Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, August 2007
Ector
VOLUME VI, Issue VIII
1. INTRODUCTION
While all VTES players are awaiting for the first Lords of Night
spoilers, talking about one of the most popular deck archetypes for
the Independents seems quite logical. This time we're going to speak
about Shambling Hordes. Yes, the Hordes require Necromancy, and there
are no !Malks with this Discipline. But, as usual, !Malks can offer
some great support to build an interesting new deck of Hordes...
maybe, somewhat slower than the common variants, but having a greater
potential after the setup.
2. CARDS OF THE MONTH
Shambling Hordes [FN:C2]
Cardtype: Ally
Discipline: Necromancy
Cost: 3 blood
Zombie with 3 life. 0 bleed, 0 strength.
[nec] When Shambling Hordes enters play, remove an ally or vampire in
your ash heap from the game or burn Shambling Hordes. Shambling Hordes
gets +1 strength for each life counter it has. Shambling Hordes can
never gain life counters; any life counters it gains go to the blood
bank instead. Shambling Hordes can enter combat with any ready minion
controlled by another Methuselah as a (D) action.
[NEC] As above, with 4 life.
This is not War Ghoul, but Hordes are much easier to recruit. Three
blood is generally much less than 3 pool (and there are good ways to
reduce the cost), and getting an ally in your ash heap is as easy as
discard it - while War Ghoul's food must be taken from play, which
means spending actions and paying the costs. With superior Necomancy a
fresh Horde has slightly less life than War Ghoul and cannot be
sacrificed to burn locations. More importantly, Hordes cannot prevent
any damage and their strength depends on their life - so their life
and usefulness are going to be short. So what? A dead Shambling Horde
becomes a "food" for the next one. If you can recruit enough Hordes to
assemble an army, you can defend yourself (with Unmasking) and assault
your enemies, preferably non-combat ones.
Though there are some ways to improve your Hordes, the "swarm"
approach is usually the most popular, and often the most effective.
For instance, you could equip a Flak Jacket for your Horde to make it
"permanent" unless the opponent can deal more than 1 damage, but this
requires a card, an action, and 1 pool, so it won't be much more
effective than just recruiting another Horde. Fortunately, you can
build a deck around Marie Faucigny at Pier 13 to get a lot of Flak
Jackets for free, then distribute them to your Hordes via Nod - and
get some "almost War Ghouls" for much lower price. Zombies in jackets
are definitely much more frightening than naked zombies! My Deck of
the Month is an example of this approach.
Ankara Citadel, Turkey, The [AH:U5, CE:U]
Cardtype: Equipment
Clan : Tremere
Cost: 2 blood
This equipment card represents a unique location and does not count as
equipment while in play. The vampire with this location pays only half
of the blood cost for any cards he or she plays (round down).
For Tremeres, this card isn't very profitable, since they usually have
enough blood (stolen from other vampires). Besides, most of their
popular cards are cheap or even free, so Ankara Citadel's cost (2
blood) isn't going to be compensated very quickly.
This card becomes a true trump on Mata Hari. Ravnos are very blood-
hungry (almost all their cards cost blood), and there are very
expensive yet effective cards like Sensory Deprivation or Tumnimos.
Reducing cost of Sensory Deprivation from 3 blood to just one makes
the card absolutely insane... but, unfortunately, Mata Hari is Red
List, and playing Deprivations makes her a target #1 for all combat
decks. I guess that free Fata Morgana, Draba and Mirror Image are
going to repay Ankara's cost in a few turns, and without such danger.
Another interesting application of Ankara Citadel is Eldest Commands
Undeath. Mata Hari can play it, so she will need just 6 blood to burn
Arika and just 5 blood to burn any 10-cap. Pushing the vote won't be
easy, but Mata Hari has 2 votes, and she allows you to play any vote-
gaining locations like Ventrue Heaquarters or Ferraile. Burning Arika
is going to be really funny: that bitch really deserves to be burned
for all her PTOs.
Ankara Citadel is obviously very good with Shambling Hordes if your
Mata Hari will learn Necromancy somehow. There are two ways to achieve
it: Infernal Pact and The Sargon Fragment. When the combo is
assembled, your Mata Hari will recruit Shambling Hordes for 1 blood.
