Bloody Disciplines - ANImalism

Continuing with the tuning of the Akunanse, I had quite a bit of a look at Animalism. I find that at the end of the day, despite all the common complaints of ANI, it is actually a pretty good discipline to stand by itself, having answers to most of the problems of the game, and can be used as a single discipline for a deck if needed.

Actions

With the addition of Deep Song, ANI is semi-complete. It has actions to increase bleed, enter combat, put permanent damage into play, and has cards that help it to confront and compliment one of their strongest aspect - retainers. Deep Song is without a doubt one of the best things that has happened to ANI. Before it, ANI has to rely on other disciplines to provide the extra bleeding enhancement that ANI most desperately need, and generally are inefficient since the majority of ANI clans don't have good disciplines to supplement the ANI spread. With the flexibility provided by Deep Song, ANI bruise bleed decks become much more viable, and no longer need to rely only on Tiers of Souls for bleed enhancement.

Army of Rats is a most commonly seen pool deprivation card that plays well into the ANI style. Attacking the prey consistently (albeit slowly), it also attracts the prey from attempting to burn it, and therefore increases the chances of getting into combat. Combine the Army with other permanent damage cards, and it can get heaty after a while. Moreover, one only needs basic ANI to put the Army in play, which is very handy even for other non-ANI decks to have one for the added damage. (My Ferox hired one)

Other notable cards include the mighty Shepherd's Innocence when there are other ANI decks in play, and should be included in most ANI deck whenever possible. Taunt the Caged Beast is another very cute card that can be quite effective sometimes.

Modifiers

This is where ANI really sucks. It has nothing actually worth talking about except in very dedicated decks - like Animal Magnetism for the random vote decks, or Tainted Springs for retainer decks. Besides that it really has nothing to tell the world about.

Ally

The Underbridge Stray is an excellent ally, even at basic ANI it works, and it rarely if ever attracts blocking attempts, plus it is usually very useful for most ANI blockers.

Combat

One of the best combat packages in the game, a dedicated ANI combat deck is hard to overcome unless you are either another ANI combat deck, or you're really good at handing out damage at long range (or able to absorb an absurd amount of damage over time). The basic Carrion Crow plus Aid from Bats is already a potent combo in the hands of a vampire with superior ANI, dealing out 3 damage per turn with a maneuver and a press. Anyone without answer to that will usually be gone in a turn or 2. Throw in other deadly cards such as Terror Frenzy or Drawing out the Beast and the full package is present, eliminating even more threats (such as guns), and/or causing more problems (absorb with Indomitability? Go ahead with that superior Terror Frenzy in play)

There are other ANI combat package available, but the others usually require some support from other disciplines. Song of Serenity is an interesting damage prevention card, and can be put to good use in close combat, imagine a Conquer the Beast with a Devil Channel: Hands and a couple of Songs in play, and the FOR vampire will have sweat running down its spine. (unless of course he has Superior Mettle).

The most powerful combat card that will almost always appear in any deck with ANI is the Canine Horde. It is one of the very rare combat cards that can eliminate the threat of weapons at first strike, and should always be included in a deck if anyone in the community actually does play with guns. And then there is always the famous Pack Alpha Raptor combo, and the very good Hell-for-Leather Anarch ANI card. They also do have a single aggravated damage card in the form of the Song in the Dark.

Overall, ANI combat is excellent, but it suffers from combat ends. They have no means of dealing with combat ends, and might waste a hell lot of cards and would do absolutely nothing against a single Staredown. Furthermore, most ANI combat are card intensive, and one might either get clout with combat, or run out of combat cards after a while.

Reaction

ANI reactions are good, most provides untaps and Intercepts. Cat's Guidance is a common sight in ANI walls, as it not only provides Intercept, but also untaps when it is needed. Sense the Savage Way is another excellent untap/Intercept card if one is playing with older vampires. The problem with many of the ANI reaction cards is that a lot of them have very specific uses - such as Instinctive Reaction, Guard Dogs, Rat's Warning and so on, and target specifically only at the predator. If defense is at the top of your mind, then it is all cool, but sadly that is not as efficient as it could be.

Retainer

This discipline is one of the top disciplines (if not THE top) when it comes to retainers. The few top contenders for the best (or most commonly seen, or at least the most famous) retainers are all from ANI - Raven Spy, Raptors, Owl Companion and the Murder of Crows. Together they provide intercepts, damage, card drop and espionage. And they're all good at even basic ANI and are generally cheap enough to use in large numbers. Without a doubt retainer is ANI's proudest department.

Crypt

There are lots of vampires with ANI, being one of the first disciplines in Vtes. They have the normal number of weenies (4 or below) with superior, but they have only 3 in adjacent groups - meaning that a weenie ANI is among the most restricted weenie decks where superior ANI is concerned.

Quite a few clans call ANI as one of their key strength.

First and foremost the Nosferatu and their Sabbat counterpart is one of the clans that use ANI quite a lot. In the hands of the Nos, ANI commonly provides the entire package, from bleed to enter combat to combat itself and the permanent Intercepts. With OBF supporting their Aid from Bats when maneuvers are needed, the Nossy are quite good at dealing with the opponent in combat. Sometimes Nosferatu will only use ANI for their untaps and retainers, especially if Cock Robin is involved, and use POT as their combat package - which is just as efficient. A mix of both can be utilized, especially in a Song of Serenity / Spawning Pool / Conquer the Beast / Immortal Grapple combo. The Nosferatu even has the Bestial to help them get retainers fast.

The Gangrels are the other old clans that uses ANI well. However, due to the excellent and deadly prospect of the PRO discipline, a lot of Gangrels chose to use ANI only as a support discipline. There is always use for the ANI retainers, and the most famous of all is the Enkidu Raptors. The FOR provided by most Gangrels favors close combat given the aggravated nature of PRO, and therefore ANI does not usually see as much use in Gangrel decks as it is with the others. Though Raven Spies with Homonculus is a common sight for Gangrel Walls.

The Ravnos also use ANI as a support discipline very often, and almost always exclusively for their intercepts only. But in an offensive combat deck the Ravnos usually look to ANI for the answer since CHI is usually not very aggressive in combat (unless you're in Maya, or there are Mass Realities in play).

The Tzimisce loves ANI. Combine ANI with AUS and VIC and you have the most wally deck in the world. Permanent Intercepts plus high Intercept enhancement cards and excellent untaps (and not to forget Read the Winds), and the whole world needs to ask for the Tzimisce's permission to do anything. The Tzimisce generally only utilizes Carrion Crows, since they have VIC for even more effective killing.

Needless to say, the Akunanse needs ANI to be effective, nuff'said.

The Ahrimane also relies on ANI for combat and intercepts. If they want to be a wall deck they're only slightly less effective than the Tzimisce, and that is mostly due to their thin crypt. SPI with ANI provides almost the same amount of effectiveness in blocking the opponent's actions, since Falcon's Eye is the only one that emulates the famous Eagle Sight.

All said and done, ANI is one of the most commonly seen, and effective discipline, able to stand on it's own (though limited in the form of decks that it presents) or play an excellent supportive role. It is effective at basic, and absolutely deadly at superior, and enough vampires has it to make this one of the most well-known disciplines in the game.

(o.o)