VEKN Brujah Newsletter July 2002



Introduction:



With all the turmoil about the new Camarilla Expansion I think it's

time to give you all a little rest from all these passionate rants,

speculations and curses. So here it is - the new issue of the Brujah

Newsletter, with next to no reference to the big news.

My original plan was to finally write about intercept decks in general

and Brujah ways to intercept in this issue. But even without taking

your reasonable concerns about the wackiness of such decks into

consideration, it will not happen NOW. You could chalk it up to

laziness from my side (it is an extensive topic) and would be right

usually, but not this time. The fact is: In our local metagame there

is simply not a chance to test one of these creations - they would all

fail miserably. 

All decks I present in these newsletters share one thing: They do not

win every game. The sometimes so elusive term "metagame" makes sure

that every deck has and will meet its nemesis not only in theory, but

in practice as well. That's what is happening these days in Munich:

After tormenting folks with an unending stream of variations on the

classical Brujah themes, some of them have come up with

decks/strategies that make it very difficult to stay competitive with

Brujah. Potence/Fortitude combat, Tzmisce intercept, you name it. So

this issue is dedicated to the metagame and it's impact on deck

building.



Fiction:



Mr. Winthrop had cleared away most of the remnants of the

brainstorming session-slash-party of the night before - including the

torporous bodies of Yuri and Bianca. The Don sits underneath Rake's

piece of graffiti and is busy decyphering and extrapolating some of

the possible strategical approaches sketched out on the big map. His

elegant handwriting can be seen next to and covering some of the

stains on the paper. "Possible regional alliances?" and "Who's the

enemy?" are the last notes he penned next to marks for Dre (in Cairo)

and Brachah (an arrow pointing from Tunis/Carthage into the Lybian

desert). He adds a cryptic "Akram", then sits back and muses over the

situation. Mr. Winthrop slides into the basement with a tray: brandy,

a tumbler and some ice. The Don nods his appreciation.



"The situation seems confusing", Dónal admits, sitting in his Dublin

office and connected to the Don, Constanza and Volker in a video

conference. "It's not the fact that most of the organizations we have

found, like Mausoleum and Al-Muhajabat, have closed their business and

disappeared - that was to be expected. It is the enormous ammount of

kindred activities surrounding all our activities. To me it seems like

there are many other factions involved, that they know what we are

doing and  - Caine forbid - are using our struggle within the

Camarilla to weaken the overall structure of our society..." Suddenly

the picture of Dónal turns grainy, distorts and disappears. Instead

the Don finds himself confronted with a sinister figure - a hooded

apparition wearing a white porcelain mask over his face. It speaks,

but only fragments of noise emerge from the speakers. "Turn it off!",

someone screams. The Don feels a numb fear creeping down his spine.

Someone has pulled the plug, but even after everything turned black he

remains seated, trying to grasp the remote sense of knowing haunting

his brain. "Getaway's servers have been compromised. Traceroute shows

a path into southern Europe, but yields no definite results", comes

the brief status report by one of his assistants. The Brujah justicar

nods, but doesn't seem to listen. There's a new battle emerging, the

Sabbat is challenging the Brujah movements...



Three weeks later. Still no sign from Brachah and only sparse news

from Dre who is trying to establish a network in Cairo under the

suspicous eyes of the local princess, Suhailah. Not that this would

matter to the Don. The Sabbat Threat has occupied his mind almost

exclusively during the last nights. Finally another piece of the

puzzle seems to fall into its place. Again he's down in the Vermont

basement, Rake's words still adding ominous meaning to the room's

atmosphere. After almost a month of stagnation there's finally a new

development. The European princes had gone into full paranoia mode

after it was obvious that all the old communication routes were

compromised by the new enemy. They had gathered in Rome and turned the

domain into a fortress. Which had attracted enough attention that the

right persons got curious - and burned their fingers. He scrolls

through a set of pictures freshly send by Constanza - a gaunt figure

clad in a faded hooded robe. The blood has been wiped off his crushed

skull, but the imprint "SPQR" caused by a heavy object is still

clearly visible. Could this be The Scavanger? The Don nods, but this

time there is a smile on his face.





