Harbingers of Skulls Newsletter, Summer 2008
Malone
The Harbingers of Skulls Quarterly Newsletter
Summer 2008 (vol. 2 no. 1)
0. Editor’s Note
I. Tips for Beginners
II. What’s New
III. Featured Cards
IV. Featured Decks
0. Editor’s Note: A Day Late and a Dollar Short
The Winter 2008 number of this newsletter was almost finished back
in January, but I procrastinated because, among other things, I didn’t
have a deck that I felt worthy of inclusion. Not that I make great
decks, but I do want each newsletter to have a deck that is (a)
playable and (b) hasn’t been seen before, at least not by me. Time
passed, and in March I updated and edited what I had, thinking it
could at least the Spring 2008 number... but still no deck. It’s
summer now, and finally I have a couple of deck ideas, thanks mostly
to our featured library card, Keystone Kine. I’m deleting most of
what I had written about Lords of the Night (no longer new enough to
be news) and instead I’ll say a little about that expansion and the
more recent Twilight Rebellion, focusing specifically on how a few
Harbinger-specific strategies have been enhanced. Head’s up, I’m
going to ‘publish’ this after just one proofreading so that it won’t
languish another whole season, so I apologize in advance for any
errors.
I. Tips for Beginners: Bleed Defense
The rulebook defines a bleed as “an action that attempts to burn
another player’s pool.” It’s important for a new player to understand
that, although this definition does not go both ways – not every
action that would result in another player burning pool is a “bleed”.
Only a cardless action to bleed, or an action card that says “bleed”,
is a bleed action.
Bleeding is one of the few actions a minion may attempt without an
action card. It is the single most basic action in the game, and is
the primary offensive strategy for a plurality, if not a majority, of
decks. That makes it, for most decks, the most important thing to
defend against. The ways to defend against bleed fall into a handful
of categories: bloat, block, bounce, reduce, prevent and punish.
BLOCK
Blocking an action is probably the most straightforward way to defend
against it. When an action is blocked the announced intention of that
action never happens, so when you block a bleed you do not get bled
(your pool that the bleed action was attempting to burn does not
burn).
pros
- Blocking is a defense against all kinds of actions, not just bleeds.
- In general, you do not need a card to attempt to block.
- If you want combat, combat follows a successful block.
- There are a few cards that can only be played after a successful
block.
- You can also block some of your prey’s actions, using your defensive
capacity for offense.
cons
- Avoiding combat after blocking is difficult.
- You need enough untapped minions (or ways to allow your tapped
minions to block as if untapped). A minion who successfully blocks
becomes tapped.
- You need your block attempts to succeed. The acting minion is
likely to have stealth, so you will need intercept. The acting minion
may have other ways to make one or more of your minions ineligible to
block, or to continue their action as if unblocked.
- There are some cards that punish a blocker, for example by making
them burn blood or by making their controller burn pool.
- Your predator’s strategy may include the expectation that you will
block, or at least attempt to block. In that case, by blocking you
will help your predator’s deck to function.
BOUNCE
To bounce a bleed is to change the target of that bleed from yourself
to some other Methuselah, usually your own prey.
pros
- Bouncing a bleed turns your predator’s offense into your own. This
alone is enough for bounce to be considered the strongest method of
bleed defense.
cons
- Bounce is only a defense against bleed actions.
- In general, you must have an appropriate reaction card and an
untapped minion who can play that card.
- Bouncing is impossible when there are only two players left in the
game.
- Bouncing a bleed includes declaring, implicitly or explicitly, that
you will not attempt to block it, so if your bounce is canceled you
are left unable to block. (If your bounce takes effect but then the
bleed is later bounced back to you, you do get a new opportunity to
attempt to block.)
- Most bounce cards have a cost in blood (or conviction) and/or
tapping. There is an event, Narrow Minds, that increases the cost of
any bounce card by one blood or life (vampires have blood, other
minions have life).
- The best, unrestricted bounce effects are limited to the disciplines
Dominate (basic or superior) and Auspex (only superior).
REDUCE
You can defend yourself against a bleed by reducing the amount of pool
that the successful action would make you burn. Vampires and imbued
have a default bleed of 1 and other minions have their default bleed
stated on their card. Any + bleed effects are added to the default
amount, and any - bleed effects or bleed reductions are deducted; if
the result is 0 or less, no pool is burned. Note that a bleed for 0
(or less) that is not blocked or canceled (or otherwise made to fail)
IS a successful action but NOT a successful bleed.
pros
- An unsuccessful bleed does not give that Methuselah the edge.
