Re: Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, September 2007

On Oct 1, 1:41 am, Akantes <akan...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ector, I think you should read the wording on Open Dossier better. A
lot better. Like, with thinking.

Yes, the misunderstanding is my fault, thanks for pointing it out.
Here's the updated newsletter, if TheLasombra wishes to archive it:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Oct 1, 1:41 am, Akantes <akan...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ector, I think you should read the wording on Open Dossier better. A
lot better. Like, with thinking.

Yes, the misunderstanding is my fault, thanks for pointing it out.
Here's the updated newsletter, if TheLasombra wishes to archive it:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, September 2007

1. INTRODUCTION

I didn't want to write a new issue of my newsletter. I have no mood,
and no time. I'm divorcing with my wife,
and trying to leave VTES at all, after I failed to convince my players
to replace the stupid LotN prerelease
format "recommended" by WW to the normal booster draft. Looks like
nobody considers this game a serious
sport, so is there any reason to waste my time for "just a
recreation"? I can play some computer game, or
read a book.
Unfortunately, my sense of duty was stronger - it appears that I
simply cannot move to the next month without
a newsletter! :) So, I present you a sort of LotN review. I definitely
may be wrong (as anyone who tries to
do something), but at least I'm trying...
There are no !Malks in this set, but a lot of cards can be used in
various !Malkavian decks. So, if you
wonder "what is !Malkavian in this newsletter", I can tell you -
"point of view".

2. CRAPPY CARDS (aka WALLPAPERS) OF LOTN

I *hate* the crappy cards. Each card should be playable at least in
one deck archetype. If you open the card
that is completely unplayable, you feel yourself robbed. One of the
reasons for my former love in VTES was
almost absolute lack of crap. Unfortunately, Lords of Night has some
unplayable cards, including rares, but
not very much (something like 10%). Some greedy CCG producers print
75% of crap or even more!

Agent of Power
--------------
Sometimes you need a Discipline just for a single card in your deck,
but nobody will wait until he get both
the card and Agent of Power in his hand. If you have several cards
that your vampires cannot play, Agent of
Power won't save you; look for Infernal Pact or some equipment like
Sargon Fragment. Uniqueness makes the
card even worse.

Ambulance
----------
"If this action is blocked again, burn this card". This is a death
sentence for a 1-pool equipment. Everybody
knows that actions that "continue as unblocked" are blocked again
quite often. If the blocking vampire was
Waked, he even doesn't need another Wake to block again!

Armor of Vitality
-----------------
Melee weapons aren't so popular to hose them, and if there are no
swords to break, it's much worse than
Rolling with the Punches, Skin of Steel and Superior Mettle. Oh yes,
you can prevent damage from Carrion
Crows, but Soak is still better for that.

Bestow Vigor
-------------
You spend an action (though you untap after it) and a blood to give an
ally inferior Fortitude in combat for
2 turns. So what? You need an ally to play this, and you need the
Fortitude cards, and, finally, all you get
from these complicated combos is some protection for the ally? In 99%
cases the ally doesn't worth it, or you
can use much more powerful cards like Heaven's Gate. If you plan to
use Bestow Vigor on vampires, why not
Shared Strength? Superior Fortitude without any actions, and good
surprise for your opponents.

Community Justice
-----------------
Who plays cards that work only after opponent's diablerie?

Divine Image
------------
What do you plan to achieve with this card? Bleed at +1, even with +1
strength but at -1 stealth doesn't cost
2 blood. Rush with +1 strength still doesn't cost 2 blood. What else?

Kpist m/45
-----------
While AK-47 is very cornercase, but playable in the decks without
Celerity that have some way to get it
cheaper, this one is completely useless. Oh yes, Rounds, I know, but
they are far less flexible than
Pursuits, Blurs and others. Without Rounds you will get the same
damage as from .44 Magnum, but for 3 pool,
and this one cannot be Concealed.

