure everyone could > rip to pieces. The obvious hole here is rush defense, though a couple of > sniper rifles might make things a little better. No, to my eyes the obvious hole is that you'll never get a single action off, with the possible exceptions of Governing down if your predator is short on untap or intercept, and the Restorations, which will probably be allowed. I suppose you might manage to flood the defense with actions if you draw into enough Freak Drive and/or Precognizant Mobility's +1 stealth is enough to get through, but I really wouldn't count on getting a lot done with this delivery package, which will, BTW, leave you unable to bounce, as it will likely require everyone to tap. This isn't quite a block and do nothing deck, as it does actually include some things it'd like to do other than blocking (and has way, waaaaay too little untap to do the block part effectively) - but no one will ever let any of those things happen unless, for instance, they're holding some bounce in hand. > This will be the bane of > Malk stealth bleeds, as they repetitiously go bouncing all over the place. True. But at most of the tables I've sat at lately, it will just hand jam on bounce/reduce. > As an added bonus there are even some decent voters in here, though not > enough to gravely swing the balance. Next month will be better, I promise. I hope so. Or I might have to start posting newsletters again. Don't think I won't! <insert mucho smiley things here> <snip deck> > Well, I'm just getting into the swing of things here, and have a heck of a > lot more to say. I should have an edition out at least every second month. > Stay tuned, and feel free to do any of the following: > > > > a.. Comment on this newsletter, scathing or otherwise Check. > b.. Send me material, including decks Hrmph. I guess I could send you some of what I was working on. It would've been nice to have had a chance to coordinate things before you posted this newsletter, though. In case you want to scoop me, the big focus for my next newsletter was going to be the new Concealed Weapon, and it's relevance to the perennial !Ventrue problem of getting things done. I even had an intercept deck that pretty much worked, which I get to keep seekrit now. > c.. Send me non-sequential bills (American currency preferred) Check. In fact, I'll be forwarding all of my bills (they're pretty much all in American currency) to you for the time being... > Thanks for your attention. next month we'll aim for even an even better > newsletter, featuring Dominate - More than Bleed and Bounce. Yeah, you can also, uh, Thoughts Betrayed and, uh, stuff. Anyway, good luck with the clan - I wish I could say that I thought I'd really done anything to advance their lot, Alex Broadhead !Ventrue Editor Emeritus (Woo! Hoo!)

> > If you find you're short on master cards, he can increase his hand size by > > 1. This allows you to possibly get at a card you might need and also gives > > you the ability to cycle one more card. If your predator isn't letting you > > get your reactions out of your hand, then this ability doubles your > > precious, precious cycling capacity. > > Hot. Really hot. I like this a lot - a free "Mini Dreams" for as long > as he's upright. Hey, isn't he the perfect guy in a Ventrue deck to couple with Jan "target-man" Pieterzoon ?! :-) Orpheus

> Of course don't forget that with Day Ops CE change, Fortitude no longer has > true unblockability. Both DtD and Day Op allow the action to be blocked by > allies which is, while rare, still a real possibility (and even more important > since !Ventrue aren't known for stealth). Can someone please remind me why I'm actively looking after some Shroud of Absence ? ;-) The !Ventrue have 3 vampires with inf Obt (sup would be better, but well...), and can be combined with Julia or Bart (or even Tally) if we forget For, Monçada if we don't intend to block, and Marcus "Yes, I'm a Ventrue, why ?" Vitel if we ignore Auspex. So I'd say they do have access to some stealth, although limited compared to other clans (their obfuscating counterpart included). Just a thing I'd like to add to this newsletter : the !Ventrue's access to Freak Drive is very well combined to 2 Aus cards I like : Revelations and Pulse of the Canaille. It is always useful to discard a deflection from your prey's hand and / or to know his hand, but it's a shame to do it when you could be bleeding (for 3...). But with Freak Drive (or Rutor's Hand, or Domain of Evernight) you can do both in the same turn with the same minion, and that's great !! Keep going on the right road (and I'm sure next newsletter you'll tell us more about that Shadow Discipline... ;-) Orpheus

Orpheus wrote: (snip) || So I'd say (ventrue) || do have access to some stealth, although limited compared to || other clans (their obfuscating counterpart included). Please stop the utterlying growinging complexanisation of your speech. Obfuscating counter partizage, of course, inclusively inherented.

"Orpheus" <orph...@free.fr> wrote in message news:<3e371174$0$232$626a...@news.free.fr>... [ quoted text not captured ] Assuming you have no Master cards to play, sure... The best card to add to a Pieterzoon deck is Elder Library ;) DH

