INTRODUCTION

By the time this newsletter is published Lords of the Night will have been released. There will almost certainly be a number of cards with general utility and we Lasombra can occasionally work alongside the Giovanni, especially supported by our Kiasyd cousins. The focus of this newsletter is still the Black Hand however, as the cards from Sword of Caine also need to be considered. The months to come will probably contain some thoughts on Lords of the Night however.

I would like to take the time to thank "acheronnightstal..." a.k.a (I assume) Raziel for his comments on the last newsletter as well as generously providing his Black Hand decklist, which I have included below as in the "deck of the month" section.

LIBRARY FOCUS

Black Hand Emissary
Type: Action
Requires: seraph
Cost: 1 pool
+1 stealth action. Requires a ready Seraph. Unique.
Put this card on a ready Black Hand vampire. This Black Hand vampire gets X additional votes, where X is the number of ready Black Hand vampires you control. Any Seraph may move this card to a ready Black Hand vampire as a +1 stealth (D) action, directed at the controller of this card.
Rarity: SoC:R
Obviously this card provides some political weight to members of the Black Hand, with its effectiveness being directly proportional to the number of ready Black Hand vampires you control, a little like our beloved Power Structure. Black Hand Emissary does not make the recipient titled, so you're protected against the auto-fail clause of Confusion of the Eye. It also stacks with any title the vampire may already have. We Lasombra are quite politically adept, but lack the voting power of clans such as the Venture. With the cheapest Seraph in the game this card offers us a way to try and bridge the gap.

Census Taker
Type: Master
Cost: 1 pool
Unique master.
Put this card on a ready Black Hand vampire. During an action, this Black Hand vampire can tap to give any other Sabbat vampire +1 bleed or 2 additional votes for the current action. During an action, this Black Hand vampire can tap to give any other Black Hand vampire +1 intercept.
Rarity: SoC:R
A pretty simple card with obvious utility. Put it on one of your smaller Black Hand vampires and enjoy its versatility. If you're planning on making use of a number of lower capacity Black Hand vampires there's no real reason not to include this.

Drop Point Network
Type: Master
Requires: black hand
Cost: 1 pool
Master. Requires a ready Black Hand vampire.
Remove 7 cards in your ash heap from the game to search your library for a minion card. Show it to all players and move it to your hand. Discard afterward.
Rarity: SoC:R
Though Drop Point Network may not be as powerful as it appears at first glance, only allowing you to collect minion cards (and not, say, master cards or events) the ability to grab a much needed Deflection or Conditioning can make a real difference. It also actually provides a way of dealing with hand jam, ensuring you'll get hold of a card you actually want.

Follow the Blood
Type: Reaction
Requires: black hand
Requires a Black Hand vampire. Only usable when a hunt action is successful, after resolution.
This Black Hand vampire taps and enters combat with the acting vampire. This reacting vampire gets an optional maneuver or press in that combat. Rarity: SoC:R
Although this card offers an unblockable way of entering combat I'm not sure it's of much use to us personally. We're not the most power of clans in combat as is and we aren't too good at forcing people to hunt. Theoretically a combination between this and mass use of shadow twin might work, but such actions would probably be better spent bleeding.

Guarded Rubrics
Type: Equipment
Requires: black hand
Cost: 1 pool
Unique equipment. Requires a ready Black Hand vampire.
The vampire with this equipment may bleed at +2 bleed as a (D) action that costs 1 blood. While bearer is ready, Gehenna cards cost an additional pool to play.
Rarity: SoC:R
If your metagame is Gehenna heavy this card is an interesting addition that effectively gives one of your vampires permanent access to Govern the Unaligned at inferior. The capacity to bleed for at least 3 every turn is extremely powerful, while freeing up space for other cards within your deck.

Hand Contract
Type: Master
Master. Contract. Trifle.
Put this card on any ready minion and choose a Black Hand vampire. That Black Hand vampire may enter combat with the minion with this card as a +1 stealth (D) action unless they are controlled by the same Methuselah.
Rarity: SoC:C
Again, I'm not convinced combat is the best approach for us, but a superstar Black Hand deck that plans on making use of combat may find this useful, providing a permanent rush with stealth against an irksome target.

