Assamite Clan Newsletter December, 2006 By Tom Duncan With the Cultist storyline underway, I thought I would share what I decided to play, and what I learned from the experience. Not knowing what to expect from the Cultist deck, and not wanting to do something I had already done, I made the decision to go with Forced March. That was my impetus for the deck - use Forced March to multi-act. When looking at vampires, I first picked Joe Hill and Janni as my focus. I thought I would play a melee-based combat rush with a perma-bleed module. The idea being "rush-untap-equip/recruit" or "rush-untap-bleed". I believe I built this and played it, and it's complete lack of defense got me off of the table in short order. I then looked to Antara, who's superior fortitude enabled Freak Drive, and his basic Auspex got me thinking about defense. Deck Name : Cultist SL Antara Author : Tom Duncan Description : Multi-Act permanent builder. This a toolbox, believe it or not. The idea is to take 2 or 3 actions with Antara every turn and still have him available to block. Blood management becomes an issue when your opponents are hitting back, but this has been more of a problem in casual play than tournament play. Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 8 average: 6 ------------------------------------------------------------ 4x Antara 8 CEL FOR QUI aus obf pre Assamite:4 3x Joe "Boot" Hill 7 CEL QUI for obf Assamite:4 3x Janni 5 cel for obf qui Assamite:4 1x Ali Kar 3 obf qui Assamite:3 1x Basir 1 qui Assamite:4 During the first round of the SL event I played, I went fourth and was able to bring up both Basir and Ali Kar on my first turn. My prey did not bring up a vampire. Everybody else was transferring to a fat-ish titled vampire, so on my second turn I was able to put a counter on the Reverend during my Master phase, bleed with Basir to get the edge, and take control of the Cultist with Ali. This resulted in three free minions and an Assualt Rifle, Flamethrower, and .44 magnum before a cross-table voter could wrestle the Rev away from me (I actually got to play Delaying Tactics and keep him an extra turn!). The lesson here? Weenies might be the way to go. I got the GW. The second round, I didn't get Antara in my opening draw and played with Joe Hill as my main guy. No VP. I managed the finals, but again didn't see Antara in my opening draw. I brought up Ali Kar and Mike DiCarlo (who has been removed for an additional copy of Anatara, btw) and fished for Antara - for the next four turns. I actually managed to get him into play for the end game, and though my prey took all but one VP, I took him from twenty Pool down to three in heads up play, thanks to Anatara'a special (Lasombra prey). At one point all of his Lasombra were in torpor, and his only vampires were Cultists. Am I just bragging here? No. I lost the game, after all. The point is, the deck has staying power, and it requires Antara. Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Action [14] 1x Ambush 2x Arson 3x Clandestine Contract 1x Harass 3x Jack of Both Sides 4x Khabar: Glory Action Modifier [15] 2x Change of Target 7x Forced March 6x Freak Drive The idea is still to bleed and do something else each turn. The deck generates three minions fairly safely, so you should get to take three actions every turn and still have a blocker. There will be turns when Antara can manage three himself. I've chosen to focus the actions on taking out minions and locations when not bleeding or equipping. I originally had 2x WoKR in here, but dropped them for another rush and Arson. The Change of Target is for the annoying bounce primarily, but the very limited stealth (FM superior) in the deck makes them useful on any given action that happens to get blocked and you don't want a fight. On that note.... Combat [23] 12x Psyche! 3x Pursuit 3x Rolling with the Punches 1x Taste of Death 2x Unflinching Persistence 2x Disguised Weapon Since it's a tournament, I figured most folk would ignore combat or end it. I was right. You know how it seems like Majesties pile up in your opponent's hand, and they ALWAYS have one, and even when you have a Psyche!, they have another Majesty? Twelve Psyche!s takes care of this. I often had two or three in-hand. I drew into one playing the three I had, and needed them all to take down the opposing vampire. It was so worth it. If you don't have twelve Psyche!s, find a way to get more. Equipment [10] 4x .44 Magnum 1x Bowl of Convergence 1x Ivory Bow 1x Laptop Computer 1x Learjet 1x Sire's Index Finger 1x Sport Bike I went for tried-and-true with the guns. There's 3x JoBS to fetch them as actions, and 2x DW for getting them in combat. The Ivory Bow is standard, of course. The Bowl is solely for Antara, and giving him the rest of the gear isn't a bad idea, either. Master [17] 1x Alamut 1x Archon Investigation 3x Blood Doll 1x Celerity 1x Fortitude 1x Guardian Angel 2x Heartblood of the Clan 1x Market Square 2x Perfectionist 1x Vast Wealth 1x Yoruba Shrine 2x Fame Heartblood is a great card in a multi-acter, because it provides an always-available table action. At the very least, you can take an action to gain a Pool. With a