questions

Some friends convinced me that I should try out this game. I didn't want to get involved in it, because I knew that I'd get too involved in it, and spend too much money on it. Anyhow, now I'm involved, and I find myself reading this newsgroup everyday, looking for new bits of wisdom. And I have some questions.... If I press to continue combat, do we have to re-establish range, or do we continue at whatever range we established earlier. That is, if we played the last round at long range, do we start the new round at long range, or at close range? My friends gave me tons of commons and vampires. I'm missing maybe fifteen vampires, and have a pretty good selection of most commons. Do you think I'm better off buying boxes of boosters, or just identifying the cool uncommons and rares I need, and buying them individually off of here? Someone, (I think it was Alan Kwan), wrote that he'd always play sudden reversal whenever someone tried to give Protean to a non-gangrel, or dominance to a gangrel, which suggested to me that this would make a very powerful combination. (I'm guessing that the idea is that you could have very powerful bleeders, who can send to torpor anyone that blocks them). Do you think it works better to give dominance to gangrels, or protean to another clan, and if so, what other clan? I sort of like the idea of a Ventrue deck with lots of protean skill cards, because it seems like you could do well with bleeding, combat and voting. Would it work better with a mixed clan deck (some Protean, some Dominance, and Gangrels and Ventrue)? I like the idea of sending a blocker right to the ash heap. As I understand it, you have to do x+2 points of aggravated damage, where x is the blockers current blood. What combinations of cards will do this? Will say, Cauldron of Blood and Claws do this? Thanks, Lee

In article <43v6ht$b...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, kbutt...@aol.com (KButter940) wrote: : If I press to continue combat, do we have to re-establish range, or do we : continue at whatever range we established earlier. That is, if we played : the last round at long range, do we start the new round at long range, or : at close range? Each round of combat starts at close range. So if you press to continue combat, the next round is at close range regardless of the range of the last round. : Someone, (I think it was Alan Kwan), wrote that he'd always play sudden : reversal whenever someone tried to give Protean to a non-gangrel, or : dominance to a gangrel, which suggested to me that this would make a very : powerful combination. (I'm guessing that the idea is that you could have : very powerful bleeders, who can send to torpor anyone that blocks them). : Do you think it works better to give dominance to gangrels, or protean to : another clan, and if so, what other clan? I sort of like the idea of a : Ventrue deck with lots of protean skill cards, because it seems like you : could do well with bleeding, combat and voting. Would it work better with : a mixed clan deck (some Protean, some Dominance, and Gangrels and : Ventrue)? I think it is very tough to add a new skill to an entire clan of vamps. You are dependant on a lot of skill cards instead of other useful masters, and it is slow getting the right combination of skills on a vamp. I prefer to mix clans (usually two clans to a deck) that combine the facets I am looking for, when possible. But that's just me, and you can't always work it that way. If I had to choose between giving dominate to Gangrels or Protean to Ventrue, i would choose the ventrue deck, but that is also just my style of play. I don't do so well with Gangrel decks. : I like the idea of sending a blocker right to the ash heap. As I : understand it, you have to do x+2 points of aggravated damage, where x is : the blockers current blood. What combinations of cards will do this? Will : say, Cauldron of Blood and Claws do this? This combination will not work as Claws only make hand damage aggravated, and Cauldron of Blood is not hand damage. Combinations that can cause this are: Dragon Breath rounds and guns, Basilia and a heavy potence attack, the Sengir Dagger and a heavy potence attack, Flamethrowers, Burst of Sunlight, Walk of Flame, Body of Sun, and heavy potence Claws. There are probably a couple more, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. Welcome to one of the best games around. : Thanks, : Lee I hope this helps stephen

