The Wolf & The Rat
The Wolf & The Rat is an expansion for the Vampire The Masquerade: Rivals expandable card game, developed by Dan Blanchett and published by Renegade Games.
By Aaron T. Huss
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The Wolf & The Rat is the second expansion for Vampire The Masquerade: Rivals and introduces two new factions – The Gangrel and The Nosferatu. Both new factions bring the concept of animals into the game.
First up, the Gangrel (The Wolf), a faction who utilizes animals to win the game. Their vampire strength seems pretty average, but their true strength lies in their animalism ability by attaching animals from the deck to your vampires. The animalism aspects of the deck are geared toward cats, mongrel dogs, and crows with most supporting cards having a similar theme. Considering gameplay style, it has a pack mentality whereas the team gets stronger the larger it becomes; kind of like a pack of wolves hunting their prey.
Next up, the Nosferatu (The Rat), a faction who relies on manipulating the streets to win the game. They seem like a difficult faction to play as they rely on Vagrants in the City Deck (I won’t go any further than that). Their true strength lies in spycraft and their ability to manipulate non-vampire cards. They also utilize rats and insects to protect them. To me, the Nosferatu deck is for the cunning player who likes to spoil other players’ advancement in order to insure they further their own agenda. Definitely not for the casual player, but definitely for the player who likes indirect means of winning the game.
I really like the contrast between the two decks. Sure they both have the animal theme, but they use them in very different ways. I find it a great pairing and really adds depth to the game! Expansion themes like this make me even more excited to see what the next ones hold!
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