Assamite Clan newsletter. Volume 7, Issue 2 (October 2007) Written by Otto Kukkasniemi ========================= As I promised last month, this month's episode will focus more on the new cards from Lord of the Night. -- As the first card, I chose a supplement to a clan mostly known for it's combat abilities. Namely, Monster. A completely new archetype playable on any vampire of any sect and capacity. So, lets see. Monster Master, archtype Put this card on a ready vampire you control. Once each turn when combat involving this vampire ends and the opposing minion is not ready, this vampire may burn a blood to untap. A vampire may have only one archetype. Keyword here being minion. Not a major thing, but it's nice to know it's usable when you nail Carlton van Dyke's head on the wall, eh? Diagnosis: Monster. Hah! Now, obviously this works great as a supporter in a rush deck, even more so in a multi-rush deck. Yet, you cannot really build up on it, nor should you be able to. The card is free and offers a great ability, for certain, but keep this in mind. You absolutely must be able to really rip into the opposing minion to get a use out of Monster. Without that, it is just that much excess baggage. Supplements decks which have other ways of untapping, and thus, the ability to generate more combat. Wall decks, multi-rush, bruisebleed, all gain something out of this, provided they are able to meet the criteria on a regular basis. So, what to play it with? Permanent untap when combat goes well for you, sounds like permanent combat solutions as well, to keep the circle going. Toss in a little intercept to get use out of it even more often. Ivory Bow, Kali's Fang, Sengir Dagger, all seem great solutions. Hidden Lurker also seems a viable choice to go with Monster, though a bit lackluster card in itself, it can function as a great deterrent once you pound someone's head in, and stand ready for more on your next action. -- Black Throne Master, Assamite 1 pool Unique location Tap during a referendum to gain 2 votes. Tap when a minion with a contract leaves the ready region (only usable if an Assamite you control had been chosen for that contract) to gain 1 pool. This is an odd card for clan Assamite. While it offers more votes, the clan is not exactly known for it's voting power, and seeing how Blood Curse is still quite an issue for many of the clan, bloodhunt protection seems quite lacking as well. What makes this card even more odd, is how it's two effects have pretty much no synergy between them. On one hand, if you're rushing this card offers you a good way of gaining pool. On the other hand, should you be voting, it offers you more votes. Now, due to it being tapped when you use the poolgain effect, it loses some of it's shine. If your deck is functioning as it should on the bruise side, you're using this to gain pool, right? If your deck is functioning as it should on the vote side, you're using it for the votes. But rarely both. What more, bruise vote isn't too prevalent, and even more so not with Assamites who by nature are quite lacking in the vote department. Sure, there's Alamut, but that's one more clog in the wheels of an engine, and too many moving parts makes for a bad deck. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not a bad card. In fact, it's a great card for the above reasons mentioned. It's cheap, and the gist of the matter is; It supplements your deck, really really well, whether you're rushing or voting. Is it worth it to toss into every deck you play, no I don't think so. But in many decks where you run a good amount of contracts and viable combat, sure thing. When playing votes with Assamites, sure thing again. Great card. I should also like to point out that you're not the one who has to fulfill the contract, either. All you need to do is place a contract on any minion, and should that minion leave the ready region, you're free to tap for instant gratification. It get's even funnier when you contract an Imbued. Provided you're able to hit that mark each turn, you're nigh guaranteed poolgain each turn. -- Kabede Maru. Assamite Group 5 Capacity 9 abo pot AUS CEL OBF QUI Laibon magaji: Kabede gets +1 intercept against political actions. (The blood curse does not affect Kabede.) Now, here's a guy who screams bloody murder. Fresh out of the box, after Tariq he's the most propable to play Draught of the Soul, not being affected by Blood Curse. Superior Auspex and being a Magaji, is just gravy on top. Get No Secrets, untap, equip with Bowl of Convergence and you're pretty much setup for walling against vampires. Shame about block denial screwing you over, but that is why Direct Intervention was made. Interestingly enough, his special is shared with clan Assamites another magaji, Olugbenga, although against different actions. His disciplines are quite tuned towards melee combat, having access to the currently best Strike: Combat Ends hoser, Immortal Grapple, and aggravated hands via Devil-Channel: Hands. A two card combo slapping most if not all opposing vampire into torpor. With a risk of hitback, though. Insert Amaranth and Draught of the Soul for winning combination. Sadly, his two votes aren't quite enough to guarantee his survival in the bloodhunt, most of the time. That's where the Black Throne can come of use, as well as a new event, Urban Jungle (see below.). Right. How should he be played to get most of him, I can't say, he can go any way you like. I believe, that he can get the most out of a proactive wall, combined with Monster and Black Throne for both giving him the possibility