Deck Variations

Lately it came to my mind, how dependent we are on what we think or expect what a particular deck our opponent is playing in game of VtES. Currently I am playing an Ahrimanes bleed deck on a regular basis, and literally everybody is expecting a wall deck, even after I have bleed for 5 with Heart of the City and Aire of Elation. Although there are some block capabilities in the deck (mainly Speak with Spirits and Raven Spies) compared to a Weenie Auspex deck the block options are rather limited. And one road to success is to counter these expectations.

You can observe a similar phenomenon, if you are playing in a VtES league or play certain decks quite often (or over a prolonged time). Usually after the second or third time you play that deck, the other players will recognize it (by vampires played and/or distinctive library cards) and say things like, "it's this and that deck", and stuff as "it has no intercept", "it can fight very well, but cannot bleed significantly", etc. etc.

You can take advantage of these (sometimes) premature opinions, when you counter their expectations and have one or two variations of a deck at hand. This is similar to the module concept I have discussed a short while ago, but this time we make variations of the same deck by including a set of cards (instead of switching the same card module between different decks). As an example, I will show you two decklists for basically the same deck and the cards exchanged between the two decks.

What I did for that Ahrimanes deck was exchanging only the combat module, 8-10 cards in total (out of a 80 card deck).

• The first variation is the more bleedish version, trying to add a bit more bleed punch using Unholy Penance. It has 4x Majesty and 4x Unholy Penance. as its "combat" module.
• The second variation is a bit more combat orientated, and has 8x Aid from Bats and 2x Carrion Crows instead.

It should make much of a difference for the deck's purpose as a bleed deck, since usually I use the Aid from Bats for avoiding combat (rather than inflicting damage) and the Presence based S:CE cards do any equally good, if not better job for this.

The concept also works for slight changes, for example switch the two Direct Interventions in your deck to two Sudden Reversals next time. Again, the main purpose is to take away that sense of security the other players might and catch them off-balance. In the same spirit as for the modularity concept, you have to be careful not to change (or weaken) the main purpose of the deck.

On the other hand, a large scale variation doesn't work for all decktypes or clans. The Ahrimanes in the example are very useful for the concept of deck variations, since they have somewhat flexible disciplines (Spiritus in particular) and you can build a variety of different decks types based on this clan, from rush combat using Nose of the Hound & Animalism combat to stealth bleed using Presence and Spiritus.

Modularity

Module (noun): an independently operable unit that is a part of the total structure.

Modules as a concept have been around in VtES for quite some time now. It first came to appearance in the Toreador Antitribu Newsletter September 2000, where it was presented by Ethan Burrow (and Norman S. Brown). The Presence forum has a whole subsection dedicated to the module concept (although input has been very slow these days).

But what is a module actually? A module in VtES is a set of cards, typically 10 to 20 cards) which has designated purpose and where the individual cards have something in common and/or they supplement each other. The cards of a module are often similar or at least complement each other. Furthermore, and that was the original purpose of a module, a module can be shared in a variety of decks.⁽¹⁾

An Auspex based block module (21 cards) would look like this and could certainly used both in a Tremere Wall deck or a Ventrue antitribu Grinder deck:

• 1x Bowl of Convergence
• 4x Eagle's Sight
• 4x Eyes of Argus
• 4x Enhanced Senses
• 4x On the Qui Vive
• 4x Telepathic Misdirection

That most cards are included four times is pure coincidence. Before the introduction of Eyes of Argus and On the Qui Vive these cards would have been easily 8x Forced Awakenings.

A second example here is a ranged combat module with Taste of Vitae (for regaining blood).

• 10x Thrown Gate
• 4x Taste of Vitae
• 4x High Ground

This module can be used in a Weenie Potence Computer Hacking deck, as well as Combat defense in Lasombra Toolbox deck.

But you have be careful when using modules in different decks. Just adding a couple of cards because the discipline(s) (or other requirements) fit, may seriously dilute your deck and derail the deck from its intended schwerpunkt.

Footnote: (1) One problem remains when actually exchanging cards between decks is how to identify them quickly. Here the only solution is to either keep meticulous deck list or sort the decks after playing them, so it's easier to take the cards out.

Mr. Rackham's Disruptions

Many players still underestimate, how disruptive a Smiling Jack really is to their game and to the whole table. If you look at the cumulative blood/pool, you see how much more the player who doesn't control the Smiling Jack actually pays.

• Turn 1 - 0 pool -- 0 blood or pool
  
• Turn 2 - 1 pool -- 1 blood or pool
• Turn 3 - 2 pool -- 3 blood or pool
• Turn 4 - 3 pool -- 6 blood or pool
• Turn 5 - 4 pool -- 10 blood or pool
• Turn 6 - 5 pool -- 15 blood or pool
• Turn 7 - 6 pool -- 21 blood or pool
• Turn 8 - 7 pool -- 28 blood or pool
• Turn 9 - 8 pool -- 36 blood or pool

As you can see the difference is quite enormous. Outracing the Smiling Jack, might be looking good sometimes .. but if one (or more) player is ousted, then the chances of removing the Smiling Jack just sank drastically. And that's because by ousting the player the number of minions have been reduced who can remove the Smiling Jack.

As conclusion, I can only advise any player, that the whole tale should make a joint remove to the Smiling Jack. And please, start not just after the first player has been ousted, start rightaway. The player with the Smiling Jack is more likely to let go off the Smiling Jack, if there a no or very few counters on it, but he will try to defend it with his life when 4+ counters are on it.

Danger! Danger!

Like in any other game (and trading card games especially) players in VtES have sometimes the tendency to perform flashy actions in order to just show what your deck is capable of or how cool your deck is. For example, you might attack the cross-table red list vampire in order to show how good your combat abilities are or you might call a Diversity to gain three pool, when it gives you prey or predator even more. And the borderline between a flamboyant play and outright stupidity is very thin. Sure it's cool to equip Jake Washington with an Assault Rifle and let him shoot at other minions with Caseless Rounds, but more often than not he's easily killed as usual ..

While it is ok to play in a more flamboyant way in casual games, since we're still playing for fun (are we?), it is crucial to avoid these plays in tournaments. So when it itches you to use Graverobbing on your crosstable buddies' Brunhilde and Golconda her in the next turn, it might be wiser to use the Golconda on your prey (and oust him) and save the Graverobbing for later time. Just ask yourself. "What would Ben Peal do?" (or any other reasonably good player).

On the other hand, at times it is a good thing(tm) to do these kind of things. For example, when you have an aggressive predator with a lot of damaging votes it might be a good idea to torporize or even burn one of his vampires in the most dramatic style to impress and convince him of your combat abilities. Then you might strike a deal that you're both not overly aggressive for a couple of turns.

Reference: The Danger Of Cool Things by Chad Ellis is a longer article about the same topic with regards to Magic: The Gathering.

Cutting down a .. VtES deck

In the White Wolf VtES forum a player asked how one would cut down a 90 card VtES deck to smaller size more suitable for tournaments or competitive games in general.

When I start building decks I usually start with 90 card version. With this initial draft I then play a couple of league or casual games, to see which parts are working or not. Between these games I often remove cards that didn't work in this deck. Sometimes I replace them with more suitable cards, or if I have the impression, that the card doesn't fit into the concept at all, I just throw them out, e.g. when I have too many master cards in the deck, I remove those which are not essential to the deck. So this is already the first step of reducing the deck size.

Before trimming down the deck to a tournament size between 60 and 80 cards, I first ask myself, if this is necessary at all? How much cards were left in the library in a typical game and did I came close to decking myself? E.g. when playing a combat deck with a high throughput of cards or a deck with many Liquidations, it's often not advisable to reduce the card count below 80 to 90.

