SANguinus - discipline analysis

Once upon a time I tried to build a Blood Brothers deck. It was a long time ago
and the deck is still one of my favourite things that don't really work.
I remember at the time I could not find any decent resource about Sanguinus,
their signature discipline, and I had to learn things the hard way.
Now I'll try to summarize my findings and thoughts about this not often played
yet actually pretty interesting discipline.


General description:

Sanguinus is a discipline based on cooperation of usually same circle members
of the Blood Brothers clan. This discipline is clan-restricted and there's not
a single vampire outside the BB clan with even a basic knowledge of it.
It allows the user f. ex. to make other vampires stronger, take hits for them
or give them blood. Even with only one ready controlled BB Sanguinus can help.


Actions:

Every action on SAN has its appeal save the very expensive Coagulated Entity (quite interesting indeed, isn't it). This action card allows a vampire to enter combat with another vampire at 0 stealth
and can give the acting vampire considerable benefits based on how many same circle BB's you control. The problem is that other than Shell Game the BB's don't have any easy access to stealth and so this action is very easy to block. Compared to Oppugnant Night this card really leaves much to be desired - I only use it as the possibility to rush a second time with potentially devastating effect.
Apart from that I'd like to mention Hive Mind with both effects being very nice and Redistribution - tactical possibilities are endless! Unwholesome Bond is a pretty standard thing; nice but really nothing to write home about.


Political Actions:

Uhh, Blood Brothers prefer politics of the Finnish type. :-)


Action Modifiers:

From this card type Hay Ride is being played quite often; in combo with f.ex. Coagulated Entity,
perhaps? Or maybe Hive Mind? Depends on your needs at the time and that's the coolest thing about the card. Shell Game is the only stealth card the BB's have access to and the cost is quite high. Claiming the Body gives the BB's a possibility to play tap-and-dosomething to some extent, and again, there are some nice possible synergies between Sanguinus cards. Slake the Thirst is a really nice card even when played as a combat card (f.ex. with Taste of Vitae), but the superior effect is the thing - and again try to imagine the possibilities of combining it with other SAN cards - Unwholesome Bond? Redistribution? That's what I call an easy access to a lot of vitae. (In your face, Salubri!)
And now for the big guns - Walk of Caine is the thing that makes this clan at least a bit playable. Since with Hive Mind and Unwholesome Bond it's very easy to have 4-5 ready big guys (generally with a little help of Wider View) or 10+ vampires thanks to Hermanas being non-unique, the consequences are obvious. Fancy a bleed of 6-7? No problem.


Reactions:

Gestalt and Gestalt only. If you feel a Blood Brothers deck needs to block an action from time to time, this card makes it much easier for you. The superior effect gives the midcap Kiev and Torrance circles nice boost in resulting combat, if any. :-)


Combat:

Being more of a support discipline, the Sanguinus combat cards are pretty much of a tactical value. Brother's Blood makes it possible to use another BB as a meatshield, Coordinate Attacks and Free Fight are favoured by those who can't handle a fair fight :-), and Clockwerx may result in a WTF effect on your adversary's face.
However Octopod is a much better Blur and in combination with Three's a Crowd and Potence combat cards results in a very nice potential damage output. No need to mention Slake the Thirst again.


And that's it. There are no more Sanguinus cards. No need for equipment, allies or retainers.
Three's a Crowd and Oppugnant Night are both great cards requiring BB only, but I mentioned them already.
And finally, Thicker Than Blood has one flaw - it only works for unique vampires, so no quick Hermanas for us. However due to easy access to vitae for the BB's it could be playable to some extent. I just don't like it somehow. :-)

Again, I hope at least someone will find this rant interesting and maybe even helpful. If you find somewhere here the inspiration to build a nice BB deck, I wish you luck. If you have anything to ask me, don't hesitate to post in the discussion below.


Carpe noctem.