Some card buying help

Hey everyone,

I used to play a lot of V:TES back in the day and then, with my friends drifting out of the hobby, I eventually stopped. Now I've been bitten by the V:TES bug again and I'm itching to pick the game back up. Unfortunately I'm quite out of the loop on the expansions and cards.

I've stopped around Sabbat / Sabbat war and later padded out my decks with some cards for the (I think) Kindred Most Wanted Brujah Starter.

As of now, I have three decks:

 - Brujah (+Antitirbu) Rush/Combat
 - Assamite Rush/Combat
 - Setite Political/Bleed

Now I was wondering if you guys have some recommendations on what's available and useful to pick up for me.

Democritus:

As of now, I have three decks:

 - Brujah (+Antitirbu) Rush/Combat
 - Assamite Rush/Combat
 - Setite Political/Bleed

Now I was wondering if you guys have some recommendations on what's available and useful to pick up for me.

Probably the best thing for us to know is... are you looking to improve those decks, or build brand new ones?  If you're looking to build new ones, do you have a preference as to a particular clan, sect or strategy? 

I'd be looking to improve them, preferably the first deck. I noticed about that one, looking at it yesterday, that I had changed it into a deck with less rush capability but more presence bruisebleed with some politics thrown in for pool gain / damage.

Democritus:

As of now, I have three decks:

 - Brujah (+Antitribu) Rush/Combat
 - Assamite Rush/Combat
 - Setite Political/Bleed

For the Assamite deck I would certainly recommend the Lords of the Night set, both the Assamite starter and the boosters.  In addition to that, I would recommend perusing the Path of Blood forum.  Lots of ideas there on what to do with Assamites and how.
http://thepathofblood.com/forums/index.php
They are also pretty good at giving specific deck advice for Assamite decks, if you want some of that.
http://thepathofblood.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=13

For the Brujah+ deck, I would recommend Keepers of Tradition.  It will add a completely different set of Brujah that have great skills and more fortitude for damage prevention and multi-acting.

For the Setite deck, the Lords of the Night set is again your best bet.  There are good new votes in many different sets, so you may be better off supplementing your inventory via purchase of individual cards.  Ebay is your friend.

For reviews of new sets from the point of view of a specific clan, you might consider reading the Newsletters, here:
http://www.thelasombra.com/ClanPages/

For a list of sets as they were released, you can find that here:
http://www.thelasombra.com/releases.htm

Welcome back to the game!

Thanks! That's very helpful. Any specific votes and/or bruisevote example decks you have in mind? There's a lot of cards and a lot of example decks out there...

Brujah bruise-vote decks?  I'd start with the tournament winning ones.
http://www.thelasombra.com/decks/clan-twd.htm#Brujah

If you stick with Camarilla Brujah, then Alastor and Archon will be your best bets.
If you go with Sabbat Brujah Antitribu, then Dogs of War will be powerful.

If you want to research cards, I recommend the Secret Library.
http://www.secretlibrary.info/?lib
Select Political Action in the appropriate drop-down and then click on Start Search to see the list of 161 votes you can call.

For the Setite vote deck, Free States Rant + Temptation is still strong, and there are 3 Temptations on the LotN FoS starter.  If you prefer more direct damage, Reckless Agitation, Neonate Breach, and Revolutionary Council are all making a strong mark in the tournament scene.

Adonai:

If you go with Sabbat Brujah Antitribu, then Dogs of War will be powerful.

Unexpected Coalition also has its uses, especially if you favour going for small-ish Brujah Antitribu who don't have so much Presence (or superior Presence). 

Unexpected Coalition [SoC:C]

Cardtype:	Action Modifier/Reaction
Clan:	Brujah antitribu
Only usable during a referendum. Each ready Brujah antitribu gets an additional vote this referendum. When tallying votes, if any Brujah antitribu cast any votes in opposition to this Brujah antitribu's votes (or if this Brujah antitribu abstains), none of the additional votes from this card are counted.