When I have decided to reduce the deck size, I usually aim to reduce the deck to 75 cards. Sometime ago in the french VtES forum Sabbat in France one of the forum members came up with the following classification with regards to deck size:

• 60 cards -- fast or combo decks
• 70 cards -- fast deck with extras
• 75 cards -- normal deck
• 80 cards -- combat decks
• 90 cards -- bad decks

Although it's slight exaggeration at the lower end of the list, it shows the a good guideline for which deck size to aim. The faster or the more combo-dependent the deck is, the smaller the deck should be.

Usually when trimming down a deck, I follow these principles:

1. Try to retain card ratios where possible, e.g. try to keep the same ratio of master cards to combat cards to action cards, etc. This is important to avoid handjams with certain types of cards.
2. Eliminate cards that are not essential to your deck, but nice-to-have and/or corner case.
3. Eliminate cards with higher number of copies (5 to 10) in your deck by one or two copies.

For example, if this would be my DOM bleed deck with 24 cards, ..

Master Cards (7): [29.2%]
5x Blood Doll
1x Pentex Subversion
1x Retribution

Action/Action Modifier Cards (11): [45.8%]
6x Govern the Unaligned
4x Conditioning
1x Graverobbing

Reaction Cards (6): [25%]
6x Deflection

.. I can reduce it to the following deck with 18 cards (removing 1/4 of the deck):

Master Cards (5): [27%]
4x Blood Doll
1x Pentex Subversion

Action Cards/Action Modifier (8): [44.4%]
5x Govern the Unaligned
3x Conditioning

Reaction Cards (5): [27.8%]
5x Deflection

I have removed the Graverobbing and the Retribution, because they are kind of useful in some cases and nice for casual games, but not necessary for the deck to work in general. Then I removed one copy each of Govern the Unaligned and Blood Doll, and as a consequence one copy of Conditioning to retain card ratios between the different card groups. This is of course a simplified example, but it shows the general principal.

Rustwurk: Vampire Etiquette

Another old strategy article originally pusblished on Rustwurk in 2002. This time LasombraKate (a.k.a. Kate Souza) gives you some tips on Vampire etiquette, but in fact these are generally beginners hints on how to better at playing VtES.

V:TES is a social game just as much as a strategic game. There are certain guidelines and tips one should follow when playing, and this goes for newer players just as much as veterans.

First, don't be discouraged. Like any card game, you will lose. In Vampire, you lose more than you win. It's inevitable. Vampire is a game of small victories. Smaller goals (e.g. ousting your prey) are far more accessible than say, sweeping the table your first game.

Play a clan you like, maybe not a clan that necessarily reflects your personality, but a clan you'd enjoy playing. I don't like to start off a game on the wrong foot (ahem, power gaming). Malkavian stealth-bleed, or weenie bleed may be wonderfully damaging, but does get boring. Obviously, make your first deck pretty simple, once you get a feeling for your playgroup and the game, make more complicated decks. I recommend not copying decks from decklists, because deck building is an important V:TES element. It's ok to look at decklists if you're confused about card ratios or cards to put in a deck, but avoid copying it card for card. It's so much more rewarding to build an original deck that wins than take it from a web page or another person.

This next point is self-explanatory: take the time to learn what cards do, and make sure you keep in mind what vampires you're matched up against. This way, you may be less surprised when you're sent to torpor or worse. It's easier to play when you know what obstacles you're facing.

Never put unnecessary pressure on your grand-predator or grand-prey. This only makes the game harder for you. If you hurt your grand-predator, your predator can put immense pressure on you. The same goes for hurting your grand-prey. If a bleed so happens to be deflected, it's never really wise to bump up the bleed when they don't block, or continue to stealth it when they try. Imagine how hard it is to bleed through your prey when they just gained six pool. Deflections should go to your prey, naturally, if a bleed has been deflected all the way around the table I usually deflect it to the person the bleed was intended for.

On the same token, it's never wise to conduct "cross table" actions. I mean that in the sense you shouldn't contest cross-table, rush cross-table, or heavily bleed at +6 stealth cross table. It's just not wise.

It's always a good idea to put some inkling of pressure on your prey. Newer players tend to act less, when forward motion is part of the game. Playing Vampire is circular, and somehow that affects you eventually. You can't be afraid to take forward action.

Listen to everyone at your table; try not to be a puppet or a tool. Other people other than your predator or prey usually have good ideas. It's usually good (although by all means not necessary) to have a cross table buddy. It's important not to take it too seriously though, as sometime soon, he/she will be your predator or prey.

Good sportsmanship is so very important as well. I try and think of it this way, many of the people I game with are friends, so I try not to say anything I'll regret the next day when I see them. So try not to be mean, yell at people, throw decks, or promise that you'll cross table them in every game they play. Bad things happen in V:TES much the same way they happen in Magic: The Gathering and other games. Your vampires will go to torpor, you will be blocked, and you will be ousted. If you don't think any of those things will happen, you have a lot to learn.

Last of all, and really it's the most important aside from good sportsmanship, don't be afraid to ask questions. It never bothers me or any one else really to clarify rules, give deck suggestions, or playing suggestions. We're here to help, especially new players. We want people to stay in the playgroup and to do well in games because it makes the game more enjoyable for everyone.

If you try and keep all this in mind when playing V:TES for the first few times, your games will go smoother, be more enjoyable and it will be more enjoyable to play with you.

Kate Souza

Kate Souza is a local Seekonk, MA V:TES player.

Rustwurk: To the Cardcycle, Batman

Here's an old article by Shaun McIssac, originally published on the now defunct Rustwurk website in November 2001. He writes about the importance of card cycling and card flow:

To the Cardcycle, Batman
by Shaun McIssac

One of the surest ways to lose a game of V:TES is to have a hand full of cards that don't help you in the current situation, and not discard to any cards that would help you in the current situation. This is commonly known as "hand jam" or "not $#@%ing drawing one of my 10 wakes." It will happen to most decks regardless of their composition because pretty much every card is at least in a somewhat similar situation and those that aren't tend to be weak (read: Ascendance). That being said, there are things you can do to significantly reduce the chances of getting hand jam.

The first thing to do is look at the deck your building or reworking, and determine what the "half life" is on each card in the deck. No, you don't need a Geiger counter; You just want to sort the cards by how long they sit in your hand for, on average. If you constantly discard a card (via your discard phase or an effect such as The Barrens), that counts against it too. Chances are that the cards that either sit in your hand for a bunch of turns, or always get discarded, are too situational. Sometimes situational cards are quite handy and there's no real replacement available. Deflection is situational, because it's unplayable in a one on one scenario, and because it only works against a bleed aimed at you. Deflection is also a card that virtually all decks with Dominate or superior Dominate in them use. You could replace this card with Telepathic Misdirection, which also provides intercepts against non-bleed actions and as such is less situational, but it taps you and that's often a significant weakness. Triole's Revenge has a powerful effect, as it ties up the affected Ventrue and under certain circumstances can burn them outright. However, the card can also be a complete waste if there are no Ventrue on the table, or if the Ventrue is in a position where you wouldn't want to destroy/incapacitate their vampires. It also cost blood and requires a ready Brujah, which further reduces the cards utility.

What can you count on happening? You can count on bleeds happening, even if only for a basic one bleed. You can count on having a master phase. You can count on combat; it won't always be a vicious flaming aggravated death combat, but at some point someone will block you or you'll block them. You can count on having vampires in your crypt showing up, and assuming you've got a consistent crypt, their disciplines/clans/etc., as well. You can count on taking actions and usually, you'll want to block some as it is hard to make a deck that is capable of winning without blocking. You can't count on (someone else's) political actions. You can't count on someone else having a specific clan (even a popular one like Malkavian or Ventrue). Thus, you tend to see a recurring theme in The Lasombra's deck archive. Deflection, Redirection, or Telepathic Misdirection, some form of combat (Strike: Combat Ends counts), stealth (whether by action modifiers, actions with inherent stealth, or unblockability), intercept (or stealth reduction), Blood Doll or Minion Tap. At the last Seekonk tournament, all five decks in the finals had all five of these aspects except the winning deck, which didn't really have much in the way of combat other than Lucian's special. Everyone else had either a weapon or discipline-based combat.

