[Newsletter] Official Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, July 2005
Ector
VOLUME IV, Issue X
1. INTRODUCTION
This newsletter is about Black Hand, the mysterious group of Sabbat
vampires of different clans. They have their own organization and
"titles" (Seraph). They possess some unique powers and abilities, that
require no Disciplines. And while it's rumored that they are struggling
against the Gehenna, who might know their true goals?
In V:tES, as usual, there are some cards that require a Black Hand
vampire, or can be played only on a Black Hand vampire, or just work
better with such vampire. If you are interested in Black Hand, there
are two possible options: you can build a "true Black Hand deck",
packing only Black Hand vampires into your crypt or just use a Black
Hand faction to play some interesting Black Hand cards.
2. HERE WE ARE
Malkavians antitribu have two good Black Hand vampires with low
capacity and the most popular Black Hand disciplines (Obfuscate and
Auspex). Assuming the fact that there are only 26 Black Hand vampires,
and some of them aren't especially good (note that there are NO Black
Hand vamps with titles, so players tend to avoid Black Hand elders),
our two !Malks are going to be quite popular in the Black Hand decks.
3. CARDS OF THE MONTH
Name: Remover [BH:C]
Master.
Put this card on a Black Hand vampire. This vampire can tap any card
(including a minion) as a +1 stealth (D) action. A vampire can have
only one Remover.
This card is truly brilliant in a deck based on Obfuscate, especially
with low-capacity vamps. No deck can have unlimited number of Wakes,
and tapping a vampire reduces the possibility of block, bounce or any
other reaction. Obfuscate provides stealth needed to tap the minion.
If all the minions of your prey are tapped, you can tap a location
(especially an intercept-providing one) to ensure that nobody would
block your most important actions. This card can be devastating against
certain decks: for instance, a vamp of ANI-based intercept deck may
stay untapped and hope to untap with Cat's Guidance after successful
block, but the successful Remover action would tap it. Infernal
intercept decks and Bartholomew will be hosed by this card as well.
Name: The Admonitions
[BH:U]
Cardtype: Master
Unique master.
Put this card in play. Tap to discard one card if you control a ready
Sabbat vampire. Tap to draw two cards if you control a ready Black Hand
vampire. During your discard phase, control of The Admonitions passes
counter-clockwise until it is controlled by a Methuselah who controls a
ready Sabbat vampire (or is burned if there are none).
This looks like the Fragment of the Book of Nod, but you don't have to
play intercept to use it. This card "wanders" around the table like
Milicent Smith or The Coven, but you'll get it back much faster
(actually, you will keep it forever if nobody would play Sabbat), and
the players without Black Hand vampires would have just "one-turn
Barrens" effect.
The Admonitions allow you to cycle unneeded cards and get the needed
ones. It is free, it's very unlikely to be contested (after all, if
someone else would play it, you'd get the same effect!) and it isn't
even a location, so you can freely keep it even if your predator plays
Arika. This card is one of the primary reasons to include some Black
Hand vampires in a deck, since it's very good.
Name: Shakar [BH:C/PN2]
Cost: 1 pool
Master.
Put this card on a Black Hand vampire. This Black Hand vampire can
enter combat with any younger non-Black Hand vampire as a (D) action. A
vampire can have only one Shakar.
This card is the only permanent and reliable way to make your primary
combatant able to rush almost all vampires on the table. There are some
political actions to achieve this (Archon, Templar, Alastor), but
you'll rarely manage to push them, as the whole table would fear that
the power would eventually be used against them. Good combatants rarely
have a lot of votes, and Archon/Templar can be removed by a successful
referendum, which makes them nearly unplayable. Alastor is much better,
but it requires at least a Justicar.
Shakar is a master, not a political action, and it can be countered
only by Sudden Reversal. It allows your Black Hand vampire to rush
almost any younger vampire... as you see, age is the only restriction.
Thus, if you manage to put some skill cards on your vampire, he or she
would be able to rush everyone. Marthe Dizier with two skill cards and
Shakar will be able to rush even Inner Circles. Shakar doesn't provide
+1 stealth for the rush action, alas, but many Black Hand vampires have
Obfuscate (including Marthe), which offers the best stealth cards in
the game.
Name: Corporal Reservoir [BH:C]
Master: trifle.
