Gangrel Antitribu Newsletter

OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 5 NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 2002

IN THIS ISSUE.....
FICTION: A [Nec]Romantic Dinner for Two.
DECKS: Sigmund Bjornstein's Ahrimanes/!Gangrel deck and Draxx's
!Gangrel/Miller deck.

FICTION: A [Nec]Romantic Dinner for Two.
In Southern England spring materialises pretty regularly on St
Valentine's day which puts one in the mood for love, even when one is an
Ancient Vampire like m'self. So here i am, the servants all having been
sent off on leave, happily cooking a Romantic supper for the Brides of
Legbiter. Ding-Dong! And here they are, fashionably on time, which is
lucky considering the menu. One last check on the flower arrangement,
and i open the door.
"Hullo Darling, we've brought a friend. He said you wouldn't mind."  
"Erm ... Nonono, of course, welcome Uncle Augustus! What a very pleasant
surprise!"
i bend my head to kiss the golden ring on his finger. He ruffles my hair
and chuckles throatily.
"Leggy, Leggy, i wait and wait by the phone and it's only by chance that
i run across your lovely brides, and learn of tonight's little soiree.
And now, my darlings, your partner and i have business to discuss.
Rafaele is waiting in the limousine, and he has instructions to see to
your entertainment for the rest of the evening. Ciao, bellissimi!"
The Brides depart, looking gorgeous and disappointingly unsulky, from my
point of view. i hang up Uncle Augustus's big coat while he inspects the
preparations in the kitchen.
"Frito Misto Di Mare, my favourite! You really gotta share this recipe
with us all, dear boy."
"Whatever you say, uncle, you know my only purpose is to serve you."
"That's my boy. And as it happens, i do have a little task for you. It's
about Baltimore. i was slightly disappointed that you didn't support the
clan in the recent London business, y'know."
"Well, i'm sorry Uncle, but Cousin Adam won it for us with the Zombie
hordes, didn't he?"
"And well done him. But that's only the first battle, not the war. What
are YOU going to do to stop me from feeling hurt and disappointed,
Leggy?"

And so it is that much, much later i am still at my desk, writing out
the following decklist for those, like me, who really OWE the family a
big favour or two.

**********************

This is a version of a soul-gem combo deck which was invented by Rehlow
and played with some success by him at the recent tournament in Butler.
i built this deck the moment i read it and have been tinkering about
with it ever since so's to make it a storyline-legal Giovanni deck. In
so doing i discovered structural features of the deck which make it
uncompetitive in the UK environment, and so i have adjusted it quite
significantly, finally managing to win a game with it on Sunday night
[3rd February]. In this form i think you could win a few games with it
but you need to be clear that it's a trick-deck and although it works
beautifully when it does work, it can grind to an embarassing halt every
so often. Definitely one to keep around for laughs, though, and i shall
probably play it in a storyline tournament some time this month.

DECK NAME: One-third of the Beast [222 = 666/3; played in a friendly on
02/02/02, and 20 masters/20 actions/20 action modifiers]
CONCEPT: Rehlow's The Combo made legal for Storyline tourneys, and
tweaked so as to at least approach competitiveness in the UK metagame.
Basically, the Baron brings out your entire crypt in one turn.
CREATED BY: The basic idea is ENTIRELY Rehlow's, and good work by him.
All i [Legbiter] have done is tweak it.

CRYPT [16 vampire cards, 75% giovanni]
Le Dinh Tho
6 x Pochtli
Andrea Giovanni
Egothha
Rafaele Giovanni
Gillespi Giovanni
Kanimana Belghazi
Carlotta Giovanni
The Baron
Rudolpho Giovanni
Isabel Giovanni

LIBRARY [60 cards]
MASTERS [20]
6 x Minion Tap
2 x Dreams of the Sphinx
4 x Vast Wealth
6 x Coroner's contact
Elder Library
The Barrens
ACTIONS/EQUIPMENT [20]
9 x Possession
2 x Soul Gem of Etrius
9 x Force of Will
ACTION MODIFIERS [20]
2 x Faceless Night
5 x Seduction
3 x Spectral Divination
6 x Call of the Hungry Dead
2 x Cloak the gathering
2 x Lost in Crowds

PLAYING NOTES: Aim is to get The Baron out as quickly as possible, you
have to remain ABSOLUTELY focussed on that. Once he is out, minion tap
him down to one, and equip with the soul gem. Force of Will at inferior
- The Baron burns, triggering the Soul Gem. The new vampire possesses
the baron out of the ash-heap using superior necromancy. The Baron taps
to take the soul gem, and bleeds with Force of will as before. If you
have Pochtli out and the new vampire is another Pochtli he burns and you
get the NEXT vampire. If you have Kanimana or Le Dinh Tho out and you
get the other Nagaraja you don't have to pay another three - the Scarce
rule only refers to situations where you move the vampire from your
uncontrolled to your active region, not to cases where you move the
vampire from the top of your crypt to your active region.

*********************

O, and here's that recipe.