Resume the Coil
----------------
Who is planning to get into torpor so othen that he needs cards to
reduce the resque cost? Vampires that
resque cheaper are different matter, but wasting cards for that? No
way.

Trophy: Library
----------------
Getting a Trophy is rather difficult, so nobody is going to make
somebody Red List and then burn him just for
+2 hand size. AFAIK, Elder Library is not uber-popular.

Trophy: Revered
----------------
+2 bleed isn't a good reward for burning a Red List. You may get +1
from Camera Phone just for an action.

3. HORROR CARDS OF LOTN (CARDS THAT SHOULD NEVER BEEN PRINTED)

Burden the Mind
-----------------
This card enforces the horrible weenies, and we all know that they
must be eliminated, not enforced. Why this
is worse than Pentex Subversion? Because only THAT vampire can burn
the card; so, actually it means "no Wakes
for one turn and waste an action on the next turn". It's also cheaper
and not unique, so a weenie with
Parhthenon can play *two* Burdens in one turn and completely lock
prey's Wakes.
I don't think that !Malks need this card. We play a fair game of
"stealth against intercept", not "our
numbers will overcome your Wakes".

Camera Phone
-------------
Permanent +1 bleed for free? Really??? Again, great thanks from the
disciplineless weenies. They don't need
20+ Computer Hackings anymore, 10-15 Camera Phones will replace them
more than adequately, especially in
non-combat metagames, and leave more space for dodges and other
tricks. Protean weenies/Shadow Court Satyrs
are going to be even more happy with this card: they already had
wonderful combat defense, but lacked bleed
enhancers. Now they have everything.
Anti-Malks don't need this card - it doesn't combine with Kindred
Spirits.

False Resonance
-----------------
Do we really need to help S&B to cancel bounce? This card hoses
Telepathic Misdirection, and that's awful.
Besides, how many playable reactions on Dementation do you know? One:
Shattered Mirror. Is there any point in
printing the good card (not broken by any means) and printing its
hoser in the next set? Thanks to the +1
stealth at superior, this card is going to be popular.
Anti-Malks hate this card with a passion, as it nullifies the only
bounce card we have and prevents us from
playing Shattered Mirror (why?)

Fantasy World
--------------
Do we really need another "star hoser"? I don't think so. With this
card, Ravnos can completely shut down any
minion for his own turn, burn one blood or life from him and leave him
tapped for the next turn - all for 2
blood. Not a Sensory Deprivation, for sure, but "cannot play cards and
cast votes" is much more harsh than
just "doesn't untap as normal". This will hit even a Baali! Besides,
Fantasy World is cheaper and has +1
stealth at superior.

Lesser Boon
------------
This completely destroys all Wall decks based on a single
"star" (Lazverinus decks, for instance). All you
need is to block that monster and play Lesser Boon. "This minion
cannot block your minions" is too powerful,
and it *cannot* be burned!!! You may have a horrible voting deck that
will drop your prey to 1-5 pool in few
turns. After that, the monster will be able to block, but it may be
too late. Now you can play without
stealth at all - include a light intercept module (preferably
permanent) and some Lesser Boons. It is not
unique, so you can repeat this trick as needed...
!Malks can use this card - probably, even better than anybody else, as
Telepathic Misdirection can be used to
get intercept, and we have Kite with inbuilt +1 intercept. But still,
WW should NOT print such things.

Leverage
----------
So we need to give disciplineless weenie more tools besides Camera
Phones? Oh really? "I bleed for one" - "No
block" - "Once more" - "No block" - "Leverage".
Oh yes, !Malks can use this card too, as there are no restrictions
like "no more bleed enhancers". I just
think that it wouldn't be very clever to use it, since we can bleed
for 3-4 without it, and larger bleeds are
very dangerous (bounce, Archon Investigation, etc.) Probably,
Dementation-weenie is the best deck for this
card: it's forced to use Confusions (not Eyes of Chaos) to get
stealth, so getting some more bleed would be
nice, especially in such aggressive deck. But still, Leverage is going
to be most popular in the weenies, and
enforcing weenies is definitely bad.

