Official VEKN Malkavian Antitribu NEWSLETTER, September 2005 VOLUME IV, Issue XII 1. INTRODUCTION I'm really glad to celebrate the twelfth issue of my newsletter! This number is far from Piter D. Bakija's fifties (or sixties?), but it's a milestone at least for me. After all, I'm playing V:tES only for a year myself... guess how overconfident I was when I started writing these newsletters? :) This issue is dedicated to Malk/!Malk vampires with inbuilt intercept abilities - Persia and Kite. 2. CARD OF THE MONTH Name: The Sargon Fragment [FN:R2] Cardtype: Equipment Cost: 1 pool Unique equipment. The vampire with this equipment has superior Necromancy [NEC]. This vampire can move a library card from your ash heap to your hand as an action that costs 1 blood. Discard down to your hand size afterward. A few days ago I won a local tournament with a "political" version of Anson+Anneke deck. In the finals, nobody was alarmed when I played Toreador Grand Ball and Third Tradition, but when my Anson retrieved Consangineos Boon from my ash heap through his Sargon Fragment, my predator attempted to turn the whole table against me. The Sargon Fragment is extremely devastating, as you can play the most needed card from your ash heap again and again. The more cards you have in your ash heap, the more powerful The Sargon Fragment becomes. This card is especially useful in a deck relying on several key cards, like Eternal Vigilance or Rutor's Hand. If your key cards got blocked/DIed, The Sargon Fragment can return them back. This tech is most advantageous in the relatively slow Wall decks that usually have enough time to find their key cards and The Sargon Fragment. You may also discard "killing" cards like Pulse of the Canaille to retrieve them later, when you will be ready to begin ousting your prey. Note that the action to retrieve a card DOESN'T have inherent +1 stealth, so it can be easily blocked by most minions of your predator and your prey. Thus, you must be sure to have some good way to avoid blockers - stealth, TGB, or just vicious combat abilities. When Xaviar goes to retrieve Dog Pack that was blocked or Direct Interventioned, blocking him is going to be quite dangerous. Malkavians antitribu should consider The Sargon Fragment almost a "clan card". Firstly, they have a lot of stealth to successfully use it. Secondly, !Malks can retrieve their best clan card (Sibyl's Tongue) with it, which forms a brilliant "combo engine": find one Sibyl's Tongue and play it several times for free until you find all cards you need! Finally, Marie Faucigny can equip The Sargon Fragment for free. Hey, didn't we forget about superior Necromancy? Normally such Equipment is played for the discipline it provides, not for the additional ability (is anybody planning to return burned vampires from his ash heap with Hand of Conrad?), but in this case the ability justifies usage of the equipment even without any Necromancy cards. Besides that, if you are using Necromancy cards, you can play Carlotta Giovanni, who has superior Necromancy and the same ability. But if you already play The Sargon Fragment in a deck without vampires with Necromancy, nothing prevents you from using a couple of good Necromancy cards like Ex Nihilo. When Louhi with Rutor's Hand will get Ex Nihilo, she will become really devastating. And after you burn Ex Nihilo, you may always return it with your Sargon Fragment! 3. VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH Name: Persia, The Beautiful Statue [CE:V] Clan: Malkavian Group: 3 Capacity: 5 Discipline: aus obf DEM Camarilla: Once each action, Persia can burn 1 blood to get +1 intercept. Persia is one of the best vampires of Kindred Spirits decks - maybe, even the best one. You cannot get superior Dementation and at least inferior Obfuscate cheaper than for 5 pool (not counting the infernal Midget), and the only two such vampires available are Persia and Uncle George. Persia's ability is similar to a "personal Rumor Mill", which is well worth a master phase action, a card and 1 pool. Nobody would try to built an intercept deck on Persia, but even a casual ability to block +1 stealth actions may defend you and disrupt opponent's plans. As long as no stealth-bleed deck can afford having a lot of intercept cards, effective vampires with inbuilt intercept are precious. Name: Kite [SW:C, BH:PM] Clan: Malkavian antitribu Group: 2 Capacity: 7 Discipline: obf pre AUS DEM Sabbat bishop: +1 intercept. Kite is one of the best anti-Malkavian vampires. Superior Dementation and inferior Obfuscate make him suitable for stealth-bleed decks, though the