Keeping you're deck stocked with cards that are usually going to be playable is good, but you can also add cards whose entire purpose is to cycle. The most popular ones ent of the Book of Nod sees the least play because of the fact that it can be stolen, but it still deserves mention as a strong card in a dare The Barrens, Dreams of the Sphinx, Visit From the Capuchin, and Fragment of the Book of Nod. Fragmeck that can protect it, especially since the card can help you protect it by cycling to your intercept and/or combat. Ben Peal has already written a nice article on the The Barrens, so I won't get into a lot of detail here. Just replace "The Barrens" in Ben's article with "Dreams of the Sphinx" and "it's free" with "it's almost free." At least one of these cards is in pretty much every one of my decks.

The last thing you can do to avoid getting hand jam is to reduce the number of cards in your deck. Let's say there are two decks, each of which has the same starting ratio. Deck one has ten KRC, ten Voter Caps, ten Bewitching Orations, ten Forgotten Labyrinth (FL), ten Minion Taps, and ten Deflections. Deck two has the same cards but fifteen of each. Deck one plays a game and finds no Forgotten Labyrinths in it's initial draw. This is bad because after two turns of transfers you have almost finished bringing out Arika, and your prey has just brought out a Vampire with a base of +1 intercept, making the KRCs, Bewitching Orations, and Voter Captivations in your hand useless. The deck discards for the third time and still is waiting for a stealth card. Now imagine Deck two doing the same thing. What are the chances of Deck one pulling a FL compared to Deck two? Deck one has fifty cards that it has not yet drawn, and ten is the "correct answer," so there's a 20% chance the next card will help. Deck two has eighty cards left and fifteen is the "correct answer," so there's a 18.75% chance the next card will help. Seem small? Well, as the game progresses, the gulf between the two decks is going to widen with every draw. If the sixty card deck is now down to thirty cards and the ninety card deck is now down to sixty, the difference would be closer to 9%. Playing with less cards makes a deck more "true" in its draws, with the trade off that you cannot fine tune your percentages quite as much and you might run out of cards when you don't want to. Fine tuning can be important, but running out of cards can usually be remedied by having more powerful cards and thus needing less of them to oust 2-3 opponents (5th Tradition instead of Restoration, Conditioning instead of Threats). He who dies with the most cards in his library, still dies.

By doing this you can help to minimize the effect of the random shuffle on your game, making your strategy, skill, and metagame choices much more important.

Shaun McIssac

Shaun McIssac has mastered the art of confusing his opponents with arcane odds and percentages. If this tactic fails, he can be found bloating with Etrius.

Card Tech: Liquidation & Ashur Tablets

Lately the combination of Liquidation and Ashur Tablets has become popular in a couple of VtES decks. The best example for deck that that uses this combo is one named "Ashur Celerity that won the Hungarian ECQ 2009 earlier this year.

Liquidation lets you gain 3 pool while moving 7 cards from the top of your library to your ashheap. On the other hand, Ashur Tablets lets you gain 3 pool and retrieve up to 13 cards from your ashheap to your library (and one to your hand), if you manage to put a set of three Ashur Tablets into play under your control. This is a decent pool gain combined with the ability to control the contents of your library in the mid- and endgame. The combo is somewhat similar to the Liquidation / Sudario Refraction that the Speed Shamblers deck uses in perfection.


Advantages
The basic package consists of one Liquidation and three Ashur Tablets, which lead to following numbers:

• Pool gain: 6 = 1.5 pool/card
• Card flow: 13 cards retrieved - 7 cards discarded = 5 card retrieved from ash heap + 1 card to your hand

So the combo is somewhat better than the Ascendance "benchmark" (regarding pool gain). But what it makes playable is, that in addition you have some form of control of the cards in your library, and can retrieve cards from your ashheap later in the game.

I added a package of 2 Liquidations and 6 Ashurs Tablets to my Antonio d'Erlette Nephandus deck, and this improved the deck's performance significantly. The pool gain is necessary since the Nephandi and equipment I am running in this deck are quite expensive. Also later in the game I can retrieve the cards that I am going to need for a particular situation, e.g. Conditioning for ousting, Nephandus for putting them into play after they have been burned, etc.

Multiple of the basic package (i.e. two Liquidations and six Ashur Tablets or three and nine) are advisable, because with only three Ashur Tablets the risk is just too high "losing" one of Ashur Tablets by a Liquidation into the ashheap.


Disadvantages
The main problem with the combo is the high number of master phase actions (and card slot) it costs. So from point of view the tech is only suitable when you have multiple master phase actions (Anson, Nana, Parthenon, etc.) or your master card count is somewhat low.

Currently the race for putting Ashur Tablets into play comes up only very occassionally. So it's usually save to assume, that you can complete your set of three Ashur Tablets without any disturbance, though this may change in the future.

Another, yet small disadvantage is the fact that you do not replace Liquidation until your next discard phase. This can be very annoying if there are other cards/effects that also reduce your handsize effectively, e.g. the do-not-replace clause on Mirror Walk or the handsize reduction caused by Dragonbound.


Summary
While not the swiss army knife for VtES the combo Liquidation and Ashur Tablets is an interesting card tech for those decks which want/need to combine decent pool gain with card retrieval from the ash heap. It's not suitable for all deck types

Rustwurk: 5 Tips to be a Better Player

Another old strategy article originally pusblished on Rustwurk in 2002. This time Gregory Williams gives you 5 tips how be a better VtES player, and you can learn some Latin, too.

1. Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi, sed saepe cadendo. -- "A drop of water hollows a stone, not by force, but by continuously dripping - (Ovidius, Ex Ponto)."
   Simply put...Be patient! V:TES is a not a quick game by any means. Most games last two or more hours. Take your time and you will be a better player. If I had to choose just one tip to give you, this would be it. Patience!
   
   First, remember not to rush your play. I can't count how many times I have seen experienced players play a card before it was their time to do so, and therefore giving away cards in their hand and potentially changing their opponents card-play. Take your time and go through the stages of play. In combat, remember that the acting player plays his cards first...and let him. When bleeding, don't immediately slap down a bleed modifier, even if you are sure you have enough stealth, it may yet be deflected. I see this mistake more among new players, but it occasionally happens with more experienced players. Furthermore, when you are being bled, let them bump their bleed before you deflect!!!
   
   Second, don't burn yourself out. Don't go 'balls out' on your prey when it means you leave yourself vulnerable to your predator. Every game is different, but, in general, you must remember that while there may be times when you can bleed your prey out, it may not be advantageous to do so. If you have to tap yourself out to gain 6 pool and a victory point (presumably your first), and this leaves you wide open to your predator and he bleeds you out...what did you really gain? One victory point doesn't win the game. I have mostly seen this behavior in former Magic:TG players. They tend to focus more on the immediate kill and not the overall game. They end up going full out on their prey and more often then not, their grand-prey takes the game due to lack of pressure.
   
   Lastly, Never give up! Quite often, when players get in a bad situation they tend to do stupid moves. Here's an example: four players in the game. My prey looked poised to take out his prey (my grand-prey). So my Grand-prey, on his turn says, "Well, I am probably dead next turn.... so I will bleed with everything". His prey (my predator) defends every bleed attempt. On my turn, I play an Anarchist Uprising [Worth 1 Vote. Called by any vampire at +1 stealth. Successful referendum means each Methuselah burns 1 pool for each minion he or she controls.] which kills both my predator and prey. My grand-prey (now my prey) has no vamps to defend with, so I bleed him out that turn as well. If he had left his vamps untapped, he very well could have managed to win the game. And I think he could have managed it too, since I had nearly run myself out of cards. The point here is, you never know what can happen in a game. Even when all seems bleak, play to win, you might just dig yourself out of whatever hole you are in.


