Official VEKN Malkavian Antitribu NEWSLETTER, January 2006 VOLUME V, Issue I 1. INTRODUCTION This month we'll continue to review voting decks, but this time without the Laibon. The deck of this month has an interesting history: I've participated in a discussion at the Czech VTES forum (http://vtes.cz/phpBB/index.php) and created the deck as an argument :) Thanks to my opponents for pushing me! In case you are curious, the point of the discussion was: which vampire is better for a voting deck, Louhi or Leandro? Guess who was my choice... what newsletter are you reading now? ;) 2. THE "BROKEN" MASTERS (CARDS OF THE MONTH) Name: Dreams of the Sphinx [AH:R2, FN:PG, KMW:PAn,PG] Cardtype: Master Cost: 1 pool Unique master. Put a counter on this card each time you tap it; when the third counter is added, burn this card. Tap this card to draw two cards and increase your hand size by two cards until the end of the current turn. Tap during your untap phase to gain an additional pool if you have the Edge. Tap to move a blood from the blood bank to a vampire in your uncontrolled region. Some cards are good if properly used, some are very good combined with the other cards, but you may encounter cards that are good almost every time you draw them. Dreams is definitely one of such "universal" cards. If you play it early, you will get one extra transfer for three turns and one extra pool for two turns - and that's very close to "brokenness". Just compare it with the clan-specific locations like Art Museum or Nosferatu Kingdom (which are pretty good). Clan-specific locations require a vampire of the corresponding clan, so you cannot play them on the first turn - and, most times, even on the second turn, unless you've got some weenies. Moreover, they are LOCATIONS, and many cards can be used to steal or destroy them, and Dreams isn't a location, so you can safely keep it even if your predator has Arika. And you can use it even without any vampires in your uncontrolled region. The best thing in this card is its versatility. If you get lucky enough to draw it early, or just need some pool, you can get pool and transfers, and if you lack needed cards, you may increase your hand size. This can be used to launch an alpha strike on your prey or just to improve your hand. And this ability is crucial to any "combo deck" with Sibyl's Tongues: after all, you need to find the Tongues as fast as you can! Dreams of the Sphinx is extremely powerful and versatile. Surely, there are cards that are better in some aspects (i.e. Information Highway provides more transfers, The Barrens cycles cards for the entire game, not just for three turns and so on), but neither of them is so versatile as Dreams. Extra transfers and pool are invaluable early, and even in the midgame they may justify the risk of influencing extra vampire. Increased hand size and hand cycling is great in the midgame. But even if you cannot use these abilities, you still can get extra pool for the Edge! Thank Gods, Dreams is unique - if it wouldn't, everyone would play at least 5 of them. Since it's very popular, players are forced to wait until the current Dreams will fade away prior to playing their own Dreams - something like a semaphore. Of course, you can contest the opposing Dreams - especially the Dreams of your prey if you see that he won't be able to pay for the contest, and your predator can do the same to you, but such situations are rare. Actually, Dreams can be used in ANY deck unless you're limited to a very small number of master slots, and need to put more important masters. Name: The Parthenon [AH:V3, FN:PG, LoB:PA] Cardtype: Master Cost: 2 pool Master: unique location. Tap during your master phase to get an additional master phase action. Master cards aren't always better than the minion cards, but they far less depend on the current game situation. While a voting deck may be able to gain pool with Consangineous Boons and Voter Captivations, other deck types are forced to use masters for this purpose. Most of master cards are very powerful, since YOUR power should surpass the power of your minions. To maintain balance, you only have one master-phase action (MPA) per turn. This makes MPAs a precious resource: you cannot play a master after you've played a master out-of-turn; some cards require