Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, January 2007 VOLUME VI, Issue I 1. INTRODUCTION This time we're going to throw some grenades. Literally! Once again, I will demonstrate the equipment-based deck, and the grenades will be very important in it. The history of this deck is quite remarkable: I tried to build a deck with maximum number of untaps (Marie Faucigny, Louhi, Rutor's Hands, Helicopters and NRA PAC), but it wouldn't be the first deck of mine based on Marie & Louhi - actually, not even the second, so I've decided to build something different. After all, it's time to demonstrate some new !Malks from Third Edition! 2. CARDS OF THE MONTH Cardname: NRA PAC [Third:R] Cardtype: Event Government. Any minion who successfully performs an equip action untaps at the end of the turn. This effect is very useful in a right deck, and even the fact that anyone can use it doesn't make it much worse: after all, your deck should have a lot of equipment if you play NRA PAC, and you should really need to untap your minions. This is true for any intercept deck with a lot of equipment. For instance, any Toreador deck with guns can benefit from this card, but they have no stealth and prefer Concealing their Magnums to equipping them. It would be rather difficult to build a deck that would really "abuse" NRA PAC, and I really cannot understand why this card is rated so expensive ($10.00 at TheLasombra's store). You need a lot of equipment, some stealth/block fail cards (or overwhelming combat abilities) to pass unblocked AND intercept. This doesn't happen very often. The best example I've found so far is the intercept deck based on Ivan Krenyenko: he is very dangerous to block, and he can fetch an equipment each turn. NRA PAC will grant a lot of free untaps in this deck, and you won't need too many Wakes. Maybe, the card will also work nicely in AUS/obf/cel intercept deck (Zoe, Victoria and so on), but such decks usually prefer Disguised Weapons. My Deck of the Month is a stealth-bleed, not intercept, but even S&B needs to react. NRA PAC will untap Marie Faucigny after successful equipping, and you will save some slots previously occupied by Wakes. Cardname: Flash Grenade [Gehenna:C] Cardtype: Equipment Weapon. Strike: combat ends. If the opposing minion is a vampire, he or she is tapped and does not untap as normal on his or her next untap phase. If the bearer is a vampire and the grenade is used at close range, the bearer is also tapped and does not untap as normal on his or her next untap phase. Burn this weapon after use. This is the best combat protection for clans without S:CE and damage prevention - including our !Malks, of course. You will have to spend an action to equip Flash Grenade, but if you use it wisely, this will be compensated with the lost action of the opposing vampire - probably, even much more than a single action if the vampire can untap. Imagine throwing Flash Grenade at Una with her 50+ Freak Drives :) Sometimes Flash Grenade is worse than a common S:CE card like Majesty, sometimes not. If your opponent played Drawing Out the Beast, you would be unable to throw the grenade, but Majesty could save you. On the other hand, after Thoughts Betrayed you couldn't play Majesty, but you still could throw a Grenade. And, unlike Majesty, your opponent cannot play DI to cancel throwing the grenade if you already have it equipped. Though Flash Grenade doesn't look very attractive in a regular S&B deck (you won't have too many actions to equip it), in some decks it can be very good. It's a weapon, so you can equip it with Concealed Weapon or Disguised Weapon. White Lily can equip it even without any additional cards. Finally, if you have access to Pier 13, you can purchase any number of Flash Grenades there without spending actions. NRA PAC will untap your vampire after the successful equip. If you play all these cards, plus a pair of Helicopters and some Freak Drives, you definitely can spend an action to equip Flash Grenade even without any other ways to obtain it. And you really need such protection, since the other players won't happily look at your bleeding - they are likely to rush your vampires! Cardname: White Phosphorus Grenade [Sabbat:U, SW:U, FN:PS] Cardtype: Equipment Cost: 1 pool Weapon. 