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Official VEKN Malkavian Antitribu NEWSLETTER, March 2005
VOLUME IV, Issue VI
0. ERRATA
When I presented a Madman's Quill deck in my previous newsletter, I
completely forgot about Zillah's Tears, which makes that deck much
better. Just keep your Tears until day D, then drop Madman's Quill,
burn the Tears to untap and bleed with all your forces!
1. INTRODUCTION
At last, Kindred Most Wanted set appeared in the stores. It's really
impossible to predict all changes it will bring to the game, especially
for a newbie like me, but some things seem so obvious that even I can
see them:
a). KMW greatly increased a level of interaction between players. We've
got the cards against the most popular strategies: Tranquility against
Drawing Out the Beast, Groundfighting and Disengage against Immortal
Grapples, some cards against heavy voters and so on. This is really
good, as nobody will be able to dominate the whole playgroup with a
"Super-nasty deck". You are playing card X in large quantities? Well, I
always can use card Y to defend against it.
Unfortunately, the same could be said about stealth-bleed decks which
were the best decks of our clan. A good S&B deck was fast and deadly,
and it really could sweep tables without allies, which was bad for the
game. That's why intercept is getting some effective cards again (Bowl
of Convergence actually was just a
first sign). S&B decks will definitely remain powerful enough, but they
will be forced to include some cards against other strategies, and they
will have to forge alliances like others do.
b). Rush deck got better chances. New wording of Anarch Revolt, as well
as Red List and Trophies provide them a boost. Really bad news for our
clan, but we always can try to become allies with a Rush deck.
c). Huge voters became slightly worse, with all these Condemnations:
Mute, Confusions in the Eye, Distant Friends and Scalpel Tongues. If
you're planning to use a large vampire just for his votes, you'd better
seek for several smaller vamps instead.
2. HERE WE ARE
Although Kindred Most Wanted set was primarily designed for Independent
clans, any clan got something interesting in it. Here's a brief list of
the most useful cards for our clan:
Anima Gathering Action (Common)
+1 stealth action.
[aus] Put this card on this acting vampire and choose another minion
you control. Burn this card if this minion untaps. During your untap
phase, you may choose not to untap this minion as normal. The chosen
minion gets +2 intercept.
[AUS] AS above, and the chosen minion also gets +1 bleed.
This card was specifically designed for Zoe, as she has superior Auspex
and inferior Obfuscate to avoid blockers - all for 3 pool! Moreover,
this card cancels Zoe's disadvantage, as she isn't going to hunt
anyway. The same could be said about Martin Franckel, who won't bleed
anyway with Anima Gathering, and
Toreadors can use Isabel de Leon. The advantages are huge: +2 intercept
and +1 bleed! If you can live without +1 bleed (+2 intercept is much
more important in most cases), you can use even Feo Ramos or Piotr
Andreikov.
Certainly, permanent +2 intercept is very bad for all stealth decks,
and you cannot contest this card like Bowl of Convergence. But you can
play Babble to untap the minion with Anima Gathering, and this will
burn the card! Funny enough, though I'm not sure how many Babbles you
manage to put in a deck.
I can even pretend that Anima Gathering is suited for our clan better
than for any other, since you really need only one Anima Gathering, but
other clans will be forced to put several copies just to get one of
them in time. We will play several Sibyl's Tongues instead
So don't
be surprised to see some Rogers
Farnsworths and/or Idalias, Prophets of Guadalajara in a deck without
other Malks/!Malks... they can fetch Anima Gathering with Sibyl's
Tongue and then play it!
Confusion of the Eye Reaction (Common)
[obf] Reduce a younger vampire`s or an ally`s bleed against you by 1.
[OBF] Only usable during a referendum before any votes are cast. Not
usable on a referendum that is automatically passing. If the referendum
requires a titled vampire, the referendum fails. Otherwise, the
referendum continues, but the acting vampire cannot cast any votes in
this referendum.
This card is really poweful anti-vote tech, and it's especially good
against political action that require a title. Do you want to get some
protection against PTOs, Parity Shifts, Alastors and Trumpet-Up
Charges? I'd like to. Notice that the only other card that makes a
referendum to fail is Vox Domini, which is a master
out-of turn for 1 pool. To play Confusion of the Eye, you need just an
untapped minion with superior Obfuscate, and it costs nothing... not
even a single blood.
Even if your predator plays a "normal" political action, CotE is likely
to foil his plans in many situations. So you wanted to play Bewitching
Oration/Awe and Voter Captivation? Next time, please! And if my faction
also has some votes, we can foil the referendum.
Now please have a look at inferior ability of the card. Without it,
CotE would be much less playable, as nobody can use a lot of
anti-voting cards: what if nobody would play politics? Inferior ability
allows you to cycle CotE, and not just "cycle", but get a good use of
it! This ability is wonderful in a deck that uses
Victoria and cries: "Hands off my Edge!" Just get Rachel Brandywine and
Victoria, play Homunculus on Rachel and put a lot of CotE, Telepathic
Counters and Telepathic Misdirections. You bleed for 1 to steal my
Edge? Your bleed is negated by CotE or Counter. You bleed for 3? I will
redirect your bleed to my prey.
Disengage Combat (Common)
Do not replace until after combat. Press, only usable to end combat.
Alternatively, burn 1 blood to cancel a grapple card (such as Immortal
Grapple or Mighty Grapple) as it is played (no cost is paid for that
card).
This card isn't very great, but it's much better than Boxed In. Marie
Faucigny can play it to defend against multi-round combat (Tremeres,
Trap etc) or against Immortal Grapples, and then dodge the strike.
FBI Special Affairs Division Event (Rare)
Government. When an ally is burned in combat with an acting vampire,
put a counter on this card, and that acting vampire takes 2
unpreventable damage (after combat ends). Burn this card when it has 4
counters.
Guess what ally is going to be burned in almost any combat? Surely,
it's our famous Escaped Mental Patient! Looks like this card would be
really great in my funny Patients deck... I wonder, why FBI agents
aren't catching the patiens?
Speaking seriously, this card creates a good combo with Neigborhood
Watch Commander (3 damage total), and it really protects valuable
allies like Mylan Horseed and Carlton Van Vyk. Add The Unmasking to the
mix, and the deck core is finished. Looks like it's time to remake the
old deck now...
Mind of a Killer Action (Rare)
+1 stealth action.
