Official V:EKN Clan Salubri Newsletter Vol.5 No.2 (March 2007) Of interest to Scholars and Slanderers Editor: Joel Tate In this issue: 1. Introduction 2. The Dwindling Few - featured vampire(s) 3. The Powers of the Righteous - featured card(s) 4. Conclusion - summary & theme for next issue --------------------------------------- 1. INTRODUCTION --------------------------------------- Hello everyone and welcome to the second of the newsletters for 2007. This issue is more of a mini special addition, focusing on the new Sword of Caine set, rather than Gehenna events I had intended. I'm certainly looking forward to when some of these cards hit the tournament scene; hopefully you all are too. Since the release is focused purely on the Sabbat, we shall look at one of the new vampires and how they will pair with various Salubri. This month's Section 3 is dedicated to some of the recently released cards. We shall get back to strategy and a demo deck next month, when I have had enough time to assimilate all the new ideas generated from this expansion. --------------------------------------- 2. THE DWINDLING FEW --------------------------------------- Kestrelle Hayes Ventrue Antitribu (Group 5) Capacity 6 dom for obt AUS Sabbat. Black Hand: Kestrelle gets +1 stealth on (D) actions directed at a Methuselah who doesn't control a ready Sabbat vampire. Kestrelle was released first as the promo for the Sword of Caine set; then as one of the two Ventrue Antitribu in the set itself. As with most Ventrue Antitribu, Kestrelle forms a natural ally to the Salubri, in that she possess two of the three Salubri clan disciplines, Auspex and Fortitude; as well as Dominate, which is the second discipline on a couple of the Obeah cards (Cleansing Ritual and Spirit Marionette). Kestrelle has Auspex at superior, which makes her ideal for defensive duties (or getting Pulse of the Canaille), while your Salubri perform more damaging tasks. However what makes Kestrelle special is that she gets an extra stealth on direct actions against your prey, when they lack a Sabbat vampire. While this ability can easily be circumvented, if your prey does play purely Camarilla, Independent or Laibon, then that one extra point of stealth can easily be the difference between a bleed getting through and not. This simple ability can add an extra edge to a clan usually lacking significant ousting power. As Kestrelle is group 5, at present she can only pair with Saulot, Eurayle Gelasia Mylonas and Mr Noir. Discounting the youngest Salubri, Kestrelle could easily aid the Salubri in either a Spirit Marionette deck (due to the Dominate plus bleed as the multi-discipline on Marionette), or be there to perform near mandatory Graverobbing after Saulot knocks a vampire into torpor. --------------------------------------- 3. THE POWERS OF THE RIGHTEOUS --------------------------------------- Uncoiling, The Type: Event Do not replace as long as this card is in play. During your discard phase, burn one other event at random. Any other Methuselah may use a discard phase action and burn X pool to burn this card, where X is the number of the other events in play. A great event for eliminating annoying Gehenna events. At least one Gehenna card will always be burnt before the Uncoiling is removed from play (as the affect is in the same time window). However not every table has significant numbers of Gehenna events played, so will likely see one or two slots in a deck at most. Psychic Assault Type: Combat Requires: Auspex [aus] Strike: 1R damage. Any effect which would make damage from this strike aggravated leaves the damage normal instead. If this vampire is Black Hand, the damage from this strike is unpreventable. [AUS] As above, but for 2R damage. Salubri aren't well known for their long range combat abilities, and neither is the Auspex discipline itself. That said, Psychic Assault is a handy card to inflict either one or two points of ranged damage. When Salubri play alongside the aforementioned Kestrelle Hayes, the damage done by Kestrelle is unpreventable, when she plays this card. Forced Vigilance Type: Reaction Requires: Fortitude Cost: 1 Blood [for] Only usable by a tapped vampire immediately after he or she blocks (play after combat if any). Untap this reacting vampire. [FOR] Only usable by a tapped vampire during a (D) action directed against you (or something you control). Untap this vampire. A Fortitude version of Cat's Guidance at basic and a Wake at advanced, which costs a blood, so not all good. That said, a handy card for Una (a Gangrel Antitribu before anyone points the obvious out to me), as the cost is reduced to nil. Enrage Type: Action Requires: Presence +1 stealth action. Frenzy. [pre] Put this card on a vampire you control. This vampire has +1 strength and may enter combat with another minion as (D) action. Burn this card at the end of this turn. [PRE] Put this card on any vampire. This vampire must burn 2 bloods to attempt any action except for hunting and actions to enter combat. Burn this card after resolving this vampire's action. At first look Enrage is a wonderful for both the Brujah and the Brujah Antitribu alike, then you realize that Eurayle Gelasia Mylonas possesses the basic version of Presence and would love nothing more than to Enrage Saulot in a multi-rush deck. There is a second use for Enrage, which could prove irritation. When combined with Restricted Vitae, the Gehenna event that prevents hunting unless on no blood, vampires on 1 blood are effectively paralyzed, unless they rush. The paralysis is only removed when they reduce themselves to no blood or gain a blood through use of hunting grounds/blood dolls (so funny to hose 1 cap Caitiff / Pander vote decks then). Biothaumaturgic Experiment Type: Action Requires: Thaumaturgy Cost: 1 Pool +1 Stealth Action. [tha] Employ an animal retainer from your hand (ignore requirements; pays cost as normal). [THA] Put this card on a minion you control. The minion with this card gets an optional maneuver each combat and +1 strength. When I saw Bio Experiment, the card screamed Saulot, and funnily enough it still does. At basic we can now give Saulot a Dog Pack, a Raven Spy or even an Elephant! However the real danger comes when Saulot plays the card at superior, and gets the additional strength with optional maneuver. The card stacks so it is possible to have multiple strength bonuses and maneuvers, perfect for delivering a high powered Anesthetic Touch, great for a multi-rush deck. --------------------------------------- 4. CONCLUSION --------------------------------------- Well, that's it for this mini newsletter, next issue we shall go back to normality and complete the remainder of the Gehenna and Event cards. If you have any ideas, comments or additions please feel free to contact me. Joel Cambridge, UK