spending MPAs, and if your hand is filled with master cards, you generally cannot get rid of them quickly enough. Getting the second MPA each turn looks somewhat "unfair", if you will really play two master cards per turn - twice as much as everyone else! That's why Parthenon costs 2 pool. To fully utilize extra MPAs, you should increase master cards ratio in your deck or use cards that "consume" MPAs, like Slave Auction or Protracted Investment. Then, your deck will become less stable: what if you'll get a lot of master cards, but won't get the second MPA per turn? Obviously, you'll have to risk. You may increase number of Parthenons to get a better chance of drawing at least one of them in time, and there are other ways to get extra MPAs, too (Rumors of Gehenna, Anson etc. etc.) If you're playing anti-Malks, you can easily fetch your Pathenon with Sibyl's Tongue. This possibility justifies using a lot of Masters in any deck that needs them, as long as the crypt contains at least 4-5 !Malks. This, for instance enables using a lot of master out-of-turns: who wouldn't wish to have that Sudden Reversal or Direct Intervention when it would be needed? You may also accomodate a large number of skill cards... make your vampires older and better! Using the increased number of MPAs, you may incorporate the most bizarre plans and ideas. Just use the Parthenon! 3. THE MAD PRINCES (VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH) Name: Quentin King III [CE:V] Clan: Malkavian Group: 3 Capacity: 7 Discipline: obf pre AUS DEM Camarilla Prince of Boston. Sometimes you have to use not-really-good (or just plain bad) vampires, since there are no others with the required Disciplines or abilities (do you remember Imogen?) But the reverse thing happens, too: some vamps are so good as though somebody designed them especially for you! Quentin King III is definitely one of such vamps. He is a 7-cap Prince with inferior Obfuscate and Presence - this would already be enough to find a job in different stealth-voting decks, but he also has superior Auspex and Dementation that allow him to play The Call at superior! Malks and !Malks don't have a lot of vampires with Presence, so even inferior Presence is appreciated. Superior Auspex allows him to block dangerous actions and play Majesty, as well as bounce bleeds. Superior Dementation makes him a good bleeder, and you really can encounter him in the "pure" S&B decks. In short, Quentin King III is pure gold. Somebody may argue that Korah is better, but if you need a cheap Prince with Obfuscate and Presence for a 3-4 group deck, you simply cannot overlook him. And if your deck, like mine, is going to have a lot of The Calls, you are going to bless him! Name: Fleurdumal [CE:V] Clan: Toreador Group: 3 Capacity: 8 Discipline: cel tha AUS DEM PRE Camarilla Prince of Miami: If Fleurdumal is blocked, she may burn 1 blood before combat to force the opposing minion's controller to play with an open hand until the end of the resulting combat. This demented girl has almost all we need except for the Obfuscate. She is a Prince, and she can play The Call at superior, which is extremely good. Since she also has superior Presence, that's enough to use her in a voting deck with The Calls. Other vampires can play Cloak the Gathering to get Fleurdumal additional stealth, but sometimes you may just leave her untapped to guard your pool and/or block dangerous actions. Superior Presence would allow her to stay untapped after blocking. Anyway, you'll get her votes, and that will be good enough. Fleurdumal has an interesting ability that may become extremely important if you really need to know the hand of your prey. Let your prey block her, pay 1 blood for the information and play Majesty - now, you've tapped a potential blocker/bouncer, and you may find out that your prey has no Wakes and he is absolutely defenseless. This is especially handy in bleed & vote decks, where each vampire can attempt to bleed, untap and play a political action (or vice versa). Finally, Fleurdumal has Celerity and Thaumaturgy at inferior level, and these two Disciplines can be used in the completely different anti-Malkavian decks. Celerity leads to the 2-3 group crypt, with Artemis, Colonel and Hannibal, and you can also use Ruth McGinley. Using Thaumaturgy, of course, leads to the 3-4 group deck, with Louhi and Marie Faucigny. A lot of votes, a good ability for each vampire, using the full potential of The Calls, and AUS/tha for all vampires - sounds good enough? Note that unlike Marie or Quentin King III, Fleurdumal can be accelerated with Zillah's Valley, and she will count for Political Stranglehold. 