1. THE CARD (not just "CARD OF THE MONTH", but much more...)

Are you surprised to see a newsletter starting with "Card of the Month"
part? Yes, that's very unusual but the card really deserves it. Unlike
the previous issue (that covered usage of Mind of a Killer) this
newsletter is dedicated to the card with unique ability. You guessed
right, I'm finally going to talk about Sibyl's Tongue, which was used
in virtually all my previous decks.

Name: Sibyl's Tongue
[BH:R2]
Cardtype: Action
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Cost: X blood
+1 stealth action.
This action costs X blood, where X is the number of Sibyl's Tongues in
your ash heap. Choose a card by name. Search your library for a copy of
that card, show it to all players, and move it to your hand. Discard
down to your hand size and shuffle your library afterward.

Currently Sibyl's Tongue is the only card in the whole game that allows
you to fetch ANY card in your library. There are some ways to fetch
equipment, and some of them are very effective (i.e. Magic of the Smith
or Ivan Krenyenko's ability), there is a card to fetch Gehenna events -
Fortshritt Library, which, unfortunately, can be played only once.
Spirit Summoning Chamber can fetch any Thaumaturgy card, but if you
want to fetch a master card or an action card, the only way to achieve
this is Sibyl's Tongue.
Now please have a look at the current situation in the game. Hundreds
of library cards are unique, or can be played only once, or just should
be played early (Web of Knives Recruit is one of the best examples).
These cards are very powerful - usually much more powerful than
"common" cards that are used in great numbers, but you generally can't
afford putting a lot of them into your deck. A second copy of the
unique card in your hand is a dead card, as you cannot play it. You
still CAN use several copies of the card, if the card is really
important and you want to increase chances of getting it in time, but
how many copies? A typical deck contains 80-90 cards, and even 2-3
copies of the card still won't guarantee receiving one copy in the
first 5-6 game turns. Packing 5-6 copies of a card that you're going to
play only once is calling for trouble, but sometimes this may be
reasonable. Haven't you encounter Anneke deck with 5 Anima Gatherings
at the newsgroup? Then you should gladly admit that Sibyl's Tongue,
which nullifies these problems, is really wonderful.
Just to demonstrate the wonder, let's assume that you're playing a
standard !Malk Kindred Spirits deck, and you use Information Highways
to get your vampires faster, The Barrens to cycle unneeded cards and
Secure Haven to protect your best vampire against rushes. Without
Sibyl's Tongues, you should put at least two Information Highways and
two Barrens (you can always discard second copy using the first one).
Some decks also have two Secure Havens, as this card really can turn a
loss into a victory. Chances of getting Info Highway in your starting
hand are slim, but KS decks usually have a good card flow, and you may
get one of them until they got useless. Barrens never get useless,
unless you cannot afford contesting it, but Secure Haven may be useless
if nobody tries to rush you. Generally you can manage the problem of
replacing unneeded cards (especially if you have Barrens), but why
should you? If you replace extra copies of all three cards with 3
Sibyl's Tongues, your deck will be much more stable. First-turn Yorik
or Boy Toy will be much more efficient if he would play Sibyl's Tongue
to fetch Information Highway instead of bleeding for 1. This would be
especially effective if you're going to influence a huge vampire who
will, in turn, play Governs/Calls/4th Traditions to help you getting
the rest vampires.
IMHO, there are two kinds of anti-Malkavian decks: decks with just a
few Sibyl's Tongues (1-3) and decks with a lot of them. Note that I
just DISMISS !Malk decks without Sibyl's Tongues. Really, why should
anyone avoid putting 2 Sibyl's Tongues into a deck with enough !Malks
to play them? The first Tongue would be free, the second would cost
just one blood. Surely, sometimes you'd prefer another card -
especially if you're playing S&B and you need just one bleed modifier
to oust your prey - but the ability to fetch Dreams of the Sphinx or
Ivory Bow when you need them far outweights the possible inconvenience.
You must spend an action to play Sibyl's Tongue, but this action
doesn't require any Disciplines, and it may be played even by Yorik,
who has Obfuscate. You may even send Eddie Gaines or Boy Toy,
especially if someone can play Cloak the Gathering - and you'll never
find more efficient task for them. That's why I really cannot
understand why people still play !Malks without Sibyl's Tongues.
So, the decks with few Sibyl's Tongues are just normal !Malk decks, but
decks with a lot of them aren't. If you play a lot of S'sT, your deck
behaves like a "combo decks" in Magic or many other CCGs: you are going
to fetch several cards that, being combined, would create tremendous
advantage. The whole concept of combo decks is almost nonexistent in
VtES for several reasons: there aren't cards to fetch needed parts
(except for Sibyl's Tongue and few other limited cards), deck size is
large, and the game usually lasts for not more than 12-15 turns. But
you still can build combo decks and even win with them if you would
follow these guidelines:

