OFFICIAL VEKN MALKAVIAN ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2004
VOLUME IV, Issue I
1. INTRODUCTION
Hello everybody, my name is Ilya Ginsburg. Sounds unfamiliar, eh?
Well, I live in Minsk, Belarus (which is quite far from you, I
suppose), and the only Byelorussian you are likely to have heard about
is our President, Alexander Lukashenko. Unfortunately (or
fortunately?) he is a different person, so you'll have to read my
babbling instead of his :)
It's my first newsletter, folks, and I hope you'll like it. Malkavians
antitribu is my favorite clan in the game, and it certainly deserves a
good newsletter - or at least a miserable newsletter you're reading
now :) Unfortunately, my English isn't good enough to write fiction
stories, but I'll try to cover the clan strategy as good as possible.
Just to make things clear: I don't like newsletters with a crappy
decks that were created just "for fun". To my mind, newbies are the
primary readers of the newsletters, so we shouldn't disappoint them.
Unfortunately, our clan has only one tournament-winning strategy (you
may check the archive at www.thelasombra.com, if you wish). The fact
is pretty bad, and sometimes I'll try to explain the reasons of this
situation.
2. HERE WE ARE
Malkavians antitribu are well-known for these two primary traits:
* They are good stealth-bleeders (they are arguably better in
stealth-bleeding than any other clan in the game)
* They cannot do anything in combat (well, ALMOST anything...)
Take a look at our Clan Disciplines to determine the capabilities of
the clan:
a) AUSPEX. We cannot use intercept as a strategy, since we cannot
survive in combat with a stronger vampires, so we don't need the
majority of Auspex cards. The most commonly used cards are
bleed-bounce (Telepathic Misdirection, My Enemy's Enemy), bleed
reduction (Telepathic Counter), "spying" cards (Revelations, Aura
Reading) and, sometimes, Pulse of the Canaille. Both of "the
Bloodlines cards" (Madman's Quill and The Call) also require Auspex.
b) OBFUSCATE. This Discipline provides stealth, but almost nothing
more. Surely, Disguised Weapon is better than Concealed, and sometimes
we even use Sacrificial Lamb. There are also quite useful cards to
escape from combat, like Behind You! and Quick Exit, but our clan
tries to avoid combat, so we cannot use a host of combat cards.
c) DEMENTATION. This is our "special" Discipline, our sole source of
power (after all, we are going to do something except for hiding and
redirecting, aren't we?) Dementation offers some good bleed cards (not
as good as Dominate does, though, since we have no Conditionings or
Governs the Unaligned), some additional sources of stealth, a
dangerous strike (Coma), a card to steal allies (Restructure), both
"the Bloodlines cards", and several totally insane cards, including
Total Insanity itself :) We're all insane, did you know?
Let me suggest you an exercise. Please, read these three paragraphs
and try to decide, which types of decks can be created with these
Disciplines. If you feel yourself mad enough, try to build
anti-Malkavian intercept deck, or anti-Malkavian voting deck, or even
anti-Malkavian rush deck (Warning: the latter can be created only by
the readers with superior Dementation! :)) If you didn't bother
trying, you were right. Frankly, there is only one tournament-worthy
anti-Malkavian deck archetype - Stealth-Bleed. We can bleed with
stealth and nothing more. I will give a detailed explanation of this
phenomenon and its reasons in the next Newsletter, and if you cannot
wait, just return and make the exercise, you sluggard! :)
3. CARD OF THE MONTH (aka THE CARD)
Name: Kindred Spirits
[Sabbat:C, SW:C, CE:C, BH:PM5]
Cardtype: Action
Discipline: Dementation
[dem] (D) Bleed any Methuselah. Gain 1 pool if bleed is successful
(for 1 or more).
[DEM] As above, with +1 bleed.
This is a cornerstone card, a trump in our sleeve, which is generally
used en masse (12-18 or even more in a deck). Even with inferior
Dementation you will be able to gain one pool, which is pretty good.
Use 15-18 Kindred Spirits, and you will gain enough pool to replace
extra pool-gaining Master cards with something else. Bloating is good,
especially when combined with bleeding, and Kindred Spirits delivers a
combined result of bleeding and hunting with Blood Doll in a single
action.
Superior Dementation increases bleed, and bleeding for two is nothing
to complain about (some people are playing with Computer Hacking!).
Bleeding for two and gaining one in a single action looks like unfair,
especially considering the fact that the card costs NO blood. Social
Charm might seem similar to this card, but it's much worse, since it
doesn't provide pool with inferior Presence.
In fact, Kindred Spirits has an additional advantage compared to
Social Charm - it enables you to bleed ANY Methuselah, not just your
prey. This card is a way to avoid isolation - you can help your allies
by weakening their enemies, and you can threat your enemies or even
finish them if they prove themselves too dangerous. A single bleed for
two might seem a negligible threat, but nothing prevents you from
adding Eyes of Chaos or Confusion to make the threat really
significant.
4. VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH
Name: Dolphin Black
[SW:C, BH:PM]
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Group: 2
Capacity: 6
Discipline: AUS DEM OBF
Sabbat.
