Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, December 2007 1. INTRODUCTION I was very happy to see the changes in Tournament Rules for 2008 season. PTO was finally banned, along with Memories of Mortality and Edge Explosion, and though I always prefer erratae to bans, these bans are definitely better than nothing. At least, we can more-or-less safely play non-Camarilla fatties! Cheers! I'm going to build my favorite Elemelech deck right now!!! Also, the dreaded prize-splitting was finally prohibited. I'm very happy to see these changes, since the game is obviously moves towards the serious, competitive edge, and I was struggling for this for a several months. Voila! I'm going to play VTES again, and, look, I wrote a newsletter! 2. CARDS OF THE MONTH Name: Preternatural Strength [LotN:R] Type: Action Discipline: Potence Cost: 1 blood +2 stealth action. [pot] Put this card on this vampire. This vampire gets +1 strength. He or she cannot play Torn Signpost. A vampire can have only one Preternatural Strength. [POT] As above, but this vampire gets +2 strength. This is the "ground-breaking" card, since we've never seen a card providing permanent +2 strength before. Yes, there were cards for +2 bleed, but even the best of them (Heart in the City) cost 2 blood, not one, and, seriously, this effect doesn't mean as much as +2 strength. With +2 bleed you still can bleed only once per turn, your bleed can be bounced, and your vampire becomes a target #1. A vampire can easily use +2 strength several times per turn in a multirush or blocking deck (just recall Lazverinus decks!), and this bonus allows you to free a lot of space that was previously occupied by Torn Signposts and Undead Strengths. The only question is "how to get Preternatural Strength in time?" You can easily build a low-cap POT deck with a lot of PretStrengths, and you'll get a better deck than traditional decks with TS/US, since one PretStrength replaces a lot of them. On the other hand, what you will do if all your PretStrengths get blocked? This isn't going to happen very often (not every deck is able to block a +2 stealth action), and you may be able to torporize the blocker even without PS (blockers beware!), but still. The best variants of POT decks usually use a second discipline: POT/CEL, POT/pro, POT/for and so on, but PS makes POT/obf decks much more attractive: you can not only reach the rush destination, but also push TS with your stealth. One of the most interesting deck types, hovewer, is the "fetchdeck" based on PS. There are some vampires that could use extra strength...OK, let's say "there are several great vampires that become simply amazing with it"! One of the best examples is Hektor. When you have a vampire with POT and aggravated hands, permanent extra strength is really precious: you don't need any other cards to torporize at all! Aggropoke can be easily prevented, but preventing 3 aggravated isn't so easy, especially if you can add Immortal Grapple :) Other good examples are Jacko and Lorrie Dunsirn that have inbuilt additional strike. Hitting for 6 damage per round without any additional cards is very impressive, and most of the time this will torporize any vampire and kill any ally. Name: Fillip [LotN:C/PR2] Type: Reaction Requires a vampire. Usable by a tapped vampire.Choose a younger tapped vampire you control. The chosen vampire can play reaction cards and attempt to block as though untapped until the current action is concluded. A vampire may play only one Fillip each turn. This is another variant of Wake, very good but somewhat limited. You cannot play Fillip if you need to wake the oldest vampire you have at least sometimes, but if any younger vampire can do, Fillip is the best. It's replaced immediately, nobody burns any blood, and you generally have enough vampires to play all Fillips you have. Some decks can work entirely with Fillips - especially if you are building a deck around 1-2 large "stars" with some support vampires for bounce, and you need Wakes just to bounce. For instance, a multirush deck with some POT/dom vampires can use this tech. Some decks can use a mix of Fillips and On the Qui Vives, if you aren't sure that you will have several large vampires. Two OtQVs and 3-4 