Democritus:

 - Brujah (+Antitirbu) Rush/Combat
 - Assamite Rush/Combat

Some generally useful cards for these decks would include:
Resist the Earth's Grasp
Iron Glare
Khabar: Glory

Check out the group 3/4 !Brujah. Hektor in particular rocks at B&B/Rush

For the settites, I agree with Lasombra. One interesting thing I would add is Spell of Life. While not political, it opens up something else for the settites to do. Their Lords of the Night starter is the best I've seen and contains Revelation of Ecstasy and Revelation of Desire, plus other key cards.

Alright, thanks everyone for your replies. I'll try and start by working on the Brujah Vote/Bruise deck. Then I'll deal with the setites and after that maybe look at the Assamites.

Here's the current version of the deck, in case anyone has some helpful suggestions. I know that the Crypt is not perfectly legal, since Jaroslav is Group 3 while everyone else is 1 and 2. I'll have to replace him (or all the Group 1 Brujahs) soon. I'm using Donal o Connor as a backup if anyone objects. Not perfect, I know.

Anyway, here's the crypt:

• Jaroslav Pascek
• Rake
• Anvil
• Anvil
• Dre
• Sela
• Sela
• Black Cat
• Yuri – The Talon
• Volker, the Puppet Prince
• Bianca
• Amelia

And here's the Library

Potence	Master
Potence	Master
Celerity	Master
Celerity	Master
Minion Tap	Master
Minion Tap	Master
Blood Doll	Master
Blood Doll	Master
Sudden Reversal	Master
Warzone Hunting Ground	Master
Warzone Hunting Ground	Master
KRCG News Radio	Master
Fame	Master
Fame	Master
Elder Library	Master
Praxis Seizure: Rome	Political Action
Praxis Seizure: London	Political Action
Disputed Territory	Political Action
Kine Resources Contested	Political Action
Kine Resources Contested	Political Action
Conservative Agitation	Political Action
Conservative Agitation	Political Action
Brujah Justicar	Political Action
Anathema	Political Action
Anathema	Political Action
Anathema	Political Action
Archon	Political Action
Archon	Political Action
Archon	Political Action
Bum's Rush	Action
Bum's Rush	Action
Blood Hunt	Action
Fifth Tradition: Hospitality	Action
Fifth Tradition: Hospitality	Action
Enchant Kindred	Action
Enchant Kindred	Action
Enchant Kindred	Action
Enchant Kindred	Action
Enchant Kindred	Action
Enchant Kindred	Action
Taste of Vitae	Combat
Taste of Vitae	Combat
Taste of Vitae	Combat
Amaranth	Combat
Amaranth	Combat
Thrown Sewer Lid	Combat
Thrown Sewer Lid	Combat
Immortal Grapple	Combat
Immortal Grapple	Combat
Torn Signpost	Combat
Torn Signpost	Combat
Torn Signpost	Combat
Torn Signpost	Combat
Undead Strength	Combat
Undead Strength	Combat
Undead Strength	Combat
Undead Strength	Combat
Disarm	Combat
Disarm	Combat
Sideslip	Combat
Sideslip	Combat
Sideslip	Combat
Sideslip	Combat
Rapid Thought	Combat
Rapid Thought	Combat
Blur	Combat
Blur	Combat
Blur	Combat
Psyche	Combat
Psyche	Combat
Psyche	Combat
Flash	Combat
Flash	Combat
Flash	Combat
Flash	Combat
Force Awakening	Reaction
Force Awakening	Reaction
Force Awakening	Reaction
Force Awakening	Reaction
Second Tradition: Domain	Reaction
Second Tradition: Domain	Reaction
IR Goggles	Equipment
Leather Jacket	Equipment
Leather Jacket	Equipment
Bastard Sword	Equipment
Meat Cleaver	Equipment
Meat Cleaver	Equipment
Jackie Therman	Retainer
Mr. Winthrop	Retainer
Mr. Winthrop	Retainer

That deck in JOL format is awfully difficult to read.

