2010-02-01

First glance analysis of the new cards

I want to try and comment these cards before I have actually done to much thinking or reading others opinions on them. My comments will be very unreliable and not thought trough at all and I'm sure I will miss important aspects.

Uriel
!Salubri, G4, cap 8
AUS FOR VAL ani obe
Sabbat bishop: In combat, the controller of the opposing minion plays
with an open hand.

My first thought on this guy is that he is the first titled !Salubri and that that opens up for Trophy-play. My second thought is that trophies are bad so back at square one. His special is great and he teams up nice with Dela Eden or Saulot but I tend to go with the small-caps when I play !Salubri so I doubt I'll use him that much.

Hide the Heart
Reaction, aus/val, no cost
[aus] Reduce a bleed against you by 1.
[val] The action ends (unsuccessfully). The acting minion may burn 1 blood to cancel this card as it is played. Only one Hide the Heart may be played at [val] each action.
[VAL] Reduce a bleed against you by 2, or tap to reduce a bleed against any Methuselah by 2.

A tricky little card that can find its usage but cards like this are seldom good enough to actually see serious play.

Death Seeker
Combat, !Salubri, costs 1 pool
Cancel a combat card played by the opposing minion as it is played (no cost is paid). A vampire can play only one Death Seeker each round.

This is my favourite card seen so far from HttB. It might look expensive to pay 1 pool but I find it a minor cost to cancel any combat card. Anti Majesty and anti Immortal Grapple at the same time are simply superb. I already have a deck idea.

Baroque
Samedi, G5, cap 7
NEC THA aus for obf
Independent: Baroque can enter combat with a younger vampire who is not Giovanni or Nosferatu as a (D) action.

Nothing special or great here but THA together with some Samedi-tech may make him shine, I don't know.

Off Kilter
Action, Samedi, no cost
+1 stealth action
Gain 1 pool. If you do not have the Edge, you get the Edge. Otherwise, you may burn the Edge to gain 1 additional pool.

Doesn't look any good but maybe with Freak Drives and combined with Little Mountain Cemetery maybe it can be used for some extra bloat.


Under my Skin
Action Modifier, obf/thn, 1 blood
[obf] +1 stealth
[thn] +1 stealth and put this card on this vampire. On any action after this one, this vampire may burn this card to get +1 stealth.
[THN] As [thn] above, but for +2 stealth when played.

A good card for the classical Reanimated Corpse / Little Mountain Cemetery deck.

Isanwayen
Kiasyd, G4, cap 6
DOM MYT OBT
Sabbat: While ready Isanwayen may tap to give you an additional master phase action. Rescuing him from torpor costs an additional blood. Cold iron vulnerability.

Will probably see some serious exploitation since it will be the youngest vampire in the game that grants an extra master phase action. Traditional master deck will not see the tapping as such a big cost.

Wider View
Master, no requirements, 1 pool
Master: Trifle
Put this card in play. You may use a transfer to move the top card from your crypt to your uncontrolled region and then remove a crypt card in your uncontrolled region from the game. You may use four transfers to burn this card and gain 2 pool.

I haven't started any mathematics for this but it has to be good in some decks. Since its not unique you can include a handful of copies in a deck and get your investment back just by using four transfers. I'm not sure if I have read it right when I assume you can use this card's first effect as many times as you have transfers in your influence phase. If that is correct it can be a new way to fish for your star vamp.


Tinglestripe
Equipment, requires Mytherceria, no cost
Weapon.
[myt]Strike: 2R damage. This weapon can be used as a strike only once each round.
[MYT] As above, or strike: 1R damage, with an optional maneuver each combat.

Nothing for the standard Kiasyd-deck but I guess it will see some use.

Rusticus
Gargoyle, G5, cap 4
VIS for
Camarilla. Tremere Slave: Flight.

The youngest vampire so far, except for Tupdog, with VIS should be useful enough to be seen in some decks

Voices of the Castle
Reaction, tha/vis, no cost
[tha] This vampire burns 1 blood to get +1 intercept.
[vis] +1 intercept, or give +1 intercept to a vampire to whom this vampire is enslaved.
[VIS] Reduce a bleed against you by 2.

Yet another of those cards that has some versatility but is not really good enough to see serious play.

Lead Fist
Combat, tha/vis, no cost
[tha] Strike: hand strike at +1 damage.
[vis] As [tha] above, an once this round this vampire can burn a blood to get a press, only usable to continue combat.
[VIS] As [vis] above, but at +2 damage.

A nice card but there are Potence-cards that does about the same so I don't think it will be used that much.

Please give me some comments on my opinions and we'll see how much I have missed or misinterpreted!

6 comments:

  1. I see the strong potential for Samedi weenie decks(i.e. embrace) to use a lot of Off Kilter during the build-up. Also, you could have goofy decks that sprinkle some Enticement. I like that there is a THN reduce card now, that plus this new bloat card gives Samedi some defense.

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  2. i think your underestimating Hide the Heart a and voiced of the castle , these cards have a lot of flexibility .

    hide the heart is a functionable card to keep people from going to 0 blood when bleeding you , and on superior you can reduce a bleed by 2 without needing to have superior auspex on your salubris.
    and the effect of reducing a bleed by 2 to another player can be devastating in a tight game .

    voiced of the castle is just a really good intercept card , giving you the option of giving you , a tremere/tremere antitribu 1 intercept or if needed lower a bleed by 2 .
    The power is in adding these cards as intercept cards but still having the option to save you a block or reducing a hard stealther .
    You can add these ontop of your deflections without any problems as it doesnt fill the same slot.


    anyways just my 2 cents

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  3. I think there could be some real usage from some of those cards:
    Hide the Heart> !Salubri now have a card that can nerf voters AND bleeders. Now there isn't as much need to have intercept to block those supervoters, and there doesn't seem to be a "play during window X" clause so you may be able to trash a vote after your pred plays Awe... never a bad thing.

    Death Seeker> I like it but I baulk at the cost, !Salubri aren't big bloaters...

    Wider View> Shiney, I like it so far. Curious to see what it looks like in decks though.

    Voices of the Castle> [tha] stinks. [vic] & [VIC] are nice, I like them. I've been considering a Gargoyle deck, just don't know how I want it to work yet. This is food for thought.

    Lead Fist> Strike + Press, it's nice. Better than Mighty Grapple, not as good as Immortal Grapple.

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  4. Problem is that bleed reduce is rarely any good, especially compared to being able to redirect the bleed. Sure, it can be gold sometimes but not often enough to be worth including in a deck. The upside of the two mentioned cards are their flexibility but I still don't think they are good enough.

    The weenie breed Samedi angle is interesting and I didn't think of it at first.

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  5. I'd like to add as a side note, how many low cap Samedi of the same group are you going to find?

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  6. It's called The Embrace is Group:Any and is a library card.

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