Official V:EKN Clan Salubri Newsletter Vol.5 No.4 (August 2007) Of interest to Scholars and Slanderers Editor: Joel Tate In this issue: 1. Introduction 2. Miscellanea et Demonica - strategy 3. The Dwindling Few - featured vampire(s) 4. The Powers of the Righteous - featured card(s) 5. The Hosts of Heaven - featured deck(s) 6. Conclusion - summary & theme for next issue --------------------------------------- 1. INTRODUCTION --------------------------------------- Hello everyone and welcome to the forth newsletters for 2007. The newsletter goes out before the release of Lords of the Night, which I shall write a mini-newsletter for, if there are useful cards coming out of the set for the clan. This month we shall look at one of the more traditional cards in the Salubri arsenal, Repulsion. This month's featured strategy will revolve around Twisters, my recent muse of choice. Mata Hari is the featured vampire of choice for her role in Twister decks. Thanks goes to Keith Page (builder of the original Pochtli Twister), Ben Peal and Andy Brown who, either through seeing there decks on- line, or in actual play, inspired me to start playing Twisters. --------------------------------------- 2. MISCELLANEA ET DEMONICA --------------------------------------- If we were to do a poll of players to pull put the key strategies for the Salubri, we would probably see Block, Marionette, Bloat, Saulot multi-action and then maybe Ally decks as common answers; something we wouldn't see is Twister anywhere in the list. As a result, over the last 2-3 months I've spent a bit of time looking to see if it is possible to build and then play a semi-credible Salubri Twister. As has been addressed on the news groups, the premise of a Twister deck is to mill your own deck down until you are left with the ideal hand for the situation you are in. Then as you need cards, recover them from your ash heap. Typically you have an actual deck of around 40 cards, and the have burnable cards make up the rest of the deck, so you can accelerate the process to get the hands you need (as each Twister is different, you need to choose these to fit as required). There are a number of library cards which can help the recovery process, a quick list is below (not exhaustive): Name Requires Type Maabara Harbingers of Skulls Master (location) Waste Management Operation Brujah Antitribu Master (location) The Sargon Fragment none Equipment Sudario Refraction Giovanni (more of an exchange) Action Gear Up Anarch (more of an exchange) Action Summon Soul Necromancy (superior) Action Whispers of the Dead Necromancy (more of an exchange) Action Anthelios none (more of an exchange) Gehenna (Event) >From the list, we can see that the Salubri themselves have limited access to the ability to pull back cards, Matthias being the single exception to this. As a result, we need to draft in additional stars to aid the Twisting process, I typically use Mata Hari, simply for variety, but Harbingers would also aid the process and there are 2 common clan disciplines. I tend to use Waste Management as a guaranteed way of reclamation, Maabara combined with The Parthenon, in order to recover a card a turn to the top of my Library and Sudario Refraction, in order to bring back 3 cards I need at once. As a side note, the combination of Sudario Refraction and Gear Up is quite handy to recur between the two cards, at the same time as pulling back 2 other cards. The rest of the card selections are chosen depending on the type of Twister employed. As putting the various bits of the deck can take time, the ability to tutor (search for cards in the library) and/or speed up the card flow also helps the style of the deck. Again see a mini list below: Name Requires Type Heart of Nizchetus none Equipment Sibyl`s Tongue Malkavian Antitribu Action Inconnu Tutelage none Inconnu (Event) The Heart is very handy for speeding up card flow, so you can get to the burnables, and useful cards earlier (also when down to 3 cards in the library). Sibyl's and Inconnu are great for pulling cards quickly into play, however both have the drawbacks, being blockable and available to others to use respectively. >From the decks below, it is apparent that I favour the Heart and Sibyl's Tongue, admittedly the second is only used because of Mata Hari, and having a high proportion of Malkavian Antitribu in the crypt. Looking at the initial key strategies for the Salubri (see top), we can discount the Saulot deck as being feasible on the basis of too much set-up; ditto an intercept-combat deck. There is a potential