V:EKN Caitiff Newsletter, August 1998



August 1, 1998

  

"Whoever shoots at him, I set him there; 

Whoever charges on his forward breast,

I am the caitiff that do hold him to't; 

And, though I kill him not, I am the cause..."



Shakespeare, William, All's Well That Ends Well: Scene II.

 

Introduction 



Oohhhh. The V:tES rules team dealt a crushing blow to us poor caitiff this

past month. Truth is, we deserved it. Goodbye weenie obfuscate vote push deck.

Farewell old friend.  Beyond this change, us Caitiff weren't particularly 

harmed by the changes of the last month.  It seems a fair trade-off with the 

neutering of the Tomb. 

  

Fiction - The Third Tradition (part two) 



I was schooled in the Camarilla's Traditions and the ways of the Ventrue clan. 

Early on in my instruction, I realized that Sarah was destroyed for not seeking 

Emerson's permission to embrace me. I tried my best to hold onto to the rage 

and to set in motion a plan to destroy this haughty prince but my ire was soon 

dulled. I began to doubt Sarah's motives for creating me in the first place. 

Maybe I was just another pawn after all. 



A Toreador by blood, I seemed to somehow find favor with Emerson. I often 

wondered why hadn't he destroyed me at the same time as Sarah? Of this he has 

never spoken. Most other members of my adopted clan have not been as kind and 

have taken every opportunity to remind me that I was not one of them. 



Strategy and Decks 



Again, not a Caitiff deck but it does consist of the newly embraced. This month 

I'll be showing-off one of the stupidest decks I've ever made. I like to mention 

it as an example of a deck that is impossible to make in a

four-card limit environment. It is the world famous Mission Impractical deck.  

Who says that a deck with 35 of the same card isn't creative? 



Card List 



Crypt 

    Blythe Candalaria           x  3    Cap 3    THA, aus 

    Jing Wei                    x  2    Cap 2    tha 

    Ignatius                    x  2    Cap 4    tha, aus, dom 

    Magdalena Schaefer          x  2    Cap 2    THA 

    Dr. John Casey                      Cap 3    tha, aus 

    Roreca Quaid                        Cap 2    tha 

    Heinrick Schlempt                   Cap 2    tha 

    Sarah Cobler                        Cap 4    THA, dom 



Masters 

    Society of Leopold          x  9 

    Tribute to the Master       x  5 

    Archon Investigation        x  2 

    Fear of Mekhet              x  3 

    Cairo Int'l Airport         x  2 

    Pentex Subversion           x  2 

    Thaumaturgy                 x  3 

    Academic Hunting Ground 

    Life Boon 

    Chantry 

    The Parthenon 



Minion 

    Cryptic Mission             x 35 

    Seeds of Corruption         x  5 

    Leather Jacket              x  4 

    The Embrace                 x  4 

    Blood Rage                  x  4 

    Arson                       x  4 

    Charnas the Imp 

    Thadius Zho, Mage 

    Rumors of Gehenna 

    Burst of Sunlight 

  

Hmm. Never realized I had *that* many masters in the deck. Oh, well. I have 

managed to eek this deck into the finals of a tournament once. Wasn't easy 

though. In case you haven't figured this out yet, the Cryptic Missions empty 

the vampires and the Society of Leopolds burn the vampires. Simple. The Society 

is unique so you have to make sure that you only put it down on the turn the 

target vamp is emptied. If you screw up and don't burn the vamp, you'll be 

forced to self-contest the thing or waste a bunch of time until you can get out 

another copy. The deck is very meta-game dependent. It is fabulous against 

players who overspend on influence and hope to minion tap a large vampire after 

bringing it into play. You'll probably be able to deplete it sufficiently to 

make a Minion Tap far less valuable. 



The best case situation is that your prey is influencing a very large vamp to 

start the game. If you are lucky you get a few minions and a Cairo Airport and 

your prey never gets a vampire out. If he does get the thing out, you may have 

a Pentex Subversion you can hit 'em with. Seeds of Corruption are also great 

for keeping your prey down. This is the main strategy. You may be able to get a 

lock on your prey but if you can't, you then keep them mired in "Seeds" and put 

them in a perpetual hunt from the Cryptic Missions-- until you draw a Society. 

You'll gain a lot of blood from the Cryptic Missions. That's why the Tributes 

are there. Although I'm not sure I wouldn't have been better off with Blood 

Dolls instead. There isn't much in the way of defense. The Blood Rages and CMs 

can be used on your predator to keep them down a little on blood. Best bet is 

to be quick about your offense. Also, one hunting ground makes a player almost 

immune to the Society. Don't discard one of your precious few Arsons unless you 

are very confident that there won't be a Hunting Ground played by your prey. 

I had the most fun the first time I played the deck. My playgroup thought I'd 

lost my mind. Maybe you can convince your group you're nuts too. 



Contact Info 



Feel free to email me if you would like to submit fiction, or wacky weenie deck  

designs or strategy. 

 

-Robert (rrgoudie@earthlink.net)