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: DraxxSubject: (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!