Mental Maze
------------
Rush is the traditional enemy of stealth-bleeding and stealth-voting
decks. Does anybody want to see a large
Setite blocking all rushers and playing Mental Mazes for free without
tapping? Blocking rushes is simple
enough most of the time... I thought that WW is trying to enforce
Rush, but such cards are killing it!

Mesu Bedshet
-------------
This is the most broken card in the entire set.
Getting a new vampire costs 4 transfers + 1 pool. If it's younger, you
get additional +2 transfers and +2
pool, so you gain +6 transfers and +3 pool total just for an action
that costs 1 blood. That's too good,
especially transfer-wise. Setites are going to spread like rats.
Let's compare this to the existing cards. Yes, there are actions like
Kindred Intelligence and Clotho's Gift
that give you another vampire, but you get only +4 transfers and +1
pool (a cost of getting the additional
vampire in "normal" way). And there are Governs/Founders of the Ebony
Kingdom that provide up to +4 transfers
and +4 pool, but you need to have a younger vampire in your
uncontrolled region - so if you want to spread a
horde, you will have to pay 4 transfers and 1 pool for each new vamp,
and this effectively neutralizes the
threat of over-spreading. How often did you paid for another vamp just
to be able to get pool from your
Governs?
With Mesu Bedshet, you have absolutely no problems in getting a huge
horde. Having +6 transfers for a single
action is so insane that Information Highway is nothing compared to
this! Two extra transfers per turn? I can
have +12 or even more! Looks like the designers don't realize the
value of "transfers" at all, as long as
they are printing such cards. Players are getting *four* transfers per
turn to ensure more-or-less equal
speed of influencing vampires. If some player can get *six* transfers
just in one action, the balance is
completely broken. Moreover, if you just need pool, Metsu Bedshet
never fails to provide you 2 pool, as long
as you have Setites in your crypt, and the acting vampire is the
eldest (use a Discipline card - Setites
often use Obfuscate cards for their Waters anyway).
Now please think about Dreams of the Sphinx that will provide you even
more free pool and transfers, The
Eternals of Sirius, if you have some fatties, and superior Public
Trust that also moves blood to your
uncontrolled region. You can influence vampires so quickly that
rushers won't have enough actions to
torporize them!

Mokole Blood
-------------
What the designers were smoking when they designed this? Fetching FOUR
cards requiring Serpentis and
effectively increasing your hand by these 4 cards! What about 4
Enticements that are going to hit the prey
for 12 pool, without any chance to bounce? Or maybe Form of
Corruption, Truth of a Thousand Lies to untap and
Consignment to Duat?
In this case, "burn this card when there are no cards on it" is an
*advantage* , since you can equip another
copy of Mokole Blood and fetch 4 MORE cards.
Anti-Malks are protesting against such overpowered cards! Our Sibyl's
Tongue is a fair card for a fair price:
you can fetch only ONE part of the combo, not all the combo at once.
There are cards that increase your hand
size, even "giant stores" like Shulmulo Tarot, but you still have to
cycle until you find what you need.
There are great cyclers, but fetching 4 cards at once and keeping them
in addition to your normal hand is too
much.

Narrow Minds
-------------
So, we really need to hose bounce, aren't we? Bounce is the only
remedy from the reckless powerbleed that
would ruin the entire game - and now we are cutting the branch where
we are sitting.
You may say that increasing cost is not much, people will still play
bounce, but, you know, if a
stealth-bleed manages to slow its prey, it's almost guaranteed to oust
it before it ousts its own prey. And
Narrow Minds results in loss of 5-6 extra blood per game that could be
easily converted into 5-6 more pool
via Blood Dolls and Vessels.
If designers tried to enforce stealth-bleed, they could make more
stealth (or better stealth), or more bleed, but hosing bounce wasn't
very clever. Surely, !Malks will play this card! Narrow Minds is going
to be in *EVERY* bleeding deck, and it will negatively affect the
game.

