Followers of Set Newsletter - Volume 3 Issue 6

FOLLOWERS OF SET NEWSLETTER

Volume 3, Issue 6
June 2003
Author: Andrew 'Wes' Weston

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Fiction
Deck Construction - How to sow the seeds of Anarchy
Card Analysis - Kahina the Sorceress
Contest
Sign Off

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the June installment of the Followers of Set newsletter.
If you are not a worshipper of our Dark Lord, then please stop
reading. These newsletters are not for infidels. If however you
are interested in attending one of our services, we have open houses
at the Temple every Saturday (noon for mortals, midnight for
immortals). No children under the age of twelve please.

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FICTION

Nobody ever reads this part of the newsletter anyway so I will do
you all a favour and forego any pitiful attempts at fiction this
time around.

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DECK CONSTRUCTION -- How to sow the seeds of Anarchy

It may still be too early to ask this question but here goes:

What is the appropriate ratio of the various "Anarch-making" cards
for an Anarch-focused deck? Or more to the point, which cards (if
any) should you use to make your vampires "go Anarch".

Let's have a look at each card and how it looks.

Galaric's Legacy -- PROS -- Easy master to cycle
                         -- No action needed
                         -- No pool/blood investment
                         --Common
                    CONS -- Vulnerable to Suddens (who would waste
                            one though?)
                         -- Opportunity cost (takes up
                            space, when will you draw it, etc)

Seattle Committee -- PROS -- One card suits all
                          -- No action needed
                          -- No pool/blood investment
                          -- Can be used for multiple vampires
                     CONS -- Rare
                          -- Unique and therefore contestable
                          -- Vulnerable to Suddens (more likely
                             than GL)
                          -- Some opportunity cost (though
                             not as much as the other cards)
                          -- Seattle gets a lot of rain
                             I've heard

Go Anarch! -- PROS -- Action is negligible since you instantly untap
                   -- Common
                   -- Leaves more space for master cards
              CONS -- Blockable (and +1 intercept is more common
                      than it used to be)
                   -- Opportunity cost

Inherent action -- PROS -- Not a card! :)
                        -- No opportunity cost
                        -- Even if blocked you can try it
                           again next turn
                   CONS -- Costs two/one blood
                        -- Blockable

I am one of those deck designers that can never have enough space
in my deck. If I could build a 200 card deck, I probably would.
While I understand the arguments for smaller deck sizes, I
still find it very difficult to pare any cards from my deck.

Since the inherent action does not actually require a card, this
gives several enormous benefits. Not having to use a card slot means
you can make room for other cards, ie the meat of your deck.
Obviously, there is little point to making an Anarch deck that *just*
makes vampires into Anarchs, you will need to have some kind of
"payload" or motif for the deck.

For me, or rather for my particular design style, the inherent
action seems the best way to go in most situations. This allows me
to make room for other cards. I would not want to waste 1/3 of
my deck with cards that make my vampires into Anarchs if it meant
that that 1/3 would not be used ousting my prey. If it made the
other 2/3 of my deck more effective as a result then my tune
would change, but on that point the jury is still out (as far as I am
concerned).

But that's best left for another article. This particular discussion
cares not *why* you want Anarch vampires, only that you do.

The capacity of the vampires in your deck may play a small factor
in the design of the deck. With larger vampires, you are taking fewer
actions and therefore may want to conserve some of those actions by
avoiding the inherent action. Or you may feel that a larger vampire
can more easily afford the two/one blood cost of "going cardless
anarch" perhaps complemented with some Freak Drives for more
efficiency in general. Go Anarch also allows you to take extra actions
immediately but it takes up room in your deck.

Next to the inherent cardless action, my preference would be
Seattle Committee. It only takes a few slots of your deck and does not
require any actions to make a vampire an Anarch. You can use the card
multiple times to make multiple Anarchs, albeit once per turn. Keep
in mind that if someone else at the table has the same thing in mind,
one or both of you is going to suffer. But I suspect that playing
Seattle Committee will be safe once the idea of playing Anarchs loses
its "newness". Less people will play Anarchs, and as a result less
people will play the cards you are afraid of contesting. Several
copies may be require though because you are unlikely to draw the
Seattle Committee in your first hand. You will either need to wait
until you draw it or include enough copies that this is not a problem.

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CARD ANALYSIS -- Kahina the Sorceress

Kahina the Sorceresss: 9/9
Follower of Set: AUS DOM OBF SER nec pre
Independent
Kahina has 1 vote. She can call a referendum to inflict 1 damage
on each minion who has one of your corruption counters as a +1 stealth
political action.

Kahina is the latest member of our little family, and despite her
rather silly name, she promises to be an interesting addition indeed.

