Gangrel Newsletter - October 2005

Gangrel Newsletter - 10 October 2005

I. Intro
II. Deck
III. Cards of the Newsletter
IV. Minions of the Newsletter
V. Strategies, Tactics, and Laments
VI. The Boring Part

I. I'm not really one for long intros.

II. Supertool - Commit Actions to tool up your small cap Gangrel while
engaging your foes.

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity average: 4.25
Min draw: 12
Max draw: 22
------------------------------------------------------------

2x Lord Ashton 5 ANI for pro Gangrel:3
1x Antonino 6 FOR ani pre pro Gangrel:3
1x Sophia Watson 6 ANI FOR obf pro Gangrel:3
1x Dr. Allan Woodstoc 5 PRO ani aus for Gangrel:3
1x Bobby Lemon 4 ANI pro Gangrel:3
1x Gustavo Morales 4 ani cel for Gangrel:3
1x Ramona 4 for pro Gangrel:2
1x Ramona Adv 4 for pro Gangrel:2
1x Bothwell 3 ani for Gangrel:3
1x Chandler Hungerfor 3 PRO Gangrel:2
1x Sarah Raines 2 for Gangrel:3


Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Master [21]
2x Animalism
5x Blood Doll
1x Depravity
1x Ecoterrorists
3x Effective Management
3x Fortitude
2x Gangrel Revel
1x Parthenon, The
2x Protean
1x Zoo Hunting Ground

Action [13]
3x Army of Rats
1x Arson
1x Embrace, The
3x Restoration
2x Ritual Challenge
1x Sanguine Instruction
2x Shadow of the Beast

Retainer [3]
3x Raven Spy

Action Modifier [6]
4x Dawn Operation
1x Earth Control
1x Freak Drive

Reaction [16]
6x Cats' Guidance
4x Forced Awakening
2x Guard Dogs
3x Instinctive Reaction
1x Rat's Warning

Combat [31]
1x Bone Spur
1x Canine Horde
5x Earth Meld
1x Form of Mist
1x Hidden Strength
5x Indomitability
2x Pack Alpha
3x Rolling with the Punches
4x Scorpion Sting
3x Skin of Night
2x Skin of Rock
1x Skin of Steel
1x Undead Persistence
1x Unflinching Persistence



This library is rough, but this deck is fun to play.

When I built it, I envisioned a horde of special abilitied midcaps
emerging by midgame, but the first outing it had was with a weenie
presence predator. Amber, a new player, was playing the deck and
brought out a whopping three minions, using all the untap and blood
dolls to stay alive, and bringing out the Army of Rats to make sure
her prey didn't feel neglected. After successfully building up to 4
minions and 12 pool in between KRC's and presence bleeds, the presence
predator played Dramatic Upheaval to go find a softer target.

The deck is master heavy, but if Lord Ashton hits the table, you
should find time to search your deck for a master discipline at least
once a turn, which will smooth out the flow. He cannot use his own
special ability, and I never play masters on him. I just keep
untapping him to block, in the ongoing experiment to see if inferior
pro/for will keep him alive. Even if he goes to torpor, you can still
use his ability.

Sometimes, all this makes him a target, because he is central to the
strategy. This is unfortunate, but by the time the strategy is
recognized
and he gets whacked, the discipline masters are out already. Thanks,
Lord Ashton!

For the rest of it, it is a matter of deciding which trick you think
will work and building or card cycling to it, while keeping as many
Army of Rats in play as possible, and bleeding for one as many times
as possible. Let them deflect, the jerks.

I can't imagine any of you just playing it as is, but since it is a
build your own style thing, some judicious swaps can be made for
your various metagames. Things I plan on trying:

Sawed off Shotguns
Haven Uncovered
Delaying Tactics
Tension in the Ranks
Strained Vitae Supply
>>From a Sinking Ship
10 Force of Will (I've heard plus bleed actions are strong.)

III. Indomitability and the Fortitude skill card.

I am not the first one to notice this card; See the Christmas 2003
indomitability resurgence in Scott Gomes' "Fortitude Weenies of the
World Unite" (Sire's Index Finger: Boston, Massachusetts. December
2003, on the TWD archive), and "Win", Jeff Small's Wynn wins monster
on the Vtesinla.org site, from 12.14.2003.

