Hi! The Ravnos, Salubri and Tzimisce Fifth Edition preconstructed decks for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle will soon be in stores, so we prepared a strategy helpsheet for each, available for download among the other ones at Blackchantry.com/Utilities and at the links below.
And yes, we will of course tell the official release date and the tournament legality date for the new cards as soon as all decks has been shipped from the printer!
The First Blood: Ventrue introductory deck for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle focuses on heavily bleeding your prey with limited stealth and unblockability, on occasionally blocking potential threats and bruising your opponents in combat.
In the early game, bring out the highest capacity vampire in your uncontrolled region who has superior Dominate, so that, once in play, that vampire can play superior Govern the Unaligned to move 3 blood from the blood bank to a younger vampire in your uncontrolled region. By using your transfers wisely like this, you can get many vampires into play fast.
Once you have two or three vampires in play, start taking either your bleed actions (Govern the Unaligned or Dominate Kine) or your vampires’ inherent bleed actions to bleed your prey. If your prey attempts to block, play a Bonding action modifier to increase both stealth and bleed. Alternatively, play a Conditioning action modifier if your prey has declined to block. You cannot play Conditioning if you already played a Bonding (or vice-versa) during the same action.
Your access to unblockable actions comes from Daring the Dawn, an action modifier that ought to be played on very important actions, such as a bleed or political action that would oust your prey.
Another less dangerous way to get your actions through is via Misdirection. Use this master card to lock a minion controlled by your prey, so it is harder for your prey to block your actions this turn.
Your political actions can make your prey burn pool too. However, be mindful of how many votes each player has, because you may need the support of a cross-table player to make the referenda of your political actions succeed. Therefore, you may need to benefit that cross-table player somehow in order to get their support.
It is also worth mentioning that Ancilla Empowerment is a political action that should be used to oust your prey. Be careful, as it deals pool damage to the whole table.
Your defensive module is quite decent and based on limited access to intercept (Second Tradition: Domain), pool gain, bleed redirection and, in combat, damage prevention.
Your pool gain mainly comes from these cards and effects: • Blood Doll: You can gain 1 pool per turn for each Blood Doll you control. • Ousting your prey: You gain 6 pool when your prey is ousted.
Strategy tips
Given your limited access to intercept, it is highly advisable to block key actions only. For example, Sport Bike, Raven Spy, Charnas the Imp, Ivory Bow, political actions that deal pool damage to you, or bleed actions you cannot redirect.
If you have at least a Deflection in your hand during your minion phase, leave one vampire unlocked so that they can redirect any dangerous bleeds that come your way, unless you have enough On the Qui Vive reaction cards in your hand, which will allow you to wake and attempt to block and play reaction cards as if unlocked.
Note that playing Second Tradition: Domain during a bleed action will force you to block that action and you will not be allowed to play Deflection unless you fail to block.
If your predator is playing the First Blood: Malkavian deck and you have an unlocked vampire with permanent intercept and enough intercept reaction cards in your hand, have that vampire attempt to block any action your predator takes, so that they run out of stealth action modifier cards.
On the other hand, if your predator is playing the First Blood: Malkavian deck and you do not have any vampire with permanent intercept or enough intercept reaction cards in your hand, do not attempt to block any actions taken by your predator, so that they cannot play any stealth cards in hand and get their hand clogged with them.
When in combat, have one of your vampires get one Weighted Walking Stick (if they do not have one already) before range is determined, so that your vampire can strike for 2 damage at close range.
Even though your damage prevention module is quite decent, try to avoid it with Nosferatu and, especially, with Tremere vampires, since those cards cannot prevent blood from being stolen, because that is not considered to be damage.
You will rarely have a perfect hand, so good hand management is essential to increase your odds of winning. Therefore, when in doubt use a discard phase action to discard a card you do not need (usually stealth action modifier or combat cards).