2. Fortuna caeca est. -- "Fortune is blind."
   Don't rely on the luck of the draw. Quite often I see players play cards hoping to draw into what they need. Sure it happens from time to time, but never often enough. Rely on what's in your hand. Don't bleed unless you have the stealth. Don't 'Bum's Rush' unless you have the cards to do some damage. If you do end up drawing into more of the cards you need, all the better. Don't make that bet unless you are willing to pay the price. Understandably, there are situations when sometimes you need to go for it. But remember Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and at the worst possible moment."
   I know that some people might argue that if you build a good deck, then chances are that you would draw into what you need. Well, if you have built a good deck, then everything you need should be in the seven cards in your hand! Right? Truly, the situation dictates your actions, and every new game brings a new situation. Just don't let your action be a wasted one. Make each action count and don't rely on luck. That bitch is ever fickle!


3. Semper paratus, numquam non paratus. -- "Always be prepared, never unprepared."
   Read the cards! Know what cards are played and re-read them! I know, let me guess, you have been playing since 1994 and you know every card from every set, why should you re-read the cards, right? Because, the fact is that unless you have a photographic memory, nobody will remember every nuance from every card. For instance, what is Blythe Candeleria's (Tremere) negative ability? Or Leon's (!Gangrel) negative ability? What is the secondary ability on The Hand of Conrad? Do you remember them all? Maybe you do, but there will be cards that you don't. Take a moment, remember tip #1, use patience, and read the cards that are played. When another player (even across table) plays a card and you can't remember what it does, or you can't think of what the card text is in your mind, verbatim, then ask to look at the card. Don't let yourself get surprised. Even if the person is across table, if you play your cards right (pun intended) they will eventually end up next to you.
   
   Also, don't forget what cards are on the table. Quite often players forget about the Rumour Mill across table, or the Masquer Wraith, etc ... that can give intercept to another and they get burned for it. Be prepared for that contingency and pay attention to the cards in play!
   


4. Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur. - "That man is wise who talks little (know when to hold your tongue)."
   Don't give it away! So often I see players, experienced or not, do something so simple that hurts them so much ..... they show their hand to their predator. How many times have you looked over and ...whoops... there is your prey's hand looking you square in the face? Did you mean to look? No! But how can you not notice 5 red-bordered cards, and 2 gray-bordered cards staring back at you? Well, I wasn't planning on bleeding, but since he has no wakes or intercept cards ... well, how can I not! It seems such a simple thing to do, but you would be surprised at how much better you will play without your predator knowing all your secrets. Don't show your hand.
   
   Another silly thing I see players do is mention or hint at cards they have in their hand. Don't mention a card in your hand unless it's a strategy of some kind. Keep your secrets hidden. When you opponent's know what's in you hand, they change their strategy accordingly (sometimes this is to your advantage if you play it right). And as likewise mentioned in Tip #1, take your time and don't play your cards too fast revealing cards before their time. Don't it give away!


5. Animis opibusque parati. -- "Prepared in minds and resources (ready for anything)."
   Always think they have it! What does this mean? Well, it is always better to overestimate your opponent than underestimate them. Play as if your prey has a Wake in his hand or a Deflection. Play as if your predator has a Conditioning and the stealth to get it through. Play as if the vote deck has the Kine Resources Contested and the necessary votes. I think you get my point. I am not saying that you should play as if you are afraid of what your opponents have in their hand. Just be ready for anything and expect them to pull off the unexpected. If they do, you will be more prepared for it, and if they don't you will be pleasantly surprised. As I have said before, every situation is different and there are no absolutes, but it is wise to play as though you opponent has what they need in their hand. Prudence is the better part of Valor.

Gregory Williams is the VEKN Prince of Providence and has been a VTES player since Jyhad debuted in 1994.

Rustwurk: Why The Barrens?

Here's an old article by the esteemed Benjamin Peal, originally published on the Rustwurk website in October 2001. He writes about the usefulness of "The Barrens", but in general the article is about why card flow is so important in VtES. Since the website is out of order for long time I decided to re-post the article ...

Much has been made of the effectiveness of The Barrens on the newsgroup lately, so I figured I'd explain why I put it in every deck I build...

• Stealth-bleed decks especially like the Barrens when some smart-ass pulls the "don't block" trick. With the Barrens, you can clear out the unneeded stealth cards quickly, and get to the happy bleed cards so you can smite the punk.
  


• Dude, it's free. Who cares if they contest it? It's free.
  


• It allows you to prepare for one more contingency. You'll typically be exposed to a fair number of different deck types over the course of a tournament. Account for everything that could possibly be thrown at you is impossible, but that extra discard per turn allows you to include another measure or countermeasure against a certain deck type without diluting your deck.
  


• Even if you're not a fan of including that extra contingency measure, and prefer to stick to your guns and build the most efficient deck you can (trusting your assumptions of the metagame), there will still be occasions where you'll still have too much of one type of card and not enough of another type of card. Hand jam can strike anyone at any time. The Barrens can help maintain the proper ratio of card types in your hand.
  


• It helps me play with more kinds of master cards in my deck. Don't need one? Cycle it out! It's not that I need the Barrens because I have so many masters in my deck. I have so many masters in my deck because I have the Barrens.
  


• For that matter, it helps me play with more of any type of card in my deck. For card cycling to the extreme, check out my winning deck from DragonCon '99 on The Lasombra's site (http://www.thelasombra.com). 2 Barrens, 2 Dreams, and 2 Books of Frag let me rapidly switch between bleed, combat defense, bleed defense, and intercept modes. With all three in play, I could have almost a whole new hand in one turn.

I typically use two in a deck so I can draw into it a bit more quickly. If I draw the second one, I use the Barrens to discard it. :) I typically don't need it in my initial draw. I rely on it more for that second wind in the middle of a game.

Ben Peal, Prince of Boston and contributing writer for Rustwurk, resides in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Coping with Strike: Combat Ends

For VtES players playing combat decks the most annoying countermeasure of non-combat decks is using "Strike: Combat Ends". So one of the main questions for combat decks must be: "What can I do against Strike: Combat Ends?".

There are four main cards against Strike: Combat Ends, which are quite effective and can be used easily. They are:

• "Immortal Grapple" (pot) -- restricts strikes to hands strikes only, but requires the combatants to be at close range. The card is very good, but has it's limitations (close range) and needs some backup, e.g. access to maneuvers or cards that deny the ability to maneuver to long range. Also, since it doesn't force the opposing vampire to play the Strike: Combat Ends, you are most likely guaranteed to need another "Immortal Grapple" the next round/combat. On the other hand, it's the only card of the four that only requires a discipline at inferior level.


• "Psyche" (CEL) -- starts a new combat after the combat ends. This one is probably the best, since it forces the opposing vampire to play the Strike: Combat Ends card, making it more likely you do not need a new "Psyche" during the next combat. Also it's cost free and not restricted to be used at close range like "Immortal Grapple".


• "Telepathic Tracking" (AUS) -- continues the combat after the Strike: Combat Ends has been played (or the combat ends otherwise). Surprisingly you see this card not as often as "Psyche", though the advantages using the this card are almost the same. The only drawback when compared to "Psyche" is that it costs a blood, but on the other hand combat decks often play "Taste of Vitae" anyhow. The one reason I can imagine for the less frequent use is that Auspex is not combat discipline per se, and so you need an additional combat discipline to be truly effective.


• "Thoughts Betrayed" (DOM) -- prevents the other vampire from using strike cards. There are two disadvantages to this card. First, the card is the most costly of the four mentioned in this section, and although you can recover the blood by playing "Taste of Vitae" you need to have the blood at start of the combat at your disposal. Second, combat can still be ended by cards in play, like "Flash Grenade" or a built-in Strike: Combat Ends like "Gotsdam, The Tired Warrior" has. Also, the card suffers from the same effect as "Telepathic Tracking"; since Dominate is not a combat discipline, it requires an additional combat discipline.

