Official Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, October 2005
Ector
VOLUME IV, Issue XIII
1. INTRODUCTION
This time we are going to look at !Malks with superior Presence that
potentially can be used in a political deck. Malkavian and
anti-Malkavian politics has the unique flavor: there are vampires with
votes, and a lot of stealth, but only few of these vampires have
Presence, which is vital for combat protection (Majesty) and voting
support (especially Voter Captivation). Nevertheless, we can at least
try to build a pure !Malk voting deck.
2. CARD OF THE MONTH
Name: Aura Reading [Jyhad:U2, VTES:U, CE:C/PTr2, BH:PTr2]
Cardtype: Combat
Discipline: Auspex
Only usable before range is chosen.
[aus] The opposing minion's controller plays with an open hand for the
remainder of combat.
[AUS] Your hand size is increased by 2 cards for the remainder of this
combat. Discard down to your hand size at the end of combat. A vampire
can play only 1 Aura Reading at superior each combat.
This card is a wonderful tool for cycling unneeded cards and improving
your hand, if you can survive the combat. I used it even in Kindred
Spirits decks without any combat protection: your General Perfidio Dios
may get into torpor, but you would cycle Telepathic Misdirection to get
+1 intercept and some other cards you were unable to play, and replace
them with the cards needed to finish your prey. And the blocked action
also mean something!
Obviously, the value of Aura Reading grows with the number of combat
cards in your deck. The more combat cards you have, the better are your
combat abilities, and the more often you will fight. Combat cards are
most useful in combos - for instance, Unflinching Persistence +
Immortal Grapple + Disarm or Theft of Vitae + Apportation + Walk of
Flame. BTW, the first combo is a "trademark" of Lazverinus - no wonder
why you can encounter Aura Reading quite often in decks based on him.
If you plan to fight a lot, you should have a strategy of the fight -
at least, against the weaklings without any combat abilities like most
!Malks. And if you get a larger hand for the combat, your chances of
getting the needed card combinations really increase. Really extreme
guys can even use Dreams of the Sphinx to further increase their hand
(to 11 cards!) and implement the most bizarre combat strategies.
Don't underestimate the inferior ability of Aura Reading, as it may
save your life - or, at least, life of your vampire. Knowing what's
going on is very good. For instance, your Lazverinus would play
Immortal Grapple only when it would be really needed - no card waste,
and no risk of catching Coma :) After all, you may use the inferior
ability just to cycle unneeded copies of Aura Reading if you get too
many of them.
In a long run, having several Aura Readings provides two effects, one
good and one bad. The good one is the much better chance of getting the
cards you need - this is especially useful in a "combo-decks" with
Sibyl's Tongues. The downside is the much faster depletion of your
deck, which already depletes quickly enough for most combat decks.
3. VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH
Name: Alicia Barrows [Gehenna:U]
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Group: 4
Capacity: 9
Discipline: AUS DEM OBF POT PRE
Sabbat Archbishop of Mexico City: If you control the Edge during your
untap phase, you may look at the hand of another Methuselah and discard
up to two Gehenna cards from it.
Alicia is a strange mix of Malkavian and Brujah, as she has two Brujah
disciplines at superior - Potence and Presence. Surely, this creates
some interesting possibilities - you may try to use her in a POT/PRE
Brujah or !Brujah decks. Alicia can play Sibyl's Tongues, bounce bleeds
and play Cloak the Gatherings for the remaining vamps. You can even
build an intercepting AUS/POT/PRE deck with Jeremy McNeil!
Unfortunately, Potence is the only combat discipline Alicia has, and
this isn't enough to justify using a 9-cap fatty in a combat-heavy deck
- she simply can't protect herself. Celerity could provide maneuvers,
dodges and additional strikes, Protean could provide Flesh of Marble,
Fortutude could prevent all damage and enable multiple actions per
turn. You should really think about playing Fortitude skill cards on
Alicia to use her as a combat vampire, especially if you plan to
intercept with her. Even inferior Fortitude will enable prevent +
Disarm strategy, Freak Drives and protect Alicia from Kiss of Ra.