Another factor you should take into account during your minion phase is the order of your actions. Since your resources are limited, have your vampires take the least important actions first and the most important ones last.
And finally, make sure everything you do brings you one step closer to victory. Be patient, and do not let your emotions interfere.
How to build a competitive deck with two First Blood: Ventrue decks
Since tournament legal Vampire: The Eternal Struggle decks consist of a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 90 library cards and a minimum of 12 crypt cards, you could combine two First Blood: Ventrue decks in order to build a competitive deck meeting both requirements. It could look like this:
Crypt: (12 cards) 2 Emily Carson 2 Graham Gottesman 2 Joao Bile 2 Lodin (Olaf Holte) 2 Mustafa the Heir 2 Victor Donaldson
The First Blood: Tremere introductory deck for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle focuses on bleeding your prey with limited stealth, blocking potential threats and bruising your opponents in combat.
In the early game, bring out the highest capacity vampire in your uncontrolled region who has superior Dominate, so that, once in play, that vampire can play superior Govern the Unaligned to move 3 blood from the blood bank to a younger vampire in your uncontrolled region. By using your transfers wisely like this, you can get many vampires into play fast.
Once you have two or three vampires in play, start taking either the Govern the Unaligned bleed actions or your vampires’ inherent bleed actions to bleed your prey. If your prey attempts to block, either play a Bonding action modifier to increase both stealth and bleed, or try to send the blocking vampire to torpor in the resulting combat.
Additionally, put cards in play that allow you to weaken your opponents’ vampires so that they cannot block you or take actions against you: • Get Ivory Bow and .44 Magnum. • Get Thadius Zho and Charnas the Imp.
Your defensive module is strong and primarily based on blocking any action that deals pool damage to you (for example, bleed or political actions) and also on pool gain and bleed redirection.
For the blocking module to be more consistent, you need to get permanent intercept equipment (Sport Bike) as soon as possible.
Your pool gain mainly comes from these cards and effects: • Blood Doll: You can gain 1 pool per turn for each Blood Doll you control. • Arcane Library: You can use it to gain 1 pool per turn. • Ousting your prey: You gain 6 pool when your prey is ousted.
Strategy tips
When in combat, steal blood as a strike with Theft of Vitae, press to continue combat with Apportation, and either steal more blood or, if equipped with a weapon, strike with that weapon.
On some occasions, you will have the chance to play Walk of Flame, a combat card that cannot be played on the first round of combat. Use it preferably to burn an empty opposing vampire as a strike, even though you can also play it to send an opposing vampire to torpor.
Block any action that deals pool damage to you (for example, bleed or political actions), or any action that gives permanent intercept to your predator or prey (for example, Raven Spy), or any action that moves blood to an uncontrolled vampire of your predator and, to a lesser extent, of your prey.
If your predator is playing the First Blood: Malkavian deck and you have an unlocked vampire with permanent intercept and enough intercept reaction cards in your hand, have that vampire attempt to block any action your predator takes, so that they run out of stealth action modifier cards.
On the other hand, if your predator is playing the First Blood: Malkavian deck and you do not have any vampire with permanent intercept or enough intercept reaction cards in your hand, do not attempt to block any actions taken by your predator, so that they cannot play any stealth cards in hand and get their hand clogged with them.
You will rarely have a perfect hand, so good hand management is essential to increase your odds of winning. Therefore, always use a discard phase action to discard a card you do not need (usually reaction or combat cards).
Another factor you should take into account during your minion phase is the order of your actions. Since your resources are limited, have your vampires take the least important actions first and the most important ones last.
And finally, make sure everything you do brings you one step closer to victory. Be patient, and do not let your emotions interfere.
How to build a competitive deck with two First Blood: Tremere decks
Since tournament legal Vampire: The Eternal Struggle decks consist of a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 90 library cards and a minimum of 12 crypt cards, you could combine two First Blood: Tremere decks in order to build a competitive deck meeting both requirements (see below):