* Don't include too many Sibyl's Tongues. Your deck should play not
more than 5-6, since their price becomes too expensive. Thus, you can
put not more than 7-8 copies into your deck. If you want to increase
chances of getting them, you can lower the number of cards instead of
adding more copies.
* Most effective combo decks are built around intercept strategy. The
reason is simple: you need time to get your Sibyl's Tongues. If you
would fail to stop your predator, you wouldn't survive long enough to
demonstrate your brilliant combo. This creates certain problems, as
!Malks aren't very good in combat (at least they weren't prior to
Louhi), so you'll generally be forced to mix them with vampires from
the other clans.
* Have a good card cycling. Combo decks want to get needed cards
quickly - it would be great if you manage to play two Sibyl's Tongues
in the first 5-6 turns. And you will happily get rid of the last
Tongues, when you won't need them anymore. Dreams of the Sphinx and
Fragment of the Book of Nod are the best, if Learjet isn't good enough
in your deck.
* Your deck should work even without Sibyl's Tongues - at least it
should be able to do something. Don't rely on getting a 3-4 card combo.
Two-card combo should allow you to hold the fire until you get the rest
cards.

2. VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH

Name: Quira, The Bitch Queen [Sabbat:V, tenth]
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Group: 2
Capacity: 6
Discipline: obt tha AUS OBF
Sabbat: +1 bleed.

Some vampires have really cool names - what do you think about "The
Bitch Queen"? IMHO, Quira's name is second only to the Miller
Delmardigan's "Teacher of Bahari". Actually, "The Bitch Queen" sounds
much better, but, unfortunately, her bitchy nature is represented only
by her +1 bleed bonus in the game, while Miller usually performs
amazing shows of "the Bahari", involving Blur, Quickness and Psyche!
As an anti-Malk vampire, Quira is very strange. She has no Dementation,
and, as you already know, this Discipline is our sole source of power.
Without Dementation, she cannot play Kindred Spirits, Confusion or Eyes
of Chaos. On the other hand, she has inbuilt +1 bleed - actually, Quira
is the cheapest vampire having "unconditional" +1 bleed, and there are
no other 6-caps (or even 7-caps!) with +1 bleed and superior Obfuscate.
Speaking about Kindred Spirits deck, it should be obvious that having
"+1 bleed" is much better than having inferior Dementation, but much
worse than having it at superior. Inferior Dementation allows gaining a
pool from Kindred Spirits, but you'll have to play a bleed modifier to
bleed for 2, while Quira bleeds for 2 without any cards. Superior
Dementation enables bleeding any player at least for 2 and gaining a
pool with a single Kindred Spirits, and you may increase bleed up to
3-4. Unsrprisingly, you will often encounter Quira in the Kindred
Spirits decks: she is a good bleeder and a wonderful "support vampire"
with superior Auspex and Obfuscate. Decks with Dementation skill cards,
however, tend to avoid Quira, since playing a single Dementation on her
would be less profitable than playing it on a smaller dem/obf vampire
(i.e. Yorik): the ability to play Confusion and Deny at superior is
crucial.
But sometimes you aren't building a Kindred Spirits deck; you want to
play without Dementation at all, but you still need Auspex to
reduce/bounce bleeds and superior Obfuscate to play Cloak the
Gathering/Confusion of the Eye or just push the crucial actions -
Sibyl's Tongue is a good example :) And you may just need a Malkavian
antitribu to play Sibyl's Tongues - what can be better than a good
6-cap vamp capable of bleeding for 2 each turn without any cards? Quira
was born to form a core of a "Sibyl's Tongue support group" in any
crypt willing to play this card. Roger Farnsworth is also very good for
this, and he's much cheaper, but if you can afford Quira, you will
always prefer her. When you have no Tongues, or just don't need more
Tongues, Roger can just hunt or bleed for 1, while Quira can bleed for
2, or use her superior Auspex to bounce/reduce bleeds.
Finally, let's inspect Quira's out-clan Disciplines: inferior
Thaumaturgy and Obtenebration. Inferior Thaumaturgy matches the same
Discipline of Marie Faucigny, with the same possibilities - Quira also
can play Burst of Sunlight and Rutor's Hand if someone would resque her
from torpor after that. She can accompany Marie in 2-3 group DOM/OBF
deck with Thaumaturgy support, which I will eventually post (hint for
now: do you know that Reverend Blackwood is very good with Bursts?),
but she really lacks Marie's abilities, especially the optional dodge.
Inferior Obtenebration enables two S:CE cards - Oubliette and Shadow
Body. Both cost 1 blood, but hey, it's Strike: Combat Ends! If Malks
had S:CE, they would dominate the whole game. And these cards at
inferior are the same as the inferior Majesty - does anybody want to
say a single word against Majesty? Overall, you may encounter Quira in
a DOM/OBT /obf stealth-bleed deck along with Gratiano and Guido
Lucciano. Quira is really good.