<snip> > >> Lastly, and perhaps most strangely, it can be used to bleed. The Gangrel > >> took particular notice of the Force of Will, but it is still a sound tactic > >> in any deck with fortitude. By harassing your prey with non bleed actions > >> you can tap him out, leaving you with clear fields in which to use Deadly > >> BleedsT. > > Of course the Gangrel have to resort to this since that's pretty much all they > can muster for bleed with their disciplines. With the !Ventrue, you can easily > Freak Drive + Dominate bleed instead of wasting time with Force of Wills. > > >Unblockable actions - the ultimate stealth modifier! Daring the Dawn > >and Day Operation are sometimes the !Ventrue's best friend - "when you > >absoulutely, positively have to call that vote..." > > Of course don't forget that with Day Ops CE change, Fortitude no longer has > true unblockability. Both DtD and Day Op allow the action to be blocked by > allies which is, while rare, still a real possibility (and even more important > since !Ventrue aren't known for stealth). Maybe Command might get some use nowadays, then! > >Hot. Really hot. I like this a lot - a free "Mini Dreams" for as long > >as he's upright. > > Agreed. This special can never hurt. If you have a spare master phase increase > your hand size and cycle. Worth adding a Parthenon in teh deck for alone. > >> Deflection? Worry no longer; Edward's ability takes most of the guessing > >> game out of the picture. Although the one blood cost can be aggravating, > it > >> 's less annoying than wasting all of your bleed cards thinking falsely that > >> your prey was helpless, and much less annoying than falling prey to an > >> Archon Investigation. > > > >You are really talking about ditching bleed bounce and wakes with this > >special. It is AWESOME! AND he can freak drive and Revelate (inferior) > >for twice the fun. Add him to Lee Dihn Zho and you have a very > >powerful vampire mix. > > > While his special can be nice at times, it's really not that great. Unlike Le > Dinh Tho, you don't actually get to discard a card plus it costs a blood. In > addition, it would be rather redundant to add him to Le Dinh Tho since he > already lets you see your prey's hand (plus LDT isn't limited to just your > prey). Disagree. Lee gives you the ditch ability, Eddie gives you the looksee ability. This means you can negotiate with your prey about what you force him to ditch before you do it. Also, Eddie could easily Freak Drive to gain another (bleed or vote) action. Lee cannot Freak Drive (at least at first), so his action really has to count (especially with the -1 stealth on hunting). > It might be helpful to know what your prey has at times, but Neally's special > isn't really that much better than an Aura Reading or a (increasingly more > common) Monocle of Clarity since it doesn't actually help you dispose of the > appropriate cards. Less offensive therefore less likely to be blocked? > Generally the only times that this special may help IMO is if you didn't have > space to pack any Revelations or you don't have many of them in your deck and > need to make sure you use them only when you need to. Otherwise, using this > ability when you can use an inferior Revelations instead is a bit of a waste. It is a permenant ability and saves card slots - if only for the Aura Reading! I think it's better than you do, obviously. :) DH

> > Hey, isn't he the perfect guy in a Ventrue deck to couple with Jan > > "target-man" Pieterzoon ?! :-) > > Assuming you have no Master cards to play, sure... > > The best card to add to a Pieterzoon deck is Elder Library > > ;) Why not both ?! ;O) O.

>> Of course don't forget that with Day Ops CE change, Fortitude no longer has >> true unblockability. Both DtD and Day Op allow the action to be blocked by >> allies which is, while rare, still a real possibility (and even more >important >> since !Ventrue aren't known for stealth). > >Maybe Command might get some use nowadays, then! Even well before CE, I have actually seen people use Sacre Cour Cathedral, France in decks (usually with Daring the Dawn to make it truly unblockable). >Disagree. Lee gives you the ditch ability, Eddie gives you the looksee >ability. This means you can negotiate with your prey about what you >force him to ditch before you do it. I don't think there's anything against using Le Dinh Tho's ability and getting some input before choosing exactly what to discard. >Also, Eddie could easily Freak >Drive to gain another (bleed or vote) action. Lee cannot Freak Drive >(at least at first), so his action really has to count (especially >with the -1 stealth on hunting). But my main problem is still that it doesn't actually help you get rid of the card. Sometimes it may be nice to know that your prey has that Deflection, but there's not much you can do to make him discard it. And if you are playing with Revelations, you're better off just playing inferior Revelations instead of wasting actions with Neally's peak-a-boo special. >I think it's better than you do, obviously. Yep. And I think it's worse than you do, obviously. =P Halcyan 2

In message <20030129192859...@mb-ch.aol.com>, halc...@aol.com (Halcyan 2) mumbled something about: >>Also, Eddie could easily Freak >>Drive to gain another (bleed or vote) action. Lee cannot Freak Drive >>(at least at first), so his action really has to count (especially >>with the -1 stealth on hunting). > >But my main problem is still that it doesn't actually help you get rid of the >card. Sometimes it may be nice to know that your prey has that Deflection, but >there's not much you can do to make him discard it. And if you are playing with Sure there is. "I bleed for three with this Govern." "um... no block." "OK, just 3." (wait for Deflection) Alternative form: "I bleed for three with this Govern." (sly look) "I attempt to block!" "You succeed." (watch someone's face fall as they realize that plan "A", aka "trick them into adding stealth"... has failed miserably, and that Deflection looks silly without a Wake) If they have enough combat in hand to kill you, and a Wake and Deflection besides, then consider doing small inoffensive things for awhile -- alternatively, start lying like hell to see if the table can be sucked in. =) -- "There's no gray. There's just white that's got grubby." -- T.P.