Ranking the cards, "Psyche" is the clear leader of the pack, closely followed by "Immortal Grapple" and "Telepathic Tracking", and then with some distance, "Thoughts Betrayed".

In addition there are several other that can achieve successes against Strike: Combat Ends, but they are more limited in use, often just because the above cards also prevent the opposing minion to play Strike: Dodge effectively.

• Discipline Based
  
  • "Hidden Lurker" (obf) / "Fast Reaction" (aus) -- both prevent the opposing vampire to strike in the first round of the resulting combat. The main disadvantage is there that both cards require an additional untapped vampire. Also the opposing player will be more cautious after the first appliance of the card to block (or react), i.e. you may not be able to choose your combats as you like.
  
  
  • "Blessing of Chaos" (dem) - prevents Strike: Combat Ends that requires Dementation, Chimerstry, Dominate or Presence. As good at it sounds, there are several disciplines such as Necromancy, Obtenebration and Protean with access to Strike: Combat Ends are not covered by "Blessing of Chaos". The other issues is that Malkavian (antitribu), the main clan that features Dementation, are not known for their fighting capabilities, i.e. they lack proper combat disciplines like Potence or Protean.
  
  
  • "Lapse" (TEM) -- prevents any strike during the initial strike phase. Somewhat weaker than "Thoughts Betrayed", since the later card prevents the opposing minion playing Strike: Combat Ends during the complete combat. Otherwise it has the same dis-/advantages as "Thoughts Betrayed", only that the "True Brujah" have Potence as clan discipline which can provide the necessary punch for hurting the other combatant.
  
  
  • "Mind of a Child" (dem) and "Withering" (THN) -- prevent discipline cards from being played, and therefore stops all discipline based Strike: Combat Ends. "Mind of a Child" has the problem that it is way too expensive for a card, that can be removed by any vampire as a +1 stealth (D) action. "Withering" on the other hand suffers from the problem that you first need a combat to apply the "Withering" in which the opposing minion can play , and then you need a combat (or at least press) to make good use of the "Withering's" effect, since the card is burned in the opposing minions discard phase. Just to complicated to be truly effective.
  
  
  • "Skin Trap" (VIC) -- prevents the opposing vampire from striking if they fail to pay 1 blood. This is probably the weakest countermeasure, since the opposing minion can easily circumvent the effect by paying a blood. Only repeated use of the card can lead to desired countermeasure, i.e. when the opposing vampire is empty of blood.


• Clan Based
  
  • "The Path of the Scorched Heart" -- prevents Strike: Combat Ends that require Presence. Since the restriction to only one discipline is too narrow, this shouldn't be the only countermeasure against Strike: Combat Ends. In the case of the True Brujah "Immortal Grapple" and "Lapse" (see above) are the likely candidates to fill the gap.
  
  
  • "Dog Pack" -- minions opposing the minion with this retainer cannot play Strike: Combat Ends. The biggest restrictions here are that employing "Dog Pack" requires a Gangrel and costs hefty two pool. Otherwise quite usuable in a Gangrel combat deck.


• Minions
  
  • "Oliver Thrace" -- minions in combat with him cannot play Strike: Combat Ends. Very good feature, but restricted to just one vampire.


• Other
  
  • "Rötschreck" -- does not prevent playing of Strike: Combat Ends. It simply ends combat in a different way, and sends the opposing vampire to torpor. The disadvantages are threefold, it restricts your combat to aggravated damage, is only playable once during another player's turn, and is utterly useless against allies. Otherwise very hard to counter.
  
  
  • "NSA Trio" -- during the first combat between an acting vampire and a blocking vampire each turn, neither combatant may end combat as a strike in the first round. This is the only (near) universal (read: affects all vampires in play) countermeasure, but decks relying on Strike: Combat Ends as combat defense will try to remove the card as soon as possible. So, though it is a good addition for combat decks, it should backed backed up with other countermeasures.

Ousting with Combat Decks

I'd like to explain here what options a combat deck (especially rush combat) deck has to make significant pool damage by hurting its prey's minions. I won't discuss the Bruise & Bleed or Bruise & Vote strategies, since they use bleed and political actions for pool damage, where I want to detail which cards can be used to damage a prey's pool damage directly when using a combat angle.

Today there is variety of cards in VtES which helps with reaching this goal, each with specific advantages and disadvantages:

• Fame -- The oldest card shown in this list, it is still one of the most viable cards for any combat deck. The card is more viable for a Rush combat deck than a Intercept combat deck, since the Rush combat deck will be able to target the famed vampire directly, while the Intercept combat deck has to wait for an opportunity to catch the fame vampire while acting. It is a popular strategy for Rush combat decks to rescue a torporized vampire, only to attack him again in the same turn.
  
  Pool Damage: 3 pool for torporizing a vampire, and 1 pool during the untap phase while the vampire remains in the torpor region.
  Pro: Significant pool damage when torporizing a single vampire.
  Con: It can happen quite often that the card will be contested since it so popular among combat decks. It can also backfire if you are low on pool yourself, since not only your prey is burning one pool during the untap phase, but everybody else as well.


• Tension in the Ranks -- This is usually a good addition to "Fame" in a combat deck, but as standalone ousting card it's just not making enough pool damage against most decks. Against certain decktypes "Tension in the Ranks" is simply devastating, for example a "Khazar's Diary" deck or a "Tup Dog" deck,
  
  Pool Damage: 1 pool each time a ready minion is burned or sent to torpor.
  Pro: Affects more than one minion, can be used not only against vampires, but also against allies.
  Con: Non-combat decks will remove that card by just just discarding two master cards. The effect can backfire if your vampires are low on blood and/or you're facing a combat deck as prey or predator.


• Dragonbound -- is the third major asset combat decks can use to eliminate its prey more quickly.
  
  Pool Damage: 1 pool for each vampire in torpor during the discard phase.
  Pro: Does the most pool damage continuously. Especially good for Intercept combat decks, since this forces the prey to rescue its vampires from torpor, which can be blocked and used to torporize another vampire.
  Con: The reduced handsize while the card is play is a significant disadvantage for combat decks, making a handjam with master cards (for example) more likely. The effect can backfire if your vampires are low on blood and/or you're facing a combat deck as prey or predator.


• Path of Lilith -- targets only player which have been sent to torpor by non-Camarilla vampires. Unfortunately the damage generated by "Path of Lilith" is often too small/slow to outweight the disadvantages of the card (see below). If you have master card slot open, it may be worth a try, but the card should not be the main (or even sole) means of ousting.
  
  Pool Damage: 1 pool if the player has a Torture counter during his untap phase.
  Pro: Selectively damages players pool.
  Con: The pool drain for your prey is rather slow, and the card can usually removed rather easily by anyone with access to stealth. The other drawback is that it requires non-Camarilla vampires (which also rules out Ally combat decks) to produce Torture.


• Predators Transformation -- since the card requires Abombwe it is rarely seen outside of Akunanse decks, but here it works wonders. Not only can it be used a stealth at inferior Abombwe, but it burns two pool when burning a minion not only in combat but also as (D) action, e.g. when diablerizing a vampire.
  
  Pool Damage: Two pool when burning a minion in torpor or as (D) action.
  Pro: Variable usage; hidden threat, not as visible as "Fame" or "Dragonbound".
  Con: Requires to burn a minion, not just send him to torpor; requires Abombwe.



• Hell-For-Leather -- is the newest addition, and somewhat similar to "Predators Transformation". Requiring an Anarch with Obtenebration it causes two pool damage, when torporizing or burning a minion in combat, and your own Anarch vampire is still ready. The only bad thing is that the other disciplines used for this card (Animalism and Celerity do not match very well with Obtenebration).
  
