OFFICIAL VEKN
KIASYD NEWSLETTER
VOL I ISSUE II
MARCH 2002
OFFICIAL VEKN KIASYD NEWSLETTER VOL I ISSUE II MARCH 2002
"The Kiasyd
are demons clothed in flesh. Trust not their nice manners and
polite smiles and "How do you do?" they are maddened freaks behind
their
careful facades, and they are more than willing to twist you reality into
any hell that pleases their whim. Malkavians with the blood of faeries
running through their veins, the darklings could put one of the madmen to
shame with his tricks. "
Paulo, Lasombra priest
1.
Editorial
2. A Little History - The Nagaraja
3.Vampire of the Month - Bartholomew
4. The AUS/NEC Anomaly
5. '..cannot attempt to block this action again'
6. Deck - The Nagaraja Alliance
7. Deck - Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre Prevention Deck
8. Outro
Welcome
to the slightly belated second issue of the Kiasyd newsletter. This
month we are going slightly off the recommended safari trail and taking a
look at Necromancy and the Nagaraja. I never planned it that way but that's
how it turned out.
2. A LITTLE HISTORY - The Nagaraja
Who
do we have to blame for the appearance of such a hated Bloodline? The
Mages of the Euthanatos Tradition were experimenting with Kindred blood, as
you do, and some of the more adventurous it seems managed to become vampires
without having to be Embraced. This unwholesome tinkering led to the
creation of the Nagaraja who, unlike most kindred, must feed on the flesh
of
their prey. Not only are they hated for their unnatural feeding habits and
their mastery of Oblivion, they are also assumed to have created the Samedi,
the denial of which they insist.
Bartholomew
Kiasyd
9
AUS dom MYT NEC obt
Sabbat: If Bartholomew is untapped at the beginning of your turn, you gain
1
pool from the blood bank. Cold iron vulnerability.
What
a bizarre vampire. A nine capacity vampire with two 'in-clan'
disciplines at inferior, two 'out of clan' disciplines at superior and an
amusing little special. He is the perfect vampire for one of those four
discipline decks, say aus/dom/myt/obt, and has been used in one or two decks
using all his disciplines, one of which you can find here:
http://www.vtesshetland.com/Decks/Kyasid_Necrospex.txt (taken from the
newsgroup)
Seeing
as the Nagaraja share some disciplines with Bartholomew and that they
have yet to make their debut with their own newsletter I have built a deck
based on the Bartholomew/Nagaraja alliance (listed later in this issue).
Bloodlines
has brought out a minor surge of vampires with a new combinations
of disciplines. As this is the Kiasyd newsletter and Bartholomew is our
Vampire of the Month we will take a look at the Auspex and Necromancy
combination. Here is how the contenders shape up:
Vampires with AUS/NEC
Agaitas
6, Harbingers of Skulls
Kanimana Belghazi 7, Nagaraja
Egothha 7, Harbingers of Skulls
Bartholomew 8, Kiasyd
Unre 9, Harbingers of Skulls, Bishop
Augustus Giovanni 11, Giovanni, 2 votes
Vampires with AUS/nec
Raful
al-Zarqa 6, Nagaraja
Matthias 7, Salubri
Ian Forestal 8, Tremere Antitribu
Vampires with aus/NEC
Le
Dinh Tho 5, Nagaraja
Gisela Harden 7, Harbingers of Skulls, Priscus
Gillespi Giovanni 7, Giovanni
Anisa Marianna Lopez 8, Harbingers of Skulls
Ambrogino Giovanni 9, Giovanni, 1 vote
Regina Giovanni 10, Giovanni, 2 votes
Vampires with aus/nec
Beatrice
L'Angou 5, Kiasyd
Sarrasine 7, Followers of Set
Marianna 8, Giovanni
A
fairly mixed bunch in there as you can see. The Harbingers of Skulls
feature heavily as would be expected, all three of the Nagaraja are there
as
well. There are six votes plus a Priscus albeit form fairly high capacity
vampires.
Auspex
really comes into it's own at superior for cards like Pulse of the
Canaille, Revelations, Telepathic Misdirection, and all those +intercept
cards with nifty bonuses at superior.
