Lasombra Newsletter December, November 2006 INTRODUCTION Firstly, Merry Christmas to all of you (or some other suitably pleasant seasonal greeting if Christmas isn't your thing). Although last month I suggested that this newsletter would probably be earlier I tried to delay in until after being able to get a large game of VTES in with my local group. That unfortunately fell through, hence why this letter is later then intended. PLAYING WITH THE LASOMBRA As promised last issue this month I'll be starting my analysis of the Lasombra's clan disciplines and what better way to kick things off then by taking a look at dominate? Dominate is arguably the most powerful discipline in the game; some call it overpowered whereas others may be less impressed by it but rarely is dominate unappreciated on a vampire, unless that vampire in question is controlled by another Methuselah. The reason for this is simple; dominate offers the most powerful way to directly damage your prey through massive bleeds, it offers increased speed for influencing out minions, bleed bounce (and that's important; many people feel uncomfortable playing a clan that lacks that ability), block denial, minion and location theft abilities, combat defence and some vote support. To sweeten the deal the cards dominate offers tend not to be that expensive for their effect (and in some cases you have a number of options and can therefore choose to use weaker, cheaper cards) and are typically quite versatile. Top cards include: Absorb the Mind Type: Combat Requires: Mytherceria/Dominate [dom] Strike: dodge. [myt] Strike: ranged. Steal 1 blood. [MYT] Strike: ranged. Steal 1 blood and steal 1 master: Discipline card from the opposing vampire (put it on this striking vampire). Rarity: BL:C2 LoB:C Sure, this is actually a mytherceria card and therefore only has an effect for dominate at basic, but the effect is by no means bad. Admittedly, a dodge without maneuvers or some other support will never save you against a dedicated combat deck but it's nice to have some sort of protection available to your dom weenies. At basic this offers the same level of protection as celerity's sideslip and co. That's impressive given that dominate is not a combat discipline. Finally although the mytherceria effects aren't that powerful they suit us Lasombra better then any other clan because we mesh so well with the Kiasyd. Bonding Type: Action Modifier Requires: Dominate After playing this card, you cannot play another action modifier to further increase the bleed for this action. (Only usable during a bleed action.) [dom] +1 bleed. [DOM] +1 stealth and +1 bleed. We Lasombra already have access to stealth via obtenebration, but the extra free point from bonding can sometimes make all the difference. True, it prevents you from using a conditioning, but a bleed for 2 (or 4 if you're using GtU) that gets through is better then a conditioned one that doesn't. Conditioning Type: Action Modifier Requires: Dominate Cost: 1 blood After playing this card, you cannot play another action modifier to further increase the bleed for this action. [dom] +2 bleed [DOM] +3 bleed. Rarity: Jyhad:C VTES:C SW:PL2 FN:PG3 CE:C/PTr4 What is there to say? This card packs a punch, by itself it allows a minion with DOM to bleed for 4. In a single card that's scary. Deflection Type: Reaction Requires: Dominate Cost: 1 blood [dom] Only usable when you are being bled. Tap this reacting vampire. Choose another Methuselah other than the controller of the acting minion. The acting minion is bleeding that Methuselah. [DOM] As above, but do not tap this vampire. Rarity: Jyhad:C VTES:C SW:PV2 FN:PG2 CE:C/PTr3 BH:PTr4 The nastiest way to respond to those damn sneak bleeders; have them expend their efforts towards your own prey, or whoever else needs cutting down to size at the table. If you try and block and they add stealth, baring using of a card like Faceless Night at superior you'll be free to then play Deflection and send a stealthy bleed to another Methuselah. A single untapped minion with DOM and a handful of deflections can be a powerful defensive force, and even without the card in your hand it can be a decent bluff. Govern the Unaligned Type: Action Requires: Dominate Cost: 1 blood [dom] (D) Bleed with +2 bleed. [DOM] +1 stealth action. Move 3 blood from the blood bank to a younger vampire in your uncontrolled region. Rarity: Jyhad:C VTES:C SW:PL2/PV FN:PG2 CE:C/PV4 Anarchs:PAG KMW:PAl3 Third:PTr5 Some