The Unaligned: Previews

drnlmza wrote:

Is the text on Serpent's Numbing Kiss correct?

As far as I can see, the superior's "This (opposing) minion does not untap as normal during your untap phase" is a null statement, since other Methuselah's minions don't untap then anyway.

Edited to add: This is from the flattened library file - I haven't downloaded the other version to see if they're different.

Minion cards are controlled by the player whos minions they are on, so it will burn on the persons untap phase whos minion it is on.

Here is my review of each card of the set based on first impressions. I am giving each card a rating ranging from 1 to 5. In this scale 1 means total wallpaper card, 2 is either below average or extremely situational, 3 is average, 4 is above average, very useful, and 5 means something that you build decks around or that you should put in any applicable deck. I will go through the cards in the order they appear in the pdf, would also be happy to hear what other people think whether they agree or disagree with me on specific cards. Here we go!

Crypt:

Mateusz Kazimirski, Biker of Blood.
Rating: 3.5
I rate 4 caps with superior and inferior slightly higher than those with three inferiors, his special likely wont matter much in most cases, he will likely mostly be seen in mono-celerity gun decks, and is quite solid for those, but probably wont be seen much anywhere else, perfectly fine card.

Wise Frog
Rating: 2
This is in my opinion one of the worst vampires in the whole set, his special, not being overly powerful to begin with, also does not really combo so well with his discplines, being a combat special, and his only superior discpline being obfuscate. Overall, its a vampire that I might sometimes use to fill out a crypt, but wouldn't ever be happy about it.

Omer
Rating: 5
Its Abd al-Rashid, with a ski mask. Very solid vampire that I would expect to see in pretty much every assamite deck using his grouping, not much more to say than that.

Enam
Rating: 4
This is something that hasn't been ever seen before, an assamite prince! At first glance, her discpline spread looked quite lackluster, but when I thought about it more, it wasn't that bad, she is perfect fit for any alamut vote decks,superior quietus lets her bleed with Loss, and basic obfuscate is usually enough to get things through. She also gives you the option to slip in some parity shifts to your assamite vote deck, which is never bad idea, right? Looking forward to get to try her out.

Flavia, Avenging Angel
Rating: 5
Well, 6 cap with all in-clans at superior, what more could you ask? Pretty much all you could hope for in a 6 cap and like Omer, will likely be in every group 6 assamite deck, not much else to say there.

Imanna
Rating: 4
Here is another very solid vampire to alamut vote decks, lacking the princely goodness of Enam, but makes up for it in superior obfuscate.

Abid Bin Haji, Scholar of Mirrors
Rating: 4
All in-clans at superior, and a very useful out of clan at superior, giving him access to bleed bounce. About only gripe I have about this guy is that he is group 6 and can't be grouped up with Dmitri Borodin. But still, very solid.

Rebekah
Rating: 5
This is one of my favorite cards in the entire set, she is pretty much perfect, you can do anything with her, block, bleed, vote, fight. The hardest part is going to be in thinking what to focus your deck to, and then find appropriate supporting cast to go with it, but she is great star vampire to a variety of decks.

Al-Ashrad, Amr of Alamut
Rating: 3
Al-Ahsrad, while considerably better than the basic version due to two extra discpline levels, suffers from the same problem as his buddy Tegyrius, in that he needs to be merged to get his title, which is generally more trouble than its worth, especially since his title is pretty much just 4 votes, unlike Tegy's which gives access to lot of powerful cards, leaving him rather average.

Cao Ngyuen
Rating: 4
This is hands down the best 3 cap setites have ever had, as they have been suffering much from the lack of superior discplines on their smaller vampires, an excellent support vampire.

Elizabeth Dimitros
Rating: 5
Continuing the trend of the previous one, this is by far the best 4 cap setites have ever had, I frankly could not think of better discplines to have for a 4 cap setite. Again, very strong support vampire.

Shahara al-Rashwa
Rating: 5
Another very solid vampire for the setites, I would expect to see this one in pretty much all group 6 setite decks.

