Malkavian Antitribu Newsletter, June 2007 VOLUME VI, Issue VI 1. INTRODUCTION This newsletter is devoted to Elimelech, the Twice-Damned. Yes, he's anti-Ventrue, not Malkavian antitribu, so you may wonder what he's doing in my newsletter. Well, firstly, Elimelech is a mix between ! Vetrue and !Malk - he has all our clan disciplines at superior level. Secondly, he gains a HUGE advantage of our "hallmark" fetching tech (Sybil's Tongue), so you shouldn't be surprised to see a lot of !Malks as his support in the most decks. One of such decks is my Deck of the Month. Why I devoted the whole newsletter to Elimenech? Because I think that he's the most dangerous combat monster ever printed. Why do I think so? Please read on... 2. VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH Name: Elimelech the Twice-Damned [SoC] Clan: Ventrue antitribu Group: 5 Capacity: 11 Disciplines: pro AUS DEM DOM FOR OBF Sabbat. Black Hand. Seraph: Elimelech strikes with first strike. +1 bleed. +1 strength. Everybody hates huge vampires without votes. You have to invest a lot of pool and transfers, and that sluggish titan even fails to affect the political actions and diableries! The vampire must have some extremely good abilities to become playable, and Elimelech has such ability: First Strike. Why it's so important? Because first strike is a very good DEFENSE. When you play a huge combat-oriented vampire, first of all you should think about defense: there is no sense of playing a "star-based" deck if the "star" is going to lose a lot of blood each combat, not even thinking about going into torpor. Elimelech is the best combat-oriented titan, since he has the best combat protection: superior Fortitude can prevent damage, inferior Protean provides Flesh of Marble, and First Strike allows to avoid the enemy's strike at all, if your strike torporised the enemy. Moreover, you are going to avoid all the nasty "environmental" effects that usually happen during the "normal strike resolution"! If Elimelech can torporise the opposing vampire, Carrion Crows fly away without any harm, there are no Darkness Within, and Ghoul Retainer cannot use any weapons - he's too busy carrying his boss to the torpor :) So, all you need is a reliable way to torporize. You might notice that Elimelech doesn't have a lot of combat disciplines: actually, only his inferior Protean allows you to torporize with Claws. Superior Dawn Operation is another possibility, and it's much stronger for Elimelech than for any other vampire, since a hand strike for 2 aggravated with first strike is going to leave him unharmed. But the most reliable way is using weapons: play Disguised Weapon to equip the weapons in combat - this way nobody can block your equipping, and Elimelech represents a threat even without any weapons. Do you feel that this tech is somehow familiar to you? No wonder, Tariq usually works the same way. No vampire is more similar to Elimelech than Tariq: they share the most important disciplines (AUS FOR OBF),and both are trying not only to torporize the opposing vampire, but to diablerize him! Surely, Elimelech cannot diablerize from the very beginning, and he cannot rush from the very beginning, either, but you need to fetch and play just two cards to give him these abilities: Fueled By Heart's Blood allows him to diablerize any vampire except for 11-caps, and Shakar allows him to rush any non- Black Hand vampire (again, except for 11-caps). After fetching and playing these two cards your Elimelech becomes so dangerous that Tariq looks like a child compared to him: capacity 11 is MUCH more than 3 (especially considering the fact that diablerie will regularly fill those 11!), and first strike makes Elimelech unbelievably lethal. Tariq can play Shadow Feint to get first strike, yes, but the price is very painful for such small capacity... Besides, you cannot spend a lot of deck place on such cards. Another wonderful advantage of Elimelech is ability to play Coma. This dangerous strike was too expensive for a mid-cap stealth-bleeders that tend to go into torpor after paying 3 blood for it and being punched by the opponent's strike, but for Elimelech this card is extremely good. He can pay 3 blood easily enough, and he has a good chance of avoiding the opponent's strike. Coma is a great hoser of the Fortitude- based decks, and it becomes