This article discusses resources and combinations in Jyhad. It discusses the interplay of resources and combinations is so critical to operations in Jyhad. It then lists some of the most common resources, and some good ways to attack them. Finally, I close with some play tips based on my theories.
In Jyhad you have a large and complex set of resources. I define a resource as something you want and can use to do things but have a limited supply of. The classic resources in Jyhad are pool, vampires, blood on vampires, permanent assets (equipment, locations, etc.),and cards in your hand. The complexity comes in that most of the resource categories must be subdivided into smaller subcategories of resources. For example, if you have a Malkavian/Ventrue vote deck, many of your Ventrue probably won't have Obfuscate and accordingly won't help do things that require vampires with Obfuscate. Likewise, blood on Thomas Thorne won't do you any good if Lydia is in combat.
You accomplish things in Jyhad by stitching together the right particular resources in combination to achieve results (costing your prey pool, torporizing vampires, gaining pool, whatever). At the same time your opponents are trying to do the same thing. To win, you need to make your combinations keep working while your opponents' fail.
Why are combinations important? In many games (Magic for example) most cards work OK alone, although they may be better in combination. Jyhad differs. With a few exceptions, any card in Jyhad is worthless without at least two or three companions. A + bleed card is junk if you don't have a way to get it through. A combat card is junk if you can't get into combat. A rush card is useless if you haven't any combat to back it up. And just about everything needs a vampire who can use it.
The simplest basic combination in Jyhad is the Malkavian Stealthed bleed, which requires an untapped vampire with Dominate and Obfuscate, a + bleed card, and a stealth card. Often a second bleed card and several Obfuscate cards are necessary as well. Other combinations are generally more complex - Tremere intercept to 2nd round nuke will usually require at least an untapped vampire with intercept and Thaumaturgy, and intercept card, a press, and the 2nd round nuke. Often several additional combat cards, of various types, are needed as well.
Now to make an action or a defense worthwhile, the whole combination must work. Your predator will be throwing offensive combinations at you, while your prey launches defenses. To survive (against your predator) or win (against your prey) you must make their combinations fail. To succeed, you need to find the link in their combination you can best attack and go for it.
Why do you have to pick on one link? The reason is what I call the 2-for-1 rule. Two players (predator and prey) typically gun for your throat. Now let's suppose your main interaction with predator and prey is by combat (for simplicity). Every time you fight each side loses a couple of blood. If everybody spent 20 bringing out vampires, by the time you've lost 10 against your predator and 10 against your prey, you're down to 0 blood - and out of commission. Your opponents are still operational, at 10 each. Similar issues apply to other resources, like untapped vampires.
Your allies (grandpredator and grandprey) may help mess up your opponent but they haven't much interest in your well-being per se. So you have to be effecient - frying 2 resources for every one of yours, or clever - deactivating your opponent's entire tactic (thereby making all his resources useless) by taking out only a few key resources. Relative efficiency is hard to ensure - he may fight like a demon too - so cleverness is at a premium. Because Jyhad operations demand combinations, you can always be clever by picking on just one link of your opponent's combinations.
There was a design decision make with Jyhad on how to counter resources, of almost any type. Generally a resource can be countered on a one-to-one basis with a cheap card or tactic, or completely hosed with a more difficult one. Bleed can be reduced with Telepathic Counter, or redirected to benefit the original bleedee with Telepathic Misdirection or Deflection. Maneuvers can be negated with Fake Out, or if there are too many, you can use a gun instead. This is a very clever system, as it maximizes defense flexibility. The flaw here is strike: combat ends, which although clearly superior to dodges, presses, and maneuvers as combat survival, costs no more and is not hard to get.
Permanent cards are an important part of flexibility. I believe that it's a bad idea, generally, to rely on permanents as a basis of your strategy. (Disguised/Concealed Weapon is a notable exception). Permanents are slow to get out, and often vulnerable to intercept. However, permanents can provide a boost for the circumstances where you need it. If you're playing a Gangrel Claw deck against a mad maneuverer, a few guns are a big help. If you don't need them, you have only a few cards to dispose of. 20 Form of the Ghost could catch the maneuverer too, but if you fight somebody without maneuver, they'll jam your hand.
Somewhat surprisingly, the best resource to exhaust is often one of particular cards. I call then the hand jam tactic. On the face of it, this seems odd - typically a deck has a more-or-less unlimited supply of any card it really needs. Hand jamming works because it doesn't matter what's in your deck; what matters is what's in your hand when you need it. In addition, normally you get more cards by playing the ones you have. If you can't use anything in your hand, you're stuck - you can't get rid of what's in your hand to get what you need from your library. You sit there until you can discard enough to get going - or until you trick somebody into exercising your hand.
Exercising a hand is the opposite of jamming it. A Malk S&B with bleed bounce might have 1/4 Stealth, 1/4 Bleed, 1/4 bleed bounce, and 1/4 assorted Masters and Wakes. If you haven't got any intercept, attempting to block him won't stop him - he'll just stealth on past, drawing more bleed in the process. You've provided him "exercise" - the opportunity to use parts of his deck that might have gone unused - and, as with people, exercise makes decks healthier. If his predator bleeds, that's just providing exercise too, because of the bleed bounce.
Deals with other players are an important part of attacking resources. To jam your predator' or prey's hand, you almost always need at least acquiescence, and usually the active assistance, of your grandpredator or grandprey, respectively. Combat deck alliances are also particularly lethal (provided there's some Rush involved), as non-combat decks usually have good but limited anti-combat resources. Once they run out, vampires go to go to torpor in a hurry.
What makes the interplay of combinations particularly difficult is that the way you are attacking your opponents' combinations is generally- with combinations of your own! So they, in turn, are busily trying to gum up your ways to gum up their ways to gum up yours ways to ... well, you get the idea. In addition, every combination you launch carries a cost in resources - from slight (tapping a vampire or using some cards) to heavy (hurling a sacrificial lamb like Dollface into the hands of Don Cruez to prevent him from getting a Sports Bike). So everything you do has to be based on an evaluation of long-term costs and benefits, taking into account what the other players are doing. This interplay and constant requirement for long-term thinking is what makes Jyhad such an intense, involving, and interesting game.
So I sum up with a few tips:
Happy Hunting.