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Official VEKN Newsletter for Anarchs |
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Hello once again! It has been way too long - nearly a year since I produced one of my argument-provoking newsletters. I apologize for the long hiatus, but I have been very occupied in the world of academia. (My Master's Project is now finished, thank you very much.) I hope to have fiction again in upcoming newsletters, but for this one I'll just occupy your time with my Anarch-related breakdown of KMW. Also, I have two decks this month, mostly because the first one uses more copies of Anarch Secession than anyone but me is likely to own, so I figure people want a deck they can actually put together.
Contents:
I - Kindred Most Wanted Overview
II - Vampire of the Month (Count Germaine)
III - Card of the Month (Groundfighting)
IV - Decks and Strategy (Bring Out the Big Boys Again)
V - Conclusion
I - Kindred Most Wanted Overview
Many people feel that this latest expansion allowed the Anarchs to hit critical mass, such that they now have sufficient strength and reason to exist. I of course felt there was plenty of reason to be Anarch prior to this expansion, but it is now becoming harder for people to argue against the usefulness of the Anarch paradigm. And I'm certainly not going to complain about the new toys we have received.
First, the Anarch-only cards.
Undue Influence is already becoming extremely popular, and it has enabled a few interesting variants to the crypt machine motif. Many people have told me they don't believe it's as powerful as the standard Govern crypt machine, but I think it's a lot more defensible, because of (a) the stealth when bleeding, (b) the smaller crypt size, and (c) the cross-clan synergy that comes from being Anarch. Be sure to add in Marijava Ghouls when using the pre power. When considering this card, however, please also consider the power of the qui version. That "come out right now" can be HUGE in an Anarch deck facing casual intercept.
Groundfighting I will talk about more below, as it is the card of the month for this issue. But let me take this opportunity to just thank LSJ personally for this card. It makes me happy.
And then there's Anarch Secession. All I have to say is - Whoo hoo! Now every single vampire in the game can be Anarch without too much difficulty. The Baron can actually BE a Baron (though why you would do that I'm not sure). Arika the Anarch - I get shivers just typing that. But more important is the interesting benefit of creating Barons that can't be voted away. I like that a LOT. So much so that I traded for seven copies of this card and built a deck around it. (See below.) Also, note that the card does not stay on the vamp, so it can be recycled from your ash heap.
Finally, the rewording of Anarch Revolt. Enough has been said about this already. I'll just say that I like it. I think it's appropriate, and I appreciate the flavor and additional Anarch strategy.
Now the non-Anarch stuff.
The big boons to the Anarchs are the new Assamite, Giovanni, Ravnos, and Setite cards. Specifically, their power to create small vampires easily can be very useful for certain Anarch paradigms. I know the Giovanni didn't get that exactly, but consider the synergy between Proxy Kissed and Friend of Mine. Plus, that extra capacity makes someone like Gloria Giovanni a very good potential Baron. But the Assamites, for instance, could have a massive weenie horde without paying for more than one or two vamps - just use lots of Undue Influence with Web of Knives Recruits. The Recruits come out more slowly, but then they help the actual crypt vamps come out very quickly. Stir in Clotho's Gift for even cheaper additional vamps. For even better Undue Influencing, try Ravnos with Tumnimos and Presence discipline cards.
The Red List/Trophy mechanic does not immediately seem to have great benefits for Anarchs. Rather, it becomes something we have to be concerned about, now that two very good big Anarchs - Count Germaine and Kemintiri - are Red Listed.
The Government events are also not great for us, though Dr Marisa Fletcher is quite good in the right situation (see decks below). Port Authority, the promo card, is actually bad for us because of how it interacts with Powerbase, L.A.
Vampires.
Count Germaine and Kemintiri are my two favorite new Anarchs. Counte Germaine I'll talk about below, but Kemintiri is just a great Anarch when merged, because she can play all the traditions AND be a Firebrand, play Groundfighting, and so on. Luckily, with Anarch Secession around, you don't always have to wait for her to be Anarch before merging, though it's still probably best.
The Ravnos look much better as Anarchs now, particularly with the chi/pre combo popping up in a couple of places. The ser/tha combo among the Setites offers some nice Anarch synergy. And the rest of the vamps you can feel free to analyze on a case-by-case basis. Except for the Abominations. I have NO idea what to do with them as far as Anarchs go. Allonzo Montoya obviously goes well with Setites, but not necessarily Anarch Setites. The others? Blech. And if you're playing Baali, you've got enough to think about without trying to throw Anarch into the mix.
