In 90%of the decks in the world you'll see some form of combat cards in them, and not all are meant to pound the opposing minions into pulps of messy pieces; in fact, I believe that most of these are defensive in nature - an answer to combat when the minions are forced to fight, rather than with an intention to go pick a fight.
Minions get into combat all the time - their actions get blocked, they block offensive actions taken by the enemy, they get rushed by a combat monster... and when that happens, the minions had better hope that he has some tricks to handle the battle, or that the opponent doesn't. The resources that had been included in the deck in case of these happenings are the Combat Defense of the deck, and they come in many different forms.
Probably the most common and effective combat defense (and thus forcing every combat deck to at least take into account how to defeat them) are Combat End techs, Damage Absorption and Dodges.
Combat Ends trump every attempt to inflict damage to your minion. PRESENCE cards such as Majesty and Staredown are very cost-effective cards that make many card-intensive combat combos completely useless. These are also card-efficient, and very often even blood efficient - a single Staredown with superior PRESENCE will render the multi-card death blow combo useless - a waste of his resources while protecting your minion's health. Many other disciplines also provide Combat Ends option - ANIMALISM has Flesh Bond, OBTENEBRATION has Shadow Body and so forth. But PRESENCE remains the one discipline that provides the widest option for Combat End - the untapping Majesty, free Staredown, damaging Catatonic Fear and bleed-enhancing Unholy Penance; therefore, whenever anyone is fighting a PRESENCE-abled Vampire, Combat End should be on his list of potential defense.
Dodges is another common defense, for those clans who has no access to easy Combat Ends. CELERITY plays with dodges, and so does some of the less combaty disciplines such as OBFUSCATE and even AUSPEX. Dodge is less assuring than Combat Ends as there are more ways to deal with it then with Combat Ends. There are many strike cards that cannot be dodged, and dodges can't really deal with additional strikes. Nevertheless, it can deal with many form of combat strikes. Some defense is better than no defense.
Manuoever is not just an element of combat defense, it is sometimes, the only defense that a deck has - meaning that the minion in combat is just going to try to move to long range and hope that the opponent either cannot catch up, or has no long range weapons. Needless to say, this is even less reliable than dodges, and sometimes completely useless. It is however, an important element of your total combat defense package, as it is safer to dodge or combat end at long range (sometimes the only way to do so) than at close range, mostly due to the Immortal Grapple.
Damage Absorption is another form of combat defense. This is slightly more offensive in nature since the minion in question usually get to strike back. A hand strike of 1 damage can add up after a while. Damage absorption is championed by FORTITUDE, with a multitude of prevention cards - from the low-end Skin of Rock to the multi-strikes prevention card Rolling with Punches and Superior Mettle, or even exotic cards such as King of the Mountain or Skin of Night, FORTITUDE ensures that your Vampires are spared the bulk of the common damage that the opponent can deal. Very few cards can bypass FORTITUDE's defense, but they do exist. Assamites are good at that, and even Dead Hand can make your FORTITUDE cards useless. There are other absorption options, CHIMERSTRY's Apparition, VISCERATIKA cards and VICISSITUDE's Horrid Form are some examples. There are also master cards and equipment that provide such support - Flak Jacket, Leather Jacket and Guardian Angel, for example.
When these defenses are either unavailable, expensive, or unappealing to you, there is always the option of counter-offensive. You can pack in deadly counter-strikes that will make your enemy think twice about fighting you. The best example is probably DEMENTATION's Coma. Granted, most Malkavian Antitribu decks' only defense is Coma, but it is so potent that players are usually very careful when fighting any Vampires with DEMENTATION AND still has 3 blood or more. Bring down the opponent with you is a viable option to deter the enemy's rush attacks. Aggravated damage strikes are good deterrent - a couple of Breath of Thanatos or an Ivory Bow in hand can frighten off some attacks where the attacking minion is unable or unprepared to deal with such a defender. Even high damage strikes is sometimes enough to halt or stall the attacks - a +1 Strength Toreador Antitribu with a Art of Pain and Depravity is a real pain to fight.
The bane of most of these defenses is the mighty Immortal Grapple. This card will limit you only to hand strikes and pretty much neutralize most of your defensive strikes. You can't combat end, dodge, or use any non-hand strikes in a battle when you've been Immortal Grappled, and this is the main problem that you have to deal with where combat is concerned. There are other means to limit or even remove your ability to utilize your defense - some are specific, some are expensive and it is true that none see more use than Immortal Grapple, but all of these are not easily avoided.
Of course, Paul once told me that his combat defense for his Cybele deck is to roll over and die. There are times where there is no need for any combat defense. Weenie decks can afford to lose a couple of minions, and some decks have no issue with their minions going torpor.
Nevertheless, as far as I'm concerned, combat defense will always be a consideration whenever I'm building a deck.
(o.o)y
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