Dies könnte vielleicht ein interessantes Thema für Neulinge
sein, daher habe ich das mal aus einem recht umfangreichen
Thread aus der Newsgroup herkopiert um es zu "archivieren".
http://groups.google.de/group/rec.games ... 19d?&hl=de
Alf
Sabbat War Starters:Here are my thoughts on the Precons, most of which I've played either
with new players or at pre-release events.
Most of the Precon starters are pretty toolboxed out, so the focus
isn't awesome. Some of them are better at it than others.
-Merlin
Tzimisce - Awesome deck with a lot of potential, this deck is
highlighted by more than 10 cards that can go aggravated wounds. Nice.
Top that off with a pile of untap and the minions can act every turn
and still untap to block. Good template for a balls-to-the-wall bruise/
bleed/block deck. Superstars: Dragos and Meshenka for the free Vis
cards, Lambach's special(s) allow him to burn an empty vampire that he
intercepts during a hunt action. Rating: 9 (out of 10)
Lasombra - Essentially a Stealth/Bleed/Vote with random Potence and
Obtenebration combat, this collection is a little loose and
incoherent. Getting a vampire with OBT and DOM is paramount. Titles
are a bonus. Crypt is _way_ too big for many actions per turn, and
lacks action efficiency to cope with this. Superstars: +1 bleed vamps
like Gratiano and Francisco. Rating: 4
Brujah Antitribu - This is actually one of the better crypts for a SW
starter.It has a low average capacity for extra minions to take all
the actions in the deck. The almost total lack of intercept can be
potentially fatal, but judicious determination in choosing targets for
the rushes could help. As with most starters, S:CE beats the rush
every time, however. Superstars: Bronwen's perma-dodge is strong, but
Salinger for the +1 bleed and Richter for the +1 strength are better.
Rating: 6
Ventrue Antitribu - THis deck is actually a lot of fun to play, but i
enjoy a challenge. It's a vote deck with sparse damaging votes, a
bleed deck without much in the way of stealth to push those bleeds in,
and lacks decent combat defense to survive the physical threats. The
zip gun in the deck will save a vampire from getting his head kicked
in a close range _every fight_, which is nice. Superstars: Quentin
passes political actions for you, and Lazverinus is a monster in a
fight. Strathcona is not worth his cost most of the time. Rating: 5
Final Nights Starters:
Many of the FN clan starters feature specialty
disciplines that cost a lot more than standard disciplines. THis is
worse for some than for others.
Ravnos - A weak deck in the oust category, with Chimerstry cost issues to boot.
Remember that all the untap cards can only be uses with ani, so plan
accordingly (give a weapon to the guy who can block and thus get in
fights more often). Ankla Hotep is not worth is cost for the deck (no
animalism for a 9-cap!), and Darius is questionable. Superstars:
Kostantin is nice in starter-environments because there will be
equipment, NAtalia has a +1 bleed for the oust, but her disciplines
leave a lot to be desired. Rating: 3
Assamite - This is actually a pretty tight rush deck, but it lacks
crypt-focus. Many of the mid-range vampires are missing one of the 3
clan disciplines, and the disciplines only work well in conjunction,
so get a minion with all three, preferably at superior. The deck lacks
oust, and the Blood Curse seriously ruins any chance of finishing a
minion in torpor with weenie-diablerie. Superstars: Al:Ashrad for that
+bleed (see a theme?), Fatima for clan-superior goodness, Thetmes for
those agg-hands. Rating: 4
Giovanni - This deck is interesting in its crappiness. It has such
potential, and yet the toolboxy nature of the starter and the random-
s#!+ reprints almost totally ruin it. It has vote cards but few titles
and not much in the way of forcing votes through. it has some
expensive combat cards that aren't that great without more combat
cards in-hand. It has all of three stealth cards, which are also three
of its five intercept cards. With the right draw it will do well, but
more often than not it will run out of good cards and turn into shite
before long. Superstars: Regina is nice; Isabel is worth her cost;
Carlotta might be good for shuffling the crap. Rating: 3
Followers of Set - This deck is pretty awesome compared to the other
FN starters. Obfuscate and Presence make some nice stealth bleed, and
there is +bleed available on the vampires as well. The Serpentis
weirdness is actually icing on the cake instead of crap inside it.
