Ahrimanes Newsletter #32 20.12.07 ==================================================== [ AHRIMANES NEWSLETTER ] ==================================================== 1.0 - Editorial 1.1 Word From the Editor 1.2 Next Issue 2.0 - Interview 3.0 - Deck 3.1 3.2 Sign Off --[1.1 - Word from the Editor]---------------------- It seems that the next release will be Blood Shadowed Court, a reprint of the Camarilla Edition vampires. This is a very good idea, as they are quite difficult to get at the moment, and keeps Vtes visible on the shelf. I wonder if we will see similar releases for other vampire sets - Bloodlines, Final Nights or Sabbat War? Any of those would be useful for new players, and the last two fit in with the most recent releases and it is something that can be released between new sets - appeasing new players, while not annoying older players. --[1.2 -Next Issue]------------------------------------ Another tournament winning deck, go Ahrimanes! Other than that I am not sure yet. --[2.0 - WES Weston interview]-------------------------- Q) What interests you in the Ahrimanes? A) I have fun every time I play with them. Each game feels very different from every other game, which I cannot say about other decks. Q) What are their strengths? A) Strength +1 Oh, you mean Ahrimanes other than Howler? Wait; there are Ahrimanes other than Howler? Although not immediately apparent, the clan's three signature disciplines have some good synergy together. Spiritus, though limited in number compared to the main disciplines, has access to some very versatile cards: untap, stealth, maneuvers, presses, "eagles sight". Not only do these provide a useful arsenal, they are also difficult for other players to predict. They're also very easy to cycle. Animalism also provides some good choices, combining permanent retainers with transient combat cards. Raven Spy and Speak with Spirits alone provides a very good defence against all but the most persistent stealth decks. I tend not to use a lot of Presence. While a great discipline, its cards tend to go counter to a lot of my deck decisions. For example, Majesty is great for avoiding combat, but I don't usually want to run away with Howler (and maneuvers are often good enough, if needed). I think Ahrimanes excel at the endgame. Once they are established they can be very difficult to shut down. So, if a table is going to time-out, you'll probably be in one of the better positions. Since my deck tends to be somewhat wallish, with lots of permanents, it usually does well in those situations. Also, because of the slow build-up, it has an "under-the- radar" effect that other decks do not enjoy. Q) What are their weaknesses? A) They can take a long time to establish a table presence. When I lose games, it's usually because a much quicker deck is behind me. Weenies or sneak-bleed decks tend to get the upper hand much of the time, despite access to Speak with Spirits. Of course, I also consider the slow build-up to be a strength, as the true threat of the deck is not apparent until it is too late. Q) What sparks your initial ideas? A) Well, I don't build a lot of different Ahrimanes decks, so I can't claim that I have too many original ideas with them. The Howler deck that I use is pretty close to the one I built when I playtested Bloodlines so many years ago. It changes a little bit when new sets are released, but never very radically. Often, I add some of the new Ahrimanes/Spiritus cards, just to try them out, but they end up coming back out pretty quickly. If it ain't broke... Q) Which decklist is your favourite to play? A) The current configuration, i.e. the deck you printed in a previous newsletter (Ahrimanes Newsletter #27). I have not yet added any new cards from the last few sets, I don't think. I probably should... Q) How many drafts did it go through? A) Well, considering how old the deck is, probably several dozen, but again, it hasn't changed by very much. It's the only deck I never take apart. Q) Which cards didn't quite make it into the deck? (Cards 91-100?) A) I always struggle with those last few cards. I've never understood how people can build decks with less than 90 cards, but then, I do often go through my entire library