As a nine capacity vampire, it will generally take at least three
turns to get her to your controlled region which is always a bit of
a problem. If you plan to bring her out, be wary of what kind of
deck you are sitting behind. If your predator is a weenie bleed deck,
you're going to be in a world of hurt before she comes out. Then again,
this is generally true of all decks that have the misfortune of sitting
in front of a weenie bleed deck.

Nevertheless, Kahina provides some advantages that most Setite decks
will not have access to, namely superior Dominate. Dominate is
historically the most powerful discipline in the game, providing bleed
modifiers, bleed defense, ally stealing, vote defense, pool management
and more. It is unusual to see a finals table at a tournament that
does not feature at least one deck that concentrates on Dominate. In
fact, it is not unusual to see a finals table where *all* decks
have some amount of Dominate.

So how can Dominate help us Setites? Along with the standard uses for
Dominate listed above, I think Obedience should be mentioned. Although
some Setites are powerful warriors (indeed, our father Sutekh himself
was known as a strong hunter and warrior) this is not very well
represented in the card game. Mostly our combat will consist of "I'm
gonna get the  away from that!" and so Obedience assists us
in our ahem noble evasion of getting our hands dirty with the lesser
clans. Yes indeed. Call it discretion if that makes you feel better.

Kahina is not the only Setite with superior Dominate. Decks could be
based around Khay'Tall and Nefertiti, if you can afford the pool
investment.

Superior Auspex is something that Setites have been waiting for a
long time. If there's one thing that our clan sucks at, it's blocking
things. Most of my Setite decks forego blocking altogether for this
very reason. But with superior Auspex we should be able to stop almost
anything. Maybe those Set's Calls will finally see some play.

Scanning through the list of available Auspex cards, I can't see very
many other reasons to use Auspex. Revelations is a possibility but it
would be difficult to defend. Pulse of the Canaille offers permanent
bleed, but we already have enough ability in that department that this
should not be necessary. Telepathic Misdirection is nice but since
Kahina already has DOM we're probably better off with Deflection.

Kahina's special ability sounds like fun. I've always poopooed the
Corruption angle as it seems more annoying than it is game-winning.
But Kahina, along with Khay'Tall and Nefertiti give us other reasons
to use Corruption than just stealing vampires. Nefertiti can place
the Corruption counters on vampires as a cardless action and Kahina
can hurt them as a cardless political action. You don't even need
any cards to use this combo! However, you will need the votes
to pass the referendum. Kahina's one vote may not be enough to pass it.

I can't say for sure whether this is a winning strategy or not, but it
sounds like a lot of fun. Damaging vampires that have a Corruption
counter may take a lot of individual actions to get going but like
Smiling Jack, the effect gets stronger the more you invest in it. Like
Smiling Jack, the cumulative damage is geometrical while the
investment is arithmetical.

Imagine:

TURN 1 -- Celine Corrupts Vampire A
       -- Kahina slaps Vampire A (Total damage 1)
TURN 2 -- Celine Corrupts Vampire B
       -- Kahina slaps Vampire A and B (Total damage 3)
TURN 3 -- Celine Corrupts Vampire C
       -- Kahina slaps Vampire A, B and C (Total damage 6)

This assumes that you have the votes to back this up since it is
a politcal action. But with Bribes and Voter Caps, the vote becomes
not only something that other Merhuselahs may not care enough about
to fail, but it also becomes a referendum that nets you pool.

Of course, by doing this you have spent a lot of effort damaging
vampires when you could have been ousting that Methuselah instead.
But with superior DOM, you are likely also deflecting a lot of bleeds
their way. Whether this is a good strategy or not is debatable, but
it might have some potential. You could also use Fame and/or Tension
in the Ranks as a means of ousting your prey.

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CONTEST

Name at least three vampires in the game that are meant to be historical
figures, ie real and famous humans that once lived on this planet and
were embraced as vampires.

Name all three.

Hint --> Some vampires may bear the names of historical figures,
Parmenides or Appolonius for example, but the vampires they represent
do not have any connection to the historical figure. Obviously this will
be easier if you have some knowledge of the World of Darkness. Or hell,
you can just guess.

Note that there may indeed be more than three. Give yourself a bonus point
if you beat my count.

Note also that there is no prize for winning so don't come crying to 
me if you win and I don't mail you anything. Unless Steve Wieck wants
to send you one of those nice Edges. You'll have to ask him though.
I want to keep mine.

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SIGN OFF

I hope you have enjoyed this most recent installment of the Followers
of Set newsletter. As always, questions and comments are appreciated.

Cheers,
WES

NAVIGATION

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