[dem] (D) Put this card on a ready minion. This minion gets +1
strength. Burn this card when a combat involving this minion ends.
During this minion's discard phase, burn this card, and this minion's
controller must inflict 2 damage on another ready minion he or she
controls.
[DEM] As above, and tap this minion when this card is burned.
This card looks like useless at first sight, but don't beleive that
sight. The goal of this card is dealing damage to vampires of your
prey, and even inferior Dementation is enough to deal 2 damage.
Unfortunately, things aren't that simple: if a minion with this card
can act, he will perform an action that is likely to be blocked and use
+1 strength as a bonus in the resulting combat. Moreover, if you
encounter a combat deck based on Potence, he may even rush you with +1
strenth! Thus, you need to completely disable one of your prey's
minions. To achieve this, you should use Chimerstry cards - Sensory
Deprivation or Nightmare Curse. Tap one minion forever and play
multitude Minds of a Killer on him! I'm forced to admit that I
considered the card useless myself - and now it's going to be my Card
of the Month sometimes!
3. CARD OF THE MONTH
Learjet Equipment (Common)
1 pool
Vehicle. Each time you draw to replace a card this minion played as an
acting minion, you may draw an additional card. Discard down to your
hand size afterward. A minion have only one vehicle.
Finally we hit a gold card. In many other card games cards aren't
immediately replaced when you play them, running out of cards is a
disaster, and "card-drawing cards" are quite popular there. In V:teS,
the same could be said about "card-replacing cards", since you may have
a full hand of cards you cannot play at the moment, and you will just
waste time discarding these cards one per turn. This may easily happen
to any player with any deck, as most cards are situational. You are
playing a voting deck, but your neighbours block all your political
actions, so your hand is full with Bewitchng Orations and Voter
Captivations. You are playing S&B, but nobody attempts to block you,
and your hand is full of stealth modifiers. You are playing a Rush
deck, but you have no Rush actions in your hand, and your combat cards
are useless until you manage to enter combat. Or you just have 4 master
cards in your hand, which may happen to any deck.
Learjet is the best way to get needed cards and get rid of unneeded
ones. Surely, you can play The Barrens, but it's the unique location,
which can be contested, stolen or destroyed. Moreover, you are forced
to discard a card prior to looking at the new card, and the new card
may be even worse! Fragment of the Book of Nod? It's better, since you
draw two cards and then decide which cards to discard, but it also can
be contested or stolen as a (D) action. Combat decks can use Aura
Reading or Infernal Pursuit, but these cards are risky: you have to
enter combat not knowing what you will draw for them. Such cards also
require Disciplines - if your vampire has inferior Celerity, and you
don't need press, the Infernal Pursuit would be useless during this
combat. And if you play such cards in a combat deck, you are FORCED to
play them, as combat decks can't afford playing with "dead cards" on
hand, and these cards may deplete your library really fast (especially
Infernal Pursuit, which may easily force you to draw 5 extra cards or
more in one combat).
Now look at the Learjet. Even if your minion plays only one action
card, you MAY draw extra card and discard a card you don't need. If you
play more cards, which happens very often (Kindred Spirits + Confusion,
KRC + Bewitching Oration + Voter Captivation, etc. etc.), you will
NEVER HAVE DEAD CARDS. Moreover, you may even "hunt" for a certain card
combination, and if your deck is good, you will manage to get the
combination in
reasonable time! For instance, your deck may contain six Sibyl's
Tongues to get the pieces of your combo, but if you get a bad hand, you
will never get them and lose. Play Learjet! You will cycle cards like a
rocket and you'll get your Sibyl's Tongue really fast.
As always, Rush decks will benefit from card cycling more than other
deck archetypes. Unlike Aura Reading or Infernal Pursuit, Learjet won't
be in your hand when you rush, so you can assess your chances better.
And you can decide whether you replace a card or not for each card
individually. "I want to fight at close
distance, and I have one maneuver in hand, so I don't need to draw
extra card for Harass. What? My opponent maneuvers to long range? Now I
play my maneuver, look at the first card, it doesn't provide manuever,
then I draw additional card, and get maneuver!" You won't draw extra
cards if you are satisfied with your hand, and if you aren't, you have
a decent chance of improving it. And if you like crazy combat combos
such as Drawing Out the Beast + Carrion Crows + Immortal Grapple or
Theft of Vitae + Apportation + Blood to Water + Walk of Flame, you will
like Learjet a lot!
What about price and support? Learjet cannot be contested, and most of
the time nobody will be able to steal or destroy it. It costs 1 pool,
which is affordable in most cases, but I'm going to "cheat" and equip
it with Marie Faucigny for free. You may use Jack of Both Sides to get
it safely and pay 1 blood instead of 1
pool. Moreover, you can FETCH it! Use Magic of the Smith, if you can,
or Vast Wealth if not. This card is so wonderful that it may even make
Repo Man playable.
If anyone wants to know which KMW card will affect the game most, I
vote for Learjet. Not for Dual Form, not for Ossian or any other
super-rare card, but for this seemingly innocent common vehicle. If you
like horror, just imagine that your predator has Una with Learjet and a
host of Freak Drives
4. VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH
Name: Marie Faucigny [Gehenna:U]
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Group: 3
Capacity: 7
Discipline: dem tha AUS OBF
Sabbat Archbishop of Geneva. Once each combat, Marie can burn 1 blood
to dodge as a strike. Non-weapon equipment cards cost her 1 less blood
or pool to equip.
Marie is a great vampire. Having an Archbishop for 7 pool is really
good, as there are no cheaper Archbishops, and Geneva isn't very
popular among vampires, so the only vampire that can contest Marie's
title is Ingrid Rossler, which isn't too popular herself. Struggling
for control over Chicago or Houston would be much more difficult
Having votes is always good, and the Archbishop title grants access to
many good Sabbat cards, such as Purchase Pact or Creation Rites.
Marie has two clan Disciplines at superior, and inferior Dementation.
The latter is a serious disadvantage that should prevent her from
playing in traditional S&B decks. Fortunately, her additional abilities
and her title more than overweight this disadvantage... as you saw in
the previous newsletter, some decks play a lot of Dementation skill
cards anyway, so the disadvantage can be easily "fixed".
First huge advantage of Marie is an optional dodge. Not a big deal for
a combat-oriented clan, but really great for poor !Malks. One dodge per
combat won't save a vampire against a dedicated combat deck, but you
may have other combat cards. Against Tremeres Marie can use her ability
to dodge Theft in the first round, then play Gemini's Mirror to dodge
Walk of Flame in the second. At least you are not completely
defenseless if you can block with Marie.