DECK OF THE MONTH

Deck Name: Laz & !Malks
Created By: Ilya Ginsburg
Description: !Malks play Sibyl's Tongues, Lazverinus protects them

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 17, Max: 40, Avg: 7)
-------------------------------------------
  4  Lazverinus                pro AUS DOM FOR POT    10 !Ventrue
  2  Quira                     obt tha AUS OBF         6 !Malk
  3  Marie Faucigny            dem tha AUS OBF         7 !Malk
  2  Roger Farnsworth          aus OBF                 4 !Malk
  1  Zoe                       cel obf AUS             3 Malk

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (16 cards)
  1  Rack, The
  1  Demonstration
  1  Institution Hunting Ground
  6  Blood Doll
  1  Hungry Coyote, The
  1  Fear of Mekhet
  1  Powerbase: Montreal
  2  Dreams of the Sphinx
  1  Fragment of the Book of Nod
  1  Vast Wealth

Action (18 cards)
  1  Aranthebes, The Immortal
  2  Eternal Vigilance
  6  Govern the Unaligned
  1  Anima Gathering
  7  Sibyl`s Tongue
  1  Pulse of the Canaille

Action Modifier (12 cards)
  5  Freak Drive
  7  Cloak the Gathering

Reaction (19 cards)
  6  Telepathic Misdirection
  6  Eagle`s Sight
  3  Precognition
  4  Wake with Evening`s Freshness

Combat (20 cards)
  8  Unflinching Persistence
  6  Immortal Grapple
  4  Taste of Vitae
  2  Disarm

Ally (2 cards)
  1  Mylan Horseed (Goblin)
  1  Neighbourhood Watch Commander (Hunter)

Equipment (3 cards)
  1  Bowl of Convergence
  1  Flak Jacket
  1  Sport Bike

This deck is very interesting, as it's almost "pure intercept" deck
that, however, can oust its prey pretty fast with a help of Quira,
Anima Gathering and Pulse of the Canaille. Sibyl's Tongues are used to
fetch the most effective answers to the most dangerous threats.
Everyone knows that Lazverinus is good, but he needs Eternal Vigilance
to become truly powerful blocker, and Anima Gathering/Bowl of
Convergence provide permanent +2 intercept. All these cards are primary
targets of your Sibyl's Tongues. You may also wish to fetch Mylan
Horseed or The Rack, as they make your life much easier. If you have
time (your predator isn't very aggressive or he is concentrated on
defense against your grandpredator), you may fetch Vast Wealth instead
of Bowl of Convergence, especially if you control Marie Faucigny - she
will then fetch all your equipment for free. There are also two
"emergency targets": Fear of Mekhet against IC members, especially
Arika (PTO is a huge threat that will ruin your game) and Aranthebes,
the Immortal against weenies.
The crypt deserves a few words, as it was designed to achieve several
goals. Obviously, in a deck like this we have no place for Dementation
cards, so we don't need Dementation at all. This makes the most famous
!Malks (Dolphin Black, Uncle George, Yorik etc.) useless in this deck,
but Quira becomes really brilliant, and Marie Faucigny's disadvantage
(inferior Dementation) disappears. Both girls are very good in this
deck, though it may be clever to influence Quira last as the table can
assume that you're playing S&B. Marie is the "second blocker" of this
deck - she can play second Eternal Vigilance and Sport Bike, block and
use her inbuilt dodge. Roger Farnsworth can enter play fast and fetch
the most needed card (including Dreams of the Sphinx to get Lazverinus
quickly).
Zoe is a Camarilla Malk, and she cannot play Sibyl's Tongue or hunt for
2 blood in The Hungry Coyote. The only reason of her presence here is
Anima Gathering. If you get Zoe, you should fetch Anima Gathering
first, since +2 intercept and +1 bleed for Lazverinus is well worth
having Zoe tapped forever. If you don't have Zoe, you can play Anima
Gathering with Roger Farnsworth or even Quira, but they can perform
useful actions, so it may be better to fetch Bowl of Convergence first
or get it through Vast Wealth.
Now you should note that ALL !Malks here have superior Obfuscate, so
each of them can play Cloak the Gathering to protect the most important
actions: Eternal Vigilance, Anima Gathering and Bowl of Convergence.
Nowadays almost every deck can block +1 stealth actions, at least
eventually, and the ability to increase stealth may be crucial. You can
add more Cloaks if intercept is popular in your playgroup.
The rest cards are pretty straighforward. You may regain pool with the
Blood Dolls, and you have The Hungry Coyote, Hunting Grounds and The
Rack to refill your vampires. There are also Governs and Powerbase:
Montreal to ensure that you manage to influence at least Laz and Marie
and survive. Cards can be cycled with the Fragment of the Book of Nod;
Dreams of the Sphinx, as usual, can help in both cases. Intercept and
combat modules are rather light, but they are backed up by the good
permanents (Neighbourhood Watch Commander is actually a "permanent
combat card" which may force your predator to cancel the actions he was
planning).

That's all for May, and, as usual, any ideas and comments are
appreciated.

Yours,
Ector