times The Unaligned: Previews

07 Oct 2014 06:47 - 07 Oct 2014 06:48 #66127 by Klaital
Replied by Klaital on topic Re: The Unaligned: Previews
Assamites have always had way to deal with s:ce in Psyche!, and plenty of additional strikes to deal with dodges. Its all about how you design your combat package. I personally think some of the other cards in this set help assamite combat lot more than sanguine entrapment. Mainly Dam the Heart's River and Focus the Blood (and of course the pool gain contract).

Here is for example a combat package that I thought out straight away after seeing the new cards. Weighted Walking Stick, Focus the Blood, Dam the Heart's River, Thin Blood, manuevers/additional strikes of your choice (I usually prefer pursuit for giving both in one card), psyche. This is quite effective short chain combat (you don't obviously play all of those in one combat usually), which doesn't really get too bothered about s:ce, while still not having any cards that can be completely dead cards.

Like even if you really unload your hand and play all of it in one combat, stick, dam, focus, thin blood, and then they majesty, you haven't really lost anyhting, you still have the stick, you gained full effect from both focus the blood and thin blood, only dam you didn't get full benefit from, but they still lost one blood to it and end result is that you gained a blood while the opponent lost 4, and they don't have that majesty anymore now, then you have the option to psyche if you want.
Last edit: 07 Oct 2014 06:48 by Klaital.

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07 Oct 2014 06:52 #66128 by Juggernaut1981
How many strong Assamite cards are play before range? Most of them.
You disclose almost all of your 'weapons' up front, they disclose nothing, you then declare a strike and they play Majesty.

Sure, you can stick with Psyche. Be my guess, but this card seems intended to shut down S:D or S:CE depending on which one your opponents play AND you can cycle it 'harmlessly' against say an Animalism or Potence-Grapple deck.

:bruj::CEL::POT::PRE::tha: Baron of Sydney, Australia, 418

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07 Oct 2014 06:59 - 07 Oct 2014 07:01 #66130 by PetriWessman

Enzo Giovanni, Pentex Board of Directors
Rating: 3
Direct improvement over the basic version, I don't really see any reason to ever play the basic one over this guy, that being said, he is still only boringly average, at least this ones anti-vote special is more likely to matter than the base ones.


I would actually rate him a 4, his specials combine in interesting ways and give a new twist to gameplay. I have some ideas of how to build a deck around him, we'll see how it works out. Being potentially able to control the votes of the whole table is a very powerful thing, imho.

Bear's Skin
Rating: 3
Its basically Skin of the Adder for the gangrel, to be honest, I think this would thematically make more sense as a spiritus card, but that aside, I suppose it gives gangrel some other option than aggro poke which is nice, stil its not really in any way earth shattering card, just average.


I'd give this a 4. Definitely not just "average", this opens up lots of combat options for the Gangrel. I expect to see this a lot in Gengrel decks.

Gift of Proteus
Rating: 2
This is identical to Ahrimane card Blessing of the Beast, apart from being an action instead of master, I never liked that card, and I don't like this one any more.


Blessing of the Beast is awesome. Ask just about any Ahrimanes player :). This card, otoh, is weaker, since it's an action. I agree on the rating :)

Rewilding
Rating: 3
Somewhat narrow card, though very powerful in what it does, and most decks run at least some locations so its rarely a dead card.


Sort of agree on the rating, though I'm tempted to give it a 3.5. It's not as narrow as you think. Think Montreal, Rack, etc, on your own vampires. Steal it? Prepare to lose it and 2 pool. :)

Nar-Sheptha
Rating: 2
It is card for very specific decks only, mainly star vampire rush decks, but quite useful in those.


At least a 3, maybe even a 4. This is a fantastic card, no reason for any Assamite combat deck to leave it out.

Zephyr
Rating: 3
This is really odd multiacting, but it is still multiacting, which never hurts. Obviously its best in decks without much stealth, like say toreador, still not really sure how much play it will see.


I'd give this a 4. Opens up a lot of new options in lots of different decks.

Sanguine Entrapment
Rating: 2
I guess lot of people are excited about this card, I am however not, its almost in the Sanguinary Wind level of narrowness, I would have liked it so much more if it would have also given a manuever or even a press. But as it is, I doubt I will play this ever, its just too narrow effect to be worth a card.


Huh. What are you smoking, and can I have some? :D.

This is at least 4. At least.

