VEKN MALKAVIAN NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER, 2001
This month I'm attempting the answer that age-old question: What am I
supposed to do with these Primogen? As I take a look at those big fat
vamps who can't play the traditions, I'll be looking at the advantages
and disadvantages of playing with the big boys. There's been plenty of
talk of the theory. But I'll also talk about the practice, and tell
the tale of a deck, exploring its evolution from concept, building,
tweaking, to its maiden voyage.
The first question one may ask about building a Primogen deck is:
Why bother?
There are plenty of Vampires that don't suck, and even if I want to
play with big Malks, there are some fine Princes, Justicars, and Inner
Circly types to choose from. Can't I just ignore Sylvester Simms?
This attitude may be fine for the average player but us newsletter
writers must hold ourselves to a higher standard! Yes, its is our
sworn and sacred duty to shine the light of inquiry in the darkest and
dustiest corners of this game -- to pan the driest gulches and see if
there aren't a few flecks of gold to be found. Soooo off I go...
What's wrong with these guys?
Its been said before, but I'll say it again. Big, non-titled or
not-very-usefully titled vamps come with a variety of challenges to
overcome:
They are slow - It takes a long time to get one, let alone 2 or ...
dare I say... 3 minions in play. Meanwhile the weenie horde to your
right is sucking up your pool with a straw.
They can't do much - Once you get a minion out, well that's your
offence and your defense. You can take AN action or stay untapped to
defend. So, card-flow and offence are hard to muster in the early
game.
Too many eggs and not enough baskets - Until you draw into that first
Minion Tap Mr. 9Cap is a big fat target. If he gets himself
decapitated it's likely to be a short game for you.
Any Advantages?
Well-Disciplined - Big vamps tend to have a nice discipline spread.
Usually there are cheaper options if you just want to stay with the
in-clan-3. But those extra disciplines are nice for building combos
with unusual discipline pairs, or just grabbing power-cards from
outside the clan's usual bag of tricks.
You can pick on the little kids - Several powerful cards can only be
played against younger vampires. The extra capacity can be a big boon
here. And you can benefit from the votes and stuff that are beneficial
to high capacity vampires.
They're special - Probably the best reason to look at the big caps is
that they tend to have unique and sometimes even useful special
abilities. By building decks to exploit these abilities you can find
ways for these guys to earn their paychecks.
Dysfunctional Families
So, keeping in mind the challenges and opportunities for playing with
Primogen and their ilk, the rest of this newsletter I'll devote to the
process of building and playing one particular Malkavian Primogen
deck.
I'm a fairly prolific deck-builder, probably averaging one new deck a
week, most of which I do get around to playing. Most all my new deck
efforts begin with a concept -- some specific cards I want to play, a
new strategy I want to try. And then I fill in the crypt and
supporting cards from there.
In this case, I had a cast of characters (the Primogen and other
less-often-played Malkavians) but no initial concept. What to do?
My first thought was to check out Legbiter's infamous Happy Families
site. For readers unfamiliar with the Happy Families concept, it's a
formula designed to recommend card ratios that will provide optimal
flow based on a user-selected set of Vampires. Its very handy if you
are new to building decks and/or want to create some cross-clan or 4+
discipline decks. You can check it out at: http://legbiter.tripod.com.
I checked it out. But, to my considerable horror, I discovered the
on-line calculator page wasn't updated for Final Nights! (and I wanted
to included Anatole (and maybe Theron) in the cast of characters).
Fortunately, round about then, I had an idea. It was a simple idea,
but it was a start. The idea:
Anatole. Obedience.
With his capacity of 8, dominate, superior Auspex, and intrinsic +1
intercept, Anatole could be a serious Obedience monkey, and give me a
nice, card-efficient defense.
With that idea, I decided that Anatole would be the core and the deck
would be built around his 5 disciplines. A big Malk Obfuscate, Auspex,
Dominate, Dementation, Fortitude deck. Time to fill in the details.
Under Construction
Lately, when designing a new deck, I've been doing all my designs on
paper, working out the desired deck-list and ratios, before I dig out
the box of cards. I don't know if this is common. But it has several
advantages:
A. I can design decks at work.
B. On the off chance I take the deck to tournament that asks for
one, I have the deck list.
C. Several months down the road, when I decide I want to bring
back a deck for a few games, I can recreate it from the list.