Obviously, with such "discount" you can easily have 6-8 Hordes or even
more. Unfortunately, even Charisma won't make the Hordes absolutely
free, but you will get free Procurers, which is also very nice.
Charisma reduces the cost to 1 blood, Ankara Citadel makes it zero. If
you wish to get some Asanbonsam Ghouls, they will also be free.
Census Taker [SoC:R]
Cardtype: Master
Cost: 1 pool
Unique Master. Put this card on a ready Black Hand vampire. During an
action, this Black Hand vampire can tap to give any other Sabbat
vampire +1 bleed or 2 additional votes for the current action. During
an action, this Black Hand vampire can tap to give any other Black
Hand vampire +1 intercept.
There is absolutely nothing special in this card, but it's still much
more popular than its price may indicate. All you need to play it is a
small Black Hand vampire (it would be silly to tap a large vampire,
right?) Piotr Andreikov isn't going to do much with his inferior
Auspex, but make him Census Taker - and he will provide you everything
you may need. Any deck will benefit from increasing bleed, extra votes
or intercept. After several games you will discover the true power of
this card: versatility. No other card in the whole game provides
bleed, votes and intercept, and though some cards provide more votes
or more intercept, they are rare.
Do you know many bleed-enhancers providing +2 bleed or more? Yes,
there are Pulses and Heart of the City, but they make vampire a target
and cost 2-3 blood. Do you know many permanents providing more than 2
votes? Ventrue HQ, probably Powerbase: Madrid, but that's all. Do you
know many permanents providing more than +1 intercept? Channel 10, the
Bowl... that's all. That's why Census Taker is so good: it converts
almost useless Black Hand weenie into an extremely versatile and
powerful "location" - but you can still use him as a vampire, if you
wish.
Even if you aren't running a pure Black Hand deck and cannot use "+1
intercept" ability, Census Taker can be useful. For instance, my Deck
of the Month needs to push some crucial votes, and tapping Roger
Farnsworth isn't a huge price for 2 votes (especially considering the
fact that even tapped Roger can play Cloak the Gatherings). If you
don't have votes to push, you may use Census Taker defensively (to
gain votes against opponent's referendum) or just to increase bleed.
3. VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH
Name: Sennadurek [LoB]
Clan: Nagaraja
Group: 4
Capacity: 6
Disciplines: dom AUS NEC
Sabbat. Black Hand: Whenever a Methuselah loses the edge when it is
not your turn, Sennadurek untaps, and you may look at that
Methuselah`s hand. Scarce.
Sennadurek is definitely not as powerful as Le Dinh Tho, since you
cannot rip somebody's hand, but she has a different purpose and no
other vampire can be compared to her. How often Methuselah loses the
edge? Probably several times per turn. Each time Sennadurek will
untap, and you will get to look at somebody's hand. If you had the
Edge at the end of your turn, Sennadurek will untap as long as
somebody will bleed successfully; if your predator will bleed you
regularly, she will untap after the first bleed and be ready to play
Telepathic Misdirection. Most of the time she will untap much earlier,
since other players also bleed sometimes. Thus, Sennadurek will save
you a lot of Wakes - you will be able to use these slots for more
important cards.
You may try to build a deck that will fully utilize multiple untaps of
Sennadurek. An Auspex deck with a lot of Eagle's Sights will greatly
benefit from this ability. Alternatively, you can just put Census
Taker on Sennadurek (yes, she is Black Hand!) and use its abilities
several times per turn. BTW, did you notice that Census Taker can
increase bleed or votes of ANY Sabbat vampire, not just yours? :)
Finally, "you may look at that Methuselah's hand" ability usually
means a lot. When your grandprey takes the edge from your prey, you
may look at your prey's hand and in most cases he will be UNABLE to
change his hand until his own turn (even if he has a lot of playable
reactions). If your predator has the Edge, you may bleed with
Sennadurek, then immediately untap her and look at the predator's
hand. You will have all vampires untapped, and you will know the hands
of both predator and prey (and probably, some other players).
