Janky Stuff - Hermanas Hambrientas (concept deck)

In my previous post, I tackled the difficulty of using the Blood Brothers bloodline

Still, rising to the challenge, V:TES players have tried to make workable Brothers decks. I remember that, before I came into the game, someone using a Chicago circle deck managed to win a tournament, while my friend Paul has tried out the newer Budapest and Kiev circles.

Juggernaut of VTES had an idea to use the Mexico City Circle minions, which ties into my own deck concept.

In the role-playing game accessory, Mexico City by Night, the Las Hermanas Hambrientas (a.k.a. the Hungry Sisters) were an experiment by Tremere antitribu Elena Mendoza Vasquez to study whether the Blood Brothers were capable of creating new vampires (All other Blood Brothers are sterile, incapable of Embracing new vampires.). While Vasquez apparently succeeded, the result was a vampire that burned blood at a high rate (hence the "burn 2 blood" text on the Hermanas card). After the Tremere antitribu, including Vasquez, were obliterated in 1999, one of Vasquez's experiments escaped her chantry when an unsuspecting Harbinger of Skulls searched her lab. Now loose in the slums of Mexico City, the Hermana has continued to spawn, and now there are 20 Hungry Sisters, all starving for blood.

In V:TES, there are two Hermanas cards, the Mayor (4-cap, for san pot) and the Menor (2-cap san pot). Both burn 2 blood upon being controlled, else they burn. While this may be a rather difficult handicap, there is a way around it, although it's also tricky. The master card, The Hungry Coyote, gives Sabbat vampires +1 hunt, which means that, when either Hermana hunts after being influenced out, they'll be up to full capacity (unless they're blocked). While there are other blood gainer cards, such as The Rack or The Coven, the Coyote is probably the best bet to bring the Hermanas back up to full blood capacity.

For this deck, the main point of it is to bleed using Walk of Caine, aided by Stealth provided by Shell Game. If caught, one uses the Hermanas' Potence to fight.

And then, of course, there's Angelo, who can be part of any circle. By using his superior Sanguinus, one can use Unwholesome Bond in order to facilitate a number of Hermanas coming out at the same time.

The nasty surprise here would be Angelo using Coagulated Entity, with a lot of Hermanas in play. It could mean a ton of hurt for the opposing minion.



I haven't put this deck together, so I have no idea how it's going to do at a table. As Juggernaut observed in his own post, it's also a forward-moving deck, so defense is pretty much nil, unless you use the Haven Uncovered or Ambush on your predator's minions.

Also, this deck concept still has no Fortitude, so combat is going to be a little tricky, unless I go Juggernaut's route, and use Thrown Gates instead of Undead Strength. I may still try that instead of this current build, and I might also go to 90 cards in order to include some Fortitude damage prevention, but, for now, for better or for worse, here is the Hermanas deck (with Angelo).

Deck Name:   Hermanas and Angelo

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 8, Max: 22, Avg: 3.5)
--------------------------------------------
  2  Angelo                             pot vic CEL FOR SAN          7  Blood Brother              G3 
  4  Hermana Hambrienta Mayor           for pot san              4  Blood Brother              G4 
  6  Hermana Hambrienta Menor           pot san                    2  Blood Brother              G4 

Library: (80 cards)
-------------------
Master (15 cards)
  4  Agent of Power
  2  Haven Uncovered
  1  Fame
  3  Tribute to the Master
  2  Effective Management
  3  Hungry Coyote, The

Action (18 cards)
  6  Computer Hacking
  2  Coagulated Entity
  6  Unwholesome Bond
  4  Ambush

Action Modifier (16 cards)
  6  Walk of Caine
  6  Shell Game
  4  Claiming the Body

Combat (27 cards)
  2  Free Fight
  3  Coordinate Attacks
  4  Octopod
  6  Brother's Blood
  8  Undead Strength
  4  Brute Force

Equipment (4 cards)
  4  Laptop Computer

Blood Brother Thoughts

Thanks to the Fragment of Elder Library Database (FELDB), it's relatively easy for me to search through the V:TES collection in search of interesting and intriguing card and deck ideas.

