Daughters of Cacophony Playbill September 2010
I. Reintroduction
II. Fiction - Harmony
II. Vampire – Scout Youngwood
III. Library Cards - Harmony
IV. Deck – Choir 2010
Reintroduction
Call me Forrest. I had the pleasure of taking the Daughters’ into
fourth place at the North American Championships in 2003 and took up
the mantle of writing the Daughters’ Playbill back in 2004 and edited
the Playbill in 2005-2006. Known for my Daughters’ decks, I was
honored when Matt Morgan informed me he used a Daughters’ deck inspired
by mine to win at Origins in 2009. But Angela can probably tell my
story better.
Fiction
Without hesitation, despite never seeing her before and the long
line of attractive women, security let Angela Preston into the club.
Security was not even aware they had let her pass, but they did have
a sense of being in the presence of greatness that left a pleasant
song in their head.
Angela had come out of hiding after many long years. She had grown
weary of the game. Hunters seemed to pop-up over night and the game
was no longer fun. “Damn Imbued,” her thoughts sang in her mind.
But she had kept a watchful ear over her clan. Songs of their
accomplishments rang throughout the Masquerade.
Angela began to hear of a new choir led by an aspiring singer, Scout
Youngwood. “Funny,” her thoughts sang, “that Scout would choose
Youngwood to denote hers and the Daughters’ status in the Masquerade.”
Angela had come out tonight to check out this new choir.
She positioned herself in a quiet corner where she could listen to the
sounds of the club and the patrons. The DJ was playing music loud, the
music was off key and the sound system was improperly balanced and played
the music just a bit fast. No one except Angela could detect the flaws.
While Angela was distracted by the sounds of the club and as she corrected
the music in her mind, she also detected the distinct sounds of other
Kindred. The sewer dwellers had come out from where rats dwelled;
artisans who painted with blood had put down their brushes; vain politicians
had adjourned sessions but still spewed hot air. If Angela could detect
them, they would already know of her presence. She forced herself to focus
on social charm and saw some eyes upon her and most of what she heard from
those eyes was a sense of awe for her even though she was a thin blood,
she was still respected.
Scout’s band took the stage. Angela detected something new in the music.
Something new in the Harmony. It was stronger than the usual Daughters’
choir. It was harmonious. Everyone in the audience was entranced by the
singer and the song. Not one soul, living or undead, could tune out the
music from their minds. Angela keyed the aria and softly joined. No one
would notice as they too were mouthing the lyrics, but the addition of
Angela’s soft undertone made the hymn ring truer and louder in everyone’s
mind. No one noticed, except Scout, immediately detected the shared voice.
Scout smiled. She was honored.
After the show, many fans hoped for a private audience. Many elders sought
access backstage, attempting dominate and presence to get past, but were
intercepted by the members of the entourage. A member of the entourage
approached Angela. She wasn’t focused and when he was close enough to her
to strike, she feared she sensed him too late. But rather than striking her,
he handed her a VIP pass and escorted her backstage.
All that remained was a persistent echo.
Vampire
Harlan Graves [HttB:U]
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan: Daughter of Cacophony
Group: 6
Capacity: 4
Discipline: mel pre FOR
Independent: If Harlan is diablerized, no blood hunt can be called.
He gets -1 intercept against non-bleed actions.
Artist: Andrew Trabbold
One of the biggest criticisms of Harlan (and the Ahrimane Dovey) that I’ve
heard is the presence of a male in all female clans. It is insulting (just
as the picture of the actual Choir card). Daughters of Cacophony are an
all-female clan. WoD players created exceptions in their fan LARPs and
online, referring to male Daughters as Sons of Discord. But there was no
official addition of men in the bloodline, until White Wolf made reference
to the Sons of Discord abominations in the Players guide second edition
and to make it clear that men are not part of the Daughters, White Wolf
created a storyline that all the known Sons of Discord were eliminated
by the Daughters of Cacophony, once again purifying the bloodline.
(There may be one male remaining, but it’s a Secret.) So where does Harlan
Graves fit into the bloodline or the storyline? In White Wolf publication,
Nights of Prophecy (WW 2265), it details Harlan Graves as a young Son of
Discord, exterminated by the Daughters, but it was he who sired Celeste,
Voice of the Secret. So Harlan does have a place in the Daughters’ storyline.
The elimination of the Sons of Discord by the Daughters explains Harlan’s
unique disadvantage of being diablerized without a blood hunt. No one knows
why the Daughters eliminated the Sons of Discord, but that is an internal
matter and not one for discussion.
Harlan’s other disadvantage is rather mild for a Daughter of Cacophony.