- Most bleed reduction cards have little or no blood cost and do not
tap the reacting minion.
- Bleed reduction doesn’t lead to unwanted combat.
- There are currently no cards or effects that punish you for reducing
a bleed.
cons
- Reduce is only a defense against bleed actions.
- In general, you must have an appropriate reaction card and an
untapped minion who can play that card.
- Though not as scarce as bounce, bleed reduction does have a limited
distribution.
PREVENT
You can protect yourself against your predator’s bleed actions
proactively by preventing those actions from ever taking place. One
way to do this by either eliminating your predator’s minions, usually
via combat. Another possibility is locking them down, either by
making them unable to take actions at all (there are some Chimerstry
cards that do this, as does the master card Pentex Subverion) or by
forcing them to take actions other than bleeding you.
pros
- Having a powerless predator is usually a great position to be in.
- Many of the ways you can neuter your predator can also be used
against your prey.
cons
- Hurting you predator often lets your grandpredator get an easy oust.
- When you use offensive capacity for defense, you’re diverting
resources that could (and probably should) be hurting your prey.
PUNISH
There are ways to punish a minion that bleeds you, for example by
inflicting damage on that minion.
pros
- The threat of punishment may discourage your predator from
attempting some actions against you.
cons
- Hurting you predator often lets your grandpredator get an easy oust.
- Usually a punishment-based defense requires cards that have a
significant opportunity cost, meaning they are only playable in
specific circumstances that may not arise very often.
- Most punish cards and effects only work after a successful action
against you, so you have to be able to withstand the results of that
action. (One important exception, Archon Investigation, punishes an
attempt to bleed for more than 3 by outright burning of the acting
minion. It does, however, cost 3 pool.)
- Though not as scarce as bounce, bleed-punishing effects do have
limited distribution.
BLOAT
To bloat is to increase your own pool.
pros
- Having more than enough pool works against all offensive strategies
except Brinksmanship.
- Excess pool can also be invested in your other goals, for example by
getting out more minions.
cons
- Bloating fast enough to offset losses to an aggressive bleeding
predator is very difficult.
- Rather than attacking your pool, your predator may first disable
your bloating mechanism. If bloating was your only defense, you are
then helpless.
- Bloating too successfully can make all other players turn against
you.
COMBINATION STRATEGIES
There is also the possibility of causing a bleed action to fail
without actually blocking it, but this effect is not widely
available. The only really viable example of it is use by the Imbued
of the card Champion.
~Champion~
Cardtype: Power
Virtue: Defense
[REACTION] [2 CONVICTION] Only usable when a monster controlled by
another Methuselah is taking a (D) action against you or against an
imbued controlled by any player. The action fails and the acting
monster enters combat with this imbued instead.
Even this most-effective example is usually used in combination with a
block-based defense, with Champion as ‘plan B’ for when blocking
fails.
Other combination defenses are viable, but when you are using any
combination of bleed defenses you need to be careful not to undermine
yourself. For example, reducing a bleed before you bounce it is
counter-productive. Punish and prevent can combine well, but you need
to check the circumstances that allow you to play your punishment
cards. Remember that a bleed that resolves (i.e. the bleed action is
not blocked, canceled or caused to fail) for 0 or less is not a
successful bleed but it is a successful (D) action.
.
~Ecstasy~
Cardtype: Reaction
Discipline: Serpentis
[ser] Reduce a bleed against you by 1.
[SER] As above, and if the bleed resolves for 0 (or less), the acting
minion burns 1 blood or life (after resolving the action).
~Shemti~
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Follower of Set
Group: 5
Capacity: 9
Discipline: vic OBF POT PRE SER
Independent: Shemti has 1 vote (titled). While he is ready and
untapped, any minion successfully performing a (D) action against you
takes 1 damage (after resolving the action).
~The Crocodile Temple~
Cardtype: Master
Clan: Follower of Set
Master: unique location.
You may tap this card at the end of a successful (D) action against
you to inflict 1 damage on the acting minion (after resolving the
action).
~Dummy Corporation~
Cardtype: Master
Master: unique location.
You may burn this card when you are being bled to reduce the bleed
amount by 2.