The Blood Brothers have always been a bloodline which I've wanted to try out. In the role-playing game, the Brothers are a thaumaturgical experiment by the Tremere antitribu, which resulted in a circle of beings that not only share a hive mind, but also senses and even body parts, thanks to the Brothers' unique Discipline, Sanguinus.

In V:TES, the powers of Sanguinus has been translated into a number of relatively powerful cards. For example, Walk of Caine allows the Blood Brothers to bleed at a high rate, albeit at a high cost. Unwholesome Bond, at superior, makes it easier to bring out the Brothers from the uncontrolled region. Shell Game provides a meas
ure of stealth, while Gestalt allows the Brothers to intercept.

It is in combat, though, where Sanguinus shines, with cards such as Octopod, Brothers' Blood, Free Fight, Coordinate Attack, and, of course, Coagulated Entity, allowing the Brothers to hold their own in a fight.

In theory, anyway.

The difficulty level in building a Blood Brothers-based deck has always been on the high side. Even within a given circle, with only five minions belonging to the same circle, one always runs the risk of having too many duplicates in the uncontrolled region. Also, mixing members of different Blood Brother Circles, even if they belong to the same group, is futile, because Sanguinus will only work with members of the same circle. This means that, even if the Chicago and Torrance circles both belong to group 2, mixing them means you're planning use only Fortitude and Potence, which would be a waste.

It's even worse with the group 4-6 vampires (Mexico, Kiev, and Budapest), since the latter two circles have different sets of Disciplines: Kiev switches out Potence for Protean, for the most part, while the Budapest Circle replaces Potence with Vicissitude.ew

There are two minions, though, which can be mixed with other circles. Angelo, the Red Lister, can be placed with either the group 2 (Chicago or Torrance) or the group 4 (Mexico City) circles, while New Blood can be placed with any circle, regardless of group. By using both vampires, the crypt for group 2 and 4 Blood Brother decks can be expanded to seven, which improve the variation of crypt building.

Despite the difficulties, players have tried to make workable Blood Brother decks. In the next post, I'll take a look at one way to use the Brothers.

Resources for the Game, Revisited

Thanks to various V:TES Facebook pages, I've been able to take a look at a number of other blogs and websites dedicated to the game. Here are a few of the more interesting ones, in no particular order.

VTES ONE - managed by extrala, this blog has been one of the primary news sources for the game, posting reports on various tournaments, as well as news of new releases and products. It also has a number of posts on deck archetypes, which are helpful for those who need inspiration for building decks. It is, by far, one of the most comprehensive sources of news and information on the game.

Bindusara's Jyhad Diary - managed by Stu McLeod, the Diary provides, as it notes, "oral histories" of those who have worked on or played V:TES. Posting interviews with such luminaries as former rules master LSJ, among others, the Diary provides a colorful look at those who involve themselves in the Jyhad, from insights on the game to the manner by which they play.

Information Highway -  managed by a coterie of 3, the Highway provides interesting articles about the game, from reactions to changes in the game (Parity Shift!), to reviews of upcoming products, to deck-building strategies. All in all, it's a grab-bag of whatever interests the coterier the, and what they post is interesting, indeed.

The Secret Library - Before the Amaranth, there was the Library. Like Amaranth, the Library
 provides tools for building one's deck: the database, an inventory tool, and a deck-builder, all of which are online. I'm not too familiar with it, since my default program for VTES is the Fragment of Elder Library Deck Builder, but, for those who prefer to work online, both the Library and Amaranth provide the online means to explore the game.

And, that's all for now. For those who are looking for resources for the game, I hope you find these useful. As for my own writing, there are one or two posts I'm working on, and, hopefully, I'll be able to post them later this week.