people consider this card the benchmark by which most other cards can be judged. I don't know how valid that is, but this is one of the most powerful versatile cards in the game, hands down. It allows impressive bleeding power and and gives you a way to save pool while speeding up the rate at which you can bring minions in to play (that innate +1 stealth at superior is a blessing). Later on in the game you can even use it to bloat, placing the blood on a minion in your uncontrolled region and then transferring it back to your pool during your influence phase. All that for the low cost of 1 blood (and if you don't want to pay that, use scouting mission). This is one card you'll rarely jam on. Graverobbing Type: Action Requires: Dominate [dom] (D) Steal a vampire in torpor controlled by another Methuselah. [DOM] As above, and this acting vampire may burn 2 blood to move the stolen vampire to your ready region. Rarity: Jyhad:U VTES:U CE:U/PTr KMW:PAl Third:PTr Minion theft can hurt and the Lasombra are clan well suiting to making use of this card, thanks to their not insubstantial abilities in combat or their (penchant for purging Baltimore...). Even if you're not playing a combat strategy there's a decent possibility that someone else at the table will be, and a good chance that someone will be going to torpor at some point, so including the odd copy of Graverobbing can certainly pay off. Mind Rape Type: Action Requires: Dominate Cost: 2 blood [dom] (D) Bleed with +2 bleed. [DOM] (D) Put this card on a younger vampire, and tap that vampire. The vampire with this card does not untap as normal during his or her controller's untap phase. During the acting vampire's controller's next minion phase, he or she must burn this card to untap the vampire and take control of the vampire until the end of his or her turn. Rarity: Sabbat:R SW:R At basic this card isn't worth it, use GtU. The superior effect however can be devastating to superstar decks, it's certainly satisfying to take control of Beast when he's annoying you and then having him diablerise some other thorn in your side which, baring a bloodhunt not going your way, will dispose of two birds with one stone (card). If you're playing with old vampires who have access to stealth (note, the card has no innate stealth) Mind Rape may well have its place. It's demoralising to be told that someone plans to rape your mind after all. Obedience Type: Reaction Requires: Dominate Only usable when this reacting vampire is about to enter combat with an acting younger vampire. [dom] Untap the acting vampire, do not tap this reacting vampire, and end the current action (and combat). The acting vampire cannot attempt the same action this turn. [DOM] As above, but do not untap the acting vampire. Rarity: Jyhad:U VTES:U Sabbat:U SW:PV CE:U Third:U If you're playing with older vampires this card can make an excellent defence, either against rush decks (watch out for Enkidu though...) or as a way of avoiding nasty combats if you're running some sort of intercept angle. The only problem is making sure that your vampires are untapped (so that they can actually play the card), so it may well be worth packing some wakes of one sort or another (though, it usually is anyway). Seduction Type: Action Modifier Requires: Dominate Only usable when the acting vampire's action is announced. [dom] Choose a younger vampire. He or she cannot block this acting vampire. [DOM] As above, but the affected vampire can be the same age or older. Rarity: Jyhad:C VTES:C SW:PV CE:C/PV2 BH:PTr2 This card may have to be played when the action is announced, but block denial is a powerful weapon and is that much more useful to the Lasombra given that our obtenebration stealth tends to cost us blood. I like to round out my stealth packages with a couple of these just in case somebody is packing some raven spies or is zooming around on a sports bike. Thoughts Betrayed Type: Combat Requires: Dominate Cost: 2 blood Only usable before range is determined on the first round. [dom] Opposing minion takes 1 additional damage in the first round of combat during normal strike resolution. [DOM] Opposing minion cannot play any strike cards for the duration of this combat. Rarity: DS:C2 SW:PV FN:PG CE:PTr2 Third:C Thoughts Betrayed may be rather useless at basic and too expensive at superior to use consistently but the effect can be deadly; an opponent who can't strike can't make use of S:CE or their own heavy hitting attacks and