Being an Archbishop with superior Obfuscate and Presence, Alicia is
really good for voting decks. Nine capacity is a lot, but there are no
younger vampires with the comparable stats (OBF, PRE and at least 2
votes) in the whole game. As usual, Archbishop title enables many good
Sabbat cards like Eternal Vigilance or Purchase Pact. Alicia's title is
very unlikely to become contested, as Stravinsky isn't very popular,
and Camarilla even doesn't have a Praxis Seizure for Mexico Sity!
Finally, Alicia has an ability, which is far from useless even if
nobody plays Gehenna cards. You may look at the hand of ANY player, not
just your prey, and this information cost you nothing, if you manage to
keep the Edge. In any competitive game the value of such information is
immense, especially if the player cannot cycle any cards during your
turn.
Name: Aristotle de Laurent [BH:U2/PM]
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Group: 3
Capacity: 9
Discipline: pot AUS DEM OBF PRE
Sabbat: While Aristotle is ready, every Methuselah has +1 hand size. +1
stealth.
Aristotle is very strange. Permanent +1 stealth is very good, but he
cannot perform more than one action per turn, which isn't very
attractive for a 9-cap vampire without any votes. Again, adding
Fortitude can turn Aristotle into a monster: you'd be able to get the
second action with Freak Drive, and both actions would have +1 extra
stealth! Aristotle definitely can abuse this, bleeding and playing
politics on the same turn. But you need to find Fortitude skill card
first, and some votes to push your politics... not too reliable plan.
Like Alicia, Aristotle also has Potence, though at inferior. There is
almost no difference: he also needs some extra combat disciplines to
fight regularly, and Fortitude would be the best. Unfortunately, there
isn't any equipment providing superior Fortitude, except for Seal of
Veddartha, and it requires too much time.
The most strange feature of Aristotle is the ability providing +1 hand
size for ALL players. Using the "common sense", this ability should be
considered awful, as you gain only 1/5 of the benefit, while the other
4/5 goes to the other players. The ability of Jan Pieterzoon, which
reduces hand sizes, is much better. Moreover, the increased hand size
is the most useful in combat-heavy decks, and Aristotle is very
unlikely to get into one of them. But in VtES, such logic is often
unrealistic. One of the major disadvantages of being "common enemy" is
the isolation. Deploy Jan Pieterzoon, and don't be surprized when a
crosstable Rush deck would torporize him to get his hand size back. But
when you deploy Aristotle, a deal with a player using a combat-heavy
deck becomes quite realistic. You provide them a significant boost,
which would end with Aristotle - thus, making an alliance with you
would be much more beneficial for them than torporizing him.
4. DECKS OF THE MONTH
Deck Name: Louhi Calls for politics
Created By: Ilya Ginsburg
Description: Louhi and the Presence !Malks
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 32, Max: 40, Avg: 9,08)
----------------------------------------------
5 Louhi pro ANI AUS DEM OBF THA 10 !Malk
3 Alicia Barrows AUS DEM OBF POT PRE 9 !Malk
2 Aristotle de Laurent pot AUS DEM OBF PRE 9 !Malk
2 Marie Faucigny dem tha AUS OBF 7 !Malk
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (17 cards)
5 Minion Tap
1 Purchase Pact
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
3 Zillah`s Valley
2 Presence
1 Legendary Vampire
2 Direct Intervention
1 Powerbase: Madrid
Action (14 cards)
6 Call, The
2 Rutor`s Hand
2 Madman`s Quill
1 Eternal Vigilance
3 Sibyl`s Tongue
Action Modifier (19 cards)
4 Voter Captivation
4 Elder Impersonation
4 Forgotten Labyrinth
4 Lost in Crowds
3 Spying Mission
Political Action (15 cards)
1 Ancient Influence
1 Political Stranglehold
1 Reins of Power
6 Consanguineous Boon
3 Banishment
3 Kine Resources Contested
Reaction (6 cards)
6 Telepathic Misdirection
Combat (11 cards)
3 Aura Reading
8 Majesty
Retainer (2 cards)
2 Raven Spy
Equipment (2 cards)
1 Sargon Fragment, The
1 Ivory Bow
Combo (4 cards)
4 Swallowed by the Night
This deck tries to play politics with a bit of intercept and bleed - a
toolbox that may confuse other players and score a GW as well as
miserably fail to get even one VP. As long as !Malks have only two
vamps with superior Presence, and they aren't amazing, building a
stable voting deck based on our clan is nearly impossible. Certainly, I
could use vampires from the other clans, but this would prohibit
Consangineous Boons and The Calls, which really help to stay alive and
get vampires faster.