D. I can share the deck list with others (like... say...
newsletter readers) and get feedback.
E. I can evaluate the ratios, tweak the crypt, and take the deck
list through several revisions, so that it is relatively tuned by the
time I even get around to building or playing it.
F. Once I've played it, it is easy to further refine and tune a
deck from the deck list. It's all there in front of me and I can
contemplate what I need to add and what can go.
Ok, so here's the deck. I'll do a straight listing, and then an
annotated listing where I describe what I'm trying to do:
Deck: Word of the Prophet
Crypt: 12
Dan Murdock Caitiff 3 aus obf
Vasantasena x2 !Malk 9 AUS OBF dom DEM pot
Sylvester Simms Malk 8 AUS OBF dom ani pre
Dr. Jest x2 Malk 8 aus OBF dom for pre
Anatole, Prophet of Gehenna x3 Malk 8 AUS OBF dom for DEM
Roxanne, Retrix of the 13th Floor x3 Malk 9 AUS OBF DOM FOR pot
Library: 80
Masters: 18
Zillas Valley x3
Minion Tap x5
Info Highway x3
Jake Washington
The Rack
Dreams of the Sphinx
Dominate x2
Giants Blood
Golconda
Minion: 62
Auspex: 10
Enhanced Senses x5
Eagle Site x2
Telepathic Misdirection x2
Pulse of the Canille
Dementation: 7
Derange
Haunting x4
Blessings of Chaos
Lunatic Eruption
Dominate: 22
Mind Rape x2
Kine Dominance x2
Slaughtering the Herd x4
Obedience x12
Conditioning x2
Obfuscate: 15
Lost in crowds x6
Swallowed by Night x5
Forgotten Labarynth x4
Fortitude: 7
Kiss of Ra
Freak Drive x6
Now I'll do the annotated version:
Deck: Word of the Prophet
Playing the deck: Anatole is on defense. Bring out minions and Minion
Tap them. Build up a bit. Try to make some friends, and stay above the
fray while you defend yourself. Use the anti-minion actions to control
the table a bit. Play conservatively and try to be strong for the
endgame, when you pounce on your prey with the big bleeds for an
aggressive finish.
The crypt:
Dan Murdock Caitiff 3 aus obf
Vasantasena x2 !Malk 9 AUS OBF dom DEM pot
Sylvester Simms Malk 8 AUS OBF dom ani pre
Dr. Jest x2 Malk 8 aus OBF dom for pre
Anatole, Prophet of Gehenna x3 Malk 8 AUS OBF dom for DEM
Roxanne, Retrix of the 13th Floor x3 Malk 9 AUS OBF DOM FOR pot
I probably won't get out more than 3 minions. So, I'm not worried
about having multiple copies, and a double in my opening draw wouldn't
hurt much either.
Anatole is the key to the defense. I want to use all his disciplines
and both his special abilities.
Roxanne is key for her FOR and DOM for a surprise Kiss of Ra and my
big DOM cards.
Dr. Jest's discard trick should be annoying and disruptive, and he's
got the For so he can Freak Drive.
Vasantasena has the Dom and her +1 bleed and possible +1 stealth could
make her an offensive powerhouse on her own.
Dan Murdock's special will be handy for grabbing Giant's Blood. And
I'm thinking of using him with Anatole's special. Look at the top 5
cards. Don't like what I see? Have Dan reshuffle that for me...
Sylvester Simms is mainly just here to round out the crypt. Maybe I'll
help him reach Golconda or do suicide runs if I can get my prey down
to 1 pool.
Masters: 18
Zillas Valley x3
Minion Tap x5
Info Highway x3
Jake Washington
The Rack
Dreams of the Sphinx
Dominate x2
Giants Blood
Golconda
A pretty standard big vamps masters allotment. A number of development
accelerators and Minion Taps.
I'm worried about running out of blood through expensive cards and
minion taps (and no 5ths). So, a few masters to get blood back on my
guys.
It pains me to include Master Discipline cards in a deck with fatties.
But I'll need the DOM and don't have much of it.
Auspex: 10
Enhanced Senses x5
Eagle Site x2
Telepathic Misdirection x2
Pulse of the Canille
More intercept to supplement Anatole's intrinsic +1 should let me stop
things I don't like.
