Official VEKN Nosferatu Newsletter for November, 2006

Official VEKN Nosferatu Newsletter for November, 2006. It's been a while since my last Nosferatu Newsletter (about 3 months), so as I am sitting at home sick as a sick dog, I figured I'd get off my ass and write a new one. Luckily, 3rd Edition came out recently and is packed to the brim with new, awesome Nosferatu vampires to look at! Yeah, yeah, they are actually Nosferatu Antitribu, but for my money, I have always considered them one clan, used them interchangeably, and only rarely does it actually matter that they are a different clan. But in any case, here is an overview of the awesome new 3rd Edition Nosferatu Antitribu vampires: -Old Neddacka (2) obf. G4. Old Neddacka is a nice, basic building block vampire, like, ya know, Dimple. He'll show up in a lot of Nosferatu decks. He'll show up in a lot of pretty much any kind of deck that uses Obfuscate. He does, however, help build up a very good selection of weenie Obfuscate vampires in the G3-4 department. *** -Blister (3) obf, pot. G4. Blister and Old Neddacka feel like a comfortable old pair of buddies, like Duck and Dimple. They'll show up a lot together. Blister has been long time coming as a Duck clone, making a G3-4 POT/obf deck a solid option finally. *** -Stick (3) ANI. G4. Yaa! Finally a 3 cap with ANI, and in the cool clan at that! Weenie Animalism has always been a pretty solid archetype (see: Bats with Birds in Their Mouths in a previous Nosferatu Newsletter), and such decks have received a solid upgrade in the G3-4 zone with Bobby Lemon (a 4 cap with ANI) and now Stick, which were two vampires that G1-2 never had access too. Very solid. **** -Aaron Bathurst (4) for, obf, pot. G4. An identical clone of Wolfgang, which is good for all those Obfuscate/Fortitude decks that have been floating around. Well, ok, there is probably a good way to make such a deck, but I haven't seen one yet. But at least there are now two good basic vampires for such a deck. That being said, Aaron is a shoo in for any Nosferatu Pot/For/Obf type deck that is likely to be developed in the near future, now that there are so gosh darn many Nosferatu with Fortitude. It is really easy to sideline in Freak Drives and some extra combat defense into any Nosferatu strategy now, and I'd expect to see Aaron show up in any deck like that. *** -Frank Litzpar (5) OBF, ani, for, pot. G4. A nice solid mid cap with OBF, and another Nosferatu with Fortitude. A good handful of Freak Drives should be common in many future Nosferatu/!Nosferatu decks, and as they all have Obfuscate, that most of the Fortitude is inferior isn't really an issue, as you have the stealth to get the actions through, so inferior Freak Drive is probably sufficient. All the Fortitude also sets up the Nosferatu for a solid prevent/Disarm combat package either defensively or offensively. **** -Raphael Catarari (5) OBF, PRE, aus, pot, tha. G4. If Raphael's blood total is odd, he does not untap as normal. You may use a master phase action to add a blood to him from your pool or to burn a blood from him. +1 bleed. Right. Raphael is kind of crazy with all the text and all, but chock full of fantastic possibilities. He is the smallest vampire in the game with OBF/PRE for a significant bleed offense (which can be backed up by, inappropriately, True Love's Face). His +1 bleed makes using him for a bleed offense even more attractive. His disadvantage is complicated and strange, and likely to result in him being tapped a lot of the time, so if you are using him, you should have a lot of clever ways to manage his blood or untap him--consider all the standard blood management options like Hunting Grounds, Blood Dolls, Life in the City, perhaps a Capitalist Archetype, but also consider some fringier ways to untap him when needed, such as giving him Rutor's Hand (he has tha!), or teaming him with other Auspex vampires (he has aus!) and packing some Precognizant Mobilities. Or even Metro Underground, allowing you to untap him at the end of the turn if he looks likely to not untap at the start of your next turn. Between Raphael, Isouda (new 7 cap with OBF, PRE) and Stavros (yet another new 7 cap with OBF, PRE), there is clearly a True Love's Face bleed deck to be built, and as all three of them come with Auspex (Stavros even has AUS!), there are reasonable bleed bounce possibilities built right in. Clearly, my next newsletter will be this deck. **** -Joseph Cambridge (6) POT, ani, dom, obf. G4. Bishop. Joseph gets an additional +1 stealth on political actions. Joseph is the fantastic vampire that Judah (poor Judah) always should have been. Yeah, only a single superior discipline, but it is Potence, and with his Dominate, he easily fits into a POT/dom combat bleed strategy. His +1 stealth on Political Actions is simply a nice conditional bonus. While Joseph is great in constructed play, where he really tends to shine, however, is in a 3rd Edition draft game. Go in planning on playing Potence combat (which