Missy Shillingford
Rating: 2
This vampire is quite odd, it seems to be missing one level of discpline or some sort of special ability, 7 caps usually have 8 points worth of stuff, this one only has 7. That aside, its obviously designed for Weigh the Heart, which she can do at superior, but for standard setite decks, she is quite terrible, having only one in-clan at superior as 7 cap, hence why the low rating, I am sure someone will make some specific deck where she is good though.

Legba
Rating: 2
This is another guy that seems to be missing something, as his special is so narrow that it can't be worth a full point. Again, below average for your average setite deck being 8 cap with only basic obfuscate, and no powerful special to make up for it.

Glycon
Rating: 4
While this guy is also lacking in-clan discplines, having no presence at all, he has strong special, and discpline spread, which makes him a vampire that you build a deck around, and he is quite good in what he does.

Ghede
Rating: 5
Here is a superstar, he can rush anything, pays less for his combat cards, and has very scary discpline spread, he might not be good in many things, but he is very good in what he does.

Count Jocalo
Rating: 3
At first glance, this guy looked fairly good, +1 hand size and +1 bleed is great, but his discpline spread is rivaling Eze in its gimmickness, which makes it quite hard to use him to his full value, which is why I only rated him as average overall.

Sarrasine
Rating: 4
First thing I thought when I saw this one is, why is there a woman in the picture, when the basic version is quite clearly male? I guess there is some story reason to that which someone can maybe share? That aside, I really like this one, all in-clans at superior, and a prince, and also a very strong special if you go through the trouble of merging him/her. I can see this one being used a lot in obf/pre vote decks, and is probably the best 8 cap setites have in group 2 for just standard setite decks too.

Adri, the Seeker
Rating: 3
Its pretty much what you would expect from a 2 cap, with a minor special thrown in as bonus, not much else to say.

Sanjav Chakrabarti
Rating: 4
Superior chimerstry is so much better than basic, four cap with superior and no drawback is great, thats all.

Dhita Cloudhair
Rating: 4
I believe this is only the second ravnos 5 cap with two superiors, only thing that stops it from being a five is that the inferior discpline isn't fortitude.

Dr. Lawrence Mayhew
Rating: 2
As a ravnos, this guy is pretty bad, only one in-clan as superior, although at least its the most important one. I suppose he will be mostly seen with Hazimel.

Delizbieta of the Dark Eyes
Rating: 4
I like this one a lot, all in-clans at superior, quite good out-of-clan superior, and on top of that, situationally quite useful special, making her for example very good in protecting your tumnimos. Nothing bad to say about her.

Iago Castille
Rating: 3
Only reason this guy doesn't get higher rating is that I don't think he is going to get much out of his obtenebration, being about the only ravnos who has it. He will still be useful in blocky decks his +1 intercept and all superiors, though.

Karmenita Yoryari
Rating: 2
If she would be group 5 she would get higher rating, because about all the dementation ravnos are group 4, as is there isn't much crypt support to her dementation, and without it she is just horribly overcosted as 9 cap, especially since Ravnos aren't really all that great voters so not sure how much mileage she can get out of her title, the special is quite strong at least.

Vestgeir
Rating: 3
Better than the previous one because he at least has presence so he might be able to pull off voting better, he also has +1 bleed and potentially powerful special, though dependant on what other people are playing. Still not convinced that voting is what you would want to do with ravnos though.

Ivan Krenyenko
Rating: 4
All I can say is that merged Ivan is an absolute beast, being able to fetch gear from your deck for free, equip it for huge discount, and having +2 strength and +1 bleed to boot. I would expect to see decks made centered around this guy.

Bez Dunsirn
Rating: 4
This is quite possibly the scariest 2 cap in the whole game, because he can absolutely wreck people, potence giovanni is definetily a valid archetype after this set.

Domenic Giovanni
Rating: 4
Here is the big brother of the previous guy, every bit as solid and likely seen togther with him all the time.

