Back to the Gate

Back to the Gate

Necromancy is a very toolboxy discipline, including 22 cards allowing for many effects ; not all the cards are worth being played, though, and some will be useful only in some very precise context. Comments and Ratings by Reyda (from his September 2002 Newsletter) and Orpheus.

Note : the cost of the cards can be reduced by one for Giovanni if the Path of Bone is in play, and all your Necromancy Actions will give you 1 Pool if you have the Tower of London in play ; not to mention the Charisma or Regina for Necromantic allies, so some apparently expensive cards can easily be made more affordable in a well-thought deck...

Card	Cost	Card Text	Comments	Ratings
Baleful Doll		Unique equipment. [nec] Choose a vampire controlled by your prey. The bearer may tap himself or herself and burn the Baleful Doll during his or her untap phase to cause the chosen vampire to burn 3 blood. [NEC] As above, but choose a vampire controlled by any Methuselah.	A very interesting equipment, ideally used with masters like Society of Leopold, Fame. Can also counter some dominate fatty + tons of deflections strategy, and paralyse a sharp blocker just before an important action. Now, Baleful doll can also counter the 2nd traditions from a tapped minion ; makes the Call of the Hungry Dead more valuable ;)
Call of the Hungry Dead		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.	Call of the Hungry Dead Puts a blocker right out of the equation. Very interesting at superior, not so great at inferior. The -1 intercept version can be useful to avoid being blocked at the early beginning of the game, and has the advantage of having no cost. Better use the superior version for very important actions, especially when the opponent just tossed a wakey or forced awakening ! Great combo with seduction for what is now called « responsible bleed ».
Compel the Spirit		+1 stealth action. Only usable if a retainer or ally you control has been burned since your last turn. [nec] Move the card from your ash heap to your hand. [NEC] Move the card from your ash heap to your ready region, even if this vampire doesn't meet the requirements, if any, of the card (use the normal version if it requires a Discipline). Move X life counters from the blood bank to the card, where X is the number of life printed on the card. If a retainer is chosen, it must be placed on the acting minion.	Incredibly efficient card, but very specialized since it will find a place only in an ally deck type. Before Bloodlines, Necromancy was the only discipline providing such a resurrection trick. Once again, the superior version is clearly more powerful since it allows you to save one recruit/emply action and some pool or blood.
Daemonic Possession		[nec] Only usable when a minion controlled by another Methuselah has been burned since your last turn. Move that minion from his owner's ash heap to your ready region, put 1 blood or life from the blood bank on the minion and tap the minion. You now control the minion. [NEC] As above, but the minion is untapped.	Maybe the most underestimated card in all of Jyhad. It allows you to put in play on your side an ally or vampire that has just died for a mere 2 blood. Forget all those Hostile Takeovers or Temptations of Greater Power ! This card is also highly playable since the inferior version is as good as the superior, good news for the small Giovanni or other vampires with necromancy as thrown in discipline : Krassimir, Sarrasine, Matthias, Julio or Lille can use it right after an Amaranth, Sacrificial Lamb, Decapitate, Walk of Flame. Can also be combined with Antediluvian Awakening, Milicent Smith, Society of Leopold, Anisa Marianna Lopez, Toy Chest Test.
Death Pact		This card is an action card that becomes a retainer card. +1 stealth action. [nec] (D) Put this card on a ready vampire. If that vampire is burned, put this card on the vampire who brought this card into play. This card then represents a -wraith- retainer with 2 life. Once each combat, the vampire with this retainer may change one damage from aggravated to normal. [NEC] As above, but the retainer has 3 life.	One of the worst cards provided by necromancy. Not only it is difficult to transform it to an actual retainer (burning a vamp is not alwasy easy), but the result is inferior to a mere flack jacket. If only it could *prevent* aggravated damage instead. But no, it changes aggravated to normal damage. Can in some particular cases be useful in a Thau Giovanni deck, with Bursts of Sunlight. Might also help an Ex Nihiled vampire, but anyway it's very cornercase. Combo with : Julius, March Halcyon, Ex Nihilo.
Ex Nihilo		+1 stealth action. [nec] Put this card on this vampire. The vampire with this card gets +1 stealth. Damage inflicted by this vampire in combat is reduced to 0, and this vampire is immune to non-aggravated damage. This vampire cannot gain blood; any blood this vampire gains goes to the blood bank instead. During your master phase, this vampire burns 1 blood or is burned. You may choose to burn this card during your untap phase. [NEC] As above, but you may burn this card during any Methuselah's untap phase.	A somewhat mitigated result for a promising card at first sight.The +1 stealth effect is always useful, but the problem of losing blood with no option to gain some is a big handicap. Despite the Weather Control text change which shut down a powercheese combo, Ex Nihilo + Weather Control + Trap which can still be deadly. Combo : Govern the Unaligned (influence at +2 stealth), Zombie retainer + Harass.