is usually a safe bet, as everyone else is drafting Dominate...) and then score all the Pot, Rush, Pot draftferior cards (like Rooftop Shadow for Potence based Intercept and Pursuit for Potence based maneuvers) and Perpetual Care for a killing blow. Joseph's additional +1 stealth for calling the Perpetual Care is huge in the generally low intercept draft environment, and he is even a Bishop to help pass the vote. Pure draft gold. ***** -Humo (6) ANI, POT, obf, obt. G4. If you also control Greensleeves and he is ready, Humo may burn a blood to give Greensleeves +1 stealth once each action. Humo is a nice solid fighting midcap with his ANI, POT, and he has a built in team up ability with the very good Greensleeves. They don't really mesh, discipline wise, but their matching specials is likely enough to justify using them together a lot of the time. And if you can score the both of them in a draft game, that is pure gold. **** -Greensleeves (7) ANI, OBF, for, pot. G4. Priscus. If you also control Humo, Greensleeves may burn a blood to give Humo +1 bleed once each action. A very solid political vampire for the Nosferatu, in that she is a mid cap Priscus who starts with ANI, OBF, enabling maximum Animal Magnetism from the get go. Again, she has Fortitude for some Freak Drives and combat defense. And then she has a team up ability with Humo. Greensleeves is likely a lot more individually useful than Humo due to her political abilities (and Freak Driving abilities on top of that). She is also gold in draft play, especially as if you team her with Joseph, you can pretty much ensure the passing of the Perpetual Care, and if you team her with Humo, you have a pretty solid bleed offense. An all around great vampire. ***** -Icarus, The Manchurian (7) OBF, POT, ani, for, pro. G4. When Icarus bleeds a Methuselah successfully, you may look at that Methuselah's hand. Around these parts, we are all awfully confused as to why Icarus doesn't have Celerity, what with the hat and all, but at least with Protean, he is more grist for the newly effective POT/pro "Burn'em All!" combat strategy mill. Icarus is, yet again, a solid midcap Nosferatu with Fortitude, so he'll likely see a lot of play in combat decks or general sneak based Nosferatu decks. His special ability is quite handy, as permanent info on your prey's hand is very useful. Granted, he can probably be better employed than simply bleeding for 1 at stealth to see your prey's hand every turn, but with the Freak Drive potential, he becomes a great scout before a Rush. **** -Lukas (8) ANI, OBF, POT, pre, ser. G4. Archbishop of Toronto. Lukas is the strangely handsome Nosferatu Antitribu (clearly, he was hit by an Unacceptable Appearance at some point...), who is a nice member of a Nosferatu political deck along with Greensleeves, what with the title and ANI, OBF. His Serpentis mixes well with Tarbaby Jack for some sort of deck involving the Nosferatu and maybe Truth of 1K Lies for bleed and/or untap. His Presence mixes with Raphael and a couple other Nosferatu types for added punch in a Stealth/Vote deck. A pretty solid vampire. But man, does he look weird. **** -Servius Marius Pustula (10) ANI, CHI, DOM, OBT, POT, obf. G4. Each Methuselah gets +X hand size, where X is the number of ready vampires with capacity above 7 he or she controls. This guy is deeply weird--he fits better in a Lasombra deck than a Nosferatu deck (a 10 cap Nosferatu with inferior obfuscate?). His special ability is interesting, especially if you build your deck to maximize the ability, but I'm unconvinced that he is worth building a deck around just for this. Yeah, superior Dominate is always good, but his lack of a title for a such a huge investment seems debilitating. There are probably better ways to increase your hand size. ** -Ysador the Foul (10) ANI, DEM, FOR, OBF, POT, obt. Cardinal. Non-infernal, non demon minions opposing Ysador in combat cannot use maneuvers to maneuver to close range. An interesting variation on the very similar Cailean, although with an extra vote and trades Dominate for superior Fortitude, allowing for even more Freak Driving. A great potential for some sort of Eternal Vigilance intercept/multi action combat deck. Equip her (?) with maybe an Assault Rifle for some good range combat and a constant maneuver, have her rush and kill and block and kill, Freaking and avoiding getting killed with her FOR. Use some Dementation for bleed offense. Probably a pretty good deck. **** Overall, 3rd Edition provided the Nosferatu with a really good selection of interesting new vampires, notably with a lot of Fortitude--the old school G1/2 Nosferatu Royalty deck is *still* good 'cause of all the Fortitude (Sheldon, Selma, Nikolaus), so it is a good bet that new G3-4 Nosferatu Fortitude decks (based on, say, Greensleeves and Ysador) will be likely as effective. Till next time, -Peter D Bakija You can check out all of my old Nosferatu Newsletters at: http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