In article <43v6ht$b...@newsbf02.news.aol.com> kbutt...@aol.com (KButter940) writes: >If I press to continue combat, do we have to re-establish range, or do we >continue at whatever range we established earlier. That is, if we played >the last round at long range, do we start the new round at long range, or >at close range? At close range. >Someone, (I think it was Alan Kwan), wrote that he'd always play sudden >reversal whenever someone tried to give Protean to a non-gangrel, or >dominance to a gangrel, Yes, that was me. > which suggested to me that this would make a very >powerful combination. (I'm guessing that the idea is that you could have >very powerful bleeders, who can send to torpor anyone that blocks them). It is a moderately powerful combination. The reason that I'll play Sudden Reversal against Skill cards is not because of the power of the combo, but because such a deck would suffer miserably if the Skill masters get S. Reversed. More specifically, the hand jams. Soon he'll be like playing with a 1-card hand instead of a 7-card hand. Noticed my reference to the Barrens there? Please refer to more theory-orientated articles published by Curt Adams and me. To see what I'm talking about, try building such deck and do an experimental session, assuming that all the skill cards get SR'ed. (Stop when you begin to fall asleep.) >Do you think it works better to give dominance to gangrels, or protean to >another clan, and if so, what other clan? I sort of like the idea of a >Ventrue deck with lots of protean skill cards, because it seems like you >could do well with bleeding, combat and voting. Would it work better with >a mixed clan deck (some Protean, some Dominance, and Gangrels and >Ventrue)? I'm not sure, but I think it's better to use a mixed clan deck and put in half-half skill cards than to use all one clan and add the `unnatural' skill card. The deck is less suspectible to jamming this way, because getting skills printed on vampires is more reliable than getting it through your Masters. >I like the idea of sending a blocker right to the ash heap. As I >understand it, you have to do x+2 points of aggravated damage, where x is >the blockers current blood. What combinations of cards will do this? Will >say, Cauldron of Blood and Claws do this? No. Cauldron of Blood is not a Hand strike, so Claws don't apply. Growing Fury and Claws would do it, for example. Don't worry too much about burning vampires; if you can always torporize blockers, that's good enough. -- "Live Life with Heart." Alan Kwan kw...@cs.cornell.edu

LEE: If I press to continue combat, do we have to re-establish range, or do we continue at whatever range we established earlier. BIOMECHANOID: Re-establish range (starting at close) LEE: Do you think I'm better off buying boxes of boosters, or just identifying the cool uncommons and rares I need, and buying them individually off of here? BIOMECHANOID: If you just want one deck I would suggest buying individual cards, if you want more than one deck or you want to try for a complete set I would stick to the boosters and maybe buy some hard to get cards. LEE: Do you think it works better to give dominance to gangrels, or protean to another clan, and if so, what other clan? BIOMECHANOID: The Malkavians already have someone with Dom. and Prot. (Zebulon) and I would suggest playing a mix of clans other than just one. Don't forget to watch out for Gangrel De-Evolutions. LEE: I sort of like the idea of a Ventrue deck with lots of protean skill cards, because it seems like you could do well with bleeding, combat and voting. Would it work better with a mixed clan deck (some Protean, some Dominance, and Gangrels and Ventrue)? BIOMECHANOID: I think that would be covering too many aspects at one time. You might end up with all vote cards while in combat, all combat cards when you want to bleed etc. It is not impossible though, just more difficult. Though single aspect decks have their weaknesses too. LEE: I like the idea of sending a blocker right to the ash heap (so do I -BM). As I understand it, you have to do x+2 points of aggravated damage, where x is the blockers current blood. What combinations of cards will do this? Will say, Cauldron of Blood and Claws do this? BIOMECHANOID: Cauldron of blood is not hand damage so it won't work, but lucky blow and any of the increase hand damage cards from the potence discipline work nicely. I think this game is the best one out there, and I suggest you play it ranks far above the rest.