same disciplines can be found on 5-cap Persia and Uncle George. Dolphin Black, Korah and Artemis have superior Obfuscate, which is important for a stealth-bleed deck, but +1 intercept makes Kite also very popular in these decks; maybe, even more popular than Korah. Inbuilt intercept greatly increases your chances against political decks, equipment-based decks and all decks relying on crucial +1 stealth actions. Though Kite lacks combat disciplines to block dangerous vampires, even casual intercept provided by him and Persia really increases your chances. Kite is yet another vampire capable of playing both "Bloodlines cards" (Madman's Quill and The Call) at superior. This can be used to a great advantage, especially The Calls. When Kite is the single 7-cap vampire in your crypt, all the rest are younger, and you even plan to increase his capacity with a skill card, as my Deck of the Month does, you will always find a target for The Call. Thus, you may put a lot of The Calls that should provide you pool and extra transfers. If somebody would try to build Sabbat voting deck with Dementation, Kite would have good chances to get into that deck. Though he cannot use most Sabbat cards, which require at least Archbishop title, he still can use votes from Powerbase:Madrid counters, and his intercept even allows him to protect these counters. Besides that, Kite's capacity makes him an ideal target for Cardinal Benediction. And he even has Presence! 4. DECK OF THE MONTH Deck Name: Kite is Calling Created By: Ilya Ginsburg Description: Kite's show: stealth-bleed with a bit of intercept. Crypt: (11 cards, Min: 16, Max: 28, Avg: 5,54) ---------------------------------------------- 4 Kite obf pre AUS DEM 7 !Malk 1 Yorik dem obf 3 !Malk 1 Claven aus dem obf 4 !Malk 1 Jeremy Talbot dem obf 4 Malk 1 Uncle George aus dom obf DEM 5 !Malk 1 Persia aus obf DEM 5 Malk 1 Dolphin Black AUS DEM OBF 6 !Malk 1 Artemis aus cel for DEM OBF 6 !Malk Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (18 cards) 1 Powerbase: Madrid 4 Blood Doll 1 Vast Wealth 3 Dreams of the Sphinx 2 Sudden Reversal 1 Fragment of the Book of Nod 1 Barrens, The 3 Rotschreck 2 Obfuscate Action (25 cards) 5 Sibyl`s Tongue 6 Call, The 12 Kindred Spirits 2 Madman`s Quill Action Modifier (24 cards) 6 Confusion 4 Lost in Crowds 4 Faceless Night 4 Spying Mission 4 Forgotten Labyrinth 2 Eyes of Chaos Political Action (1 cards) 1 Cardinal Benediction Reaction (12 cards) 6 Telepathic Misdirection 6 Wake with Evening`s Freshness Ally (2 cards) 1 Mylan Horseed (Goblin) 1 Escaped Mental Patient Equipment (4 cards) 1 Sargon Fragment, The 1 Ivory Bow 1 Bowl of Convergence 1 Improvised Flamethrower Combo (4 cards) 4 Swallowed by the Night This is a "twisted" variant of the famous Kindred Spirits deck, focused on Kite. He is going to bleed, intercept, and play The Calls/Madman's Quills. As long as Kite is the only 7-cap vampire in this crypt, he can Call any other vampire. When you play Obfuscate skill card on him, he would be able to Call even another copy of himself AND Mylan Horseed would be able to untap him. This "combo" is pleasant, but not very urgent, so you may wait until you get one part and then play Sibyl's Tongue for another. Usual target #1 is Vast Wealth, which would allow you to fetch your precious equipment. The Sargon Fragment would allow you to retrieve your Sibyl's Tongue back. Ivory Bow and Improvised Flamethrower were intended to be used with Rotschrecks, which can also be returned with The Sargon Fragment, if needed. Bowl of Convergence would contest the similar Bowl of your opponents, and without contest it would provide enormous +2/+3 intercept for Kite. Transferring Fragment to another vampire is recommended, as your Kite would be busy playing other actions. Since this deck is dedicated to Kite, it contains some cards especially for him. The abovementioned combo of Obfuscate + Mylan Horseed is just the most obvious example. With this combo deployed, your Kite would be able to play superior Madman's Quill, untap via Mylan Horseed and take part in the ousting. Since Kite offers some protection, you can protect Powerbase: Madrid and Fragment of the Book of Nod. The Powerbase also allows Cardinal Benediction: having votes is always good. As long as we are already using Rotshrecks, Escaped Mental Patient cannot be bad. At least he may work even against Immortal Grapples or Drawing Out the Beasts that would disable our weapons. You may add more Patients if needed. That's all for September. As usual, I'd like to hear your comments, ideas and any other feedback. Yours, Ector (Ector@mail.ru)