II - Vampire of the Month (Count Germaine)
Ah yes, Count Germaine. He was good in Gehenna, but oh so much better now. First of all, he is only the third vampire to get the "Anarch when merged" mechanic, and while some might say he got the raw deal in not getting a Barony to go with that, I think his merged form is just fine. Let's look at both his Basic and Advanced versions (or, as I think of them, the Ponytail and Fro versions).
Count Germaine (Ponytail)
Clan: Brujah
Group: 4
Capacity: 8
Discipline: obf CEL FOR POT PRE
Camarilla: Minions opposing Germaine in combat cannot use weapons. Germaine can enter combat with any Toreador controlled by another Methuselah as a (D) action.
Count Germaine (Fro)
Clan: Brujah
Level: Advanced
Group: 4
Capacity: 8
Discipline: obf CEL FOR POT PRE
Advanced. Independent. Red List: Germaine gets +2 bleed when bleeding a Methuselah who controls a titled non-Independent vampire.
[MERGED ICON] Anarch: Germaine gets an optional press each combat.
He's just awesome. Plenty of 3-way potential, of course, but how many vampires can play FOUR dual-discipline cards at the superior (plus one at the inferior)? There are a few others, but not many, and certainly not many 8-caps. His Advanced (unmerged) special is quite good, and comes up much more often than you might think. And his merged combat synergy means that if you want to build a combat deck around him, you certainly can.
The Red List drawback is a concern, but Germaine can definitely defend himself. Nevertheless, planning for this is fairly necessary for any deck that doesn't always want to be in a fight. Thankfully, if you're playing a vote deck with Majesty, the Anarchs now have Groundfighting.
III. Card of the Month (Groundfighting)
Oh wow. It's just. I mean. Yeah. Take a look at it:
Groundfighting
Combat
Requires a ready anarch. Do not replace until after combat. Maneuver or press or burn 1 blood to cancel a combat card played by the opposing minion that would restrict this anarch's choice of strikes this round as it is played.
A lot of the complaints about Anarch decks that I have heard are that most of the successful ones are just voting decks. Well, that may be true, but consider how this card helps the combat defense of the standard voting deck. See that? Great. NOW consider how it helps a combat deck, such as, for instance, a gun deck. It's an extra maneuver when you need one, or a press if you need that, or a way out of the Grapple or Drawing Out the Beast if you need that. It is by far the most versatile disciplineless combat card out there, and it's even more versatile than a lot of disciplined cards out there. If I've only got inferior Celerity in my crypt (because I'm playing Diversion), I'm going to be packing this, not Flash. And Thaum Anarchs certainly prefer this to Apportation. The "don't replace" weakness is distressing, but appropriate. Otherwise this would be far too powerful. As it is, it's only awesome.
IV - Deck Ideas/Strategy (Bring Out the Big Boys Again)
A number of the KMW cards lend themselves to high-capacity Anarchs, so I thought I'd take another look at those big vamps, particularly some of the big vamps we haven't seen as Anarchs before.
Deck Name: Secessionist's Toolbox
Created by: Eric Simon
Description: Anarch Secession Barons. How silly can it get?