The second ability is even more attractive: Marie has a discount on all
non-weapon equipment! This may be used in special decks having a lot of
such equipment, which can easily be fetched with Vast Wealth and
transferred to the other vampires with Heidelberg Castle or Nod. The
most attractive options include Learjet for free, Flak Lacket for free
(AFAIK, nothing prevents Marie from having a lot of Flak Jackets, which
makes her an impenetratable "tank"), Laptop Computer for free (who
needs superior Dementation to increase bleeds?), Enchanted Marionette
for 2 pool (quite affordable, three pool seems a bit overpriced),
Palatial Estate for 1 blood, Signet of King Saul for free and Seal of
Veddartha for free. Sounds good enough, eh?
And the last, but not least: Marie has Thaumaturgy! Even the inferiour
level of this versatile Discipline provides her access to Rutor's Hand
and Magic of the Smith. Obviously, Vastly Wealthy Marie would become
much better with Rutor's Hand, as she would be able to fetch equipment
and untap to bleed or be ready to block. Somebody will have to resque
Marie from torpor after Rutor's Hand, but it's definitely worth such
trouble.
Magic of the Smith allows Marie to fetch the equipment you need right
now, not just the first one, as Vast Wealth does, and immediately equip
it, not just put into your hand as Sibyl's Tongue does. This card is
very, very powerful, and in most cases inferior Thaumaturgy is enough
to play it, as the only advantage of superior version is increased
stealth, and Marie should never experience lack of stealth having
superior Obfuscate.
Even inferior Thaumaturgy enables some dangerous combat cards like
Burst of Sunlight, and Marie can use her free Flak Jacket to prevent 1
aggravated damage to herself. This combat module is very efficient, as
it doesn't require a lot of cards, it costs no blood and works at any
distance. Seems that this module should
force many rushers to stay away from our vampires.
Name: Louhi [KMW:U]
Clan: Malkavian Antitribu
Group: 4
Capacity: 10
Discipline: pro ANI AUS DEM OBF THA
Sabbat Cardinal. Once each turn, if Louhi is ready, she may burn 1
blood to cancel an action card played by a vampire controlled by your
predator as it is played (the acting minion doesn't tap).
Louhi is the new anti-Malkavian superstar, leader of the clan. She is a
10-capacity Cardinal, and she has all clan Disciplines at superior,
which is good but standard for such vampires. What does she has besides
that? A lot of good Disciplines and really superb ability... she offers
so much that I can't believe she's
real! Have a closer look yourself:
* Superior Thaumaturgy. This is really good, since Thaumaturgy is
powerful and versatile Discipline, and we already have at least two
good vampires with Thaumaturgy (Marie Faucigny and William Biltmore),
so we can build a deck with Thaumaturgy now! Most useful Thaumaturgy
cards are Rutor's Hand, Magic of the Smith and
the most popular combat cards (Theft of Vitae, Walk of Flame and Burst
of Sunlight).
* Inferior Protean. Also very good, since we already have Rachel
Brandywine and Rodolfo with Protean. Inferior Protean isn't enough to
use Earth Meld and Form of Mist at their full potential, but it's
enough to make your hand damage aggravated with Claws of the Dead, and
even inferior Earth Meld provides far better combat protection than we
had before. If you plan using Protean, you should think about including
some skill cards: superior Form of Mist is outstanding!
* Superior Animalism. Now, that's really good surprise! There are no
other Malks/!Malks with superior Animalism in the whole game - Louhi is
the first. But there are two very good Malks with inferior Animalism -
Maris Streck and Rachel Brandywine (Korah also has it, but she is group
2, alas). These three vamps have
very good abilities and a lot of votes, and it's quite possible to
build such deck now... but, unfortunately they cost 29 pool total, so
you'll have only two of them unless you include really good bloating.
I must note that ANI/THA makes a good combo for devastating multi-round
combat: first round Trap, Carrion Crows and Theft of Vitae, second
round Walk of Flame (or just another Theft). And you may add Drawing
out the Beast against equipment and presses! This combination of
Disciplines is so rare that only few
10-capacity vampires possess it: Goratrix, Yong-Sun, infernal Cybele
and Louhi. Are you proud of our clan leader?
Finally, let's talk about Louhi's special ability. It isn't just
"good", it's truly awesome! Your predator wants to play PTO? Not a
chance, at least while Louhi is ready. He wants to play Bum's Rush?
Find another one, please! You may prohibit any crucial action, from
Rutor's Hand to Eternal Vigilance, just for one
blood, and Louhi even doesn't need to be untapped! Without Louhi the
similar result could be achieved only with Direct Intervention, a
master out-of-turn for one pool. Surely, Direct Intervention can cancel
any minion card, not just an action card, and it works on any minion,
not just controlled by your predator, but the difference in price is
also huge. When you have a master out-of turn, you can either keep it
until you encounter a decent target for it (which means that you are
playing with a smaller hand for a while) or play it quickly (which
means that you won't have it when you will need it most). And you will
spend a master
phase and 1 pool for Direct Intervention, while Louhi's ability
provides the most important part of the effect without any cards just
for 1 blood.
Overall, Louhi is an outstanding vampire, and I'm sure that we'll see a
lot of interesting decks with her. All hail LSJ!!!