  Pool Damage: Two pool when torporizing or burning a minion in combat.
  Pro: Also usuable against allies; can be used multiple times in turn without much extra setup; only requires to torporize vampire, not to burn them..
  Con: Requires an Anarch with Obtenebration, so needs to some setup; poor crypt choice when trying find vampire with Animalism or Celerity in addition to Obtenebration

Summary
When compared to the beginnings of VtES there is now a wider variety of ousting methods available which directly related to combat . Not as many as most combat deck players wish, but it's a good basis. Combining several of those can inflict significant pool damage to your prey's pool without spending too many non-combat card slots. For example, a "Celerity Gun" deck can pack something like 2 "Fame", one "Tension in the Ranks" and one "Dragonbound" with diluting its main angle too much. For the future I would appreciate more discipline- or even clan-related cards that inflict direct pool damage when hurting other player's minions badly.

The Gentle Art of Deal-Breaking

More than 8 years ago James McClellan (aka Legbiter) wrote this insightful piece on the making (and breaking) deals in VtES. The original piece appeared in the Gangrel Antitribu Newsletter October 2000, and it was later republished on Xian's VtES website.

The Gentle Art of Deal-Breaking by James McClellan

A recent topic of conversation on the newsgroup was all about making and breaking deals, the extent to which retaliation was wise and should be taken, and so on. I don't think any real consensus was reached but some quite interesting points were raised and an entertaining time was had by all, or at any rate by me, especially when I came across the post which said that sometimes deal-breaking should be mandatory. And since the not-so-gentle Rob Treasure has been talking about the related matter of agitation in his excellent Ventrue Newsletter I thought I would just say a few words more about how to make and break deals in VTES.

I'd better preface my remarks by saying that this is one area of the game where not only do I lack the basic skills but I even know that I lack them. I well remember being dealt out of victory in the first final my ToGP deck got to when Rob, my predator, somehow persuaded Pierre, his predator, that his [Pierre's] interests would best be served by a cross- table rush against me. I think even Rob felt a bit guilty about that one and in fact we tied the final, Rob winning the tournament overall on his performance in the heats. However, not being able to do something is no excuse for not commenting on it, as any follower of English cricket or football or whatever is well aware, so here is what I think about making and breaking deals.

Never make a deal that isn't going to give you a solid advantage. Usually this will mean an advantage in the game, and by VTES rules it may not involve non-game components, which basically means no bribery, but there are solid reasons for making deals which give you no VP for the game. The best example of a deal of this kind is one which buggers up a deck you can't deal with so that, for instance, it doesn't get to the final. There are others, but I'm not making this point to go over the ground of what isn't or is a legal deal in Jyhad: I'm making it because if your deals aren’t good for you then you are being stupid, and that means you will get used by more-skilled players. If your deals always blow up on you then don't make deals at all; the other players may think you are stupid not to make any deals, but if you make crappy deals then they will know you are stupid, which is much worse. A good way to do this is to pretend that you have forgotten how to speak whatever language you normally use; alternatively you may find that you urgently need to go to the bathroom whenever the subject of deals comes up. Learning an uncontrollable stammer, brought on by the stress of deal-consideration, can also be a good tactic.

Never break a deal unless it gives you the game right away. Again, I'm not making a moral point here, and in fact I'm not even making a new point. If you break a deal but leave your opponents alive they will get a chance to retaliate, which will bugger you up and, much more seriously, make you look stupid. If you break a deal and win you will get some sour looks and may lose important chances to copulate with attractive members of the individually-preferred but usually opposite gender, but nobody will think you are stupid for breaking the deal. In short, your reputation as a Good Player will be enhanced, and this may actually make it more likely that people will deal with you in the future - or as Machiavelli put it, it is better to be Feared than Loved. All of which leads on to the final point I want to make:

Be wary of making deals with stupid people. If somebody is a poor deal-maker it's quite likely that they are also a poor card-player and deck-builder, which means that even with the best will in the world they may not actually be capable of fulfilling their side of any proposed deal. On the other hand, you can sometimes make quite spectacularly brilliant deals [for you, anyway] with people who are poor at dealing, especially if they have cross-table abilities like politics or combat in their deck, and even more so if they think VTES is an RPG in the same sense as VtM. As Rob hints in his newsletter, the way to do this is often to start off by coaching them [in-game, of course] on how to play their deck properly, and then once you've helped them to some modicum of success you propose or even better acquiesce to some utterly ridiculous deal.

In summary, therefore, I suggest that making and breaking deals is a skill. Deploying this skill is part of your growth as a VTES player, and you need to do it right, or not at all, because your reputation as a skilled player is of tremendous long-term value to you.

Go Anarch or "How to make an Anarch"

With the release of the "Twilight Rebellion" expansion three new ways of making vampires Anarch (and Independent) have been introduced (five if you also count the draft effects). Time to review the different approaches in terms of effectiveness and playability.

• Cardless action -- although this a way to make an Anarch that doesn't require any card, it's definitely the worst one. It costs an action and two blood, if you do not control any ready Anarch (one blood, if you have at least one ready Anarch). Furthermore the action is only at +1 stealth and can therefore easily be blocked if not backed up with additional stealth. In short, it's costly, it's unreliable, so only if your others cards for making your vampires Anarch are showing up you should consider this option. The only good thing is that you can use "CrimethInc." to untap the vampire after the action if your vampires have "Protean" or "Quietus".


• "Go Anarch" -- "Anarch" common -- this one is on the middle ground. It's an action and it's only at +1 stealth, but at least it doesn't cost and untaps after the action. Still it has the problem that without additional stealth this can be easily blocked. So basing an entire Anarch deck on this card (as means of making vampires Anarch) is too often unreliable, especially against more experienced players who will try to block this action to prevent your deck from functioning.


• "Anarch Secession" -- "Kindred Most Wanted" rare -- while the above two actions can only be taken by non-titled vampires, this is the card for titled vampires to use. Although the newly converted anarch does not untap (as with "Go Anarch"), princes and archbishops have their titles converted into baron titles of the same city. Since this is the only way of making titled vampires Anarch (beside "Jack Drake"), it is the first choice if you want to base your Anarch deck on vampires with inherent votes (titles).


• "Galaric's Legacy" -- "Anarch" Common -- before "Twilight Rebellion" "Galaric's Legacy" was usually the first choice in an Anarch-based deck, since it wasn't action (that can be blocked), and this master card is a trifle. Packing 6 to 10 cards (in a 80-90 cards) deck is enough to have Anarchs vampires early on. One of the drawbacks of this card is that the master can be canceled (by "Wash" or "Sudden Reversal"), but this does not happen often, since it is regarded as not too important (better save the SR/Wash for the "Fame" or "Pentex Subversion". The real disadvantage is that you waste a lot of card slots for making your vampires Anarch. Card slots that should better be used to make actually use of your Anarch vampires and their abilities.


• "Seattle Committee" -- "Anarch" rare -- while clearly having a better effect than "Galaric's Legacy", since a single copy of "Seattle Committee" can be used multiple times to make a vampire an Anarch, the card has other drawbacks. First of all, it's not a good idea to include too many copies, since the card stays in play you only need one copy in play. On the other hand you want to draw the card earlier than later in the game, so this contradicts the fact that too many copies of the card are not good for the later card flow. Secondly, it's not a trifle and it's unique, so if there's another Anarch player at the table (which usually does not happen that often) there might be contest of the card.


• "Twilight Camp" -- "Twilight Rebellion" rare -- is an interesting alternative to "Seattle Comittee". It offers slighty different mechanism on making Anarchs, because you can only make vampires Anarch when they entered play from the uncontrolled region. This inferior to "Seattle Committee", on the upside you can spent a master phase action to move one (of up to four) counters as blood to an Anarch. If you have used one or more "Seattle Committee" in your Anarch decks you should consider replacing some of them with "Twilight Camp".