Necromancy
is a robust discipline with loads of interesting effects.
intercept, stealth, blood gain, library card renewal, vampire reclamation,
combat ends, amusing allies to name a few. It does fall down on not being
a
terribly offensive discipline in most cases and therefor needs the Dominate
from the Giovanni and the Nagaraja and now the Auspex from the Harbingers
to
make things happen.
As
far as the Kiasyd are concerned they may as well leave it to the
Harbingers to play with. They have their Mytherceria and Obtenebration for
stealth and Dominate for offence and defence so why do the Kiasyd need
Necromancy? And Auspex for that matter. Well, Bartholomew obviously thought
there was a reason.
5. "..cannot attempt to block this action again"
There exist today four cards of a special variety.
Blanket
of Night
Action Modifier
Obtenebration
1 Blood
[obt] +1 stealth. [OBT] Only usable by a vampire other than the acting
minion when a minion attempts to block an acting minion you control. Tap
this modifying vampire to cause the block to fail; that blocking minion
cannot attempt to block this action again.
Call
of the Hungry Dead
Action modifier
Necromancy
Only usable when a minion is attempting to block. [nec] The blocking minion
gets -1 intercept. [NEC] This acting vampire burns 1 blood to cause the
block to fail. The blocking minion cannot attempt to block this action
again.
Elder
Impersonation
Action Modifier
Obfuscate
1 Blood
[obf] +1 stealth. [OBF] Only usable when a minion attempts to block. That
minion's blocking attempt fails (do not tap that minion). That minion cannot
attempt to block this action again.
Psychomania
Action Modifier
Daimoinon/Presence
1 Blood
Only usable when an ally or younger vampire is attempting to block. [pre]:
Cancel the current action and untap this acting vampire. The blocking minion
is not tapped. [dai]: The block fails. The blocking minion cannot attempt
to
block this action again. [DAI]: As [dai] above, and the blocking minion
takes 1 damage (damage not preventable).
Recent
experimentation with these 'block fails' effects has shown that even
the most persistent blocker can be thwarted. At worst your attempt is
blocked (with the possibility of your opponent using a card, such as a wake,
which he/she may not otherwise have needed to use for that action), and at
best the action becomes virtually unblockable due to your opponent having
no
other means of blocking. In the event of a block or even a deflected and
blocked bleed a Change of Target or Krassimir's special will waste even more
of your opponent's defensive cards. The 'block fails' effect works well with
actions at inherent +1 stealth or combined with permanent stealth
enhancements such as Repulsion and the Erberus Mask.
Although
the four cards above have similar effects they do have different
costs. Blanket of Night is perhaps the one that will be used less
frequently in any given deck due to it needing a 'spare' untapped vampire
to
play the superior effect. Psychomania's disability lies in only being used
when a younger vampire is blocking. However, I have been recently educated
in advantage of the [pre] effect of this card. Unlike Change of Target, the
acting vampire may take the same action again after playing Psychomania at
[pre] as there is no card text that says otherwise. Both Call of the Hungry
Dead and Elder Impersonation have my vote as being the best of the bunch
with perhaps Call of the Hungry Dead coming out on top as there is no cost
for the inferior effect.
6. DECK - The Nagaraja Alliance
"The
greatest fear is the fear of the unknown --fear of death. You know not
from whence you came, but I, my friend, know where you will be going, for
I
have been there. I could take you there, but you would not like what you
would find. Your fate is inevitable, but serve my interests, and I will
protect you from it for as long as I can. "
This
deck is really in its embryonic phase and the crypt is quite scruffy
although it is quite tricky deciding what stays and what goes. Le Dinh
Tho's ability is very useful for the bleed deck making the casual deflection
a thing of the past. With 72 cards in the deck there is room for expansion
and I think I may increase the bleed actions/modifiers for the likes of
Isabel with her solid DOM/NEC. I have been working on an Ex Nihilo/Soul Gem
combo but have yet to make it come to anything. Ex Nihilo's permanent
stealth would make the Call of the Hungry Deads slightly more effective and
the Soul Gem would banish the need to fill up the post Ex Niholoed vampire.
