Lost Samedi: Card preview analysis

We got Samedi card previews from Lost Kindred!

www.vekn.net/2-uncategorised/399-lost-kindred-samedi

I took a minute of my time to analyze them. Please, feel free to discuss below and share your own initial reactions.

Name: Jean Lisle
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Samedi
Group: 6
Capacity: 8
Discipline: pot FOR OBF THN
Independent: Once each round of combat, Jean can burn 1 blood to make the damage from his hand strikes aggravated that round.
Artist: Noora Hirvonen

Potence samedi with Jean and Josette duo - yes please! They will gain plenty of poke potential from + Disarm possibility, as well as Immortal Grapple and Jean's aggro hands. As always, getting into combat is a drag, but multiacting has always been a thing for Samedi. A duo of 8-caps is always a bit rough (and a nonbo with Little Mountain Cemetery). Too bad Toy won't be there for extra Potence shenanigans, unless you go Hidden Lurker. Jean and Josette set G6 apart from other Samedi, trading their for . Jean is a strong vampire, who can go in many directions, or a combination of them (Reanimated Corpse, Josette, Blessing of Loa...).

Name: Mambo Jeanne
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Samedi
Group: 6
Capacity: 9
Discipline: FOR NEC OBF THN
Independent: Minions opposing Jeanne take 2 environmental damage each round during normal strike resolution at close range. +1 bleed.
Artist: Riccardo Fabiani

A 9-cap vampire without any votes is always a rough sell, and their abilities should reflect the investment. Mambo goes an extra mile with ALL Samedi in-clan disciplines, an almost mandatory +1 bleed for such an old vampire, and finally sets the rails with combat as their destination. Environmental damage gets finally implemented as a keyword in cards, and Samedi make good use of it. Previously seen in Petaniqua, we know that static environmental can be more powerful than raw strength boosts. Mambo's strength lies in versatility - no one wants to block a minions with a combat effect, so she can either go for multi action (light on combat) or all-out combat (packing some rush for the journey). Where G2's Baron is a multitool of votes, bounce and bleed, G4's Trogdolytia has been seen as a control/block vampire, this G6's Samedi elder definitely seems like a vampire for no big, but plenty of smaller actions, made deadlier by her inherent abilities. The trick is in identifying those most offensive actions.

Name: Marie-Pierre
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Samedi
Group: 6
Capacity: 4
Discipline: for nec THN
Independent: Marie-Pierre can lock after a combat involving another Samedi you control to enter combat with the opposing minion. She cannot block older vampires.
Artist: Jarkko Suvela

Exceptional for her age, Marie-Pierre boasts an ability fit for haitian assassins. Thanatosis has a fair amount of combat cards (Groaning Corpse, Compress, Dust to Dust), but with only her low capacity ensures she has to pick her fights carefully. Load her with an Improvised Flamethrower to make your other vampires' actions that much more threatening. 4-cap is probably just right for a support vampire, and her levels put Lithrac to shame.

Name: Mister Schwartz
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Samedi
Group: 6
Capacity: 6
Discipline: for obf NEC THN
Camarilla.
Artist: Ginés Quiñonero

Want to go instead of a combat heavy load G6 seems to suggest for Samedi? G5-6 does have support for that in Mister Schwartz (and Brigitte Mandisa), ensuring that G5-6 can battle with the best of necromancers. Check out what these two can do for G5-6 Harbingers of Skull and Giovanni. Even though other groups will probably have better crypts for your necromancy needs, Mister Schwartz is a much needed, basic 6-cap which is a staple for every clan. Like other supports, you won't find yourself building a deck around him for sure. Even as a support his mediocre level of leaves some to be desired. If you need an extra to fill in your Little Mountain graves however, he's your guy.

Name: Blessings of the Loa
Cardtype: Master
Clan: Samedi
Burn Option
Unique.
Put this card in play. Samedi you control with capacity 4 or more get +1 bleed against your prey for each vampire in torpor they control.
Artist: Ginés Quiñonero

If you want to give a clan a straight-forward boost, this is the most basic way of doing it. It only affects older vampires (Toy and Angel are the only Samedi that are not graced by Blessing of Loa) so the design basically leaves your wet breed dreams out of the picture. Reanimated Corpses with Frontal Assault might challenge Nephandi, as a well aimed turn of rushes easily nets 2-6 extra bleed on that crucial turn for a quick finish. Note how Loa also makes your bleeds responsible by targeting your Prey, making those bounces slightly effective. As the effect is spread among only your wee guys, other Samedi players are left drooling for Loa's potence, and the player can focus on their own self-statisfaction. Loa offers a straight-forward thrust and extra oomph, which is not that interesting to your partners-in-play, but is sure to make for a difference in a competitive suck-fest.

Name: Necrosis
Cardtype: Combat
Discipline: Thanatosis/Potence
[pot] Strike: hand strike at +1 damage.
[thn] Strike: hand strike at +2 damage.
[THN] As [thn] above, and the opposing vampire takes 1 unpreventable environmental damage during the press step this round (only effective if this strike was made at close range).
Artist: Javier Santos

Out of all Samedi cards in this pack, Necrosis drew the shortest straw. At first glance the outferior reinforces the theme of pairing Samedi with Nosferatu, but a weak +1 at hands is not threathening in most situations. The effects on and add nothing extra interesting, as extra damage is ever only extra damage. When paired with Dawn Operation, that damage inflicted outside of the normal damage preventation window can be useful against Fortitude (not dodges, mind you, since the dodge effect nullifies the whole effect of the strike), but Samedi for most parts already had an answer to Fortitude in Dead Hand. Necrosis can be fun in Jean & Josette decks without Necromancy, but as raw damage there are better cards out there, as even Target Vitals outshines it. A combat deck with a mix of Nosferatu and Samedi will never happen with only Necrosis to boost it.