Doesn't that seem too good to you? It really should. IMHO, Sennadurek
is on the same power level as Le Dinh Tho. After all, he can use his
ability just once per turn, while Sennadurek's ability is usually
activated 2-3 times per turn or even more. Yes, she is a larger
investment (6-cap compared to 5-cap), but she doesn't have "-1 stealth
when hunting" disadvantage, she is Black Hand, and she has superior
Auspex.
4. DECK OF THE MONTH
Deck Name: Shambling Hordes of Mata Hari
Created By: Ilya Ginsburg (Ector)
Description: Mata Hari + Ankara Citadel + Infernal Pact = Shambling
Hordes almost for free!
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 23, Max: 28, Avg: 6.58)
----------------------------------------------
1 Roger Farnsworth aus OBF 4 !Malkavian
2 Sennadurek dom AUS NEC 6 Nagaraja
4 Mata Hari aus for qui CHI OBF 7 Ravnos
4 Marie Faucigny dem tha AUS OBF 7 !Malkavian
1 Don Michael Antonio Giovanni DOM NEC POT 7 Giovanni
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (17 cards)
1 Tower of London
1 Specialization
1 Infernal Pact
1 Drop Point Network
1 Charisma
1 Ventrue Headquarters
1 Ferraille
3 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Census Taker
1 Secure Haven
1 Powerbase: Madrid
1 Institution Hunting Ground
1 Creepshow Casino
2 Nod
Action (6 cards)
4 Sibyl`s Tongue
2 Magic of the Smith
Action Modifier (13 cards)
8 Veil the Legions
5 Cloak the Gathering
Political Action (3 cards)
3 Autarkis Persecution
Reaction (6 cards)
6 Telepathic Misdirection
Combat (16 cards)
6 Fake Out
2 Aura Reading
8 Spiritual Intervention
Ally (20 cards)
16 Shambling Hordes
4 Procurer
Equipment (8 cards)
1 Ankara Citadel, Turkey, The
1 Sargon Fragment, The
1 Heart of Nizchetus
1 Pier 13, Port of Baltimore
4 Flak Jacket
Event (1 cards)
1 Unmasking, The
This is a "fetchdeck" based on Shambling Hordes. Mata Hari and Marie
Faucigny are the "stars", though they don't have Necromancy. Your
primary goal is Infernal Pact on Mata Hari, if you get Sibyl's Tongue,
or Sargon Fragment, if you get Marie Faucigny and Magic of the Smith.
Without at least one of these cards you will be able to do very
little, so try to survive and cycle until you get them. With Infernal
Pact, your Mata Hari will be able to recruit Shambling Hordes, as well
as Marie with Sargon Fragment, but Marie will also return the played
Sibyl's Tongue or Magic of the Smith back into your hand to play them
once more.
When you get Infernal Pact + Ankara Citadel on Mata Hari and Sargon
Fragment + Pier 13 on Marie, you may consider yourself ready for mass
summoning. Take care of the Procurers, they will bring a lot of blood
to your vampires. When you get at least 2-3 Hordes, the next target
will be Unmasking to defend yourself against your predator. After that
you will be free to assemble the army of Hordes and equip some of them
with Flak Jackets.
Though the deck seems to be very fragile, actually it has good
reserves to compensate for the initial weakness. Mata Hari + Marie
Faucigny cost 14 pool, your allies cost only blood, and your equipment
should be free for you if Marie would equip it. Thus, only your
masters will cost you some pool. You don't have any Blood Dolls, since
blood of your vampires is precious, but you still have good sources of
pool. Tower of London will provide 1 pool for each summoned Horde,
Specialization will provide at least 3-4 pool for the duration of the
game (plus, you will easily fill your ash heap with Hordes), and each
Autarkis Persecution should provide a lot of pool if you push it.
Chances of pushing are quite good: though this deck isn't a true
voter, you still have 4 votes on Mata Hari and Marie +1 for the card,
and you can gain more from Ventrue HQ, Ferraile, Powerbase: Madrid and
Census Taker. These votes should defend you against the voting
predator as well, and you have Telepathic Misdirections and Hordes
against the bleeding predator. Your defense isn't so fragile as it may
seem from the first glance, so your chances of surviving the necessary
number of turns are quite decent.
