OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 5 NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 2002

OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 5 NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 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

> 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

John wrote: > > > 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/

> 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 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

"hamdamcwa" <dave...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:9e10847c.02020...@posting.google.com... [ quoted text not captured ] in your ready region: the incoming vamp burns and triggers the soul gem again. in another's ready region, contesting as normal. J

dave...@hotmail.com (hamdamcwa) wrote in message news:<9e10847c.02020...@posting.google.com>... [ quoted text not captured ] 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

Legbiter wrote: >********************** > >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. [ quoted text not captured ] 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!!! >

<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, 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.

Hi, LSJ please confirm this. Thanks, -Markus Cameron schrieb: [ quoted text not captured ]

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. > > >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

[ quoted text not captured ] 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. [ quoted text not captured ]

Rehlow <news...@rehlow.com> wrote in message news:<3C638B25...@rehlow.com>... > 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].