Name: Relentless Reaper
Cardtype: Combat
Discipline: Thanatosis/Fortitude
[for] Prevent 1 damage.
[thn] Press.
[THN] Only usable when both combatants are still ready and combat would end. Burn 1 blood to start a new round instead.
Artist: Alejandro F. Giraldo

If Samedi combat ever got a boost, this is the best that happened to it since Groaning Corpse. As it happens, Relentless Reaper alone enables Groaning Corpse, Mambo Jeanne and many gun based combats, the very same way Psyche! and Telepathic Tracking trump the worst offender of VtES combat; Strike: Combat Ends. Where Psyche! works well with guns with manouvers (resetting them), Relentless Reaper just seems like a better Telepathic Tracking with it's outferior and the fact it doesn't cost blood from the get-go. To be fair, Relentless Reaper and Blessing of Loa share a design space in their staleness of power level: they are probably much needed, but slam raw power numbers into a clan that has often been identified as a more obscure clan that gets familiar things done in unfamiliar ways. Instead of a "burn 1 blood" cost, I would've enjoyed a more far-fetched and innovative condition. But, as it stands, we will for sure expect to see combat Samedi decks pack plenty of these to deliver their damage output, if not any control shenanigans (a design space older Samedi combat cards aimed to explore).

As a whole we finally got what we wanted, kind of: Samedi combat. Instead of interesting and wacky control style of combat and contract support, we will most likely see G6 Samedi deal an immense amount of raw damage. We gained a method of delivery for the damage, but few extra ways of getting into combat where to actually deal the damage. This set aimed to expand on the G6, which is good, but the library cards presented are mostly going to be seen in that group alone. The older designs were left largely untouched.

Granted, Relentless Reaper WILL be seen in those few-and-far-between Samedi gun decks, which already have tricks in (Disguised Weapon) and (Hag's Wrinkles), and Blessing of Loa is a natural include in any Samedi that plans for combat in any other way than Spiritual Intervention. G6 continues to offer fresh, alternative playstyles for bloodline clans with Blood Brother groups boasting Protean, and now Viscisitude, and Samedi is (mostly) what we craved for.

Maybe we will see those older designes further investigated in later episodes of VtES expansions. For now, aside from a single seemingly under powered combat card with no clear slot to fill in Samedi's needs, we got a host of new toys to experiment with. If some of those might actually find common playground with Toy himself, remains to be seen.

Disagree with Necrosis being underpowered. At THA (which your combat Samedi will tend to have), it's hand strike of 3 + one unpreventable environmental, with zero cost. That's very nice in my opinion, especially since you can always add a Target Vitals to it for extra giggles (and/or Groaning Corpse for extra environmental).

Necrosis + Groaning Corpse deals 3 + 3 damage (one of which is unpreventable), at zero cost. That not bad at all.

PetriWessman wrote:

Disagree with Necrosis being underpowered. At THA (which your combat Samedi will tend to have), it's hand strike of 3 + one unpreventable environmental, with zero cost. That's very nice in my opinion, especially since you can always add a Target Vitals to it for extra giggles (and/or Groaning Corpse for extra environmental).

I am inclined to agree with Petri. Striking for 4 instead of 2 (dead hand) for zero cost; its pretty obvious which card is better in the abstract. I'm surprised its even up for discussion. That the 1 damage is unpreventable, goes around prevent+disarm strategy also. Dodge avoids both, so its not really a comparison between the two.

You must really have loads of fortitude prevent in your local meta...

I had an idea for a necromancy combat card mechanic, in that the damage might have lingered after striking to symbolize the rotting touch (the strike card would be placed on opponent for a turn and they would have taken 1 more damage in their next untap and burn the card). However, since lost kindred is already coming, I am late to the party

That the 1 damage is unpreventable, goes around prevent+disarm strategy also.

Not exactly, since environmental damage is not inflicted by the striking vampire. Disarm doesn't recognize it.

Let the discussion flow, Methuselahs!

Genina multirush Horrid Reality into Flamethower Trapparition just got better.
Yay!

Bloodartist wrote:

I had an idea for a necromancy combat card mechanic, in that the damage might have lingered after striking to symbolize the rotting touch (the strike card would be placed on opponent for a turn and they would have taken 1 more damage in their next untap and burn the card). However, since lost kindred is already coming, I am late to the party

You mean something like this card from KMW:

Mercy for Seth
[Combat] Combat
[Necromancy] Necromancy
[1 Blood]

[nec] Strike: put this card on the opposing minion. If this minion is a mortal, he or she is burned. During his or her untap phase, the minion with this card takes 1 unpreventable damage. The minion with this card may burn it as a +1 stealth action.
[NEC] As above, and this strike inflicts 1 damage as well.

Artist(s): Steve Ellis

Set(s): KMW:C