2R aggravated damage each strike; if White Phosphorus Grenade is used at close range, the minion with this equipment takes 1 aggravated damage. Burn after use. White Phoshorous Grenade (WPG) represents another approach in our defensive arsenal. Flash Grenade means "rush and waste an action plus some cards", while WPG means "rush and go to torpor". Coma uses the same approach, but WPG is a much better "fear card" than Coma. After you equip it, everyone can understand that rushing your vampire is risky, and much more risky than Coma, since it works at any distance, and you can add Rotschreck, winning in almost all cases. Nobody besides Akunanse can feel himself safe rushing the vampire with WPG - that's exactly what you need of a "fear weapon". The sudden nature of Coma is a disadvantage here: you will take revenge, but it would be better to avoid combat at all. The cost is another advantage of WPG: paying 1 pool is much less painful than 3 blood, especially in a Kindred Spirits deck that rarely have a pool shortage. Surely, WPG is risky. Taking 1 aggravated damage is nothing pleasant. But you can prepare for it: one Flak Jacket will be enough to make a "grenadier" of a vampire. Even if you take the damage, sometimes it's better to get into torpor early and save your blood than to allow your opponent to launch all his combat cards: for instance, you will take only one .44 Magnum strike and avoid additional strikes. Most of the words said about the Flash Grenade are true for WPG as well. You can equip it with White Lily, Disguised Weapon or Pier 13. DOtB will prohibit throwing WPG, but Thoughts Betrayed won't. Sometimes your opponents will even refuse to block a vampire with WPG! 3. VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH Name: Apache Jones [Third] Clan: Malkavian Antitribu Group: 4 Capacity: 5 Disciplines: aus for obf DEM Sabbat. Uncle George is good, but Apache Jones is even better. Both are classical 5-cap obf/DEM bleeders, extremely effective, but you generally don't need Dominate if you play new Malks with Dementation - and you really DO need Fortitude that allows Apache to untap with Freak Drives and prevent damage. There are some Freak Drives in my Deck of the Month, and though there are no damage-prevention cards, your opponents cannot rely on that. Apache is an outstanding vampire, and you will encounter him in any 3-4 or 4-5 Kindred Spirits deck. Name: White Lily [Third] Clan: Malkavian Antitribu Group: 4 Capacity: 8 Disciplines: cel dom for DEM OBF Sabbat. Black Hand: Once per combat, before range is determined, White Lily may equip with a weapon from your hand. (Pay cost as normal.) White Lily is a "combat !Malk". Her Disciplines are very strange: absolutely no Auspex, but three out-clan Disciplines instead. Lily can play inferior Forced March and bounce bleeds, but she cannot play even inferior Telepathic Misdirection to block. Fortunately, she has two primary S&B Disciplines at superior that make her a decent bleeder, though overcosted. How good is the ability to equip weapons in combat without Disguised Weapons? This depends on the number of weapons in your deck, of course. If you have just few, the ability is almost useless. If you have a lot, the weapons must be disposable - that's why we're talking about grenades here. In a deck with grenades, Lily's ability is wonderful, as it saves a lot of actions. But you aren't limited to grenades: you may equip Ivory Bow, for instance, or even Garrote. Trophy Hunter deck with Garrotes, anyone? :) Finally, While Lily is a Black Hand member. She's going to get some new cards in the forthcoming set, Sword of Caine, and, possibly, even inspire a few decks. 4. DECK OF THE MONTH Deck Name: Grenadier Girls Created By: Ilya Ginsburg Description: Marie Faucigny and White Lily throw grenades! Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 17, Max: 30, Avg: 5,75) ---------------------------------------------- 2 White Lily cel dom for DEM OBF 8 !Malk 2 Apache Jones aus for obf DEM 5 !Malk 3 Marie Faucigny dem tha AUS OBF 7 !Malk 1 Midget obf pre DEM 3 !Malk 1 Beauregard Krueller aus dem obf 4 !Malk 1 Uncle George aus dom obf DEM 5 !Malk 1 General Perfidio Dios dem obf AUS 5 !Malk 1 Luc dem vic OBF 5 !Malk Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (17 cards) 2 Dementation 2 Dreams of the Sphinx 3 Blood Doll 3 Grooming the Protege 1 Institution Hunting Ground 2 Sudden Reversal 1 Heidelberg Castle, Germany 1 Pentex(TM) Loves You! 1 Recruitment 1 Vast Wealth Action (20 cards) 2 Madman's Quill 2 Sibyl`s Tongue 1 Magic of the Smith 15 Kindred Spirits Action Modifier (22 cards) 6 Confusion 4 Lost in Crowds 4 Elder Impersonation 4 Faceless Night 4 Freak Drive Reaction (8 cards) 6 Telepathic Misdirection 2 On the Qui Vive Ally (2 cards) 1 Repo Man 1 Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter) Equipment (15 cards) 3 White Phosphorus Grenade 2 Helicopter 1 Heart of Nizchetus 1 Ivory Bow 1 Pier 13, Port of Baltimore 2 Flak Jacket 1 Bowl of Convergence 1 Seal of Veddartha 3 Flash Grenade Event (1 card) 1 NRA PAC Combo (5 cards) 5 Swallowed by the Night This is a "slow S&B" deck - the word "slow" means that it doesn't try to oust its prey in a four turns, and it can perform other actions besides bleeding. If you think that "slow S&B" is a nonsense, let me assure that it isn't TOO slow, due to the various untap effects, and it compensate for its "slowness" with a reinforced combat abilities that are extremely rare in the bleed decks. You have 21 cards that cannot be used during a bleed, besides the master cards, and that's a lot. You will need to fetch some of them, or obtain some way of equipping/discarding them prior to start the serious bleeding. Thus, the most important cards that you should fetch ASAP are Pier 13, Vast Wealth and Repo Man that can fetch your Helicopters. If you have at least two of these cards, you will fetch your equipment quickly enough. Heart of Nizchetus and Luc will allow you to discard the unneeded equipment. Try to reduce your aggression to minimum at the beginning of the game - make deals for your Kindred Spirits and so on. Don't influence Midget early - let him be a nasty surprise when you start the serious bleeding. You have six vampires with inferior Dementation, so two Dementation skill cards were added. Grooming the Protege is an extremely good accelerator if your deck is built on the single clan, like this deck (all its vampires are !Malks). Spending 3 blood to get 3 pool and 3 transfers is great for Kindred Spirits decks that don't spend a lot of blood and have no access to Governs. Yes, you can use The Call, but it requires Auspex; besides, spending an action may be more painful than spending a MPA. Heidelberg Castle can transfer your equipment from Marie and Lily to the other vampires; you may even use it for "bruise & bleed": my first vampire with WPG and Flak Jacket is bleeding, no blocks? Then I transfer both equipment to another vampire, who is going to bleed next. The equipment section should be pretty clear. Three grenades of each type as the primary weapons, and Ivory Bow as the most effective "fear weapon". Two Helicopters for your primary vamps. Heart of Nizchetus aka "The $25 card" (or even more). Pier 13 is obvious: you can get up to 10 equipment cards there. Bowl of Convergence is for Marie: you will need to block something, and you will definitely need to contest the opposing Bowl. Seal of Veddartha is also for Marie - she will get Fortitude and be able to bleed at +1 bleed. Not bad for free, eh? Try to equip both Marie and White Lily with Flak Jackets: they will save a lot of blood, provide good protection against aggropoke and WPG. The primary weakness of this deck is its dependency of the certain vampires. Stealth-bleed decks shouldn't have multiple copies of a vampire, but this deck needs Marie and Lily, preferably both. Be prepared to spend some turns fetching them - or play Recruitment. Recruiting White Lily may be too expensive, but you will happily recruit Midget when it comes to the serious bleeding. That's all for January, As always, all comments and ideas are appreciated. Yours, Ector