of multi-act and block, and vote defense/offense for Amaranths and hostile votes. -- Urban Jungle Event Inconnu. Blood hunt referendums get an additional 2 votes against the referendum. Nothing shocking here, but it can be seen in some Assamite decks, like Kabede and quite more likely, in Black Hand Assamites. While Black Hand Assamites also have access to Ebony Fox Hunt, they also have access to Hand Contract which combo's nicely with Black Throne. Running both Black Throne and Urban Jungle, while not a lot, is already enough to at least have a heavy say in a blood hunt referendum. Due to the prevalency of Blood Curse, it's not exactly an Assamite card, but I'm certain Nizzam and friends won't mind it, either. Future will tell. -- Narrow Minds Event Inconnu. Do not replace until your untap phase. Cards that change the target of a bleed cost an additional blood or life. Yep. A generally useable bounce hoser. Seeing how Assamites yet lack an in-clan method of bouncing, it can be graded an Assamite card. Admittedly, it's a card for everyone's use, but we'll call it our own here. Knocking blood off the table is good, especially if you're playing combat, which invariably, many Assamites do. Even if you're not playing combat, chances are your deck could benefit from Narrow Minds when you lack bounce yourself. Like Barrens, this card should find it's way into most decks, expect to see it played a lot. Good or bad for the game.. As said before, it knocks resources off the table, which is always good. Less resources equal into less time played, more aggressive play and more ousts. Ousts, win. -- And now, for this month's deck, in which I've gathered this month's editorials used cards. It's a deck which I've played quite a bit already, but have yet to find the deeper, finer, tuning to it. But I think I'm quite close to what I want with this one. Deck Name: Gorilla Stomp Crypt: (13 cards, Min: 9, Max: 36, Avg: 6,07) --------------------------------------------- 5 Kabede Maru abo pot AUS CEL OBF QUI 9 Assamite 2 Olugbenga ani cel OBF QUI 7 Assamite 1 Ubende for obf qui CEL PRE 7 Ishtarri 1 Alu obf 2 Assamite 1 Basir qui 1 Assamite 1 Evan Rogers cel qui 3 Assamite 1 Sukainah aus qui 3 Assamite 1 Kamau Jafari obf QUI 4 Assamite Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (14 cards) 1 Black Throne, The 1 Yoruba Shrine 1 Market Square 1 WMRH Talk Radio 2 Monster 2 Contract 2 Guardian Angel 1 Powerbase: Tshwane 2 Vessel 1 Fame Action (15 cards) 5 No Secrets From the Magaji 2 Nose of the Hound 7 Haqim`s Law: Leadership 1 Khabar: Glory Action Modifier (7 cards) 7 Cloak the Gathering Political Action (1 cards) 1 Secret Must Be Kept, The Reaction (10 cards) 4 Black Sunrise 2 On the Qui Vive 4 Telepathic Misdirection Combat (23 cards) 4 Amaranth 4 Devil-Channel: Hands 5 Disguised Weapon 2 Aura Reading 6 Psyche! 2 Side Strike Ally (1 cards) 1 Mylan Horseed (Goblin) Retainer (2 cards) 1 Mr. Winthrop 1 Shaman Equipment (9 cards) 2 Ivory Bow 1 Bowl of Convergence 2 .44 Magnum 1 Sport Bike 1 Flak Jacket 2 Camera Phone Event (2 cards) 1 Narrow Minds 1 Urban Jungle Combo (6 cards) 2 Draught of the Soul 4 Blood Awakening Now, if you've ever seen Kabede Maru's picture, I'm quite certain you'll understand the deckname here. This deck focuses mainly on Kabede Maru and uses Olugbenga and Ubende to support him. All three share enough disciplines and traits to have a good use in this deck, while Kabede will clearly be #1. It's not a heavy bleeder nor very aggressive. Keyplan is to build up a decent enough of a wall via equipment and No Secrets, while retaining enough forward momentum to be able to oust sometime in the future. Combat is based mostly around the keyplan to support it. .44 and a No Secrets alone can win you games, though I wouldn't bet on that to happen. No Secrets and a Bowl of Convergence, well.. Another story. Having a weenie Assamite, or even Kabede himself - once tooled up - perform Haqim's Law: Leadership with regularity provides ok bloat to survive into later games. Now, since No Secrets and transient intercept doesn't combo too well, one could always remove the 2 Contracts in lieu of more media locations (KRCG, Wall Street, etc), but that could up the deck's overall cost too much. Also the Flak Jacket could go away, since the deck already holds two Guardian Angel's. Perhaps a closerange weapon for aggravated. But, having permanent prevent is very crucial to a starbased block deck, since those punches for 1 whittle away your precious vampires vitae, slowly but certainly. You can't always count on a Taste of Vitae or a tasty Amaranth to recoup that cost. And yes, the deck could do with Taste of Vitae as well, in lieu of your choice of combat cards. All in all, I doubt the deck is able to handle a very fast predator, especially one that is able to take away your No Secrets on it's first action. If and when it has time enough to make it's setup, it's quite durable, but that is true of many wall decks. I'm certain you could go with a more robust defense using lesser minions with superior Auspex to defend you while you're bringing out Kabede, but that's a whole another deck. As said above, he can go many path's, this one being merely one of them. -- If you made it this far, thank you for reading. I have no clear picture for next month's editorial, but I'm guessing toolboxy Black Hand Assamites. Time will, once again, be our guide. Until then, be certain to drop by the Path of Blood (http://www.thepathofblood.com) and share your thoughts on Clan Assamite or V:tes in general at the forums. Until november. Yours, -Oko