Fillips is a good mix that will allow you to use all your bounce in the most effective way. The same can be said about any other reactions like Delaying Tactics or similar. If you're playing intercept, that doesn't mean that you should limit yourself to 2nd Traditions or Forced Awakenings as well. If you want to bounce or play some reactions without blocking, you may also need Fillips and OtQVs. Name: Gramle [LotN:C] Type: Action Cost: 1 pool +1 stealth action. Do not replace until the end of the action.Choose a card in play or in any ash heap by name. Search your library or crypt for the chosen card, show it to all Methuselahs, and move it to your hand (discard afterward) or uncontrolled region. You may think that Gramle is a crap, but it isn't. Though it's completely inferior to our Sibyl's Tongue, it still can fetch a lot of things. You cannot fetch the single card from your library, which is the most valuable effect of a fetching card, plus you're paying 1 pool and the card isn't replaced until the end of action, but sometimes Grample is enough, and you don't need Malkavians antitribu! The most obvious example is a deck based on several copies of some valuable card, especially if the card is easily burned. Weighted Walking Stick, for instance, is usually used in the decent numbers, so you can play Gramle to fetch it when you need it. Why not just use some extra Sticks? Because you may need something else, and Gramle will fetch it. The best example, however, is Concealed Magnums. You may have Magnum without Concealed Weapon and vice versa, and Grample will fetch the part you're missing. Gramle makes a interesting combo with Liquidation. You gain pool, fill your ash heap and get targets for your Gramles. This can be very good if you have a lot of copies of the fetched card, especially if you have some ways to retrieve these cards from your ash heap too (like Giovanni). Fetching crypt cards is an interesting tech, and we've never had so universal card for this task. Fetching Tupdogs is propably too expensive, though you can assemble a deadly squad of them and launch the squad at once, even if you aren't playing only Tupdogs, which is quite interesting. You can fetch a burned Imbued, if you really need the copy. Finally, you can fetch a missing standard/advanced version of a vampire in play to merge, since you choose a card BY NAME, and both versions have the same name. Another interesting (but insane!) idea is a "contesting deck" based on Gramles and Thanks for the Donation. Everybody knows that some cards are frequently contested (Heart, Carlton, Bowl, Info HW, Barrens and so on), so you can fetch a copy of somebody's card and play it to contest. The most interesting is combining Gramle with the other ways of fetching cards or even filling your ash heap. If you can fetch the card with Drop Point Network, but you fail to play it properly, you will be able to fetch another copy with Gramle, choosing the first copy in your ash heap. 3. VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH Name: Hektor [Third:PAB] Clan: Brujah Antitribu Group: 4 Capacity: 9 Disciplines: for CEL POT PRE QUI Sabbat priscus: Damage from Hektor`s hand strikes is aggravated. Baali get +1 bleed when bleeding you. Hektor is simply great. Though he isn't the most dangerous combat monster in the game, he has a very good title and good set of disciplines. His weakest point is inferior Fortitude that makes protecting and untapping him rather difficult. You should plan to upgrade it to superior level that will enable good protection and superior Forced March. Hektor and Armin Brenner usually form a core of "bruise and vote" deck, a very rare archetype that is limited just to !Brujah and probably Lasombra/Tzimisce, but !Brujah are the best due to Dogs of War. Obviously, Preternatural Strength makes this archetype much stronger, since you don't have to devote a lot of deck space on combat, and still be dangerous enough to threaten. Hektor + Preternatural Strength will shine in any rushing deck type: multirush, rush & vote, trophy hunter and so on. Three aggravated damage from a hand strike without any cards! 