Official VEKN Malkavian Antitribu NEWSLETTER, June 2005 VOLUME IV, Issue IX 1. INTRODUCTION This newsletter continues the review of using Malkavians antitribu in the "non-Malkavian" decks. What are "the Malkavian decks"? I'm sure that it doesn't matter for all my readers, but it would be strange if I would post a deck without any anti-Malks in the anti-Malk newsletter :) After some thoughts I decided that a deck should be called "Malkavian" only if the majority of its library cards are meant to be played by Malks/!Malks. Thus, a Lazverinus deck from the previous issue wasn't a "Malkavian" deck despite the fact that 75% of its vampires were Malks or !Malks. Laz is a superstar! 2. HERE WE ARE Malkavians antitribu make very good "support" for the different "non-Malkavian" decks that need such support. Our vampires can perform several important tasks, including: * Playing Sibyl's Tongue to fetch needed cards, which enables many interesting "combo-strategies". * Providing AUS to play Telepathic Misdirections. The deck gets ability to bounce bleeds and block important +1 stealth actions such as equips or political actions. * Providing AUS/aus to play Anima Gathering that was probably fetched with Sibyl's Tongue :) * Providing AUS/aus to play Revelations that may be needed in a S&B deck to bleed responsibly. * Providing OBF to get +1 stealth on crucial actions with Cloak the Gathering, which is the most useful for the decks relying on +1 stealth actions like voting or equipping. * Providing OBF to protect you against PTOs and Alastors with Confusion of the Eye. This is especially useful if you have a large vampire with inferior Obfuscate, which can cycle CotE to reduce bleeds. As you might notice, none of these tasks require Dementation. Unfortunately, our "hallmark" Discipline cannot offer really good support cards that could justify adding some !Malks into a non-Malkavian deck. The fact that Dementation is also very "expensive" (superior starts from 5-caps) is a last nail into the coffin. Determining what !Malks can become good support vampires is simple: just dismiss all DEM-vampires that you were hunting for a Kindred Spirits deck and choose the vampires without Dementation that you previously considered worthless :) Obviously, the best support !Malk vampire is Quira, which have BOTH superior Auspex and superior Obfuscate plus increased bleed - all for 6 pool. But sometimes you can't afford her, or need only AUS, or need something else, or just cannot put her into a 3-4 group deck. Then you can look at the alternatives: * Roger Farnsworth is the cheapest vamp with OBF, and he's Black Hand. He also has inferior Auspex that can be used to play Anima Gathering and Revelations. * Idalia is the cheapest !Malk with AUS, but without Obfuscate. Her special isn't very good unless you play a lot of Jacks of Both Sides, since without additional stealth her equip actions can be blocked. But if you don't need Obf and just want a cheap !Malk with AUS, it's your choice. * The Colonel offers AUS/obf, and he's also Black Hand (I'm going to review Black Hand !Malks in the next newsletter). He also has inferior Celerity, which may be crucial. * General Perfidio Dios... wait a minute, he is a Vampire of The Month! Just keep reading to read more about him. 3. CARD OF THE MONTH Name: Red List [KMW:C] Cardtype: Action Requires a ready, titled, non-Red List vampire. (D) Choose a ready ally or a ready younger vampire. The chosen minion becomes Red List. That minion may not attempt to block this action. You can make somebody a pariah. Any vampire would be able to rush him, and you can even demonstrate some Trophies as a reward for burning the bastard. You'd prefer to collect the Trophies yourself (some of them are very good), but tempting someone else to make your life easier by burning your prey's minion is also good enough. This may easily result in a long-term partnership. This card is usually played by the "Trophy hunter" decks that are going to burn opposing vampires and collect the Trophies. Malkavians antitribu would almost never play a primary role in such decks, as we have no combat Disciplines (though I can easily imagine Louhi rushing for Trophies!), but we can provide invaluable support for such decks, including playing Red List. To play Red List, your vampire should have a title. Sometimes your primary rusher has it (i.e. Xaviar or Wynn), sometimes not. Moreover, Red List doesn't have inbuilt +1 stealth, so you should add some stealth if you can. Obviously, Marie Faucigny and General Perfidio Dios are good "red-listers", since they have Obfuscate. They also have superior Auspex to bounce/reduce bleeds, and they aren't too expensive for their abilities. You may think that General Perfidio Dios is too young for Red List, but he will usually find enough targets. If you are just hunting for Trophies, you can play Red List on the smallest minions (or allies) to dispatch them easily and don't seem too threatening for the entire table. If you are planning to play Red List on Arika, you would have to get a titled 12-cap in play, which isn't very easy... but if you reveal your goal, the whole