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[ AHRIMANES NEWSLETTER ]
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1.0 - Editorial
1.1 Word From the Editor
1.2 Next Issue
2.0 - Deck Section
2.1 - The reincarnation of an ornithologist
2.2 - Vulture Eaters v1.0
2.3 Sign Off

--[1.1 - Word from the Editor]-----------------------
This month we have two decklists, one as promised is Erik Torstensson's tournament winning 'The reincarnation of an ornithologist', earlier versions of which have been featured in previous newsletter. The second decklist is from the fiendish mind of David V Vega, who has applied himself to the inner working of Vultures Buffet, which led him to create Vulture Eaters v1.0.

--[1.2 -Next Issue]------------------------------------
Will have to see if the Ahrimanes can win another tournament before the end of March, if not I will have to think of something else to put in. So it's all a surprise at the moment, not least for me.

--[2.1 - Deck: The reincarnation of an ornithologist]---------------------------------------
First up is the Tournament winner for 12th Jan, Gothenburg, Sweden 2008.
This was an 11 player (always awkward) tournament, with this deck winning two of the three games it played in (including the final).
Here's Eriks deck (brought to you by "FistPig productions" - A fist for the future)
Deck Name: The reincarnation of an ornithologist
Author : Erik Torstensson

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 7 average: 5.42
------------------------------------------------------------
3x Muricia 7 ANI PRE SPI Ahrimane:4
3x Effie Lowery 5 ANI SPI obf Ahrimane:4
1x Batsheva 6 ANI PRE obt pot Guruhi:4
1x Gentha Shale 6 ANI PRE pot spi Ahrimane:4
1x Célèste Lamontagne 5 ANI PRO for!Gangrel:4
1x Fish 5 ANI POT pre Guruhi:4
1x Bobby Lemon 4 ANI pro Gangrel:3
1x Stick 3 ANI !Nosferatu:4

Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [12]
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
1x Army of Rats
6x Enchant Kindred
1x Engling Fury
2x Entrancement
1x Muricia's Call

Ally [1]
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)

Combat [22]
8x Aid from Bats
2x Canine Horde
8x Carrion Crows
4x Taste of Vitae

Combat/Action Modifier [6]
6x Swiftness of the Stag

Equipment [2]
2x .44 Magnum

Event [1]
1x Dragonbound

Master [16]
4x Blood Doll
2x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x KRCG News Radio
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper, The
2x Vessel
2x Wash

Reaction [25]
4x Cats' Guidance
2x Delaying Tactics
6x Falcon's Eye
4x Forced Awakening
2x On the Qui Vive
7x Speak with Spirits

Retainer [5]
5x Raven Spy

There are a number of changes between the previous version of this deck, and the one here. I have listed the differences here:
Stick has replaced Mouse -1 Army of Rats, -1 Enchant Kindred, -1 Aid from Bats, -1 CarrionCrows, -5 Terror Frenzy, -1 Taste of Vitae, -1 .44 Magnum, -1 Blood Doll, -1 Smiling Jack & -3 Forced Awakening.
+1 Aranthebes, the Immortal, +2 Canine Horde, +1 Carlton van Wyk, +2 Direct Intervention, +1 Dreams of the Sphinx, +1 Pentex Subversion(tm), +2 Vessel, +2 Wash, +2 On the Qui Vive &+2 Delaying Tactics.
I would suggest that some of these changes are related to the local gaming, however there are a few new cards that have shown up, namely Vessel, Wash and On the Qui Vive. The two masters increase the control aspect of this deck, along with the two DI's as Vessel eliminates Blood Dolls and Wash knocks out key master cards. On the Qui Vive is a straight forward replacement of Forced Awakening, which doesn't have the burn blood penalty. Something that caught my eye is Pentex Subversion, which I often forget about, but suits the Ahrimanes in their usual intercept deck.

--[2.2 - Deck: Ahrimanes Vulture Eaters]------------------------------------
Here the NL is taken over by David V Vega, Prince of Sydney, and regular JOL player. Indeed it was on JOL that this deck came to light, as he ousted my Kiasyd deck in short order - my fault for straying from the light of the Ahrimanes. Anyway without further ado I let David do the talking.