That's all for August. As always, all comments and ideas are
appreciated!
Yours,
Ector
Jeroen
> Ankara Citadel, Turkey, The [AH:U5, CE:U]
> Cardtype: Equipment
> Clan : Tremere
> Cost: 2 blood
> This equipment card represents a unique location and does not count as
> equipment while in play. The vampire with this location pays only half
> of the blood cost for any cards he or she plays (round down).
>
> For Tremeres, this card isn't very profitable, since they usually have
> enough blood (stolen from other vampires). Besides, most of their
> popular cards are cheap or even free, so Ankara Citadel's cost (2
> blood) isn't going to be compensated very quickly.
Govern + Conditioning + Perfect Clarity costs 4 blood without it, 1
with the Citadel. Regained the cost in 1 action.
When going crazy with Etrius: add Horrific countenance. Thats a 8
blood combo reduced to 3. Nice, i'd say :-)
thepa...@gmail.com
> Clan: Nagaraja
> Group: 4
> Capacity: 6
> Disciplines: dom AUS NEC
> Sabbat. Black Hand: Whenever a Methuselah loses the edge when it is
> not your turn, Sennadurek untaps, and you may look at that
> Methuselah`s hand. Scarce.
>If your predator has the Edge, you may bleed with
> Sennadurek, then immediately untap her and look at the predator's
> hand.
Sennadurek's special only works when it is not your turn, as per card
text. She is still very good though, imo.
The Lasombra
>Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, August 2007
>VOLUME VI, Issue VIII
Do you intend to repost after correcting the card text mistake?
Ector
Yes, I will.
Ector
>
> Sennadurek's special only works when it is not your turn, as per card
> text. She is still very good though, imo.
Thanks! I was in a terrible hurry, alas...
Ector
the problem. You may fetch it with Magic of the Smith, of course, but
then you will need a LOT of MotS in your deck...
Yours,
Ector
Ector
1. INTRODUCTION
blood) isn't going to be compensated very quickly. You can build a
deck based on expensive cards (like Shotgun Ritual or Seeds of
Corruption) and fetch the Citadel with Magic of the Smith, though.
This card becomes a true trump on Mata Hari. Ravnos are very blood-
hungry (almost all their cards cost blood), and there are very
expensive yet effective cards like Sensory Deprivation or Tumnimos.
Reducing cost of Sensory Deprivation from 3 blood to just one makes
the card absolutely insane... but, unfortunately, Mata Hari is Red
List, and playing Deprivations makes her a target #1 for all combat
decks. I guess that free Fata Morgana, Draba and Mirror Image are
going to repay Ankara's cost in a few turns, and without such danger.
Another interesting application of Ankara Citadel is Eldest Commands
Undeath. Mata Hari can play it, so she will need just 6 blood to burn
Arika and just 5 blood to burn any 10-cap. Pushing the vote won't be
easy, but Mata Hari has 2 votes, and she allows you to play any vote-
gaining locations like Ventrue Heaquarters or Ferraile. Burning Arika
is going to be really funny: that bitch really deserves to be burned
for all her PTOs!
Ankara Citadel is obviously very good with Shambling Hordes if your
Mata Hari will learn Necromancy somehow. There are two ways to achieve
it: Infernal Pact and The Sargon Fragment. When the combo is
assembled, your Mata Hari will recruit Shambling Hordes for 1 blood.
Obviously, with such "discount" you can easily have 6-8 Hordes or even
more. Unfortunately, even Charisma won't make the Hordes absolutely
free, but you will get free Procurers, which is also very nice:
One may think that Sennadurek isn't as powerful as Le Dinh Tho, as she
cannot rip somebody's hand, but she has a different purpose and no
other vampire can be compared to her. How often Methuselah loses the
edge? Probably several times per turn. Each time Sennadurek will
untap, and you will get to look at somebody's hand. If you had the
Edge at the end of your turn, Sennadurek will untap as long as
somebody will bleed successfully; if your predator will bleed you
regularly, she will untap after the first bleed and be ready to play
Telepathic Misdirection. Most of the time she will untap much earlier,
since other players also bleed sometimes. Thus, Sennadurek will save
you a lot of Wakes - you will be able to use these slots for more
important cards.
