Official Nosferatu Antitribu Newsletter Volume 2 Issue 2 - November 2003

----------------------------
In this issue:

New tools in the Black Hand Set
Vampires of the Month: A second look at Teresita, and Mateusz Gryzbowsky
Cards of the Month: Gemini's Mirror + Information Network
Strategy of the Month: Intercept
Decks of the Month: One Smiling Jack/intercept deck, one pre-BH
Bruise+Vote.

Introduction:

The Black Hand is here at last, and with it the shiny new Nosferatu
Antitribu starter deck. There's lots of rich creamy goodness for the
clan in the set, so let's get to business. The decklist for the clan
starter is archived here:
http://www.thelasombra.com/decks/nosferatu_antitribu_precon.txt -
thanks to The Lasombra for keeping archives for everybody.

New tools in the Black Hand set:

The new vampires for the clan are as follows:

Teresita, The Godmother
Group: 3
Capacity: 7
Discipline: for ANI OBF POT
Sabbat. Black Hand Seraph: Teresita gets +1 intercept against
Camarilla vampires.

Mateusz Gryzbowsky
Group: 3
Capacity: 8
Discipline: ANI OBF POT
Sabbat: At long range, Mateusz's strikes inflict 1 less damage. +2
strength.

Tarbaby Jack
Group: 3
Capacity: 8
Discipline: dom ser ANI OBF POT
Sabbat. Black Hand: If Tarbaby is ready, you get one extra transfer
during your influence phase.

Yong-Sun, Harmonist
Level: Advanced
Group: 2
Capacity: 10
Discipline: aus ANI OBF POT THA
Advanced, Sabbat cardinal: Yong-Sun gets +X bleed, where X is the
number of vampires in the target Methuselah's ash heap.

And two only found in the starter:

Tock
Group: 3
Capacity: 4
Discipline: obf pot pre
Sabbat.

Ingram Frizer
Group: 3
Capacity: 6
Discipline: ani pot AUS OBF
Sabbat. Black Hand.

Additionally, we got reprints of Beast, Cailean, Calebos, Christianus
Lionel, Dani, Josef, Kendrick, and Olivia in the starter. (Tock,
Ingram, Teresita and Yong-Sun round out the starter Crypt.) No reprint
for Agatha, Cicatriz, Nigel, Ox, Shannon Price, or Tommy, but those
are all still findable in the Sabbat War boosters. What's especially
nice is that the BH set reprints the vampires that were formerly only
available through the long-out-of-print Sabbat set – with the
exception of the base Yong-Sun, due to a misprint. (White Wolf has
announced they'll be rectifying the misprint in the near future with a
combination of future expansion and a mail-in program.) So now we have
every vampire in the clan currently in-print save the one misprint,
which is very nice indeed.

Library cards for Black Hand include one new one expressly for us:

Information Network
Cardtype: Master
Clan: Nosferatu antitribu
Cost: 1 pool
Unique master.
Tap to give a Nosferatu antitribu you control +1 intercept.

It also contains reprints of the Shanty Town Hunting Ground, Nosferatu
Kingdom, the Steam Tunnels and Courier. No Using the Advantage, no
Dirty Little Secrets and no Gang Tactics. No Unacceptable Appearance
either, which I'm sure everyone is terribly disappointed by.

The starter contains some other nice toys for new players and old. Out
of the new set, the deck holds a Vox Senis, a Creep Show, two Shakars,
one Blooding, one Brick Laying, and two Marijava Thugees. The three
Carrion Crows are nice for players who don't have enormous card
collections, as are the two Taste of Vitaes and the two Blood Dolls.
The two Fames are a big help to new players, as that card is currently
only available in pre-constructed decks. Oh yes, there's also a Disarm
in the deck. Silly me, almost forgot that part.

The current newsletter for our misguided brothers in the Camarilla
contains a very nice analysis of how the starter deck stands as a
playable deck; it's archived at
http://www.thelasombra.com/newsletter/nosferatu_december_2003.htm and
was written by Peter Bakija. Rather than reiterate Peter's points,
I'll just give you that link and suggest you look at his in-depth
review of the Starter deck, especially if you're a new player looking
to jump into the sewers feet-first.

