Official V:EKN Clan Salubri Newsletter
Vol.2 No.3
December 2003
Of interest to Scholars and Slanderers

Editor: Patrick van der Reest

In this issue:
1. Introduction
2. Miscellanea et Demonica
3. The Dwinding Few
4. The Powers of the Righteous
5. The Hosts of Heaven
6. Conclusion


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1. INTRODUCTION
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Hello everybody to a new year for the Salubri at the end of times. I'm
going to try and take over the excellent job Ben Peal has been doing
on the Salubri newsletters, covering their resurrection a few
expansions ago. I'll keep Ben's format intact where possible.

With so few Salubri extant, I cannot promise to make this a monthly
epistle, but I'll do my best. And, of course, if you have ideas that
you think would fit in here: feel free to mail me:
samyamu*at*hotmail*dot*com.


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2. MISCELLANEA ET DEMONICA - Outferiors
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If you are going to build a deck with Obeah cards, it's important to
make sure you don't get stuck with them in your hand. Since none of
them have the burn option, it's a good idea to look at their
'outferiors'.

With Obeah, we see that there are 2 cards with an outferior in
Animalism, Auspex and Fortitude, and one each in Dominate, Presence
and Valeren. That looks like a wide spread at first glance, but it's
not quite so bad. After all, several combinations of these occur on
existing clans: Aus/For (!Salubri, Harbingers), Ani/For (Gangrel,
country !Gangrel, Ravnos) and Ani/Aus (Tzimisce) spring to mind. The
!Ventrue even have aus/dom/for!
These clans should all be able to provide interesting allies to the
Salubri.

With Panacea (aus/obe) and Resurrection (obe/val) being geared towards
ally decks, it seems likely that Animalism and Fortitude are going to
be the most useful 'extra' disciplines for the Salubri. Of course,
Fortitude is already a clan discipline, so that helps.

Special note deserves Spirit Marionette (dom/obe), the basis for a
tournament winning Salubri deck. It's a powerful card that takes away
an opponent's vampire for at least a little while, and in the dominate
'outferior' it allows a +1 bleed at no cost - like inferior Scouting
Mission. It's hard to imagine how this card will stick in your hand a
lot if you include it in a deck in reasonable amounts.


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3. THE DWINDLING FEW
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Although almost all Ravnos share at least one discipline with the
Salubri (fortitude), it's their 'extra' animalism and (sometimes)
dominate that makes them such excellent allies to Matthias & Co. This
letter's guest star is Ezmerelda - a mysterious vampire at the least,
and not easily used, given her initial cost of 11 pool and likely 3
turns of transfering.

Ezmerelda [FN:R]
Cardtype:  Vampire
Clan:  Ravnos
Group:  2
Capacity:  11
Discipline:  dom tha ANI CHI FOR PRE
Independent: Ezmerelda has 2 votes. If Ezmerelda is ready during your
untap phase, you may remove her from the game to gain 11 pool. +1
bleed.

Her immense cost of 11 means that you should consider strong defensive
measures to survive until she's active (and beyond), and powerful
actions to take with her, since you can get at least two other decent
vampires for the investment you are about to make in her.

On the other hand, she has a very nice discipline match with the
Salubri, as we'll see in the deck below. Her special also helps to
offset her problematic cost somewhat, since you can always 'recycle'
her if she proves too much of an investment. You'll have lost a few
turns, but at least you survive.

Note, however, that she forces you to either have a very reliable
poolgain, and/or use dominate for bleed defence instead of the usual
Auspex (for the Salubri, at least). It's really too big of a vampire
to add as an afterthought to a deck; better make it worth your while,
but I think it can be done.