You should influence Louhi first, especially if you get Zillah's Valley
or Dreams of the Sphinx - both allow you to get her in two turns. Louhi
is mean and even somewhat terrifying; nobody can predict what deck she
represents. Is it an intercept deck, stealth-bleed, voting or somewhat
else? You can bluff that you're playing Bursts of Sunlight, for
instance. Unfortunately, in this deck the only combat option for Louhi
is Ivory Bow, at least until she gets Presence to play Majesty.
Hopefully, other players would determine what kind of deck you're
playing only when you reveal the second minion (Alicia or Aristotle).
Obviously, The Call is your best friend in the early game.
In the ideal situation you will have Louhi + Presence skill card,
Alicia and Marie - seven votes total, and you may get two additional
votes from Legendary Vampire and up to four from Powerbase:Madrid. The
Sargon Fragment enables extremely good "engines" like replaying Dreams
of the Sphinx, The Call or inferior Madman's Quill. If your Louhi has
Rutor's Hand, she can play superior Quill - it should work like Palla
Grande in the !Toreador vote & bleed decks. Note that Louhi with two
Presence cards can Banish even Inner Circles!
As soon as Louhi would get Presence and Ivory Bow, she can act like a
blocker. Eternal Vigilance and two Raven Spies provide permanent Wakes
and permanent intercept with minimal card investment; these cards also
can confuse other players. If your Louhi would employ a Raven Spy as
her first action, you won't even need to bluff about playing an
intercept deck - in fact, nobody would believe you if you say the truth
:)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Deck Name: Guess what else I can do?
Created By: Ilya Ginsburg
Description: PRE/OBF/pot/for bizarre toolbox, something like "jack of
all trades"
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 32, Max: 40, Avg: 9,08)
----------------------------------------------
5 Jaroslav Pascek for obf CEL POT PRE 10 Brujah
2 Mukhtar Bey obf pot FOR PRE QUI 7 Caitiff
3 Alicia Barrows AUS DEM OBF POT PRE 9 !Malk
2 Aristotle de Laurent pot AUS DEM OBF PRE 9 !Malk
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (16 cards)
5 Minion Tap
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
3 Zillah`s Valley
1 Legendary Vampire
2 Direct Intervention
1 Elysium: The Arboretum
2 Fortitude
Action (1 cards)
1 Heart of the City
Action Modifier (23 cards)
4 Voter Captivation
4 Elder Impersonation
4 Forgotten Labyrinth
4 Lost in Crowds
3 Spying Mission
4 Freak Drive
Political Action (16 cards)
1 Ancient Influence
1 Political Stranglehold
1 Reins of Power
3 Banishment
6 Kine Resources Contested
1 Cardinal Benediction
3 Parity Shift
Reaction (6 cards)
6 Telepathic Misdirection
Combat (22 cards)
3 Aura Reading
8 Majesty
3 Weighted Walking Stick
6 Rolling with the Punches
2 Disarm
Equipment (2 cards)
1 Sargon Fragment, The
1 Seal of Veddartha
Combo (4 cards)
4 Swallowed by the Night
This deck is much more funny than the previous one, and it was
especially designed for the people loving to surprise their opponents.
