Rachel Brandyclaws

Description: Stealth bleed with Protean for combat defense/offense. Bleed for 2 or 3 at stealth. Use Form of Mist to minimize bounce potential. Rötschreck rushers and odds are they won't rush again soon. Never saw Kite or Dolphin Black, but Tony showed up in every game, I think. I originally had only 3 Rachels and 1 Imogen (the only other Malk/!Malk with Protean & Dementation), but ultimately decided to drop the crappy Imogen for a 4th Rachel, improving my chances of drawing her. Never used the hunting grounds. My Blood Dolls always clumped (had them all early in the first round, but never saw them in the finals). The skill cards came in handy, Sudden less so. I managed a Giant's Blood on empty Rachel in round 1, but wasn't able to use it in later rounds (usually because someone else beat me to it). I Rötschrecked Tzimisce a few times, which gave me a real sense of satisfaction.:) The Dreams are absolutely essential. Combined with Rachel's ability, they're just amazing. I also got them early enough the final to have Rachel on turn two. If I hadn't had that many Dreams, I would've probably not gotten a single VP all day as I would've been hand-jammed nearly all the time. Blessing of Chaos and Restructure were prayer cards, but Blessing enabled me to oust Josh very early in the finals as he couldn't play Voter Captivation. I managed to Restructure a War Ghoul in round 3. That ended up being the round I lost, but the War Ghoul was instrumental in helping me oust my first prey. The utility of Kindred Spirits goes without saying. The pool gain from them kept me alive as I was almost never blocked. I considered adding more The Call, but four of them turned out very well as I consistently drew them when I wanted them. The three Deranges (all I own) ended up being only a minor annoyance as there weren't an titled vamps for me to change sects on and most people didn't bother trying to move the Deranges around. Six Eyes of Chaos proved to be a very good number and gave me fairly consistent good bleed without jamming my hand on modifiers. The rest of the stealth (18 cards counting the Swalloweds) were pretty good. I was able to sneak past wall decks on occasion. I never used Spying Mission for "responsible bleeding" because most of the time when I was bounced, I ended up ousting my prey soon enough anyway and it was good to have my next prey softened up. Never had a good opportunity for it, but I think it's good in theory. Seems like it might not be enough, considering my vampires are huge, but the Dreams cycling and Kindred Spirits pool gain compensates well enough. I was expecting more combat and this proved to be too much, but again the Dreams cycling saved me again. The Forms of Mist were great for getting past Eternally Vigilant Cailean or just for tapping a blocker. Better than pain "responsible bleeding", this card helped my bleeds hit their target. The Flesh of Marble helped out a lot when I was getting rushed by a War Ghoul in round two. Mostly used for stealth. I maneuvered a couple times just to cycle them.