Official VEKN Ravnos Clan Newsletter - December 2005

Ravnos Clan Newsletter December 2005
Written by Graham Smith
Deck by Antero

Introduction
=========
November saw the release of Legacies of Blood so this month's
newsletter is a short round up of the new cards the Ravnos received.

New Cards
========
In Legacies of Blood the Ravnos received 2 new vampires and a new clan
card - there were also a few non Ravnos vampires introduced that match
up very well with the G3/G4 Ravnos disciplines.

Crypt Cards
=======
Tsunda
Clan: Ravnos (group 4)
Capacity: 6
Disciplines: CHI abo ani dem
Laibon magaji.
Rarity: LoB:U

A 6 cap with 2 in clan disciplines and a title, not too bad.
Chimerstry at superior and animalism at inferior means she will fit in
most Ravnos decks. The abo allows her to mix with the Akanuse and
makes a good match with Sanjo. I'm not sure what she can use the dem
for as the only other Ravnos with dem is Hazimel, maybe an Edged
Illusion Sleep of reason deck or using her for a token Blessing of
Chaos to stop dominate or presence bleed enhancers. Overall a solid 6
cap that opens up new directions for the Ravnos.

Wamukota
Clan: Ravnos (group 4)
Capacity: 9
Disciplines: ANI CHI FOR PRE aus
Laibon: If one of your other Laibon is blocked while attempting to
equip, employ, or recruit, you may tap Wamukota to cancel the combat
(if any) and have that Laibon continue the action as if unblocked. +1
bleed.
Rarity: LoB:U

A 9 cap with all in clan disciplines at superior and superior presence
which seems to be the fourth clan discipline in group 4. The +1 bleed
is nice and his special could save the day when equipping with that
vital piece of equipment. Wamukota is asking to have a presence vote
deck built around him with the other presence Ravnos and Falhu Shibaba.
Expect him to make appearance in a future newsletter.

Sanjo
Clan: Akunanse (group 3)
Capacity: 6
Disciplines: ANI FOR abo chi
Laibon.
Rarity: LoB:PA2

A 6 cap from the new Akunanse clan. With superior animalism and
fortitude and inferior chimerstry, Sanjo will fit into most Ravnos
decks and can team up with Tsunda for some
abo support.

Falhu Shibaba
Clan: Ishtarri (group 3)
Capacity: 8
Disciplines: CEL CHI FOR PRE ani
Laibon magaji: Any Laibon may take a (D) action that costs 1 blood to
tap Falhu and cause him not to untap as normal on his next untap phase.
Rarity: LoB:U

Falhu is a group 4 Ravnos in all but clan. Chimerstry Fortuide and
Presence at superior is great in an 8 cap with a title. He does have
what could turn out to be a major draw back but I will wait and see if
this is true once the interest in the new set dies down and tables do
not contain purely Liabon vampires. He teams up very well with
Wamukota, definitely one for a Ravnos presence vote deck.

Library Cards
==========

Eldest Are Kholo, The
Type: Action Modifier/Reaction
Requires: Ravnos
Only usable during a referendum.
[ACTION MODIFIER] Each ready Laibon Ravnos gets 2 additional votes.
[REACTION] Each ready Ravnos gets 1 additional vote.

Rarity: LoB:R

This card means Ravnos now have a say in kindred politics. The card
can be used offensively when combined with Tumnimos created by Tsunda
or Wamukota. With a horde of Laibon Tumnimos, a tap and vote/bleed
deck can be built using Red Herring. Defensively the card provides
much need votes that can be used by any Ravnos to attempt to cause a
referendum to fail. Overall a strong card that opens up new
possibilities for the clan.

Phantom Speaker
Type: Action Modifier
Requires: Melpominee/Chimerstry
Only usable when this acting vampire is blocked (before tapping the
blocker)
[chi] Cancel combat and do not tap the blocking minion.
[mel] The block fails and the action continues. The blocking minion
cannot attempt to block this action again. Not usable if the blocking
minion is an older vampire.
[MEL] As [mel] above, and if this action is successful, tap that
blocking minion.

Rarity: LoB:C
A Change of Target for chimerstry. Will probably only be used in a
Ravnos deck when I've run out of Change of Targets.

Deck of the Month
==============
This months deck has been created by Antero - he originally posted it
on The Path of Blood but has kindly allowed me to use it in this months
newsletter. So here is Decembers deck in Antero's own words.