Besides the obvious Presence and Obfuscate, this deck uses Fortitude
and Potence! Can anybody consider the possibility of catching Disarm
fighting against the voting deck? Now you really have a chance to
surprise them... Prevent their hand damage with Rolling, play Disarm,
and voila!
Everyone knows that Jaroslav Pascek is very good. He surely can play
ALL the cards you have, and his 3 votes may be enough to push your
politics. But in this deck he also acts like a "guardian" until you get
someone else, as +1 permanent intercept is really precious. Weighted
Walking Stick is a wonderful "fear card" with him, as he strikes for 4
two times, and you may put more Sticks if three won't be enough. By the
way, ANY vampire in your deck can play Disarm after successful strike
with the Stick, not just Jaroslav!
Compared to the first deck, you lose The Calls and Consangineous Boons,
but you get Parity Shifts and Freak Drives instead. Alicia and
Arostotle have no Fortitude, but there are enough vampires with it, and
you are almost guaranteed to have at least one of them. There are
Fortitude skill cards and Seal of Veddartha to "patch the holes". In
the combat-heavy environment you may prefer to upgrade Jaroslav's
Fortitude to the superior level - superior Rollings are good, and he
would be able to Banish almost everyone.
That's all for October. I'm really sorry for the late newsletter, but I
was very busy all the time. Please don't take my Decks of the Months
too seriously - they aren't going to win tournaments, but they ARE
going to provide a lot of fun. As always, all ideas and comments are
appreciated.
Yours,
Ector
Olive...@gmail.com
Ector wrote:
Hey, nice newsletter. I like the politics approach, although (!)Malks
have TVC, too.
> 4. DECKS OF THE MONTH
>
> Deck Name: Louhi Calls for politics
> Created By: Ilya Ginsburg
> Description: Louhi and the Presence !Malks
>
> Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 32, Max: 40, Avg: 9,08)
> ----------------------------------------------
> 5 Louhi pro ANI AUS DEM OBF THA 10 !Malk
> 3 Alicia Barrows AUS DEM OBF POT PRE 9 !Malk
> 2 Aristotle de Laurent pot AUS DEM OBF PRE 9 !Malk
> 2 Marie Faucigny dem tha AUS OBF 7 !Malk
>
General Perfidio? He's a Bishop, and has AUS to bounce and for TVCs.
He's also a good recipient for The Call
> Library: (90 cards)
> -------------------
> Master (17 cards)
> 5 Minion Tap
> 1 Purchase Pact
> 2 Dreams of the Sphinx
> 3 Zillah`s Valley
> 2 Presence
> 1 Legendary Vampire
> 2 Direct Intervention
> 1 Powerbase: Madrid
Propably no heavy cycle action, so i'd add two more Taps.
>
> Action (14 cards)
> 6 Call, The
> 2 Rutor`s Hand
> 2 Madman`s Quill
> 1 Eternal Vigilance
> 3 Sibyl`s Tongue
>
> Action Modifier (19 cards)
> 4 Voter Captivation
> 4 Elder Impersonation
> 4 Forgotten Labyrinth
> 4 Lost in Crowds
> 3 Spying Mission
>
Telepathic Vote Counting?
> Political Action (15 cards)
> 1 Ancient Influence
> 1 Political Stranglehold
> 1 Reins of Power
> 6 Consanguineous Boon
? It's higly unlikely to that you get more than two vamps out by mid to
late game. Add 2-3 Reinforcements (great with SybTongue), and more KRCs
instead. Maybe a Rumors of Gehenna, if you take the additional Taps.
> 3 Banishment
> 3 Kine Resources Contested
>
> Reaction (6 cards)
> 6 Telepathic Misdirection
>
> Combat (11 cards)
> 3 Aura Reading
> 8 Majesty
Replace one or two with Coma for shock value, bluff factor + combat
oprions for the two vamps who are not present.