II. What’s New: Resume of Recent Expansions
Shambling Hordes decks, although weakened by the recent banning of
Memories of Mortality, have gotten some wonderful new options.
Disciplineless combat cards are the most obvious development for the
Hordes.
~Shoulder Drop~
Cardtype: Combat
Grapple.
Play when you successfully inflict damage from a hand strike. After
strike resolution, if this minion is still ready, the opposing minion
takes 1 additional damage. The opposing minion cannot press this
round. A minion may play only one Shoulder Drop each strike.
~Target Hand~
Cardtype: Combat
Aim. Play when choosing a strike.
The opposing minion may discard two combat cards [COMBAT] to cancel
this card. If any damage from this strike is successfully inflicted on
the opposing minion, he or she gets -1 strength this action, and you
may destroy a weapon he or she has. A minion may play only one aim
each strike.
~Target Head~
Cardtype: Combat
Aim. Play when choosing a strike.
The strike does +2 damage. The opposing minion may discard a combat
card [COMBAT] to cancel this card. If any damage from this strike is
successfully inflicted on the opposing minion, he or she cannot use
any additional strikes or presses this round, and you may set the
range for the next round. A minion may play only one aim each strike.
~Target Vitals~
Cardtype: Combat
Aim. Play when choosing a strike.
If any damage from this strike is successfully inflicted on the
opposing minion, he or she takes an additional 2 damage from this
strike, and he or she cannot press this round. The opposing minion may
discard two combat cards [COMBAT] to cancel this card. A minion may
play only one aim each strike.
If your vampires will also be making hand strikes, Shoulder Drop is a
no-brainer since it stacks with the strike card (if any, like Dead
Hand for example, or even Lucky Blow) and with the Aim card you
choose. How to choose an Aim? I think Vitals is the default choice –
it’s uncommon (the others are rare), Hand doesn’t add damage and Head
is easier to cancel. If your metagame has a lot of Cel/Pot, you may
prefer to include Head, while Hand (with Fake Out to get to close) is
great if you see a lot of guns. All three interact well with Trap:
Head and Vitals by denying your opponent the chance to Press to end,
and Hand by giving them -1 strength.
These cards make the Shamblers even stronger in combat, but of course
they can make any minion stronger in combat. “Hands for one” may be
becoming a thing of the past. But there’s a new cards that makes
zombies more durable, too.
~Bestow Vigor~
Cardtype: Action
Cost: 1 blood
Discipline: Fortitude
+1 stealth action.
[for] Play on a vampire you control and untap this acting vampire. The
minion with this card may play combat cards that require Fortitude as
a vampire with basic Fortitude. Burn this card at the end of your next
turn.
[FOR] As above, but play on an ally you control.
Notice it sticks around for two turns. Basic Fortitude is not exactly
a versatile combat discipline (imagine if Shamblers could play
Unflinching Persistence at superior!), but Soak is pretty sweet for an
ally, and Rolling with the Punches is another good choice as it’s
versatile for your vampires, letting them prevent 1 damage (of any
kind) for free or all strike damage in a round for a blood. There is
a school of thought that holds that Shambling Hordes must be kamikaze
minions and that keeping them alive is a mistake. It is true that a
Shambler is going to be more helpful in your ash heap, where it’s
good fodder for a fresh one, than it is starting a turn with one life,
maybe even two life. It’s also true that rapid zombie recycling has
been the basis of effective decks, especially for Giovanni with the
Path of Blood to reduce the recruitment cost. But it is patently
false that a Shambler kept alive with three or four life (and thus 3
or 4 strength) is worse than a dead one. The question is, is
protecting them from damage worth the resources it requires? I think
Martyr’s Resilience can be worthwhile, partly because it is also
usable cross-table. I think Bestow Vigor is going to prove
worthwhile, at least in decks where you think Fortitude damage
prevention will be useful to your vampires, too. It looks promising
in a Gangrel / Garou deck, and even more so in a HoS / Hordes deck.
Of course, you do need dead minions in your ash heap to play your
Shambling Hordes. Here’s a very interesting alternative to feeding
one Shambler the corpse of the previous one.
~Underbridge Stray~
Cardtype: Ally
Cost: 1 blood
Discipline: Animalism
Animal with 1 life. 0 strength, 0 bleed.
