_angst_#
Official V:EKN Tzimisce Newsletter, May 2004
I. Introduction
II. Strategy - Lean Pink Killing-machine
III. Crypt Focus - Horatio
- Little Tailor of Prague
IV. Card Focus - Jake Washington (Hunter)
- The Unmasking
V. Deck Focus - Jake Washington Eats the World
- Little Shop of Horrors 2
VI: End Credits
I. Introduction.
New month, new newsletter. This time focusing around our little pink
pet, the War Ghoul.
Gehenna edition is coming up soon to and so far we haven't been able
to see what cards the Tzimisce gets. We have seen 3 crypt cards in the
checklist:
Sascha Vykos (adv.) – Really cool, dare we hope for a merge archbishop
or cardinal? (think Vykos went archbishop of dc and then cardinal in
the clan novels).
John Paleologus – One of the last group 3 Tzimisce's. Google and my
vampire genealogy tell me he was the former prince of Constantinople.
Dare we hope for yet another titled group 3 Tzimisce? Maybe a
Camarilla Prince :o)
Cyscek – A Tzimisce Methuselah according to the Gehenna Vtm book. And
the first group 4 Tzimisce.
Well, that's it for Gehenna spoilers. We'll just have to wait a week
and see what White Wolf and mister LSJ brings us this time. But it
sure looks like "it's the end of the world as we know it" *singing pop
music*.
II. Strategy Lean Pink Killing-machine.
I know that War Ghouls really are an old subject and tons of decks
have been built around this pink pile of flesh. But I can't see any
newsletter handling our little friend. So I think this is the time for
this subject to be handled. I'm not trying to break any new ground, I
just try to collect my thoughts on War Ghouls for new Tzimisce
players.
So what do we have to work with?
Name: War Ghoul
Cardtype: Ally
Cost: 3 pool
Ghoul with 5 life, 4 strength, 0 bleed
When War Ghoul enters play, burn an ally or retainer you control. She
can enter combat with any ready vampire controlled by another
Methuselah as a (D) action. She may prevent 1 damage each round. Tap
and burn War Ghoul to burn any location; you cannot use this ability
during combat.
Now we can all see this is a monster. But how should you play it?
Allies always has drawbacks and the ghoul is no exception. I will try
to mention all the strategies and drawbacks here below.
1.) Requirements to play.
You need to burn an ally or a retainer to get yourself a war ghoul.
This is the most obvious drawback in this card but it really doesn't
need to be a problem. There are loads of good allies and retainers
that are free. Vagabond Mystic, J.S Simmons, Tasha Morgan, Jackie
Therman, Mr Winthrop are all good choices if you just need an ally or
retainer fast and for free. And then we have some really good
retainers and allies you can get yourself for a cheap cost, like
Revenant and Repo Man.
And then we have the simplest way of them all, Jake Washington which
is an ally which you play as a master card. I will focus on Jake later
on.
2.) Rarity!
This is not a problem with most vtes cards. But the Ghoul is an
exception. You can be forced to pay up to $26 for a War Ghoul and it's
a r1 from the Sabbat and Sabbat Wars expansions.
It's not hard to get 1 or 2 War ghouls to use as support in any
Tzimisce deck. But to build a focused War ghoul deck often requires a
huge amount of Ghouls.
So how can I help you with this?
Well, the truth is that I can't :o( I can recommend you to use the
internet trading sites and trade online to get your precious Ghouls.
But this takes time, patience and a whole lot of good rares to offer.
The other solution you can use is to use presence and The Summoning.
The Tzimisce's have a good presence crypt with vampires like Velya and
The Rose and these vampires can summon the War Ghouls and the allies
and retainers you need to bring them into play. Another good thing
with summoning is that a War Ghoul played from your hand is more
likely to be blocked than a summoning. And if the summoning gets
blocked you won't have wasted a War Ghoul.
3.) Blocking.
The War Ghoul is a pink monster. Not many decks can handle the Ghouls
for long and therefore they will block your attempts to create your
Ghouls.
So how can one do to bypass this problem?
Speed is one way to do it.
Turn 1 – Play Jake and try to get 2 pools onto Horatio or Piotr so one
of them enter play.
Turn 2 – Get yourself a ghoul.
Not many decks are able to block in turn 2. So this is probably the
best way to get fast War Ghouls.
Another option is stealth. Plasmic Form, Changeling, Stealth Ritus,
Creepshow Casino and Unlicensed Taxicab are all helpful cards here.