You may try to build a deck that will fully utilize multiple untaps of
Sennadurek. An Auspex deck with a lot of Eagle's Sights will greatly
benefit from this ability. Alternatively, you can just put Census
Taker on Sennadurek (yes, she is Black Hand!) and use its abilities
several times per turn. BTW, did you notice that Census Taker can
increase bleed or votes of ANY Sabbat vampire, not just yours? :)
Finally, "you may look at that Methuselah's hand" ability usually
means a lot. When your grandprey takes the edge from your prey, you
may look at your prey's hand and in most cases he will be UNABLE to
change his hand until his own turn (even if he has a lot of playable
reactions). Looking at your predator's hand will be more tricky, as
Sennadurek's ability doesn't work during your turn, but you may let
your prey take the edge from your predator and prepare to defend
against his plans. If you know that his hand is clogged with stealth,
you may avoid blocking, for instance.
Jeroen
problem?
Ector
>
> A number of decks I have (and played) have 6+ Mots in them. Is that a
> problem?
Surely it is: I'm the only person having 6 MotS in Minsk :)
Seriously, I meant that your deck should be "specialized" on MotS. It
should be a "fetchdeck", which is always somewhat fragile and less
consistent than a straight themed deck.
Ector
Oortje
Ector
> Is this also an entry for the Ravnos Newsletter?
Unfortunately, no. I can write some newsletters for other clans
(including Ravnos), but I cannot write them regularly.
And I think that each writer must do his best to write a newsletter
each month.
Ector
XZealot
> Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, August 2007
Generally this means that the newsletter is going to be about the
Malkavian Antitribu.
> VOLUME VI, Issue VIII
>
> 1. INTRODUCTION
>
> While all VTES players are awaiting for the first Lords of Night
> spoilers, talking about one of the most popular deck archetypes for
> the Independents seems quite logical. This time we're going to speak
> about Shambling Hordes. Yes, the Hordes require Necromancy, and there
> are no !Malks with this Discipline. But, as usual, !Malks can offer
> some great support to build an interesting new deck of Hordes...
> maybe, somewhat slower than the common variants, but having a greater
> potential after the setup.
okay.....
How does this help !Malks in general or a specific !Malk?
Mata Hari, Not a Malkavian Antitribu...
....and how does this card work with anything else in the newsletter
which is more about the non-!Malk Mata Hari rather than anything black
hand.
Sennedurek is not !Malk. She has a neat special.
This isn't a newsletter. It is a deck. The addition of the !Malks
actually makes the deck worse than it should be.
If wacky decks are all that are required for a newsletter, then I must
be writing about 10 newsletters a month.
Comments Welcome,
Norman S. Brown, Jr
XZealot
Archon of the Swamp
Peter D Bakija
Ector <Ec...@mail.ru> wrote:
> Unfortunately, no. I can write some newsletters for other clans
> (including Ravnos), but I cannot write them regularly.
> And I think that each writer must do his best to write a newsletter
> each month.
Well, you don't actually *have* to write one each month. I mean, for my
money, what you posted is totally reasonable. I mean, yeah, ok, only
really fringe connection to the !Malks, but ok? No big deal. I'm not
sure why folks are hassling you over this.
Peter D Bakija
pd...@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html
"Find hungry samurai."
-The Old Man
Ector
> On Aug 31, 8:08 am, Ector <Ec...@mail.ru> wrote:
>
> > Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, August 2007
>
> Generally this means that the newsletter is going to be about the
> Malkavian Antitribu.
>
Hordes isn't for !Malks, and Sennadurek isn't a !Malk, either.
But still, this is a Malkavian Antitribu newsletter, because it
describes the "hallmark" anti-Malkavian tactics (fetching needed parts
with Sibyl's Tongue), and the resulting deck has five !Malks. You
know, people often build decks with vampires of different clans. And
as long as the deck uses enough !Malks, why it cannot be used in the !
Malkavian newsletter?