Indomitability is a great card. Coupled with the array of ways to
build up the hand damage of Gangrel, it is incredibly useful for
controlling combat. Enough copies of Indomitability start to make
Growing Fury look attractive. It is the card that will enable you to
use Bone Spur to burn minions, rather than sending them to torpor.

If your opponent was going to S:CE, they would have done it on the
first round. If you weren't sure about this, you can go ahead and
check with an Owl Companion or Aura Reading, but most of the time,
they'll just S:CE and be done with it. Since they don't have S:CE,
you can hit them for one and press until they are out of blood, and
then use Bone spur with a bonus strength card. I like Lucky Blow
instead
of Scorpion Sting, since Ramona and Ricki Van Demsi may use it.

Indomitability is more useful than hidden strength, because it can be
tossed as a press even when your opponent dealt no damage.

The fortitude master is the necessary companion of Indomitability,
owing to the paucity of superior Fortitude minions below 5 cap, and
the necessity of using small cap Gangrel if one is forging ahead
without the aid of Auspex or Dominate. Maybe the design team has a
reason in mind for not creating a minion with superior Fortitude at
capacity three or four, but we'll see after the new expansion. Either
way, it is worth the Master Phase Actions and the card slots to put in
three Fortitude skill cards, or more, if you are going to get mileage
out of Indomitability.

IV. Minions of the Newsletter

Bothwell - 3 capacity Gangrel, for/ani, Group 3, decent art
Quinton McDonnell - 8 capacity Gangrel, Primogen, FOR/pro/ani/cel, +1
strength, Group 1, sketchy art (What's with the hot tub?)

Bothwell is so utilitarian it is silly. His synergy with other small
for/ani minions is extensive, and I am a big fan of Animalism even at
inferior. Bring him and his pals Leon and Sennuwy out, and pile on
the Army of Rats. Fortitude and Indomitability ensure that getting
blocked or rushed isn't a concern, small size ensures some left over
pool, and several minions ensure several actions even without Freak
Drive. Forced Awakening / Cat's Guidance is particularly useful, but
you may need varying amounts of permanent intercept to pull it off,
depending on where you play.

Quinton is from the much maligned Group 1. Arguably overcosted, he
has one superior discipline, but it is the right one. The vote is
always
helpful, especially in a swing situation between two political decks
that hate each other, or with the edge and a pitched vote in your own
deck for diablerie. Obviously, he excels at using Indomitability and
burning minions with a well-timed Bone Spur. He can still play the
almighty Army of Rats, and Pack Alpha down Raven Spies, or, if you are
brave, The Dog Pack. He groups well with Giuliano "Superior
Shirtitude"
Vincenzi, Ricki Van Demsi, and Zack North, who will be soaking up your
Fortitude masters to form mini Quintons, and who are all immune to PTO,
if
that matters to you.

I haven't made much use of his celerity, but Blur, Fast Hands, and
Forced March are solid choices if you are using a few Quintons in a
Group one Fortitude deck. Mostly I stare at it and wish it were
potence, but if wishes and buts were candies and nuts, we'd all have a
merry Christmas.

V. Strategies, Tactics, and Laments

Ben Peal told me that the Gangrel have a lot of delivery
mechanisms but no payload, and I have to agree. No bounce, no inherent
bleed boost, no good answer to S:CE, and a newfound vulnerability to
PTO compound this problem. I had wanted to write a newsletter where I
could talk about a truly competitive deck using only in-clan
disciplines and tactics, and post it in time for the Storyline. To
that end, I headed out to Boston to try five different decks, all with
extensive amounts of Indomitability, to see if it could be done.

It could not be done by me in these last two weeks, although
Indomitability performed as advertised. Special thanks to Ben
Swainbank and John Eno for putting up with this for 5 straight games
("Gangrel again?") and congratulations to John for his recent win,
even if it was with the Setites. As an aside, I am in full support of
Ethan Burrow's coordinated effort to win the Storyline with a given
clan, even if it is the filthy Setites. I think that kind of thing is
fun, and good for the game.