Perfectionist, it becomes 'gain a Pool and a Blood'. The rest of it is your basic wrenches and screwdrivers. Alamut gives you an opportunity to matter in the Cultist referendum. I was surprised to NOT see politically focused decks in the numbers I expected. At the event I attended, crypt sizes were up to include titled vampires, but not to incorporate vote-based strategies, it seemed. AI is there because there is always one drooling jibber-head at any given tournament who wants to bleed for six with every action. This deck can stop at one minion (Antara) and still have a chance to survive that chicanery with a little help from the table. Reaction [9] 5x Black Sunrise 2x Delaying Tactics 2x Wake with Evening's Freshness Black Sunrise allows you to tap out forward when you need to. With the multi-acting, this could be five or so actions, and it's nice to know that you can untap and stay untapped if you fail to block. The DTs are obviously to stop the Cultist referendum, but can be useful otherwise, too. Retainer [2] 1x Mr. Winthrop 1x Tasha Morgan I like to give Antara Mr. Winthrop (and the Bowl), which gives him a standing +3 intercept against Sabbat Vampires. The Market square and Sport Bike give your second minion the opportunity for +2 intercept. Give Tasha to Janni or Joe. Janni is totally sweet with a .44, though she really needs the skill cards to become the monster she was meant to be. Honestly, I think Antara and Janni is the way to go in this build. Joe is nice, but his +1 strength is kinda wasted here. Ideally, get up Antara, Janni, and Ali Kar. Antara gets the Bowl, a gun, and the Guardian Angel. Janni gets a gun and a Sport Bike. Split the Laptop/Tasha between them, and use the rest of the tools as needed. Upon further reflection, I think this deck could use a little more oust punch. The + bleed permanents are too few to be consistent, and there are only two Fames and a few rushes in it. Perhaps dropping some non-weapon equipment for a few Comp Hacks or more Khabar: Glory could help with this. I'll let you decide. In Other News Thepathofblood.com Forum Still Down The Scribe assures us he is working on converting it to the next version of some form of techno-babble that apparently needs converting, and that it will eventually be up and running again. Let us hope so! It would be a terrible shame to lose such a great resource. I understand the main page is still accessible, though some of the features may be a little twitchy. New Assamite From Sword of Caine Expansion Revealed Nizzam al-Latif 9 Assamite, Group 5 dem ANI CEL OBF QUI Sabbat. Black Hand: Damage from Nizzam's hand strikes is aggravated. (The Blood Curse does not affect Nizzam.) Nizzam's lack of a Blood Curse allows him to benefit from Ebony Fox Hunt. His aggravated hand damage will give him more opportunity to play Amaranth, too. The fact that Yazid is Group 3 and thus incompatible is kind of a bummer, because it leaves only Amaravati to pair him with for [ani] in clan, and Amaravati doesn't have Cel at all! Still, the [ANI][QUI] combo of Carrion Crows and Thin Blood will have "Mr. Skin Of Steel" cringing. Raptors are also nice for combat when employed at superior, and casual Cat's Guidance can help support Black Sunrise/permacept. Joe Hill, Reza Fatir, and Micheal DiCarlo make for good Sabbat support and enable Black Hand technology. Remember that Sword of Caine will focus on the Black Hand, so there is no telling how cool this might turn out to be. The most interesting thing about Nizzam is his [dem]. He is the first Assamite to possess it as printed. Look for Blessing of Chaos to come to the clan (outside of Tariq Eats...): Blessing of Chaos Type: Action Requires: Dementation Cost: 1 blood +1 stealth action. [dem] Put this card on the acting vampire. If this vampire attempts to block, the acting vampire cannot play action modifiers requiring Dementation, Chimerstry [chi], Dominate [dom] or Presence [pre]. Vampires opposing this vampire in combat cannot play cards that require those Disciplines. [DEM] As above, and actions requiring those Disciplines cannot be directed at this vampire. Rarity: Sabbat:R CE:PM Third:PM Blessing nicely neuters the banes of many an Assamite deck, primarily [Pre] S:CE and [dom] bleed modifiers/Obedience. You can add Winchester Mansion (Locquipment that gives bearer [DEM]) or Devikki and skills to accelerate the rest of crypt if you want to go with more Dementation. You can look to Malks and !Malks, too, but you won't find any QUI in group 4. Your best bet is probably White Lily: Clan: Malkavian antitribu (group 4) Capacity: 8 Disciplines: DEM OBF cel dom for Sabbat. Black Hand: Once per combat, before range is determined, White Lily may equip with a weapon from your hand. (Pay cost as normal.) Rarity: Promo:20060710 Third:PM That's two big vampires, but think of the fun you could have! _________________________________________________________________________________ Special thanks to Merlin for input on the SL deck. Find everything you need to know about playing Assamites at www.thepa...er, maybe next month. Comments, Suggestions, and Submissions should be sent to: veknpontiac[AT]yahoo[DOT]com