Neil Paananen
Malkavian Antitribu Archbishop of Denver
paananen@ix.netcom.com presents:
The OFFICIAL Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter
September 11, 1999
Vol. 1 No. 2 The Dementation Special
In this issue:
The "One of Us!" political/combat deck
A look at each of the dementation cards, individually.
A piece of fun.
Ah, dementation! If the Camarilla shun it, it must be fun, eh?
This month's deck can be a lot of fun (for you at least) if it works.
I had a different version of the deck before, and this modified version
isn't fairing as well. It's the "One of Us" deck because the main
concept is to become the same clan (through derange or clan
impersonation) as another vampire and then call "Sacrifice" on him/her.
I saw someone recently on the newsgroup with the same concept; this
is more the focus of this sucker.
It also uses a little blocking with guns and blessings of chaos to
cut the cheese (uh. . .). Oh, bye the way, I use a 5 cad limit
(because I'm just so craaaaazy).
Vampires
2x Claven 4
Boy Toy 2
Quira, The Bitch Queen 6
Zoe 3 (the only regular malk - but she usually ends up either
having dementation or being a !malk by the end)
Imogen 9
Hannibal 10
Yorik 3
Virgil 8
Artemis 6
Vasantasena 9
Muriel Foucade 5
Crypt
Dementation
4x Derange (just need one more)
3x Blessing of Chaos
2x Mind of Child
Auspex
3x telepathic counter
2x telepathic vote counting
3x precognition
2x primal instincts
3x spirit's touch
1x eagle's sight
2x telepathic misdirection
Obfuscate
3x Lost in Crowds
2x Swallowed by the Night
3x Cloak the Gathering
5x disguised weapon
1x forgotten labyrinth
Masters
3x Minion Tap
3x blood doll
1x giant's blood
2x obfuscate
2x institution hunting ground
1x auspex
2x dementation
1x hungry coyote
Others
5x dodge
1x cardinal benediction
3x wake with evening freshness
1x forced awakening
4x clan impersonation
1x cardinal sin: insubordination (has done wonders)
1 taste of vitae
5x sacrifice
5x leather jacket
1x covenant of blood
1 crusade: pittsburgh
1 crusade: toronto
1 crusade: houston
5x 44 magnum
Obviously you need one guy to call derange on a vampire (or clan
impersonation of his/herself) and then sacrifice him with the other.
This has some problems: #1) It can only be done by a sabbat vampire
above 7 - this means the awesome priscus Korah cannot do this
unless she is older - but she has superior of everything so there
may be no point in giving her a skill card. One possibility to
explore is using Dauntain Black Magician to steal a master from
a vampire who is at 7 and give it to Korah, but this complicated
to achieve. It could however help with #2) The vampire to be
sacrificed has to be sabbat and has to be below 7. This is why
the derange is perhaps better than the clan impersonation - it
will make the opposing vampire sabbat. One way to decrease a vampire's
capacity is through the use of "mind of a child" though this too
is hard to pull off. #3) you have to do everything in one turn
or have to risk your opponent moving the derange. It is fortunately
not that easy to move the derange as you have to move it to a
non-malkavian Antitribu and it can be blocked. The main reason
this deck isn't currently working, I think, is because I didn't
put nearly enough stealth in it. I must have taken some out.
Adjust to taste.
A look at all the Dementation cards with ratings out of five:
Blessing of Chaos *****:A great card in more competitive games.
It can be used to demolish presence based combat ends, dominate
action modifiers, aire of elation, thoughts betrayed, mind rape,
all nasty tournament common things, and yes dementation and
chimerstry as well. It can't be destroyed, and all you have
to do is "attempt to block" to prevent someone from using action
modifiers requiring said disciplines. This means that if someone
is bleeding you at stealth, you just have to say, "Muriel will
block" to nullify any bleed modifiers. Very handy. Aren't you
sad your disciplines don't let you use this one?
Coma ****: A great strike, but expensive. Best for a surprise once
in awhile (or merely the fact that you're playing a dementation deck
may be enough to make people think you have a coma)
Derange ***: A card with varying effects, can be useful for changing
someone's clan so they no longer have camarilla votes or so they
can't use their artifact. The votes come back if the derange is
gone I think. The superior is superior. See notes in above deck.
Mind of a Child **: An expensive card. I thought that it might be
useful someday to prevent vampires from deflecting your stealthy
bleeds, so I might work on a deck with this principle. Otherwise
it is just too easy to get rid of it (any vampire at +1 stealth can
burn it)
Wave of Insanity * Ug. A bad rare. Regular: tap an ally. Superior:
tap all allies. Yahoo!
Passion ** Well, better than wave of insanity but not great.
Superior IS at stealth, but you might as well bleed with stealth
instead of using this first (though this WOULD cut down on deflections)
Eyes of Chaos *** A solid bleed modifier, same as dominate's "threats"
Kindred Spirits *** Lets you bleed ANY Methuselah which makes it one
of the only cards (with the newest rules) that let's you do
this. And you gain a blood if successful, and at superior it's
+1 bleed. Not too shabby as my middle school science teacher would
say.
Mind Tricks ** a stealth card that costs one and gives you an optional
maneuver or press if you are caught. Doesn't make me too excited.
Confusion *** The "bonding" card for dementation. Pleasant enough.
A Piece of Fun
This month's piece of fun is the first notice for a TOURNAMENT I will
be running on Sunday, October 17 in Boulder, Colorado at Dragonfire Games.
It will be a sealed Sabbat pack draft. Crusade: Boulder.
Join the Fire Dance! Cards will be available for purchase
as the entry cost. Obviously I don't have all the details yet but
I will post them more officially when everything is set. I know, this
is the OFFICIAL newsletter but. . .
Okay, that's it. Comments, questions, and criticisms welcome
(though I might ignore you)
Next month:
Who the hell knows?
Archbishop Neil of Denver