The NEC clans in HttB is kinda lagging behind, and Keith was telling me that White Wolf probably (and hopefully) had something big planned for the NEC discipline in a near future expansion. Well, I certainly hope so since the Samedi, and especially the Nagaraja and Harbingers sort of had the blunt end of the stick in HttB. This is actually reflected in the Samedi starter. IMHO, this starter, and this clan, brought the least toys to the scene, making it a rather dull clan to play.
This starter, however, is the nearest thing to stealth bleed in this expansion, and they actually do it pretty well, with a good number of stealth cards, it was also given alternative bleeding option, with some combat capability and out-of-combat defense/offense function that make this starter actually quite ok to play against the others.
The Crypt
As with all other HttB starter, the split clan decision didn't really help. The only thing that the Samedi shared with the Nosferatu in general is OBF, but some of the older Nosferatu do have FOR at inferior and some Samedi has POT to help with making the card use more consistent.
Baroque is the only vampire that comes with 2 copies in this starter, and unfortunately he is quite out of place in this setup. His in-built enter combat ability is good, but there just aren't enough combat cards to support his attacks efficiently. Having inferior OBF isn't going to help him much here either. The Samedi are all of mid-cap or higher, making this crypt pretty heavy to adopt a mass bleed strategy that this deck actually needs, because of that, it may make sense for you to bring out Troglodytia when you have some Little Mountain Cemetery in your hand.
The Nosferatus are mostly mid-cap too, with only 2 vampires of 5-cap or below. This problem will magnify the card distribution that you have in this starter, since there are so many cards that requires either THN or Samedi to play, and really don't cut it when played with outferior disciplines.
Primary Path of Ousting
This is probably best classified as a bleed deck, with quite a few different mode of bleeding available to the Methuselah using this starter. Primarily they stealth bleed, with 17 stealth cards and pretty much every vampire able to play them rather effectively, this starter can bleed well. Can they bleed much? Not without a lot of work. Camera Phone and Computer Hacking are the only cards that can add to the bleeds, Deep Song is unreliable since only Tangine of the Samedi can play it and you have to rely on the Nosferatus to sing properly. So here we have the delivery system without a more effective bleeding enhancement, and you have to get many vampires onto the table to do the bleed effectively.
There are some alternative to this, Samedis have Horseshoes to get rid of blockers and deflectors (and that's probably their only way), and you can threaten to bleed with a strong Reanimated Corpse that can bleed for 2 consistently with 2 STR, deterring less prepared blockers. You can also Cloak or Veil the Corpses. This is probably the best means of getting rid of your prey.
Combat
Combat in this deck is a pale attempt to showcase the power of THN. There are only 2 Compress, and that is that. The other combat cards are all defensive combats (but they generally will work well against many decks) but are nowhere near reliable. Soak cannot handle aggravated damage, and Cold Aura doesn't help you when there are ranged attacks.
In a nutshell, avoid combat when you can, and Compress to scare off attackers. (or defenders, for that matter)
Defense
There are Sport Bikes to help with defending, but ironically, the best defender here is actually the Reanimated Corpses with their 2 STR. With 4 On the Qui Vie and a Underbridge Stray, you can probably defend yourself with your Corpse a couple of times.
The vampires themselves have very little defense, so blocking with them and going into combat is not necessarily a good thing. You can use the Divine Sign to target a key minion from your predator and scare him with threats of Compressing him to torpor... on the other hand, you have Elder Intervention... but the problem with "I blocked you! But I can't fight you..." remains. I guess you really have to bluff with Compress.
The Steadfastness can help you generate the intercept, or reduce the bleeds, so do keep them with you whenever you can. You have too few of these cards to use.
Pool Recovery
You have Off-Kilter, which I think is what the Night Moves are for, to help you gain some pool. Little Mountain Cemetery is not reliable since the crypt is unreliable. Otherwise you still have to use your standard Vessel and Villien package.
Where you go from here
Assuming again, that you're keen on Samedi, you should again, throw the Nosferatus away and complete your Samedi crypt. The Samedi in HttB is joined with Pressing Flesh and Decompose, so that is one way to look. On the other hand, stealth bleeding with the Samedi and getting many Samedi out with Little Mountain Cemetery has been a proven effective strategy anyway.
The Samedi can fight with FOR and THN, now granted the mighty Groaning Corpse, so you can pursue a combat strategy as well. For this you will have to get a lot more FOR cards, some THN cards to add into your library, as well as more enter combat cards. Baroque will be a star vampire for this path.
Otherwise there is always the Reanimated Corpse route, which is now financially feasible.
Value for Money
Pretty good, given 2 Freak Drives, 3 Reanimated Corpse, a Dreams (!) and a Warsaw Station, plus the standard V&V package, this starter is well worth the investment where card value is concerned. In fact I don't think it is any less valuable than the !Salubri ones.
(o.o)
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