Preternatural Strength
-----------------------
OK, this card is not broken, but it still is much more powerful than
other strength-enhancing cards. Getting +2 strength permanently just
for a +2 stealth action and 1 blood is too good. This greatly
diminishes the value of vampire's additional strength. Yes, I know
that cards like Heart of the City and Pulse didn't kill the transient
cards providing +2 bleed, but these cards cost more than 1 blood, and,
more importantly, a vampire with Pulse is a target #1 for all rushes,
while a vampire with Preternatural Strength is a person to avoid :)
Besides, you can use +2 bleed only once per turn, while +2 strength
can be used several times per turn, either in multirush decks or in
blocking decks.
On the other hand, Rush decks really need a boost... But nevertheless,
it's strange to see that any vamp with superior Potence can become
Lazverinus with a single action.

Reckless Agitation
-------------------
This one is clearly too powerful, despite the cost and requirements.
KRC deals no more than 3 damage to your
prey, Conservative Agitation deals 4, but only until somebody gets
ousted, Parity Shift works only when your
prey has more pool. This one deals FIVE damage to your prey, and you
will generally have to push it just 2-3
times to oust. Voter Captivation wasn't changed, Awe is the same, so
pushing Recksless Agitation isn't too
difficult. The card is clearly overpowered.

Unholy Penance
---------------
Combat Ends for 1 blood is OK. S:CE and untap is very good, but "S:CE
and +1 bleed until you waste an action"
may appear to be too good, especially in S&B decks. When your Rush
prey is attempting to stop your Setite
S&B, you will not only foil his action, but also get +1 bleed against
him? Or you were trying to play
Reckless Agitation, your prey blocked, you can play Unholy Penance,
untap and bleed with +1 bleed?
Setites already had the second best Combat Ends in the whole game:
Majesty. I don't think that S&B decks
needed something even better.

Vessel
-------
This card is a "dream of all stealth-bleeds". You don't need to Wash
that Blood Doll anymore, just convert
your own Blood Dolls to Vessels. Pool cost is generally not that
crucial for S&B, but the ability to play
another master card really is. This card empowers S&B a lot: play more
masters and burn your prey's Blood
Dolls, all for 1 pool! Non-aggressive decks will still prefer Blood
Dolls, since they are free, and you can
gain pool immediately.
!Malk S&B decks will definitely play Vessels instead of Blood Dolls.
But I'm pretty sure that S&B was
powerful enough without such hosing toys...

4. GOOD CARDS FOR !MALKS

Blithe Acceptance
-----------------
Having +1 permanent stealth is good. You will need stealth to push it,
though, since it doesn't have inbuilt
+1 stealth, but still. This card isn't going to be very good in S&B,
because it makes the vampire a target,
but it will be very good in the various "fetch-decks" and combo-decks.
Use one Forgotten Labyrinth to push
it, and you will be able to push several crucial parts of your combo.

Fillip
-------
!Malks with superior Auspex are often used as a support to play
Telepathic Misdirections. Having a good mix
of Fillips and On the Qui Vives allows you to wake when you need and
always replace the card.

Into Thin Air
-------------
Almost strictly better than Lost in Crowds, but doesn't get replaced
until your untap. Nice to have a pair of
these for extreme cases... Again, this will appear in combo decks,
where pushing the crucial part of your combo is much more important
than having a full hand.

Jericho Founding
----------------
Finally. I tired of the decks with all sorts of permacept locations.

Malajit Chandramouli
---------------------
Again, the card for combo-decks that need to push the crucial actions.

Powerbase: Zurich
------------------
Very powerful card for S&B decks. As long as you bleed successfully at
least once per turn, nobody will be
able to "burn the Edge during his master phase" and steal your
Powerbase. Acceleration and pool-gaining are
always good. But this card isn't overpowered, since you get only 2
pool + 2 transfers for each action.