Good newsletter, Peter. Peter D Bakija wrote: > -Servius Marius Pustula (10) ANI, CHI, DOM, OBT, POT, obf. G4. Each > Methuselah gets +X hand size, where X is the number of ready vampires > with capacity above 7 he or she controls. This guy is deeply weird--he > fits better in a Lasombra deck than a Nosferatu deck (a 10 cap > Nosferatu with inferior obfuscate?). His special ability is > interesting, especially if you build your deck to maximize the ability, > but I'm unconvinced that he is worth building a deck around just for > this. Yeah, superior Dominate is always good, but his lack of a title > for a such a huge investment seems debilitating. There are probably > better ways to increase your hand size. ** There's probably something very interesting to do with the superior Chimerstry. Perhaps something wacky with Sense Dep. > -Ysador the Foul (10) ANI, DEM, FOR, OBF, POT, obt. Cardinal. > Non-infernal, non demon minions opposing Ysador in combat cannot use > maneuvers to maneuver to close range. An interesting variation on the > very similar Cailean, although with an extra vote and trades Dominate > for superior Fortitude, allowing for even more Freak Driving. A great > potential for some sort of Eternal Vigilance intercept/multi action > combat deck. Equip her (?) with maybe an Assault Rifle for some good > range combat and a constant maneuver, have her rush and kill and block > and kill, Freaking and avoiding getting killed with her FOR. Use some > Dementation for bleed offense. Probably a pretty good deck. **** You forgot to mention that little dandy called Blessing of Chaos, which will prevent some of the most commons forms of S:CE from working. This is especially important since he seems designed for long-ranged combat where you will be unable to rely on the Nosferatu's old friend, Immortal Grapple. Karl

karlgs...@gmail.com wrote: > Good newsletter, Peter. Thanks Karl! > There's probably something very interesting to do with the superior > Chimerstry. Perhaps something wacky with Sense Dep. Strong point. I'm uncvinced that it is going to be something that you couldn't do with just some regular Ravanos deck (uhh, Sensory Deprivation Potence Rush?), but there is certainly some possibility out there somewhere. > You forgot to mention that little dandy called Blessing of Chaos, which > will prevent some of the most commons forms of S:CE from working. This > is especially important since he seems designed for long-ranged combat > where you will be unable to rely on the Nosferatu's old friend, > Immortal Grapple. Indeed! Very strong--Blessing of Chaos Long Range Multi Rush? Still foiled by Protean S:CE, but Presence is tooled. Good call. -Peter