Buy half-a-pound [250g] of sprats or other small marine fish for each
person you intend to feed, plus half-a-pound extra. Dip them in flour
which you have previously salted and peppered [liberally; cayenne and/or
black pepper to taste]. Shallow-fry in hot oil until they are crisp.
Serve with lemon wedges. Heaven.

********************
 

DECKS: Sigmund Bjornstein's Ahrimanes/!Gangrel deck and Draxx's
!Gangrel/Miller deck.

Here are two Gangrel-anti-ish decks posted on the newsgroup during
January, in each case with a request for comments. So here is me,
reposting and commenting like a good 'un.

Sigmund Bjornstein (bjornstein@yahoo.com)
Subject: Help me out with Ahrimanes? 
Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad
Date: 2002-01-16 12:15:23 PST 

Hello.

Here's a deck that I came up with over the weekend. I tried it out
yesterday and it didn't do too badly... but I'd appreciate comments on
how I could make it work better:

Crypt: 

- Caitlin
- Omaya
- Gunther-Beast Lord
- Bear Paw x 2
- The Siamese x 2
- Howler x 2
- Nettie Hale
- Juanita Santiago
- Cynthia Ingold

Library (Master):

- Animalism x 2
- Presence x 2
- Powerbase: Montreal
- Information Highway x 2
- Feral Spirit x 4
- Blood Doll x 2
- Dreams of the Sphynx x 2

Library (Minion):

- The Wildebeest x 2
- Sanguine Instruction x 4
(Presence): 
- Enchant Kindred x 5
- Legal Manipulations x 4
- Social Charm x 6
(Animalism):
- Cat's Guidance x 3
- Rat's Warning x 3
- Carrion Crows x 6
- Terror Frenzy x 4
- Drawing out the Beast x 3
- Aid From Bats x 6
- Scorpion Sting x 4
(Spiritus):
- Engling Fury x 3
- Swiftness of the Stag x 5
- Strength of the Bear x 4
- Nose of the Hound x 3
- Chameleon's Colours x 3
- Falcon's Eye x 3
- Speak with Spirits x 4

Comments, please? How does it look to you?

Thanks,

-- Sigmund

My comments: i think this could use some blood gain. The Rack and
palatial estate, i'ld suggest.

**********************


       Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad 
       From: Draxx  
       Subject: (DECK) Anti Gangrel combat deck 
       Date: 23 Jan 2002 02:10:24 -0800 
       Organization: http://groups.google.com/ 



Hi There,

I really have so much fun playing with combat decks. I am writing down
one of my favorite.

The idea is bringing out Ellen who hopefully hits very hard the key
figures of my prey primary and my predator if necessary. I play mid
cap vampires because not so much pool gain avaliable. The smaller cap
vamps are backups and supports (rescuing from torpor, additional
bleeds, etc...). After transferring Ellen the second vamp should be
eighter Kallista or Miller. Darrel Boyce is an option if not to much
intercept needed. I am thinking how to increase the bleed capacity of
the vamps (pulse, tasha morgan, etc.). Replacing the black spiral
buddies with pulse or tasha seems reasonable but the werewolf with a
sport bike is my favorite.

Please feel free commenting it. Moreover please share your experince -
who ever tried this angle - how his/her deck performed.

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 13, Max: 32, Avg: 6.08) 
4  Ellen Fence         aus CEL OBF PRO  8,  Gangrel Antitribu, Bishop 
1  Huang               pro              1,  Pander 
2  Kallista            AUS CEL pre pro  6,  Toreador 
2  Miller Delmardigan  aus CEL PRE pro  8,  Toreador Antitribu, Bishop
1  Sadie               pro              2,  Gangrel Antitribu 
1  Wren                cel obf pro      4,  Gangrel Antitribu 
1  Darrel Boyce        CEL OBF PRO      6,  Gangrel Antitribu 
  
Library: (90 cards) 
Master (16 cards) 
1  Archon Investigation 
2  Auspex 
3  Blood Doll 
1  Campground Hunting Ground 
1  Depravity 
3  Gangrel Conspiracy 
1  Hungry Coyote, The 
2  Path of the Feral Heart, The 
2  Protean 
  
Action (5 cards) 
4  Bum's Rush 
1  Shadow of the Beast 
  
Reaction (22 cards) 
2  Eagle's Sight 
4  Enhanced Senses 
10 Forced Awakening 
4  My Enemy's Enemy 
2  Precognition 
  
Combat (40 cards) 
3  Amaranth 
4  Body Flare 
8  Claws of the Dead 
6  Form of Mist 
9  Pursuit 
2  Side Strike 
4  Stutter-Step 
4  Wolf Claws 
  
Ally (2 cards) 
2  Black Spiral Buddy 
  
Equipment (5 cards) 
1  Flak Jacket 
1  Ivory Bow 
1  Palatial Estate 
2  Sport Bike 


Thanks in advance!

Bye,

Draxx

My comments: Hmmmm, maybe some lucky blows, maybe one Art of Pain? But
Miller decks are strong and there's enough forced awakening in here to
give even a Majesty deck some trouble.

******************

Alright, that's it for February. Good luck in all your storyline events
and see you next month!