5. DECK OF THE MONTH
Deck Name : Anti-Malkavian Thaumaturgists
Author : Ilya Ginsburg
Description : Louhi + Marie Faucigny + William Biltmore
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 4 max: 10 average: 7.34
------------------------------------------------------------
3x Louhi 10 ANI AUS DEM OBF THA pro cardinal
!Malkavian:4
2x William Biltmore 9 AUS DEM OBF THA dom
Malkavian:3
3x Marie Faucigny 7 AUS OBF dem tha archbishop
!Malkavian:3
1x General Perfidio Dios 5 AUS dem obf bishop
!Malkavian:3
1x Persia, The Beautiful 5 DEM aus obf
Malkavian:3
1x Uncle George 5 DEM aus dom obf
!Malkavian:3
1x Jeremy Talbot 4 dem obf
Malkavian:3
Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [27]
6x Call, The
2x Dive into Madness
10x Kindred Spirits
2x Madman's Quill
3x Rutor's Hand
4x Sibyl's Tongue
Action Modifier [23]
7x Confusion
4x Elder Impersonation
3x Faceless Night
4x Lost in Crowds
5x Spying Mission
Action Modifier/Combat [5]
5x Swallowed by the Night
Combat [5]
5x Burst of Sunlight
Equipment [4]
1x Bowl of Convergence
2x Flak Jacket
1x Ivory Bow
1x Learjet
Master [14]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Archon Investigation
5x Blood Doll
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Hungry Coyote, The
1x Purchase Pact
2x Information Highway
1x Vast Wealth
Reaction [11]
6x Telepathic Misdirection
5x Wake with Evening's Freshness
This deck is just a variation of the deck from my previous issue, but
it was reworked to demonstrate usage of Thaumaturgy in a stealth-bleed
deck. The idea of this deck was inspired by Craig Johnston's "Demented
Thaumaturgists" (find it at the newsgroup or in The Lasombra's deck
archive), but Craig used Fleurdumal and
played without Obfuscate. I'm lucky enough to have good vamps with
AUS/DEM/OBF/THA, so I can use Obfuscate.
The deck is pretty self-explanatory. I tried to demonstrate a lot of
things here, so it's rather toolboxy. Fetch Vast Wealth with the first
Sibyl's Tongue, and put it on Marie to fetch your equipment. Then
concentrate on getting your Rutor's Hands and The Hungry Coyote. The
deck has a lot of different actions, so
your vamps with Rutor's Hand will almost never stay unemployed; after
all, hunting is also good, especially with the Coyote.
This deck also tries to demostrate Learjet and Flak Jacket/Burst of
Sunlight combat module. You may wish to add some Magics of the Smith to
fetch Learjet first (yes, it's that good).
6. BONUS TRACK 1: JOKES OF THE MONTH
"Dear Ambrosio,
I've got a grave news for you: my superior Arika just decided to burn
you with PTO. I know that you will vote for it, just to honor our
friendship... you are my good friend, arent't you?"
Ranjan Rishi, to his Distant Friend, Ambrosio Luis Moncada
"When he told me that FBI would revenge his death I thought it was just
another insane babbling. Now look: he's got killed, and FBI agents are
really here!"
One Escaped Mental Patient, to another
7. BONUS TRACK 2: DELIVERING HELL TO THE FOOL
Valerius Maior, Hell`s Fool (7)
nec pre AUS DAI DOM THA
Tremere, group 4
Camarilla, Red List: If Valerius srikes with a strike that requires
Thaumaturgy, he gains an optional additional strike, only usable to
strike with a strike that requires Thaumaturgy. Infernal.
Valerius Maior, Hell`s Fool (adv) (7)
nec pre AUS DAI DOM THA
Tremere antitribu, group 4
Advanced, Sabbat, Red List: If Valerius attempts to block, the acting
minion cannot play action modifier or combat cards that require
Chimerstry or Obfuscate. Infernal.
[Merge] Independent. Valerius becomes non-Infernal and non-Red List as
he merges. While merged, his capacity is reduced by 2.
Obviously, Valeruis is devastating for a traditional Kindred Spirits
deck, but even somebody in your playgroup plays him, you still have
several options:
1). Propose that player a table-splitting deal (after all, you have
Kindred Spirits, thus you can bleed anyone).
2). Propose a deal to a good Rush deck (his part of job would be
killing Valerius). Include a good Trophy card to reward your ally,
preferably Trophy
omain or Trophy:Hunting Grounds, which are useful
for all players.
3). Incorporate a combat module to kill Valeruis yourself. Flak
Jacket/Burst of Sunlight looks like good enough for this. Don't allow
Valerius to play Conflagration!
4). If all else fails, just swap your deck to this little surprise and
play it until the Valerius player would stop playing him:
Deck Name : Delivering Hell to the Fool ;-)
Author : Ilya Ginsburg
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 10 average: 6.75
------------------------------------------------------------
4x Ferox, The Rock Lord (Adv) 7 FOR POT VIS ani
Gargoyle:2
3x Cock Robin 10 ANI OBF POT aus for justicar
Nosferatu:3
1x Teresita, The Godmother 7 ANI OBF POT for
!Nosferatu:3
1x Amelia, The Blood Red Tears 5 POT ani obf
Nosferatu:3
1x Nigel the Shunned 5 ANI POT obf
!Nosferatu:2
1x Darva Felispa 3 ani pot
Nosferatu:3
1x Tommy 3 ani pot
!Nosferatu:2
Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [10]
3x Army of Rats
2x Bum's Rush
2x Harass
2x Nose of the Hound
1x Tier of Souls
Action Modifier [6]
6x Freak Drive
Combat [56]
2x Canine Horde
4x Decapitate
5x Disarm
6x Drawing Out the Beast
10x Immortal Grapple
5x Rolling with the Punches
3x Shared Strength
4x Soak
6x Taste of Vitae
6x Torn Signpost
5x Unflinching Persistence
Master [13]
3x Blood Doll
2x Fame
2x Haven Uncovered
1x Labyrinth, The
1x Leadership Vacuum
1x Rack, The
1x Slum Hunting Ground
1x Storm Sewers
1x Trophy: Domain
Retainer [5]
1x Murder of Crows
1x Owl Companion
3x Raven Spy
Every deck has its nemesis, and this deck is a nemesis to Valerius
Maior. Advanced Ferox can dispatch Valerius with ease, as most Valeruis
decks would contain a lot of Thaumaturgy cards, which can't be played
against Ferox. He's also good against Necromancy... no Spiritual
Intervention, fellow Giovanni, let's fight! Finally, you may even
include non-advanced Ferox if you want to merge him for additional
bonuses.
Besides that, it's pretty obvious ani/for/POT rush deck which can
prevent damage and then play Disarm and Decapitate. Even small vamps
without Fortitude can use Fortitude cards with Shared Strength, which
can be a nasty surprise for your opponent.
Note that Ravnos, whose primary Discipline, Chimerstry, is also hosed
by Valerius, can relatively easily include Ferox in their decks, as
they also have Animalism and Fortitude. Ivan Krenyenko even has
ANI/FOR/POT and increased strength! Unfortunately, !Malks aren't so
lucky, but, as you see, a countermeasure always
exists.
That's all for March.
As usual, I'd like to hear your comments, ideas and any other feedback.