Instead, I'll analyze a couple of specific new cards and strategies.

Vampire(s) of the Month:

Teresita, The Godmother
Group: 3
Capacity: 7
Discipline: for ANI OBF POT
Sabbat. Black Hand Seraph: Teresita gets +1 intercept against
Camarilla vampires.

Teresita got a pre-release analysis in last month's newsletter. Now
that we have the full set in hand, we can revise things a bit. Seraph
isn't a title, merely a designator, and she's one of only five
inherent Seraphs. Teresita is still the only !Nos with Fortitude. Her
Black Hand status opens up a number of great, great cards to her, and
the Seraph status lets you play with another few useful ones. Even
without Seraph being a title, still a great, great vampire.

Mateusz Gryzbowsky
Group: 3
Capacity: 8
Discipline: ANI OBF POT
Sabbat: At long range, Mateusz's strikes inflict 1 less damage. +2
strength.

Hellooooo, Mateusz. Quite possibly the vampire in Black Hand that
brought the biggest smiles and ‘OOOOOOO's from players when seeing the
cards for the first time. All three in-clans at superior, monster hand
damage and a liveable weakness, all for only two influence phases. No
title, which is acceptable due to the number of small-cap titled vamps
the !Nos already possess. No out-of-clan disciplines, which some
people will find a pity and others view as a big advantage, depending
on their deck. Sure, it'd be nice if he had one more discipline, like
basic fortitude or auspex or dominate or anything, to help him
stand-alone as the focus of a deck or mix with other vampires. But if
you're just going to play straight !Nos, there's no disciplines wasted
on him, so for those decks it's a benefit.

Mateusz's disadvantage isn't even that bad. The only ranged strikes
he's likely to even have a chance to play are Aid From Bats, Thrown
Sewer Lid, Thrown Gate or Sacrament of Carnage. Gates and Sacraments
still inflict some damage, the Lid still pops for 2 and the Bats still
provide a press, which puts you right back at close. (The Lid provides
the press as well, as does the Well-Aimed Car if you bother to play
with it.) Really, the only strikes that Mateusz would be completely
wasted for are the basic Canine Horde (which he can still destroy
equipment with) or equipment strikes inflicting 1R. And if Mateusz is
going in a deck, you're not likely giving *him* popguns or an Ivory
Bow to begin with.

Torn Signpost/Grapple is enough to punch for 5 undodgably/un-S:CE'ably
with a two card combo. He can get maneuvers off Obfuscate, like
Swallowed by the Night which will double as stealth in a deck. The
biggest weakness in my opinion for Mateusz is his inability to take
damage in return – any hand strike coming back at him will do full
damage, and there's nothing you can do about that with his discipline
spread if you plan to Immortal Grapple. Or at least there *was*
nothing you could do about it, before our card of the month...

Cards of the Month:

Name: Gemini's Mirror
Cardtype: Combat
Cost: 1 blood
Discipline: 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.

Wow. A pretty nice avoidance at basic, but a _very_ useful superior.
Some people will look at this and say ‘that sucks, it only stops the
opposing strike half the time'. But for the !Nosferatu, that's 50%
better than we had before. One of the biggest liabilities of Nosferatu
Antitribu decks is that the three clan disciplines can't take a punch.
Immortal Grapple and Drawing out the Beast deal with people avoiding,
using wacky strikes or guns and bows, but the clan has had zero
defense against punches being met with equally potent hand-strikes, or
worse, aggravated ones. Gemini's Mirror at least gives a chance to
avoid it. The fact that your opponent gets to see you use it ahead of
time just means they might hesitate before ‘wasting' their cards on a
strike that might not work at all. This card combines nicely with Owl
Companion – look at their hand and see if they have the ability to
generate a strike you'd like to avoid, then play the Mirror if they

do.