Yes, my Vampire of the Month is Sennadurek. Marie Faucigny is one of
the "stars" in this deck, but I could not make her a Vampire of the
Month, since she already was reviewed in the previous newsletters. If
I have an opportunity to demonstrate something new, I use it, and,
unfortunately, the number of existing !Malks is limited. So, I am free
to review any vampires that are good in some decks with !Malks.
>This isn't a newsletter. It is a deck. The addition of the !Malks
>actually makes the deck worse than it should be.
This deck is BASED on fetching, and without !Malks there would be much
less fetching, as Mata Hari doesn't have enough blood and actions to
summon Hordes and play Sibyl's Tongues. Besides, this deck needs
Marie's votes, a target for Powerbase: Madrid and Marie's ability to
get Flak Jackets cheaper. This deck is IMPOSSIBLE without !Malks.
If you pretend that a "common" Giovanni Hordes deck is "better" than
mine, it's very difficult to prove, since this heavily depends on the
environment. Anyway, being a target of such accusations from YOU is
ridiculous. Aren't you the person who inspired all these "We can all
be XZealot #X" decks?
>If wacky decks are all that are required for a newsletter, then I must
>be writing about 10 newsletters a month.
I am completely sure that it's much better to write at least ONE
newsletter, each month as planned, even with "wacky" decks, than
avoiding writing any newsletters and harassing people who are at least
trying. Looks like we don't have too many newsletters, right?
Besides, this deck isn't so "wacky" as you may think. It has votes, it
can summon Hordes to defend, and then to attack, it can generate pool
and blood, and, finally, Flak Jackets on the Hordes are good.
Yours,
Ector
XZealot
> On Sep 8, 2:25 pm, XZealot <xzea...@cox.net> wrote:> On Aug 31, 8:08 am, Ector <Ec...@mail.ru> wrote:
>
> > > Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, August 2007
>
> > Generally this means that the newsletter is going to be about the
> > Malkavian Antitribu.
>
> Aha. I've got the question. Ankara Citadel isn't for !Malks, Shambling
> Hordes isn't for !Malks, and Sennadurek isn't a !Malk, either.
> But still, this is a Malkavian Antitribu newsletter, because it
> describes the "hallmark" anti-Malkavian tactics (fetching needed parts
> with Sibyl's Tongue), and the resulting deck has five !Malks.
What was the question? because I don't see a "?".
I'll take "Answers to Unasked Questions" for $200, please Alex
You made a trick deck based around Mata Hari. Mata Hari is the focus
of your newsletter. Mata Hari is not a !Malk. On top of that you
featured another non-Malk Anti as your vampire of the month,
Senndurek, who has absolute no synergy with Mata Hari who your deck is
based around. Then you shoehorned in 5 Malks to try to qualify the
deck which isnt' based on !Malks, so that it would fit into your
newsletter. On top of that you are bolting on Necromancy which is a
Giovanni Discipline to Mata Hari, again who is not !Malk, with
Infernal Pact, which is a Tremere AntiTribu Card.
I am not trying to beat you down for your creativity, but Clan
Newsletters should be about the clan you are writing about not some
non-clan vampire that you can do all these other non-clan activities.
> You
> know, people often build decks with vampires of different clans. And
> as long as the deck uses enough !Malks, why it cannot be used in the !
> Malkavian newsletter?
Because it's really not an !Malkavian deck, you just bolted on 5 !
Malkavians to a Mata Hari deck that uses 5 tricks that only Mata Hari
can do and one trick that she borrows from the !Malks.
> Yes, my Vampire of the Month is Sennadurek. Marie Faucigny is one of
> the "stars" in this deck, but I could not make her a Vampire of the
> Month, since she already was reviewed in the previous newsletters. If
> I have an opportunity to demonstrate something new, I use it, and,
> unfortunately, the number of existing !Malks is limited. So, I am free
> to review any vampires that are good in some decks with !Malks.
So put Sennadurek in a Nagaraja Newsletter, or write more than one
newsletter with Marie Faugny as the star. If she really is that
versatile then there is certainly nothing wrong with writing multiple
newsletters about her.