Focus the Blood
Rating: 4
Inner Essence for assamites, this is very nice and helps to offset the blood costs in most quietus cards quite nicely.


Meh. At most a 3. It's decent, but nothing ground-breaking.

Funeral Wake
Rating: 2
Again fairly narrow card, mainly useful in shambling hordes decks, and I would probably in most cases prefer on the qui vive over this since my vampires can use that too.


Well, yeah, it's a bit narrow, but *so* good in certain decks that I'd give it a 3.

Spiritual Guidance
Rating: 3
I am not really sold on this card, I suppose throwing a couple in any deck that uses fairly diverse combat package is okay, but you can't use too many or you risk jamming to them early in the game.


Absolutely disagree on this one. I'd give it a 5. It's awesome. Potence combat loves this.

In Memory of the Two Lands
Rating: 2
Fairly cornercase card, being only of any use in mummy decks, but I am sure someone can make it work in one of those.


At least a 3. This card singlehandedly makes Mummies useful, and the effect is quite powerful.

Velvet Tongue
Rating: 1
This card kind of suffers from same thing as Lure of the Serpent, which is that setites have better options available from presence already, and thus this isn't likely to see much play.


Uh, what? At least 3. This is a gem, and has lots of (evil) options.

Serpent's Numbing Kiss
Rating: 3
This card is quite interesting, like mind numb and staredown combined, the most interesting part is that it gives free s:ce already at basic discplines, though I think many decks are still going to prefer Majesty over this, but certainly an interesting option.


At least 4. Most decks which have the disciplines to reliably use this will prefer it over Majesty. It's a very strong effect.
Last edit: 07 Oct 2014 07:01 by PetriWessman.

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07 Oct 2014 07:31 - 07 Oct 2014 07:32 #66135 by Pascal Bertrand

is it just me, or do some of the cards seem to be worded peculiarly?

Do you have some cards in mind?


for starters, Ennoia's Theater.

Unique location.
You can tap this card to get +1 hand size this turn. You can tap this card during your influence phase to get +1 transfer.


it doesn't conform to the "during x, do y" template as well as it could, like Dreams of the Sphinx.

Unique master.
Put this card in play. Put a counter on this card each time you tap it. When the third counter is added, burn this card. Tap this card to get +2 hand size until the end of the current turn. Tap during your untap phase to gain an additional pool if you have the Edge. Tap to move a blood from the bank to a vampire in your uncontrolled region.


in my mind, the card should read like this:

Unique location.
Tap this card to get +1 hand size this turn. During your influence phase, you may tap this card to gain a (or alternatively "for +1") transfer.

"During" isn't always the first word of a sentence. See Monçada or Anatole or Anson for instance.
Actually, Dreams of the Sphinx does read "Tap during"..
Maybe I'll fix it by removing the "you can" from it to have it look even more like DotS.

there is a card titled... "Thing." seriously?

Even worse - that's the name of the governing assemblies in germanic / scandinavic societies. I wonder why they picked such a name...

Rewilding should read

(d) Burn a location controlled by any Methuselah. That Methuselah burns 2 pool.

Based on which grounds?
I am trying to reword all sentences starting with the adjective "That" on cards that are put in play. It makes sense that I'm also trying to adjust it for cards that don't stay in play. Plus it's shorter with only one sentence.

all of the wraiths are susceptible to non-aggravated damage, which upon some research isn't an actual gripe, but a preconception i had. so you get a pass on that.

Dam the Heart's River reads:

Frenzy. Only usable before range is determined. A vampire can play only one Dam the Heart's River each combat.
:qui: This combat, each strike or damaging effect made against the opposing minion inflicts +1 damage.
:QUI: As above, and this combat, strikes cost the opposing minion 1 additional blood or life, and the opposing minion can choose not to strike.


should read more like torn signpost:

Frenzy. Only usable before range is determined.
:qui: Each of this minion's strikes or damaging effects inflict +1 damage for the remainder of combat. A vampire can play only one Dam the Heart's River each combat.
:QUI: as above and strikes cost the opposing minion 1 additional blood or life (the opposing minion can choose not to strike).

Doesn't cover Carrion Crows, Winged Second, etc. So, for another effect than the one desired, another text would indeed be valid. Your superior text is unclear about the duration of the effect.

there are, extra commas, that make the cards seem like they're, narrated by, Christopher, Walken, or.... god, forbid... the.... William... Shatner...

