Assamite Clan newsletter. Volume 4, Issue 2 (February 2004)Written by Otto
Koskinen

=========================

Yo again.

The first and last time I make plans for next month. By Haqim, I had so much
other stuff I would have had easy time writing about.

Anyhow. It is time for another trip to the halls of Alamut.

----------------------------------------

PROBING ON "DODGING PTO"

Recently, there was a rather heated discussion concerning Protect Thine own
on the newsgroups concerning Vampire:The Eternal Struggle,
(rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad) and the echos of that conversation were
heard even in the halls of Alamut.

It is a known fact, that Protect Thine Own can severely damage the decks
which run on the high end memebers of the Clan. Thetmes, Fatima, Al-Ashrad.
Heck, even Ur-Sugary in all his glory is viable to go *whoosh* when Arika
says so.

So, what can be done to prevent this from happening?

Clandestine Contract. The first step, is making certain there is no-one to
call that vote. The Assamite way.
This may not be desireable at times, especially if the vampire calling the
vote is a cross-table vampire.
We'll leave it at that; at times it's a good idea, but most of the times, it
's a bit too drastic.

Revocation of Tyre. A vote to make all the Assamites currently in play
Camarilla.
With Thetmes and Ur-Shulgi, I'd consider this one.
They both have the votes to support a quick Revocation, but others, I
wouldnt say.
When you suppose that there will be someone with 4 votes who can call the
PTO, I think most of the times this isnt the right answer to "dodge PTO",
except for a few decks involving either Thetmes or Ur-Shulgi.
Or like in last months "Tegy Tegy bang BANG!" deck.
But, the number is small.

Writ of Acceptance. This equipment from Ancient Hearts is a good choice.
And equip action is needed, but with the Clans abundance of Obfuscate,
passing this one shouldnt be a problem. Then again, many of the decks which
run high-cap Assamites, tend to be the type in which Obfuscate plays only a
small part, short of a few odd Swallowed by the nights, Shadow Feints and
Disguised weapons.
Then again, if you really are concerned about Protect thine own, I'd think a
couple slots could be used in the form of additional stealth. Cloak the
Gathering is a great card, usable in nearly any deck with a high-cap
Assamite.
Anyhow, here is a real life excerpt, concerning the use of Writ of
Acceptance.
"Funny moment: first round, my grandprey Josh Duffin, brings out Arika.
Decisions, decisions. I bide, he bides, I draw into my Writ of Acceptance,
and crisis is over!" -David Cherryholmes, Mid-atlantic quailifiers, January
2004.

Tegyrius and his special ability. Yes, Tegyrius has the ability to let all
Assamites go Camarilla. Like a built in Writ of Acceptance.
But, losing Abd or Jalal Sayad to PTO doesnt really hurt that much, when
compared to losing Thetmes.
What has that got to do with anything? A lot, really. Decks with Thetmes,
Al-Ashrad, Ur-Shulgi and Fatima, generally dont have the extra crypt slots
or even more importantly the POOL to bring out Tegyrius.
Decks with Abd, Jalal, and other mid-caps on the other hand, being usually
quite QUI CEL minded, wont mind Tegyrius at all, generally. Blood doll, or a
Minion tap on Tegyrius, and lo behold. He has cost us 4 pool.
And is even better than Parmenides at whooping ass for the Assamite cause.
Yes, Tegy is a good choice, for many of the CEL QUI minded decks, but with
other big vampires of the Clan, you'd propably want to go with either
Revocation or Writ of Acceptance.

Delaying tactics and other vote defense. And here we have it. Not so much
Assamite specific, nor even Protect Thine Own specific, but still a viable
choice.
Deep in the halls of Alamut, there was a proposition laid upon the elders,
about a "module" specifically for vote defense.
"Module:
2 Direct Intervention
6 Delaying Tactics
2 Storage Annex

2-3 weenies in the crypt who stay untapped to delay. " -Cameron

This module, although taking up 4 master slots, and 6 others, and a few from
the crypt, seemed like a good choice to many.
The master cards were all-round useful, and Delaying tactics could be used
on other critical votes as well.
Nothing can be quite so frustrating as getting one's hard worked and earned
oust stolen with a Dramatic Upheaval. Or getting Parity Shifted by one's
prey.
Of course, Delaying Tactics leaves the vampires ready and able to perform it
again next turn, but then again, you are playing Assamites, are you not. Go
get 'em, Champ!

----------------------------------------

VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH

Yazid Tamari
Assamite, 8 cap.
ani dom obf CEL QUI
Sabbat. Black Hand Seraph: +1 bleed. The blood curse does not affect Yazid.