Put this card on any Black Hand vampire. This vampire may tap this card
to prevent 1 point of damage in combat or to gain a blood. This card
doesn't untap as normal. This vampire may burn a blood to untap this
card during his or her untap phase.
What a wonderful card! You may tap the Reservoir to save your vampire
from aggro-poking enemy (Ivory Bow, Claws and so on), to avoid Disarm
when the opposing vampire has +1 strength, to reduce opponent's Taste
of Vitae and so on. Moreover, you can use this card just to gain a
blood to avoid hunt when your vampire is empty. In most cases, having
an untapped Reservoir is even better than having one more blood, as
this "spare blood" cannot be burned by Blood to Water and similar
cards. And Corporal Reservoir is only a trifle!
Name: Reunion Kamut [BH:C]
Cardtype: Action
+1 stealth action. Requires a Black Hand vampire.
Move 2 blood from the blood bank to a Black Hand vampire in your
uncontrolled region.
This is the only "governing" card that allows a younger vampire to help
influence an elder one. It usually requires an "all Black Hand" crypt,
but the card is so good that it alone may justify creating such deck.
Reunion Kamut provides 2 pool and two extra transfers (if you need
them) for an action, but this action can be performed even by
2-capacity Piotr Andreikov! And, as we know, an action of 10-cap
vampire, who usually Governs out younger vampires, costs much more than
an action of a 2-cap.
Who needs Information Highways if your deck contains a lot of Reunion
Kamuts? They provide so much pool that you may implement the most
bizarre plans. Bloating is always good, especially in V:tES, where it
usually isn't considered a threat, at least an immediate one.
4. VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH
Name: Roger Farnsworth [BH:PM]
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Group: 3
Capacity: 4
Discipline: aus OBF
Sabbat. Black Hand.
Roger has no Dementation, but our primary Discipline isn't very popular
among Black Hand vampires anyway. He has superior Obfuscate, and he is
the youngest vamp with it (along with Agrippina, Jeffrey Mullins and
Tansu Bekir). This makes Roger a wonderful "cloaker" for any deck that
desperately needs some additional stealth from Cloak the Gathering or
protection from PTO/Alastor/Parity Shift from Confusion of the Eye.
Superior Obfuscate and low capacity make him the best Remover. Decks
with a lot of Reunion Kamuts also appreciate Roger, as he can provide
stealth for the Kamuts.
Inferior Auspex doesn't allow much, but Roger still can play inferior
Revelations and inferior Anima Gathering, which can justify using him
in different decks. And, certainly, he can play Sibyl's Tongue!
Name: The Colonel [BH:PM]
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Group: 3
Capacity: 5
Discipline: cel dem obf AUS
Sabbat. Black Hand.
The Colonel is the youngest Black Hand vamp with superior Auspex, and
superior Auspex allows bleed bounce, which is very important to any
deck. He also has inferior Obfuscate which is enough to get stealth for
his own actions, but not enough to Cloak the others.
Inferior Dementation could be used in a stealth-bleed deck, but,
unfortunately, The Colonel is usually no match to General Perfidio
Dios, if you don't need his Black Hand membership. An additional vote
is almost always better than inferior Celerity, especially if you don't
have any Celerity cards. It's quite possible, however, to include an
"!Malk Black Hand module" in your crypt, if you really want to play The
Admonitions or some other Black Hand cards.
Colonel's inferior Celerity may be very useful in a Toreador/!Toreador
AUS/cel deck if that deck would need his clan (for Sibyl's Tongue) or
Black Hand membership. Unfortunately, in the other cases Zoe and
Victoria are much better.
5. DECKS OF THE MONTH
Deck Name: !Malk/Assamites Black Hand
Created By: Ilya Ginsburg
Description: Fetch Deviki Prasanta, get Disciplines and enjoy!
