So this month, instead of a huge destructive vampire, I am going to look at a small, mostly ineffective vampire, who has possibilities, but nothing real great going for her: Daliyah (4) PRO, obf As a Nosferatu, she is pretty sub standard--she only has one in clan discipline, and that at inferior, and her other, superior discipline is only shared by one other member of her clan (Ebanezer). As such, there isn't going to be much room for her in most Nosferatu decks, although she is an obvious sidekick for Ebanezer in some sort of Pot/Pro/Obf deck or something. As a result, she will rarely show up in a Nosferatu deck, and rarely get to benefit from her Nosferatu clan benefits (i.e. clan specific masters or cards). This does not mean she is completely useless, however. Being a 4 point vampire with a superior discipline, regardless of what it is, automatically garners her some respect. Luckily, there are plenty of other vampires out there with Protean, and Daliyah clearly needs to be hanging out with them--if the Nosferatu won't take her, the Gangrel surely will. The combination of Protean and Obfuscate doesn't immediately spring to mind as a useful combination of disciplines, and upon further reflection, it still doesn't look that useful, but with the judicious use of skill cards, Dalyiah can become perfectly effective in the right decks. The fabled combo of Protean, Obfuscate, Dominate for a very resilient Stealth and Bleed deck, revolving around Zebulon, Greger Anderson, and a lot of Skill Masters, makes for a strong bleed deck, and Dalyiah fits right in. Using Protean and Obfuscate for stealth generation, as well as S:CE abilities, aggro damage, and Flesh of Marble combined with Dominate bleeding works well, and by throwing a Dominate master of Dalyiah, she suddenly becomes very useful. Where Daliyah really shines, however, is in the all Protean deck. There are plenty of little vampires with Protean, and even a good supply of small ones with superior Protean. By designing a good Weenie Protean deck, you have a great place to take advantage of both of Daliyah's strengths--her PRO and the fact that she is a 4 point vampire. The following is an all Protean deck that does surprisingly well, and while it is far more a Gangrel deck than a Nosferatu deck, Daliyah is one of the starring components: "Yummm. Proteolicious." Crypt: 1x Camille Devereux (5) PRO 1x Mirembe Kabbada (5) PRO 2x Daliyah (4) PRO 2x Chandler Hungerford (3) PRO 2x Ricki Van Demsy (3) pro 1x Anistasia Grey (3) pro 1x Sadie (2) pro 1x Igo-The Hungry (1) pro 1x Huang, Blood Cultist (1) pro Crypt average of 3.08 Library: 2x Eco Terrorists 1x Zoo Hunting Ground 1x Backways 4x Blood Doll 4x Protean 4x Effective Management 14x Computer Hacking 2x Body Flare 4x Bone Spur 9x Earth Meld 9x Form of Mist 4x Delaying Tactics 8x Wake with Evenings Freshness 1x Atonement 1x Mr. Winthrop 4x Sport Bike 4x Renegade Garou 2x Hawg 1x Meat Cleaver 1x RPG Launcher This deck is pretty much the extreme end of the Strike: Combat Ends nightmare that leads directly into heavy Immortal Grapple useage. It is an 80 card deck with 18 S:CE cards, but because of the deck structure, they will rarely, if ever, go unused and will rarely cause hand jam. The deck has persistient light bleed--a constant stream of small vampires Computer Hacking for 2 each--that if is blocked, will just play Form of Mist and get through anyway. Due to the low card combo intensity of this deck (the basic action consists of 2 cards--Computer Hacking and Form of Mist), there is plenty of room for defenses and what not. It packs a great deal of light intercept, 8 WWEF, and enough Earth Meld (S:CE-untap this vampire) to be a nightmarish wall to even the most persistient Weenie Tap and Bleed deck. Delaying Tactics is almost always useful, and can shut down a single minded vote deck for a whole turn (Delaying Tactics their KRC and watch them look arounf confused and hunt for the rest of the turn). The Renegade Garous are a great defense against Stealth and Bleed, weenie decks, and any slow soft vampire deck. Yeah, they cost 5 pool, but between the small vampires, blood dolls, and Eco Terrorists, this deck has a good pool supply to work with. Get the Garou on a Hawg with a Meat Cleaver or the RPG launcher, and you have a horrifying killer. This deck will have trouble with a dedicated IG combat deck, but hopefully the Bone Spurs will make them work in another direction for a while (and if you are expecting heavy IG combat, swap out the Bosy Flares for more Bone Spur and mix some Flesh of Marble in for some of the S:CE). The Garous will become little more than 5 pool loss for you against a deck that has any worthwhile combat (or the ability to steal your allies...), but are very effective in most other situations, as is the deck as a whole. Peter D Bakija PDB6@aol.com "Isn't it strange, G'Kar? When we first met, I had no power and all the choices I could ever want. Now I have all the power I could ever want, and no choice at all." -Londo