OFFICIAL VEKN BRUJAH NEWSLETTER |
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„The best way out is always through.”
Robert Frost, „A Servant to Servants”
Table of Contents
--------------------------------Introduction
--The Vamps you shouldn’t ignore
----------------Interesting “COMBOS”
---------------------------General Advice
Introduction
Before jumping into the discussion of my beloved Brujahs I would like to introduce myself. My name is Martin Major, I live in Papkeszi (Hungary) and started playing v:tes in early 2004. During my early v:tes career I hated all kind of combat decks including the clan Brujah. With KoT being released things changed a lot. I believe that the new Brujahs in group 4 and 5 are a great addition to the game and maybe they became one of the strongest clans. Therefore I will focus on these groups in this newsletter. Furthermore I will concentrate on one strategy only: bruise and vote, other strategies shall be discussed in upcoming newsletters. I think it is not unnecessary to mention that everything in this article is entirely subjective and that I don’t take any responsibility if you find yourself being ousted after 30 seconds because you read this load of old bollocks…
The Vamps you shouldn’t ignore
In this section I will briefly go through the top vamps in group 4 and 5. The order is determined by capacity in the first and alphabetically order in the second place.
Jann Berger, 10, dem for CEL POT PRE, Brujah, 4, [KoT] Camarilla Prince of Monaco. Cards that require Potence cost Jann 1 less blood. +1 bleed.
Jann is definitely not such a powerhouse like Dmitra or Carlak but he shouldn’t be underestimated. With inferior fortitude you have access to cards like Freak Drive and Forced March providing you with the option to take multiple hurtful actions. The +1 bleed ability gives you some extra ousting power while his ability to play cards requiring potence for 1 less blood comes in really handy if you plan your deck around the (overpowered?) cards Heroic Might and Preternatural Strength. I think it is not necessary to mention the power of the prince title.
Dmitra Ilyanova, 9, obf CEL FOR POT PRE., Brujah, 5, [KoT] Camarilla Brujah Justicar: Dmitra may call a referendum to distribute 4 blood from the blood bank among one or more ready vampires as a +1 stealth political action.
Dmitra is borderline broken. Not only is she a justicar for only 9 pool, but she also has a near-to-perfect discipline distribution and an awesome ability. With a couple of Vessels and some Voter Captivations Dmitra provides you with a very strong bloating mechanic.
Carlak, 8, dom pot CEL PRE, Brujah, 5, [KoT] Camarilla Prince of Prague. When votes are tallied during any referendum, Carlak gains 1 blood for each Methuselah casting no votes in favor and at least 1 vote against the referendum. He gets an optional press each combat.
Carlak is an amazingly strong vampire for any bruise and vote deck. His built in press comes in very handy when using equipments like .44 Magnum or Assault Rifle. Carlak also features a good blood gaining ability from which you will benefit more often than you think!
Karen Suadela, 7, pre obf POT CEL pre obf, Brujah, 5, [KoT] Camarilla Prince of Houston: Gehenna cards do not affect Karen while she is a prince. She gets +1 stealth on undirected actions.
Her +1 stealth on undirected actions ability helps to pass crucial actions like Parity Shift, Anathema or Fourth Tradition. With superior celerity she can play another stealth card: Resist Earth Grasp. Her disciplines make her a great addition to a bruise and vote deck. For players who are more interested in the fun part of the game rather than effectiveness, Karen’s Gehenna cards related ability may very inspiring.
Tara, 6, cel POT PRE, Brujah, 5, [KoT] Camarilla Prince of San Diego
A prince for six pool is always nice, but Tara’s disciplines make her even better, since she can play both levels of Iron Glare and besides being strong in combat with superior Potence she also can make full use of cards like Voter Captivation or Perfect Paragon. She is as versatile as a six cap can be.
Reginald Moore, 4, PRE, Brujah, 4, [KoT] Camarilla Primogen: Reginald gets +1 strength in combat with Tremere and Tremere antitribu. He cannot block vampires of those clans or attempt actions to enter combat with them.
Even though I focus on the bruise and bleed strategy in this clan letter, Reginald Moore is still worth to mention. With New Carthage he will have 2 votes and 2 bleed for only 4 pool. Enough said.