Strategy:



Defining a metagame:



There has been quite some nastiness flying around in the newsgroup a

while ago about metagame issues (the infamous "blah blah blah...our

metagame this...our metagame that..." thread). Apart from insults and

"My dick is longer than yours" arguments it shed a glaring light on

the fragmented landscape of V:tES playing in the world. There is no

such thing as THE metagame, which led some people to claim that there

is no metagame at all. I think the V:tES community is comparable to a

tribal society at the moment, therefore the metagame is to be found

locally. The big Powwow or Thing that is the newsgroup is just

starting to form a more global feeling about the fluctuations while

trying to establish the rules for competetivness on a worlwide base.



Of course a highly evolved local metagame leads to deck constructs

that seem ridiculous by other people's standards (see Noal McDonald's

use of Clan Loyality and the reasons behind it), but they show an

admirable thing about this game: It can live in a set of environments,

and these environments are characterized by what I would like to call

the metagame in the strict sense, i.e. the response and

counter-response to the decks being played, and through more

"metaphysical" elements: Local playing style for once, which can be

established through what people like (casual vs. competitve play,

interesting/original strategies vs "I play to win" philosophy, social

pressure against certain deck types, etc.) and through the

evolutionary process of the players (for example many mimmick the

style of the successful players to become more competitive without

ever fundamentally questioning this style). Also in my experience a

local metagame will always find its equilibrium at a certain,

sub-optimal level of play. It's not a pure evolutionary process in the

end, as the powers that be will always use agition, table deals etc.

to keep revolutionary ideas at bay - a deck will never evolve in a

particular local metagame if no one reacts to it in terms of deck

building and people instead anathemize it in the social context or

gang up on it during the game (That is to say: A local metagame will

always have its deck equivalents to the QWERTY keyboard I'm sweating

over at the moment - completely logical by its inherent thinking, but

unfathomable to an outside observer.)

In theory the tournament environment should be less infested by these

metaphysical elements of the game, but in my experience (albeit

limited, I admit) that is not always the case. Simply because most

tournaments are held in a particular environment, one that is

dominated by one or more local playgroups. A tournament is never a

gathering of otherwise completely independent playing entities.

The mentioned discussion on the newsgroup therefore showed an inherent

problem of the newsgroup itself. People always play within a local

metagame, and they thrive to get better within its limits. I look at

the newsgroup for new ideas all the time, but many decks presented

will not work here without major surgery. This is a metagame issue as

well as a question of my playing style, of course. I use the newsgroup

as a reservoir of ideas, but I am extremely sure that it will never

answer any of those questions whether American players are better than

British... (Not that I would know, but I had way more success with

copying "American decks" like Peter Bakija's Protean weenie horde than

with say Rob Treasure's creations, which sure must be terrific, but

not in my humble hands. On the other hand I was looking at some

US-tournament winning decks and I had no clue how they were supposed

to work, let alone win - and that is about ALL I can say on this

issue... So onwards to something more useful.)



How the local metagame works, and how to exploit it



Most players, due to limited card stock in the beginning, start with

playing one clan/deck type more or less exclusively, and this will

always have a huge influence on their perception of the game and their

style of playing. Especially now that we all hope for new players

joining our ranks with the upcoming Camarilla Edition this fact will

play a major role in most local metagames. I played mainly Ventrue in

my first years of the Jyhad, and even today I can do the tap and vote

and bleed dance in my sleep - which influences the way I play other

deck types and sometimes even the way I create them. I know what sort

of deck everyone in our group feels most comfortable with, and I

always try to keep this in mind when I design a new deck.

It is all about "Know thy enemy" of course, so basically only usable

in a well-established playgroup. "Know thy enemy" means many things:

knowing preferences in strategy and style, but also what they hate. In

my old Bochum playgroup for example almost everyone was averse to

extreme combat, we tended to have nice little bloat and vote and bleed

marathon games which fielded shiny ranks of powerful vampires all over

the place. It was an important step for me to challenge these

aesthetics of the game, to insert something we all hated and profit

not only from the unpreparedness of the other decks (which changed

quickly, of course), but also from the pressure the mere presence of

dedicated blood thirsty combat extended.



Apart from knowing the players of course you have to know their decks.

Watch closely what they actually do, and don't let yourself be fouled

by only thinking in archetypes: Tzimisce intercept is not a monolithic

strategy, it can be implemented in many ways. Does he use Drawing Out

The Beast to keep you at close range in combat? How does he untap?