even more dangerous with Amaranth. Poor wild Gangrel have almost no protection against this combo: even if they play Drawing Out the Beast to disable Elimelech's weapons, Coma will still hit them. Dementation also provides Blessing of Chaos, a brilliant card that disables Presence cards in combat. Do you know that Presense-based Combat Ends (Majesty, Catatonic Fear, Staredown) make the majority of all Combat Ends ever played? Elimelech is much more than a "combat beast" - Beast is just a chicken compared to him! Now it's time to analyze "non-combat" disciplines and abilities. Elimelech is much more reliable and flexible than Enkidu: he can buy some time blocking/bouncing with his Auspex, he can Govern younger vampires, and,obviously, he's a very good bleeder. He is very similar to Lazverinus (AUS/FOR/DOM/pro), even the increased strength is similar, but Elimelech cannot use Eternal Vigilance and has no Potence. Huge vampires usually make better blockers than rushers, since blocking provides you enough time to get all the "upgrades" for your "star" even without the Sibyl's Tongues. Plus, the table usually helps the blocking deck and fears the rushing one. You may wish to give Elimelech some skill cards to make him even better and/or to increase his capacity and be able to rush and diablerize Arika and her Inner Circle friends. It would be interesting enough to use Abombwe for that purpose: this card is a trifle, so it "costs" you less than the other skill cards, and you can really benefit from the cards like Predator's Communion (much better than the regular Wake) or Devil-Channel:Throat (Elder Impersonation + Faceless Night in the one card!) Abombwe cards also protect Elimelech from Rotschrecks and Drawing Out the Beast. Finally, we shouldn't neglect the Black Hand/Seraph goodies that are quite important. Any deck with Elimelech can play Drop Point Networks to fetch some important cards - though you cannot fetch the most needed cards such as Fueled By Heart's Blood and Shakar. Any deck can also use Watchtowers, Emergency Powers,Corporal Reservoirs and so on. Watchtower: Four Ride Forth that was rarely used prior to SoC, is almost broken with Elimelech: a free untap of 11-cap monster with superior Auspex each turn! This is obviously much stronger than Enkidu's untap after empoying a retainer. Finally, if you want some votes, you can get them, too. Sometimes your Elimelech will have much more permanent votes than Arika! Do you doubt? Look at my Deck of the Month. 3. CARD OF THE MONTH Card Name: Groundfighting [KMW:C] Card Type: Combat Requires a ready anarch. Do not replace until after combat. Maneuver or press or burn 1 blood to cancel a combat card played by the opposing minion that would restrict this anarch`s choice of strikes this round as it is played. Why we are talking about Groundfighting? Please read on. Elimelech is a very powerful combatant with disguised weapons and Coma, but the opposing vampire still try to escape the grim fate. He can maneuver to avoid Coma, dodge to avoid any Elimelech's strike, or, in the worst possible situation, play Immortal Grapple. What can Elimelech do after the Grapple if you don't have Claws? Only prevent the damage. Undoubtfully, he will punch for 2, but this will rarely torporize the opposing vampire,so Elimelech will effectively lose the advantage of First Strike. And the enemy with Potence is going to strike much stronger in return... Fortunately, we have such universal "panacea" as Groundfighting. This card is "the last nail for the coffin": it makes escaping Elimelech's strikes much more difficult, turning Elimelech from "dangerous" to "absolutely lethal". If you can prevent aggro damage and maneuver to long to avoid Coma, I will maneuver back with Groundfighting. If you dodge, I will press with Groundfighting. And if you play Immortal Grapple... yes, you guessed right: I will cancel it with Groundfighting. Do you feel yourself doomed? You have a right feeling! :) In order to use Groundfightings, Elimelech must become an anarch, but this is just a +1 stealth action for 2 blood. Have you EVER seen an 11- cap Anarch? I really doubt, since almost all 11-caps are titled, so they cannot become Anarchs without the Secession, and losing the title is painful. Fortunately (!), Elimelech has no title, and he will remain Black Hand Seraph even