Tongue of the Serpent isn't so bad in a limited environment, for
instance. For giggles, Temptation your own vampire and keep them at
one blood for an extra action with them every turn. Superstars: Amisa
and Kephamos enable the votes in the deck, and have +bleed to boot.
Rating: 8
Camarilla Starters:
These decks have the misfortune of containing
reprinted Final Nights and Dark Sovereigns vampires which "played"
with the clan-discipline ideas. Some get it worse than others. Inner
Circle members should be used at every opportunity.
Brujah - A mean little rush deck that has potential. The first
inclusion of Fame in a rush-deck starter. Use that. The immortal
Grapples are a strong card, but there are few Potence strikes or
+strength minions (or cards) that can be used with them. Use blur with
Grapple instead. IR Goggles are strong with that many Lids in the
deck. The lack of Presence on affordable minions will make things
difficult: Donal, Contanza, and Volker have votes, but no Presence for
Dread Gaze or bleed actions. Uncool. Superstars: Akram (with the Sawed-
Off, if possible), Volker (cheap votes), Gwendolyn, Menele (1st minion
up, if possible). Rating: 6
Malkavian - The Camarilla Edition switch from Dominate to Dementation
as an in-clan discipline makes this deck play strangely. Crazily
enough (<--bad, I know), it works. I have watched guys sweep tables
with this deck. It bleeds, it sneaks, it wins. Superstars: Any of the
big capacity vampires are pretty good (Anatole is best; Leandro is
close to best); get a Demention skill card out soon. Rating: 7
Nosferatu - I guess this is meant to be some kind of crazy rush/bleed
deck, but in practice it falls flat on its face a lot. I think the
weird-discipline problems of the starters for Camarilla edition hurt
this deck the most, because the small-caps lack Potence and Animalism
for the most part, and those disciplines are the meat of the combat
package. So a POT/ANI minion early is important. Superstars: Nikolaus
Vermulen is amazing-good, Harrod is an Inner Circle member. Rating: 4
Toreador - This deck is a decent template for a Celerity/Guns block-
deck, with the toolboxy vote/bleed goodness thrown in for good
measure. Get a gun, shoot other vampires with it when they try to harm
your pool or your minions. Bleed; shoot again. Keep shooting. Makarios
lacks Celerity, so won't be as good with a gun, Marcellus lacks
Presence, so can't bleed or vote as hard as the others, Radeyah lacks
Auspex and is overcosted. Avoid those three. Superstars: Francois is
pretty amazing, Alexandra is superstrong, Victoria Ash is surprisingly
good. Rating: 8
Tremere - I like this deck, but it has some bad points, mainly that
wacky discipline spread stuff. Javier Montoya lacks dominate,
Spirodonas lacks Auspex, Rebekka lacks Dominate, and Elisabetta Romano
is, well...terrible. There is some strength to be found here anyway:
Seeds of Corruption is great, the Harass/Apportation/Mob Connections/
2nd round Thaumatergy actually works sometimes, Conditioning is good.
Avoid Elisabetta and use discrimination on the others: Javier is good
if you have a DOM minion already, Spiro is strong if you've got an AUS
minion already, etc. Superstars: Spirodonas can end a game with a big
bleed and Etrius is an Inner Circle member, but Muaziz's +1 stealth
and free diablerie is insane-nuts-strong. Rating: 8
Ventrue - This deck is actually the bar by which I measure all other
starters. 3 or 4 copies of this deck comprise the contents of several
tournament-worthy Arika/Ventrue vote/bleeders. Never bring up Nakova.
In fact, burn all copies of her that you can find and hope that she is
replaced with something better. Bindusara isn't worth the cost.
Suhailah isn't suited to the deck but can play the Prince/Justicar
cards, so she isn't totally worthless. The deck has Bonding and
Seduction to push through the big bleeds. Superstars: Arika is the
Queen, Queen Anne comes second, Ranjan Rishi is good for the money.
Rating: 9
Anarchs Starters:
These are some disparate collections of cards.