Interesting “COMBOS”
In this section I will not only introduce some of the key cards, and also show how these work together. I will not waste space to discuss well known and trivial cards like Immortal Grapple or Second Tradition.
Carver`s Meat Packing and Storage and Dragonbound
Both cards need vampires to be torporized. These cards are strong on their own but can be a match winner if they are in play together. Carver’s prevents vampires of capacity less than 4 from being rescued or diablerized, so their controller has no way to avoid the pool loss caused by Dragonbound. Any weenie deck will turn into an easy Vp!
Frontal Assault and My Kin Against the World
These cards form another lethal combo. Basically there are two ways to use it. The first would be to attack and torporize your prey’s vampires, play My Kin to untap and then diablerize all of them, or if possible bleed him out. If you have plans to go with this option you should let your prey build up a little and allow him to go forward. Since this combo is basically a one turn kill you should spend your turns with building up for it. Very generally spoken: if you let your prey being strong -> weak grand prey -> strong grand predator -> weak predator -> good for you! Again: very generally spoken. The other way to make use of these cards is to first perform your actions like Preternatural Strength, Heroic Might, all kinds of Equip actions, Anathema etc. and after you are done with this “set-up” call the My Kin and wreak havoc upon your prey.
Carthage Remembered and New Carthage
So your prey has a Secure Haven, or is loaded with cards like Obedience, Mental Maze or is just preventing everything? Have a plan B! These to master cards let you turn into a stealth bleed. Since you will more than likely play with cards like Resist Earth’s Grasp, Perfect Paragon, Entrancement and Enchant Kindred (or at least with some of them) you can find yourself in a situation where it is easier to stealth bleed your prey to death than to torporize his or her vampires. With Dmitra and two other princes in play you will have a constant “bleed for six at one stealth” available. Throw in some of the cards mentioned above and you should be able to get rid of your “combat resistant prey” in 2 turns.
Stutter Step and Disarm
I’ve seen this combat solution in the TWDA and I have to say that I like it a lot. This is much more a defensive combat option than an offensive solution. You may want to try this in a stealth vote deck instead of the old school 10+ majesty package. Since you will have the vote lock almost always you can build on trying to torporize nasty vampires attacking or blocking you and then diablerize them. Do this one time and people will think twice before attacking or blocking you again.
Since a Brujah deck is full of “combos” you want to find these in time. Some of these cards may help you to improve your chances: Heart of Cheating (Nizchetus), Dreams of the Sphinx, The Barrens, if you are afraid of contesting the Dreams or Storage Annex (I don’t think you will have the extra master card spot for it).
General Advice
No matter how you build your Brujah deck it will need time to set up. Not only will you want to control at least three mid cap vampires and have a New Carthage (3 pool!) in play you also want to get your “combat engine” ready. There are several options available for this. You can go with a classic Alastor + Assault Rifle, a .44 Magnum + celerity combat cards or a +strength (Preternatural strength, Heroic Might, Depravity) version with either Potence (Immortal, Slam, Disarm, etc.) or Celerity (Pursuit, Psyche!, Resist Earth’s Grasp, etc.) as support. Since it may take you couple of turns to be done with this you want to reduce the pressure from your predators side as much as you can. Generally I would suggest to never miss an opportunity to hurt your predator. You want him so weak that he can only defend himself. Even if this results in him or her getting surely ousted before you can make a sweep it is worth sacrificing him or her. Once you are done with your set up you will be able to “take care” of your prey within a turn or two. I sometimes experienced that at this point I already “lost” 2 Vp’s at the table (1vp for my prey and 1 vp for my grand predator), but on the other hand I could easily deal with the 2 remaining players and finish the table with 1 Game Win and 3 Vp’s.
Never make the mistake to accept deals from your predator like: “if you don’t rush me I won’t go forward in my turn”. By the time he or she says that “I might want to go forward” it may be too late for you to rush backwards. This is actually a classic beginner’s mistake. Keep in mind that you won’t play any bleed bounce so you are very vulnerable to bleed decks.
That’s it for this time! Expect another newsletter in March. - Mephistopheles -