Eyes of the Dead		Only usable when a reacting vampire you control attempts to block a vampire who is attempting to diablerize one of your vampires. [nec] This reacting vampire gets +1 intercept. [NEC] As above, but with +2 intercept.	No need to comment on this card as it is broken to the bones. It's so powerful it has been banned from tournament. Some say it digs Return to Innocence. Just kidding. If it was +1 / +2 intercept against an action targetting one of your torporized vampires, it could help you to stop those graverobbings or rescue famous vamp actions. Or if it was untap + intercept à la 2nd tradition. Or if. whatever, destined for the trashbin anyway.
Grasp the Ghostly		+1 stealth action. [nec] (D) Move a non-unique, non-location equipment from any other Methuselah's ash heap to this minion. Put 3 Pathos counters on that equipment. Burn a Pathos counter during each of your untap phases. Remove the equipment from the game if it has no Pathos counters. [NEC] As above, but the equipment can be unique.	Bring some equipment from the opponent's ash heap, what a tricky trick ! Yes, but he has to play some equipment - and with the advent of Concealed Weapon, there are fewer chances that weapons will lie in the ash heap due to intercepted equip actions. And even if you find some equipment there, you keep it for a grand total of three turns. Not very useful, it is better to put in an equipment card instead of hoping to fetch a Femur from Grasp the Ghostly.
Haunt		+1 stealth action. [nec] Put this card on a location you control. The controller of this location can burn this card to cause an action directed at this location to fail. A location can have only one Haunt. [NEC] (D) Burn a location that doesn't require Giovanni to play.	The inferior version is not so interesting, except maybe in combination with any random powerbase. Note that your haunted location is still vulnerable to those perfidious votes. At superior, it's a +1 stealth Arson that gets replaced immediately. Combined wih Call of the Hungry Dead, Haunt is great.
Jar the Soul		+1 stealth action. [nec] (D) Tap any ready minion. [NEC] (D) As above, and that minion burns 1 blood.	There are lots of different cards to tap a minion, but this one is the best. Free, with +1 stealth, and at superior the target burns a blood (which is barely noticeable) Perfect in a weenie dominate deck. Combo : Charnas the Imp, Harass ; also if you can untap after the action and bleed (just try it with Krassimir and some Domain Challenge...).
Masquer		Wraith with 1 life. [nec] Masquer is immune to damage that is not aggravated. The minion with this retainer gets +1 intercept. You may burn this retainer to give any minion +1 intercept. [NEC] As above, with 2 life.	A bit costy, compared to a raven spy, but nearly impossible to kill. Can also be used to give intercept cross table, or emergency auto destruct when someone tries to steal it from you with a Far Mastery. A lot of players would still rather play with a Sport Bike or Mr. Winthrop for the cost. Combo : Weather Control, Shroud Mastery, Compel the Spirit.
Possession		[nec] Move any vampire from your ash heap to your uncontrolled region. [NEC] Move a vampire from your ash heap to your ready region and move 1 blood from the blood bank to the vampire..	One of your dead vampires hits the table again ! its often a decisive action which startles the table. With all those fighters, archons, rushers and so on, one of your vampires will surely be burned for some reason or another. Put him back in the life cycle ;) This card is known for numerous abuses. Combo : Might of the Camarilla, Bleeding + Daring the Dawn, Soul Gem of Etrius.
Puppeteer		Wraith with 1 life. 1 strength, 0 bleed. [nec] The puppeteer can give you control of an ally or a vampire with capacity of less than 5 for the remainder of your turn as a (D) action. [NEC] As above, with 2 life	Fragile but potentially destrutive, the pupeteer is one of those strange necromancy thingumajig. Even if he takes no action, it's always a cheap blocker (not concerned by Daring the Dawn or Day Operation, some players are still crying because they missed the VP by laying their cards without thinking this small Puppeteer could block). With superior version, he can block two actions before dying. With the advent of Camarilla Edition, we'll see fewer weenies, but anyway, the Puppeteer can still give you an Embrace or a Progeny to make a diablerie for you ! Combo : Cloak the Gathering, Shroud Mastery, Psychic Veil, Mask of a Thousand Faces, Fake Out and Dodge (when you plan to use it as a blocker).
Release the Shackled Soul		[nec] (D) Burn an ally or retainer controlled by your prey. [NEC] As above, with +1 stealth.	A somewhat stupid card since it is limited to allies and retainers from your prey, even at superior which only grants +1 Stealth. As almost all giovanni master Dominate, common sense suggests to use Far Mastery which steals instead of destroying and has +1 stealth even at inferior.