In article <hippo-22099...@gill.hrc.utexas.edu> hi...@mail.utexas.edu (Stephen Beaulieu) writes: >I think it is very tough to add a new skill to an entire clan of vamps. >You are dependant on a lot of skill cards instead of other useful masters, >and it is slow getting the right combination of skills on a vamp. I >prefer to mix clans (usually two clans to a deck) that combine the facets >I am looking for, when possible. But that's just me, and you can't always >work it that way. I'd do the same too; I think that's better than relying solely on skill cards, because if you don't draw one or they gets SR'ed, my hand jams. However, one-clan decks are in general far better, because you can use large vampires with good skills and use Minion Taps and Blood Dolls. That's more `economic' than Master Skill cards. >If I had to choose between giving dominate to Gangrels >or Protean to Ventrue, i would choose the ventrue deck, but that is also >just my style of play. I don't do so well with Gangrel decks. Because, as I stated before, Gangrels don't fight as good as Brujah. Protean Claws are not IMO as flexible as Potence. The real strength of Protean lies in the untap spoilers, but Gangrel hasn't got good actions to exploit that with, since Army of Rats has been ruled non-cumulative. [ quoted text not captured ]

Would anyone be interested in trying out this variation? Army of Rats Animalism Action, Undirected, +1 stealth If successful, the Army of Rats is in play. During your untap each round, your prey loses 1 pool for each Army of Rats you have in play. Any minion can burn all Army of Rats you have in play with a Directed action. [ quoted text not captured ]

Rules question: Can I use an action to burn a Brainwash on a vampire in another Meth's uncontrolled region? What would be the direction of the action? [ quoted text not captured ]

Alan Kwan <kw...@cs.cornell.edu> wrote: >Can I use an action to burn a Brainwash on a vampire in another >Meth's uncontrolled region? Sure (card text). >What would be the direction of the action? Non-directed (card text). Which seems a little bizarre at first glance, but is probably fine. Tom Wylie rec.games.trading-cards.* Network Representative for aa...@cats.ucsc.edu Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

In article <442s8b$g...@newsbf02.news.aol.com> curt...@aol.com (CurtAdams) writes: >Alan Kwan writes: >>Because, as I stated before, Gangrels don't fight as good as >>Brujah. Protean Claws are not IMO as flexible as Potence. The >>real strength of Protean lies in the untap spoilers, but Gangrel >>hasn't got good actions to exploit that with, since Army of Rats >>has been ruled non-cumulative. > >Actually Protean has quite a variety of nice non-strike cards, such as >Form of the Ghost or Gleam of Red Eyes; Protean only makes a fairly >respectable mono-discipline combat (only Celerity is better). Brujah have >access to better comparisons, but not through Potence. Right, Curt. I tend to think about Brujah when I think about Potence, since I doubt if anybody would play Nosferatsu in a serious game ... >Personally I think Potence is one of the weakest disciplines as it hasn't >much variety - it's mostly strikes and presses (often to continue), and >those are of dubious value in a discipline without any good way to prevent >damage. There are some ways, but they're quite limited, true: 1. play "Dodge" and press for another round; doesn't work against Additional Strikes 2. Shattering Blow, only work against weapons. Nosferatsu can use "Canine Horde". Hey, doesn't a single uncommon card, "Dragon-Breath Rounds", change the game a lot. [ quoted text not captured ]

>Right, Curt. I tend to think about Brujah when I think about Potence, >since I doubt if anybody would play Nosferatsu in a serious game ... >-- >"Live Life with Heart." >Alan Kwan kw...@cs.cornell.edu I happen to play Nosferatu on a regular basis along with Gangrel. I think that a potence/protean deck has a very good chance against a protean/celerity. You don't cause to many additional strikes from torpor do you?

In article <444ncc$1...@newsbf02.news.aol.com> biom...@aol.com (Biomech8) writes: >>Right, Curt. I tend to think about Brujah when I think about Potence, >>since I doubt if anybody would play Nosferatsu in a serious game ... > >I happen to play Nosferatu on a regular basis along with Gangrel. I think >that a potence/protean deck has a very good chance against a >protean/celerity. You don't cause to many additional strikes from torpor >do you? Depends. Sewer Lids usually reach longer than Claws. IMO the Brujah who uses no Celerity but Blur's lacks imagination. A Celerity deck can always use Acrobatics if he's expecting to face another combat deck which doesn't have Celerity. [ quoted text not captured ]