[ani] The Stray may burn 1 life to give a minion you control a press.
During a (D) action directed at you, you may burn the Stray to untap a
ready minion you control (not usable if the Stray is blocking).
[ANI] As above, but the Stray has 2 life and 1 strength.
Give a zombie a press! Untap an Auspex bouncer! Have a stray in your
ash heap! Underbridge Stray + Shambling Hordes is a match made in
hell. Except for one thing... Animalism and Necromancy don’t show up
together very often. There are some possibilities, though, including
the delightful Babalawo Alafin with his [ani AUS FOR NEC] and extra-
discard special. For an odd crypt, consider teaming him with Ravnos
Anjalika Underwood [aus chi for ANI] and maybe Chavi Orazcko [nec ANI
CHI FOR].
Slaughterhouse decks have gotten a few new toys, too. The first,
already discussed last newsletter as a preview card, is the Aus/Nec
dual-discipline Trochomancy (meaning divination by reading wheel
tracks), which converts your prey’s ash heap into your own + bleed.
Necromancy bleed got another nice boost, at least for Anarchs, in
Keystone Kine, which we’ll look at in the next section.
The Slaughterhouse + Brinksmanship combination has long been more a
theoretical possibility than a real strategy. (Brinksmanship forces
people to attempt to withdraw when they run out of cards, and ousts
them when their withdrawal attemp fails.) Anarchy was helpful, too,
in theory, with Border Skirmish accellerating the depletion of other
players’ libraries. The new Anarch multi-acting card CrimethInc may
just be the straw that breaks that camel’s back and turns
Brinkskirmish into a viable deck.
~CrimethInc.~
Cardtype: Action Modifier
Discipline: Protean/Quietus/Thaumaturgy
Requires an anarch. Play after resolving a successful action that
requires an anarch or makes this vampire an anarch.
[pro] Untap this anarch.
[qui] Untap another ready anarch.
[tha] Put this card in play. During your minion phase, you may burn a
pool to untap a ready anarch you control.
Play Border Skirmish then CrimethInc at [pro]. C untaps you
immediately to take whatever other action you want, then BS untaps you
at the end of the turn. Under the Madness Network, Anarch Malkavians
with Protean could burn five cards from each players library, plus
bleed your prey five times, in each round of the table! (Just be
careful not to deck yourself!) Harbingers of Skulls don’t have
anything as fancy as a Madness Network, but a few Slaughterhouses will
be just right to be sure the Brinksmanship ousts people in the right
order. And although we don’t have any Protean, we do have Anisa
Marianna Lopez with [aus FOR NEC QUI], who could back up some
Assamites... or maybe put her with Cornelius Ottavio to do the
Slaughterhouses and the Madness Network together... let’s see, I
think you’d need other Malks with Quietus... or maybe Protean...
hmmmm...
One final new card to look at, and to look out for if you’re playing
with Slaughterhouses.
~Can't Take it with You~
Cardtype: Political Action
Successful referendum means each Methuselah gains 1 pool. Each
Methuselah then burns 1 pool for each equipment, location or retainer
card he or she controls.
Vote strategies that depend on what other people are playing aren’t
very effective, so cards like this don’t get seen a lot. Still, CtiwY
is so potentially devastating that a vote deck without equipment,
locations or retainers may want to pack one or two of these. So
unless you’re playing Eagle’s Sight, make sure you pack a few Delaying
Tactics or Poison Pill or Direct Intervention.
III. Featured Cards: Keystone Kine; Honorine Ateba & Agru Kabera
~Keystone Kine~
Cardtype: Action
Discipline: Celerity/Necromancy/Obfuscate
Requires an anarch.
[cel] and/or [nec] and/or [obf] (D) Bleed. If using [cel], he or she
gains 1 blood. If using [nec], the bleed is at +1 bleed. If using
[obf] <and this actioin is successful,> you may burn an ally
controlled by your prey whose cost is not greater than the bleed
amount.
There are several really interesting threefers in Twilight Rebellion.
CrimethInc may be the most powerful, but I think Keystone Kine is the
most interesting. For one thing, it can be played at any one, two or
three of the disciplines, making it completely new tech. The [cel/
nec] combination, bleed at +1 and gain a blood if successful, is
primo. Necromancy stealth or ‘block fails’ usually costs a blood
anyway. The [obf] function is a nice bonus; it’ll kill a lot of the
game’s best allies if you’re bleeding for three. Note that you do not
need to name the ally you intend to burn when announcing the action,
so that ally is not considered a target of the action. Still, if the
ally is Red List, Keystone Kine is a (D) action (it’s a bleed!) so the
kill does let you retrieve a Trophy.