Crypt:
(12 cards, Min: 20, Max: 32, Avg: 6.58)
----------------------------------------------
1 Ambrogino Giovanni aus DOM NEC POT THA 9, Giovanni, 1 vote
2 Bartholomew AUS dom MYT NEC obt 8, Kiasyd
2 Kanimana Belghazi AUS DOM NEC pro 7, Nagaraja
1 Gillespi Giovanni aus DOM NEC POT 7, Giovanni
1 Andrea Giovanni DOM NEC pot vic 7, Giovanni
1 Raful al-Zarqa AUS dom nec obf 6, Nagaraja
1 Le Dinh Tho aus dom NEC 5, Nagaraja
2 Isabel Giovanni DOM NEC pot 5, Giovanni
1 Beatrice L'Angou aus dom MYT nec 5, Kiasyd
Library:
(72 cards)
-------------------
Master (12 cards)
1 Auspex
2 Blood Doll
1 Direct Intervention
1 Dominate
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
2 Heidelberg Castle, Germany
2 Minion Tap
1 Necromancy
1 Sudden Reversal
Action
(19 cards)
2 Haunt
6 Mind Rape
3 Pulse of the Canaille
1 Revelations
1 Riddle Phantastique
4 Scouting Mission
2 Summon Soul
Action
Modifier (8 cards)
6 Call of the Hungry Dead
2 Seduction
Reaction
(15 cards)
3 Deflection
2 Delaying Tactics
3 Obedience
3 Telepathic Misdirection
4 Wake with Evening's Freshness
Combat
(7 cards)
4 Absorb the Mind
3 Spiritual Intervention
Equipment
(3 cards)
1 Deer Rifle
1 Leather Jacket
1 Sargon Fragment, The
Combo
(8 cards)
4 Aura Absorption
4 Spectral Divination
7. DECK - Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre Prevention Deck
Thanks to Michael for sending me his Kiasyd monster.
Created By: Michael Felipe de Assis Correia
Description:
A Kiasyd deck that I played in the recent storyline
(baltimore)tournament in London. I eventually came 6th out of 31 players
(just missed the final by about 1/2 a VP), so I'm pretty pleased with my
first Kiasyd deck - I'll be playing them again! Basically a very, very
defensive deck that held out against most predators (bleed, combat or
political) extremely well, with sneak-bleed and other actions to vex my
prey. The deck is built around the idea of getting Bartholomew out and
keeping him untapped throughout the game for pool gain (though it worked
wonders in one game where I didn't draw him anyway):
Crypt:
(12 cards, Min: 22, Max: 32, Avg: 7.00)
----------------------------------------------
3 Bartholomew AUS dom MYT NEC obt 8, Kiasyd
2 Beatrice L'Angou aus dom MYT nec 5, Kiasyd
2 Kassiym Malikhair dom for MYT OBT 6, Kiasyd
2 Julia Prima aus DOM myt OBT 7, Kiasyd
3 Gratiano DOM obf OBT pot 8, Lasombra, Priscus
Library:
(90 cards)
------------------
Master
(14 cards):
1 Political Hunting Ground
2 Secure Haven
1 Police Department
2 Chanjelin Ward
2 Sudden Reversal
1 Puchase Pact
1 Festivo dello Estinto
2 Blood Doll
1 Dominate
1 Obtenebration
Retainer
& Equipment (3 cards):
1 J.S. Simmons
2 Leather Jacket
Action
(16 cards):
2 Cardinal Benediction
3 Riddle Phantastique
1 Govern the Unaligned
4 Scouting Mission
1 Kine Dominance
2 Slaughtering the Herd
2 Far Mastery
1 Shadow Twin
Action
Modifier (20 cards):
2 Change of Target
2 Bonding
2 Conditioning
2 Foreshadowing Destruction
4 Shroud of Night
6 Shadow Play
2 Stone Travel
Combat
(9 cards):
4 Absorb the Mind
5 Shadow Body
Reaction
(25 cards):
3 Telepathic Counter
6 Folderol
2 Eyes of the Night
3 Deflection
4 Obedience
4 Wake with Evening's Freshness
3 Forced Awakening
Combo
(3 cards):
3 Aura Absorbtion
Next
time: Julia Prima is in the house with some more all out bleed. The
nasty Mind Rape may make an appearance and maybe a guest appearance by who
knows whom.
In the meantime enjoy yourselves my little fang-ed fiends.
John
Barclay
sinkus@hotmail.com
Just left of the middle of nowhere.