Information Network
Cardtype: Master
Clan: Nosferatu antitribu
Cost: 1 pool
Unique master.
Tap to give a Nosferatu antitribu you control +1 intercept.

Very, very, very nice. Permanent intercept, as cheap as it comes. Best
of all, unlike every other tap-for-intercept master except the Anarch
Free Press, it's not a location. No Haunting or Rampaging or Arsons
here!

Strategy of the Month: Intercept

The Nosferatu Antitribu are starting to get spoiled for intercept
choices. In addition to the traditional set of Radio/Newspapers, they
now have the lovely Info Network to go along with their Animalism
retainers and reactions. Don't overlook the two animalism-outferior
Spiritus intercepts (Speak with Spirits and Falcon's Eye), as both
provide conditional intercept at with basic Animalism – players are
used to seeing Cats Guidance and expecting that [ani] vampires can't
generate any.

Black Hand also provides quite a bit of useful intercept cards to the
clan. Legwork is a point for anyone that hasn't tooled up with a Raven
Spy/Raptor/Sport Bike. Ministry is 2 points for any Black Hand
vampire, possibly three points – and we start with three Black Hand
vampires and have the stealth needed to pretty much count on being
able to use Blooding if you want more. Watch Commander is another
intercept for a Hand vampire. Enough of the clan's heavy-hitters have
Celerity (Beast, Calebos and Smallpox) where Rooftop Shadow could be
employed in decks featuring those vampires.

Let's face facts – with only two [dom] vampires (one a 10-cap), and
only one [AUS] vampire, the !Nosferatu aren't going to do much
bouncing. So the only two solid defenses left against bleed decks are
rushing their vampires into torpor, or intercept. Rushing is easy, and
lots of people use this method (especially with Beast). Intercept's
your other option, and the !Nosferatu have a few advantages here. The
Nos/!Nos have one of the best options for making an opponent pay when
you do intercept them, and the !Nos have the shiny new intercept
master that the Nos don't have. Ministry/Watch Commander should
balance out Second Traditions closely enough where the !Nos actually
have a slight edge over the Nosferatu in this arena. Aside from
arguably the Tzimisce, nobody else has AUS or ANI with the ability to
dish it out like the Nos/!Nos can, and that threat of taking a massive
IG/Potence strike and/or Carrion Crows with a range strike makes most
decks start counting and re-counting their stealth and damage prevent
cards nervously.

The Nosferatu Antitribu can use this threat to their advantage –
everybody knows that an Auspex deck *might* generate a lot of
intercept, but Animalism decks can display it for everyone to see –
loading up on Raven Spy/Raptors, Sport Bikes and Radio/News masters.
Once you demonstrate the ability to handle yourself fearsomely in
combat, you can paralyze decks into hesitating to take any action for
fear of being blocked and crushed into torpor. A few backup
from-your-hand intercept cards like Cats Guidance or Pack Tactics
should keep them off-balance as to exactly how much you can generate,
while still showing them your ability to catch all but the stealthiest
of actions. And given the extra untaps Animalism provides, that will
make your opponents second-guess how many times you can block in a
turn.

I've also been experimenting lately with mixing tap-to-give intercept
and card-from-hand sources with the usual permanent-on-a-vamp types.
Due to the popularity of Bike/Raven or One Prince And A Weenie Horde
decks in the local play circle, players have responded to ‘this one
vampire has +3 intercept on him' by adding more ‘your block fails'
modifiers. Putting a few permanents in play that can be applied to any
vampire has helped avoid getting caught with only one vampire being
locked into intercept mode, and it's been surprisingly effective at
stopping all but the most dedicated stealth decks.