Salvatore Giovanni
Rating: 5
Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, a third bruiser giovanni, and thebest one of the lot, pairing these three guys with Gianmaria and Accori and you have pretty much crypt ready to go right there.

Lupo Giovanni
Rating: 4
Immediately when I saw this guy, I thought of shambling hordes decks, this guy is pretty much perfect support vampire for those, having a built-in hunting ground for the cost of only one discpline point, yes please.

Dr: Oliver Genet
Rating: 5
I expect to see this guy and Lupo together a lot, bringing forth an unstoppable tide of zombies, if you have Lupo out also, this guy effectively pays only 1 blood for shambler, which can be reduced to 0 with charisma, perfectionist, or path, very solid vampire that is likely to be cornerstone of many shambler decks.

Martino Della Passaglia
Rating: 3
This guy looks completely average, and rather boring after the other amazing giovanni so far. I suppose he is decent filler vampire as 7 cap with all superiors, but thats about it.

Lisandro Giovanni
Rating: 3
I am not really sure of what to think about this guy... I am sure someone will make a star deck around him where he can shine, but right now he seems rather hard to evaluate for me, he is kind of like a mix of giovanni and samedi, built-in +1 stealth is great of course, but I can't really think of too many clan cards that he could effectively use with his special.

Madeleine Giovanni
Rating: 2
9 cap combat vampire without fortitude always makes me rather concerned, as thats a huge investment that can go down in flames so easily, I will stick to the smaller guys mentioned earlier.

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.

Malcolm
Rating: 3
Pretty much what you expect from a 2 cap.

C.J.
Rating: 4
I wonder if he is related to T.J.? That aside, four cap with superior fortitude and no drawback is quite useful support vampire.

Dr. Sutton Gassaway
Rating: 3
Completely average 6 cap, not much more to say.

Rosa Hernandez
Rating: 3.5
Decent 7 cap, bonus point for having celerity as out of-clan, making her fit better with antitribu, and also able to play Instantaneous Transformation at superior.

Art Morgan
Rating: 2
This guy is fairly situational, he is only worth using if you are using either his potence, or werewolves, and he is rather big for a werewolf deck.

Mark Decker
Rating: 4
This guy seems massively undercosted, 8 caps usually get 9 points of stuff, he has 8 points in discplines, title worth 1 point, +1 strength worth 1.5 points, and then free cornercase special, so he basically gets the +1 strength for free. He still only gets four though because he is actually better antitribu than regular gangrel, and has all the in-clan discplines of both gangrel variations. I actually expect to see this guy played more with antitribu.

Inyanga
Rating: 4
While I don't think he is going to get too much value out of his ally special, as if your making a garou deck, you do it with cheaper vampires than a 9 cap, but even without that he is very good wall vampire with ANI/AUS and +1 intercept, I am sure I am going to be annoyed sitting next to this guy often.

Matasuntha
Rating: 4
Like the previous guy, this one also has AUS, and while he isn't quite as good in catching people, he sure is good in turning them to bloody pulp when he does, +2 strength combined with pool gain when dunking people makes this look like very solid choice as star vampire to a combat wall.

Xaviar
Rating: 5
This is so much better than the basic xaviar, not only does he get an extra superior discpline, he is also justicar with built-in untap, hell yeah.

Brunhilde
Rating: 5
This is one of the best designed advanced vampires ever, because unlike in most of them, her title is actually baseline and merging gives her ability that synergized with the basic version instead. So basically, if you want to fight with her, you either use basic version or merged, and if you don't care so much about combat, then you can just use the advanced and not worry about merging at all. I am definetily going to make an anarch deck around her. She is the very first vampire that is a baron out of the gate, and its even of a very unlikely to be contested title since only other vampire with Stockholm title is Greger Andersen. As a bonus she also makes it free for your other vmapires to go anarch so you don't have to stuff your crypt full of anarch converts.

Valkyrie
Rating: 2
Brunhilde's private army, 4 cap with 3 basic discplines AND +1 strength is great, but since they are fairly cornercase, aka only usable in decks with Brunhilde pretty much, they fall into the rating 2 situational category. I am still definetily going to be trying these out.