Yours,
Ector (Ector@mail.ru)
Official VEKN Malkavian Antitribu NEWSLETTER, March 2005
VOLUME IV, Issue VI
0. ERRATA
When I presented a Madman's Quill deck in my previous newsletter, I
completely forgot about Zillah's Tears, which makes that deck much
better. Just keep your Tears until day D, then drop Madman's Quill,
burn the Tears to untap and bleed with all your forces!
1. INTRODUCTION
At last, Kindred Most Wanted set appeared in the stores. It's really
impossible to predict all changes it will bring to the game, especially
for a newbie like me, but some things seem so obvious that even I can
see them:
a). KMW greatly increased a level of interaction between players. We've
got the cards against the most popular strategies: Tranquility against
Drawing Out the Beast, Groundfighting and Disengage against Immortal
Grapples, some cards against heavy voters and so on. This is really
good, as nobody will be able to dominate the whole playgroup with a
"Super-nasty deck". You are playing card X in large quantities? Well, I
always can use card Y to defend against it.
Unfortunately, the same could be said about stealth-bleed decks which
were the best decks of our clan. A good S&B deck was fast and deadly,
and it really could sweep tables without allies, which was bad for the
game. That's why intercept is getting some effective cards again (Bowl
of Convergence actually was just a
first sign). S&B decks will definitely remain powerful enough, but they
will be forced to include some cards against other strategies, and they
will have to forge alliances like others do.
b). Rush deck got better chances. New wording of Anarch Revolt, as well
as Red List and Trophies provide them a boost. Really bad news for our
clan, but we always can try to become allies with a Rush deck.
c). Huge voters became slightly worse, with all these Condemnations:
Mute, Confusions in the Eye, Distant Friends and Scalpel Tongues. If
you're planning to use a large vampire just for his votes, you'd better
seek for several smaller vamps instead.
2. HERE WE ARE
Although Kindred Most Wanted set was primarily designed for Independent
clans, any clan got something interesting in it. Here's a brief list of
the most useful cards for our clan:
Anima Gathering Action (Common)
+1 stealth action.
[aus] Put this card on this acting vampire and choose another minion
you control. Burn this card if this minion untaps. During your untap
phase, you may choose not to untap this minion as normal. The chosen
minion gets +2 intercept.
[AUS] AS above, and the chosen minion also gets +1 bleed.
This card was specifically designed for Zoe, as she has superior Auspex
and inferior Obfuscate to avoid blockers - all for 3 pool! Moreover,
this card cancels Zoe's disadvantage, as she isn't going to hunt
anyway. The same could be said about Martin Franckel, who won't bleed
anyway with Anima Gathering, and
Toreadors can use Isabel de Leon. The advantages are huge: +2 intercept
and +1 bleed! If you can live without +1 bleed (+2 intercept is much
more important in most cases), you can use even Feo Ramos or Piotr
Andreikov.
Certainly, permanent +2 intercept is very bad for all stealth decks,
and you cannot contest this card like Bowl of Convergence. But you can
play Babble to untap the minion with Anima Gathering, and this will
burn the card! Funny enough, though I'm not sure how many Babbles you
manage to put in a deck.
I can even pretend that Anima Gathering is suited for our clan better
than for any other, since you really need only one Anima Gathering, but
other clans will be forced to put several copies just to get one of
them in time. We will play several Sibyl's Tongues instead
So don'tbe surprised to see some Rogers
Farnsworths and/or Idalias, Prophets of Guadalajara in a deck without
other Malks/!Malks... they can fetch Anima Gathering with Sibyl's
Tongue and then play it!
Confusion of the Eye Reaction (Common)
[obf] Reduce a younger vampire`s or an ally`s bleed against you by 1.
[OBF] Only usable during a referendum before any votes are cast. Not
usable on a referendum that is automatically passing. If the referendum
requires a titled vampire, the referendum fails. Otherwise, the
referendum continues, but the acting vampire cannot cast any votes in
this referendum.
This card is really poweful anti-vote tech, and it's especially good
against political action that require a title. Do you want to get some
protection against PTOs, Parity Shifts, Alastors and Trumpet-Up
Charges? I'd like to. Notice that the only other card that makes a
referendum to fail is Vox Domini, which is a master
out-of turn for 1 pool. To play Confusion of the Eye, you need just an
untapped minion with superior Obfuscate, and it costs nothing... not
even a single blood.
Even if your predator plays a "normal" political action, CotE is likely
to foil his plans in many situations. So you wanted to play Bewitching
Oration/Awe and Voter Captivation? Next time, please! And if my faction
also has some votes, we can foil the referendum.
Now please have a look at inferior ability of the card. Without it,
CotE would be much less playable, as nobody can use a lot of
anti-voting cards: what if nobody would play politics? Inferior ability
allows you to cycle CotE, and not just "cycle", but get a good use of
it! This ability is wonderful in a deck that uses
Victoria and cries: "Hands off my Edge!" Just get Rachel Brandywine and
Victoria, play Homunculus on Rachel and put a lot of CotE, Telepathic
Counters and Telepathic Misdirections. You bleed for 1 to steal my
Edge? Your bleed is negated by CotE or Counter. You bleed for 3? I will
redirect your bleed to my prey.
Disengage Combat (Common)
Do not replace until after combat. Press, only usable to end combat.
Alternatively, burn 1 blood to cancel a grapple card (such as Immortal
Grapple or Mighty Grapple) as it is played (no cost is paid for that
card).
This card isn't very great, but it's much better than Boxed In. Marie
Faucigny can play it to defend against multi-round combat (Tremeres,
Trap etc) or against Immortal Grapples, and then dodge the strike.
FBI Special Affairs Division Event (Rare)
Government. When an ally is burned in combat with an acting vampire,
put a counter on this card, and that acting vampire takes 2
unpreventable damage (after combat ends). Burn this card when it has 4
counters.
Guess what ally is going to be burned in almost any combat? Surely,
it's our famous Escaped Mental Patient! Looks like this card would be
really great in my funny Patients deck... I wonder, why FBI agents
aren't catching the patiens?
Speaking seriously, this card creates a good combo with Neigborhood
Watch Commander (3 damage total), and it really protects valuable
allies like Mylan Horseed and Carlton Van Vyk. Add The Unmasking to the
mix, and the deck core is finished. Looks like it's time to remake the
old deck now...
Mind of a Killer Action (Rare)
+1 stealth action.