I'd suggest downloading one of the free deck building utilities, they can both help you find appropriate cards and see what the ratios of the cards are in your deck. 

http://www.thelasombra.com/utilities.htm

Anarch Revolt Deck Builder has the best reputation, as it uses the official card lists rather than relying on someone to retype everything into their database as some of the other tools do.
http://code.google.com/p/ardb/downloads/list
FELDB also has its adherents.
http://member.rpg.hu/bala/feldb.html

Crypt (12 vampires) Capacity min: 3 max: 10 average: 5.83333
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Anvil                  6  CEL POT dom pre tha  primogen Brujah:1
2x Sela                   6  POT PRE cel obt      bishop   !Brujah:2
1x Jaroslav Pascek        10 CEL POT PRE for obf  justicar Brujah:3
1x Amelia                 7  CEL POT PRE          bishop   !Brujah:2
1x Bianca                 6  CEL pot pre                   Brujah:1
1x Rake                   6  PRE aus cel pot      prince   Brujah:1
1x Black Cat              5  CEL pot pre                   Brujah:1
1x Volker, The Puppet     5  CEL pot              prince   Brujah:2
1x Yuri, The Talon        4  cel pot pre                   Brujah:1
1x Dre, Leader of the     3  cel pot                       Brujah:1

Donal O'Connor & Constanza Vinti would make this deck run much better.  (You could then replace the Enchant Kindreds with Govern the Unaligned and a Deflection or 3.)

Library (90 cards)
------------------------------------------------------------
Action (11)
  1x Blood Hunt
  2x Bum's Rush
  6x Enchant Kindred
  2x Fifth Tradition: Hospitality
Equipment (6)
  1x Bastard Sword
  1x IR Goggles
  2x Leather Jacket
  2x Meat Cleaver
Political Action (14)
  3x Anathema
  3x Archon
  1x Brujah Justicar
  2x Conservative Agitation
  1x Disputed Territory
  2x Kine Resources Contested
  1x Praxis Seizure: London
  1x Praxis Seizure: Rome
Retainer (3)
  1x Jackie Therman
  2x Mr. Winthrop

You have 34 reasons to tap a minion here without counting a single rush after a successful Archon or Blood Hunt.  There are only 12-14 turns in most games, and the first 2 are only used to bring minions into play.  I am not convinced that you have enough minions and enough minion acquisition acceleration to be able to afford to gum up your deck with all of this. 

I would drop the following:
Jackie Therman, 2nd Mr. Winthrop, both Praxis Seizures, the Bastard Sword and the Meat Cleavers (especially as Jaroslav is illegal in your deck, either get three of him and better weapons or skip the weapons altogether), and the Fifth Traditions. 

Some of these I would replace with more/better combat.  More Immortal Grapples, more Taste of Vitae, more Second Traditions.

Combat (35)
  2x Amaranth
  3x Blur
  2x Disarm
  4x Flash
  2x Immortal Grapple
  3x Psyche!
  2x Rapid Thought
  4x Sideslip
  3x Taste of Vitae
  2x Thrown Sewer Lid
  4x Torn Signpost
  4x Undead Strength

I'm not a fan of Rapid Thought.  I would prefer more Immortal Grapple to ensure that your opponent never plays that Majesty/Earth Meld/Theft of Vitae/Coma/Entombment than try to deal with them after they have played the card.  I would consider replacing the Undead Strength with Slam (LotN).  Unless you have Theo Bell or your Archon vote has passed, the Amaranths are very dangerous.  I would be inclined to replace them, one with Tension in the Ranks (3rd, KoT) and the other with Dragonbound (Gehenna, LotN Assamite starter).

Master (15)
  2x Blood Doll
  2x Celerity
  1x Elder Library
  2x Fame
  1x KRCG News Radio
  2x Minion Tap
  2x Potence
  1x Sudden Reversal
  2x Warzone Hunting Ground

In my local game scene (metagame), I wouldn't have time to waste my few master phases with Celerity and Potence discipline master cards.  Giant's Blood, Haven Uncovered, Tension in the Ranks, Frontal Assault, Amusement Park Hunting Ground instead of the second Warzone Hunting Ground, would all be possibilities.

Reaction (6)
  4x Forced Awakening
  2x Second Tradition: Domain

Except for the minion with Mr. Winthrop, you can only gain the 1 intercept from KRCG.  I would expect that your block attempts with Forced Awakening would fail a very large percentage of the time.  I would replace them with On the Qui Vive, Wake with Evenings Freshness, Eluding the Arms of Morpheus, or even just more Second Traditions.