Does he try to beat S:CE, or is he ignoring it? Etc. Every deck can be

countered, every deck has one or more weak spots. But V:tES is not a

duel, so you even in a perfect world where you know what everybody

else will play you have a minimum of three decks to handle. Make that

six if everyone has at least two decks ready all the time. Typically I

try to react to the dominant two decks that are around at any given

time. They win, so they will be played, and I will have to beat them

to win myself. (If one of my decks is dominating, I usually continue

playing it. I could try to anticipate metagame shifts caused by it,

but I find it more entertaining to find the answers to new challenges

as a player first - not as a deck designer.)



Metagame decisions about decks have two possible outcomes: I can tune

a deck that lost the other day, or I can create a brand new one.

Whereas some very focused deck types are worth spending a long time

for tuning (see Peter Bakija's Potence weenies and the by now fabled

last "prayer card" to include - Hellhound last time I checked. That

one has been going for years now), the search for new interesting

concepts and the desire for variation results in a typical life cycle

somehwere between 2 weeks (hopeless crap) and 6 months (tried and

tested) for my decks (we play weekly) - but most major adjustments are

done within the first eight weeks. My aim is to have a deck that is

good at what it is supposed to do, not one that wins every game. (And

your aim should never be to create a deck that is supposed to win

every game.) So generally my reaction to a changing metagame will

eventually result in me changing my deck. But to go full circle to the

start of this discussion: Not every player owns 3000+ cards and is

able to follow all his whims with whipping out an all-new deck every

other week. Many clans offer a variety of strategies that let you

compete in an evolving metagame by tuning and redesigning, and while

V:tES is sometimes like rock, paper, scissors in strategical terms, by

no way is it always the Tzmisce that win against the Lasombra. 



The tournament situation:



I usually take at least two decks to every tournament and decide by

gut feeling and in the last second which one to play. But that is

basically an "ignore the metagame, do the stuff that feels right"

thinking which I adopted after I miserably failed with a power weenie

deck once and had no fun whatsoever. The decks I bring are all

adjusted according to some of my ideas about tournament metagames

though. But even before you start digging out those old tournament

reports to learn about what sort of stuff people that might show up

usually play, mind the most important, and as far as that is concerned

only rule: Do us all a favor and bring a good deck! Something you know

how to play and something that does the stuff it's supposed to do.

What that stuff is is a different question.



There are some good theories about what to expect at any given major

tournament: certain percentages of weenies, stealth bleed, princely

bloat, ours truly Euro-Brujah etc. You will encounter a wide variety

of players and many proven-to-be-good deck strategies. Try to get

information about who will attend and study their decks on the

internet if possible. Try to find answers to the common (and

proven-to-be-good) strategies. If your deck has no chance against

weenie bleed and can't handle a moderately bloating prey, think about

leaving it at home. Don't try to find answers to everything though.

There is no deck that has them. 

I see two promising ways to enter a tournament: Either play something

that is proven-to-be-good, or bring something that is the rock to the

scissors of what you perceive to be the most common type of deck on

that tournament. 

The surprise factor of some trick deck you have developed can be big

enough to see you through to the final, but bear in mind that as a

general rule of thumb the playing level is higher in a tournament

metagame, and you are not only competing against the players you face

in the preliminary rounds, but against everyone present. "Surprise

factor" is to a huge extent a psychological effect, and these don't

work that well in the bigger frame of a tournament.

If you are not entering a local tournament, be aware that your local

metagame might differ a lot from the one you will encounter. Try to

evaluate your local metagame in terms of strategies, counter

strategies and how it came to this point. Have the proven-to-be-good

decks had an influence on this? If not, try to envision how they will

fare in your current environment. And never be so foolish to assume

that your local metagame is superior - strong archetypes might have

problems within the complex interaction of your group, but you will

not play within the ecosphere of your group at a tournament. It's

going to be you and your deck in a hostile country ;-)



One final thing, related to tournament play and more general to

becoming a better player: Have a look at successful decks. There is a

ton of stuff on the net, grab those that did well on major tournaments

(Gencon, Origins, the EC). Try to understand why they did well, try to

get a feeling for them. If one suits you (i.e. you intuitively

understand what it does and how it works), build something similar and

play it locally. Don't be disappointed if it doesn't work too well in

the local metagame, learn how it handles different (and difficult)

situations. If you have fun playing it you have the core to your own

potentially successful tournament deck. The gist: Don't force yourself

to reinvent the wheel.