Because Daughters constantly have a song in their head bordering on madness,
they are not aware of their surroundings and lack intercept skills.
The fact that Harlan has no intercept disadvantage against bleed actions
is significant. It allows him to attempt to block a bleed action without
burning blood or at an automatic disadvantage and in VTES, bleeding is the
most common way of winning the game. However, Harlan is at a disadvantage
against all other action types, including rush and political actions.
Most of these actions already have built in +1 stealth, putting defenders
at essentially a -1 intercept disadvantage anyway and would require defenders
to come up with an intercept to attempt to block. In Harlan’s case, he’d
have to come up with +2 intercept. If a deck is running intercept to block
stealth actions like equipping, political, or creating allies, it may be
able to give Harlan enough intercept against these actions, but other vampires
maybe better suited to block against those actions. If defending against
a bleed action, Harlan does as well as most other vampires.
Harlan has the three in-clan disciplines, melpominee, presence, and Fortitude,
making him useful in any Daughters’ deck. The superior fortitude makes him
useful as a speed bump against bleed actions as he will be able to prevent
damage with fortitude. The superior fortitude also allows him to Freak
Drive after performing actions. However, his low capacity would limit his
use of blood cost cards. His inferior melpominee makes him a weaker Daughter
for some Daughters’ cards, including Siren’s Lure, Choir, Art’s Traumatic
Essence, and Missing Voice. Still he is able to perform a basic choir and
untap with Freak Drive to perform a Harmony, call a vote, or take a bleed
action, or to be available to tap for a Siren’s Lure when another is
attempting a deadly action. The inferior presence does give him some good
combat cards even at inferior, voting abilities, and bleed actions and modifiers.
He is in group six, allowing him to be paired with Scout Youngwood,
Evil Jensen, and Hillenvale. Janet Langer is in group five and also
could be added to the bunch. His low capacity allows him to be brought
out quickly, essentially in one influence phase, for an additional
vampire or if a bleed blocker is needed.
Library Cards – Harmony
Harmony [HttB:R]
Cardtype: Action
Clan: Daughter of Cacophony
+1 stealth action.
(D) Your prey burns 3 pool for each Choir card you control.
Burn all Choir cards you control.
Artist: E.M. Gist
This card makes Choir decks viable. Granted, previously Choir decks have
been able to pull off a victory point here or there, especially with the
printing of Hanging Fermata to keep them around for a second attempt the
next turn. But now Choir decks are a real threat.
What often attracts players to a Choir is that Choir is essentially an
alternate win condition in VTES. It is directed action pool loss rather
than bleed or political action. So, Choir pool loss can’t be bounced or
out-voted. The defense against Choir is to block or the cancel the action.
Daughters have many ways of distracting blockers, so blocking can be
difficult. Superior Choir and Harmony are directed actions against
your prey, so your predator can not typically attempt to block in an
effort to save your prey.
Harmony does 3x pool loss, rather than the superior Choir’s 2x pool loss.
Harmony is a different action, so Daughters can perform both a basic Choir,
untap, and perform a Harmony in the same turn. It is an amazingly efficient
way to cause pool loss to your prey. As mentioned, with the right cards
in hand one Daughter can do 3 pool loss on her own. Two Daughters have
the potential to do 6 pool loss, etc., essentially the equivalent of each
bleeding for 3 pool. Granted, some bleeds can get much larger than 3 bleed,
but they also lack inherent stealth and are subject to Deflection or reduction.
Choir and Harmony have built in +1 stealth and are not subject to deflection
or reduction. The fact that Daughters are thin-blooded, ie low capacity,
means one can get potentially several Daughters into play and build a nice Choir.
Harmony is limited to a Daughter of Cacophony. This really isn’t
a disadvantage. In deck testing, it was important to remember that
the off-Daughter clan with melpominee had to do the basic Choirs,
while the Daughters did the Harmony. It is often tempting to leave
a Daughter untapped while another does the Harmony, so the untapped
Daughter can action modify with Siren’s Lure. It also means that
Harmony cannot be chosen for Persistent Echo as it is not a melpominee
card, but a Daughters of Cacophony card.
Virtuosa
[HttB:C]
Cardtype: Action Modifier
Cost: 3 blood
Discipline: Melpominee / Presence
[pre] +1 stealth.; [mel] +1 stealth and +2 bleed, or +2 bleed.
You cannot play another action modifier to increase this bleed amount.
[MEL] Only usable when the action is announced. This action is unblockable.
Artist: Juan Calle.
Another new Melpominee card, Virtuosa works rather nicely at superior to
ensure no one blocks the Harmony. Virtuosa is a little expensive,
especially for low capacity Daughters, but what player wouldn’t sacrifice
3 blood off a vampire to get essentially an assured victory point.