to do a Salubri ally deck, maybe with Resurrection, Healing Touch / Renewed Vigor, Heaven's Gate and either War Ghouls or Renegade Garou's (may require a number of components to work). The Marionette and bloat strategies both could work in a Twister environment, however may lack ousting capability (this type is the 1st example deck I've created in section 5). Using the demo deck as an example, there will likely be two vampires (Mata & Eurayle) who will be able to Marionette, thus 2 Spirit Marionette have gone in the deck. As Eurayle has an ability to untap another minion I've included only one Precognizant Mobility, I'd normally include equal numbers, however the deduction is bearable. Normal Marionette decks would look at having 5 Fortitude skill cards, in a Twister this can probably be reduced to 3, likewise Daring the Dawn to 1-2 (note I've dispensed with this as too many cards). Infernal Pact has been included in order to have Mata get superior Obeah early on, if it doesn't arrive, then we tutor for it using Sibyl's Tongue. As always, at least one Heidelberg Castle is included for blood and equipment theft. The rest of the cards are relatively self explanatory. In conclusion, there are a couple of Salubri strategies which could migrate to the Twister format; whether this can be migrated to other clans and/or strategies, I'll leave up to you. I've included the full descriptions of a couple of the typical cards used in Twister decks below, as an appendix to the section: Card appendix: Waste Management Operation Type: Master Cost: 1 pool Requires: Brujah Antitribu Master: unique location. Tap during your discard phase to move a card from your ash heap to the bottom of your library. Sargon Fragment, The Type: Equipment Cost: 1 pool Unique equipment. The vampire with this equipment has superior Necromancy [NEC]. This vampire can move a library card from your ash heap to your hand as an action that costs 1 blood. Discard down to your hand size afterward. Sudario Refraction Type: Action Requires: Giovanni +1 stealth action. Choose three cards in you ash heap and move them to the top of your library. Then discard three cards at random from your hand (and draw up to your hand size afterward). --------------------------------------- 3. THE DWINDLING FEW --------------------------------------- Mata Hari Ravnos (Group 4) Capacity 7 aus for qui CHI OBF Independent, Red List: Mata Hari has 2 votes (titled). You and she may play cards that require a sect and/or clan as if she were of that required sect or clan. Mata Hari is one of the most useful vampires in the game. With superior Obfuscate, a discipline which the Salubri do not possess, Mata can lend her abilities to ensuring the success of your minions actions (read Cloak the Gathering and Veil the Legions). Mata's two votes also gives you a voice in any political games. The main strength of Mata Hari is to allow you & her to play cards of other clans/sects. Depending on how Mata fits into your deck, in a vote deck this ability can bring Demonstration, Framing an Ancient Grudge and Ventrue Headquarters to decks which may not possess the necessary Ventrue (Antitribu) to hand. For Twister decks, then it's Waste Management Operation, Maabara and Sudario Refraction, for example. There are two drawbacks of Mata Hari, the primary one is she's Red List. The typical way to circumvent this flaw is either Secure Haven (the effectiveness if which has been reduced as a result of Taunt the Caged Beast) or Chanjelin Ward. Secondly, she lacks one of the three in-clan Ravnos disciplines, not that it matters to a Salubri mix deck, where she possesses both Auspex & Fortitude at inferior. --------------------------------------- 4. THE POWERS OF THE RIGHTEOUS --------------------------------------- Repulsion Type: Action Modifier Requires: Obeah/Presence [pre] Only usable when the acting vampire`s action is announced. If this action is blocked, the acting vampire gets 1 optional maneuver, only usable to maneuver to long range, during the resulting combat. [obe] +1 stealth OBE] Put this card on this vampire. This vampire gets +1 stealth. Burn this card if this vampire goes to torpor. This vampire cannot have or play another Repulsion. Repulsion is a nice, cheap way of getting stealth for Salubri actions. The presence version can only be played by one of the Salubri, however the maneuver to long range negates Anesthetic Touch, making it relatively pointless for Salubri. Basic obeah is +1 stealth, bringing most Salubri actions up to 2 stealth, making them less likely to be