V:EKN Official Toreador Newsletter January 2004

Introduction and editorial:

So here we are again, mid january, brains overheating as we scramble
to make sense of the new cards and with bleary eyes we try to squeeze
in some of them in our old decks only to find ourselves at the next
table with only vampires from Black Hand added to our deck.

Is it really that bad?

Yes, in a sense it is. The Camarilla Edition got use used to a horde
of new vampires, many of which I believe not all of us are familiar
with yet.
Then came Anarchs, and now, at first, do we really see the library
cards coming to any use to speak of, but the new vamps, well they
made their way into the decks during summer already.

I'm cluttering the white space, the digital substitute for a paper,
with words looking at the Starter Display I have yet not opened. The
contents of the other boxes are finally deposited into the binders,
and I just can't make myself repeating the process all over again.

A few of the vampires are familiar to me by now, and an even lower
amount of the minion-cards.
The Black Hand concept has somehow totally passed me by, but I know
that I'll experiment with it, and, come another two months or so,
I might actually know what I'm doing.

The main problem has not been as much not knowing what to do with
all the new candy as not knowing how to mix the new candy with the
old stuff that we're already familiar with, and so we haste to build
something new, only using the new cards with the standard stock of
wakes, Blood Dolls, hunting grounds etc piggybacked - and then we
ask why the deck doesn't run.
That causes us to pause, maybe to react with too much care, and with
the exception of a very few cards we let the expansion develop in the
binders/boxes/whatever as if it was a bottle of wine still too young
to drink.
Just like that bottle, we're going to open it in a few months or so
and just when we're ready to fully savour the taste the next expansion
is over us again and the cycle starts renewed.


Any candy for the Toreador?

There is, probably a lot more than I have identified yet, and most of
it in the departement of the !Toreador, which hardly is any surprise.

Some look better than it is, some is better than it looks - after we
discarded the idea in the first place.

Let's have some examples of cards that might come to grow on us.


Quicken Sight

aus/cel +1 intercept with an optional maneouver

AUS/CEL as above but +2 intercept


My first reaction was 'Ah fantastic!'.
My second 'And so what, I use Second Tradition anyway'.

Now I'm not so certain any longer. Assume you want to build a blocking
gunner. Intercept AND maneouver with ALL your mid-cap and low-cap
vampires is perfect. You want that celerity anyway, but you don't want
to be forced to have AUS all the time. The vampires simply become too
expensive. This card one again starts getting a certain appeal.


Under the Skin

Referendum action modifier

aus/pre Force younger vamp to abstain from voting during referendum.

AUS/PRE As above and tap that vampire


First reaction 'Hmm, understrength Bewitching Oration'.
Second 'Crappy card'.

Now the card slowly starts haunting me. It might actually be one of
the better cards available for voting BIG Toreador. Being the only
clan with an effect that says 'I'm not bleeding, so DI or weep' we
WILL come to the referendum.
The main problem with Toreador Grand Ball is that it is burnable, so
we're not likely to have more than one in play at any one given time,
which makes the other (we have to hope we have other vampires ready
if we play voters with presence) vampires very vulnerable to casual
intercept.
Targeting that pesky Brujah on his Sportbike no matter if he has
votes or not, and you may just be ready to go for another vote.



Nicholas Chang

!Tor, cap 2 with aus

So, what's so exiting with a cap 2 with aus? Now, that's not the way
to think. Rather, what's the problem with cheap cannonfodder that can
actually intercept a stealthed rush against your Justicar/Prince
that is not yet set up to defend itself?


The same could be said for Piotr Andreikov who is Tzimisce, but I'm
not as fond of him. Something tells me that he'll see more contesting.
That could of course be an argument to add him, but I prefer my crypts
uncontested.


Then we have a no-brainer.

You like playing with big guns and lot's of other neat equipment for
destroying your opponent in combat?


Sire's Index Finger.

Equipment, unique, zero cost.
Bye-bye Rotschreck, Drawing out the Beast and Terror Frenzy.
Grab it and add it - now!

Playing anything more expensive than cap 7 or .44 Magnum it's close
to incorrect deckdesign not having this card in your deck. We're not
merely talking decks but actually decktypes that simply die in your
face should you combine IR Goggles, Assault Rifle and Sire's Index
Finger on one vampire - and we have celerity in-clan to boot it up.


Well, that's it for now. Decks to build, concepts to try and some
months to find out if Gehenna has something more specifically
Toreadorish in it.

   Sten During