Dementation: 7
Derange
Haunting x4
Blessings of Chaos
Lunatic Eruption
A few dementation cards for minion harassment. I'll combine these with
my Obedience/Intercept to make sure they "stick".
These should help me slow down my predator and make it clear this
isn't a generic Malk S&B deck that the table needs to shut down fast.
Blessings of Chaos is on my R&D list -- cards that seem cool and that
I want to play more to see how they perform. So, we'll see how useful
that is.
Dominate: 22
Mind Rape x2
Kine Dominance x2
Slaughtering the Herd x4
Obedience x12
Conditioning x2
Mind Rape, Kine Dominance, and Slaughtering the Herd are also on my
R&D list. I'll need DOM to make them work, and I'm hoping to take
advantage of my high capacities.
I won't be tapped by Obedience at inferior, but neither will the
opposing minion. So, if Anatole is doing the blocking I'll need to get
him to DOM or watch for a second action in the opposing minion.
Obfuscate: 15
Lost in crowds x6
Swallowed by Night x5
Forgotten Labyrinth x4
A fairly standard Stealth allotment. I'm looking for a lot of stealth
with relatively few cards.
Those few Swallowed are the only combat cards in this deck. So, the
stealth and obedience tricks better keep me out of combat.
Fortitude: 7
Kiss of Ra
Freak Drive x6
Freak Drive should help me get more actions out of my fatties. And
they'll allow Anatole to act and then untap to defend.
Kiss of Ra is just there so Roxanne can say "Surprise!".
------------------------------------------
So, that's the deck. Not something I'd bring to a tournament. But I
expect it to give me a good game, get some mileage out of my big
Malks, and play some cards and combos that I don't see as often.
Now, other newsletter writers may promise that they won't write about
a deck unless they have played it. I assure you that all the above was
written without playing the deck. So, in the next bit I'll take this
deck for a spin and let you know how it goes. I was going to try and
play it 2 or 3 times to get a good sense of the deck at multiple
tables. But I'm going to have way too many toys to play with when
Bloodlines comes out next week. So, the big Malks get one chance to
distinguish themselves.
------------------------------
Right. So, I've played it now. It was a good game. A fun game. A tense
game. I got 1 vp and nearly a win. But, for the most part, the deck
didn't work.
The Table:
My prey was playing Ravnos, his prey Animalism/Obfuscate. Both of them
had some intercept, some stealth, and some fight backed by Carrion
Crows. The next player was playing a Vote/Bleed/Bruise !Toreador deck.
My predator had a Giovanni toolbox. A pretty toolboxy table come to
think of it.
The Game:
Things got off to a good start. 2 Anatole, Dr. Jest, and Vasantasena
(what kind of name is that?) in my opening crypt. Zillas and Info
Highway in my hand. And once Anatole came out, a sneak peek at my next
5 cards told me 2 Minion Taps were on the way. Excellent.
Out came Anatole and Vasantasena. I figure Anaotle didn't need blood
to play Obedience and V'santa comes with +1 bleed, +1 stealth against
the got-no-titles-Ravnos. So she wouldn't need blood to bleed. I
Tapped them both down to 1. Then I abandoned the whole
hang-back-stay-above-the-fray plan (I always do. I like to cycle, and
have no patience.) and got to work bleeding my prey and Haunting my
predator.
Then my game pretty much went to poop.
I brought out Dr. Jest, he blocked a few actions and played Obedience.
Then he tried to bleed, and my prey exceeded expectations in the
intercept department. Trap. Crows. Joke's on me. He went down, and
my-cross-table-buddy even made him a Sacrificial Lamb. There goes a
full 9 Cap. Ouch.
I was stuck with 2 minions with 1 blood each, no blood gain in sight,
and it was still the first act.
What was working:
Haunting: I tend to have good luck with this. I put two of my
predator's Giovanni in an infinite hunt loop. His predator dropped
superior Revelations on him, and the necros were pretty screwed.
Later, I Haunted one of the !Torries into a hunt loop. Haunting gets
the MVC award.
Specials: I was using both of Anatole's specials to good effect. His
5-card shuffle is actually pretty cool. It gave me a nice preview of
what was to come and I was able to plan my turn and card-cycling
accordingly. Very nice. And Vantasantassasina intrinsic stealth and
bleed allowed me to keep up the pressure and do some damage to my
prey.