Shambling Hordes		Zombie with 3 life. 0 bleed, 0 strength. [nec] When Shambling Hordes enters play, remove an ally or vampire in your ash heap from the game or burn Shambling Hordes. Shambling Hordes gets +1 strength for each life counter it has. Shambling Hordes can never gain life counters; any life counters it gains go to the blood bank instead. Shambling Hordes can enter combat with any ready minion controlled by another Methuselah as a (D) action. [NEC] As above, with 4 life.	Often referred as « The poorman's War Ghoul », this ally has the best quality for its cost, since you pay its recruitment in blood rather than in pool. This canon fodder horde laughs at Obediences, Taste of Vitae, Terror Frenzy or Drawing Out the Beast. Combo : Trap, Memories of Mortality, Barrens, Pulled Fangs, The Path of Bone, Meat Hook, Flack Jacket, Charisma, and Martyr's Resilience (with the Harbingers, Regina, Matthias).
Shroud Mastery		[nec] Usable by a ready vampire when a wraith ally you control is acting. The acting wraith gets +1 stealth. [NEC] Only usable when an action to recruit or employ a wraith is announced. Untap this acting vampire if the action is successful.	A very focused card wich can replace both Freak Drive and Cloak the Gathering in the right deck. Very good options in Masquer intercept decks. Combo : Masquer, Puppeteers, Brigitte Gebauer, Felix "Fix" Hessian (and to a lesser extent Ambrosius).
Soul Stealing		This card can be played as an action modifier or a combat card. Only usable when a vampire you control burns a vampire controlled by your prey. [nec] This vampire gains an amount of blood equal to half of the burned vampire's capacity (round down). Ignore excess blood. Not usable during combat. [NEC] As above, but usable in combat.	Very difficult to play, this card can at least make you gain some bonus blood after a savage Decapitate. Curiosity fact : you can use this card at inferior necromancy after combat if you are the acting vampire. You can play it while reacting or inside combat ony of you have superior necromancy. Soul Stealing is rarely seen but has a certain potential. Combo : Anisa Marianna Lopez, Decapitate, Dragon's Breath Rounds.
Spectral Divination		This card can be played as an action modifier card or a reaction card. [nec] +1 stealth. [NEC] +1 intercept.	Excellent card, very versatile despite the blood cost. This card will find its place in all your Giovanni decks Too bad necromancy only provide one source of stealth and one source of intercept which happen to be the same card. Just try to figure, how the metagame would be if the designers had just switched the superior and inferior version of Spectral Divination, giving birth to the Giovanni interceptors.
Spiritual Intervention		[nec] Strike: dodge. [NEC] Strike: combat ends.	An excellent strike : combat end cards, no cost, wich allows you a quick exit when there are too many crows and wolves around.
Summon Soul		+1 stealth action. [nec] This vampire gains 2 blood. [NEC] Remove this card from the game and move up to 2 cards from your ash heap to your library. Shuffle your library afterward.	This necro-restoration offers at superior a very interesting recursive power. If you don't play with Pochtli, this card is unvaluable and can make the difference you need at the endgame where each card counts. The usual choice is to bring back Wake + Deflection from the Ash Heap but the choice is yours ! Can also make combo deck work better as the game progress. Combo : Tower of London, Akhenaten if you dare play him.
Torment the Soul		[nec] Strike: 1R damage; not usable on the first round of combat. [NEC] Strike: 1R damage, aggravated; not usable on the first round of combat.	VNot so powerful, not very interesting, you need superior necromancy for the 1R aggravated. Potence being an inclan discipline, it's often better to play Burning Wrath if you need aggravated damage, or Torn Signpost + Undead Strength to actually hurt the opponent. But the surprise factor here may be very important. I had my ass kicked by a Harbinger deck packing a few Hidden Strength for prevent and presses and a handful of Torment the Soul. Combo : Zombie + Trap, Press from a Thrown Sewer Lid.
Whispers from the Dead		[nec] Move a library card from your ash heap to your hand. Discard down to your maximum hand size afterward. [NEC] As above, but with +1 stealth.	Bring back the card you need right now. Interesting even if you play with Carlotta. If you play wisely, you can simply shut down you predator's deck by getting some cards again and again : Deflections, Delaying Tactics, Sudden Reversals, Direct Interventions, Obedience or other counter cards. This can allow you to breathe a bit, until you're ready to confront him. In the endgame it helps you cycle useless cards and bring back the Conditioning or Call of the Hungry Dead you need in the same move. Whisper of the Dead helps you kill a tapped prey, no less. Combo : Tower of London, Dreams of the Sphinx, Freak Drive, Domain of Evernight.