Official VEKN Malkavian Antitribu NEWSLETTER, August 2005 VOLUME IV, Issue XI 1. INTRODUCTION This newsletter is dedicated to using Protean in Malk/!Malk decks. As usual with the out-clan Disciplines, some elder vampires of these clans possess inferior Protean, and one (Rachel Brandywine) even has it at superior level. Why the Protean is so important? Because it provides Malks/!Malks with the best possible support they need - good and cheap combat cards! Our clan Disciplines enable stealth-bleed and, possibly, even stealth-voting decks, but they don't provide really good combat cards neither to avoid combat (strike:combat ends) nor to prevail in combat. Even inferior Protean is often enough to create a completely different deck. 2. HERE WE ARE There are no !Malks with superior Protean, but Louhi, Rodolfo and Imogen have it at inferior. Unfortunately, Imogen isn't very good, but Louhi really is, and Rodolfo is adequate in a bleed-oriented deck. If we would get at least one more vampire with Protean in the fourth group, it would enable a 3-4 group Protean-based deck with Louhi and Rodolfo. Nowadays, though, a superstar of all Malk/!Malk Protean deck is Rachel Brandywine, which has superior Protean and +1 bleed. Louhi has more votes, more disciplines and a great ability, but Rachel's advantages are much more important in a stealth-bleed deck with Protean. Rachel can also use Greger Anderssen, a good 7-cap support Prince with Protean. And don't forget that Rachel doesn't have to fear PTO, while Louhi can cancel only PTO of your predator! 3. CARDS OF THE MONTH Name: Earth Meld Cardtype: Combat Discipline: Protean [pro] Strike: combat ends. [PRO] As above, and this vampire untaps before combat ends. The BEST Strike: Combat Ends ever! Majesty for 1 blood is very good - but what about a FREE Majesty? :) Even inferior Protean is enough to end combat, at superior your vampire ends combat and untaps. This can be used both offensively (your action is blocked, you escape from combat and perform another action) and defensively - you block something, play Earth Meld, and you are ready to block something else. This card is the main reason of playing Protean in !Malk decks - your large vampires with Protean can survive with it. Earth Meld is used in large numbers most of the time. Name: Form of Mist Cardtype: Combat Discipline: Protean [pro] Strike: dodge [PRO] Strike: combat ends. If this vampire is acting, he or she may burn 1 blood to continue the action at +1 stealth as if unblocked (this action can still be blocked). A vampire may play only 1 Form of Mist at superior each action. This card requires superior Protean to be effective, as nobody would use such card for a Dodge (after all, there are Dodges in our clan disciplines). If your vampire has superior Protean, you may allow an important blocker to block you (and tap), play Form of Mist and continue the action. Sometimes this forces the opponent to waste good combat cards (cards usable before range is determined and maneuvers). But the more important advantage is the fact that the opponent would be forced to play Wake and get +1 intercept to block this action again, and in many cases he would be unable to do this. The main reason of playing Form of Mist is "clearing the way" for all your vampires. Since the card is rather cornercase, it's usually used in low quantities (2-3 copies). Name: Claws of the Dead Cardtype: Combat Cost: 1 blood Discipline: Protean [pro] For the remainder of this round, this vampire's hand damage is aggravated. [PRO] Maneuver. A "staple" of Gangrels, this card makes your hand damage aggravated. Malks use this card as a "fear strike" to avoid being considered "harmless" in combat. Nobody likes aggravated damage, especially combined with Rotschreck :) This is our "heavily armed" warning - a good replacement for Coma, as it's much cheaper, it enables Rotschreck and works even after Immortal Grapple. Don't rush our vamps, and yours will be safe! 4. VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH Name: Rodolfo [BH:U2] Clan: Malkavian antitribu Group: 3 Capacity: 8 Discipline: pro AUS DEM OBF Sabbat bishop: +1 bleed. Rodolfo is slightly underpowered: 7 points of disciplines + 0.5 for Bishop's title + 1 for bleed bonus = 8.5 points while normal should be 9 for his capacity, but the Malk/!Malk stealth-bleed decks with Protean use ALL his points, and in these decks he actually is much better that many "good" vampires with a lot of unused disciplines. He is exactly what you need - all clan disciplines at