> Retainer (2 cards)
> 2 Raven Spy
Replace with Mr. Winthrop, Bowl and/or Sport Bike, which are useful to
all four.
Ezekiel...@gmail.com
> 1. INTRODUCTION
>
> This time we are going to look at !Malks with superior Presence that
> potentially can be used in a political deck. Malkavian and
> anti-Malkavian politics has the unique flavor: there are vampires with
> votes, and a lot of stealth, but only few of these vampires have
> Presence, which is vital for combat protection (Majesty) and voting
> support (especially Voter Captivation). Nevertheless, we can at least
> try to build a pure !Malk voting deck.
Well done Ector on yet another excellent newsletter! I really enjoy
your outlooks on our favourite fluffy little vampires!
I do agree though that the decks are probably more for fun than
tournament play, but nevertheless it looks like nice decks.
I did built a !Malk Vote deck two weeks ago, just for fun. I wanted to
see if I can build a vote deck that didn't depend on presence or
!Ventrue. It had way too many holes in it in my opinion, but swept 4
out of 4 tables since its creation, one of those tables vote heavy and
one combat heavy. Go figure.
Here's the list:
Deck Name : Organized Chaos
Author : Ezekiel Moerdyk
Description : Slightly Toolbox !Malkav vote deck
Crypt [13 vampires] Capacity min: 2 max: 10 average: 6.54
------------------------------------------------------------
3x Hannibal 10 AUS DEM OBF cel dom cardinal !Malkavian:2
2x Kite 7 AUS DEM obf pre bishop !Malkavian:2
2x General Perfidio D 5 AUS dem obf bishop !Malkavian:3
1x Aristotle de Laure 9 AUS DEM OBF PRE pot !Malkavian:3
1x Korah 7 AUS DEM OBF ani priscus !Malkavian:2
1x Dolphin Black 6 AUS DEM OBF !Malkavian:2
1x Claven 4 aus dem obf !Malkavian:2
1x Yorik 3 dem obf !Malkavian:2
1x Boy Toy 2 dem !Malkavian:2
Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [12]
1x Derange
2x Haunting, The
1x Inquisition
5x Kindred Spirits
1x Madman's Quill
1x Memory's Fading Glimpse
1x Mind of a Child
Action Modifier [19]
1x Aura of Invincibility
3x Bribes
2x Cloak the Gathering
2x Elder Impersonation
3x Faceless Night
2x Forgotten Labyrinth
3x Lost in Crowds
1x Mind Tricks
2x Telepathic Vote Counting
Action Modifier / Reaction [3]
3x Random Patterns
Action Modifier/Combat [1]
1x Deny
Combat [5]
3x Coma
1x Gemini's Mirror
1x Masque of Judas
Master [17]
5x Blood Doll
1x Brainwash
2x Guru
1x Institution Hunting Ground
1x Major Boon
1x Perfectionist
1x Powerbase: Chicago
2x Powerbase: Madrid
1x Purchase Pact
1x Secret Passage
1x Secure Haven
Political Action [18]
2x Banishment
4x Consanguineous Boon
1x Conservative Agitation
1x Crusade: Frankfurt
1x Crusade: Mexico City
1x Crusade: Miami
1x Deploy the Hand
1x Honor the Elders
3x Kine Resources Contested
1x Sabbat Priest
2x Sabbat Threat
Reaction [15]
2x Telepathic Counter
6x Telepathic Misdirection
1x Voice of Madness
6x Wake with Evening's Freshness
Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Sun Oct 30 10:14:51 2005]
Note: The Crusades are based on the titles that show up the least in
our playgroup.
The deck is a little difficult to play and you need at least some
experience in deal cutting, at least in the beginning rounds. Once it
starts rolling, it usually farms quite well.
The few DEM goodie actions/coma's are present to use as the opportunity
presents itself. That was how I kept two combat decks off my ass.
