Strategy in Jyhad

There are 3 components to this piece. First, I describe what I believe is the overall strategy structure for Jyhad. Second, I discuss the main strategies and the most common tactics for implementing them. Third, I discuss the defenses to each strategy and which one are available to each clan.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list. There are other strategies (altho I don't think they are fundamental to the game) and other tactics within each strategy. I'm not entirely sure that there can even be an exhaustive list, and in any case, I couldn't write it.

First, the overall strategy structure (as I see it).

In Jyhad, are three main strategies - Bleed, Combat, and Vote. Each strategy has several primary tactics by which the strategy can be implemented.

Against each strategy there are powerful defenses, strong enough to block any particular strategy yet not strong enough for any deck to stop all 3 at once. Although not every clan can do every strategy, every clan has access to defenses against all 3 strategies.

The outcome of this basic scheme is very good. Although I cannot say whether this is intentional (I have no access to the designers), it seems too good to be accidental. Since every clan has access to excellent defenses against all strategies, almost any deck can be designed to be immune to one or resistant to all three strategies. If one strategy proves more effective than the others, everybody's defenses shift to equalize the three. At the same time, since you can't stop all strategies at once, in any real game most attackers have an advantage over most defenders, so the game moves toward a conclusion.

A good, robust deck typically has defenses against all 3 strategies. This affects how one can combine strategies. If you're using only one strategy, defenses of your predator and prey against the other strategies tend to clog up their hands and get in the way. As you start using multiple strategies, you allow your apponents to make more effective use of their defenses. Typically, then, a deck that uses only one of the three offensive strategies tends to be more effective than a deck which tries to combine more than one. Where decks emphasize defense more, this is truer, where less, it is less true.

Now, a brief description of each strategies, with its main tactics.

• Bleed decks - Drain your prey's pool. The main issue with bleed decks is getting the bleeds through. Bleeds are a 0 stealth action, so if you don't have any tricks your prey simply blocks your bleeds and you don't do squat.

  There are three main tactics here: Sneak and Bleed, Tap and Bleed, and Bruse and Bleed.

  • Sneak and Bleed - Bleed at stealth so your prey can't block. Everybody knows this one. Use Malkavians with lots of Obfuscate Stealth and Dominate Bleed. A somewhat less efficient method is to combine Bonding, Blood Bond, and Seduction.
  • Tap and Bleed - Perform more bleeds than your prey has vampires to block. You can do this with lots of little vampires in your crypt (no particular clan), with cards that create vampires like The Embrace and 3rd Tradition (plenty of princes), or with cards that let you untap or continue actions after being blocked - Majesty, Freak Drive, Earth Meld, and Form of Mist (Ventrue or Gangrel with card limits, plus Toreador and Brujah without).
  • Bruise and Bleed - Bleed with vampires that do lots of damage in combat and bonus bleeds. The best options are Brujah (Presence bleed, Celerity/Potence damage) and Tremere (Dominate Bleed, Thaumaturgy damage). This is fundamentally a hybrid (Bleed/Combat) strategy, and suffers from the disadvantages of hybrid strategies. This is compensated for in that the bleed tactic simultaneously can serve as the defense (using intercept with Tremere and rush with Brujah).

• Combat - Smash your opponent's vampires into oblivion. A combat deck needs a method to get into combat and a method to do lots of damage. It often needs a way to avoid damage as well. There are two main tactics for entering combat- Intercept and Rush. There are many tactics for doing damage.
  • Intercept combat - play with Auspex and/or with lots of Sports Bikes, Raven Spies, KRCG Radio stations. Toreadors, Malkavians, and Tremeres are best at this, with Gangrel and Nosferatu second (Raven spies).
  • Rush combat - Play with Bum's Rush, Haven Uncovered, Talbot's chainsaw, vampires that can attack like Wynn, Roxanne, and Ebanezer Roush, etc. Gangrel and Brujah are best here.
  • Every clan can manage combat:
    • Brujah - Potence and Celerity
    • Gangrel - Protean and Fortitude
    • Malkavian - Disguised nasty weaponry.
    • Nosferatu - Animalism, Potence, and presses
    • Toreador - guns and Celerity
    • Tremere - Thaumaturgy and presses
    • Ventrue - guns and Fortitude
  • Brujah and Gangrel are best, Tremere, Nosferatu, and Malkavian second, and Ventrue bring up the rear. Toreador vary tremendously, depending on the group. If they can reliably get guns, they're almost as good as the Brujah. If they can't, they're down with the Ventrue.
  • You can also build combat strategies around any discipline save Dominate and Presence.
  • There are other tactics for doing damage, including 2 hand, Fortitude/Potence, and Celeritous Tremere.