Honestly, I am not sure how Harmony got passed play testers.
Glad it did though.
Deck -- A Girl Called Harmony
Knowing there would suddenly be a lot of renewed interest in the
Daughters of Cacophony because of Harmony, I found the original Choir
decks prepared by myself, RavATwoFaces, and Lasombra. For more
information about these decks and their construction and comments,
see the March 2006 Daughters Playbill, which can be found on
Lasombra’s site < http://www.thelasombra.com/ >.
Deck Name: Lost Choir Storyline deck
Created By: Forrest Nielsen
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 11, Max: 25, Avg: 4.33)
----------------------------------------------
1 Ember Wright aus dom 3, Tremere antitribu:3
1 Brooke dom tha 3, Tremere Antitribu:2
1 Ian Forestal AUS DOM THA 8, Tremere Antitribu:2
1 Muse ani for mel 3, Daughters of Cacophony:2
2 Celeste mel pre 3, Daughters of Cacophony:2
2 Angela Preston for MEL PRE 5, Daughters of Cacophony:2
2 Gael Pilet chi FOR MEL pre 6, Daughters of Cacophony:2
2 Delilah Monroe for MEL pre 4, Daughters of Cacophony:2
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (16 cards)
2 Blood Doll
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
2 Effective Management
2 Infernal Pact
1 Spontaneous Power
1 Paris Opera House
2 Specialization
2 Tribute to the Master
1 University Hunting Ground
1 From a Sinking Ship
Action (33 cards)
28 Choir
3 Legal Manipulations
2 Entancement
Action Modifier (18 cards)
5 Freak Drive
4 Missing Voice, The
5 Siren`s Lure
1 Aire of Elation
1 Kiss of Ra
2 Daring the Dawn
Reaction (8 cards)
3 Defelection
5 Wake with Evening`s Freshness
Combat (15 cards)
2 Majesty
4 Resilience
2 Soak
7 Staredown
Lost Choir Storyline Deck was made pre-Legacy of Blood and did not have
the benefit of Hanging Fermata or Persistent Echo, which could increase
the effectiveness of a Choir deck.
Deck Name : passeggiatrici & papponi
Author : RavATwoFaces
About the deck name: 'passeggiatrici' is a 'kind' italian name for
'harlots' and 'papponi' is the italian name for the people who
protects 'harlots'... sorry but I don't know the english translation.
Crypt [14 vampires] Capacity min: 2 max: 6 average: 4.29
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Gaël Pilet 6 FOR MEL chi pre Daughter :2
2x Yseult 6 FOR MEL PRE Daughter :3
2x Angela Preston 5 MEL PRE for Daughter :2
2x Delilah Monroe 4 MEL for pre Daughter :2
2x Céleste, The Voice 3 mel pre Daughter :2
1x Zhara 4 ani for pre Ishtarri:3
1x Lolita 3 for pre !Toreador:2
1x Muse 3 ani for mel Daughter :2
1x Frederick the Weak 2 pre !Brujah:2
Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [23]
23x Choir
Action Modifier [23]
2x Change of Target
4x Freak Drive
9x Missing Voice, The
2x Phantom Speaker
6x Siren's Lure
Ally [8]
8x Procurer
Combat [17]
4x Backstep
2x Death of the Drum
3x Dodge
4x Hidden Strength
4x Majesty
Event [2]
1x FBI Special Affairs Division
1x Unmasking, The
Master [17]
7x Blood Doll
2x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
3x Hanging Fermata
1x KRCG News Radio
1x Paris Opera House
1x Spontaneous Power
Deck Name: The Great Girl Band
Created By: The Lasombra
(note: constructed pre-Legacy of Blood, thus no Hanging Fermata,
Perfectionist, Persistent Echo, or Yseult.)
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 12, Max: 23, Avg: 4.42)
2 Muse ani for mel 3, Daughters of Cacophony
2 Celeste mel pre 3, Daughters of Cacophony
2 Delilah Monroe for MEL pre 4, Daughters of Cacophony
3 Angela Preston for MEL PRE 5, Daughters of Cacophony
3 Gael Pilet chi FOR MEL pre 6, Daughters of Cacophony
Library: (90 cards)
Master (13 cards)
2 Bastille Opera House
1 Elder Library
2 Paris Opera House
8 Tribute to the Master
Action (42 cards)
36 Choir
6 Concert Tour
Action Modifier (23 cards)
3 Change of Target
7 Freak Drive
1 Kiss of Ra, The
11 Missing Voice, The
1 Siren's Lure
Combat (12 cards)
9 Majesty
3 Toreador's Bane
One commonality is the amount of Choirs these included, between 20-30 Choirs.
