1.0 - Editorial
1.1 Word From the Editor
1.2 Next Issue
2.0 - Concepts
2.1 Crypt Card Focus
2.2 Library Card Focus
3.0 - Deck
3.1 No Ahrimane Ahrimanes
3.2 Index of Newsletters so far
3.3 Sign Off

--[1.1 - Word from the Editor]----------------------

Only one Ahrimane win in the Millennium Cultists Storyline?The shame of it all, I mean we are behind the Daughters of Cacophony!Sheesh! Oh well, there is always next year, and those winning cards aren't normally that powerful, who needs new cards anyway eh?

--[1.2 -Next Issue]------------------------------------

I will (hopefully, assuming no further delays) give an overview of the new Sword of Caine cards, highlighting out those that might make an appearance in an Ahrimane deck.In the issue after that I will put up a selection of the decks I have had forwarded to me from other Ahrimane players- if you want your deck to appear in these pages then forward them to me.

--[2.1 - Crypt Card Focus]--------------------------

This issue brings a new vampire to the fore, one that fits very well with a past star, it is:

Aksinya Daclau
Clan: Gangrel antitribu (group 4)
Capacity: 9
Disciplines: ANI FOR PRE PRO cel tha
Sabbat: Once each turn during a bleed against you, if Aksinya is ready and untapped, you may discard a master card from your hand to redirect the bleed to any other Methuselah.
When I wrote about Una, way back in issue 4 I noted the following: A Sabbat vote deck with ANI PRE and SPI could be quite powerful as all three disciplines have a wide scope of abilities, which will make it difficult for your opponents to guess what your deck will do.You will need to build up your voting power with a few Cardinal Benedictions, but these can be forced through with Swiftness of the Stag and Chameleon's Colors or even a Día de los Muertos! Of course since then we have had more SPI cards such as Squirrel Balance to really force through those actions, however we are looking at Aksinya, and what she brings to the mix.Well the first thing to notice is just how well she matches up with Una.

Una
Clan: Gangrel antitribu (group 3)
Capacity: 9
Disciplines: ANI FOR PRE PRO dem
Sabbat Archbishop of Dublin: Cards that require Fortitude [for] cost Una 1 less blood to play.
The first four skills are exactly the same, and they both have ANI and PRE, which gives us a good investment for any Ahrimane based deck. Aksinya also has her oh so nice special text, which is if ready and untapped, she can discard a Master card to redirect a bleed. Fantastic!If we use some Guard Dogs or Rats Warning then we actually untap rather than count as untapped.You could try Speak with Spirits of course, but that requires you to attempt to block first which you may not want to do, also it will need you to have put SPI on Aksinya, which will delay its use.To power this special you are going to need Master cards, lots of Master cards that you no longer want in your hand.For that I suggest Feral Spirit and Spontaneous Power as they will help tool up Aksinya and Una, but are only useful the first time, but then clutter your hand afterwards - so discard for bounce and card draw!Other cards that might be good to use are Powerbase: Madrid, if you are going the voting route, or more generally some Master Trifles, such as Life in the City and Wash.Both of these are very useful as they are, and will quickly filter through your hand if you need to move them with the new Trifle rules.Like I said, FANTASTIC!

--[2.2 - Library Card Focus]------------------------

This month I am going to start looking at voting, so the first card has to be:
Charming Lobby
Type: Action
Requires: Presence
+1 stealth political action.
[pre] This vampire calls a referendum listed on a political action card in your hand (play that card) or allowed by an effect in play. If the referendum passes, then the next referendum called by any vampire thereafter passes automatically.
[PRE] As above, and this vampire gains 2 votes in that first referendum.
This card doesn't get a lot of play normally, as a Vote deck tends to have inherent votes, however, by going with the Ahrimanes we are going to need every vote we can get, and this adds two at PRE.It is also slightly sneaky, in that if the action (Charming Lobby) is blocked then the political action card will stay in your hand for later use. Another option that presents itself for voting is:

Private Audience
Type: Action Modifier
Requires: archbishop,priscus,cardinal,regent
Cost: 1 blood
Requires a ready archbishop, priscus, cardinal or regent. Only usable during a referendum, before any votes are cast. Non-Sabbat vampires cannot vote on the current referendum.
This will prevent some of the voting players from casting their votes at all.Of course Sabbat vampires can still vote, so don't pack too many, especially as 3rd Edition has just come out so there has been a surge in the use of the Sabbat.

--[3.1 - Deck: No Ahrimane Ahrimanes ]---------------------------------------

Deck Name : No Ahrimane Ahrimanes
Author : Sam Marsh
Description :ANI FOR PRE PRO SPI
Probably not a very stable deck, as it uses five skills, and some high cap vampires.However it is more to show the principle, and hopefully some of the potential of the idea for you to develop in your own Meta Game.
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 9 average: 7.5
3x Aksinya Daclau 9ANI FOR PRE PRO cel tha ! Gangrel:4
3x Una 9ANI FOR PRE PRO dem archbishop ! Gangrel:3
3x Muricia 7ANI PRE SPI Ahrimane:4
2x Effie Lowery 5ANI SPI obf Ahrimane:4
1x Célèste Lamontagne 5ANI PRO for ! Gangrel:4