Yazid Tamari. Another Assamite with Dominate.
The only member of the Clan, who actually likes camels and lama's.
The first thoughts I had about Yazid were "Wow. No Blood Curse." But then it
soon came obvious that it doesnt matter too much.
Even though he is a Seraph of the Black Hand, that doesn't mean squat
votewise, leaving him suffering from the possible bloodhunt if he ever goes
for someone's throat.
His +1 bleed, though, is a nice addition to the Clan, which lacks in some
bleed power currently.
Being an 8-cap, Yazid is well in the threshold of "Solo-vamp deck" capacity.
But he lacks something, or at least I have sofar to find out what that
special thing about him is, that would want me to build up a deck around
him.
As is, though, he is a wonderful vampire. Not wonderful like Parnassus, who
whacks in house and garden, but rather wonderful like Abd al-Rashid. A
silent workhorse, who does what he is supposed to do, and does it well.
His CEL QUI make him fearsome in combat, and his +1 bleed will never hurt.
His Seraph title can bring a stop to some other methuselah's plans of
getting a Watchtower:Greates Fall to pass.

He is a solid vampire. Fully worth the 8 blood invested in him, in any deck
which involves QUI.
As a challenge, of sorts, I encourage anyone who has ideas concerning him to
e-mail me of those ideas to:
Oko@city.fi

Aziz, Dammar of Istanbul
Assamite, 10 cap.
CEL OBF PRE QUI ser
Independent: Aziz has 2 votes. Place a status counter on Aziz each time a
vampire opposing him in combat is burned. Aziz gets +X votes, where X is the
number of status counters on him. +1 strength. (Blood Cursed)

Aziz, is the natural continuation to last months Tegyrius & Anathema.
Why? Due to his special, which has great synergy with Anathema. Aziz also is
a vampire among the Clan who possesses something the others do not.
Due to his prolonged stay in Istanbul, he has learned a bit of the art of
Serpentis. The discipline of the corruptive and highly untrustworthy
Setites.
Serpentis, when combined with the combat prowess of the Clan, can indeed be
a fine addition to the deck.
Even if you dont manage to torporize or even burn the vampires, you can
simply put a Form of Corruption into play, and take that minion for
yourself.
Temptation can also be used. Why not take that weenie they have, and go eat
one of their vampires with it, and then with Aziz's votes, make sure the
weenie burns as well. Two flies in one swing, it would seem.
Of course, Aziz being the 2nd of two in the clan who have superior Presence,
and packing 2 votes in himself, he is propably your first choice in vampires
to include if you decide to go voting.
But, more on voting when voting is in my mind. Trust that Aziz will propably
be a vampire of the month even then, and we'll have a closer look on his
Presence then.

----------------------------------------

BLACK HAND FOR THE CLAN

Deed the Heart's Desire
Action modifier, 1 blood
Quietus
Only usable as the action is announced.
[qui] Choose a younger vampire. He or she cannot block this action.
[QUI] As above, and the chosen vampire cannot play reaction cards during
this action.

Now, there is block denial for the clan.
And not only block, but also bounce denial, which is a powerful thing
indeed, even more so to a clan like the Assamites, who suffer slighty from
the lack of powerful bleeding.
Just like in combat, every action needs to count in bleeding as well.
Not a card I'd put into every single Assamite deck that I do, but if going a
heavy bleed route with Ur-Shulgi, Thetmes, and Yazid Tamari, this single
card will be of great use to you, I can imagine.

Gemini's Mirror
Combat, 1 blood.
Obfuscate
[obf] Strike: dodge with an optional maneuver.
[OBF] Only usable before range is determined. When resolving each strike
against this vampire, flip a coin. If it's tails, the strike has no effect
on this vampire. This lasts until heads is flipped or combat ends. A vampire
can play only one Gemini's Mirror at superior each combat.

Even though the superior version of this card is thought inspiring, it is
even more so the inferior ability of this card which beckons for a closer
look.
Strike: dodge, with an optional maneuver.
This card may be the card that long range Quietus combat has been lacking
for all this time.
Of course, this is just one card. But so is Govern the Unaligned. And many
others widely played cards.
As before, you've needed two cards, at least, to set yourself up for some
long-range sweating to be done, you now accomplish that with one single
card. Not half bad, especially when considering that the number of Assamites
with cel qui obf is hefty sixteen. With CEL QUI obf, the numbers drop to 9,
but even so, has a good number of vampires to use.
Even so, there is a downside to the card.  The strike dodge is mandatory.
So, you would need the strike, this card, and an additional strike card in
order to use the strike.  It may be a good card, but it's still adding
another moving part to combat, which is the wrong direction you want to be
moving, I think.

Quicken Sight
Reaction
Auspex & Celerity
[aus][cel] +1 intercept, with an optional maneuver in the resulting combat
if this vampire successfully blocks.
[AUS][CEL] As above, but with +2 intercept.

Needless to say, this is a great card, with Celerity as an in-clan
discipline and Auspex as a widespread out-of-clan discipline.

Rooftop Shadow
Reaction, 1 blood
Celerity
[cel] +1 intercept. Not usable if the acting minion has Celerity.
[CEL] +1 intercept. Not usable if the acting minion has superior Celerity.

Not as good as Quicken sight, but another source of easy intercept for the
Clan. The downsides, costing 1 blood, and being only usable if the minion
doesn't have Celerity in either form are well worth this one.


So, all in all, 4 cards which have at first glance really piqued my
interest.
Oh, there are many more in the Black Hand expansion which really get my
juices flowing, but these are the first glances.
I'm sure, once I've got my eye more on the Black Hand, there will come up
some cooking's in which Yazid Tamari will convince his brethren to walk Into
the Fire, and join the ranks of Black Hand.