[dem] (D) Put this card on a ready minion. This minion gets +1
strength. Burn this card when a combat involving this minion ends.
During this minion's discard phase, burn this card, and this minion's
controller must inflict 2 damage on another ready minion he or she
controls.
[DEM] As above, and tap this minion when this card is burned.
This card looks like useless at first sight, but don't beleive that
sight. The goal of this card is dealing damage to vampires of your
prey, and even inferior Dementation is enough to deal 2 damage.
Unfortunately, things aren't that simple: if a minion with this card
can act, he will perform an action that is likely to be blocked and use
+1 strength as a bonus in the resulting combat. Moreover, if you
encounter a combat deck based on Potence, he may even rush you with +1
strenth! Thus, you need to completely disable one of your prey's
minions. To achieve this, you should use Chimerstry cards - Sensory
Deprivation or Nightmare Curse. Tap one minion forever and play
multitude Minds of a Killer on him! I'm forced to admit that I
considered the card useless myself - and now it's going to be my Card
of the Month sometimes!
3. CARD OF THE MONTH
Learjet Equipment (Common)
1 pool
Vehicle. Each time you draw to replace a card this minion played as an
acting minion, you may draw an additional card. Discard down to your
hand size afterward. A minion have only one vehicle.
Finally we hit a gold card. In many other card games cards aren't
immediately replaced when you play them, running out of cards is a
disaster, and "card-drawing cards" are quite popular there. In V:teS,
the same could be said about "card-replacing cards", since you may have
a full hand of cards you cannot play at the moment, and you will just
waste time discarding these cards one per turn. This may easily happen
to any player with any deck, as most cards are situational. You are
playing a voting deck, but your neighbours block all your political
actions, so your hand is full with Bewitchng Orations and Voter
Captivations. You are playing S&B, but nobody attempts to block you,
and your hand is full of stealth modifiers. You are playing a Rush
deck, but you have no Rush actions in your hand, and your combat cards
are useless until you manage to enter combat. Or you just have 4 master
cards in your hand, which may happen to any deck.
Learjet is the best way to get needed cards and get rid of unneeded
ones. Surely, you can play The Barrens, but it's the unique location,
which can be contested, stolen or destroyed. Moreover, you are forced
to discard a card prior to looking at the new card, and the new card
may be even worse! Fragment of the Book of Nod? It's better, since you
draw two cards and then decide which cards to discard, but it also can
be contested or stolen as a (D) action. Combat decks can use Aura
Reading or Infernal Pursuit, but these cards are risky: you have to
enter combat not knowing what you will draw for them. Such cards also
require Disciplines - if your vampire has inferior Celerity, and you
don't need press, the Infernal Pursuit would be useless during this
combat. And if you play such cards in a combat deck, you are FORCED to
play them, as combat decks can't afford playing with "dead cards" on
hand, and these cards may deplete your library really fast (especially
Infernal Pursuit, which may easily force you to draw 5 extra cards or
more in one combat).
Now look at the Learjet. Even if your minion plays only one action
card, you MAY draw extra card and discard a card you don't need. If you
play more cards, which happens very often (Kindred Spirits + Confusion,
KRC + Bewitching Oration + Voter Captivation, etc. etc.), you will
NEVER HAVE DEAD CARDS. Moreover, you may even "hunt" for a certain card
combination, and if your deck is good, you will manage to get the
combination in
reasonable time! For instance, your deck may contain six Sibyl's
Tongues to get the pieces of your combo, but if you get a bad hand, you
will never get them and lose. Play Learjet! You will cycle cards like a
rocket and you'll get your Sibyl's Tongue really fast.
As always, Rush decks will benefit from card cycling more than other
deck archetypes. Unlike Aura Reading or Infernal Pursuit, Learjet won't
be in your hand when you rush, so you can assess your chances better.
And you can decide whether you replace a card or not for each card
individually. "I want to fight at close
distance, and I have one maneuver in hand, so I don't need to draw
extra card for Harass. What? My opponent maneuvers to long range? Now I
play my maneuver, look at the first card, it doesn't provide manuever,
then I draw additional card, and get maneuver!" You won't draw extra
cards if you are satisfied with your hand, and if you aren't, you have
a decent chance of improving it. And if you like crazy combat combos
such as Drawing Out the Beast + Carrion Crows + Immortal Grapple or
Theft of Vitae + Apportation + Blood to Water + Walk of Flame, you will
like Learjet a lot!
What about price and support? Learjet cannot be contested, and most of
the time nobody will be able to steal or destroy it. It costs 1 pool,
which is affordable in most cases, but I'm going to "cheat" and equip
it with Marie Faucigny for free. You may use Jack of Both Sides to get
it safely and pay 1 blood instead of 1
pool. Moreover, you can FETCH it! Use Magic of the Smith, if you can,
or Vast Wealth if not. This card is so wonderful that it may even make
Repo Man playable.
If anyone wants to know which KMW card will affect the game most, I
vote for Learjet. Not for Dual Form, not for Ossian or any other
super-rare card, but for this seemingly innocent common vehicle. If you
like horror, just imagine that your predator has Una with Learjet and a
host of Freak Drives
4. VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH
Name: Marie Faucigny [Gehenna:U]
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Group: 3
Capacity: 7
Discipline: dem tha AUS OBF
Sabbat Archbishop of Geneva. Once each combat, Marie can burn 1 blood
to dodge as a strike. Non-weapon equipment cards cost her 1 less blood
or pool to equip.
Marie is a great vampire. Having an Archbishop for 7 pool is really
good, as there are no cheaper Archbishops, and Geneva isn't very
popular among vampires, so the only vampire that can contest Marie's
title is Ingrid Rossler, which isn't too popular herself. Struggling
for control over Chicago or Houston would be much more difficult
Having votes is always good, and the Archbishop title grants access to
many good Sabbat cards, such as Purchase Pact or Creation Rites.
Marie has two clan Disciplines at superior, and inferior Dementation.
The latter is a serious disadvantage that should prevent her from
playing in traditional S&B decks. Fortunately, her additional abilities
and her title more than overweight this disadvantage... as you saw in
the previous newsletter, some decks play a lot of Dementation skill
cards anyway, so the disadvantage can be easily "fixed".
First huge advantage of Marie is an optional dodge. Not a big deal for
a combat-oriented clan, but really great for poor !Malks. One dodge per
combat won't save a vampire against a dedicated combat deck, but you
may have other combat cards. Against Tremeres Marie can use her ability
to dodge Theft in the first round, then play Gemini's Mirror to dodge
Walk of Flame in the second. At least you are not completely
defenseless if you can block with Marie.