Library [90 cards]
Action [11]
2x Army of Rats
2x Charming Lobby
2x Enchant Kindred
3x Engling Fury
2x Sanguine Instruction

Action Modifier [15]
4x Bewitching Oration
1x Bribes
2x Earth Control
2x Freak Drive
2x Squirrel Balance
4x Voter Captivation

Action Modifier/Combat [2]
2x Rapid Change

Combat [6]
2x Form of Mist
2x Leapfrog
2x Staredown

Combat/Action Modifier [2]
2x Swiftness of the Stag

Master [24]
2x Blood Doll
4x Feral Spirit
6x Life in the City
6x Minion Tap
3x Powerbase: Madrid
1x Protean
2x Spontaneous Power

Political Action [20]
1x Ancient Influence
4x Cardinal Benediction
3x Conservative Agitation
1x Disputed Territory
2x Honor the Elders
8x Kine Resources Contested
1x Political Stranglehold

Reaction [10]
6x Guard Dogs
2x Keep It Simple
2x Treachery

May get around to trying this, but equally may not.If you do try it, or something similar please let me know how you get on, and send me a decklist - it will show up in a future NL.

--[3.2 - Index]-----------------------------------------

For those of you that come fresh to the Ahrimanes here is an index of all of the featured cards and deck lists (DL) from Newsletters 1-22. Hopefully it will be of use.
3rd Edition cards brief overview - issue 17
Abbot - issue 19
Abombwe cards overview - issue 18
Ahrimane Abombwe (DL) - issue 18
Ahrimane Block Prevention (DL) - issue 10
Ahrimane Championship (DL) - issue 6
Ahrimane Howling (DL) - issue 4
Ahrimane Laibon (DL) - issue 15
Ahrimane Murder of Crows (DL) - issue 9
Ahrimane Non Skill - issue 19
Ahrimane Protectorate - issue 19
Ahrimane Raptors (DL) - issue 16
Ahrimane Wall (DL) - issue 6
Ahrimane Winner (DL) - issue 20
Ahrimanes Die Imbued Die (DL) - issue 14
Ahrimanes WES JOL (DL) - issue 7
Ahrimanes New Wall (DL) - issue 13
Ahrimanes No Muricia (DL) - issue 8
Ahrimanes Share (DL) - issue 7
Ahrimanes Toolbox (DL) - issue 16
Aksinya Daclau - issue 22
All in Favor, Howl "Yea" (DL) - issue 4
All In favour MOD (DL) - issue 4
Anarch Sniper Cats (DL) - issue 21
Approximation of Loyalty - issue 10
Atonement - issue 19
Aye - issue 15
Bear Paw - issue 5
Bitch Fight (DL) - issue 9
Bloodstone - issue 19
Botched Move - issue 20
Centralised Background Check- issue 14
Chiram's Hold - issue 20
Communal Haven: Temple - issue 19
Cull the Herd - issue 11
Cynthia Ingold - issue 20
Effie Lowery. - issue 13
Elephant Guardian - issue 15
Flock of Birds (DL) - issue 5
Friday night in Atlanta (DL) - issue 5
Gran Madre di Dio, Italy - issue 20
Guardian Angel - issue 19
Howler - issue 6
Illegal Search and Seizure - issue 14.
Juanita Santiago - issue 19
LoB cards brief overview - issue 8
LoQuipment brief overview - issue 12
Maria Stone - issue 12
Ministry - issue 19
Mozambique Allure - issue 15
Muricia - issue 7
Neighbourhood Watch Commander - issue 6
Nettie Hale - done issue 15
No Secrets From the Magaji - issue 15
Number of the Beast (DL) - issue 13
Owl Companion - issue 7
Pack Alpha - issue 5
Phased Motion Sensor - issue 19
Private Audience - issue 22
Prophesies of Gehenna - issue 11
Sandra White - issue 11
Sandra's Buffet (DL) - issue 11
Sobayifa - issue 14
Swarm - issue 15
Spontaneous Power - issue 4
Squirrel Balance - issue 10
Sterile Maidens and a Few Random Pimps (DL) - issue 9
Swiftness of the Stag - issue 7
Terra Incognita - issue 15
Terror Frenzy - issue 14
The Puppy Poem - issue 5
The reincarnation of an ornithologist, mark II (DL) - issue 16
The Siamese - issue 10
The Siamese (covered again) - issue 18
Tools of the Trade (DL) - issue 21
Una - issue 4
Victim of Habit - issue 13
Vultures Buffet - issue 12
Waxen Poetica - issue 20
Wildebeest, The - issue 2
Of course you can find all of the above articles in the issue listed at
http://www.thelasombra.com/ClanPages/ahrimanes/index.htm
Which also has some more deck lists, and some details of Clan cards.

--[3.3 - Sign Off]-------------------------------------

When looking at that Index I realise that I have covered quite a lot of cards, and made many decks, yet there is still so many options to cover such as more politics, the Gangrel factor, and Anarchs, all of which I have mentioned in the past but never gone into in any depth. One surprise when I was compiling the index was the fact that I have covered The Siamese twice.Not sure how that happened, as I had a record of the previous NLs, but there you go.Anyway now the precedent has been set it I may go back to older cards to give them an update in relation to new cards.

Sam
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