One Clan to Rule them all : Abomination : HttB

Well, actually, if there's one clan that isn't going to rule them all, it's the Abomination. There are only 4 vampires in this "clan" (There are so many more Caitiffs and they're not considered a clan, so why the Abomination is a clan with only 4 members? Not even enough for a basketball team.) Though they all have Scarce, you can't even put the 4 of them together in a deck due to their Groupings - for that matter, no more than 2 Abominations can work together in a deck - making Scarce probably the least of their worries where disadvantages are concerned.

So I guess the Abominations are meant to supplement other clans with their (often) deadly and powerful abilities, so therefore they must be very unique and very mighty vampires, being half vampire and half werewolf and stuff like that. Indeed, these Abominations are all pretty unique, as for their powers, they are most often than not, countered with disadvantages amounting to disabilities. More often than not, these disadvantages made the Abominations to require very focused (and therefore very specialized) decks in order to maximize their powers.

But powerful they are, if one manages to get them to work properly.

Since there are only 4 Abomination, I guess we can look at them one by one.

Allonzo Montoya

Being the youngest vampire with Superior SER with aus, Allonzo will be welcomed in many SER or Settites deck. (This is one of the main advantage of the Abominations, they're ridiculously cheap for their discipline spread and abilities). Among the Abominations, Allonzo has the most inconsequential disadvantage. Despite having aus and ani, it is highly unlikely that you'll want Allonzo to be a combat monster in your deck, so being unable to block undirected actions shouldn't be a major issue most of the time.

Do not look down on the +1 Stealth that Allonzo gets for SER actions. Most of the SER actions that are very effective, like Form of Corruption, Enticement, Consignment to Duat, Temptation etc. has no stealth to start with. Getting the +1 Stealth, combine with Allonzo's superior OBF, makes him perhaps one of the most effective person to play in such decks. At worst, he will help you conserve stealth cards, at best, he'll allow you to cruise through your target without significant obstructions.

Having SER, aus and ani also allows Allonzo to be using some pretty exotic cards - Weigh the Heart comes to mind, making him an excellent corrupter once you slap a AUS master discipline on him. (Now with Lilith's Blessing it is getting a little easier to do that). If you go the Anarch way, Allonzo can be quite combat effective. Once you combine Mind of the Wilds you have many options to do whatever damage you want against your opponents, or just use the optional maneuver to run away, meanwhile, you have Groundfighting to aid in defense as well as the rather effective combo of Hell for Leather plus Cobra Fangs (almost as effective as Arms of the Abyss plus Entombment, with much lower cost).

All in all, I think Allonzo is one of the most useable of the Abominations.

Lorrie Dunsirn

Now here comes the ultimate combat monster of the Abominations. Lorrie can do 8 damage without playing a single card - and for that alone she is probably one of the most powerful vampires you can have in a draft environment. Imagine Lorrie with a Guardian Angel and you have Immortal Grapple, and most draft decks predator will simply be shut down.

Lorrie, however, is pretty inefficient to have in a deck. Without the ability to play reaction cards, and cannot have retainers or equipment, she is pretty much crippled when it comes to blocking, since she cannot add any intercepts to herself without the aid of Master cards or other forms of assistance. Of course, with her in a deck, you'll usually see many Master intercept locations, even Special Report to untap her (since she cannot wake in any way except via Fillip). She also has the ridiculously expensive problem of costing you a pool every time you take any action with her - which is very painful, since you'll probably want to use her to go into combat with somebody.

Her disciplines, however, makes her one of the most effective combatant at her age. With superior POT and inferior for, she is already the standard disarm monster. She is also the youngest vampire with the 3 disciplines she has - which screams for Dead Hand attacks that will give FOR decks the chill that comes with those skully symbols. Once you slap a NEC master discipline card on her Lorrie will be ready to roll. With a couple of Dead Hands in hand (and hopefully some damage prevention cards) Lorrie can eliminate pretty much the large majority of opponents that she is facing.

The pool cost for her actions is an issue, but can be recouped with either Street Cred, or making it more costly to the target. One still needs a lot of pool recovery function in order to make decks like these work - but one thing is for sure, with Lorrie around, that deck is almost definitely a combat deck with all those Fame things going on - for that, Lorrie does shine in her role.

Pariah

Another deadly Abomination, and in my opinion, one of the most flexible, but also the most difficult to use vampire in Vtes. His disadvantage simply requires one to build a deck in order to use him - you can't just slap him into a typical deck and hope he'll work for you, this dog is very very demanding. In order to use him at all (assuming you're not just waking him occasionally and designate him as a blocker), a master card needs to be discarded to keep him from tapping. So when you don't have one in hand, or you run out of master cards, Pariah is a paper tiger, or more like a ming vase, sit there and look good.

But when he's happy with your master card investment, he is the youngest vampire with the in-built ability to enter combat with ANY minion, unconditionally. And with +1 Strength and the mighty PRO discipline (and pot thrown in to make him deadlier), Pariah is a very able combatant. Between Claws of the Dead and Immortal Grapple, he can kill many vampires that aren't ready for him, and he can harass them again and again every round. With OBF he can also become a very effective support vampire in Cloaking your other vampires' actions (even when he is tapped), and OBF do give him some extra maneuverability in combat with Swallowed by the Night.

Pariah is a surprisingly effective bleeder if you capitalize on his pre discipline, made even more effective if you manage to slap a master PRE on him. With OBF he is an excellent stealth bleeder. If you can somehow find a way to untap him during your minion phase to increase his efficiency (well, Famous Insurgent might do if you can make Pariah an Anarch, no easy feat where this dog is concerned, or all those untapping allies or vampires (Mylan will require you to give Pariah 2 master discipline cards, again made easier with Lilith's Blessing nowadays; or some other action cards that can untap him - curiously all the Group's vampires that can work with Pariah doesn't have the ability to untap him - what a waste)

Pariah is the kind of vampires that can do many things in a round, without needing any action cards, but doesn't really worth the cost if you're unable to make him shine in those actions. However, it is this flexibility that makes him such a good vampire. Even with minimal card support, he can be a good bleeder or a combat fighter as you see fit, switching roles effortlessly when the situation arise, he can also support and aid in Cloaking your other vampires, and his OBF allows many of his actions to go through - True Love's Face really shine with this vampire.

However, he is also severely limited in other options, not just the cost in master card. He cannot leave torpor or rescue any of you own vampires, being undirected actions and all, as well as get any equipment and/or retainers that will definitely make him so much more effective.

The master card investment is now much more tolerable due to so many excellent "optional" masters such as Ashur Tablets, and with Trifles you can put in many master cards and still get the usual efficiency of a deck. Remember that you just need to discard the master card during your master phase - meaning you can play a master card FIRST, or discard FIRST, depending on your hand (for example, you can play a Visit from the Capuchin and hope to draw into a master to throw it to Pariah and make him happy)

Zubeida

The eldest and the only Abomination without any disadvantages to help discourage anyone to use him. Zubeida is most interestly a Black Hand, opening the options of Black Hand cards for him to use. With OBF and PRO, combine that with PRE, Zubeida is an excellent bleeder. His special ability is actually pretty deadly, given the fact that one do not always have any ready vampire above 6 - and if you do, Zubeida has the combat discipline to remove him from the equation. With many interesting Black Hand cards that he can use, Zubeida can be really unpredictable. The main issue with him is that he is fat, and therefore, despite having no disabilities that are normally associated with Abominations, he would still be more or less of a "superstar" status in a typical deck. That said, he is still amongst the easier going ones where Abominations are concerned.

As a last note, why is Abomination the only clan with ZERO cards that they can call their own?

(o.o)