superior, inferior Protean and +1 bleed. Rodolfo's title doesn't allow playing most useful Sabbat cards, that require at least Archbishop, bu it's still useful. Besides the obvious advantage of having an additional vote, it enables using Powerbase: Madrid on Rodolfo, if you're planning to play some politics, and he can play Red List on somebody! Name: Imogen [Sabbat:V, BH:PM] Clan: Malkavian antitribu Group: 2 Capacity: 9 Discipline: obf pro vic AUS DEM Sabbat Archbishop of Miami: Imogen may exchange a random card from the hand of your prey or predator with a library card from that Methuselah's ash heap as a +1 stealth (D) action. Imogen is one of the worst vampires in the whole game. Her ability is hardly usable: who would waste an action of 9-cap vampire just to put an unneeded card into somebody's hand? Considering the ability useless, her powers cost only 8 points (7 points of disciplines + 1 for Archbishop title), while the normal number for her capacity is 11! And even those 8 points is nearly impossible to use in a single deck, as she has five different disciplines... Finally, Imogen even doesn't have all clan disciplines at superior! Nevertheless, Imogen still has superior Dementation and inferior Protean, and sometimes she is used in stealth-bleed decks with Protean - just because there are no better vamps. Her AUS and DEM allow her to play The Call at superior, which may eventually compensate for her disadvantages. Still, she should be avoided if possible... folks, she's so ugly not without a reason! Name: Rachel Brandywine [CE:V/PM] Clan: Malkavian Group: 3 Capacity: 10 Discipline: ani AUS DEM OBF PRO Camarilla Prince of Cleveland: If Rachel is ready, at the end of your discard phase, you may place cards you discard during that discard phase in your library (shuffle afterward). +1 bleed. Rachel is great! She has virtually everything you need for a stealth-bleed deck with Protean - all clan disciplines at superior, superior Protean, +1 bleed and the Prince title. (Note that Cleveland isn't too overcrowded, and Rachel's title may be contested only by Selma the Repugnant or Praxis Seizure: Cleveland, which is good). Rachel can play any cards in your deck, and she is the only vamp with superior Protean we may use. Obviously, she would play Forms of Mist to "remove" dangerous blockers, she would play The Calls to get younger vamps cheaper and faster, and so on. Currently Rachel is a primary vampire of any Malk/!Malk stealth-bleed deck with Protean. Rachel's Prince title is also very useful, as the decks based on her do use some cards that require it. Second Traditions, Fifth Traditions and Parity Shifts are the most popular among them. Her ability is obviously useful, too, especially if you can discard several cards during each discard phase (say, with Barrens or Powerbase: Los Angeles). Your deck usually doesn't contain unusable cards, but some cards may be temporarily not needed. For instance, it would be great to shuffle the Archon Investigation you don't need right now into your deck instead of discarding it. Inferior Animalism is the only Rachel's ability that remains unused in most stealth-bleed decks. But it's relatively easy to use it for summoning animal retainers like Raven Spy or playing inferior Read the Winds. Rachel is really outstanding. Name: Greger Anderssen [DS:V, CE:PM] Clan: Malkavian Group: 2 Capacity: 7 Discipline: dom pro AUS OBF Camarilla Prince of Stockholm. Greger is used in most Rachel deck as a support vampire, which can play all cards except for the cards that require Dementation. Lack of the primary discipline really hurts, but having an extra 7-cap Prince is good, especially the Prince of Stockholm, whose title can be contested only by the Praxis Seizure :) In the Rachel deck Greger Anderssen usually works as the blocker/bouncer, as he can play Telepathic Misdirections and Second Traditions, and he has Protean to play Earth Meld after blocking. He can also play Fifth Traditions to refill other vampires when needed and Parity Shifts to regain some pool. 5. DECKS OF THE MONTH Deck Name : mALK_!mALK protean party (TWD October 23, 2004 Quebec Canada) Author : Marc "Fouez" Desaulniers Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 10 average: 8.25 ------------------------------------------------------------ 4x Rachel Brandywine 10 AUS DEM OBF PRO ani prince Malk:3 2x Imogen 9 AUS DEM obf pro vic archbishop !Malk:2 3x Rodolfo 8 AUS DEM OBF pro bishop !Malk:3 2x Greger Anderssen 7 AUS OBF dom pro prince Malk:2 1x Midget 3 DEM obf