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4. THE POWERS OF THE RIGHTEOUS
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Renewed Vigor [BL:C2]
Cardtype:  Action
Cost:  1 blood
Discipline:  Obeah/Fortitude
 
+1 stealth action.
[for] Put this card on this acting vampire. During your untap phase,
if this vampire is in torpor, you can burn this card to move him or
her to your ready region. A vampire can have only one Renewed Vigor.
[obe] Move a vampire in torpor to his controller's ready region, or
restore an ally or retainer to his or her starting life (with life
counters from the blood bank).
[OBE] Choose any other vampire. That vampire gains enough blood from
the blood bank to reach full capacity.

This card is a small miracle. It's not at all uncommon for people to
play it just for it's 'outferior' effect, but how much more mileage
the Salubri get out of it! It allows you to bring another metuselah's
vampire out of torpor without the two blood cost, to restore an ally
to full life (somewhat cornercase), and most importantly: to bring any
other controlled vampire up to full capacity. You can't use this
effect on the acting vampire, but it does work on vampires in torpor -
an often overlooked fact. The superior effect makes it a worthy
runner-up for Voter Captivation in the blood-gain department, and
quite a bit better than the Fifth Tradition, which used to have this
honour before its errata.

Together with Minion Tap Renewed Vigor allows a quick recoup of
invested pool without unduly endangering a vampire. Of course, it
requires you to have not only a vampire to be tapped/refilled, but a
Salubri as well, but this is something you can plan on. Once you've
done this once, you should have a healthy pool as well as two solid
vampires.


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5. THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN - Decks featuring the Salubri
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This newsletter's deck is a versatile combination of what the Ravnos
and Salubri are good at: survival and mild table control.

Use the Storage Annexes to pack away your powercards, such as Week of
Nightmares, Sensory Deprivation, Baltimore Purge and others you have
no immediate use for. Build up your permanents patiently and don't
destabilize the table: your best chance is to reap the fruits when
someone else aggrevates the table and you can pick up the pieces.

Don't feel pressured to take brilliant actions every turn. It's
important to get your deck rolling first, and that requires at least a
Ravnos (preferably Ezmerelda or Gabrin) and a Salubri, and on most
tables you'll want permanent intercept as well. This deck can do it
(and more), but you'll need time.


Deck Name:   To take a caravan to Heaven
Created By:  Patrick van der Reest

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 16, Max: 41, Avg: 7.08)
----------------------------------------------
1  Spleen          ani chi                  2,  Ravnos
1  Zip             ani                      2,  Ravnos
2  Blanche Hill    aus FOR OBE              6,  Salubri
1  Sarisha Veliku  ANI chi dom FOR          6,  Ravnos
2  Matthias        AUS FOR nec OBE          7,  Salubri
2  Gabrin          ANI CHI dom for          8,  Ravnos
3  Ezmerelda       ANI CHI dom FOR PRE tha  11, Ravnos, 2 votes

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (18 cards)
1  Barrens, The
1  Dominate
1  Dreams of the Sphinx
1  Gambit Accepted
7  Minion Tap
1  Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper, The
1  Sight Beyond Sight
4  Storage Annex
1  Week of Nightmares

Action (21 cards)
2  Baltimore Purge
8  Renewed Vigor
3  Sensory Deprivation
6  Spirit Marionette
2  Unburdening the Bestial Soul

Action Modifier (10 cards)
2  Daring the Dawn
4  Fata Morgana
4  Freak Drive
2  Repulsion

Reaction (14 cards)
6  Deflection
4  Forced Awakening
4  Guard Dogs

Combat (21 cards)
4  Carrion Crows
3  Hidden Strength
3  Resilience
3  Rolling with the Punches
3  Superior Mettle
4  Vitae Block

Retainer (2 cards)
2  Raven Spy

Combo (4 cards)
4  Draba


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6. CONCLUSION
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Well, so far for 2003. I have some odd ideas I hope to present in the
new year, and in the meantime I'm going to test the deck I showed
above (if I can find the extra Ezmerelda somewhere).

Have a wonderful year's end, and remember: VP are to your left.


Blessings,

Patrick