I ran into several problems. I think that the more turns a game has,
the better off the Gangrel will be, because of permanents like Ritual
Challenge and Eco Terrorists. I also think that the more cross table
dealing there is, the better off the Gangrel will be, owing to their
ability to act without fear of being blocked, and to occasionally
generate stealth or blow through with protean. If you have time, the
constant assault of the Green Machine will pay off in the end, and
there is the option of attempting to stabilize the table by
cross-table rescues, Arsoning Parthenons, or calling Votes that are
easier to pass (Finding the Path, Disputed Territory, Con Boon for
some other clan). You can pitch these cards during another vote,
including diablerie, so I don't view one or two as wasted slots.

My experience in Boston was that there were no "extra" turns, and there
was limited dealing and not much stabilization. Many of the decks I
saw had the potential to lunge, so the idea of a long build up and
battle in an endgame never came to fruition. Certain cards, notably
Fame and Force of Will, can help deal pool damage to your own prey,
but the real problem was dealing with predators. If they can't be
bargained with, and you can't bounce their bleeds, rushing key minions
often seems like the best option. Animalism can generate some
intercept, but not like Auspex. If you cripple your predator in error,
or because you are forced to, you are rewarded with a new predator.
All this fighting can be card intensive, as others have pointed out
over the years.

Meanwhile, offense with stock Gangrel tends to be slow and steady,
allowing the lunger to pick the right turn to make a run for glory. A
metagame change to more turns, more combat, or more dealing will help
the Gangrel, but to force such a change means winning tournaments with
them, and it is an uphill skate with their discipline spread. You can
check the TWD archive for evidence of how often people bolt on
Dominate to make the payload happen.

There are still upsides, though. I still think a winner is out there
in the ether, with the in clan stuff. The clan bloats reliably, with
Eco Terrorists, Restoration, and an excellent small capacity minions,
with Ramona being the stand out. They fight very well, so combat is
never a problem. When someone is outfighting you, there is Earth
Meld, and I think Earth Meld deserves a place even in Rush decks, so
you can save your "real" combat cards for the right opponent.

The areas I am going to try are bolting on superior Auspex to the
Group 3 minions who have auspex already (and Omaya), continuing to
mine for/ani (although it isn't storyline legal, and I'll try to keep
newsletter decks storyline legal for the most part), and caving in and
using power cards like Sudden Reversal and Delaying Tactics with Group
1/2 rush. I tried to do it without them, but it didn't work well in
Boston.

VI.
Green Hate - Deck Core
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity average: 4.42
Min draw: 8
Max draw: 25
------------------------------------------------------------

2x Quinton McDonnell 8 FOR ani cel pro primogen Gangrel:1
1x Badger 6 FOR PRO ani pot Gangrel:1
1x Zack North 6 ani for pot pro Gangrel:1
1x Camille Devereux, 5 FOR PRO ani Gangrel:1
1x Ramona 4 for pro Gangrel:2
1x Ramona Adv 4 for pro Gangrel:2
1x Roman Alexander 4 ani for pro Gangrel:1
1x Ricki Van Demsi 3 for pro Gangrel:1
1x Giuliano Vincenzi 2 for Gangrel:1
1x Rufina Soledad 2 for Ventrue:1
1x March Halcyon 1 for Pander:2


Library [62 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Master [14]
3x Blood Doll
1x Ecoterrorists
1x Fame
3x Fortitude
4x Haven Uncovered
1x Life in the City
1x Zoo Hunting Ground

Action [9]
2x Arson
1x Big Game
1x Bum's Rush
2x Harass
1x Rapid Healing
1x Restoration
1x Ritual Challenge

Reaction [1]
1x Forced Awakening

Combat [38]
1x Amaranth
2x Bone Spur
1x Gleam of Red Eyes
1x Growing Fury
17x Indomitability
1x Lucky Blow
1x Skin of Rock
2x Skin of Steel
3x Trap
5x Undead Persistence
4x Unflinching Persistence


After reading about Ethan Burrow's module idea, I thought about
building deck cores that could be added to depending on the metagame,
without changing the basic frame. This is my group 1/2 rush template.

Thanks for reading. Please post any opinions/ insults/ rants, or
anything else you think of regarding the newsletter. I'll try to get
out one a month until January, and see from there. Thanks to the
Boston, Worcester, and Seattle playgroups, and all the fine folks who
spoke with or emailed me regarding the underdogs.

Dave Clooney
dcquickbeam@xxxxxxxxx

.

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