karlgs...@gmail.com wrote: > Good newsletter, Peter. > > Peter D Bakija wrote: > > -Servius Marius Pustula (10) ANI, CHI, DOM, OBT, POT, obf. G4. Each > > Methuselah gets +X hand size, where X is the number of ready vampires > > with capacity above 7 he or she controls. This guy is deeply weird--he > > fits better in a Lasombra deck than a Nosferatu deck (a 10 cap > > Nosferatu with inferior obfuscate?). His special ability is > > interesting, especially if you build your deck to maximize the ability, > > but I'm unconvinced that he is worth building a deck around just for > > this. Yeah, superior Dominate is always good, but his lack of a title > > for a such a huge investment seems debilitating. There are probably > > better ways to increase your hand size. ** > There's probably something very interesting to do with the superior > Chimerstry. Perhaps something wacky with Sense Dep. > I've been looking at building a Chimerstry multirush deck that uses Sense Deps, Realities and Nightmare Curses instead of Ambushes, Bum's Rushes and Harasses. So Servius Marius Pustula definantly is a good fit. Comments Welcome, Norman S. Brown, Jr XZealot Archon of the Swamp

XZealot wrote: > I've been looking at building a Chimerstry multirush deck that uses > Sense Deps, Realities and Nightmare Curses instead of Ambushes, Bum's > Rushes and Harasses. So Servius Marius Pustula definantly is a good > fit. That is an interesting theory (the Sense Dep instead of a Bum's Rush tech) that could pan out. But in terms of Servius, how is he gonna do the "multi" part of the multi rush? Helicopters maybe? I'm not seeing Servius being better than Ivan and/or Hazimel (who both have the POT for the killing, FOR for the untap and prevent, and CHI for the Sense Dep et al). -Peter

[ quoted text not captured ] I was thinking like Sensory Deprivation Block Torn Signpost Imposing Phantasm Hands for 3 Additional Strike: Mirror Image to Continue the Action Disarm (Pulled Fangs too if you like) Action continues with the blocker in torpor. It's not technically multiacting, its more hybrid of successful combat with unblocked action. I know it's long chain, but with Servius's special to enhance, it becomes more probably. Its just theory really. Comments Welcome, Norman S. Brown, Jr XZealot Archon of the Swamp Archon of the Swamp

On 5 Nov 2006 10:34:23 -0800, "Peter D Bakija" <pd...@lightlink.com> wrote: >-Servius Marius Pustula (10) ANI, CHI, DOM, OBT, POT, obf. G4. Each >Methuselah gets +X hand size, where X is the number of ready vampires >with capacity above 7 he or she controls. This guy is deeply weird--he >fits better in a Lasombra deck than a Nosferatu deck (a 10 cap >Nosferatu with inferior obfuscate?). His special ability is >interesting, especially if you build your deck to maximize the ability, >but I'm unconvinced that he is worth building a deck around just for >this. Yeah, superior Dominate is always good, but his lack of a title >for a such a huge investment seems debilitating. There are probably >better ways to increase your hand size. ** I didn't put him in the deck for that ability, but he boosted my hand size from 9 to 12 in the second round of the Millennium Cultist event in Atlanta on Sunday. He gave no one else a boost, that round. During the finals he boosted my hand size from 7 to 10, but he benefitted everyone at the table except the Nosferatu player. http://www.thelasombra.com/decks/taking-control.htm I like him. Carpe noctem. Lasombra Archivist to great deck builders. http://ArchonOfTheSwamp.tripod.com http://BlueDevilVTES.tripod.com http://ColumbusVTES.tripod.com http://Legbiter.tripod.com http://UniqueMasterOfVTES.tripod.com http://vtes-Hunter-Net.tripod.com http://VTESOrgPlay.tripod.com http://wanderers-counsel.tripod.com http://www.TheLasombra.com/decks.htm http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/rgtcjdeckarchive/

[ quoted text not captured ] Great newsletter Peter, thanks for taking the time to write it. Just on the topic of Servius, he slips quite well into a high cap guruhi deck. Mass reality with a kerrie could prove a damaging combo for a minimal card outlay usable at both long and short range or for more flashy effect TF,TS,CC, IS, manuver, PtL is 10R+2 environmental. even with just a PtL your looking at 5R, not to shabby for a 1 card outlay. Also, his special text works well in a Guruhi deck as so many of the core vamps are above the 7 cap threshold. Eze, Severius, Inkiko, Naglia, thats +5 hand size for a not impossble minion spread considering the amount of acceleration/ pool recycling avaliable to such a group of minions Just a thought Sutekh_23