Having all three clan disciplines at superior on a six-capacity
vampire is always good, but nothing special. Many clans have such
vampires, and there are many clan-based decks without them. For
instance, you can easily find a Nosferatu antitribu deck without Ox,
or a Gangrel antitribu deck without Darrel Boyce, but it would be
virtually impossible to find a Malkavian antitribu deck without
Dolphin Black.
The importance of Dolphin is based on the following reasons:
* We need ALL THREE Disciplines. Dementation is the primary source of
power, so it would be wise to include vamps with superior Dementation
first. Obfuscate provides stealth, and while most of the stealth cards
provide +1 stealth at inferior, sometimes the superior effects are
crucial (Spying Mission, Swallowed by the Night etc.) Auspex is
generally used for bounce and defense, so in most cases having one or
two vampires with superior Auspex is enough, but we still cannot dump
the Discipline.
* We can't afford playing huge vampires. Our clan has no Govern the
Unaligned, no Enchant Kindred, and though we do have The Call, this
card isn't as versatile. Surely, we can use Minion Taps to return the
pool spent on a giant vampire, but we simply don't have enough time to
influence it, and it would represent a good target for any rush deck.
Using a large vampire could be justified if the vampire would possess
amazing abilities, but, unfortunately, our elders aren't so
outstanding.
Being forced to fulfil these contradictory requirements, we have to
appreciate Dolphin Black highly, since she someway manages to meet
both criteria. She has all three Disciplines at superior, and she
costs only six pool, which is quite affordable. Dolphin Black doesn't
have a title, but we aren't playing politics anyway, Likewise, she
doesn't have any cool abilities, but her Disciplines are good enough.
Many decks include more than one copy of Dolphin Black, since she
enables you to play all your cards at their full potential.
Finally, Dolphin Black is quite sexy, isn't she? Simply amazing!
5. DECK OF THE MONTH (THE GOLDEN CLASSIC)
(Copied from the Tournament Winning Decks archive at
www.thelasombra.com)
Coupe de Paris
Paris, France
March 15, 2002
42 players
B&S ! malkavian, created and played by Stephane LAVRUT.
crypt [avg=5.33]
Korah (7) AUS DEM OBF ani, Priscus
Ruth Mc Ginley (6) aus cel DEM obf, Primogen
2 Dolphin Black (6) AUS DEM OBF
Artemis (6) aus cel DEM for OBF
Tony (6) AUS DEM dom obf
Dr Douglas Netchurch (6) AUS dem dom OBF
Persia, The Beautiful Statue (5) aus DEM obf (can burn blood to
get +1 intercept)
Muriel Foucade (5) aus DEM +1 strength
Claven (4) aus dem obf
Adelaide Davis (4) aus dem obf
Yorik (3) dem obf
2 Blood Doll
6 Sudden reversal
Institution Hunting Ground
2 Dreams of The Sphinx
1 Secure haven
2 My enemy's Enemy
4 Telepathic Misdirection
14 Kindred Spirit
5 Eyes of Chaos
6 Confusion
5 Lost in crowds
4 Cloak The Gathering
3 Faceless Night
4 Swalloded by The Night
4 Elder impersonation
Enchanted Marionnette
Wake With evening's freshness
2 Forced Awakening
2 Delaying tactics
Coma
3 Restructure
I tried to find a "pure" Kindred Spirits deck, without any "cool tech"
cards that could confuse you. Surely, this deck isn't pure
anti-Malkavian (there are some Camarilla Malks), but most effective
decks aren't either, since our clan simply hasn't enough suitable
vampires. But the deck really demonstrates the primary cards used in
most stealth & bleed decks: a bunch of Kindred Spirits (14), a bunch
of bleed modifiers (Eyes of Chaos and Confusions), some bleed bounce
(Telepathic Misdirections and My Enemy's Enemies) and many different
stealth cards. The stealth cards should be different, since you cannot
play the same action modifier twice, and if somebody tries to block
you, you might need to play several stealth cards in a single action.
This deck also has a "classic" crypt - all vampires have Dementation
(eight of them has superior Dementation), almost all vampires have
Obfuscate (except for Muriel Foucade, which probably tries to play
"bruise and bleed" with her +1 strength), there are five vampires with
superior Obfuscate, and five possess superior Auspex.
The really unusial thing in this deck is its defenselessness. There
are only three Wakes, and two of them are Forced Awakenings (it's
really hard to imagine this deck blocking somebody, isn't it?). Combat
defense is limited to Secure Haven, a single Coma and some Swallowed
of the Night. There are some "silver bullets", like Delaying Tactics
against politics or Restructure against War Ghouls, but the deck
really lacks defense even against another stealh-bleed deck.
Nevertheless, there are six Sudden Reversals that can be used to deny
a pool gain of your prey or to protect yourself against many dangerous
cards (Haven Uncovered is a good example of "dangerous" card for this
deck)
The most unusual treat of this deck is the absence of Spying Missions
to defend against bounce. This deck tried to be the purest
stealth-bleed ever, and people were likely to get caught unprepared
for it. Unfortunately, things are much worse nowadays, and now we have
to improve our defenses or be eliminated.
That's all for now,
Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed it!
As usual, complains and comments would be appreciated. If you want to
mail me a private message, please send it to Ector@mail.ru.
Yours,
Ilya Ginsburg (aka Ector)