after converting to anarchy. Plus, he will gain access to all anarch goodies, including Anarch Free Press, Powerbase: Los Angeles and The Status Perfectus. Groundfighting is the very best card for all vampires with extremely dangerous strikes. I've ordered them after looking at Rabbat, Sewer Goddess: if you want to build a deck around her, you simply cannot miss Groundfighting. Maneuver back to close range, press after dodge, canceling IG - Groundfighting does it all for Rabbat as well as for Elimelech. BTW, you can build a deck with BOTH Rabbat and Elimelech now, and I cannot imagine anything more fearful than blocking Elimelech and Rabbat ready to engage the hapless opponent via Status Perfectus if he somehow manage to survive the first combat. Needless to say, that deck is going to have a LOT of Groundfightings... 4. DECK OF THE MONTH Deck Name: Elimelech Against the World Created By: Ilya Ginsburg (Ector) Description: Elimelech + White Lily rush & blocking deck Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 20, Max: 44, Avg: 8) ------------------------------------------- 4 Elimelech pro AUS DEM DOM FOR OBF 11 !Ventrue 4 White Lily cel dom for DEM OBF 8 !Malkavian 2 Luc dem vic OBF 5 !Malkavian 2 Hagar Stone obf AUS DEM 5 !Malkavian Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (18 cards) 2 Shakar 2 Drop Point Network 1 Fortschritt Library 1 Watchtower: Four Ride Forth 5 Minion Tap 2 Dreams of the Sphinx 1 Powerbase: Los Angeles 1 Trophy: Domain 1 Trophy: Hunting Ground 1 Creepshow Casino 1 Anarch Free Press, The Action (11 cards) 6 Sibyl`s Tongue 1 Tattoo Signal 1 Emergency Powers 1 Blessing of Chaos 2 Red List Action Modifier (5 cards) 5 Forgotten Labyrinth Political Action (2 cards) 1 Ancient Influence 1 Political Stranglehold Reaction (16 cards) 5 Telepathic Misdirection 4 Forced Awakening 5 Eagle`s Sight 2 On the Qui Vive Combat (22 cards) 6 Amaranth 4 Coma 4 Disguised Weapon 8 Groundfighting Equipment (7 cards) 1 Bowl of Convergence 1 Ivory Bow 1 Improvised Flamethrower 1 Rowan Ring 1 Heart of Nizchetus 1 Sengir Dagger 1 Blade of Enoch Event (4 cards) 1 Fueled by Heart`s Blood 1 Rise of the Nephtali 1 Thirst 1 Fall of the Camarilla Combo (5 cards) 5 Swallowed by the Night This is a "toolbox" deck that is a true Jack-of-All-Trades: there is some stealth, some intercept, some votes, but most important things are combat and fetching the needed cards ASAP. A focused intercept deck would be probably more stable, but in this case the toolbox seems more promising and far more interesting. Nobody will be able to predict what are you going to do next turn! White Lily is a very good companion for Elimelech since she can equip a weapon without Disguised Weapons,thereby allowing you to cut the number of its copies. Plus, she is a Black Hand !Malk (can play all BH cards and Sibyl's Tongues), and she has inferior Fortitude if you wish to use it. Lack of Auspex is painful, but White Lily is still a good target for Tattoo Signal: rush, untap and do something else. Fetching is the most important part of this deck. You need to fetch at least one weapon or Disgruised Weapon ASAP. You also need Fueled By Heart's Blood and Shakar, though the weapon is more important: what point is having Shakar without a way to torporize? Secondary targets include Creepshow Casino, Bowl, Watchtower, Blessing of Chaos or a vote to gain some pool. You have a large arsenal of fetching cards: 2 Drop Points Network, Fortschritt Library, 6 Sibyl's Tongues, not counting Luc, Dreams and Heart of Nizchetus. Fortunately,the fetching process can be distributed among master phase and the different vampires, so your Elimelech rarely needs to spend his own actions for that. This deck has a nice Gehenna module that provide several various advantages. You need Fueled By Heart's Blood to diablerize without fear of Blood Hunt. Rise of the Nephtali will make your Elimelech a liaison after he becomes anarch (and changes his sect to Independent). It's very unlikely that you ever encounter an Independent vampire OLDER than Elimelech, so the title will belong to him for the entire game. Fall of the Camarilla is your defense against PTO and nasty Camarilla voting decks: you can rush them, right, but if you're playing a non-Camarilla 11-cap, it's better to adopt a paranoia of PTO. Thirst is just a filler event to enable