table should help you :) 4. TROPHIES OF THE MONTH :) I guess that this newsletter won't be complete without a description of the most valuable Trophies. After all, the Trophies were the primary reason of building the "hunter" decks! Here they are, shining and awaiting you... Trophy: Domain [KMW:R] Master. Trophy. The vampire with this card has +1 intercept. Once each action, this vampire can burn 1 blood to untap and attempt to block. It's truly wonderful. What combat-heavy deck would refuse to have permanent +1 intercept FOR FREE that simply cannot be stolen, destroyed or contested by any means? And the ability to untap to block any action is even more important, especially if your vampire cannot play Eternal Vigilance. If you managed to survive and grab Trophy: Domain, you get a very good protection against voting decks and even S&B decks, and you can intercept most undirect actions of your prey. Trophy: Hunting Ground [KMW:R] Master. Trophy. Hunting Ground. During your untap phase, the vampire with this card gains 2 blood from the blood bank. A vampire can gain blood from only one Hunting Ground card each turn. "Normal" Hunting Grounds cost 2 pool and provide only 1 blood per turn, but this Trophy costs nothing and provides 2 blood per turn, which can be reclaimed through Blood Dolls. Unlike the "normal" HGs, this Trophy works even in torpor, which may be crucial if you need these 2 blood to resque your vampire. But the best advantage is the fact that Trophy:HG cannot be stolen or destroyed. Trophy: Retainers [KMW:R] Master. Trophy. During your untap phase, if this card is on a vampire, you may search your library (shuffle afterward) or hand for a retainer. This vampire employs that retainer (he or she must meet the requirements, if any). Pay the cost as normal. This is not an action. This Trophy isn't as spectacular as the others, but it may be very important if you need to get some retainers quickly and safely. This Trophy should be appreciated by Gangrels, who really need a Dog Pack. Most good retainers require Animalism, but there are also bleed-enhancing retainers, Jackie Therman to get maneuver and Mr.Winthrop to get +1 intercept. 5. VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH Name: General Perfidio Dios [Anarchs:U2, BH:PM] Clan: Malkavian antitribu, group 3 Capacity: 5 Discipline: dem obf AUS Sabbat bishop: Perfidio may burn 1 blood to untap and attempt to block a (D) action that targets a location you control. If you are building a "Trophy-hunter" deck with Red Lists, Perfidio is one of the best support vampires you can find - maybe, even the best one. He is one of the cheapest titled vamps - all titles start from 5-cap vampires. While Volker has more votes and good combat Disciplines, Cicatriz works like a free Barrens and Olivia offers OBF and POT, General Perfidio Dios can add stealth to Red List AND bounce bleeds, which is more important. Dr. Julius Sutphen can use Obtenebration cards to get stealth (usually paying blood for it), he can bounce bleeds with Deflections, and besides that, he has superior Potence and a cool ability. If your deck is built around Potence, you may prefer Julius, but in the other cases Perfidio is better. Telepathic Misdirection is far more flexible than Deflection, Obfuscate has better stealth than Obtenebration does (and it's much more popular, so your primary vampires may also have it), and, the most importantly, Perfidio can play Sibyl's Tongue! What is the best debut for a Trophy-hunter deck with Perfidio? You get him first, preferably with Information Highway (or Dreams of the Sphinx), and he immediately plays Red List on the first predator's or prey's minion. He wouldn't even need any stealth for this, as the target minion cannot block Red List! And this scenario is pretty realistic, since many decks are playing 3-4 caps (or even 1-2 caps), and these decks usually influence at least one such weenie first, just to guard the pool or to get a free bleed. After the successful Red List all you need is waiting for a few turns until you get your primary combatant, leaving Perfidio to guard YOUR pool, burn the hapless weenie and grab your Trophy. Unsurprisingly, you may encounter Perfidio even in the Kindred Spirits decks. He costs only 1 pool more than Claven, but he has superior Auspex and a title. His ability is almost never used, especially considering absence of combat Disciplines, but he still can protect your Powerbase:Montreal if the opponent has no stealth. This may cost the opponent much more than a lost action if you have Status Perfectus or Fast Reaction :) 6. DECK OF THE MONTH Deck Name: Enkidu & !Malks Created By: Ilya Ginsburg Description: Anti-Malks provide votes, play Red List and fetch Fueled by Heart's Blood/Regent for Enkidu Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 20, Max: 44, Avg: 8) ---------------------------------------------- 5 Enkidu for ANI CEL OBF POT PRO 11 !Gangrel 2 Marie Faucigny dem tha AUS OBF 7 !Malk archbishop 2 Shawnda Dorrit obt pot pre CEL 6 !Brujah priscus 3 General Perfidio Dios dem obf AUS 5 !Malk bishop Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (15 cards) 1 