V:EKN Official Tremere Newsletter, May 2005
I. Introduction
II. Strategy Discussion - What to do about Deflection?
III. Crypt Focus - Valois Sang, the Watcher
IV. Library Focus - The Sleeping Mind
V. Deck Focus - Seduced by the Pyramid's Power
VI. Conclusion
I. Introduction
Welcome to the May 2005 edition of the Tremere Newsletter. Despite the
fact that two months have gone by since the last one, not much has
happened to our clan. There has been a startling lack of interest in
Valerius Maior, Hell's Fool on the internet. On top of that, Kindred
Most Wanted and the forthcoming Legacies of the Blood expansions do not
spotlight our clan. But tournament season appears to be in full swing,
so let's get out there and win!
This issue will go into detail on beating Deflection, a subject on
which I have touched but never gone in depth. This month's deck will
attempt to show some of the theories in action.
II. Strategy Discussion - What to do about Deflection?
Bleed; our most basic offense and, arguably, Clan Tremere's greatest
strength. And Deflection is the strongest defense against our best
offense. As many Tremere players have found out, a typical
bruise-and-bleed deck has a very hard time coping with Deflection. Let
us go into detail on most of the methods we may employ to ensure our
Tremere bleed successfully.
Firstly, a combat deck has the capability of sending potential
deflectors to torpor. When playing bruise-and-bleed, you should
include a handful of actions to enter combat. For our clan the best
options are Bum's Rush and Nose of the Hound. How you torporize the
minion is up to you; I personally favor Theft of Vitae sprinkled with
Walk of Flame.
Another way to eliminate a deflector would be to remove its blood
because the best (and therefore most common) deflection cards are
Deflection and Telepathic Misdirection, which each cost a blood. You
can utilize Cryptic Mission, Seeds of Corruption and even Crocodile's
Tongue to keep their blood count low. Add insult to injury with
Society of Leopold.
An obvious solution in our clan is to play with Perfect Clarity. This
eliminates Deflection and Redirection, but leaves Telepathic
Misdirection and My Enemy's Enemy as options. It also costs two blood
and does not stop anyone from simply blocking the action. Perfect
Clarity is a very powerful card which should be played when you know
you will go unblocked, but otherwise saved in hand.
Reactions require the minion to be untapped, so you can tap any
deflectors, forcing your prey to use up Wake with Evening's Freshness
to bounce. You can use master cards such as Anarch Troublemaker and
Misdirection. Art's Traumatic Essence and Steal the Mind have good
"tap a minion" effects within our clan disciplines (Auspex and
Dominate, respectively). When your prey has to rely on wakes, you can
make the cost prohibitive by playing Regarhagan's Hold. At this point
you have realized that we are discussing a classic "tap-and-bleed"
style of deck.
Most decks simply don't run enough Deflections to handle six minions
bleeding for two apiece. Tremere have access to many methods of
increasing minion count. Use Govern the Unaligned at superior to bring
out your crypt. The Embrace and Third Tradition are both quick and
easy methods of creating vampires, and don't forget that Rafastio Ghoul
and Outcast Mage have 1 bleed each as well as light combat capability.
Probably the most powerful option is Create Gargoyle, which can give
you a slave to protect your Tremere and the discipline of your choice.
This kind of minion swarm deck should work very well when combined with
minion tapping cards as described above.
Thanks to our clan's master of Auspex, we can see the deflections
coming ahead of time. In combat play Aura Reading to evaluate your
prey's hand and use that information to plan your strategy.
Revelations is underrated as a permanent source of information,
provided you are prepared to defend it; at inferior it simply removes
the deflections from your prey's hand - probably the most effective way
to eliminate the problem.
But you play your bleed deck and you still occasionally get sent to
your grandprey. Thankfully you are bleeding at 0-1 stealth and so it's
easy to block. But tapping your grandprey out could get him ousted!
Do not forget to pack Change of Target for just a situation as this.
It can also keep your Tremere from getting beaten in combat with a
dangerous prey when he wakes unexpectedly.
Choosing one or more of these options can and should become an integral
part of building a Tremere bleed deck. It will decide how to build
your crypt and the ratios of cards in your library. Choose which
methods work best for you based on your local metagame as well as your
card collection; most people do not have 8 copies of Perfect Clarity,
for instance. To see an example of these concepts in deck design, read
on to this issue's Deck Focus.
III. Crypt Focus - Valois Sang, the Watcher
Valois Sang, the Watcher
Clan: Tremere
Capacity: 6
Group: 3
nec tha AUS DOM
Camarilla.
He's not a fighter, he's a lover. Or more accurately, a bleeder.