Tye Cooper
----------
Excellent blocker (immune to non-aggravated damage!) and makes wonders
with retrieving Sibyl's Tongues from
your ash heap. Use Mata Hari to play him, and then your vampires will
cover his action with Veil the Legions.
Not sure who will torporize and how, but this depends on the deck.

5. OTHER GOOD CARDS (not including the mentioned above)

Bloodlust
----------
Finally, a good way to get a rush for a weenie horde. The price is OK,
but why does the card require Presence? This effectively limits it to
Brujah/!Brujah unless you are going to take a star like Una.

Dream World
-----------
Something like Madman's Quill for Setites. Less powerful, but free.

Eyes of Blades
---------------
Yet another "non-strike Combat Ends". Would be much more popular
without the words "Do not replace...".

Flesh Bond
-----------
Combat Ends for Animalism. Why not?

Haqim's Law: Leadership
-----------------------
Assamites can bloat. Finally.

Kumpania
---------
Good Ranvos location. Just one pool, no blood burning to get
intercept. Going to be popular.

Loss
----
Assamites can bleed!!! And burn equipment and locations with the same
card! Really nice.

Lost in Translation
--------------------
This card won't affect the metagame much. Two blood is quite a lot,
and "younger" is a serious limitation,
but the real reason is: not every deck needs bounce. If your deck
ousts your prey slowly, bounce will just
help your predator to oust his next prey. And you cannot put many
copies of Lost in Translation into your
deck due to its cost.
This card will be probably limited to aggressive decks without Auspex
and Dominate - for instance, a voting
deck with Reckless Agitations can use it.

Mirror's Visage
---------------
+2 stealth for undirected action is very good, especially if the
action has inbuilt +1 stealth. Nice for
equipping crucial things and recruiting Tumnimos.

Monster
-------
This card is very, very good. You may use it in multi-rush deck
instead of Freak Drives (especially if your
vamps have no Fortitude), or in intercept deck instead of extra Wakes.
Sometimes you can even use it both
ways (for instance, Akunanse No Secrets from the Magaji deck). Anneke
with Alastor/Assault Rifle will be
happy to become Monster, too. The same about Elimelech and many
others.

Murmur of the False Will
------------------------
Finally, Dominate got a bounce card that can be used when there are
only two players left!

Omael Kuman
------------
You prefer long range? Here's your dream. Unlimited Selective
Silences, even without superior Quietus.

Precision
---------
This makes Celerity-based decks much better. "Discard that Majesty and
burn 1 pool. Then, I will rush you".

Resist Earth's Grasp
--------------------
Finally, some decent stealth for Celerity. Great!

Sense the Savage Way
--------------------
Very good card for Animalism-based intercept. Now there are enough
cards to build real Walls...

Set's Curse
-----------
A brutal card. Burn ally or weenie and get an ally for yourself, that
can block weenies and hit them hard.
Really good and anticipated card.

Sheepdog
--------
Fifth Tradition for infernals :)

Slam
-----
Potence finally got a strike with maneuver to close range. Great!

Street Cred
-----------
Pool gain for combat achievements!!! Finally. At last...
This card would be much better without the word "younger", though.
Does anybody fear that Potence-weenie will become too strong?
Especially considering the fact that Street Creed costs a blood?

Target Hand
-----------
A decent anti-weapons card for vampires that cannot use more effective
cards. And for allies, too.

The Eternals of Sirius
----------------------
This is NOT another Zillah's Valley: you pay 4 and get 5, not vice
versa :) Your chance of influencing a
8-cap on the first turn are quite good. Even if you don't have any
large Setites in your uncontrolled region,
you will still get 1 pool from this card.

Therbold Realty
---------------
Harbingers will be able to build a whole street of Slaughterhouses for
free :) And we !Malks will help them
to fetch Therbold Reality and other important cards.