Ector
Olive...@gmail.com wrote:
> Ector wrote:
>
> General Perfidio? He's a Bishop, and has AUS to bounce and for TVCs.
> He's also a good recipient for The Call
his one vote. If you want a better deck, you can replace Aristotles
with Generals, but I couldn't do that, as Aristotle is one of my
Vampires of the Month :)
>
> > Library: (90 cards)
> > -------------------
> > Master (17 cards)
> > 5 Minion Tap
> > 1 Purchase Pact
> > 2 Dreams of the Sphinx
> > 3 Zillah`s Valley
> > 2 Presence
> > 1 Legendary Vampire
> > 2 Direct Intervention
> > 1 Powerbase: Madrid
>
> Propably no heavy cycle action, so i'd add two more Taps.
Seems that you are right here. Maybe, add Anthelios instead to cycle
Taps?
> >
> > Action (14 cards)
> > 6 Call, The
> > 2 Rutor`s Hand
> > 2 Madman`s Quill
> > 1 Eternal Vigilance
> > 3 Sibyl`s Tongue
> >
> > Action Modifier (19 cards)
> > 4 Voter Captivation
> > 4 Elder Impersonation
> > 4 Forgotten Labyrinth
> > 4 Lost in Crowds
> > 3 Spying Mission
> >
>
> Telepathic Vote Counting?
I count on my permanent votes and possible votes of my allies. If these
won't be enough, I'd add Bewitching Oration or Awe first, as long as we
are using Presence...
> > Political Action (15 cards)
> > 1 Ancient Influence
> > 1 Political Stranglehold
> > 1 Reins of Power
> > 6 Consanguineous Boon
>
> ? It's higly unlikely to that you get more than two vamps out by mid to
> late game. Add 2-3 Reinforcements (great with SybTongue), and more KRCs
> instead. Maybe a Rumors of Gehenna, if you take the additional Taps.
You may be right here, but even gaining two pool per action isn't too
bad, especially if you have Voter Captivation. Besides that, ConBoon is
a great tool of diplomacy: you can get valuable allies if you play
ConBoon on them.
> > 3 Banishment
> > 3 Kine Resources Contested
> >
> > Reaction (6 cards)
> > 6 Telepathic Misdirection
> >
> > Combat (11 cards)
> > 3 Aura Reading
> > 8 Majesty
>
> Replace one or two with Coma for shock value, bluff factor + combat
> oprions for the two vamps who are not present.
Yes! How could I forget Coma?! A good fear card, and a lot of fun.
> > Retainer (2 cards)
> > 2 Raven Spy
>
> Replace with Mr. Winthrop, Bowl and/or Sport Bike, which are useful to
> all four.
Perhaps, Bowl and Mr.Winthrop instead of the Ravens. But in this deck
only one vampire would be able to serve as a blocker anyway, and Louhi
with Rutor's Hand would be the blocker almost always.
Thanks for your reply!
Yours,
Ector
pd...@lightlink.com
> Political Action (15 cards)
> 1 Ancient Influence
> 1 Political Stranglehold
> 1 Reins of Power
> 6 Consanguineous Boon
> 3 Banishment
> 3 Kine Resources Contested
Interesting deck, but it looks like the Consanguaneous Boons are not a
good plan--they are unlikely to ever gain you more than 2 or 3 pool,
what with all the huge vampires and all. You likely be better off
replacing the 6 of them, with, like, a couple more Voter Captivations
and then 4 more damaging votes (KRC?).
You also probably want more votes overall in the deck--15 for a deck
thats main focus is voting is kind of low, especially when 3 of them
(Ancient Influence, Stanglehold, Reins) aren't always a good idea to
play.
-Peter
Jeroen Rombouts
"Ector" <Ec...@mail.ru> schreef in bericht
news:1130623090.1...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
>
> Action (1 cards)
> 1 Heart of the City
>
A nice addition: Derange. because it can remove the titles of cammarilla
voters.