• Vote - oust your prey with votes. With vote decks, the main difficulty is getting votes passed. There are three main tactics - titled vote, persuasive vote, and weenie vote.
  • Titled vote - pass your votes with titled vampires, especially Princes and Justicars. Use lots of Minion Taps to recover the steep cost of these vampires. Ventrue are the best clan for titled vote.
  • Persuasive vote - pass your votes with cards that give you bonus votes (Bewitching Oration, Charming Lobby) or that influence other Methuselehs to vote with you or abstain (Bribes, Scorn of Adonis, Telepathic Vote Counting). Toreador are best at Persuasive vote as only they have access to all these cards.
  • Weenie vote- lots of little vampires of no particular clan. Put in lots, lots, and lots of votes, and very little else. Pass votes just by throwing down vote cards. Some Praxis Siezures and Justicars can make your life easier.

    Note: the legitimacy of this tactic has been seriously questioned, both on the basis of the written rules (which, literally read, deny this strategy) and of game balance (on the basis of the Kine Resources Contested deck).

Finally, here is a discussion of the various defenses.

• Bleed defense: There are 3 main defense strategies for bleed defense: intercept, rush, and bleed bounce.
  • Intercept bleed defense is done the same way as the intercept tactic for combat strategies. Most interceptors do intercept combat although you can do "intercept and run away" strategies with intercept and combat defense. Although in my experience this is the most common bleed defense, it's actually rather tricky, as you need a separate set of cards to handle each bleed tactic - + intercept for Sneak & Bleed, untaps for Tap & Bleed, and combat defense for Bruise & Bleed.
  • Rush defense consists simply of rushing a vampire who might bleed you and sending him to torpor first.
  • Bleed Bounce is using Telepathic Misdirection and Deflection to make the bleeder bleed somebody else (ususally your prey) instead of you. Telepathic Counter, although not strictly a bounce card, tends to fit in with this strategy as a cheaper way of handling small bleeds.
  • Bleed defenses for each clan:
    • Brujah - Rush
    • Gangrel - Rush, intercept
    • Malkavian - Intercept, bounce
    • Nosferatu - Rush, intercept
    • Toreador - Intercept, bounce
    • Tremere - Intercept, bounce
    • Ventrue - Bounce

• Combat defense: There are 3 main defense strategies for combat: Fight Back, Survive, and Combat Ends.
  • Fight Back - the most obvious defense. Hurt him more than he hurts you.
  • Survive - use cards to let you avoid damage (Dodges or maneuvers, especially Celeritious ones) or ignore damage (Fortitude).
  • No Combat - use cards that provide Combat Ends strikes (Majesty, Earth Meld) or cards that prevent combat (Obedience).
  • Combat defenses for each clan:

    note any deck can use Survive, with disciplineless dodges. I mention those that are particularly good at it

    • Brujah - all 3
    • Gangrel - all 3
    • Malkavian - Fight Back, No Combat
    • Nosferatu - Fight Back
    • Toreador - Survive, No Combat
    • Tremere - Fight Back, No Combat
    • Ventrue - Survive, No Combat
  • Here, incidentally, is the one hole in the scheme I outline. Nosferatu have no defense save Fight Back. However, they are in the second tier of combat clans, so effectively they have no good combat defense against Brujah and Gangrel.

• Vote Defense:
  • There are 3 main defenses to vote - intercept, rush, and debate.
  • Intercept and Rush work the same way as with bleed defense.
  • Debate consists of making successfully called votes fail. You can do this with titled vampires, with voting reaction cards (Surprise Influence, Dread Gaze, Pulling Strings) or by cancelling the vote (Delaying Tactics)
  • Vote defenses for each clan:

    Note that any clan can use Debate with Surprise Influence and Delaying Tactics. I mention the ones that are good at it.

    • Brujah - Rush, debate
    • Gangrel - Rush, intercept
    • Malkavian - Intercept, debate
    • Nosferatu - Rush, intercept
    • Toreador - Intercept, debate
    • Tremere - Intercept, debate
    • Ventrue - Debate

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