this card alone can seriously level the playing field in the Lasombra's favour. If you can find a way to pay the hefty cost of TB (perhaps tasting the vitae back) it can make all the difference. Watch out for weapons and innate strikes though... Dominate gives the Lasombra many options, and with obtenebration they can try and sneak the more powerful actions through. The ability to deliver large bleeds under a cover of darkness is deadly, as is the ability to bounce incoming bleeds to somewhere else. Govern the Unaligned is a wonderful card to have up your sleeve, given the higher capacity of many Lasombra, it lets you bring out more minions quickly and gives you a (limited) bloating option, which is an area that the Sabbat tend to suffer in compared to the Camarilla. Stealing another Methuselah's minions and resources can be a useful tactic and is *very* appropriate for the Lasombra thematically. The voting options provided by dominate help the clan on that level, but primarily it's the bleed and bouce capabilities provided by dominate that are the foundations of the options it grants us. MINION FOCUS Legacies of Blood took us on a journey into Africa where we came across two new Lasombra (...sorry, Xi Dundu) to add to our clan. Let's take a look. Onaedo Clan: Lasombra (group 4) Capacity: 6 Disciplines: DOM OBT aus pot Laibon: If Otieno is ready, Onaedo gets +1 stealth when attempting a diablerie action. Rarity: LoB:U Onaedo reminds of Talley, though in reality they don't have that much in common. It must be the inferior auspex. Anyway, Onaedo offers some interesting possibilities to the clan, being Laibon gives her (and us) access to some interesting cards, such as Powerbase: Tshwane and her discipline spred is nice; she makes a good support bleeder. Her sect may work against her in more Sabbat dominated decks but she rounds out the clan nicely. Her special ability isn't much use, but it can't hurt I suppose. Well, unless she gets torn apart in a bloodhunt... Otieno Clan: Lasombra (group 4) Capacity: 6 Disciplines: OBT POT ani dom Laibon: Otieno gets +1 bleed when bleeding a Methuselah who controls a ready Guruhi. Rarity: LoB:U It's no secret that I like to see superior dominate on my vampires, but we have Onaedo for that. Otieno is better suited to combat, and his ani helps him out on that front, as does his superior obtenebration and potence (obviously). His special ability isn't much use, but may come in handy if somebody local has a love affair going on with Eze. CARD FOCUS Zaire River Ferry Type: Equipment Requires: Lasombra Cost: 2 blood This equipment card represents a unique location and does not count as equipment while in play. Haven. You may tap this location when a (D) action directed at this Lasombra is announced to cause that action to fail. The Lasombra with this location may tap it to get +1 stealth for the current action. A vampire may have only one haven. Rarity: LoB:R The Zaire River Ferry was the only new clan card we got in Legacies of Blood, but that's ok because some clans got nothing. I'm quite fond of the ferry really, although the action to equip it can't always be spared it's not that expensive and it offers some nice versatility. Permanent stealth is a wonderful thing and the protection from directed actions, though not as reliable as a Secure Haven, can be very useful. In my experience some players may not even bother trying to rush you, knowing that you can just tap the Ferry and render their attempt a failure. This is great because the card remains untapped to dissuade any other Methuselah who may be planning nasty things for your minion. If you want to feel sure that your minion is safe you'd probably be better using a secure haven (though it's more likely to be contested and may cause problems if you want to make use of masters) and if you want permanent stealth you might be better off using the Elysian Fields. Having said that I've found a place for the Ferry in a number of decks (mostly quite toolboxy ones) and I'd recommend considering it when constructing deck construction. SIGN OFF Once again have a Merry Christmas and I shall see you all again next year when we'll take a look at the Lasombra's clan discipline of Obtenebration alongside another of the cards available to our clan exclusively (ignoring Mata Hari...). By then hopefully I'll have been able to finally get a game in and while be in a better mind state to try and present a deck of some sort. The Insane Prophet.