Deck:



SPQR



This months deck doesn't offer anything dramatically new, it's more an

illustration to what I said above. I took the challenge of our current

metagame which is very unfriendly towards typical Brujah decks: combat

heavy, more than casual intercept to be expected, with Gangrel hordes,

pot/for rush and aggro-poking Tzmisce. Playing political without

massive stealth means inviting doom, as the Tzimisce are happy for

every action they can block. S:CE helps against them, but not against

immortal grappling Gargoyles or Blood Brothers. The prospect of combat

is grim, as mutual destruction seems to be the common result. Still,

after my Carthage Remembered decks (see the May newsletter) have

grounded to a halt, combat it will be again. I decided to insert a

"Thrown Junk" Euro-Brujah bruise deck in the middle of this turmoil,

which, by almost guaranteeing long range, keeps me unharmed by

everything apart from the occasional Breath Of The Dragon, eats

Tzmisce for breakfast and gives the Blood Brothers and Gangrel a run

for their money. It will probably not work very well in a tournament

due to the marginal bleed power and the vulnerability to S:CE in

combat. It is a specialized deck, custom made for a specific metagame

situation, and as soon as Fortitude becomes even more dominant than it

is now, it's time to move on.

(The deck's name is the inscription on the eagle standard of the Roman

legion under which the soldiers gathered when they were pressed hard

in battle. The abbreviation stands for "SENATVS POPVLESQVE ROMANVS",

the senate and the people of Rome, and is incidentally engraved on

many sewer lids in the Italian capital.)



Crypt:

2 Anvil

2 Constanza Vinti

2 Dónal O'Conor

1 Dre

1 Jimmy Dunn

2 Theo Bell

2 Volker



Library:

2 .44 Magnum

1 Al's Army Aparatus

5 Blood Doll

5 Blur

8 Conditioning

5 Deflection

2 Dominate

1 Dreams Of The Sphinx

1 KRCG Newsradio

7 Pursuit

7 Psyche!

7 Second Tradition: Domain

3 Sideslip

1 Sudden Reversal

5 Taste of Vitae

9 Thrown Gate

10 Thrown Sewer Lid

4 Wake With Evening's Freshness



Final words:



The first preview for the new Camarilla edition is up at

www.white-wolf.com/vtes/Preview_Camarilla.html, and lo and behold: The

first vampire shown is a Brujah:



Sir Ralph Hamilton

Brujah 6

cel POT PRE ser

Camarilla: Ralph gets +1 strength in combat with a younger Camarilla

vampire. Followers Of Set get +1 bleed when bleeding Ralph's

controller.



He fits into what I was expecting (more cel/POT as opposed to CEL/pot)

and also into the latest trend of vampires that all seem to have at

least four lines of card text. Conditional advantage, conditional

disadvantage - seems balanced. He's not overpowered compared to

Bianca, who has unconditional +1 strength and superior Celerity to

make that count more than once per round, but POT/PRE is something

that we didn't get cheaper than 8 so far. Serpentis offers some

interesting new possibilities as well. Don't like the picture

though...



The other previewed card is the (long-expected, by some)

disciplineless Concealed Weapon - no weapons dealing aggravated damage

or being unique allowed, but nevertheless good news for Brujah

"blurred .44" decks.



There are a lot of card changes coming our way judging from the

heavily grinding rumor mill on this newsgroup, but I will abstain from

commenting before I have the full picture.



Finally I have moved and improved my Cold Dawn webpage, which was

unreachable (and outdated) for a while now. You can find it at

www.8ung.at/colddawn.



All comments and suggestions welcome at skaffen_amtiskaw@mail.ru.



Thanks for reading



Skaffen



Archon of The Cold Dawn

www.8ung.at/colddawn



"Quod populi Priscorum Latinorum hominesque Prisci Latini aduersus

populum Romanum Quiritium fecerunt deliquerunt, quod populus Romanus

Quiritium bellum cum Priscis Latinis iussit esse senatusque populi

Romani Quiritium censuit consensit consciuit ut bellum cum Priscis

Latinis fieret, ob eam rem ego populusque Romanus populis Priscorum

Latinorum hominibusque Priscis Latinis bellum indico facioque."

(The Roman way of declaring war, according to Titus Livius, in 'Ab

urbe condita')