Regent 5 Blood Doll 1 Trophy: Domain 1 Trophy: Hunting Ground 1 Trophy: Retainers 1 Rack, The 2 Dreams of the Sphinx 1 Information Highway 1 Talons of the Dead 1 Perfectionist Action (13 cards) 8 Red List 4 Sibyl`s Tongue 1 Priority Shift Political Action (1 card) 1 Ancient Influence Action Modifier (5 cards) 3 Forced March 2 Freak Drive Reaction (9 cards) 3 Wake with Evening`s Freshness 6 Telepathic Misdirection Combat (35 cards) 5 Blur 5 Sideslip 6 Taste of Vitae 4 Amaranth 4 Pursuit 6 Disarm 5 Stutter-Step Retainer (6 cards) 2 Raven Spy 1 Jackie Therman 1 J. S. Simmons, Esq. 1 Tasha Morgan 1 Owl Companion Event (1 card) 1 Fueled by Heart`s Blood Combo (5 cards) 5 Swallowed by the Night The idea of this deck was inspired by Norman S. Brown, but his deck doesn't use !Malks and has different combat cards. This deck definitely isn't the most dangerous, or the most frightening variant of Enkidu-based deck, but it wasn't meant to. You should make alliances to survive as long as possible. Your have the following game plan: 1). Play Red List on some minions (at least one). If you suspect that your Red List can be blocked, try to back-up it with Swallowed by the Night. If most decks in your environment have intercept, you may add some stealth against them - Forgotten Labyrinths or Spying Missions that should help when you would bleed for 3 with your retainers. 2). Fetch Fueled by Heart's Blood with the first Sibyl's Tongue and play it. Your Enkidu will be able to diablerize any vampire except for Inner Circles and few other 11-caps. From this moment, you will be able to play Amaranth safely. Alternatively, you can fetch Regent first. You can play Amaranth even without FbHB if your faction has enough votes. 3). Burn the Red Listed minion and get Trophy: Domain. From this moment, you should have decent protection, especially if you managed to employ at least one Raven Spy. 4). Work on your prey until you manage to play the second Red List and get the second Trophy. Get Hunting Ground if you are low on blood/pool or Retainers otherwise. 5). Finish all vamps of your prey able to bounce bleeds, then oust your prey. Repeat as necessary :) This deck should have relatively high number of votes, especially if you play Regent on Enkidu. Since Enkidu is already Red List, he doesn't have to fear rushes, at least more than usual :) Thus, getting 4 votes just for one pool is a brilliant deal. In the best situation you would have Enkidu+Regent, Shawnda and Perfidio = 8 votes for 23 pool. Not bad for a deck with just ONE political action! Sometimes you will even maintain a "vote lock", especially if you manage to physically destroy the opposing votes :) If the Regent would allow Enkidu to play Red List himself, it would be very good. Firstly, he could play Red List on almost any vamp, and, secondly, your prey would think twice prior to blocking Enkidu's attempt to make his worst minion Red List, as he would going to lose a better minion instead. Unfortunately, a Red List minion cannot play Red List, so you are forced to play Priority Shift if you wish to remove this restriction. Don't waste a Sibyl's Tongue on Priority Shift unless your Enkidu is a Regent and your prey has only large vampires. Sometimes you cannot play Regent, especially if there are multi-rush decks in your environment. Such deck would have two extra possibilities of rushing Enkidu each turn, which can be lethal. In such cases, just replace Regent with Cardinal Benediction. You have some Sabbat votes to push it. You may also fetch Priority Shift to further decrease chances of rushing Enkidu. Blood Dolls are your primary source of pool gain, and you should put at least two of them on Enkidu. The Rack or Trophy: Hunting Grounds would provide him two blood per turn, and you would be able to convert them to two pool per turn. You should play carefully and influence just Enkidu + one !Malk until you'll be able to regain some pool for Shawnda or get Dreams of the Sphinx. Ancient Influence gives you 6 pool, and it's usually beneficial to all decks with the large vamps (primary voters), so you may expect that it would pass. Combat part of this deck is focused around Disarm and Amaranth. Primary Disciplines used are Celerity and Potence. The goal is using combat abilities of Shawnda Dorrit which can easily Disarm using additional strike or Sideslip. Even if you have no Amaranth, Enkidu can just diablerize a Disarmed vampire with the same result. Talons of the Dead should be played if you feel yourself very good, and your Enkidu can afford paying 1 blood for every action. This card can let you overcome other combat-heavy decks: no deck can regularly prevent 3 aggravated damage dealt in one strike, especially if you can get additional strikes. The rest of the deck is pretty clear. You should avoid playing Perfectionist on Enkidu, as you're going to give him The Rack and/or Trophy: HG, but if you need to refill him, go ahead. Normal sequence of fetching retainers is Raven Spy (or two), Jackie Therman, then Owl Companion and only then bleed-enhancing ones. That's all for June. As always, all comments and ideas are appreciated. Yours, Ector