Mixed Bag:
Obedience: My Obedience defense helped me a lot. Combined with the
Haunting, I was able to lock down the Gios pretty well. I caught a
bounced bleed. With Eagle Site, I put a stop to a cross-table Con.
Agg. that was going to oust my predator, and splash another 4 damage
onto me. Even though I was playing it at inferior, it still worked
pretty well.
But my minions got blocked, rushed while tapped, and Anatole was
rushed by Calebos (the 8 cap !Nos). The lack of alternate combat
defense (Swallowed Maneuvers did me NO good) was fatal.
Dead Weight:
Forgotten Labyrinth: Couldn't use it to bleed. Could barely afford it.
Couldn't use it to hunt when empty. I desperately needed the stealth,
and these cards just sat in my hand. Mocking me.
Freak Drive: Seems like such a useful card. But I can never make it
work. This game was no exception. Foolishly, I ended up burning my
last blood just to cycle it, and Anatole got nailed when he had to
hunt.
Kine Dominance, Mind Rape, Slaughtering the Herd: Didn't have DOM.
Couldn't afford to bleed with them. Sigh...
So, I held in there. The Giovanni got ousted. Anatole took a dirt nap.
And everyone else got down to 2-3 pool. I got Jake Washington out. On
my predator's turn he saw Vana tapped and moved in for the kill. He
knew I was desperate for the blood gain, but forgot there were other
good reasons to keep Jake around. So instead of ousting me, the
!Toreador gave Jake a good poke in the eye. And this bought me the
turn I needed to oust my prey.
1 VP. Six more pool. Everyone else on thin ice. There was blood in the
water. But the !Toreador couldn't hold off the Nossies and went down.
Leaving 2. Then V. got Ambushed while tapped and smacked around. No
ready minions for me, and things looked grim for the good guys.
But wait! After a bit of quiet contemplation, Anatole finally found
bliss. He achieved Golconda. And then I brought out Anatole #2.
Yes, the Prophet had been taken up the land of Inner Peace and Lo! He
was returned! Hallelujah!! And I cycled into my Giant's Blood. The
Prophet could heal his Disciple!
Then Anatole had his Haven Uncovered. Everyone likes to come meet the
new neighbors. Calebos was nice enough to stop by with a White
Phosphorous Grenade... and it was back to the torpor region for
Anatole. He got eaten. So did the Big V. I had a little pool but no
prospects, and conceded.
----------------------
Even though I had to spend too much time trying to get out of hand
jam. I did have a good game, and saw some potential for the deck. For
future versions I'd look at more DEM and less DOM, and just cheaper
cards in general. Here's at shot at a new list:
Deck: Word of the Prophet V. 2.0
Crypt: 12
Dan Murdock Caitiff 3 aus obf
Vasantasena x2 !Malk 9 AUS OBF dom DEM pot
Dr. Jest x2 Malk 8 aus OBF dom for pre
Anatole x3 Malk 8 AUS OBF dom for DEM
Roxanne x2 Malk 9 AUS OBF DOM FOR pot
Hannibal !Malk 10 AUS OBF dom DEM cel
Theron !Malk 8 AUS OBF for DEM obt
Library: 80
Masters: 18
Zillas Valley x2
Minion Tap x5
Info Highway x3
Jake Washington
The Rack
Dreams of the Sphinx
Dominate x2
Giants Blood
Golconda x2
Minion: 62
Auspex: 9
Enhanced Senses x5
Eagle Site x2
Telepathic Misdirection x2
Dementation: 12
Derange
Haunting x5
Blessings of Chaos
Lunatic Eruption
Confusion x4
Dominate: 16
Mind Rape
Kine Dominance
Slaughtering the Herd
Obedience x12
Conditioning
Obfuscate: 16
Lost in crowds x7
Swallowed by Night x6
Faceless Night x3
Fortitude: 5
Freak Drive x3
Skin of Steel x2
Reaction: 4
Wake with Evening's Freshness x4
---------------------------------------------
The end. Thanks for reading. Next month I'll be looking at Bloodlines,
of course. New cards. New friends. New enemies. New strategies. What
does it mean for the game and what does it mean for the Malks?
Anything new to scare off sneak and bleed? Tune in next month.
-Ben Swainbank