> >This isn't a newsletter. It is a deck. The addition of the !Malks
> >actually makes the deck worse than it should be.
>
> This deck is BASED on fetching, and without !Malks there would be much
> less fetching, as Mata Hari doesn't have enough blood and actions to
> summon Hordes and play Sibyl's Tongues.
No, it's not. The deck is based on Mata Hari without whom the deck
doesn't work. The deck will work fine if you take the Sybil's
Toungues out and the !Malks. In fact, it might even run better.
>Besides, this deck needs
> Marie's votes, a target for Powerbase: Madrid and Marie's ability to
> get Flak Jackets cheaper. This deck is IMPOSSIBLE without !Malks.
Marie's votes don't do anything for this deck other than get you to
pass 3 Autarkis Persecution, which generally never pass unless you
have vote lock. The Flak Jackets are for the most part irrelevent.
The deck is more than possible without the ! Malks. It is actually
BETTER.
> If you pretend that a "common" Giovanni Hordes deck is "better" than
> mine, it's very difficult to prove, since this heavily depends on the
> environment. Anyway, being a target of such accusations from YOU is
> ridiculous. Aren't you the person who inspired all these "We can all
> be XZealot #X" decks?
But this isnt' a common Hordes deck, It's an insane conglomeration of
disparate ideas. I mean really, consider who is saying this.
> >If wacky decks are all that are required for a newsletter, then I must
> >be writing about 10 newsletters a month.
>
> I am completely sure that it's much better to write at least ONE
> newsletter, each month as planned, even with "wacky" decks, than
> avoiding writing any newsletters and harassing people who are at least
> trying. Looks like we don't have too many newsletters, right?
> Besides, this deck isn't so "wacky" as you may think. It has votes, it
> can summon Hordes to defend, and then to attack, it can generate pool
> and blood, and, finally, Flak Jackets on the Hordes are good.
Write an appropriate newsletter for an appropriate clan. If I buy a
ticket to a film titled King Kong and there isn't a 50' Gorilla in it
but instead its about a gardener whose alienation from society drives
him to join a women's bookclub then I am going to think that whoever
named the movie is a little kooky.
Call it what it is, the wacky Mata Hari newsletter that bolts on even
more unnecessary stuff than a submarine with a screen door, a sunning
deck and a clothes line.
Ector
> On Sep 8, 9:38 am, Ector <Ec...@mail.ru> wrote:
>
> > On Sep 8, 2:25 pm, XZealot <xzea...@cox.net> wrote:> On Aug 31, 8:08 am, Ector <Ec...@mail.ru> wrote:
>
> > > > Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, August 2007
>
> > > Generally this means that the newsletter is going to be about the
> > > Malkavian Antitribu.
>
> > Aha. I've got the question. Ankara Citadel isn't for !Malks, Shambling
> > Hordes isn't for !Malks, and Sennadurek isn't a !Malk, either.
> > But still, this is a Malkavian Antitribu newsletter, because it
> > describes the "hallmark" anti-Malkavian tactics (fetching needed parts
> > with Sibyl's Tongue), and the resulting deck has five !Malks.
>
> What was the question? because I don't see a "?".
>
> I'll take "Answers to Unasked Questions" for $200, please Alex
newsletter?" Isn't that obvious? Really?
> You made a trick deck based around Mata Hari. Mata Hari is the focus
> of your newsletter. Mata Hari is not a !Malk. On top of that you
> featured another non-Malk Anti as your vampire of the month,
> Senndurek, who has absolute no synergy with Mata Hari who your deck is
> based around. Then you shoehorned in 5 Malks to try to qualify the
> deck which isnt' based on !Malks, so that it would fit into your
> newsletter. On top of that you are bolting on Necromancy which is a
> Giovanni Discipline to Mata Hari, again who is not !Malk, with
> Infernal Pact, which is a Tremere AntiTribu Card.
Mata Hari is the focus, right, but Marie is another "star". I didn't
"shoehorned" (never seen that word before!) !Malks there: they are
really integral part of the deck. Marie can play Sibyl's Tongues, she
can play Magics of the Smith that Mata Hari cannot (actually, she can
summon 1-2 Hordes with Sargon Fragment while Mata Hari still wouldn't
be tooled up), she can bounce bleeds if you don't get Sennadurek, etc.
etc. Trust me, it's my deck.