A third option is once again to use presence and The Summoning to get
your Ghouls. A summoning is not as attractive to block as a War Ghoul
played directly from your hand.
4.) Combat.
The Ghoul is tough but without combat support a simple ir goggles or
zip gun can ruin your day. With an opponent maneuvering to long in the
combat the War Ghoul can't do much more than wave and look mean.
So what combat support should one use?
I would recommend Trap and Fake Out as primary combat cards. A
trapping War Ghoul has a good chance of inflicting 16 damage to the
opposing minion and Fake Outs are really good to follow the fleeing
vampires with. For they will flee. I promise you.
Another problem is minions inflicting big amounts of damage on you.
Vampires with Assault Rifles and permanent +strength are a serious
problem for the Ghouls wellbeing. I can think of two awesome cards to
use here. Memories of mortality and Vagabond Mystic.
Memories can shut down a fighter completely and the old hippie (that's
Vagabond Mystic) can heal your War Ghouls with his mysterious Hippie
powers.
Another option to consider is to get yourself a repoman that brings
Hawgs and other cool vehicles to your Ghouls. Permanent presses can be
what give you the GW in the longer games.
So now you can handle dodges, manuvers and heavy hitting opponents.
How can you handle Combat Ends? Well, you can't. You just have to use
the ghoul's permanent rush and rush ‘til your opponent runs out of
combat ends. And don't worry. With 2-3 Ghouls rushing him each turn he
will run out.
5.) Poolgain.
The Ghouls cost pool. They only cost 3 pool though so this is not a
big problem. I do recommend you to have some sort of poolgain in your
decks even if you go for the weenie approach.
Blood dolls are maybe the best way to get this poolgain, and it's also
the way I recommend. You don't need much blood on you vampires if you
have Ghouls to do their combat for them.
Poolgain is not that important if you go for a weenie War Ghoul deck,
but if you want to include biggies like Little Tailor of Prague into
your deck you really should consider both blood dolls and also cards
that prevent you from loosing pool in the first place. Like bounce
cards (don't forget that the Tzimisce's are masters of the
misdirecting forces of auspex).
6.) Rushing.
The Ghouls can rush. It's one of their abilities and one of the
reasons for their success. No-one can bleed you to death or vote you
to death if all their vampires are in torpor.
But rush responsibly!
It is good to take out your prey (it always is), but don't beat him
into a bloody pulp if you can't oust him. If you do his prey (your
grandprey) will get his back free and probably flow forward through
the table out of your control.
It is good to kill of your predators offensive capabilities, but it's
not good to kill your predator (if he's not a mean son of a bleep who
deserves to die). Be careful with your backward rushing. Shut your
predator down, but don't kill him off. Balance him on the edge of
death. In this state he will be an elegant poolbag which keeps your
back free while you sweep the table.
Another thing you should be really careful with is crosstable rushing.
It's always hard to read the game and know when to rush someone
crosstable because he's growing too big. I think my tip to you is read
the game for yourself. Don't listen too much to the other players.
They are only interested in things that are to their own benefit. So
take care. Making unnecessary enemies is never a good thing to do.
But remember, rushing is your primary defence. So kill everything that
even moves at your pool. Choose your targets carefully and kill them
horribly. A dedicated War Ghoul deck is not a good bleeder, voter,
bloater or blocker. You kill and defend by rushing your enemies, so
don't be soft-hearted.
7.) Thieves.
This is a real problem. Players' stealing your War Ghouls is very
dangerous thing. A War Ghoul deck is not a fighter. You can't handle a
renegade Ghoul rampaging through your vampires or other Ghouls.
So what can you do about it?
Well, if you use a Dominate or Presence crypt for your War Ghoul deck
you can always put a few Far Masteries or Entrancement's in there just
to steal them back.
Another solution is to use the Vicissitude card Lobotomy which
protects your Ghouls from Dominate or Presence actions. The drawback
is that the Ghoul will get -1 bleed (it's not very likely to bleed a
lot) and that it will be unable to use maneuvers. So you can protect
your ghouls if you can live without Fake Out's. But it's oh so worth
it if you're in an ally stealing meta.
8.) Ghoulacept.
War Ghouls are not blocking machines. But they can block. Cards like
KRCG News Radio and Mr Winthrop grant permanent intercept to minions
and very valuable for the Ghouls. With an untapped Ghoul with
permanent intercept ready to block, your predator will get very
peaceful, and you can focus your efforts on ousting your prey.
I also recommend the new event card The Unmasking which I will focus
more on later in this newsletter.