Who plays Keystone Kine the best? The most obvious is Rafaele
Giovanni with his [cel obf NEC] and +1 bleed. Looking at higher
capacity vampires, Pochtli also has all three relevant disciplines, as
do Jorge De La Muerte and Jack Dawson, and Dmitri Borodi; Seterpenre
does, too, if you use his special to put a Celerity master on him.
Sutekh, Mugur Sabau and Luna Giovanni are all titled and probaly too
hard to make into anarchs to consider.
Without Obfuscate it’s still a really nice card, and as such can be
played by Mina Grotius, the lone G3 Harbinger of Skulls. Her
discipline spread of [cel FOR NEC] suggests Forced March and, since
we’re looking at an anarch deck, Diversion. With that in mind, our
two featured Vampires stand out as obvious pals for Mina.
~Agru Kabera~
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Ishtarri
Group: 4
Capacity: 6
Discipline: cel nec pre FOR
Laibon: +1 bleed.
~Honorine Ateba~
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Ishtarri
Group: 4
Capacity: 6
Discipline: cel nec FOR PRE
Laibon.
What is there to say about them that isn’t obvious? Not much, so I’ll
say a few obvious things. Sweet Agru bleeds for 3 and gains a blood
with just the KK card alone. He, or Honorine, can use Uncontrolled
Impulse for +2 bleed on the first action of the turn (Mina can get her
extra stealth from the Erebus Mask). Agru and Honorine can also Gear
Up to get a turn’s worth of +1 stealth which, with Forced March and
Freak Drive, they can use on several more actions, or like Mina they
can Gear Up at [nec] to pull a card from your ash heap. They can all
use Friend of Mine to reduce a bleed or for +1 intercept. They make a
very functional trio of anarchs.
IV. Featured Decks: Keystone Force; Informed Zombie Agitation
Time to playtest and refine these decks would be another threat to the
timely publication of the newsletter, so consider these as sketches of
possible deckists.
Keystone Force
This is bleed deck that uses in-turn untap to get some permanents and
be able to block. I don’t like to mix old- and new-style cards. If
that weren’t an issue I’d find room for a couple of Changeling Skin
Mask to empower the third discipline on Keystone Kine in case there
are allies about, and for their emergency intercept. You could
replace the hand strikes with guns and Concealed Weapon, but I went
with hand strikes to avoid adding yet another moving part.
5x Anarch Convert
2x Mina Grotius 6 HoS [cel FOR NEC] burn a blood for +1 bleed
2x Agru Kabera 6 Ish [cel nec pre FOR] +1 bleed
1x Honorine Ateba 6 Ish [cel nec FOR PRE]
1x Kenyatta 4 Ish [cel for pre]
1x Fahd al-Zawba’a 4 Tor [cel for pre]
5x Vessel
4x Perfectionist
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Maabara
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
1x Rumor Mill
1x Narrow Minds
1x Erebus Mask
1x Sargon Fragment
1@ J.S. Simmons, Tasha Morgan, Jackie Therman, Mr. Winthrop
8x Keystone Kine
4x Divine Sign
4x Gear Up
8x Forced March
4x Call of the Hungry Dead
3x Power of One
3x Uncontrolled Impulse
3x Freak Drive
4x Spectral Divination
4x Friend of Mine
3x Wake with Evening’s Freshness
2x Delaying Tactics
1x Forced Vigilance
1x Power of All
9x Diversion
4x Lam Into
3x Dead Hand
2x Target Vitals
Informed Zombie Agitation
This is a hybrid deck, recruit and vote. Hopefully, multi-acting will
let everything run. Don’t be shy about discarding some Informants to
seed your ash heap, but (unless The Unmasking is in play – you don’t
want to get blocked by your Informants) do put one in play whenever
it’s an opportune moment.