The second ability is even more attractive: Marie has a discount on all
non-weapon equipment! This may be used in special decks having a lot of
such equipment, which can easily be fetched with Vast Wealth and
transferred to the other vampires with Heidelberg Castle or Nod. The
most attractive options include Learjet for free, Flak Lacket for free
(AFAIK, nothing prevents Marie from having a lot of Flak Jackets, which
makes her an impenetratable "tank"), Laptop Computer for free (who
needs superior Dementation to increase bleeds?), Enchanted Marionette
for 2 pool (quite affordable, three pool seems a bit overpriced),
Palatial Estate for 1 blood, Signet of King Saul for free and Seal of
Veddartha for free. Sounds good enough, eh?
And the last, but not least: Marie has Thaumaturgy! Even the inferiour
level of this versatile Discipline provides her access to Rutor's Hand
and Magic of the Smith. Obviously, Vastly Wealthy Marie would become
much better with Rutor's Hand, as she would be able to fetch equipment
and untap to bleed or be ready to block. Somebody will have to resque
Marie from torpor after Rutor's Hand, but it's definitely worth such
trouble.
Magic of the Smith allows Marie to fetch the equipment you need right
now, not just the first one, as Vast Wealth does, and immediately equip
it, not just put into your hand as Sibyl's Tongue does. This card is
very, very powerful, and in most cases inferior Thaumaturgy is enough
to play it, as the only advantage of superior version is increased
stealth, and Marie should never experience lack of stealth having
superior Obfuscate.
Even inferior Thaumaturgy enables some dangerous combat cards like
Burst of Sunlight, and Marie can use her free Flak Jacket to prevent 1
aggravated damage to herself. This combat module is very efficient, as
it doesn't require a lot of cards, it costs no blood and works at any
distance. Seems that this module should
force many rushers to stay away from our vampires.
Name: Louhi [KMW:U]
Clan: Malkavian Antitribu
Group: 4
Capacity: 10
Discipline: pro ANI AUS DEM OBF THA
Sabbat Cardinal. Once each turn, if Louhi is ready, she may burn 1
blood to cancel an action card played by a vampire controlled by your
predator as it is played (the acting minion doesn't tap).
Louhi is the new anti-Malkavian superstar, leader of the clan. She is a
10-capacity Cardinal, and she has all clan Disciplines at superior,
which is good but standard for such vampires. What does she has besides
that? A lot of good Disciplines and really superb ability... she offers
so much that I can't believe she's
real! Have a closer look yourself:
* Superior Thaumaturgy. This is really good, since Thaumaturgy is
powerful and versatile Discipline, and we already have at least two
good vampires with Thaumaturgy (Marie Faucigny and William Biltmore),
so we can build a deck with Thaumaturgy now! Most useful Thaumaturgy
cards are Rutor's Hand, Magic of the Smith and
the most popular combat cards (Theft of Vitae, Walk of Flame and Burst
of Sunlight).
* Inferior Protean. Also very good, since we already have Rachel
Brandywine and Rodolfo with Protean. Inferior Protean isn't enough to
use Earth Meld and Form of Mist at their full potential, but it's
enough to make your hand damage aggravated with Claws of the Dead, and
even inferior Earth Meld provides far better combat protection than we
had before. If you plan using Protean, you should think about including
some skill cards: superior Form of Mist is outstanding!
* Superior Animalism. Now, that's really good surprise! There are no
other Malks/!Malks with superior Animalism in the whole game - Louhi is
the first. But there are two very good Malks with inferior Animalism -
Maris Streck and Rachel Brandywine (Korah also has it, but she is group
2, alas). These three vamps have
very good abilities and a lot of votes, and it's quite possible to
build such deck now... but, unfortunately they cost 29 pool total, so
you'll have only two of them unless you include really good bloating.
I must note that ANI/THA makes a good combo for devastating multi-round
combat: first round Trap, Carrion Crows and Theft of Vitae, second
round Walk of Flame (or just another Theft). And you may add Drawing
out the Beast against equipment and presses! This combination of
Disciplines is so rare that only few
10-capacity vampires possess it: Goratrix, Yong-Sun, infernal Cybele
and Louhi. Are you proud of our clan leader?
Finally, let's talk about Louhi's special ability. It isn't just
"good", it's truly awesome! Your predator wants to play PTO? Not a
chance, at least while Louhi is ready. He wants to play Bum's Rush?
Find another one, please! You may prohibit any crucial action, from
Rutor's Hand to Eternal Vigilance, just for one
blood, and Louhi even doesn't need to be untapped! Without Louhi the
similar result could be achieved only with Direct Intervention, a
master out-of-turn for one pool. Surely, Direct Intervention can cancel
any minion card, not just an action card, and it works on any minion,
not just controlled by your predator, but the difference in price is
also huge. When you have a master out-of turn, you can either keep it
until you encounter a decent target for it (which means that you are
playing with a smaller hand for a while) or play it quickly (which
means that you won't have it when you will need it most). And you will
spend a master
phase and 1 pool for Direct Intervention, while Louhi's ability
provides the most important part of the effect without any cards just
for 1 blood.
Overall, Louhi is an outstanding vampire, and I'm sure that we'll see a
lot of interesting decks with her. All hail LSJ!!!
