Bloody Disciplines - NECromancy

Over here Necromancy used to be (and still is) dominated by the presence of Zombieboy, aka Keith, and his myriad selection of Giovanni packages delivering different experience of necromantic death to any who opposes his immediate objectives. And he's really good at it. Perhaps due to the reverence to his dominance (he's got the Iron Throne in Vtes on Necromancy), I have built very few Necromancy decks, the exception being my Baron Soul Gem (Nec being the key discipline afterall), a fun Hordes deck, and perhaps a couple of  trial decks here and there, but I've never actually built one based on this discipline seriously (afterall, Keith does it so well he Awed me every time he throws out a Giovanni deck)

Nevertheless, NEC is a powerful and rather unique discipline in Vtes, being very capable of achieving victory for the Methuselah utilising it in many different ways. And it is probably one of the most interesting discipline to look at due to their many strange and powerful effects, especially when they're dealing with the dead, undead, and the un-undead.

Action

NEC truly shines in this field, not exactly in the way of having very efficient action but with a range of sometimes rather strange (and definitely one of a kind) actions that in the hands of innovative Methuselahs, can become the backbone of very effective (or hilarious but not really working) theme decks. I mean, think of the mighty Soul Gem deck, the Wake Up Sweet Prince deck, Divine Blockers, Ex Nihilio Bleed, Jar the Soul...

In fact, the actions are varied enough to warrant Methuselahs to take a look at the offers that NEC is giving out, as unlike some of the other disciplines, NEC, albeit sorta specialized in ash heap management, isn't the kind where you go "ya, good bleeding discipline", or "this one can fight!"; but will probably give you something like "mmm..."

Moreover, due to the many different clans utilising the NEC discipline (and they can be quite different), some of these actions work rather interestingly with some of them, for example, Lifeless Tongues is an action that is quite difficult to utilise with the Giovanni, but seems pretty at ease in say, a Harbinger deck that is able to defend the card.

Unfortunately that also means that NEC action is not a "plug and play" discipline.

Action Modifiers

Needless to say, Call of the Hungry Dead and Spectral Divination are the 2 most commonly seen modifier cards, and that they are pretty good - Call simply negates a block (similar to Elder Impersonation), and Spectral Divination is another of those multi-function cards (a little costly for 1 stealth or 1 intercept, but well, the Giovanni has the Path of Bones)

Trochomancy is also commonly seen in NEC decks, being a free bleed card, and simply will belong in a Harbinger deck that has space for it~ Honorary mention goes to Shroudsight that appears in many Diary decks.

Ally

The Shambling Hordes had been used in so many ways that I've lost count - dancing ones, bombing ones, those with grenades and those who bleeds...but in every incarnation they're just as deadly. One of the more commonly seen allies for a while. And no, I've never seen the Puppeteer Wraith in play before.

Combat

Not a lot of options, but actually pretty potent. Dead Hand is a good combat hand that bypasses FOR, in the hands of Giovanni with good POT focus and STR, this card can cause a lot of headaches to traditional FOR decks. Give superior NEC to Lorrie and see her decimate opponent's normally very resilient vampires. Breath of Thanatos is seldom, if ever, used as a modifier except in Wraith decks, but is an excellent combat threat. Spiritual Intervention is the best combat end card that NEC has, and commonly seen in most NEC decks that is not focused on combat.

Equipment

Baleful Doll? Never seen before.

Reaction

Honestly, haven't seen a block deck with NEC reactions, and since all the NEC reaction cards basically deals with Intercepts, there isn't much to see. Moreover, the functions of the NEC reaction cards are really quite disappointing.

Retainer

The Masquer is actually a pretty good retainer, but due to its cost, and that NEC is not really that high on blocking deck's priority, it is not really seen in use.

All in all NEC shines mostly in their action library, with a range of action cards that people will remember after seeing them in play (effective or not), and has a lot of those wow factors. There are quite a few clans that has NEC as an in-clan or appears in their crypt choice common enough to be used - Giovanni, of course, the Harbingers, Samedi, Nagaraja and even the Settites and some Tremeres. Interestingly, each of the prominent NEC clans can use the discipline in seemingly slightly different, but surprisingly varied manners, seeing that some NEC cards fit in better with individual clans (or even vampires). 

And I'm always excited to see what Zombieboy will do with NEC in his next deck~

(O.O)brains