The Eternal Jyhad : Heirs to the Blood : Preview

It may be a little too early to speculate about this expansion, but one thing is for sure - I've been waiting for a Bloodlines expansion for ages! My favorite clans are the Gargoyles, the Ahrimanes and the Daughters - hey, all Bloodlines! So, needless to say I was really excited yesternight when YY told me that the previews for the Heirs were up.

When I reached home, after tugging the kids to sleep (and explaining to XX that a Kraken is really just an over-sized Octopus, probably taste the same too) and finished up a little work, I followed the link in Extrala to the Heirs Preview page and of course, greedily took in all the information.

My first thought was...Group 6... Oh well, it means I'm not gonna get a better crypt for my older Bloodlines decks. For those who didn't know, the Bloodlines had their majority of Vampires in Group 2 and 4, with I think just 1 (at most 2, sometimes zero) Group 3s. There are as far as I know, no Group 5 Bloodlines except the notorious Nergal (which is so gonna make Baali the clan to look at in this expansion - more on this later).

This is consistent with the rarity of Bloodline Vampires in the "real world" (though I beg to differ for the Blood Brothers - you can always make more!). Looking at the preview Crypt, every bloodline is only going to get an average of 5 Vampires, some only 4, and only the Samedi gets 6. We will probably have to recreate entirely new crypt for our Bloodlines decks, and they will continue to be plagued by a thin crypt selection. (5 Vampires simply means that at least 1, maybe 2, will have to have more than 2 copies in the crypt, indicating a crypt that is going to be dependent on some or even one of the vampires). We can of course, mix crypt with the other Group 5 Vampires that at least fit into some of the lesser disciplines of the Bloodlines - this is not a major issue with some Bloodlines but will continue to be a problem for some.

For example, I think the Harbingers can easily get a lot of help from the Giovanni, and the Salubri-Antitribu form lots of FOR-abled clans; the Ahrimanes can get help from the Gangrel Antitribus and the Gargoyles probably can work a bit on the slave thing with their master clans. Another possibility is the inclusion of Embracing-styled cards similar to the Brothers-in-arms of the Salubri-Antitribus or the Ahrimane's Feral Spirit. But if we get the means to change Vampires into Bloodlines we will be looking at quite a bit of possibilities, especially for older Bloodlines crypts.

The Research and Development seems interesting, but there is not enough info at the moment to make this mechanics anything more than a deck-thinning strategy that is not much of a point - but they look incredibly useful in a draft. If this mechanics is actually being explored in this expansion, then we might see Research Vampires that play with abilities that targets or exploit this mechanics - such as playing a Research card for free, or replace Research cards. (making it something like a Shilmulo Tarot) But until later this is all speculation - it might be a case of nothing at all besides the 2 master cards and is awaiting a future research-based expansion.

The two quasi-disciplines are clearly for Infernal Vampires and I think it's about time for Vtes to really make an Infernal Vampire worth the effort. At the moment, Infernals are only used in thematic decks or combo decks, they're usually hardly worth their disadvantages to bring into play - I mean, 1 pool per untap? Looking at the new Baali Unnamed I can imagine the Infernals getting a big boost in this expansion. The DAI discipline will receive some boost of course, and with the 2 new quasi-disciplines the Infernals will probably become a whole new school of its own. (The thought of a Capitalist Unnamed bleeding with Legal Manipulations and stealth with I am Legion is chilling). Time to buy up those Path of Evil Revelations.

The cards that were previewed are interesting enough to spur some thoughts. The Harmony is obviously there to inspire the re-emergence of Choir decks (3 pool per Choir card? You really don't want to mess with the Daughters when they dare to sing to the Dawn) Cheat the Fates is a little too expensive I think, but with PRE and all those untap tech a True Brujah with Heart of the City can really cause a lot of damage. The appearance of the Paths is interesting, but at least for the Ahrimanes it's not going to be too big a deal, but it does present a deadly stealth bleed option for the Ahrimanes now. (Squirrel Balance with PRE bleed? Plus Chameleon's Colors when blocked?)

As for the other cards with name only, we can only guess and hope. I'm pretty sure Dive Bomb is going to be a Flight card and I so look forward to make my Hatchlings dive bomb the s of everyone who ever looked down on the stone babies. ^.^

The card I most want to know about is Summon History.

Can't wait for the expansion to reach my hands.

(o.o)