5. DECK OF THE MONTH
Deck Name : Anti-Malkavian Thaumaturgists
Author : Ilya Ginsburg
Description : Louhi + Marie Faucigny + William Biltmore
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 4 max: 10 average: 7.34
------------------------------------------------------------
3x Louhi 10 ANI AUS DEM OBF THA pro cardinal
!Malkavian:4
2x William Biltmore 9 AUS DEM OBF THA dom
Malkavian:3
3x Marie Faucigny 7 AUS OBF dem tha archbishop
!Malkavian:3
1x General Perfidio Dios 5 AUS dem obf bishop
!Malkavian:3
1x Persia, The Beautiful 5 DEM aus obf
Malkavian:3
1x Uncle George 5 DEM aus dom obf
!Malkavian:3
1x Jeremy Talbot 4 dem obf
Malkavian:3
Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [27]
6x Call, The
2x Dive into Madness
10x Kindred Spirits
2x Madman's Quill
3x Rutor's Hand
4x Sibyl's Tongue
Action Modifier [23]
7x Confusion
4x Elder Impersonation
3x Faceless Night
4x Lost in Crowds
5x Spying Mission
Action Modifier/Combat [5]
5x Swallowed by the Night
Combat [5]
5x Burst of Sunlight
Equipment [4]
1x Bowl of Convergence
2x Flak Jacket
1x Ivory Bow
1x Learjet
Master [14]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Archon Investigation
5x Blood Doll
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Hungry Coyote, The
1x Purchase Pact
2x Information Highway
1x Vast Wealth
Reaction [11]
6x Telepathic Misdirection
5x Wake with Evening's Freshness
This deck is just a variation of the deck from my previous issue, but
it was reworked to demonstrate usage of Thaumaturgy in a stealth-bleed
deck. The idea of this deck was inspired by Craig Johnston's "Demented
Thaumaturgists" (find it at the newsgroup or in The Lasombra's deck
archive), but Craig used Fleurdumal and
played without Obfuscate. I'm lucky enough to have good vamps with
AUS/DEM/OBF/THA, so I can use Obfuscate.
The deck is pretty self-explanatory. I tried to demonstrate a lot of
things here, so it's rather toolboxy. Fetch Vast Wealth with the first
Sibyl's Tongue, and put it on Marie to fetch your equipment. Then
concentrate on getting your Rutor's Hands and The Hungry Coyote. The
deck has a lot of different actions, so
your vamps with Rutor's Hand will almost never stay unemployed; after
all, hunting is also good, especially with the Coyote.
This deck also tries to demostrate Learjet and Flak Jacket/Burst of
Sunlight combat module. You may wish to add some Magics of the Smith to
fetch Learjet first (yes, it's that good).
6. BONUS TRACK 1: JOKES OF THE MONTH
"Dear Ambrosio,
I've got a grave news for you: my superior Arika just decided to burn
you with PTO. I know that you will vote for it, just to honor our
friendship... you are my good friend, arent't you?"
Ranjan Rishi, to his Distant Friend, Ambrosio Luis Moncada
"When he told me that FBI would revenge his death I thought it was just
another insane babbling. Now look: he's got killed, and FBI agents are
really here!"
One Escaped Mental Patient, to another
7. BONUS TRACK 2: DELIVERING HELL TO THE FOOL
Valerius Maior, Hell`s Fool (7)
nec pre AUS DAI DOM THA
Tremere, group 4
Camarilla, Red List: If Valerius srikes with a strike that requires
Thaumaturgy, he gains an optional additional strike, only usable to
strike with a strike that requires Thaumaturgy. Infernal.
Valerius Maior, Hell`s Fool (adv) (7)
nec pre AUS DAI DOM THA
Tremere antitribu, group 4
Advanced, Sabbat, Red List: If Valerius attempts to block, the acting
minion cannot play action modifier or combat cards that require
Chimerstry or Obfuscate. Infernal.
[Merge] Independent. Valerius becomes non-Infernal and non-Red List as
he merges. While merged, his capacity is reduced by 2.
Obviously, Valeruis is devastating for a traditional Kindred Spirits
deck, but even somebody in your playgroup plays him, you still have
several options:
1). Propose that player a table-splitting deal (after all, you have
Kindred Spirits, thus you can bleed anyone).
2). Propose a deal to a good Rush deck (his part of job would be
killing Valerius). Include a good Trophy card to reward your ally,
preferably Trophy
omain or Trophy:Hunting Grounds, which are usefulfor all players.
3). Incorporate a combat module to kill Valeruis yourself. Flak
Jacket/Burst of Sunlight looks like good enough for this. Don't allow
Valerius to play Conflagration!
4). If all else fails, just swap your deck to this little surprise and
play it until the Valerius player would stop playing him:
Deck Name : Delivering Hell to the Fool ;-)
Author : Ilya Ginsburg
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 10 average: 6.75
------------------------------------------------------------
4x Ferox, The Rock Lord (Adv) 7 FOR POT VIS ani
Gargoyle:2
3x Cock Robin 10 ANI OBF POT aus for justicar
Nosferatu:3
1x Teresita, The Godmother 7 ANI OBF POT for
!Nosferatu:3
1x Amelia, The Blood Red Tears 5 POT ani obf
Nosferatu:3
1x Nigel the Shunned 5 ANI POT obf
!Nosferatu:2
1x Darva Felispa 3 ani pot
Nosferatu:3
1x Tommy 3 ani pot
!Nosferatu:2
Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [10]
3x Army of Rats
2x Bum's Rush
2x Harass
2x Nose of the Hound
1x Tier of Souls
Action Modifier [6]
6x Freak Drive
Combat [56]
2x Canine Horde
4x Decapitate
5x Disarm
6x Drawing Out the Beast
10x Immortal Grapple
5x Rolling with the Punches
3x Shared Strength
4x Soak
6x Taste of Vitae
6x Torn Signpost
5x Unflinching Persistence
Master [13]
3x Blood Doll
2x Fame
2x Haven Uncovered
1x Labyrinth, The
1x Leadership Vacuum
1x Rack, The
1x Slum Hunting Ground
1x Storm Sewers
1x Trophy: Domain
Retainer [5]
1x Murder of Crows
1x Owl Companion
3x Raven Spy
Every deck has its nemesis, and this deck is a nemesis to Valerius
Maior. Advanced Ferox can dispatch Valerius with ease, as most Valeruis
decks would contain a lot of Thaumaturgy cards, which can't be played
against Ferox. He's also good against Necromancy... no Spiritual
Intervention, fellow Giovanni, let's fight! Finally, you may even
include non-advanced Ferox if you want to merge him for additional
bonuses.
Besides that, it's pretty obvious ani/for/POT rush deck which can
prevent damage and then play Disarm and Decapitate. Even small vamps
without Fortitude can use Fortitude cards with Shared Strength, which
can be a nasty surprise for your opponent.
Note that Ravnos, whose primary Discipline, Chimerstry, is also hosed
by Valerius, can relatively easily include Ferox in their decks, as
they also have Animalism and Fortitude. Ivan Krenyenko even has
ANI/FOR/POT and increased strength! Unfortunately, !Malks aren't so
lucky, but, as you see, a countermeasure always
exists.
That's all for March.
As usual, I'd like to hear your comments, ideas and any other feedback.
Yours,
Ector (Ector@mail.ru)
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