Fall of the Camarilla and Rise of the Nephtali, but it can seriously slow the weenie/breeding decks that's going to be a problem for you. Finally, you have Emergency Powers that gives Elimelech as much votes as the number of Gehenna events in play. After playing all these cards Elimelech is going to have 8 votes total (4 from Liaison + 4 from Emergency Powers). Arika should be jealous :) And we didn't even use Praetorian Baker and Black Hand Emissary! A Black Hand voting deck, anyone? ;) Anyway, this isn't a voting deck, though having permanent votes is always good: you can diablerize with the lesser vampires, for example, and your vampires cannot be safely diablerized while Elimelech is ready. Besides, you have two voting cards that provide you 6 pool each... though the deck isn't a serious voter, I can always find a place for a card that brings 6 pool just for an action - and, I guess, you too :) In most cases you will be able to play these cards even without your votes, since the heavy-voting decks usually have large vampires, so they are going to vote in favor. Undoubtfully, pool management is a weak spot of this deck. You have 5 Minion Taps in addition to the mentioned voting cards, but not much more. This deck either works right (you get the weapon and regularly refill your Elimelech with Amaranth prior to the next Minion Tap) or doesn't work at all. A lot of cards cost some pool here... Stealth package is represented by Creepshow Casino, 5 Forgotten Labyrinths and 5 Swallowed by the Night.Not very much cards, for sure, but you don't need much, either. This is not a S&B deck, not even a stealth-voting deck - you need stealth just to push the few crucial actions, and after that your primary vampires are going to be fearful enough to distract blockers. Most of these crucial actions have inbuilt +1 stealth, so you are going to penetrate the "casual intercept" most of the time. The intercept package is probably too light and should be strengthened if you want to get a serious deck for a tournament, but this is just a demonstration deck. You have just 6 wake cards (though having the Watchtower greatly reduces your need , only 10 intercept cards, Anarch Free Press and the Bowl. This will allow you to block some +1 stealth actions, but not much more. Things will become much better if you manage to grab at least Trophy: Domain - yes, there is a Trophy Hunter module, too! All you need is burning a Red List vampire that is an easy task for Elimelech. If there are no Red Lists in play, you can make them yourself. Finally, a combat module is surprisingly light for a combat-heavy deck, but it's a reward for using such awesome vampire as Elimelech. Hit your enemies with Disguised Ivory Bow or Coma, and then play Amaranth. Use Groundfighting if the enemy tries to escape. It's that simple. If you want to make a more stable version of this deck, try replacing all cards that aren't absolutely needed (Trophies, Red Lists, Emergency Powers, Thirst, Fall of the Camarilla, maybe Sengir Dagger, etc) with Governs and/or intercept cards. 5. TIRED OF PTO! We gained some very good 11-cap titans in the latest sets: Enkidu, Saulot, Eze, Sha-Ennu; finally, Elimelech,and each of them cries: "PTO is broken!" Looks like WW design team purposefully tries to prepare the ground for changing or banning the card, since it became totally ridicuous nowadays, and it's going to become even MORE ridiculous with the new set that's going to introduce a new portion of huge non- Camarilla vampires. How much should we wait for the long-anticipated change? Didn't we wait long enough? Needless to say, Elimelech isn't going to be playable at a tournament level while he can be burned by a single card. Yes, he can defend himself (and, actually, he plays Fall of the Camarilla mostly for defense in my Deck of the Month), but you cannot put a lot of defensive cards, and well-concentrated offense usually beats the defense in VTES. Somebody can experiment with a bunch of Confusions of the Eye that Elimelech cycles pretty good, but I still think that it's a sub-optimal strategy. The only reliable defense is Writ of Acceptance, but, frankly, is there anybody who believes that only Camarilla fatties deserve to be playable? PTO problem must be solved ASAP. That's all for June, As always, all comments and ideas are appreciated. Yours, Ector