I think that's it for the War Ghoul strategies and War Ghoul handling
I can think of. If you have more thoughts and ideas on this please
share them with me and the crowd.
III. Crypt Focus. Horatio and Little Tailor of Prague.
1.)
Name: Horatio
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Tzimisce
Group: 2
Capacity: 2
Disciplines: vic
Sabbat
One of the ultimate fathers of War Ghouls. He can produce a War Ghoul
in turn 2 with the help of Jake Washington and he only costs 2 pool to
bring into play. A real killer vampire.
And you can do a lot with inferior vicissitude. You can stealth; get
+1 bleed, maneuver and strike for 1 range aggravated damage. And if
you get bored you can always transform yourself into a Flamethrower or
Assault Rifle with a Bauble :o)
Horatio is an awesome weenie in every Tzimisce deck which uses
vicissitude. And he is essential for speed in a dedicated weenie War
Ghoul deck.
2.)
Name: Little Tailor of Prague
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Tzimisce
Group: 2
Capacity: 8
Disciplines: dem ANI AUS VIC
Sabbat: When the Tailor recruits an ally or employs a retainer that
requires Tzimisce or Vicissitude, the cost is reduced by one blood or
pool. +1 bleed.
Another fine father figure. His ability to get the Ghouls cheaper is
awesome. Little Tailor with Charisma pays only 1 pool for a War Ghoul.
And he gets the revenants for free.
He gets all the benefits from the clan disciplines which makes him a
very useable vampire in many Tzimisce decks and he's also skilled in
Dementation if you want to do something strange and funny with that.
His +1 bleed helps him to oust your badly beaten prey even faster and
it also grants him a place in all non-weenie Tzimisce bleed decks.
So for 8 pool you get a War Ghoul making monster with superior in all
the in-clan disciplines and +1 bleed. A good investment if you ask me.
So I would recommend you to use the butcher of Prague in many nasty
Tzimisce decks. And to give him a special place in most of your War
Ghoul decks.
IV. Card Focus.
1.)
Name: Jake Washington (hunter)
Cardtype: Master
Unique master.
Put this card in play. While in play, this card represents a mortal
ally with 1 life, 0 strength and 0 bleed <and doesn't count as a
master card>. During your untap phase, you may burn Jake to move up to
4 blood from the blood bank to a ready vampire with no blood.
Jake is the basis of the modern War Ghoul deck. With him you can play
the ally you want to sacrifice, as a master phase action. You can play
him on your first turn. Transfer Horatio or Piotr into the game and
get yourself a War Ghoul in your second turn. Not to shabby.
He is also able to act at once and can use your first turn to bring a
sacrificial retainer into play. Or a Vagabond mystic which can help
you to heal you War Ghouls.
And if you like to do fancy stuff you can always use him to computer
hack in your first turn. This is not only the fastest way in the game
to do pool damage on your prey but it's also a certain way to get a
few pools out of the edge.
And if you don't need any more War Ghouls you can always use him to
refill your vampires if they ever run out of blood.
The only problem I can see with this card is that he's yet another
rare card that you really, really need to get an effective and good
War Ghoul deck. So once again, trade online or go berserk on e-bay. I
really recommend you to get a bunch of Jake's.
2.)
Name: The Unmasking
Cardtype: Event (isn't it cool to write that for the first time)
Gehenna.
Do not replace until your next discard phase.
Allies get +1 intercept when attempting to block vampires.
I thought that I also wanted to be cool and new. So I decided to
include one of the preview cards from the Gehenna edition in this
newsletter. This is not a played card yet, so I take no responsibility
if it sucks. But it really looks promising.
All allies get +1 intercept while blocking vampires. This is awesome
for the Ghouls. Having a prey with 3 War Ghouls with permanent +1
intercept is a nightmare for most players so I find this card very
strong for ally decks.
Events are a new type of cards. Ever since Black Hand the discard
phase has been reformulated to look more like the master phase. With
you getting a discard phase action which you can use to discard a
card, or now to play an event. So instead of discarding a card you put
The Unmasking into play. Then you enjoy the fact that your War Ghouls
(and Jake's, Repo Man's and whatever allies you use) starts to "see"
and you suffer the drawback of not getting to replace until your next
discard phase. A small price to pay for such a powerful cards.
Events can only be played once each game so sadly you can't stack them
(or should I say luckily).
And beware. They are global, meaning that they affect every player. So
if there are multiple ally decks on the table I would be very careful
to play this event.
All in all a good card which shows great promise. Beware for the
events to become tournament legal. Beware for the return of the War
Ghouls into the tournament arena.