====== THE PURPOSE =======
My deck building strategy is usually one of two options: completely fun no winning expected, or attempting to be serious.
Even when I attempt to be serious I just HAVE to use cards that seldom see play from my local playgroup.
So it was with great joy I saw Vulture's Buffet in a booster. It had a bloat mechanism that wasn't obvious and seemed to be a great deal of work for little return. As an aside I think a Demdemeh deck could use it somehow. He has pre and ANI so fits in with Ahrimanes a little, plus he has that animal's ability.
So how do I use the card? I need some kind of minion in the ash heap. This means I have to either burn vampires from myself or other Methuselah's, or rely on everyone else playing retainers/allies, or discard my own retainers/allies. So I scoured the FELDB and found that the only minion that fit the bill was D'Habi Revenant. It had a burnable option so it was easy to get rid of them for myself. This also guaranteed I'd have a target for the card. It also made the deck size effectively 10 cards smaller since you can discard one in a Methuselah's untap phase (even your own). The deck is also shorter by another 10 cards since the Vulture's Buffet doesn't tap your vampire, so it is easily cycled out.
So that was how I was going to keep my Ahrimanes healthy: they lack a clan hunting ground so I needed something. As a side effect they give me 1 pool AND they untap after the hunt. The best thing, however, was that it was a hunt action, meaning I could take it when I was forced to hunt.
So now I had to make sure the hunt went through as regularly as possible. In the same booster I had a Squirrel's Balance. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this deck was built on a single booster basis, it was just that I focused on this booster a little more carefully. So here was a great little card. It could be cycled in the event of a no-block (since it gave blockers -intercept, not stealth), and it was pretty strong for a non-stealth deck. This would make the hunt effectively at 3 stealth. But just to make sure I also employed the Unlicensed Taxi Cab. One of the great cards from the Anarchs Set. I'm a fan of the set (stop snickering) and I've always loved the Taxi Cab.
So there was the bloat mechanism. Now just to get the blood off them. Blood Dolls of course (these could very well Become Vessels) and Minion Taps. The MTs were of more importance. I could pull a lot of blood off a vampire (say 7 from Howler) and hunt for 2 (3 with Hungry Coyote).
Okay now I had to oust my prey and somehow survive combat. Ousting was a matter of using Presence. Of their 3 clan disciplines it is the only one with effective bleed cards. I toyed with Enchant Kindred for a while, which would give me more pool and cheap vampires, but settled on Legal Manipulations and Social Charm for their pool gain. The deck could be modified to include Capitalist or Perfectionist for more blood gain on vampires I'm sure.
So every action so far in the deck gained me pool. That should hold off a vote deck for a while, weenie DOM bleed was and is still a big problem, especially if no Minion Tap is drawn. However I've survived a mid-cap Dominate Bleed deck so maybe its drawing luck?
Combat ... no matter how much pool I had, combat would kill me eventually. Sure I could bring more vampires out, but if they didn't destroy the vampire, I couldn't self contest. So the obvious choice was Majesty. However that cost blood, and being a greedy Methuselah who knew that his minions needed their blood I chose Leapfrog instead. It ended combat and had the minor effect of a maneuver, which made it doubly effective against Immortal Grapple. I've been thinking about Unholy Penance and maybe Majesty since it seems to generate blood well. Just needs play testing.
So that's the theory behind the deck. Bloat to hold off the predator, while bleeding at the same time.
Why are there no bleed modifiers in the deck? Because around my way Archon Investigation is played a fair amount. So I general keep the bleed to 3 or under. Sometimes I will take the risk with The Siamese and a Legal Manipulations but very rarely.
To round out the deck I put in some defensive options like Sudden Reversal, Direct Intervention, Aranthebes, and Swiftness of the Stag.
Things that could work: Majesty or Unholy Penance, Public Trust mixed in with the Legal Manipulations (pool gain is just put on a vampire).
So enjoy, give it a go: those 10 Vulture's Buffet are expensive, and finally you have a use for D'Habi Revenants.

====== AND THE DECK =======
Deck Name: Ahrimanes Vulture Eaters v1.0
Created By: David V Vega, Prince of Sydney, Australia
Description: Ahrimanes bleed and bloat.

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 19, Max: 31, Avg: 6.33)
----------------------------------------------
3 Howler obf ANI PRE SPI 8 Ahrimanes
3 Siamese ani pro PRE SPI 7 Ahrimanes
2 Cynthia Ingold ani for pre SPI 6 Ahrimanes
1 Juanita Santiago ani pre spi 4 Ahrimanes
1 Maria Stone cel obf pro FOR 5 Gangrel Antitribu
1 Maria Stone (ADV) cel obf pre pro spi FOR 5 Ahrimanes
1 Nettie Hale ani cel pre pro spi 5 Ahrimanes

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (19 cards)
7 Minion Tap
4 Blood Doll
4 Presence
2 Sudden Reversal
1 Direct Intervention
1 Hungry Coyote, The

Action (29 cards)
10 Vulture`s Buffet
8 Legal Manipulations
8 Social Charm
2 Sanguine Instruction
1 Aranthebes, The Immortal

Action Modifier (8 cards)
8 Squirrel Balance

Combat (11 cards)
11 Leapfrog

Retainer (13 cards)
10 D`habi Revenant
3 Marijava Ghoul

Equipment (4 cards)
4 Unlicensed Taxicab

Combo (6 cards)
6 Swiftness of the Stag

This deck was last saved at 01:47:58 on 9/02/2008
Put together using Fragment of the Elder Library Deck Builder (FELDB)
Regards,
David V. Vega (quetzalcoatl @ JOL)
Prince of Sydney, Australia

====== THE END =======
As you can see it is a very interesting deck, and quite a step away from the usual toolbox decks that the Ahrimanes tend to be. I really like the pool generation, which can be a struggle normally. Also being quite a different concept means that people will play against it as they expect the Ahrimanes to play - wary of blocks and combat, and probably not interfering with your plans before it is too late. I will have to try it somewhere - probably not JOL, as it is bound to be contesting with David, and that would be cruel.

--[2.3 - Sign Off]-------------------------------------
It is nice to have a big contribution to the NL, like David has contributed this issue. If you have anything similar to add, please email it to me and I will add it into a future NL. Given that that included two popular skills - ANI and PRE, there should be lots of things to talk about, so lets have them.

Sam
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