Ben Swainbank#
MALKAVIAN CLAN NEWSLETTER: June, 2001
Greetings, and welcome to the Malkavian newsletter. Our friends the
Malks are well known (and much reviled) for that thing they do best:
Sneak and Bleed. In fact, their reputation as such sneaky little
bleeders had tended to overshadow all the other fun things Malkavians
can do. So, in this newsletter, our opening salvo, we* will explore
all things sneak and bleed. With that right out of the way, we can
focus on other aspects of our kooky friends in coming months.
* I'm using the royal "we" here, as favored by Princes, those with
multiple-personality disorder, and people with tapeworms. Two out of
three ain't bad.
Table of Contents:
I. Invitation to Dance - Fiction
II. Sneaking and Bleeding 101
III. Beating the Sneak and Bleed
IV. Malkavian's Revenge - Bleeding in the 21st Century
V. Deck - Old Dog, New Tricks
I. Invitation to Dance
"May I have this dance?"
The old Methuselah extended a hand, so thin and white it was almost
translucent. But when Dana took it, she could feel the power radiating
from the old Malkavian. Leandro stared into her as he drew her in and
admired that fact that she was even more radiant than she had been a
century ago, when she was such a sensation on the London stage.
The two dancers stood close in the middle of the ballroom illuminated
by room's many flickering candles. The string orchestra began to play,
a sensuous tango, and a multitude of eyes followed the pair as they
moved about the room. They moved with a beautiful, effortless grace,
each perfectly tuned to the movements of the other.
As the dancers moved, the orchestra began to quicken the pace of the
tune, faster and faster they danced, and still faster the musicians
played, until bows moved in a blur and against the strings. To normal
ears the sound in the hall would have been but a painful screech. But
the guests watched with wrapped attention as their host and his
partner kept time and coasted about the hall at inhuman speeds,
matching one another, move for move, and step for step.
Suddenly, the music stopped. The ballroom erupted in applause. The
dancers took their bows before the admiring crowd. Then Leandro strode
to the center of the room. He looked about him at the motley crowd,
surrounding him in the shadows, their eyes illuminated by the
flickering flames. Normally, this group would be dressed in all manner
old t-shirts, rags, or straightjackets. But tonight, all were dressed
in gleaming white tuxedos and flowing gowns, as provided by their
host, and as he felt was fitting for this special occasion.
"My children", Leandro began, his soft voice echoing in the silence
the grand ballroom. "Tonight is our coming out party. For too long we
have lived among the shadows. We have been denied access to the
corridors of power; spurned by the Toreador and Ventrue; bullied by
the Bruja and Gangrel; dismissed as lunatics and madmen by all. But no
longer."
"We will take the night as our own. None can hide from our sight. All
shall bend to our will. We will act as one, because our time has come.
The circumstances require it. The Final Nights are here."
"Many challenges face us my children. Do not underestimate them. But
none should underestimate our power, for victory will be ours. Oh yes
my children. The night is yours."
With that, Leandro faded into the shadows. The band began to play,
and slowly the children of Malkav began to take to the floor. Some
paired up and danced with surprising grace. Some jerked arhythmically,
following their own internal tunes. Some stayed on the edges,
concealed in the shadow. Some stood and stared in wide wonder at all
that that transpired.
Leandro looked out across his children, and smiled.
II. Sneaking and Bleeding
In this section we will explore the finer points of sneaking and
bleeding. Ok, its dead simple. Govern the Unaligned. Lost In Crowds.
Add more stealth as needed. Conditioning. Splat. Bleed for 6. Do it
two or three more times. You get a VP and your prey is looking for a
pick-up-game.
III. Beating the Sneak and Bleed
Sneak and bleed tactics are as old as the great Jyhad itself. So, wise
kindred scholars have had plenty of time to study these tactics and
prepare to counter them. Here are a few tips for beating the sneak and
bleed:
A. Intercept It
This is an obvious possibility but not always the best. A dedicated
intercept deck also faces to twin problems of what to do with you
predator once you catch him, and how to pick up some VPs of your own.
Often dedicated sneak can still generate more stealth than an
interceptor can generate transient intercept. But a little permanent
intercept can work wonders here. With a Sports Bike, Raven Spy or
other source of +1 intercept, even if you fail to block you forced
your opponent to burn some stealth, and you bounce back ready to try
again on the next action. The key is to never miss an opportunity to
force a stealth deck to burn that stealth. Combine with a little
transient intercept and blocks should be easy to come by.