V. Deck Focus.
These are the two decks a present to you this time. Both decks are
created by awesome players and good friends of mine. The first one is
a tournament winner from Gothenburg. The second missed the finals in
the 2004 Australian championships with 1 (or was I 0.5) vp's. Copy,
play and enjoy.
1.)
Deck Name: Jake Washington eats the world
Created By: Eric Torstensson and Henrik Ericsson
Description: A pre Black Hand weenie War Ghoul tournament winner I
wanted to include in this newsletter for the brutal force in the deck.
It really kills everything that stands in its way.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 13, Max: , Avg: 3.6)
-------------------------------------------
5 Horatio vic 2, Tzimisce
4 Lolita Houston aus VIC 4, Tzimisce
1 Terrence ani aus vic 4, Tzimisce
1 The Rose aus PRE VIC 5, Tzimisce
1 Wendy Wade ani aus 3, Tzimisce
Library: (60 cards)
-------------------
Master (17 cards)
2 Blood Doll
1 Creepshow Casino
2 Direct Intervention
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
5 Jake Washington (Hunter)
1 KRCG News Radio
2 Memories of Mortality
1 Mob Connections
1 Pentex Subversion
1 Secure Haven
Action Modifier (3 cards)
3 Changeling
Combat (14 cards)
2 Breath of the Dragon
6 Fake Out
6 Trap
Ally (13 cards)
3 Vagabond Mystic
10 War Ghoul
Retainer (6 cards)
2 J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1 Jackie Therman
1 Mr. Winthrop
2 Tasha Morgan
Combo (7 cards)
7 Plasmic Form
2.)
Deck Name: Little Shop of Horrors 2
Created By: Cameron Roberts
Description: The entire deck is basically designed to set Little
Tailor up recruiting a War Ghoul every turn. There are several
mechanisms which help to do this. Firstly, get a weenie to recruit the
Repo Man as soon as possible. Have the Repo Man take his action to get
a vehicle every turn, until you have none left, starting with giving
an Unlicensed taxi cab to the Little Tailor. Hawgs are obviously for
the War Ghouls, and provide a permanent way to get across 8 points of
damage to one unlucky vampire. The deck also has excellent bleed
capacity, with Little Tailor's +1 bleed, changeling and Tasha Morgan.
This means that when you have decimated your prey's vampires, you can
get through his pool quick enough as not to give your Grand Prey too
much of a head start.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 9, Max: 32, Avg: 5.33)
---------------------------------------------
6 Little Tailor of Prague ANI AUS dem VIC 8, Tzimisce
3 Horatio vic 2, Tzimisce
1 Lolita Houston aus VIC 4, Tzimisce
1 Isabel de Leon AUS 3, Toreador
1 Zoe AUS cel obf 3, Malkavian
Library: (75 cards)
-------------------
Master (18 cards)
4 Blood Doll
2 Charisma
2 Direct Intervention
5 Jake Washington (Hunter)
3 Life in the City
1 Secure Haven
1 Sudden Reversal
Action Modifier (7 cards)
7 Changeling
Reaction (12 cards)
7 Telepathic Misdirection
5 Wake with Evening's Freshness
Combat (10 cards)
4 Meld with the Land
6 Trap
Ally (14 cards)
2 Repo Man
3 Vagabond Mystic
9 War Ghoul
Retainer (2 cards)
1 J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1 Tasha Morgan
Equipment (5 cards)
2 Hawg
3 Unlicensed Taxicab
Combo (7 cards)
7 Plasmic Form
VI. End Credits.
It has (as always) been a pleasure to compile yet another Tzimisce
newsletter. And I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed
writing it. Next month we will discuss the full impact of the Gehenna
expansion and what the end of the world means for the Tzimisce clan.
I also want to make a plea.
Many of the great clans in vtes stands without a newsletter (for
complete list of free clans watch the Lasombra's newsletter post).
Newsletter which can help new players to start playing your favourite
clans and can help them understand the clans and the game better.
Compiling a newsletter takes me somewhere around 2-3 hours of work.
This is not a long time if you spread it over a month.
So my plea to the many good vtes players out there is to start
writing. It's not so hard as you think.
Until next time I wish you the best of greetings from the Swedish west
coast and I really hope this newsletter gives you some inspiration on
the Tzimisce's and the War Ghouls.
Peace!
//Alex Ek/_angst_
http://www.vekn.nu/
#vtes #vtes-game @ sorcerynet, IRC
chat can also be found @
http://www.thelasombra.com/ or http://www.almadrava.net/damnans/