Library:

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.

Ennoia's Theater
Rating: 5
This is a card that should be in every single gangrel and !gangrel deck, period. Its just so good.

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.

Thing
Rating: 4
This is great, something that Gangrel (barring Stani and crew) have been seriously lacking, poolgain. I would expect to see this become staple in gangrel decks.

Skaald
Rating: 3
This is quite interesting card, its kind of like the laibon kholos, except its not actually a title, works well for anarchs I guess as an extra fee stake sort of, and just overall gives gangrel some more options in the voting front, will remain to be seen how much of an impact it will have though.

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.

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

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.

Priority Contract
Rating: 4
This card is great, trifle contract with built-in quite generous poolgain for dunking the target, this should make assamite combat quite a bit stronger archetype, and will likely replace provision of the silsila in all decks since they can't both be used at same time I believe.

Dam the Heart's River
Rating: 5
This card can single-handledly make assamites to actually prefer quietus over weapons as their main combat module, very well designed card.

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.

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.

Suspension of Disbelief
Rating: 5
This card will pretty much replace computer hacking in all Ravnos decks, very nice card that is going to see lot of play.

Hall of Mirrors
Rating: 2
This is again a bit narrow card, it can at least be used as manuever, but its main downfall is that its only usable in the first round, and most ravnos combat modules are built around press combat, making it quite awkward to use.

Illusory Resources
Rating: 4
This is quite nice pool defense card that I suppose is worth tossing 1 or 2 in most Ravnos decks.

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.

Giulia Giovanni, Abruzzina
Rating: 4
This card is going to be a staple going in every single potence giovanni deck for sure.

Gianna di Canneto
Rating: 2
Not really convinced of this one, its basically a neighbourhood watch commander that costs pool instead of blood, but does also come with 1 bleed, not sure if its worth a slot in most decks, probably will be mostly seen in khazar's diary decks.

Blight
Rating: 2
This is kind of like Song of Serenity, and probably going to see about as much play, which is to say, not much.

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.

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.

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.

Ophidian Gaze
Rating: 3
Free bleed reduction for 2 with just basic discplines seems something that could be worthile to play, and the superior can mess someones voter cap which is also fun.

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.

Saatet-Ta (Bane Mummy)
Rating: 4
This is hands down the best mummy in the game, really nice and versatile, and also cheap enough that you can afford to play it multiple times per game, nothing bad to say about him!

Klaital,

I agree alot, but.....

Inyanga is a woman. Yes, I see her walling like hell for a long, long time.

Funeral wake is at least a3, since shamblers and dead hookers (reanimated corpse) can use it. Hookers have always been a waste to On the Q with, since they stay tapped. Witb this, they get to anctually untap, so with unmasking or locations you do good. Also, Abdesolbek is So going into a later grouping dead hooker deck, aling with nephran ka and the new mummy, so this looks fun.

Im largely in agreement witb most of your views though.

For Sanguine Entrapment, I think you underestimate the potential of an easy to cycle card that prevent the main problem of quietus combat.

For Zephyr, my first reaction is "a very good way to deal with chump block on my rush". I fear it's too hard to cycle, but if your actions alway have a good effect if not blocked it's good enough. (as in, if you use it with bleed action, deflection will make you choke on them without actually doing something useful ; same thing with votes who can fail to help you without the action failing ; while, in an hypothetic SER / CEL corruption deck, you're sure to either cycle or have your corruption work)

Dam the vitae look extra fun with Animalism combat (I.E., Nizzam star deck I guess). Not sure why you say it make quietus combat better than guns, since guns seem very well suited to use it too.

Saul Meira have now a CHI / OBT friend. Sadly you cannot play the three CHI / OBT thingy. Also, I don't know what one get from that combination, but it sure look fun.

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

I think you Zephyr will be fun in cel/for decks. Do you block me so i can zephyr or you allow me to forced march? Works best with actions you dont waste cards on.