• "Anarch Convert" -- "Twilight Rebellion" uncommon -- this new mechanism was introduced with the "Twilight Rebellion" expansion. It allows you to make another vampire you control an Anarch by burning the "Anarch Convert" that has just entered the ready region.When using this effect, you can then decide which of the two optiosn you choose:
  1. get a pool; in this case you often used a crypt slot and a transfer point for the go-anarch effect.
  2. move a card from your crypt from your controlled region; in this case you have paid a pool and a transfer for the go-anarch effect.
  In the end you gain a versatile tool for making vampires Anarch, but at the same time you do not have to dilute your library with too many cards for achieving the same effect. Putting 4 "Anarch Converts" into your crypt, you have 83% chance of getting "Anarch Convert" in your starting crypt, thus giving you - with a slight delay (of one transfer point) - an Anarch very early in the game.


• "Jack Drake" -- his special is that he can make vampires Anarch when they move from the uncontrolled to the ready region (similar to those of "Twilight Camp") and they burn a blood. The obvious drawback is that Jack must be moved first to the ready, then the younger vampires. In addition Jack as a vampire with his disciplines must fit into your overall deck strategy. On the other hand Jack's special also also (similar to "Anarch Secession") to become titled vampires Anarchs, but in contrast to "Anarch Secession", they all lose their title.(1) As an alternative you can move the younger vampires to the ready region first, and after Jack has done this as well, the first vampire can save a blood when going anarch (cardless), since Jack is already an Anarch. So Jack is not a bad choice for going anarch, but he doesn't fit into every Anarch deck due his capacity and discipline selection.

Draft Effect Cards

• "Anarch Manifesto" -- "Twilight Rebellion" common -- is great way of becoming Anarch in draft, since not only you can become Anarch for free, any subsequent actions that require an Anarch, e.g. "Steely Tenacity" or "Keystone Kine" are at an additional +1 stealth. When combined with "Anonymous Freight" you can also increase the stealth on the equip action to +3 without having to think about any discipline or clan requirements.


• "Garibaldi-Meucci Museum" -- "Twilight Rebellion" rare -- another great choice in draft, since along with two other useful effects (retrieving Anarch-requiring cards from the ashheap & ending combat between Anarchs), you have the effect of "Seattle Committee" for free.

Summary
While in the past "Galaric's Legacy" combined with copy of "Seattle Committee" was most often the best choice when you tried to play an Anarch deck, the question for the right card is now more complex to answer. "Twilight Camp" can replace or combined with "Seattle Committee". The two go-anarch actions (cardless and "Go Anarch") are still not the first choice, but in deck with "CrimethInc" it's at least worth a thought. The card that excels in making Anarchs is (in my humble opinion) the "Anarch Convert", because he offers a reliable way of doing so, with a reasonable cost/drawback.

(1) Technically they don't loose their title, the title is just dormant until their sect affinity switches back to their original sect.

Coping with Vote

When building a VtES deck, you have to take certain decisions, including how you want to defend against the most common offensive strategies, i.e. bleed, vote and combat. One (perfectly reasonable) decision is to ignore a particular defense, e.g. you can bloat more than your predator can probably bleed you. or you want to take an indirect defense approach, e.g. playing rush combat, "Banishment" or "Sensory Deprivation". I'd like to discuss in this article which defenses are available against vote decks and their political actions.

The term "vote lock" often used during VtES games, means that a certain player has the vote majority at the table, i.e. this players controls vampires with titles or other permanents (like "Ventrue HQ" or "Powerbase: Madrid") which grant him in total more votes than the sum votes of the players control. So it's possible for this player to call any "Political Action" (PA) and usually he doesn't have to use any action modifiers to make any PA succeed. On the other hand no other player can make a referendum succeed without using action modifiers or the help of the player who has "vote lock". Achieving "vote lock" is the state that any deck that uses PA (as its main offense), and every other player should try to prevent other players from gaining "vote lock".

Blocking & Intercept
One reasonable defense against PA is to block them. This is usually harder than blocking bleed actions due to the inherent +1 stealth a political action card provides. In addition a political action is by default an undirected action (even if there's just one actual target for "Parity Shift" or "Banishment"). There are a couple of cards that give additional stealth on either non-bleed or undirected actions like "Forgotten Labyrinth" or "Creepshow Casino". So in order to consistently block PAs you usually need some permanents that provide intercept like "Raven Spy" or "WMRH Talk Radio" or vampires with a special ability that grants +1 intercept like "Carna the Princess Witch".

The strategy becomes problematic if the political action is taking place crosstable, where blocking requires "Eagle's Sight" or "Falcon's Eye" or "Anneke's" special ability. This defense becomes unplayable if you face a "Toreador Grand Ball" deck, since this decks uses the TGB to make their PA unblockable. The same applies to other cards that deny block, i.e. "Beast Meld" or to a lesser extent to cards like "Seduction", "Call of the Hungry Dead" or "Strange Day".

In summary, intercept is a quite good answer to vote decks but there are a few holes in this defense which can make the intercept/wall deck look bad.

Own Titles/Votes
One of the most effective anti-vote strategies is to control titled vampires or other permanents which give yourself or your vampires votes during referendums. The biggest problem with this strategy is that most titled vampires have rather high capacity and they must fit in your deck strategy as well (unless you're playing a vote deck yourself). There are some rather good examples for vampires who good ratio of capacity vs. number of votes, there are "Korah" (a 7-cap Malkavian antitribu Priscus), "Rake" (a 6-cap Brujah prince) or "Calebros, The Martyr" (a 5-cap Nosferatu prince, whose title can be stolen).

The votes of these vampires help you immensely within the political game. Even if you cannot prevent a particular referendum to succeed, a certain number of votes makes you be player within the referendum. If no player has vote lock, other players may need your assistance or might decide not to harm you; e.g. if a "Kine Resources Contested" is played if you're not the prey of the calling player you're often not assigned a single point of damage since the acting player fears that you might vote against the referendum. And when this kind of votes are called and you have permanent votes, you should kindly remind the calling player of this fact.

Among those cards that give your or your vampires permanent votes are "Ventrue HQ", "Alamut", "Powerbase: Madrid", "Foundation Exhbit" or "Legacy of Pander", all of these are requiring vampires of specific clans or sects. Most powerful are those that either give the vampires a high number of votes per se (like "Ventrue HQ" or have some sort of multiplier effect like "Foundation Exhibit" which gives each non-titled "Toreador antitribu" an additional vote.

If you have achieved vote lock over another player (or the whole table), do never assume that votes cannot be passed at all. The use of action modifiers that give transient votes (for the duration if the referendum) usally can easily turn the tide, this especially true for those vote modifiers where blood can be exchanged for votes, e.g. "Awe" or so-called multiplier cards, which double votes of vampires like "Hall of Hades Count". Also if your vampires with the most votes is put to torpor or is banished, the vote lock can be reduced or even lost.

Where this defense falls short is when the table seating is particularly bad or if the vote is automatically passing. The first case is usually when your sitting between two vote decks, and both of them have a vote lock over you, i.e. the sum of their votes is greater than yours. In this case you can only try to gain time by pointing out that your prey or predator will be in hopeless situation after your are being ousted, since then your predator has vote lock over your prey (or the other way around). The second case is somewhat cornercase, there are few cards that a make vote automatically pass without any prerequisite, e.g. "Dia de los Muertos", the other cards like "Cryptic Rider" or "Charming Lobby" require a previous vote by the same player has passed earlier. And that requirement has to be negated.

All in all, if your having some votes this helps a lot (although as with most defenses/offenses) this is not a flawless defense. Even if playing a vote deck yourself - where your offense also becomes your defense - you should consider adding some defensive cards like "Scapel Tongue" or "Confusion of the Eye".

