Official VEKN Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, October 2006 VOLUME V, Issue X 1. INTRODUCTION In this issue we'll continue the review of the new cards from 3rd Edition. Thanks God (and WW), there are a lot of them, and I've got multitude of themes to talk about. This time we'll talk about cards that have the best synergy with vampires of our clan - at least with some of them. Do you know that !Malks got some interesting cards for intercept and other reactive strategies? Let's take a look! 2. CARDS OF THE MONTH Cardname: Abbot [Third:U] Cardtype: Action +1 stealth action. Requires a Sabbat vampire. Put this card on this acting Sabbat vampire and untap him or her. This Sabbat vampire gets +1 intercept against (D) actions directed at his or her controller. A vampire may have only one Abbot. This is strictly better than any other permanent intercept card, except for Bowl of Convergence, which is unique. Abbot doesn't require Animalism as Raven Spy does (and !Malks rarely have this discipline), it is free, unlike Raven Spy or Sport Bike, and it doesn't prevent your vampire from having another Vehicle (Helicopter anyone?) Moreover, Abbot even doesn't cost you an action, as your vampire is untapped after it! Actually, the only thing you need is stealth to push the action unblocked, and our vampires have it. Things are rarely better than they should be, and the advantages of Abbot are compensated with its limitations. You cannot play two Abbots on a single vampire, and it works only for (D) actions. Don't expect to build an intercept deck with Abbots as your only source of intercept (as you could do with Raven Spies), but you can get "casual" permanent intercept for a very cheap price. I'd say that every combat-heavy deck with Sabbat vampires should seriously consider adding Abbots, as they greatly increase your chances against certain decks (i.e. Cryptic Mission). Add some other permanent intercept (for instance, Phased Motion Detector), and you will create some problems even for S&B decks! Abbot should be probably better for !Nosferatu, which are much more serious combatants than !Malks, but some of our elders are quite competent in battle, too. One of the best features of this card is its synergy with Eternal Vigilance. The difference between "pay 1 blood to untap and attempt to block" and "pay 1 blood to untap and attempt to block with +1 intercept" is huge! While the lone Eternal Vigilance wasn't as effective for intercept as a host of Second Traditions, its combo with Abbot isn't much worse - at least against a predator that performs (D) actions. Codex of the Damned, [Third:R] Cardtype: Equipment Unique equipment. While the bearer has Thaumaturgy [tha], he or she is considered to have superior Thaumaturgy. Each time the bearer with Thaumaturgy commits diablerie, each other ready vampire you control gains 1 blood, and each one younger than the victim may receive a master: Discipline card from your ash heap, hand, or library (shuffle afterward). This card is extremely good for Marie Faucigny. She will get superior Thaumaturgy, which she lacks to support Louhi, and an interesting ability. Torporizing with Thaumaturgy isn't very difficult, and superior Obfuscate will allow Marie to diablerize successfully. Decent number of votes will help to avoid Blood Hunt, and blood with Disciplines are always good, aren't they? Cardname: Gurchon Hall [Third:R2] Cardtype: Master Cost: 3 pool Master: unique location. Requires a ready cardinal. Hunting ground. During your untap phase, you may move 1 blood from the blood bank to each of the two oldest ready vampires you control. A vampire can gain blood from only one hunting ground card each turn. This was probably designed as Tzimisce card, as they direly need to regain blood and have a lot of playable Cardinals. They also have a lot of intercept to block any attempts of stealing/destroying Gurchon Hall, and a lot of votes to outvote Disputed Territory if blocking fails. Needless to say, this ultra-effective Hunting Ground is going to be a "target number one" for any anti-location cards. Normal HGs will "return their cost in blood" in 2 turns, but if you count the MPA you spent, the right number will be at least 3 turns. Gurchon Hall is fully repaid in two turns, and after that it provides much better profit. Don't forget, though, that it works only for the oldest vampires, which means that your weenies won't avoid mandatory hunting if they are empty. Besides Tzimisce, Gurchon Hall works very good for Louhi. She can cancel one action card per turn, but paying 1 blood per turn may be risky. This card returns the blood and even feeds one other vampire. Note that Marie Faucigny (that frequently accompany Louhi in AUS/OBF/tha/dem decks) also has a good ability that costs a blood, so Gurchon Hall looks like a natural addition to that deck. Shattered Mirror [Third:U] Cardtype: Reaction Discipline: Dementation Only usable when this vampire successfully blocks an ally or younger vampire bleeding you. [dem] Put this card on the acting minion and end the action (with