4. DECK OF THE MONTH Deck Name: Preternatural Strength with !Malks Created By: Ilya Ginsburg (Ector) Description: Hektor + Armin deck with supporting !Malks Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 24, Max: 40, Avg: 8.33) ---------------------------------------------- 4 Hektor for CEL POT PRE QUI 9 !Brujah 4 Armin Brenner ani obf CEL FOR POT PRE 10 !Brujah 1 General Perfidio Dios dem obf AUS 5 !Malkavian 1 Colonel cel dem obf AUS 5 !Malkavian 2 Marie Faucigny dem tha AUS OBF 7 !Malkavian Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (16 cards) 1 Fortitude 4 Minion Tap 1 Powerbase: Madrid 2 Monster 1 Black Forest Base 1 Creepshow Casino 2 Dreams of the Sphinx 2 Zillah`s Valley 1 Trophy: Domain 1 Trophy: Hunting Ground Action (11 cards) 2 Preternatural Strength 5 Sibyl`s Tongue 4 Red List Action Modifier (16 cards) 5 Iron Glare 6 Forced March 4 Forgotten Labyrinth 1 Voter Captivation Political Action (8 cards) 3 Dogs of War 1 Ancient Influence 1 Political Stranglehold 2 Banishment 1 Peace Treaty Reaction (9 cards) 5 Telepathic Misdirection 2 On the Qui Vive 2 Fillip Combat (28 cards) 9 Immortal Grapple 4 Slam 6 Pursuit 6 Superior Mettle 3 Taste of Vitae Ally (1 cards) 1 Mylan Horseed (Goblin) Retainer (1 cards) 1 Malajit Chandramouli This is a !Brujah Trophy Hunter deck with supporting !Malks. It's very toolboxy - there is combat, votes, bounce, fetching and so on, but it can perform all its tasks due to the high number of votes and fetching cards. You need Preternatural Strength for both fatties ASAP, and Monsters would be great, too. Sometimes you will need to fetch Dogs of War. The voting package is light but powerful. There are pool-gaining (AI/ PS), rush (DoW), "bleed" (Banishment) and "silver bullet" against weapons, Peace Treaty. Combat package is designed for vampires with Preternatural Strength: Slam and Pursuit both provide heavy damage and Taste of Vitae gets a lot of blood. Reactions package is designed for !Malks only, and Fillips are simply wonderful here: you will always have Hektor or Armin, but you will never need to Wake them. Typically !Brujah don't have bounce, but having it is always nice. Finally, the stealth package is very slim (Creepshow Casino, 4 Forgotten Labyrinths and Malajit plus Forced Marches), but you don't need much, either. When you get +2 Strength for your monsters, they aren't going to be frequently blocked, especially Hektor :) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deck Name: !Brujah with Preternatural Strength Created By: Ilya Ginsburg (Ector) Description: Hektor, Armin & Black Hand !Brujah fetch cards without ! Malks Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 18, Max: 40, Avg: 7.83) ---------------------------------------------- 4 Hektor for CEL POT PRE QUI 9 !Brujah 4 Armin Brenner ani obf CEL FOR POT PRE 10 !Brujah 2 Mariano Pomposo aus cel pot 4 !Brujah 2 Wah Chun-Yuen cel dom pre POT 5 !Brujah Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (18 cards) 1 Fortitude 1 Powerbase: Madrid 2 Monster 1 Black Forest Base 1 Creepshow Casino 2 Dreams of the Sphinx 2 Zillah`s Valley 2 Trophy: Domain 1 Trophy: Hunting Ground 3 Liquidation 2 Drop Point Network Action (10 cards) 3 Preternatural Strength 4 Red List 3 Gramle Action Modifier (11 cards) 5 Iron Glare 6 Forced March Political Action (8 cards) 3 Dogs of War 1 Ancient Influence 1 Political Stranglehold 2 Banishment 1 Peace Treaty Combat (36 cards) 9 Immortal Grapple 4 Slam 6 Pursuit 6 Superior Mettle 5 Taste of Vitae 3 Weighted Walking Stick 3 Blur Ally (1 cards) 1 Mylan Horseed (Goblin) Retainer (1 cards) 1 Malajit Chandramouli Combo (5 cards) 5 Resist Earth`s Grasp Now, this is another version of the same deck, but without !Malks, Toungues and bounce. You use Drop Point Networks and Gramles instead of Sibyl's Tongues, and they are weaker. You use Liquidations instead of Minion Taps to save blood and get some cards in your ash heap for your Gramles. You cannot bounce, but your deck is much more consistent: all your vampires have Potence and Celerity (Wah even has superior Potence), and you have much more combat cards. Even your stealth can be used in combat: it's new Resist Earth's Grasps. Is this version better than the first one? Your choice! As usual, all comments and ideas are appreciated. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Yours, Ector