With Harmony, this number can come down, freeing some card slots. Remember
all one really needs is one Choir and one Harmony to do 3 pool loss.
In revamping the list, I kept the Choir numbers high, about 20 Choirs
and about 8 Harmonies. After play testing the deck, I found I didn’t
have to have each minion perform a Choir for Harmony to be effective.
All I really needed was to have one minion do a Choir and Harmony or have
another minion do the Harmony. So I lowered the number of Choirs and
increased the number of Harmonies.
Deck – A Girl Called Harmony
Deck Name: A Girl Called Harmony
Created By: Forrest
Description: This deck has little chance, if any, of catching opponents
by using intercept, so I cut the intercept cards. I also found this deck
works almost equally well as a Shattering Crescendo deck if you replace all
of the Choirs and Harmonies with Shattering Crescendos, though you may want
more vamps with superior MEL.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 12, Max: 24, Avg: 4.5)
---------------------------------------------
2 Angela Preston for MEL PRE 5 Daughters of Cacophony
2 Celeste mel pre 3 Daughters of Cacophony
2 Delilah Monroe for MEL pre 4 Daughters of Cacophony
2 Gael Pilet chi FOR MEL pre 6 Daughters of Cacophony
2 Muse ani for mel 3 Daughters of Cacophony
2 Yseult FOR MEL PRE 6 Daughters of Cacophony
Library: (84 cards)
-------------------
Master (14 cards)
1 Archon Investigation
3 Blood Doll
1 Command Performance
1 Direct Intervention
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Effective Management
1 Lilith’s Blessing
1 Paris Opera House
1 Specialization
1 Sudden Reversal
1 Wider View
Action (35 cards)
19 Choir
5 Entrancement
11 Harmony
Action Modifier (18 cards)
7 Freak Drive
3 Missing Voice, The
6 Siren`s Lure
2 Virtuosa
Combat (15 cards)
2 Majesty
8 Rolling with the Punches
2 Soak
3 Staredown
Ally (1 cards)
1 Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
Equipment (1 cards)
1 Heart of Nizchetus
Comments: The Lilith’s Blessing could probably be cut from the Harmony deck
because the Daughters didn’t lose as much blood as I thought they would.
However, Lilith’s Blessing could be effective in the Shattering Crescendo
deck version as Shattering Crescendo will cost the Daughters blood. I was
asked about the Wider View- every vampire in this deck has a duplicate, Wider
View is great for cycling the crypt and getting rid of the duplicates in
the uncontrolled region. Because the Daughters are relatively low capacity
vampires and the Methuselah needs vampires to sing the Choir, Effective
Management is an easy way to get another vampire into the uncontrolled region.
The original thoughts on a Choir deck construction reprinted
from the March 2006 playbill:
When approaching how to design a Choir deck the first thing to consider
is that one will need to reliably draw at least 2-3 choir cards in a turn.
To assure that choir cards are drawn fairly reliably the deck needs to be
composed of 25-30 percent choir cards. Thus, in a 90-card deck there
should be 23-30 choirs. What this also means is that one's 7-card hand
will load up on choir cards, so a way to dispose or "set aside" choir
cards may be useful.
Another consideration when making a Choir deck is figuring out how
to get enough vampires that have melpominee or can play melpominee
cards to achieve a 2-3 choirs in a turn. Small to lower end
mid-capacity vampires are desirable for this task. If the vampires
are too large, they might not come out soon enough or there might
not be enough to do a successful choir. In addition, if the choir
angle falls apart, having a small army of weenie low capacity vampires
can be useful for a bleed assault.
Like with any deck, consideration should also be given to pool gain
and combat defense. The deck has to build up to a minimum of 3-4
vampires. While building, the vampires will need defense as well
as a player's pool. Because few opponents "waste" reactions or
intercept to block inferior choirs, instead saving them for the
superior Choir, Perfectionist is a great archetype master to use
in a Choir deck for blood gain (which can be pulled off with Blood
Dolls). While vampires usually can gain blood with Perfectionist
when playing inferior Choir, a player must decide if that is the best
use of a master slot in a deck.
If a player is going to attempt a Choir deck, the deck should remain
focused. Daughters are good at a lot of different approaches - presence
bleed, voting, combat defense. It is easy to lose focus and add some
cards "just in case", but with almost any deck the more focused, the
more likely success. A couple cards for "just in case" is acceptable,
but it is not recommended to try to make the deck part bleed and part
choir or part vote and part choir. It dilutes the chances of a
successful choir deck, or bleed or vote deck.
As with any Daughter deck, be aware that they are weak on intercept.
Either ignore this weakness or find alternative means to intercept.