Crypt: (12 Cards, Min: 26, Max: 37, Avg: 7.83) ---------------------------------------------- Ankh-sen Sutekh obf PRE SER - Setite, 6 Mustafa, the Heir cel dom FOR PRE - Ventrue, 6 Mukhtar Bey FOR obf pot PRE QUI - Pander, 7 Suzanne Kadim aus CEL dom obf PRE - Toreador, 7 Tatiana Stepanova ani CHI for obf PRE - Ravnos, 7 Count Germaine (Adv) CEL FOR obf POT PRE - Brujah, 8 Giangaleazzo dom OBT POT PRE - Lasombra, 8 Victorine Lafourcade DOM FOR PRE tha - Ventrue, 8 Alicia Barrows AUS DEM OBF POT PRE - !Malkavian, 9 Ellison Humboldt ANI OBF POT pro PRE - Nosferatu, 9 Neferu dom nec OBF PRE SER THA - Setite, 9 Marcus Vitel DOM FOR OBF OBT PRE - Ventrue, 10 Library: (90) ------------------- Master (13) Anarch Free Press Creepshow Casino Giant's Blood 2x Information Highway Legendary Vampire 7x Minion Tap Action (20) 7x Anarch Secession 8x Enchant Kindred Principia Discordia 2x Reformation 2x Smash and Grab Political Action (17) Anarchist Uprising Ancient Influence Banishment 2x Domain Challenge 4x Firebrand Kindred Segregation 5x Kine Resources Contested Political Stranglehold Reins of Power Action Modifier (22) 3x Awe 4x Forgotten Labyrinth 6x Smoke and Mirrors 9x Voter Captivation Combat (14) 4x Groundfighting 10x Majesty Reaction (4) 4x The Mole
Comments:
This is, as you can probably tell, the deck that I play specifically so that people will say, "What the heck is going on over there?" It's quite toolboxy, particularly with the vote package. But it's a lot of fun to play. Also, that first Anarch Secession is almost never blocked, simply because blocking it requires a titled vampire. That little addition to the card is amazingly useful. And then of course your prey brings out a titled vampire, so you bring out Count Germaine. The deck certainly bloats well, and the Groundfightings make the vampires extremely survivable. The crypt could probably be cleaned up a little for the purpose of forward motion, but I like it for flavor.
Deck Name: Germaine's Mob Created by: Eric Simon Description: Down with titles! Down with blood! The Anarchs are revolting! Crypt: (12 Cards, Min: 18, Max: 37, Avg: 7.17) ---------------------------------------------- Jayne Jonestown PRE - !Brujah, 2 Allison Maller cel pot pre - Brujah, 4 Sonja Blue CEL dom FOR pot PRE - Ventrue, 5 Joshua Tarnopolski CEL obf pot PRE - Brujah, 7 Suzanne Kadim aus CEL dom obf PRE - Toreador, 7 Count Germaine obf CEL FOR POT PRE - Brujah, 8 2x Count Germaine (Adv) obf CEL FOR POT PRE - Brujah, 8 Doctor Streck aus CEL OBF pot PRE - !Brujah, 8 Maxwell CEL FOR POT PRE PRO - Brujah, 9 Christopher Houghton AUS CEL DOM pot PRE PRO - Tor, 10 Marthe Dizier AUS CEL OBF PRE pro - !Tor, 10 Library: (90) ------------- Master (18) Anarch Free Press Anarch Railroad 3x Anarch Revolt 4x Blood Doll 5x Galaric's Legacy 2x Society of Leopold Strained Vitae Supply Threestar Cab Company Action (9) 6x Enchant Kindred 3x Go Anarch Political Action (17) 2x Final Nights 3x Firebrand 12x Free States Rant Action Modifier (13) 2x Approximation of Loyalty 5x Bewitching Oration 6x Voter Captivation Combo (17) 9x Mob Rule 8x Scalpel Tongue Combat (15) 2x Acrobatics 2x Burning Wrath 3x Majesty 8x Sideslip Event (1) Dr. Marisa Fletcher, CDC
Comments:
If you've read previous Anarch newsletters, then you're familiar with the Free States Rant/Mob Rule combination. It's so good it even appeared in the Anathema starter deck. (Although LSJ has not given me credit for that, I'm going to assume he got the idea from me.) Well, there's a whole new boost to this combination in the form of calpel
Tongue. The blend of Mob Rule/Scalpel Tongue on anything is awesome, and what's best about it is that they are BOTH combo cards. So you can hose other people's votes as well (such as the vote to get rid of the Anarch Revolt.) I will say that it takes a lot of finesse to get the right order of vote cards for each situation (sometimes BO should come before the Mob Rule, sometimes after - Scalpel Tongue is always last), but this is a fun deck to play. Sonja is in there because I would like for everybody's titles to get removed (and if my predator doesn't take her or if she roams the table back to me, then she's perfect for the deck), and Jayne is in there because of Society of Leopold.
V - Conclusion
Well, it's good to be back. I should be posting on a monthly or almost-monthly schedule again, so look forward to July when I go back a bit and examine the 10th Anniversary cards, particularly Powerbase: L.A.
Eric Simon
Prince of Chicago
Official Anarch Newsletter Writer