So same deal as the rest: $9.95 for 89 cards, a rulebook and a reference cards. If you're like me you have boxes of rulebooks alone by now, so chuck those to one side and lets look at the cards...
I shall use three criteria for judging this deck:
Is it a good entry point for new players?
Is it worth buying for veterans?
Does it capture the feel of the Clan?
The Vampires
The Crypt is fairly "wow" if you like cool abilities. There are a lot of votes there, and a lot of powerful vampire abilities.
Perhaps it is because the Toreador antitribu crypt doesn't have any vampires who default as "Black Hand" you get more bang for your buck.
The Library
This is a political deck, mostly, with an odd sideline into weapons combat.
The Master Cards are of varying quality, though there are only six of them. Palla Grande and Fetish Club Hunting Ground are of good utility. Short-Term Investment is better than Long-Term Investment, but is not a tournament card. Zillah's Valley on the other hand, is a fantastic card.
There are two of them by the way.
For many of the players in my group this has been reason enough to buy the starter deck. This is a great card that no-one in my area seems to own, and is vital to crypts that rely on large vampires.
The politics half of the deck is ok. You get the Orations and Gazes of course, and you get 13 referendums (or is that referenda? my latin was never good). Camarilla Threat is a good card, and Deploy the Hand seems pretty vicious. Sadly there are also 4 Consanguineous Boons, which everyone has twenty of, and five Templars, which is a pretty pathetic card, IMHO. The politics is powered up considerably by the presence of two each of two new cards: Stealth Ritus and Under the Skin. Clearly these two cards are going to find their way into every !Tor vote deck I build from now on. Finally the Toreador antitribu have access to stealth! Sure, they've always had the rather weak celerity stealth, but Stealth Ritus is much better.
The combat part is odd. There are 8 close comat weapons, a bunch of Concealed Weapons and a splash of intercept. I'm not sure why this is here. Would it have been too much to ask for to have some "Strike: Combat Ends" cards in place? There aren't any of these, by the way - no Majestys, no Staredowns and no Catatonic Fears.
There are some other good cards too. Propaganda is a powerful bleed card, especiallyin an environment so rich with Titles. Zillah's Tears is a surprisingly functional card as well.
If I had to refocus this deck, I'd drop the pretences at combat, get more "Combat Ends" cards and add more aggressive votes like "Deploy the Hand".
Invest in the Toreador?
For a new player, I would suggest not. The core vote cards (Kine Resources Contested and Conservative Agitation) are conspicuously absent. There is no combat ends. The deck is too unfocussed to be immediately playable.
For a veteran player, I would say yes, especially if you are not planning to buy a lot of Black Hand boosters. Stealth Ritus, Zillah's Tears and Deploy the Hand are cards that every Sabbat player should own.
And does the deck capture the feel of the Toreador antitribu? Personally, I think not. The Toreador Antitribu are a clan of passionate sadists and perverse artists. This deck instead paints them as politicos with hidden pokers.
But overall, a pretty good buy. I may even buy it again.