----------------------------------------

DECKS OF THE MONTH

This month, I have also two decks to present, althought they differ from
each other quite much.
Without further ado, here they are.

Deck Name:   Qadir the preacher man.

Blessing of the Name on two other vamps, rush, bleed, maim.
Should be rather simple.

Just make sure you've got 2 wakes for the time you run out of Blessings,
though. ;)

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 22, Max: 36, Avg: 7,33)
----------------------------------------------
4  Qadir ul-Ghani  CEL nec OBF QUI tha  9,  Assamite:2
2  Beast           ani cel OBF POT      7,  Nosferatu Antitribu:2
2  Calebos         ANI cel OBF POT      8,  Nosferatu Antitribu:2, Bishop
2  Blaise          ANI CEL obf vic      7,  Gangrel Antitribu:2
2  Parmenides      CEL qui              4,  Assamite:2

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (17 cards)
4  Blood Doll
2  Celerity
1  Depravity
2  Dreams of the Sphinx
3  Fame
1  Information Highway
1  Minion Tap
1  Tension in the Ranks
2  Zillah's Valley

Action (21 cards)
3  Ambush
8  Blessing of the Name
3  Bum's Rush
3  Harass
4  Zillah's Tears

Action Modifier (5 cards)
5  Cloak the Gathering

Reaction (6 cards)
6  Guard Dogs

Combat (39 cards)
4  Blur
4  Flash
5  Infernal Pursuit
7  Psyche!
6  Pursuit
6  Taste of Vitae
7  Weighted Walking Stick

Equipment (2 cards)
2  Garrote

This deck was last saved at 7:54:04 on 1.2.2004


This deck utilizes Qadir's special ability, and also has a spot for Yazid
Tamari.
This is the closest I've so far gotten to utilize Yazid. ;)
This is by no definition a solid deck, fully thought out etc..
Just an idea I had, in my wild frenzy to find some ideas as to how to
utilize Qadir's special ability. :)



Deck Name:   Aziz Free states Anathema

Aziz has friends calling Anathema's on unwanted vampires on the table, then
Aziz comes in and racks up the votes.

Crypt: (13 cards, Min: 12, Max: 40, Avg: 6,54)
----------------------------------------------
5  Aziz           CEL OBF PRE QUI ser  10, Assamite:2, 2 votes
1  Zahir          CEL OBF qui tha      6,  Assamite:2
2  Rake           aus cel pot PRE      6,  Brujah:1, Prince
2  Volker         CEL pot              5,  Brujah:2, Prince
1  Abd al-Rashid  CEL obf QUI          5,  Assamite:2
2  Julius         qui ser              1,  Caitiff:2

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (18 cards)
3  Blood Doll
1  Depravity
1  Dreams of the Sphinx
1  Fame
1  Information Highway
2  Minion Tap
1  Serpentis
2  Storage Annex
1  Tension in the Ranks
5  Zillah's Valley

Action (15 cards)
7  Clandestine Contract
2  Enchant Kindred
2  Form of Corruption
1  Heart of Darkness
2  Temptation

Action Modifier (12 cards)
2  Bewitching Oration
6  Cloak the Gathering
4  Voter Captivation

Political Action (15 cards)
5  Anathema
1  Banishment
2  Conservative Agitation
6  Free States Rant
1  Dramatic upheaval

Combat (27 cards)
4  Flash
5  Infernal Pursuit
6  Psyche!
6  Pursuit
6  Thin Blood

Equipment (1 card)
1  Flak Jacket

Combo (3 cards)
3  Provision of the Silsila

This deck was last saved at 15:18:42 on 4.2.2004

A more "serious" deck, now, this one.
The initial though was to build a deck, utilizing Free states rant and other
blood-denial from quietus, just to get to use Foul blood in combination with
Fame.
A lot of blood has flowed since that, and this is the "next to final"
version of the deck.

Get out Aziz, and Volker or Rake. Anathema, rush, burn, gain votes, pool and
respect from the other Methuselah's.
Ousting is fairly simple startegy, burn vampires, and with the poolgain from
Anathema's, influence new vampires, and do it the "old fashion way". There's
quite nothing like the Assamite-bleef-for-one(tm) action, really.

As for thoughts on the deck itself, I know the combat might need a bit
tuning, but sofar, in ~10 games, I've find it to be good enough to fulfill
it's job. Aziz's +1 strength goes a long way here.
The deck suffers from being a bit slow, as does nearly any deck with 9+
caps, and not packing 10 Zillah's Valley's.

The latest package solution to the speed issues I've had in Assamite decks
has been solved in the same way in both the Qadir and Aziz decks. 5+5 of
Zillah's Valley and Infernal Pursuit. Not only do Infernal Pursuits work as
an inferior press, their superior lets you flush out the crap that tends to
spend otherwise too much time in your hand.

----------------------------------------

Well, that's again all for this month.
Comments, etc; Oko@city.fi

----------------------------------------