with this deck. I tend to try to pare down some of the action cards whenever possible, as there always seem to be a lot of them, and with limited minions to use them. Transient PRE bleed cards other than Entrancement have been replaced with Heart of the City. Can't think of what else has been taken out recently... I did add Break the Code for the most recent tournament in Toronto, because I was concerned with all of the Imbued wins of late. Predictably, nobody played Imbued that day. Q) Do you play them in lots of friendly games - real or JOL? A) At this time I play almost exclusively on JOL. There are no other players local to me, and I am no longer willing to cross the border into the US, where the nearest players to me are. I have occasionally played at tournaments in distant cities, in which case I do often play my Ahrimanes deck, but that seems to happen less and less often, sadly. Over the years, I've probably played an iteration of the deck in at least half a dozen Toronto tournaments and about the same in Detroit, winning at least four of them, including a qualifier and at one or two storylines. Q) Are there any other clans that you like to play? A) I play most of them, but I do avoid a lot of the "standard" clan deck archetypes. I loathe Malkavian S&B decks, for example; they may be effective, but I find them boring and simplistic. I'd rather lose with something interesting and fun than win with a deck like that. Just a personal preference, I guess. My decks are usually based around individual vampires, or interesting combinations of disciplines, rather than clans. Whenever a new set comes out, I like looking for those oddball vampires that have SER and PRO, or whatever, and building an interesting -- and hopefully effective -- deck around them. Q) What card would you like to see for the Ahrimanes? (crypt or library) A) Oh, I don't know... I don't think they really need much right now. If they did, it would be even more difficult to pare cards 91-100 from the deck. --[3.1 - Deck: Czech Nationals 2007 Winner]--------------------------------------- Name of Tourney: Czech Nationals 2007 Place: Prague, Czech Republic No. of Players: 41 Format: 3+F Winning Player:Tomas Vomacka (aka Vomicz) Winning decklist: Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 8 average 5.25 ------------------------------------------------------------ 3x Howler 8 ANI PRE SPI obf Ahrimane:2 2x Siamese 7 PRE SPI ani pro Ahrimane:2 1x Cynthia Ingold 6 SPI ani for pre Ahrimane:2 1x Nettie Hale 5 ani cel pre pro spi Ahrimane:2 1x Bobby Lemon 4 ANI pro Gangrel: 3 1x Juanita Santiago 4 ani pre spi Ahrimane:2 1x Dani 2 ani Nosferatu Antitirbu: 2 1x Gillian Krader 2 ani dem Pander: 2 1x Zip 2 ani Ravnos: 3 Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Action [14] 1x Aranthebes 1x Army of rats 4x Enchant Kindred 2x Engling Fury 2x Entracement 2x Muricias Call 2x Nose of the Hound Action Modifier [2] 1x Aire of elation 1x Squirrel Balance Ally [2] 1x Mylan, Horseed 1x Ossian Combat [26] 4x Aid from the bats 2x Canine Horde 8x Carrion Crows 2x Leapfrog 2x Majesty 2x Staredown 2x Target: Vitals 4x Taste of Vitae Combat/Action Modifier [6] 6x Swiftness of the stag Event [1] 1x Narrow Minds Master [14] 2x Animalism 1x Archon investigation 1x Blood doll 1x Direct intervention 1x Dreams of the sphinx 1x Fame 1x Jake Washington 1x Pentex 1x Powerbase: Montreal 1x Rack 1x Smiling Jack 2x Vessel Reaction [21] 4x Cats guidance 3x Falcons Eye 2x Keep it simple 2x On the Qui vive 1x Sense the savage ways 9x Speak with spirits Retainer [4] 1x Murder of crows 3x Raven spy A fairly straightforward Ahrimane Deck with added ani weenies. I like the variety of cards, which gives a multi pronged attacking strategy. --[3.2 - Sign Off]------------------------------------- Well 2007 has been a good year for the Ahrimanes, with five tournament winning decks listing in the NLs, and I managed to qualify for the Continentals, and place highly in all of the tournaments I entered. Hopefully some of you out there have been doing just as well, and you have been inspired by the NLs. Either way have a very happy Christmas, and a merry New Year, when I will return with more NLs for you all to read. Sam *