blocked. The superior version is where the card comes into it's own, where the stealth stays on the minion, which for no cost, is great! --------------------------------------- 5. THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN --------------------------------------- This month I've done a mini Salubri / Mata Twister deck. Initially the deck had been played with Fortitude skill cards and Daring the Dawn, like normal Marionette decks, just I fancied to steal minions for a change! Deck Name: Mata-Salubri Twister v1.1 Created By: Joel Tate Description: Patience is required for this deck and, as it is, recommended for friendly play. Burn through the cards as quickly as possible, there is ample card recovery from Waste Management, Maabara and The Sargon Fragment. Gear Up and Sudario make a good combo once you've got out the Fragment. The deck aims to bloat with concert tours until all the pieces are out, then Marionette your prey's vampires, reduce them to one blood, and if your prey bleeds, get the Form to kick off. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 16, Max: 28, Avg: 5.58) ---------------------------------------------- 1 Martin Franckel tha AUS 3 Tremere 1 Maldavis for pre AUS 4 Caitiff 1 Roger Farnsworth aus OBF 4 Malkavian Antitribu 1 General Perfidio Dios dem obf AUS 5 Malkavian Antitribu 1 Colonel cel dem obf AUS 5 Malkavian Antitribu 3 Eurayle Gelasia Mylonas for pre AUS OBE 6 Salubri 4 Mata Hari aus for qui CHI OBF 7 Ravnos Library: (60 cards) ------------------- Master (29 cards) 1 Maabara 1 Waste Management Operation 1 Fortitude 1 Heidelberg Castle, Germany 1 Fortune Teller Shop 1 Infernal Pact 1 Parthenon, The 4 Blood Doll 1 Secure Haven 2 Chanjelin Ward 6 Dirty Contract 1 Tabriz Assembly 6 Slaughterhouse, The 1 Dummy Corporation 1 Perfectionist Action (11 cards) 1 Sibyl`s Tongue 1 Sudario Refraction 2 Spirit Marionette 1 Precognizant Mobility 5 Concert Tour 1 Form of Corruption 1 Gear Up Action Modifier (6 cards) 2 Repulsion 1 Veil the Legions 1 Lost in Crowds 1 Cloak the Gathering 1 Elder Impersonation Reaction (6 cards) 3 Telepathic Counter 2 Telepathic Misdirection 1 Confusion of the Eye Ally (2 cards) 1 Mylan Horseed (Goblin) 1 Eccentric Billionaire Equipment (4 cards) 1 Heart of Nizchetus 1 Sargon Fragment, The 1 Helicopter 1 Book of Going Forth by Night, The Event (1 cards) 1 Anthelios, the Red Star The second deck is my current vote Twister, and while not including any Salubri, I thought people may find it interesting to try. One major thing to warn about, Arika. Deck Name: Mata Twister Vote v1.2 Created By: Joel Tate Description: Mata Hari, the ability to pull back votes and bloat quite a bit. A couple of ways to tutor the deck to speed it up, hence includes the Heart too. Crypt: (13 cards, Min: 8, Max: 28, Avg: 5) ------------------------------------------ 5 Mata Hari aus for qui CHI OBF 7 Ravnos 2 Marie Faucigny dem tha AUS OBF 7 Malkavian Antitribu 1 General Perfidio Dios dem obf AUS 5 Malkavian Antitribu 1 Martin Franckel tha AUS 3 Tremere 1 Old Neddacka obf 2 Nosferatu Antitribu 1 Krid obf 2 Nosferatu 1 Denette Stensen obf 2 Gangrel Antitribu 1 Bloodfeud obf 2 Malkavian Antitribu Library: (60 cards) ------------------- Master (34 cards) 3 Blood Doll 1 Brothers Grimm 4 Chanjelin Ward 1 Creepshow Casino 1 Demonstration 5 Dirty Contract 1 Dummy Corporation 1 Effective Management 1 Ferraille 1 Fortune Teller Shop 1 Framing an Ancient Grudge 1 Maabara 1 Parthenon, The 1 Secure Haven 1 Sight Beyond Sight 5 Slaughterhouse, The 2 Tabriz Assembly 1 Ventrue Headquarters 1 Wash 1 Waste Management Operation Action (4 cards) 2 Concert Tour 1 Sibyl`s Tongue 1 Sudario Refraction Action Modifier (5 cards) 1 Cloak the Gathering 1 Elder Impersonation 1 Forgotten Labyrinth 1 Lost in Crowds 1 Veil the Legions Political Action (8 cards) 1 Conservative Agitation 1 Disputed Territory 1 Diversity 1 Kindred Segregation 2 Kine Resources Contested 1 Political Flux 1 Rumors of Gehenna Reaction (6 cards) 1 Confusion of the Eye 3 Telepathic Counter 2 Telepathic Misdirection Equipment (1 cards) 1 Heart of Nizchetus Event (2 cards) 1 Anthelios, the Red Star 1 Inconnu Tutelage --------------------------------------- 6. CONCLUSION --------------------------------------- Well, that's it for this newsletter, in the next main edition we shall have a look at some of additions coming out of Kindred Most Wanted. Depending on the releases in Lords of Night, there may be a special edition in September. If you have any ideas, comments or additions please feel free to contact me. Joel Cambridge, UK