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 18, Max: 30, Avg: 6)
-------------------------------------------
2 Roger Farnsworth aus OBF 4 !Malk
3 Colonel cel dem obf AUS 5 !Malk
2 Reza Fatir obf pro CEL QUI 6 Assamite
3 Joe `Boot` Hill for obf CEL QUI 7 Assamite
2 Yazid Tamari ani dom obf CEL QUI 8 Assamite
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (21 cards)
1 Alamut
1 Market Square
2 Corporal Reservoir
2 Shakar
1 Admonitions, The
1 Hungry Coyote, The
4 Auspex
4 Blood Doll
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Serpentis
2 Fame
Action (10 cards)
1 Covenant of Blood
6 Sibyl`s Tongue
3 Form of Corruption
Reaction (17 cards)
6 Black Sunrise
6 Telepathic Misdirection
5 Eagle`s Sight
Combat (35 cards)
5 Selective Silence
4 Aura Reading
5 Taste of Vitae
6 Blur
5 Pursuit
4 Disguised Weapon
6 Psyche!
Ally (1 cards)
1 Deviki Prasanta
Equipment (4 cards)
1 Ivory Bow
1 Bowl of Convergence
1 Sengir Dagger
1 Kali`s Fang
Combo (2 cards)
2 Draught of the Soul
This is a "deck for fun" that was created just to experiment with Black
Hand Assamites and their new ally, Deviki Prasanta. Do you know what
clan has the most number of Black Hand vampires? Don't guess, it isn't
a Sabbat clan! Assamites have FOUR Black Hand vampires, counting the
advanced Tariq. And three of these vampires have the similar set of
Disciplines: obf/CEL/QUI. Looks like a good base for a deck, eh?
Unfortunately, Quietus is rather weak Discipline even with the new KMW
cards (Black Sunrise and Selective Silence) that are better than
others. Most Quietus cards aren't very effective and cost some blood.
Celerity is a good Discipline, but lone Celerity isn't enough for a
true combat deck. This deck uses Auspex to intercept, bounce bleeds and
play Draught of the Soul, which is very good, especially at superior.
Besides this, it also uses Serpentis for its Form of Corruption.
The only way to obtain all Disciplines in time is Deviki Prasanta. You
should always fetch her with your first Sibyl's Tongue and play her as
fast as possible. Deviki, in turn, can fetch all your skill cards and
place them on your Assamites.
The rest Sibyl's Tongues can be used to fetch Assamite locations
(Alamut and Market Square) and/or The Hungry Coyote.
You can use Alamut counters to avoid Blood Hunt after diablerizing a
vampire to play Draught of the Soul.
The rest is pretty straighforward. As a final note, I'd like to
demonstrate how wonderful is Shakar in combination with Deviki
Prasanta. Your Yazid Tamari can get two Auspex cards and one Serpentis
card very fast, and with Shakar he will be able to rush almost
everyone!
Deck Name: Thugginator
Created By: Ben Peal (Tournament-Winning Deck - June 26, 2004)
Ben's description: Aus-Obf weenies, some of which start off as Black
Hand and some of which use Blooding to become so, getting out a few
Marijava Thuggees. Bleeding and thugginating ensues.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 7, Max: 22, Avg: 3,58)
---------------------------------------------
1 Quira obt tha AUS OBF 6 !Malk
2 Colonel cel dem obf AUS 5 !Malk BH
2 Roger Farnsworth aus OBF 4 !Malk BH
1 Lena Rowe aus obf pre 3 Pander
1 Basil obf 1 Pander
1 Ingram Frizer ani pot AUS OBF 6 !Nosf BH
1 Zoe cel obf AUS 3 Malkavian
1 Krid obf 2 Nosferatu
1 Hanna Redmonds obf tha 2 Caitiff
1 Piotr Andreikov aus 2 Tzimisce BH
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (15 cards)
1 Institution Hunting Ground
1 Barrens, The
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Admonitions, The
2 Remover
5 Blood Doll
2 Sudden Reversal
2 Into the Fire
Action (12 cards)
7 Blooding
2 Bloodwork
3 Night Moves
Action Modifier (31 cards)
7 Cloak the Gathering
5 Forgotten Labyrinth
5 Spying Mission
5 Lost in Crowds
5 Faceless Night
4 Domain of Evernight
Reaction (16 cards)
8 Wake with Evening`s Freshness
8 Telepathic Misdirection
Ally (10 cards)
10 Marijava Thuggee
Equipment (1 cards)
1 Saturday-Night Special
Combo (5 cards)
5 Swallowed by the Night
Now, this time we see a professional deck from The Lasombra's TWD
archive. It's an Obf-weenie deck that tries to maximize number of its
minions by recruiting Marijava Thuggees. Each Thuggee can bleed for 1
and play Obfuscate cards like Basil. This deck can easily have 8-10
minions on the table, and this horde will quickly eat any Methuselah,
despite the number of his Wakes.