> I am not trying to beat you down for your creativity, but Clan
> Newsletters should be about the clan you are writing about not some
> non-clan vampire that you can do all these other non-clan activities.
This is about !Malks. The whole deck would be impossible without !
Malks and Sibyl's Tongues, trust me or not.
>
> Because it's really not an !Malkavian deck, you just bolted on 5 !
> Malkavians to a Mata Hari deck that uses 5 tricks that only Mata Hari
> can do and one trick that she borrows from the !Malks.
I totally disagree here. If you build a deck without !Malks and
Sibyl's Tongues, it would be completely another deck. You may try to
build it yourself.
> So put Sennadurek in a Nagaraja Newsletter, or write more than one
> newsletter with Marie Faugny as the star. If she really is that
> versatile then there is certainly nothing wrong with writing multiple
> newsletters about her.
Look, I'm not a Nagaraja newsletter writer, since I cannot write these
newsletters regularly.
And I don't think that featuring non-!Malk in the !Malkavian
newsletter is a "crime". For me, it's OK.
> No, it's not. The deck is based on Mata Hari without whom the deck
> doesn't work. The deck will work fine if you take the Sybil's
> Toungues out and the !Malks. In fact, it might even run better.
Look, you are trying to argue about how MY deck is working? Isn't that
funny? :)
> Marie's votes don't do anything for this deck other than get you to
> pass 3 Autarkis Persecution, which generally never pass unless you
> have vote lock. The Flak Jackets are for the most part irrelevent.
> The deck is more than possible without the ! Malks. It is actually
> BETTER.
Marie's votes will help you to defend against opposing votes and to
make deals. You can push Autarkis even without the vote lock, if you
deal with somebody. With Flak Jackets your Hordes are not "fading"
unless they are fighting true combatants, so you can summon less
Hordes. And without !Malks the deck wouldn't work at all. Or it will
be another deck.
> But this isnt' a common Hordes deck, It's an insane conglomeration of
> disparate ideas. I mean really, consider who is saying this.
Really :) This deck is much, much less "insane" than some deck of
yours, IMHO.
> Write an appropriate newsletter for an appropriate clan. If I buy a
> ticket to a film titled King Kong and there isn't a 50' Gorilla in it
> but instead its about a gardener whose alienation from society drives
> him to join a women's bookclub then I am going to think that whoever
> named the movie is a little kooky.
It IS an appropriate newsletter for an appropriate clan. It uses !Malk
techniques and !Malk vampires. The fact it features non-Malkavian
things mean no more than a Star Wars movie featuring the hairy
Chubakka. Would you complain about that, too?
Yours,
Ector
Peter D Bakija
XZealot <xze...@cox.net> wrote:
> I am not trying to beat you down for your creativity, but Clan
> Newsletters should be about the clan you are writing about not some
> non-clan vampire that you can do all these other non-clan activities.
Like, really, I'm not seeing why you are hassling Ector here. I mean,
yeah, ok, his !Malkavian Newsletter doesn't really have that much to do
with the !Malkavians. So what? it isn't like he is getting paid for his
efforts, or is compelled to fulfill some sort of requirements. He can
write and post whatever he wants and call it a !Malkavian Newsletter if
he is so inclined. What difference does it make?
I mean, yeah, ok, Jeff might decide to not archive it on his website, as
it isn't actually that !Malkavian involved, but that is Jeff's
perogative, and he can archive or not archive what he wants. But in an
absolute sense, why do you care?
I mean, not to slag on Legbiter or anything, but from my memory, many of
Legbiter's !Gangrel newsletters were so far removed from anything having
to do with the !Gangrel that they made Ector's newsletter here look
downright orthodox...
librarian
Sorry to agree-spam, but:
Agreed.
best -
chris
--
Super Fun Cards
http://stores.ebay.com/superfuncards/
auct...@superfuncards.com
legbiter
I, on the other hand, have no compunction WHATEVER in agree-spamming.
So I do.