Trochomancy
-----------
Harbingers also got +2 bleed modifier. Not sure why they should need
to remove prey's library from the game,

though.

Underbridge Stray
-----------------
Cheap ally that can do at least three things: block opposing vampires,
provide you some presses (good for
Carrion Crows) and die to untap another minion. Not spectacular, but
decent. Will almost inevitably appear in Animalism weenie decks.
Another good combo is *** Robin that will untap after recruiting
Stray.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. DECK OF THE MONTH

Deck Name: Cry Wolves Cry
Created By: Ilya Ginsburg (Ector)
Description: Anarch Giovanni summon Cry Wolves, then their wraiths!

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 14, Max: 22, Avg: 4,67)
----------------------------------------------
1 Raphaela Giovanni pot pre DOM NEC 6 Giovanni
1 Francis Milliner pre vic NEC POT 6 Giovanni
2 Margaret Milliner dom for nec pot pre 5 Giovanni
1 Donatello Giovanni aus pot pre DOM 5 Giovanni
4 Luc dem vic OBF 5 Malkavian
Antitribu
1 Thomasso Ghiberti pot NEC 4 Giovanni
1 Stephen Milliner nec pre 3 Giovanni
1 Cristobal Ghiberti nec 2 Giovanni

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (13 cards)
1 Hospital Food
1 Anarch Free Press, The
1 Morgue Hunting Ground
4 Proxy Kissed
1 Powerbase: Cape Verde
3 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Seattle Committee
1 Powerbase: Los Angeles

Action (37 cards)
10 Gear Up
10 Undue Influence
4 Sibyl`s Tongue
8 Khazar's Diary
5 Shell Break

Action Modifier (16 cards)
10 Call of the Hungry Dead
6 Veil the Legions

Reaction (4 cards)
4 Deflection

Combat (12 cards)
2 Groundfighting
10 Spiritual Intervention

Ally (8 cards)
8 Cry Wolf

This is a very funny deck that was inspired by a combination of
Khazar's Diary, Cry Wolf and Shell Break. You
get free counters for the Diary "when unique minion is burned" - not
an easy condition to trigger. If you can
burn opposing vampires, do you need Khasar's Diary and other tricks?
Fortunately, you can use unique ally
that dies itself: Cry Wolf. The beastie cost you nothing and lives
just one turn. If you manage to play Shell
Break on it, your vampire will get +1 bleed and +1 intercept, which is
definitely good! Poor Wolves seems to
be ideal allies for these horrible Giovanni deeds.
So, we need an anarch Giovanni deck. Fortunately, LoN has some low-cap
Giovanni with Presence (they are
Milliners, not Giovanni, but whatever), and we have FIVE such vampires
in 4-5 groups now. So we can use the
most effective anarch cards like Gear Up and Undue Influence. I am not
a great fan of anarch decks, so please
consider this deck just a sketch of a real deck, if you wish to use
this idea. I was forced to remove Go
Anarchs since there are too many Actions here; you can fetch Seattle
Committee with Sibyl's Tongue or just
spend some blood to become anarchs.
The only !Malk here is Luc which helps with cycling and stealth. You
need to find as much Khasar's Diaries
and Cry Wolves as you can, since each Diary after the first one adds a
counter. As long as you have 8 copies
of each card, it's quite possible to find 2-3 copies early, especially
with Luc. Don't forget that you can
retrieve Diaries from your ash heap with Gear Up, so you won't really
need to find 8 Wolves/Diaries.
The first target for your Sibyl's Tongue should be Seattle Committee,
if you get it early, or probably Anarch
Free Press or Powerbase: Cape Verde. If you don't have Khazar's Diary,
you may fetch it too, especially if
you have a lot of Cry Wolves.

That's all for September. You can discuss the mentioned topics, but I
cannot guarantee that I will have time
to answer everybody. Sorry for that.

Ector

.