Bloody Disciplines - AUSpex

Having finally done with all my "A" decks, I've worked relentlessly on the letter B now. The first of them all is my Beautiful Eyes deck, which is a !Toreador PRO wall deck. And needless to say, it coincides nicely with the discipline of AUS that I had intended to look into.

Well, AUS is essentially a very reactive discipline, and almost always play a supporting role in a deck. Even as the central theme of wall decks, and sometimes the Black Hand Psychic Assault decks, the AUS doesn't really work very well by itself without quite an injection of other disciplines, or at least a good dose of equipment or allies to help it kill. However, as a defensive discipline it is probably without equal.

Actions

Despite being a defensive discipline, AUS does have quite a lot of very interesting, and subtlely deadly action cards. To start with, it has Pulse of the Canaille, which is one of the very few +Bleed cards that cannot be easily rid of (and a +2 Bleed for that matter!) It may be costly, but it is nevertheless deadly, and even at basic it can be quite a tool at times, which makes it more versatile than its PRE counterpart - the Heart of the City.

Besides that, Anima Gathering is another costly but effective card that gives bleed and intercepts. AUS also has one of the most annoying action cards in Vtes - Revelations. This card will immediately turn your prey against you, and sometimes even attract table hate, which speaks of its incredible utility of showing you your prey's hand.

Besides that, most of the other AUS action cards aren't very useable, there are some untap cards, many "show me your hand" cards, and some pretty random stuff like Soul Scan. But note that AUS actually do have one of the best enter combat cards in the library - Nose of the Hound at outferior. Pretty interesting, since most AUS wall decks can fight very well, and sometimes want to go pick a fight instead of waiting for something to happen. For that, Nose of the Hound is a perfect addition in the deck.

Modifiers

For a defensive discipline, AUS has the magnificent Crocodile's Tongue. But besides that AUS really doesn't have much to write home about. Telepathic Vote Counting is good in a referendum, and there are several other random +bleed modifiers which often have other side effects, but the majority of them requires at least one other discipline to work, making them viable only for specialized decks.

Combat

Another weak aspect of AUS. AUS combat is pretty well known for revealing the opponent's hands, drawing cards, or simply defensive dodges. However, since the release of Target Vitals and Psychic Assault, Black Hand AUS combat become quite a deadly combination. It may not have the impact of the famous Target Vitals/Catatonic Fear duet, but is still a deadly combat package that can trump many unsuspecting opponents.

Aura Reading is another effective AUS combat card, allowing the AUS Methuselah to fight an informed battle, or draw up cards to look for the ones that he needs. Another commonly seen AUS combat card will be Telepathic Tracking, especially in Tzimisce ANI combat decks and other AUS walls that have no other means of handling Combat Ends and Rotschrecks.

Reaction

This is what AUS is all about. A large majority of Intercepts in Vtes are generated by AUS reaction cards, and many of them are efficient and highly desirable when one is trying to block something. Enhanced Senses and Quickened Sight are 2 of the excellent efficient Intercept cards in Vtes, and they generate good Intercepts just by themselves. AUS also have the famous Eagle's Sight, giving them the option to block their prey's actions regardless of who he's targeting.

Eyes of Argus complete the whole package, giving AUS walls a great reactive cards that is versatile and efficient in decks - saves deck space. Furthermore, AUS gives the Methuselah a whole range of Intercept options that usually comes with benefits, and the player can choose which one to include (or to play), depending on what their combat package is like - maneuvers from Spirit's Touch, damage prevention from precognition and so on.

AUS is also one of the very few disciplines with bleed bounce, with the famous Telepathic Misdirection, and the less useable My Enemy's Enemy. They also have the best bleed reduction card in the game - the Telepathic Counter. There are more AUS reaction cards made famous in wall decks, but those requires another discipline to work with - like Read the Winds, Faerie Ward or Glare of Lies, but they are all excellent reaction cards, and AUS is there somewhere.

Oh, I almost forgotten about Fast Reaction - it's the opposite of Hidden Lurker, but I assure you that you have a lot more control in using this than with Hidden Lurker - where it will be stuck in hand if nobody dares to block you. Not so for Fast Reaction, you can always get it to work if you can block his actions; and with so many Intercept cards, you eventually will.

(o.o)