I just had to try Tsunda, as when I first saw him I knew I have to make
a deck that uses him ASAP. So, here is the second version of
Tsunda+Akunanse votey deck. I tries first to take the votes, and do
some pool damage via KRC's while trying to get No Secrets and .44's for
endgame. The Tupdogs are there to round out the crypt, or make suicide
actions/blocks (see: Ignis Fatuus+Draba, which should also help in
keeping the No Secrets) I took 2 vp's yesterday in 4 player game. The
endgame was a show how No Secrets and a single .44 can make all the
difference, but due to rather toolboxy approach, the forward momentum
was poor. Help needed, I feel like I'm walking in the dark with all new
toys and can't decide what to do w/them....

And just for the record, I think that Tsunda is just fine as he is.
With fortitude, he would have been perhaps too good.

Deck Name: Tsunda is Kholo v0.2
Created by: Antero
Decription: An Akunanse/Ravnos semi-vote and block or something -deck

Crypt (12)
2 Nkule Galadima Aku 8 ani aus pre ABO FOR Laibon Magaji
2 Uchenna Aku 7 ABO ANI FOR Laibon Magaji
2 Tsunda Rav 6 abo ani dem CHI Laibon Magaji
1 Callirus Rav 5 ani FOR CHI
1 Gharston Roland Rav 4ani pot CHI
4 Tupdog Gar 1 Sabbat

Library (82)

Master (12, 2 Trifle)
2 Abombwe*
3 Blood Doll
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Giant's Blood
1 Jungle Hunting Ground
2 Legendary Vampire*
1 Mbare Market, Harare

Action (7)
2 Belonging Grants Protection
2 Mozambique Allure
3 No Secrets from the Magaji

Action Modifier (10)
3 Change of Target
2 Devil-Channel:Throat
3 Freak Drive
2 Predator's Mastery

Combat (18 )
3 Apparition
2 Concealed Weapon
2 Devil-Channel:Back
2 Devil-Channel: Hands
3 Hidden Strength
3 Invoking the Beast
3 Rolling with the Punches

Combo (10)
3 Draba
2 The Eldest are Kholo
2 Mirror Image
3 Occlusion

Equipment (4)
4 .44 Magnum
1 Kduva's Mask

Political Action (11)
2 Conservative Agitation
2 Disputed Territory
5 KRC
2 Reinforcements

Reaction (9)
3 Ignis Fatuus
2 Predator's Communion
4 WwEF

*see how they combo with Tsunda (with at least moderate luck though)

Please send any comments, suggestions and contributions to:
graham.r.smith RemoveThis @gmail.com

Graham Smith wrote:

> Deck of the Month
> ==============
> This months deck has been created by Antero - he originally posted it
> on The Path of Blood but has kindly allowed me to use it in this months
> newsletter. So here is Decembers deck in Antero's own words.

Kindly? It was my pleasure. Too bad that I did not have the time to
hone the deck into perfection. For instance I did not realise that
Sanjo for instance has both abo and chi...

> I just had to try Tsunda, as when I first saw him I knew I have to make
> a deck that uses him ASAP. So, here is the second version of
> Tsunda+Akunanse votey deck. I tries first to take the votes, and do
> some pool damage via KRC's while trying to get No Secrets and .44's for
> endgame. The Tupdogs are there to round out the crypt, or make suicide
> actions/blocks (see: Ignis Fatuus+Draba, which should also help in
> keeping the No Secrets) I took 2 vp's yesterday in 4 player game. The
> endgame was a show how No Secrets and a single .44 can make all the
> difference, but due to rather toolboxy approach, the forward momentum
> was poor. Help needed, I feel like I'm walking in the dark with all new
> toys and can't decide what to do w/them....
>
> And just for the record, I think that Tsunda is just fine as he is.
> With fortitude, he would have been perhaps too good.

Well, I could add that the deck was nice to play with, but it was too
dependant of No Secrets. W/o that, problems ensued as it could not stop
any stealthy predator, as even if I managed to block a few actions, I
had no punch to keep the buggers down or I ran out of untaps. Should I
try it again, I would probably concentrate more on Tsunda, Chimerstry,
Tumnimoses(what's the plural form of Tumnimos???) and maybe Embraces.
And a few Con Boons.

About Phantor Speaker, it seems that PS does not untap the acting
vampire while CoT does so.

PS: Only usable when this acting vampire is blocked (before tapping the
blocker*)
[chi] Cancel combat and do not tap the blocking minion....

*but acting vampire is tapped at this point, right?

And CoT: Only usable when this action minion is blocked (play before
combat if any). Untap the acting minion, do not tap the blocking
minion...

-Antero