Barons - I love this starter. It's difficult to use at times, but it
has a lot of forward motion. Getting a title on a vampire ASAP is
important, and passing those votes by any means necessary is the way
to win. This is not always easy. Use the Anarch Revolts as surprise
bleeds when your prey is at a low pool-count (1, preferably). Bleed
with an Obfuscate- or Protean-possessing anarch with a Skullduggery to
get the Edge for extra vote push if necessary. Avoid combat like the
plague. Superstars: Suzanne Kadim (that +bleed is big), J-Mac Merged,
Sundown, Ira Rivers for votes. Rating: 6
Gangs - An off-the-wall collection of cards that doesn't work well
often. The idea of weenie (well, weenie/madcap)-swarm is strong at
first, and can perhaps overwhelm the first prey, but subsequent ousts
will be much more difficult. Guys with two combat disciplines
(Potence, Celerity, Fortitude) are needed, superior is a bonus, titles
are a negative because of the anarchy. Auspex is necessary for
defense, find somebody who has it. Superstars: Gengis (!), Hrothulf.
Rating: 2
Gangrel - I'm on the fence about this starter. I love the clan, but
the starter doesn't seem to actually do much, and suffers from the
reprint problems inherent to Camarilla Edition starters. Mirembe isn't
great, Iliana belongs in another deck, and Panagos plain sucks here.
Animalism is necessary for defense, so find someone with the big paw
and bring them up to block. This deck will do well if it can get a
Raven and a Laptop on someone, bleed every turn, then untap and block;
see Tzimisce in the SW section above, but this deck doesn't do it
nearly as well. The crypt is too large as well. Superstars: Stanislava
is MVP here, Beckett is good, the other 9- and 10-caps aren't bad, but
there are too many. Rating: 6
Black Hand:
Malkavian Antitribu - This deck is insane-strong. It may be the bar by
which all starters should be measured. It has a lot of ways to attack
your prey's pool, which is good. Getting voters up is necessary. I
normally discard most of the intercept cards because I can out-bloat
any offense my predator takes and I don't want to get into fights.
Save the bounce...to bounce. The Black Hand aspect of the deck is fairly
sidelined and also discountable. Superstars: Kite, Korah, General
Perfidio Dios, Hannibal. Rating: 9
Nosferatu Antitribu - This is a long-range combat deck with some good
stuff going for it: It has Beast, who is good; It has Cailean, who is
crazy-good; It has TWO Fames for oust-tech, which is all good;
finally, it has some decent Black Hand tech to complement the deck
strategy. Getting a Raven Spy early is important for defense, but
getting into combat is the strength of this deck. Beat your foes down.
Superstars: Christianus is great for cards, Beast is amazing, Cailean
is good. Rating: 7
Toreador Antitribu - This is a strange vote/rush deck that I've never
had much luck using. I think the size of the crypt is the big problem.
There's no way to multiact (Okay, two Zillah's Tears and a Patronage,
but not great options for big caps) and there isn't enough untap to
both take the actions in the deck and wake for defense. Also, the deck
works too hard without a way to decisively oust: a few Presence bleed
actions is all its got, the votes are almost all bloat or combat-
enabling. Oh...Black Hand? What's that? We don't need any Black Hand!
Superstars: I don't think any of them except Greta are awesome for the
deck (and she has no title...not good), but Miller Delmardigan is a
kung-fu star with votes, and Donatien has some needed +bleed. Rating:
4
Tremere Antitribu - I don't have much to complain about in this deck.
It has an agenda: burn all the blood on your opponent's vampires and
knock them into torpor. I like it. It plays a little like the
Camarilla Edition Tremere deck, but doesn't have as many press cards,
which is bad. It does have more Bondings and Seductions, which is
good. It has a better crypt-spread than the Camarilla starter, but the
vampire-specials aren't nearly as powerful as a Muaziz or a
Spiradonas. It's a little lacking in ousting power, but has potential
to lock a table up with the permanent denial from Terrell and
Succubus. Superstars: Terrell Harding shines in the blood-denial
portion of the deck, Selena is great, Bryan is good. Rating: 8
KMW:
love this set, but the starters are a little strange.
Gangrel Antitribu - The only Sabbat clan not represented in starter
form hitherto, this starter is really two decks forced into one.
Ostensibly it is a rush-combat deck, but there are problems with this:
No fame and no bleed boost (1 force of will?!) to actually oust
anyone, little untap to defend after a rush-heavy turn, and five
disciplines spread all over the board. Where's Jalan when you need
him? Enkidu or Mitru are necessary to use all the cards in the deck,
but they can only do so much before they are ousted. This deck is
close to hopeless at times, but can sometimes rush an over-spent prey
into the void. Play agressively, beating both your prey and predator
into torpor early and often. Superstars: Enkidu and Mitru. Rating: 1
Baali - This deck jams. Hard. There are a lot of ways to make up for
the infernal cost in this deck, and it makes for a strong early game.