If you have some permanent intercept on a minion, watch for attempts
to tap your interceptor with 0 stealth feint actions that are meant to
be blocked. It helps to have a second blocker, even if it has no
intercept. The other blocker can make the first try at a block. When
the +1 stealth shows up Mr. Sports Bike can take over, but at least
the stealth is played and not available for minion #2.
B. Rush It
One way to beat a stealth bleed deck is to literally beat it into the
ground. Malk sneak decks are typically quite fragile if you can pick a
fight with them. So, if you're playing a dedicated combat deck, make
sure you've packed enough rushes (Bums Rush, Ambush, Haven Uncovered)
to take out a sneak deck fast. Knock the first minion your predator
brings out into torpor. Then, during your turn, you can offer to pick
on someone else if your predator promises not to bleed you during his
turn. If you don't like the answer then take out the deck.
A bloodied predator will complain that you're ignoring your prey,
making his life easy, and handing a VP to your grand predator. He is
right. Only employ this technique if you're sure you can't stand the
onslaught from sneaky and bleedy predator #1 and think you'll be able
to get forward motion going again once your predator is gone and your
grand predator has taken his place.
C. Bounce It
Bounce cards (Deflection, Telepathic Misdirections, Redirection, My
Enemy's Enemy...) are the true trump cards against sneak and bleed.
Take all the hurting the sneak deck deals out and pass it on to your
prey (or some other deserving soul). The opportunity to not only avoid
the bleed but also pass it on, is simply too good to ignore, and these
cards are now ubiquitous in tournament and casual games.
But, many players are not getting all the mileage they could out of
their bounce. Often I see the Naive Deflection:
A. "Ozmo bleeds for 2."
B. "Ohh... I'll just pass that on to my prey." Deflection. Big smile.
Missed opportunity.
Remember that bounce reaction cards can be played any time before the
action resolves. So, take it slow. The first question you should ask
yourself is: Should I attempt to block? The downside of trying to
block is that you might succeed. This is not always a bad thing, but
not always what you want either. The advantage of the blocking attempt
is that you invite the bleeder to play stealth. If he does, then it is
both out of his hand, and the extra stealth will make life that much
harder for your prey when you bounce the bleed into his lap.
Regardless of whether you've been out-stealthed or decided not to try
to block, at this point you should say "Ok, I'm not blocking..." and
offer a poker face, bring-it-on-grin, or frantic pulling of hair,
depending on the image you wish to convey. But, and this is important,
wait for the action modifier. Let the bleeder make it clear that he
has no more cards to play for this action. Now bounce.
Lets revisit our friends A and B:
A. "Ozmo bleeds for 2."
B. "Attempt to block with Sarah Cobbler."
A. "Cloak of the Gathering. + 1 Steath."
B. "Ok... I'm not blocking..." Pulls his hair. Sucks on teeth.
A. "And here's the Conditioning. Make that a 4 bleed." Burns a blood
off Ozmo.
B. "Yup. That everything?" *sigh*
A. "Well, I suppose I'll tap Pentex Loves You as well. There you go.
Bleed for 5." Burns another blood off Ozmo.
B. "Ok. Deflection. One bleed for 5 at +1 stealth on to my prey."
Smile.
One more thing. If your predator is playing sneak and bleed and he
indicates that the bleed will resolve at 1 (or 2). Take it. He's
keeping his Conditioning for the next guy. Keep your Deflection.
D. Ignore It and Hope It Goes Away
Ok, but what happens when Mr. Sneak and Bleed sits down to your right,
and you look at your hand, and you think about your deck, and you
realize you just haven't got the intercept, rush, or bounce to deal
with this guy. You?re dead right? Well... yeah. Probably. But all is
not lost. The funny thing about stealth is that you only get to play
it when someone tries to block you. If no one ever does, and you've
got bunches of it in your deck, then pretty soon it'll crowd your
hand, doing you no good, and keep you from getting to cards you
actually need.
So, ignore the stealth bleed deck and let him jam up on all that
stealth. Tap out. Act with every minion. Every turn. You weren't going
to block him anyhow. Focus on your prey. Do whatever you came to do.
Take the bleeds as they come. Pretty soon Mr. Sneaky is going to jam
up on that stealth. He'll be bleeding your for 1 and have no way to
contend with his predator. Who knows, you might outlast him...