>Sewer Lids usually reach longer than Claws. >"Live Life with Heart." >Alan Kwan kw...@cs.cornell.edu Point well taken (usually multiple times in the head). A celerity deck that was bragged about some time ago by Rickr comes to mind. I was the unfortunate gangrel who recieved the sewer lids from additional strikes. That's why I do my best to keep combat at close range. -The Dazed Gangrel

Alan Kwan writes: >Because, as I stated before, Gangrels don't fight as good as >Brujah. Protean Claws are not IMO as flexible as Potence. The >real strength of Protean lies in the untap spoilers, but Gangrel >hasn't got good actions to exploit that with, since Army of Rats >has been ruled non-cumulative. Actually Protean has quite a variety of nice non-strike cards, such as Form of the Ghost or Gleam of Red Eyes; Protean only makes a fairly respectable mono-discipline combat (only Celerity is better). Brujah have access to better comparisons, but not through Potence. Personally I think Potence is one of the weakest disciplines as it hasn't much variety - it's mostly strikes and presses (often to continue), and those are of dubious value in a discipline without any good way to prevent damage. Curt Adams (curt...@aol.com)

kw...@cs.cornell.edu (Alan Kwan) wrote: >Right, Curt. I tend to think about Brujah when I think about Potence, >since I doubt if anybody would play Nosferatsu in a serious game ... Peace Alan, I have played an all Nosf deck twice and won with it. I was playing with lots of Potence strikes, quite a few Pulled Fangs (about eight), some minor Obf to guarentee Bum's Rushs, and some Animalism for permanent Intercept and untaping. Nil carborundum illigitimi, James R. McClure Jr. The OS/2 Apostle <insert disclaimer here>

"James R. McClure Jr." <jmcc...@e-mail.kdp-baptist.louisville.edu> writes: >I have played an all Nosf deck twice and won with it. I was playing >with lots of Potence strikes, quite a few Pulled Fangs (about eight), >some minor Obf to guarentee Bum's Rushs, and some Animalism for >permanent Intercept and untaping. How well does it cope with Malk S&B decks and Brujah rush decks? I have a Nossie deck (very different from yours) and it does OK; but either of those decks tends to toast it. Curt Adams (curt...@aol.com)

[ quoted text not captured ] Peace Curt, I don't think it would do well against a Brujah combat deck (unless I got real lucky), but it is capable of holding it's own against Malk S&B by sending the Malks to torpor (Bum Rush w/ stealth (if needed), one hard hit and a Pulled Fangs). I'd rather have my Brujah deck against a determined Malk, but the Nosf deck has more options and is a stronger bleeder. [ quoted text not captured ]

In article <44692t$q...@hermes.louisville.edu> James R. McClure Jr., jmcc...@e-mail.kdp-baptist.louisville.edu writes: >kw...@cs.cornell.edu (Alan Kwan) wrote: >>Right, Curt. I tend to think about Brujah when I think about Potence, >>since I doubt if anybody would play Nosferatsu in a serious game ... > >Peace Alan, > >I have played an all Nosf deck twice and won with it. I was playing >with lots of Potence strikes, quite a few Pulled Fangs (about eight), >some minor Obf to guarentee Bum's Rushs, and some Animalism for >permanent Intercept and untaping. Ahh.. the nosferatu.. I have always wondered why they get so little attention in this news group. I've had a few excellent games with them but I still have trouble getting the spawning pool working well. ON most occasions it ends up like a little blood pool black hole..Any ideas on how to use it more effectively ?? Andrew c...@physchem.kth.se PS.. Any jyhad players in Stockholm out there??

[ quoted text not captured ] Peace Andrew, Well Nosf get no respect because they are a weak clan in Jyhad. As far as the Spawning Pool is concerned: if you prey isn't a bleeder, well, there isn't much you can do about it; make sure you have enough intercept (Raven Spies) to stop most bleeds; make sure you have some presses (Mighty Grapple, Thrown Sewer Lid [sup], Aid from Bats [sup]) to assure a second round. Your prey will be hesitent to bleed you if you have 4+ blood on tSP and you really can't _force_ him/her/it to bleed you. [ quoted text not captured ]