> -Greensleeves (7) ANI, OBF, for, pot. G4. Priscus. If you also control > Humo, Greensleeves may burn a blood to give Humo +1 bleed once each > action. A very solid political vampire for the Nosferatu, in that she > is a mid cap Priscus who starts with ANI, OBF, enabling maximum Animal > Magnetism from the get go. Again, she has Fortitude for some Freak > Drives and combat defense. And then she has a team up ability with > Humo. Greensleeves is likely a lot more individually useful than Humo > due to her political abilities (and Freak Driving abilities on top of > that). She is also gold in draft play, especially as if you team her > with Joseph, you can pretty much ensure the passing of the Perpetual > Care, and if you team her with Humo, you have a pretty solid bleed > offense. An all around great vampire. ***** Judging by the ambiguously worded text on Humo, and the size of Greensleeves' hands, Greensleeves is in fact a "he", joining the ranks with Badger, Ricki Van Dempsey, Dancin' Dana, Ublo Satha, and all the other messy trannies the game has to offer.

CthuluKitty wrote: > Judging by the ambiguously worded text on Humo, and the size of > Greensleeves' hands, Greensleeves is in fact a "he", joining the ranks > with Badger, Ricki Van Dempsey, Dancin' Dana, Ublo Satha, and all the > other messy trannies the game has to offer. Greensleeves is a she. Humo must be ready himself to burn a blood to give Greensleeves (who may be acting from torpor or from the ready region) +1 stealth.

On Nov 5, 10:36 pm, The Lasombra <TheLasom...@hotmail.com> wrote: > **I didn't put him in the deck for that ability, but he boosted my hand > size from 9 to 12 in the second round of the Millennium Cultist event > in Atlanta on Sunday. He gave no one else a boost, that round. > During the finals he boosted my hand size from 7 to 10, but he > benefitted everyone at the table except the Nosferatu player. > > http://www.thelasombra.com/decks/taking-control.htm > > I like him. Fair enough. One of the good reasons we have these newsletters is to come up with some interesting discussion. I'm still unconvinced that he is that good as a 10 with no title, but hey, if folks are getting milage out of him, awsome! -Peter

On Nov 5, 10:26 pm, "XZealot" <xzea...@cox.net> wrote: >I was thinking like > > Sensory Deprivation > > Block > > Torn Signpost > > Imposing Phantasm > > Hands for 3 > > Additional Strike: Mirror Image to Continue the Action > > Disarm (Pulled Fangs too if you like) > > Action continues with the blocker in torpor. > > It's not technically multiacting, its more hybrid of successful combat > with unblocked action. Heh. That is pretty good. I'd still be inclined to use Krenyenko or Hazimel for the fortitude for prevention and Freaks than Servius. > I know it's long chain, but with Servius's special to enhance, it > becomes more probably. Its just theory really. Perhaps that is the angle right there. But unless you are using multiple big vampires (and with such a deck, are you likely to be getting out multiple big vampires?), still, you are probably better off with Krenyenko and an Elder Library. But, ya know, that's me :-) -Peter

[ quoted text not captured ] Ysador is a he, right? Conrad Adoula? best - chris

librarian wrote: > LSJ wrote: > Ysador is a he, right? > Correct. > Conrad Adoula? > Conrad is a woman vampire. She calls herself Conrad after the author Joseph Conrad. This would be a lot easier if we stuck to the "All minions are 'he' and all methuselahs are 'she'" schtick. -- - Gregory Stuart Pettigrew

Gregory Stuart Pettigrew wrote: > librarian wrote: >> LSJ wrote: >> Ysador is a he, right? > > Correct. She's a she. >> Conrad Adoula? > > Conrad is a woman vampire. She calls herself Conrad after the author > Joseph Conrad. > > This would be a lot easier if we stuck to the "All minions are 'he' and > all methuselahs are 'she'" schtick. Correct.