5x Anarch Convert
2x Mina Grotius 6 HoS [cel FOR NEC] burn a blood for +1 bleed
2x Honorine Ateba 6 Ish [cel nec FOR PRE]
1x Agru Kabera 6 Ish [cel nec pre FOR] +1 bleed
1x Shasa Abu Badr 5 Ish [cel for PRE]
1x Kenyatta 4 Ish [cel for pre]
4x Perfectionist
1x Fame
1@ Celerity, Necromancy
1x Crematorium
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
1x Archon Investigation
1x FBI Special Affairs Division
9x Shambling Hordes
5x Informant
1x Gregory Winters
1x Carlton Van Wyck
1@ Fee Stake: Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle
6x Kine Resources Contested
4x Reckless Agitation
1x Precision
1x Enchant Kindred
1x Keystone Kine
1x Gear Up
7x Forced March
5x Freak Drive
3x Voter Captivation
3x Uncontrolled Impulse
3x Call of the Hungry Dead
2x Bewitching Oration
3x Scalpel Tongue
4x Friend of Mine
5x Trap
4x Fake Out
2x Shoulder Drop
2x Target Vitals
2x Diversion
Johannes Walch
> REDUCE
>
> You can defend yourself against a bleed by reducing the amount of pool
> that the successful action would make you burn. Vampires and imbued
> have a default bleed of 1 and other minions have their default bleed
> stated on their card. Any + bleed effects are added to the default
> amount, and any - bleed effects or bleed reductions are deducted; if
> the result is 0 or less, no pool is burned. Note that a bleed for 0
> (or less) that is not blocked or canceled (or otherwise made to fail)
> IS a successful action but NOT a successful bleed.
>
> pros
> - An unsuccessful bleed does not give that Methuselah the edge.
> - Most bleed reduction cards have little or no blood cost and do not
> tap the reacting minion.
> - Bleed reduction doesn’t lead to unwanted combat.
> - There are currently no cards or effects that punish you for reducing
> a bleed.
I think one needs to add:
- Unlike bounce reduce doesn´t pose the risk that the bleed comes back
to you (bounced back) possibly leaving you without any defense.
> cons
> - Reduce is only a defense against bleed actions.
> - In general, you must have an appropriate reaction card and an
> untapped minion who can play that card.
> - Though not as scarce as bounce, bleed reduction does have a limited
> distribution.
- The effect of one reduce card is usually limited to a certain amount
of bleed, so unlike bounce you might need several reduce cards to
completely eliminate a bleed.
Malone
> Malone schrieb:
> > REDUCE
>
>
>
>
>
> > You can defend yourself against a bleed by reducing the amount of pool
> > that the successful action would make you burn. Vampires and imbued
> > have a default bleed of 1 and other minions have their default bleed
> > stated on their card. Any + bleed effects are added to the default
> > amount, and any - bleed effects or bleed reductions are deducted; if
> > the result is 0 or less, no pool is burned. Note that a bleed for 0
> > (or less) that is not blocked or canceled (or otherwise made to fail)
> > IS a successful action but NOT a successful bleed.
>
> > pros
> > - An unsuccessful bleed does not give that Methuselah the edge.
> > - Most bleed reduction cards have little or no blood cost and do not
> > tap the reacting minion.
> > - Bleed reduction doesn’t lead to unwanted combat.
> > - There are currently no cards or effects that punish you for reducing
> > a bleed.
>
> I think one needs to add:
>
> - Unlike bounce reduce doesn´t pose the risk that the bleed comes back
> to you (bounced back) possibly leaving you without any defense.
To my mind that's a con of bouncing (where I did mention it,
especially because a beginner probably isn't going to know about the
'no more blocks after a bounce attempt' ruling) rather than a pro of
reducing.
> > cons
> > - Reduce is only a defense against bleed actions.
> > - In general, you must have an appropriate reaction card and an
> > untapped minion who can play that card.
> > - Though not as scarce as bounce, bleed reduction does have a limited
> > distribution.
>
> - The effect of one reduce card is usually limited to a certain amount
> of bleed, so unlike bounce you might need several reduce cards to
> completely eliminate a bleed.
Yes, it might have been worth listing as a con of reducing that a good
bleed is usually for more than a single reduction card can handle
(although sometimes a single Keep It Simple will do a lot). But the
likelihood needing more than one card is not limited to reducing -- if
you're blocking you may need multiple intercept cards, if you're
bouncing you might need to bounce that same bleed again. In a way,
reducing has an advantage in this department, because 2 intercept is
worthless against 3 stealth, while reducing a 3 bleed by 2 is at least
helpful.