Decks of the Month: 

First, a Smiling Jack intercept deck that I've been playing steadily –
so far it's only failed to get a VP once (when no Jacks appeared in
the first 50 cards), and has earned multiple game wins against a
variety of opposing decks. The only cards in the deck that cost the
vampires any blood are Atonement and the Rumor Mill, so much of their
excess blood can get siphoned through the Blood Dolls to keep you
healthy. The masters do cost a good deal of pool, so don't try to
bring all your vampires out from the start – you should have more than
enough untap to do just fine early one with 2 or 3, pay for 5 or 6
pool of masters, and still have double-digits of pool left to
defend/pay for Jack. (I've considered dropping Beast entirely, since
he's never managed to enter play yet with this deck; his rush is
really just gravy that can be done without – I'd probably replace him
with a second Kendrick for the potential votes. Unburdening the
Bestial Soul is in the deck solely as a corner-case to pass blood to
someone else's vampire cross-table to delay a Jack from ousting them
should it be truly needed. Despite the intent to go to long range
whenever possible, the Disarms are a nice surprise with Guardian Angel
– usually someone's arm is ripped off after combat damage comes out
1-0.

Deck Name:   Ugly Jack
Created By:  John Flournoy
Description: Smiling Jack/Intercept deck using the !Nos. Untap, block,
go to long and zap them for daring to act against you. More analysis
in the November 2003 !Nosferatu Newsletter.

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 16, Max: 29, Avg: 5.58)
----------------------------------------------
1  Tommy               ani pot          3,  Nosferatu Antitribu
1  Tock                obf pot pre      4,  Nosferatu antitribu
1  Agatha              obf POT          4,  Nosferatu Antitribu
1  Cicatriz     ani obf pot      5,  Nosferatu Antitribu, Bishop
1  Nigel the Shunned   ANI obf POT      5,  Nosferatu Antitribu
1  Olivia       OBF POT vic      5,  Nosferatu Antitribu, Bishop
1  Christanius Lionel  ANI OBF pot      6,  Nosferatu Antitribu
1  Ox                  ANI OBF POT      6,  Nosferatu Antitribu
1  Kendrick     ANI aus obf POT  7,  Nosferatu Antitribu, Priscus
1  Teresita            for ANI OBF POT  7,  Nosferatu antitribu
1  Beast               ani cel OBF POT  7,  Nosferatu Antitribu
1  Calebos      ANI cel OBF POT  8,  Nosferatu Antitribu, Bishop

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (18 cards)
7  Blood Doll
2  Guardian Angel
1  Information Network
1  KRCG News Radio
1  London Evening Star, Tabloid Newspaper
1  Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper, The
4  Smiling Jack, The Anarch
1  WMRH Talk Radio

Minion (72 cards)
7  Aid from Bats
3  Atonement
8  Behind You!
5  Cats' Guidance
2  Disarm
10 Forced Awakening
5  Guard Dogs
2  IR Goggles
1  Ivory Bow
1  J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1  Mr. Winthrop
1  Sniper Rifle
7  Swallowed by the Night
1  Tasha Morgan
7  Thrown Gate
8  Thrown Sewer Lid
1  Unburdening the Bestial Soul
2  Zillah`s Tears

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

Second, a pre-BH bruise+vote deck from Cameron Roberts. Smack other
voters into torpor to insure your KRCs go through.

Deck Name:   Kendrickandbuddies
Created By:  Cameron Roberts
Description: 

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 28, Max: 35, Avg: 7.75)
----------------------------------------------
3  Julio Martinez ANI DOM nec OBF POT  9, Nosferatu antitribu, Bishop
3  Beast          ani cel OBF POT      7, Nosferatu Antitribu
3  Calebos        ANI cel OBF POT      8, Nosferatu Antitribu, Bishop
3  Kendrick       ANI aus obf POT      7, Nosferatu Antitribu, Priscus

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (12 cards)
1  Fame
1  Guardian Angel
1  Hungry Coyote, The
2  Information Highway
7  Minion Tap

Political Action (17 cards)
6  Cardinal Benediction
8  Kine Resources Contested
3  Templar

Reaction (15 cards)
4  Cats' Guidance
4  Redirection
7  Wake with Evening's Freshness

Combat (46 cards)
6  Carrion Crows
3  Drawing Out the Beast
5  Fake Out
3  Fists of Death
9  Immortal Grapple
5  Pushing the Limit
8  Taste of Vitae
7  Torn Signpost

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

-John Flournoy