Canceling Political Actions
Canceling PAs is one of the most frequently seen defenses, since the two most important cards, "Direct Intervention" and "Delaying Tactics", do not require any discipline or clan. Even if it does not actual prevent the PA to be played ever again or forces the player to discard the PA, canceling the PA gives the defending player room to breathe and the opportunity to move along with its game plan. This is most effective against the "once-per-game" political actions like "Ancient Influence" or "Political Stranglehold" than the staple votes "Kine Resources Contested" or since even if the PA is canceled, it is considered played nonetheless and therefore cannot be played a second time during that game.

Both cards have their distintive advantages, and although more player would name "Direct Intervention" as the stronger cards, "Delaying Tactics" has its merits as well:

• "Direct Intervention" is a master out-of-turn card, so you can only play at most one between your turns, while you can play multiple "Delaying Tactics" between your turns.
  
• "Direct Intervention" cancel the PA and puts the play card into the ash heap, the player whose PA has be canceled by "Delaying Tactics" can take the card back into his hand (and discard down to his handsize), and may play it in one of his next turn again.
  
• After a "Delaying Tactics" has been played, the player cannot call the same vote during the rest of this turn, and the vampire calling the vote cannot call another PA this turn. This is definetly an advantage especially if the voting deck did not diversify his PAs, e.g. he only packed "KRCs" instead of mixture of "Conservative Agitation" and "KRCs".
  
• "Direct Intervention" costs a pool, while "Delaying Tactics" costs a blood.

Situated between the "Direct Intervention" and "Delaying Tactics" is "Confusion of the Eye" ; this reaction card cancels the votes of the acting vampire in any ordinary PA, while canceling those PA that require a specific title, e.g. more powerful PAs like "Parity Shift", "Alastor" or the now banned "Protect Thine Own". So regarding these votes "Confusion of the Eye" is more powerful than "Delaying Tactics" and similar to "Direct Intervention".

Other cards with similar effects:

• "Promise of 1528" -- ends an action (including a PA) that targets a Giovanni.
  

Vote Canceling/Converting
Another interesting choice of anti-vote cards are those which can cancel vampires votes. Most of them are only affecting the current referendum only, and there is a wide variety of cards with different effects, sometimes having an extra benefit.

• "Scalpel Tongue" -- one of the most powerful card for canceling votes since it can be used both as action modifier or as reaction card.
  
• "Unexpected Coalition" -- quite an interessing card, as it can also be used either action modifier or as reaction card, but can be reversed by another "Brujah antitribu" who votes differently.
  
• "Demonstration" -- another powerful card as it is a permanent card which can cancel the votes of vampire.
  
• "Kindred Coercion" -- very powerful since it can cancel the votes of large number of vampires, but usually considered to be too expensive or too defensive from most player's point of view, since it costs a blood for each vampire affected and can also be used only in defense since it is a reaction card.
  
• "Conflict of Interests" -- also cancel votes, but the requirement that the acting vampire must be of the same clan as the reacting vampire is way too restrictive.
  
• "Irregular Protocol" -- forces the acting vampire to abstain from voting by tappin the reacting vampire.
  
• "Pulling Strings" -- forces the acting vampire to abstain from voting.
  
• "Quicksilver Contemplation" -- forces a younger acting vampire to abstain from voting.
  

In addition to these reaction (combo) cards there are a number of vampires which can cancel or even change votes of a vampire in a referendum. The later is most useful since this can really swing a referendum to your favour.

• "Ellison Humboldt" -- can change the vote of prince.
  
• "Gravitnir" -- cancel the vote of any vampire by paying a blood.
  
• "Michael Luther" -- can change the vote of a Camarilla vampire by tapping himself.
  
• "Neferu" -- can change the vote of a vampire with a corruption counter.
  
• "Quentin" -- cancel the vote of any vampire by paying a blood.

The most efficient way of dealing with other vampires titles/votes is to strip the titles from these vampires or reduce the number of votes the vampire effectively use. While there are several PAs who can achieve this most of them are limited to removing a specific title, e.g. "Command of the Harpies" removes the Prince title from a vampire, or "Excommunication" removes the title of an "Archbishop". Due to this restrictions most players prefer to include PAs that give one of their own vampires a title over PAs removing one from an opposing vampire.

The most efficient card is probably "Condemnation: Mute" which reduces a vampires votes by three, so that even an "Inner Circle" member or a Sabbat "Regent" has only one vote left, everybody else has no votes left. Played for the superior effect, for each successful vote (regardless by whom it was called) that vampire burns a blood, which is rather bad for the vote deck. Unfortunately "Condemnation: Mute" requires "Daimonium", the discipline which is almost exclusively featured by the "Baali" (or at least infernal vampires).

The most extreme cards in this group are the Gehenna events "Fall of the Sabbat" and "Fall of the Camarilla" which in the end cancel the vampires titles of the "Sabbat" and "Camarilla" respectively while the Events are in play. But since both of these cards require three other Gehenna cards in play, you seldom see these cards in decks other than those which run a high Event card count anyway, e.g. Imbued or decks that feature few or no disciplines.

Punishing the Voter
One of most interesting cards are those which punish the voters by dealing damage to either the acting vampire or the acting player's pool.

• "Elder Kindred Network" (Ventrue) -- applies one pool damage if case of tie or one pool damage per vote the referendum was lost by. The most damaging vote but to cornercase to be an effective strategy.
• "Political Backlash" (-) -- applies two pool damage if a referendum fails.
  
• "Poison Pill" (-) -- applies the same amount of pool damage to the acting player as you are receiving.
  
• "Treachery" (Presence) -- applies 1 pool damage to the caller (and anyone who voted in favour).
  
• "Touch of Pain" (Potence) -- the newest and quite interessing addition, as the card can apply damage to any successful voting (or bleeding) vampire.
  

Other Reaction/Combo Cards
There are a number of reaction cards that give a fixed number of votes against (or for) a political action. These cards are often not played since they are often too defensive, unless there is a second effect of the card which has a different effect like "Covincraft" which can be used either as vote defense or bleed reduction.

• "Army of Apparations" (requires Chimerstry) -- 3 for/against the referendum.
  
• "Covincraft" (Kyasid) - 4 for/against the referendum.
  
• "Dread Gaze" (Presence) -- 2/4 for/against the referendum.
  
• "Hall of Hades Count" (Temporis) -- doubles votes of a vampire in a referendum.
  
• "Loyalist" (Ventrue antitribu) -- 3 against the referendum.
  
• "Madrigal" (Presence/Melnmipomee) - 2 for/against the referendum; also usuable as action modifier.
  
• "Mob Rule" (-) -- burn blood to gain votes; also usuable as action modifier.
  
• "Surprise Influence" (-) -- 2 for/against the referendum.
  
• "Wanderer's Counsel" (Akunanse) -- 1 for/against the referendum.
  

Also in comparision to "Delaying Tactics" they are often deemed to weak, since if you have no vampires with votes or other cards providing permanent votes, 2 or 3 votes often do not make a difference in a single referendum, especially if there is only one voting (or two voting decks acting in agreement) at the table.

Other Means
There are a few other cards which interact with PA directly, but they are sometimes limited in their application or often have certain requirements:

• "Yawp Court"(Sabbat) -- great for combat decks, especially rush combat decks, which are otherwise not able to block PA due the lack of intercept. Also helps interacting with PAs that are called cross-table.
  
• "Malkavian Rider Clause" (Malkavian) -- as a reaction card makes the next referendum successful if the current vote is passed. This makes the acting player think if he should vote in favour of his own PA.

Summary
Although there is no "Golden Bullet" against vote decks, the number of "Silver Bullets" is quite large. The generic defense (and often considered best defense) consists of a combination of "Direct Intervention" and/or "Delaying Tactics", but specific decks may rely on different means, e.g. a "Toreador" deck might pack some "Scalpel Tongue", while a "Brujah antitribu" rush deck might use one or two "Yawp Court". Decks that are voting themselves often can neglect specific vote defense cards, since their inherent votes provided by vampire's titles or other permanents are defense enough.