To achieve this, the deck uses unparalleled number of stealth: there
are 36 (!) stealth modifiers plus three Night Moves. Two Removers can
be used to tap potential blockers or intercept locations. Four vampires
have superior Obfuscate to Cloak lesser cousins, especially Piotr
Andreikov, who doesn't have Obfuscate at all.
There are two Sudden Reversals to deny Blood Dolls/Minion Taps, as in
the "normal" stealth-bleed decks, but even if you don't have Reversal,
your Thuggees make draining blood from the vampires very dangerous: you
may just torporize them!
The only Auspex card used here is Telepathic Misdirection. It allows
you to bounce heavy bleeds and block important +1 stealth actions like
political actions and equips. Five vampires have superior Auspex to
ensure that you'll get at least one of them in your crypt opening.
Speaking frankly, I cannot understand some Ben's decisions. Considering
the fact that the deck has five Malkavians antitribu, I would
definitely use at least two Sibyl's Tongues to fetch Charisma and save
A LOT of pool spent on Marijava Thuggees. The Hungry Coyote also looks
like an obvious addition (it was probably left out due to its cost, but
adding Charisma and Tongues would easily allow spending 2 pool for The
Coyote). Finally, some Clotho's Gifts would allow getting extra
vampires just for an action instead of paying 4 transfers + 1 pool.
But, after all, who am I to criticize Ben Peal? :)
That's all for July,
As always, all comments and suggestions are welcome!
Yours,
Ilya Ginsburg (Ector)
sath...@o2.pl
> [BH:U]
> Cardtype: Master
> Unique master.
> Put this card in play. Tap to discard one card if you control a ready
> Sabbat vampire. Tap to draw two cards if you control a ready Black Hand
> vampire. During your discard phase, control of The Admonitions passes
> counter-clockwise until it is controlled by a Methuselah who controls a
> ready Sabbat vampire (or is burned if there are none).
>
> This looks like the Fragment of the Book of Nod, but you don't have to
> play intercept to use it. This card "wanders" around the table like
> Milicent Smith or The Coven, but you'll get it back much faster
> (actually, you will keep it forever if nobody would play Sabbat), and
> the players without Black Hand vampires would have just "one-turn
> Barrens" effect.
If nobody plays Sabbat then the card is burned per Cardtext.
Sathriel
sath...@o2.pl
clan has the most number of Black Hand vampires? Don't guess, it isn't
!Gangrel also have four but they can use it in one crypt, unlike Assies
whom Tariq is group 2.
Sathriel
Matthew T. Morgan
He probably meant nobody else.
Matt Morgan
Ector
You caught me! Surely, there are four Black Hand !Gangrels, and they
can be used in a single deck.
Unfortunately, their Disciplines spread too widely. I fear that any
such deck will be forced to avoid Philippe Rigaud, since his
Disciplines set differs too much from the rest. But the rest three can
form a decent pot/PRO deck. Thanks!
Yours,
Ector
Ector
sath...@o2.pl wrote:
> If nobody plays Sabbat then the card [Admonitions]is burned per Cardtext.
>
> Sathriel
But you aren't going to play it without a decent number of Black Hand
vampires, are you?
Ector
Matthew T. Morgan
>> Sathriel
> You caught me! Surely, there are four Black Hand !Gangrels, and they
> can be used in a single deck.
> Unfortunately, their Disciplines spread too widely. I fear that any
> such deck will be forced to avoid Philippe Rigaud, since his
> Disciplines set differs too much from the rest. But the rest three can
> form a decent pot/PRO deck. Thanks!
Phillipe shares Protean with all his clanmates, Obfuscate with Soldat and
Skryta and Dominate with Soldat. Also, he and Jalan-Aajav both have
inferior Animalism, but inferior Animalism at average capacity of 8 decks
just aren't that popular.
I'd say the main drawback to Phillipe is his tendancy to eat his buddies
and die in the blood hunt. Give him Humanitas and you're all set.
Matt Morgan