pre !Malk:3 Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Master [15] 1x Bleeding the Vine 2x Blood Doll 1x Direct Intervention 1x Giant's Blood 2x Golconda: Inner Peace 4x Minion Tap 2x R-tschreck 1x Secure Haven 1x Vox Domini Action [15] 4x Call, The 2x Entrenching 2x Fifth Tradition: Hospitality 5x Kindred Spirits 2x Sibyl's Tongue Action Modifier [17] 4x Confusion 3x Elder Impersonation 2x Eyes of Chaos 4x Faceless Night 4x Lost in Crowds Action Modifier/Combat [6] 2x Deny 4x Swallowed by the Night Combat [15] 1x Bone Spur 2x Claws of the Dead 9x Earth Meld 3x Form of Mist Equipment [1] 1x Winchester Mansion Reaction [18] 1x My Enemy's Enemy 4x Telepathic Counter 6x Telepathic Misdirection 7x Wake with Evening's Freshness Retainer [3] 1x J. S. Simmons, Esq. 1x Mr. Winthrop 1x Tasha Morgan This is a tournament-winning deck from The Lasombra's TWD archive. Note the primary differences between this deck and the "usual" Kindred Spirits stealth-bleed deck: 1). Protean-based combat module that partially replaces usual bleed module. Such decks rely on permanent bleed modifiers (Rachel and Rodolfo have +1 bleed, and there are bleed-increasing retainers) instead of packing a lot of single-use bleed cards. Low-capacity Kindred Spirits decks cannot use permanent modifiers, since their vampire are fragile and can be easily torporized. 2). Lower number of stealth cards. This corresponds to the lower number of actions you need to cover, and Forms of Mist actually "replace" stealth cards. Still, the deck should have some Spying Missions (IMHO), especially since it usually bleeds for 3. 3). Relatively large number of reactions - this is typical for decks with Protean; some of them even play Homunculus to untap and block the dangerous actions. Marc's deck concentrates on defending against bleed, though he can block with Mr. Winthrop or Telepathic Misdirection. The chosen vampires are very expensive, and this deck simply cannot afford being seriously bled. 4). A lot of blood-gaining cards (Giant's Blood, Entrenching, Fifth Traditions) to recover blood lost in combat or returned with Minion Taps. Deck Name: She's a Cross-Eyed Beast (TWD March 29, 2003 Greensboro NC) Created By: David Cherryholmes Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 23, Max: 40, Avg: 8.17) ---------------------------------------------- 6 Rachel Brandywine ani AUS DEM OBF PRO 10, Malkavian, Prince 1 Quentin King III AUS DEM obf pre 7, Malkavian, Prince 2 Greger Anderssen AUS dom OBF pro 7, Malkavian, Prince 1 Anatole AUS DEM dom for OBF 8, Malkavian 1 Persia aus DEM obf 5, Malkavian 1 Adelaide Davis aus dem obf 4, Malkavian Library: (80 cards) ------------------- Master (18 cards) 1 Barrens, The 2 Dreams of the Sphinx 1 Fragment of the Book of Nod 1 Giant's Blood 4 Madness Network 1 Powerbase: Montreal 2 Rotschreck 6 Zillah's Valley Action (11 cards) 1 Blessing of Chaos 3 Call, The 6 Kindred Spirits 1 Pulse of the Canaille Action Modifier (15 cards) 6 Confusion 4 Elder Impersonation 5 Faceless Night Political Action (4 cards) 1 Domain Challenge 1 Kindred Restructure 2 Parity Shift Reaction (8 cards) 8 Second Tradition: Domain, The Combat (18 cards) 3 Claws of the Dead 8 Earth Meld 2 Flesh of Marble 5 Form of Mist Retainer (4 cards) 4 Homunculus Equipment (2 cards) 2 Aaron's Feeding Razor This deck is also from the TWD archive, but it's completely different. Instead of a "regular" stealth-bleed deck, this one is a "combo" based on Madness Network and Homunculus. At each player's untap phase your vampires use their Homunculae to untap, then bleed after the minion phase through Madness Network. Rachel would be able to bleed for 2 during each player's turn (for 10 pool minimum in a 5-player game), which is really devastating. Note the distinctive traits of a "combo" deck: SIX Zillah's Valley (to get Rachel fast), two Dreams (to ALWAYS get Rachel fast or to cycle for the combo parts), Barrens and Fragment of the Book of Nod (for the same purpose). Note also that this deck has only Second Traditions as reactions, nothing else. This deck is strictly Malkavian, as Madness Network doesn't work for !Malks, so this deck shouldn't appear in my newsletter, but there were at least two good reasons to include it: firstly, it's very beautiful (like most successful combo decks); and secondly, IMHO, it may be improved by replacing all vampires without Protean by !Malks and including some Sibyl's Tongues. Worth a try, doesn't it? That's all for August, As usual, all comments and ideas are appreciated, Yours, Ector