If momentum can be maintained, the deck can take a tablewin easily.
That said, this is essentially a five-discipline deck, and that can be
tough to work with. Getting the right minions is essential to success.
Cybil is nigh-essential, but can be replaced with other minions in a
pinch. Obfuscate and Presence are needed for the bleeds, but superior
Daimoinen is icing on that cake with Sense the Sin. A Baali is
necessary for all of that. Valerius makes a decent blocker or warrior.
Plus the whole infernal thing is kind of fun. Superstars: Cybil rocks
this one out, Ardan Lane is good. Rating: 8
Alastors - This deck has a great concept that is implemented poorly.
It needs Justicars, but it has a bunch of different Justicars with
different discipline combinations. I'm not sure what Menenle is doing
there other than bringing all those disciplines together in a 10-
capacity package that can't use any of the requires-a-title cards, but
I don't like him there. He pieces together the puzzle in one way only
to disseminate it in another. I use a lot of discard actions when I'm
playing this deck out-of-the-box. The untap package only works for the
big-caps; There isn't many minions with Auspex and Potence and
Celerity (block to get in a fight; beat appropriately); There isn't
any multiaction available for the big caps; These are all difficult
problems to overcome in a complex multiplayer game. There are good
things: Govern the Unaligned is great, Minion Taps are strong (early),
Fame is present for rush-oust, there is a lot of quality vampires to
be had. It just doesn't gel together but once in a blue moon.
Superstars: Get someone with Dominate, someone with Auspex, and
someone with Potence and Celerity, work from there. Gengis shines
again! Rating: 3
Anathema - Similar to the Alastor deck, this is complex idea that
doesn't really come together easily. Playing the deck blind (without
looking at it first), the cards don't seem to work together at all,
the idea of the deck is not readily apparent. Looking at the decklist
a different picture is seen: this is a complex blood denial deck
without much of an oust mechanism. I've played it many times and I
almost always get clumps of cards that my minions cannot play: Stunt
Cycles but no vampires with Celerity or superior Obfuscate for
maneuvers, Free States Rants with no Independent vampires, Hunting
Grounds for clans I don't control (and no Mata Hari; she counts), and
votes that I can't pass or even convince the table to pass for me.
It's frustrating, but when it works it is sweet glorious awesome. The
lack of intercept is not good. Superstars: Count Germaine ADV is
actually the lynchpin of this deck. He can play every discipline card
and call every vote, the only thing he can't do is maneuver with a
Swallowed by the Night. Germaine Basic is okay, but you'll want to go
anarch ASAP to enable the Free States Rants. Rating: 4
Legacies of Blood:
Many double-vampires tighten the crypts for these
decks into well-oiled machines.
Akunanse - This is a decent deck, but it is trying to do too much with
not enough resources. It is a little master-heavy with some trifles
and a Parthenon, but it still can jam on masters rather easily. Worse
yet, the crypt is top-heavy, but the little guys are relatively
worthless discipline-wise, as 66% of the Abomwbwe cards in the deck
either only work on younger minions or cost a blood pre-combat (that's
expensive for a 2-cap). There are also a lot of actions in the deck,
so more often than not you'll want to tap out doing the business
(bleeding with Compuer Hacking, etc.) but you'll be unable to defend
yourself afterward (2 Rat's Warning, 2 Freak Drive for multiaction).
The single KRCG makes the deck intercept light. I get handjamed with
stuff i can't use playing this deck often. Play agressive and use your
discard phases actions to burn the extra actions in-hand. Superstars:
Amavi and Uchenna, hands down. Rating: 5
Guruhi - This is a surprisingly good template for a heavy-Presence
vote deck with a lot of non-defensive resilience. Instead of playing
with a lot of reactions and intercept, this deck just Minion Taps its
minions to gain pool and fills them up with Voter Captivation. Not a
hugely revolutionary idea, but it shaves a lot of card slots off of
the defense budget, and at the same time it can swing from death's
door to table-threat in a short time. The political actions are
excellent at ousting one's prey as well. Combat-wise, it has a lot of
"put-up or shut-up" cards, that is to say it either will dish out a
decent amount of damage with cards like Pushing the Limit or it will
run away with Staredown. A solid deck, but the lack of stealth could
be its downfall. Superstars: Votes are key, Ugadja and Sobayifa attest
to this, but Aren's bonus stealth is even better. Rating: 8
Ishtarri - This deck is Amazingly good, and dominates tables that have
not prepared for it by including copious bounce cards. There are 16
Presence actions that can be used to bleed, and Shasa Abu Badr gets a
+1 stealth when performing a Presence action. On top of that there is
a whole host of (albeit expensive) stealth cards in the deck to push
the actions through. It has a good amount of combat defense with
dodges, combat ends strikes, and prevention. It lacks much in the
bleed-defense and vote-defense categories, but it can usually survive
through forward motion and Blood Dolls. Superstars: Shasa is amazing,
but Ganhuru and Ubende on the table together are machine-like in their
oust efficiency. Rating: 9
Osebo - This is a much-maligned deck that is pretty good, deep down.