Valois Sang's glaring weakness is his inferior Thaumaturgy, which keeps
him from accessing many of the discipline's potent effects. Rutor's
Hand and Magic of the Smith are hardly worth playing, and Theft of
Vitae is not so impressive at inferior. But when it comes to bleeding
and bleed defense, Valois Sang is good at his job.
It is widely known that superior Auspex and Dominate provide amazing
defense, combining intercept with all forms of bleed redirection and
bleed reduction. Now when put into an offensive position, Valois Sang
still shines despite his questionable combat ability. He can eliminate
two blockers with Seduction and The Sleeping Mind (our Library Focus
this issue), and possibly follow up with Crocodile's Tongue. He does
not need to have superior Thaumaturgy to bleed using Perfect Clarity,
either. He also can pair with Muhsin Samir as a 6-capacity vampire
with superior Dominate, to Govern the Unaligned Tremere weenies.
Inferior Necromancy provides a little bit of precious stealth and a way
to recycle powerful cards, including Deflections or a recently-burned
Thadius Zho. He may also combine with Nagaraja, Giovanni, and perhaps
Beatrice L'Angou to add Auspex to a traditional Necromancy power bleed
deck.
When not utilizing his Necromancy, Valois Sang is an excellent pool
defender with little combat ability and a frightening capacity for
power bleeds when his prey's guard is low. Use him to round out your
mid-caps when superior Thaumaturgy is not absolutely vital to your
strategy.
IV. Library Focus - The Sleeping Mind
The Sleeping Mind
Action Modifier
Dominate
1 blood
Only usable when the acting vampire's action is announced.
[dom] Choose a tapped vampire. The chosen vampire cannot attempt to
block this action.
[DOM] Minions cannot untap during this action.
The Sleeping Mind is often dismissed by players shortly after they read
it. One complaint about this card is its blood cost; to use it
regularly would mean that your vampires would drain their blood
quickly. For this reason I have found it to be best used in small
quantities, to support stealth cards and Seduction. Another common
complaint is that it does not stop the ubiquitous Wake with Evening's
Freshness or Forced Awakening when used. It seems to me that many
people skip over the inferior level of the card when forming their
opinions! In my experience, the superior level of The Sleeping Mind is
simply gravy. Occasionally you will play against a deck using many
copies of Second Tradition: Domain or the Animalism untap cards (Cats'
Guidance, Guard Dogs, Read the Winds, etc.) and you will be able to
stop them cold.
At inferior Dominate The Sleeping Mind is a close cousin of Seduction;
it is limited by its cost and restriction, but the two cards can be
combined to create a formidable offense. For the Tremere it can be
crucial in getting a crucial action through, or choosing which minion
you want to block. For example, consider bleeding your prey with a
Tremere with superior Auspex and Dominate. After carefully playing
Seduction and Sleeping Mind, your prey still has a small-capacity
vampire left to block with - whom you bypass using Crocodile's Tongue!
Alternately, in a bruise-and-bleed deck, you can force your prey to
choose to block with a Famous or weak minion, or not block at all.
I find The Sleeping Mind to be a powerful addition to the Tremere's
painfully low-stealth arsenal. Due to its restrictions you may want to
only use one copy for every four Seduction you play. As always, it
depends on the deck and your strategy.
V. Deck Focus - Seduced by the Pyramid's Power
Deck Name: Seduced by the Pyramid's Power
Author: Dorrinal Blackmantle
Description: This is a zero-stealth bleed deck which uses Change of
Target and Perfect Clarity to nullify bleed deflection. There is a
small range of capacities to allow for a cascade of superior Govern the
Unaligned. Bleed for 3 when you can, while tooling up and influencing
out minions. Then lunge for the big bleeds for the oust!
Crypt (12 vampires, Min: 18, Max: 28, Average: 6.33)
----------------------------------------------------
2x Carna, the Princess Witch 7 AUS DOM THA Tremere:3
2x Ladislas Toth, the Torch 7 for AUS DOM THA !Tremere:3
1x Eugenio Estevez 6 dom for AUS THA Tremere:3
1x Muhsin Samir 6 aus pot DOM THA Tremere:4
2x Selena 6 AUS DOM THA !Tremere:3
2x Valois Sang, the Watcher 6 nec tha AUS DOM Tremere:3
1x Cohn Rose 5 aus dom pre THA Tremere:3
1x Pieter Van Dorn 4 dom pre tha Tremere:3
1x Ehrich Weiss 3 dom tha Tremere:3
Library (90 cards)
------------------
Action (16)
12 Govern the Unaligned
3 Magic of the Smith
1 Rutor's Hand
Action Modifier (32)
...
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