Please highlight unnecessary commas. I'm happy to either always use the Oxford comma, or never use it.

i haven't really had much time to look through the crypt cards, but i get a feeling that this batch didn't pay much attention to how other similar cards were worded and it comes off feeling amateurish, i guess? i certainly don't mean any disrespect to any of the design team.

Oh trust me, we did pay a lot of attention to how these cards are worded. We also have been rewording the other cards. You can have a look at vekn.net/output-changes for examples. These changes won't be implemented before we get a possibility of reprinting the cards.
Last edit: 07 Oct 2014 07:32 by Pascal Bertrand.

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07 Oct 2014 10:23 #66141 by Lemminkäinen
My rough review of the set, done by clan, without any real experience with the cards. The score at the end means playability, interestingness and options opened.

Assamites got really nice vampires. Their Group 5 was already pretty nice and Group 6 cmplements it well making for a very valid Grouping choice. The additions to Groups 2 and 3 are good designs. The library cards they got are all very powerful.
4/5

Setites got a pretty lackluster Group 6. An emphasis on :SER: is fun. Missy Shillingford is really weird but having two Archbishops opens up some fun voting options for them. But the real problem is that Setite Group 5-6 is very top heavy. Group 5's midcaps suck and Group 6 brought only one vampire to remedy the situation. The library cards are a mix of situational and ok cards.
3/5

Ravnos too suffer from their Group 5 being super weird and Group 6 not really helping matters much. Midcaps are all over the place in a 5-6 crypt. Not a fan. Iago is powerful but the other fatties aren't very exciting. The library cards are utilitarian but not very inspiring.
2/5

Giovanni got very nice vampires that work nicely with Group 5 Giovanni. They can make for a really nice :POT: emphasizing crypt, which is very nice but they can also go the dom+nec route of Shamblers. Very good design! The library cards are rather nice as well - I really like Spiritual Guidance.
5/5

Gangrel got insanely good vampires and they are Group 5 and 4 and 3 so will make for really powerful crypts. Really, really powerful but I suppose it's nice to see Gangrel other than Stanislava. Brunhilde + Valkyries will make for a really interesting Anarch deck. The library cards are also powerful (though Skaald doesn't seem like all that, really).
5/5

Finally, I'm not sure that doling out permanent +1 Intercept vampires is such a good idea. They are really annoying and shut down non-stealth-based pretty completely. Walls are not my favourite deck type. But we shall see.

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07 Oct 2014 11:14 - 07 Oct 2014 16:28 #66147 by porphyrion
Too bad the Ravnos did not get a little bit more love... Iago Castille rocks, but who will be his support? Papa Cr*pba? Gabrin is still by far the best Ravnos, discounting Mata as she can play better cards anyway (shall I play Rom Gypsies or Ponticulus? hmmm...). Ariadne might even end up to be the foremost user of Illusory Resources. Always liked Ivan Krenyenko and it is very nice to see his new :adv: text!

Pool gain when torporizing vampires fills a whole. Assamites get a lot of love. Dam the Heart's River almost feels like two older combat cards merged into a single one.

Gangrel for the win! Matasuntha, Rosa Hernandez & Inyanga rock! GR3 Prince is a very nice support vampire, an effective bridge between :gang: and !gang! . Thing will also see play especially with all the newfound multi-act capabilities of :CEL: :PRO: or :CEL: :FOR: . Gangrel walls will be heavy... No more need to rush or act, just wait and see. or bounce with :AUS: or even :dom: . Wow!

Lisandra Giovanni is a bomb. Fits like a glove with Ignazio/Unre/Baron. In a way, he is the update Byzar could have used/ should have been.

Zephyr opens a lot of crazy possibilities, further 'helping' :CEL: vampires like Anson, Unnamed (Instantaneous Transformation!), Enkidu (also Forced March) etc. Very very interesting card but maybe enhancing not exactly the right archetypes/vampires/clan weaknesses?

IMO, the artwork is a bit more stereotypical and less mysterious than some of the older sets. I liked Christopher Shy or even oddball Drew Tucker, and still think they hold up pretty well today (despite Shy's Photoshop-heavy style which has a proven record of aging poorly).

Overall, a much better set than Danse Macabre! Thank you & keep getting better each time!
Last edit: 07 Oct 2014 16:28 by porphyrion.
The following user(s) said Thank You: D-dennis

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