no combat). The minion with this card gets -1 bleed. He or she may burn it as an action that costs 1 blood. A minion may have only one Shattered Mirror. [DEM] As above, and this reacting vampire doesn`t tap for successfully blocking the action. Dementation rarely gets new cards, especially "normal" cards that can be played outside the "weird" decks. Shattered Mirror is somewhat cornercase (they must bleed you, and you must block the bleed with a larger vampire), but bleed is very popular, after all :) If you play inferior Shattered Mirror, you will get the following benefits: a) The card allows you to avoid combat after blocking. This is extremely useful against "bruise & bleed" decks. b) The bleed action ends immediately, without any chance of Freak Drive or Majesty. c) The bleeder will lose an action and 1 blood to get rid of the Shattered Mirror, or you'll get a permanent bleed reduction. Note that allies cannot remove Shattered Mirror at all, since they have no blood, and weenies are likely to hunt instead of bleeding you to regain the lost blood. If you play the superior version, your vampire will remain untapped. This will save you a Wake when you'll want to block/bounce something else, and this is especially good if your predator decide to "overload" your Wakes with a lot of actions. Guard Dogs makes a good combo with Shattered Mirror if you really expect a lot of bleeding: you can untap and stay untapped without losing any blood. 3. VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH Name: Fabrizia Contreraz [Third] Clan: Malkavian Antitribu Capacity: 4 Disciplines: dem pot Sabbat Archbishop of Miami: If your prey controls no ready Camarilla vampires, Fabrizia gets two fewer votes in each referendum. Fabrizia is the *cheapest* titled vampire in the whole game. Yes, she will lose her votes when your prey has no Camarilla, but she will still remain titled. You can use Powerbase: Madrid to give her extra votes; Fabrizia can play Trumped-Up Charges, and you can play every card that requires Archbishop, from Purchase Pact to War Party. Especially interesting are Creation Rites (yes, this 4-cap can create progeny with a discipline!) and Blood Feast - this card wasn't very popular, since the effect doesn't justify wasting an action of a large vampire, but an action of 4-cap is much cheaper. After all, those Ravnos are playing Patshiv, so we can play the similar card, too :) Unfortunately, Fabrizia has no Obfuscate, and this greatly limits her usage with the other !Malks. But you may use her in a large number of decks that need pot-weenies or vampires with Dementation, like our Deck of the Month. Now we have two cheap dem/pot vamps (Eddie Gaines is the second), so we may eventually encounter a deck based on these disciplines. 4. DECK OF THE MONTH Deck Name: Louhi Breed (based 3rd Edition) Created By: Ilya Ginsburg Description: Intercept deck winning with Creation Rites and Madman's Quill Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 15, Max: 40, Avg: 6,75) ---------------------------------------------- 4 Louhi pro ANI AUS DEM OBF THA 10 !Malk 3 Marie Faucigny dem tha AUS OBF 7 !Malk 1 Fabrizia Contreraz dem pot 4 !Malk 2 Luc dem vic OBF 5 !Malk 1 Bloodfeud obf 2 !Malk 1 Beauregard Krueller aus dem obf 4 !Malk Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (20 cards) 1 Black Forest Base 1 Gurchon Hall 1 Yawp Court 5 Blood Doll 2 Dreams of the Sphinx 6 Dementation 1 Rack, The 1 Powerbase: Madrid 1 Barrens, The 1 Rotschreck Action (16 cards) 2 Abbot 3 Call, The 3 Madman`s Quill 1 Rutor`s Hand 2 Eternal Vigilance 5 Creation Rites Action Modifier (4 cards) 4 Forgotten Labyrinth Reaction (19 cards) 6 Telepathic Misdirection 2 Shattered Mirror 4 Eagle`s Sight 4 Spirit`s Touch 3 On the Qui Vive Combat (14 cards) 10 Theft of Vitae 4 Burst of Sunlight Equipment (7 cards) 1 Codex of the Damned 1 Heart of Nizchetus 1 Ivory Bow 3 Flak Jacket 1 Bowl of Convergence Event (1 cards) 1 New Management Combo (9 cards) 5 Swallowed by the Night 4 Random Patterns This is just a sample deck to demonstrate several new cards from Third Edition. The deck blocks the most dangerous actions (or cancels them with Louhi) and develops until you find Madman's Quill. Luc and Heart of Nizchetus (if you manage to find it) provide serious digging, since you need to find some pool-regaining cards quickly. You regain blood with Gurchon Hall, Thefts and The Rack. This should be enough to compensate costs of cards and abilities, and you may generate pool with the Blood Dolls. Black Forest Base also allows you to generate pool - though this deck doesn't have a lot of votes, you will generally find some players willing to keep you in the game a bit longer. The Calls can also generate some pool. If your situation is stable and you have some pool to spare, influence extra vampires. Louhi and Marie are the only "true workers" here, but you need a lot of vampires when you play Madman's Quill. Some of your weenies can also generate pool with Blood Doll. That's all for October. As always, all comments and ideas are appreciated. Yours, Ector