4. DECK OF THE MONTH Deck Name: Louhi Turbo-Vote Created By: Ilya Ginsburg Description: Aggressive stealth-voting deck with Presence Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 24, Max: 40, Avg: 8,16) ---------------------------------------------- 4 Louhi pro ANI AUS DEM OBF THA 10 !Malk Cardinal 2 Alicia Barrows AUS DEM OBF POT PRE 9 !Malk Archbishop 2 Fleurdumal cel tha AUS DEM PRE 8 Toreador Prince 2 Quentin King III obf pre AUS DEM 7 Malk Prince 1 General Perfidio Dios dem obf AUS 5 !Malk Bishop 1 Evan Klein aus dem pre OBF 5 Malk Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (21 cards) 2 Zillah`s Valley 3 Information Highway 2 Presence 3 Dreams of the Sphinx 4 Minion Tap 1 Giant`s Blood 1 Legendary Vampire 1 Purchase Pact 2 Parthenon, The 1 Powerbase: Madrid 1 Slave Auction Action (11 cards) 6 Call, The 1 Rutor`s Hand 4 Sibyl`s Tongue Action Modifier (22 cards) 6 Cloak the Gathering 4 Voter Captivation 4 Elder Impersonation 4 Forgotten Labyrinth 4 Lost in Crowds Political Action (18 cards) 1 Reins of Power 1 Ancient Influence 1 Political Stranglehold 1 Rumors of Gehenna 8 Kine Resources Contested 1 Disputed Territory 3 Banishment 2 Parity Shift Reaction (6 cards) 6 Telepathic Misdirection Combat (7 cards) 7 Majesty Equipment (1 cards) 1 Sargon Fragment, The Combo (4 cards) 4 Swallowed by the Night This deck isn't a "Louhi's show", but it works much better with the famous old lady, as she has more votes than any other vampire, her ability is really invaluable, and she can Call any other vampire. Alicia Barrows is also very good, despite having less votes - but she has superior Presence! Quentin King III is very good and cheap Prince, and Fleurdumal has no Obfuscate, but she has superior Presence instead. Did I forget to mention that ALL these vampires can play The Call at superior? Please excuse me... This word "turbo" in the name of the deck should mean the high speed of getting out the vampires. This deck has three Info Highways, three Dreams and two Zillah's Valley - EIGHT cards that accelerate your influence. Add four Sibyl's Tongues that can be used to fetch any of these cards and six The Calls, and you'll get an extremely fast influence. The famous "Ventrue Law Firm" may influence its vampires even faster, but this deck should be close to it or even outrace it sometimes. This deck demonstrates usage of Parthenon/Sibyl's Tongue combo, and it has increased number of master cards (21). Except for the mentioned acceleration module, there are pool-gaining masters (Minion Taps and Slave Auction, though you may gain pool from the Dreams as well), Giant's Blood to refill blood, Powerbase: Madrid to get vote superiority, Purchase Pact for combat protection and two Presence skill cards. I believe that I found a good balance between a chance of playing with a full hand of master cards and a chance of missing the second MPA from Parthenon. Note that Slave Auction requires a lot of MPAs, and it's very good with The Parthenon. Both Presence cards should be played on Louhi to increase your Banishment range, to max your Ancient Influence, Reins of Power, Minion Taps and Voter Captivations. The Parthenons are backed-up with Rumors of Gehenna, which is a great and inexpensive tool for making alliances and playing Voter Captivations :) The rest of the deck should be clear enough: it's a stealth-voting deck, so it contains a lot of stealth modifiers, political actions and Voter Captivations. Increased number of Cloak the Gatherings should cover Fleurdumal's actions, as you have 7 vamps with superior Obfuscate. This deck cannot effectively use Consangineous Boons, as its minions belong to the different clans, but it contains Parity Shifts which may appear much more dangerous. Finally, The Sargon Fragment should help you to reuse most needed cards, such as Parity Shifts or Minion Taps. That's all for January, As always, all comments and ideas are appreciated, Yours, Ilya Ginsburg (Ector)