Praetorian Backer
Type: Action
Requires: seraph
Cost: 1 pool
+1 stealth action. Requires a ready Seraph. Unique. Title.
Put this card on a non-Black Hand Sabbat vampire with a capacity above 6 to represent the title of cardinal. Burn this card if you do not control a ready Seraph (or if this vampire otherwise loses the title).
Rarity: SoC:R
This is a lovely card. Plenty of Lasombra like Lord Vauxhall would love to become cardinals. So long as you can sneak this action through you don't need to worry about voting it in like you would other titles, this should combo quite nicely with Black Hand Emissary

Seraph's Second
Type: Action Modifier
Requires: seraph
Requires a ready Seraph. Only usable when a non-Seraph Black Hand vampire is acting, after resolution. Untap the acting Black Hand vampire. A Seraph may play only one Seraph's Second each turn.
Rarity: SoC:R
Probably inferior to Tattoo Signal, not being permanent, Seraph's Second still has much to offer. The power of cards like Freak Drive is well known, and Seraph's Second is similar, though it requires a ready Seraph to play it. But that's what Banjoko is for.

Tattoo Signal
Type: Action
Requires: seraph
+1 stealth action. Requires a Seraph.
Put this card on this acting Seraph. This ready Seraph may tap this card to untap another Black Hand vampire. A minion may have only one Tattoo Signal. Burn option.
Rarity: SoC:C
The ability to act multiple times in a given turn is extremely powerful. Tattoo signal gives our Black Hand minions the capacity to multiact, and again, we're fortunate enough to have the extremely cheap Seraph Banjoko. You could even use the Tattoo Signal to untap a vampire tapped by Census Taker.

Truth in Ink
Type: Reaction
Requires: black hand
Requires a Black Hand vampire.
Only usable when a vampire who is not Black Hand is bleeding you. Reduce the bleed amount by 2.
Rarity: SoC:C
Effectively Telepathic Counter, requiring the Black Hand trait rather than Auspex, this card probably isn't of vast use to us as we already have access to bounce-tech, superior to reduction, as we can use bounce to pit our predators bleeds against our prey.

DECK OF THE MONTH

First up we have Raziel's Black Hand Lasombra deck which took "2nd place during [a] quite small tournament".

Deck Name: Black Hand Lasombra v1.1
Created By: Raziel
Description:

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 16, Max: 25, Avg: 5,0Cool
----------------------------------------------
2 Henri Lavenant pot qui DOM OBT 7 Lasombra
2 Ermenegildo pot DOM OBT 5 Lasombra
1 Andrew Emory aus dom pot OBT 5 Lasombra
1 Dame Hollerton myt DOM OBT 5 Kiasyd
1 Virginie obt DOM POT 6 Lasombra
1 Lucy Markowitz dom obt 3 Lasombra
3 Banjoko obt pot DOM 5 Lasombra
1 Hester Reed obt pot 3 Lasombra

Library: (86 cards)
-------------------
Master (16 cards)
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
2 Watchtower: Four Ride Forth
1 Powerbase: Montreal
3 Corporal Reservoir
1 Elysian Fields
1 Hungry Coyote, The
5 Blood Doll
1 Direct Intervention

Action (13 cards)
1 Black Metamorphosis
1 Far Mastery
1 Aranthebes, The Immortal
2 Abbot
5 Govern the Unaligned
3 Tattoo Signal

Action Modifier (17 cards)
3 Shroud of Absence
4 Shadow Play
4 Seraph's Second
2 Shroud of Night
2 Conditioning
2 Threats

Reaction (12 cards)
4 Redirection
2 Eyes of the Night
2 Ministry
4 On the Qui Vive

Combat (20 cards)
6 Arms of the Abyss
2 Disarm
3 Darkness Within
3 Oubliette
6 Weighted Walking Stick

Ally (3 cards)
1 Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
2 Procurer

Retainer (3 cards)
1 Tasha Morgan
1 J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1 Mr. Winthrop

Equipment (1 cards)
1 Guarded Rubrics

Event (1 cards)
1 Uncoiling, The

SIGN OFF

The more astute readers will have noticed that the long promised deck featuring Luca was not actually featured. I simply haven't got round to being able to put it together, not having able to play VTES as much as I would have liked over the past few months. For that reason I'm extra thankful for Raziel's donation of his own decklist without which we'd have had yet another empty "deck of the month section". By the next newsletter hopefully something will have been done about that, but even if that is not the case, Lords of the Night will have been released and I'll take a look at what it offers the Clan of Shadow.