IV. Malkavian's Revenge - Bleeding in the 21st Century
Alright, if you've gotten this far your probably thinking, "Hey isn't
this the Malkavian newsletter? So far it's all about how to cream the
Malkavians." Fear not. Now you know what the enemy knows, and we're
not done yet. Here are some more tips on how to get those bleeds
through.
A. Fundamentals
If you?re pretty sure your prey's got not nothing, then lead with the
big guns. Play all the stealth and bleed modifiers you can and try to
draw into more for your next bleeder. But, if your at all concerned
about what your prey's got up his sleeve, then lead with you little
guys. Try to tap his blockers, and draw out the wakes and deflections
while you bleed for 1 and 2. Even if he is clever enough to hold onto
his defense, you should be able to judge whether he has bounce in
hand. Then, only if you think the punch will land, should you cut
loose with the big bleed.
B. Include Combat Defense that Won't Clutter You Hand
If you're playing dedicated sneak & bleed, then you don't want to get
into a fight at all. Avoid blocking decks that can fight. You don't
want to water down your deck with combat defense, but it still helps
to have a little something for when the nice man from Detroit come
knocking.
Two nice combat defense cards: Swallowed By Night and Zip Gun. Range
combat is still the exception rather than the rule, so a quick jump to
long will often save your butt in a pinch. Swallowed By Night provides
+1 stealth at inferior, so you'll be able to use it even if you don't
see the combat. Zip Gun is free, requires no action to get, and gives
you a maneuver from then on. 1 or 2 in a deck can really complicate
things for many combat decks.
C. Cards that Beat the Bounce
Bounce is your enemy. There's nothing a bounce deck likes to see more
than a big fat bleed deck as its predator, and they'll mop up the
table with you if your not careful. But there are some cards that can
help:
1. Spying Mission
Your bleed for 4 gets dropped on your grand prey. You don't want to
oust him. Play the Spying Mission at superior, and reduce your own
bleed to 0. No harm done. At inferior it's a +1 stealth card. So,
there's no good reason not to have a bunch of these in your deck.
2. Revelations
Play at inferior. An action and a blood to look at your prey's hand
might not seem like a great deal. But that discard can do a lot of
damage. See if he's got what it takes to thwart you. If he does, have
him get rid of it. Then hit him with everything you've got with no
unpleasant surprises.
3. Change of Target
This doesn't work as well if your prey is forcing you to play stealth
before he bounces you. But its a great weapon against the Naive
Deflector, and probably a useful arrow to have in you quiver. When you
get deflected just tell your grand prey "Just block. Everything will
be O.K." Change of Target. You untap. He untaps. All is well. It?s not
just for Toreador any more. It?s also a nice card for getting your
prey to burn wakes and transient intercept.
V. Deck: Old Dog, New Tricks
Here's a version of the classic sneak and bleed, tuned to deal with
today?s environment. It?s still not the most interesting deck to play,
but if you've always wanted to play in the finals, this deck is a
cheap date.
Crypt: 12
Gilbert Duane (Malk 7 cap, DOM, OBF, AUS, Prince)
Ozmo x2 (Malk 6 cap, dom, obf, AUS, +1 bleed)
Zebulon x2 (Malk 5 cap, dom, OBF, aus, cel)
Didi Myers x2 (Malk 6 cap, DOM, obf, aus, cel)
Roland Bishop x2 (Malk 4 cap, dom, obf, aus)
Zoe (Malk 3 cap, obf, AUS, cel)
Watenda (Malk 3 cap, obf, cool special)
Laurent de Valois (Nos 4 cap, dom, obf, ani)
Masters: 15
Obfuscate x2
Dominate x2
Auspex
Elysium: The Arboretum
The Barrens
Fragment of the Book of Nod
Anarch Troublemaker
Blood Doll x4
Sudden Reversal
Dreams of the Sphinx
Obfuscate: 23
Spying Mission x6
Swallowed by the Night x6
Lost In Crowds x5
Cloak of the Gathering x4
Faceless Night x4
Dominate: 28
Govern the Unaligned x8
Bonding x4
Threats x2
Conditioning x6
Foreshadowing Destruction x1
Command the Beast x3
Deflection x4
Auspex: 8
Telepathic Misdirection x3
My Enemy's Enemy x1
Revelations x4
Combat: 2
Zip Gun x2
Action Modifier: 2
Change of Target x2
Reaction: 2
Wake With Evening's Freshness x2
Well, that's probably more than enough for this month. Thanks for
reading. Tune in next month for:
We're Mad as Hatters and We're Not Going To Take it Anymore - The
Malkavians Enter Combat
-Ben Swainbank