The real problem: lack of superior Celerity in the crypt. Without this
the deck cannot take additional strikes, and loses much in the way of
combat ability. The real problem is that the deck has a hard time
ousting without the Pulse of the Canaille in the deck. Only the big
guys can use Ancestor's Insight for bleeds, and there isn't any +bleed
in the crypt, and Tension in the Ranks isn't nearly as good as Fame
(four pool for a single torpor vs. one). The lone Disguised Weapon in
the deck offends me. Was Kisha Bimji supposed to be in the starter or
in boosters? Get up an AUS minion and Pulse them or bleed w/
Ancestor's, get up a CEL minion to fight. Superstars: Khalu and/or
Cesawayo are almost necessary for the deck to work well. Rating: 5
3rd Edition:
Brujah Antitribu - This deck is fun to play but has trouble in a lot
of areas. First, the minions are large. Second, there isn't much in
the deck for defense. Third, the deck is a full-third of combat cards
with zero rush actions. Fourth, the little guys lack Celerity. Sure,
there are only two of them, but if we're relegated to a two-minion
early game because the first minion is a nine-cap and there isn't much
defense in the deck, I want some better disciplines. There are good
things, though. The combat is pretty awesome in the deck, and even the
little guys will hit hard when they hit. There are a lot of pool-
damaging Political actions and titles floating around the crypt.
Unfortunately, the deck will probably be off of the table before pool-
gain is drawn and used. So many good cards and so little time to use
them before I get ousted! Sad. Try to get a voter early and call some
of those votes. Getting Dogs of War into play could be a game-winning
move, use all resources available to do this. Superstars: Armin and
Hektor are strong. Father Juan's special is totally useless in the
deck. At least he can call votes. Rating: 5
Malkavian Antitribu - Damn is this deck hot. Not so much of that
intercept from the BH Malkavian Antitribu starter that might get your
Malks killed. Instead, they get...shotguns! Combat permanents are strong
for deterring rush. The deck is chock full of bleed for oust and even
has some Blessing of Chaos and The Call goodness to it. This is
without doubt one of (if not the) strongest starters out-of-box. PLay
whatever you draw. You should do well. Superstars: Persephone and
Herold for bleed, White Lily for guns. Rating: 10
Tremere Antitribu - More of the same press-combat from the Tremere and
their Sabbat cousins. This deck needs more presses to get those Walk
of Flames off, but otherwise it's pretty solid. It bleeds for quite a
bit and has some stealth from Bonding or Paul Cordwood. Lucubratio is
almost necessary for consistent defense due to the lack of untap in
the deck, however. Esoara isn't good for this deck, and the crypt is a
bit on the larger side, with mid-cap support and only one 4-cap
vampire. Paul Cordwood is a bleed and block superstar with 8 cards of
your crypt to burn for stealth, go that route if you can. Otherwise,
beat your foes to oblivion and then bleed them out. Superstars: Paul,
Uta, Lucubratio (in that order). Rating: 7
Tzimisce - This deck had some large shoes to fill from the SW Tzimisce
starter, and it doesn't really get it done. The aggravated damage
cards are fewer and more expensive, there isn't a lot of maneuvers to
go with those ranged strikes, and Radu Bistri just doesn't belong with
the rest of the crypt. Lady Zara is great with Horrid Form, and
Rustovich and Duality move cards well, but the crypt doesn't have a
Lambach-quality vampire. The untaps are there, but the combat leaves
me wanting more. Try to bring up a vampire with superior Viccissitude
(there isn't enough in the deck). If you can get the War Ghoul you'll
do well. Superstars: Jane Sims is totally worth her cost and drawback,
Lady Zara, Duality. Rating: 7