Peter D. Bakija's Unofficial Deck Archive

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So here is a horrible idea. That if it works will be preposterously 
mean. And if it doesn't, it'll just blow chunks. Ideas?

Proteo-Hunter!

1x Spider (6) PRO
1x Janey Pickman (6) PRO
1x Mowgli (5) PRO
1x Celeste Lamontagne (5) PRO
1x Jacob Fermor (5) PRO
1x Scarlet Carson O'Toole (4) pro
1x Charlie Tyne (4) pro
1x L'Epuisette (4) pro
1x Lula Burch (3) pro
1x Bill Butler (3) pro
1x Calvin Cleaver (3) pro
1x Leo Washington (2) pro

3x Bay and Howl
2x Haven Uncovered
2x Fame
1x Zoning Board
1x Gangrel Conspiracy
1x Path of the Feral Heart
1x Twilight Camp

4x Bum's Rush
3x Ambush
3x Harass
2x Games of Instinct
4x Haven Hunting
2x Skullduggery
4x Monkey Wrench
8x CrimeThink
1x Stealing Years
2x Movement of the Slow Body
2x Follow the Alpha
6x Bone Spur
6x Claws of the Dead
2x Wolf Claws
4x Flesh of Marble
4x Leathery Hide
4x Quick Meld
4x Gleam of Red Eyes
2x Form of the Ghost
6x Quick Jab
4x Amaranth
1x Ritual of the Bitter Rose
1x Urban Jungle

Get out some protean guys, Go Anarch the hard way, untap with 
Crimethink, rush someone, maybe torp them with first strike ag damage, 
diablerize them occasionally. Not much pool gain, so it will need to 
back rush a lot, which is never good. But between the Fames and the 4 
bleed Monkey Wrenches, might actually oust someone. Probably needs more 
Haven Hunting against a lot of S:CE. And will totally get shut down by, 
ya know, Fortitude. But will be great against other combat decks. And 
folks without a ton of combat defense. Probably will just turn 3/5ths of 
the table into a smoking crater most of the time. But likely funny. Ya 
know, for me :-)

Peter D Bakija
pdb6@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"
-Gaff

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Biothaumaturgic Imbued 2 - Reality Mix

So based on my actual cards available, here is my version of the Tremere 
Experiment deck:

4x Preston Varrick (7) THA, DOM, OBF
1x Jennie Cassie Orne (5) Jud, imbued get out of the hospital cheap
4x John Cop O'Malley (4) Jud, Ven, built in rush
1x Marion Teacher Perks (4) Jud, built in press
1x Jack Hannibal Harmon (4) Jud, Def, built in maneuver
1x Francois Warden Loehr (3) Jud, Def

6x Angel of Berlin
2x Church of Vindicated Faith
2x Blood Doll
1x Fame
1x Secure Haven
1x Chantry
1x Giant's Blood

6x React with Conviction
6x Strike with Conviction
5x Second Sight
4x Vigilance
1x Surge
1x Discern
1x Champion
4x Muse of the Flame
4x Harass
4x On the Qui Vive
4x Wake
6x Cloak the Gathering
2x Lost in Crowds
8x Deflection
4x Murmur of the False WIll
7x Biothaumaturgic Experiment
1x Magic of the Smith
1x Rutor's Hand
1x Leather Jacket
1x Flak Jacket
1x Hawg
1x Meat Hook
1x Ivory Box
1x Crusader Sword
1x The Unmasking

It is admittedly kind of preposterous. But it might do ok--lots of 
bounce (some of which doubles as bleed bonus), pretty good multi-rush 
Imbued tech. A lot of Convictions. I figured the Chantry is a good 
option, as otherwise I have no way at all to get Preston's Old Lady's 
car out of torpor. Hail Mary Champion if I get Jack or Francois. No 
cycling masters, as I couldn't find an unused Dreams, but I should 
probably get one in there anyway.

So you tool up John O'Malley with a couple Experiments, have him rush as 
needed. Bounce bleeds. Hopefully don't get totally whacked by stealth 
vote.

Maybe it'll work?

Peter D Bakija
pdb6@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"
-Gaff

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"Voteo-liscious!"
by Peter D Bakija 

2x Camille Devereux, The Raven(G1)
2x Chandler Hungerford(G2)
1x Anastasia Grey(G1)
1x Daliyah(G2)
1x Giuliano Vincenzi(G1)
1x Mirembe Kabbada(G2)
1x Ramona(G2)
1x Ricki Van Demsi(G1)
1x Roman Alexander(G1)
1x Vliam Andor(G1)

Library: (90)

Master: (14)
2x Blood Doll
2x Protean
2x Vessel
1x Archon Investigation
1x Backways
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Ecoterrorists
1x Giant's Blood
1x Powerbase: Rome
1x Vox Domini
1x Zoo Hunting Ground

Action: (4)
4x Third Tradition: Progeny

Action Modifier: (16)
6x Earth Control
5x Closed Session
5x Cryptic Rider

Action Modifier/Combat: (6)
6x Rapid Change

Ally: (2)
2x Renegade Garou

Combat: (16)
8x Earth Meld
8x Form of Mist

Political Action: (32)
10x Kine Resources Contested
6x Consanguineous Boon
6x Gangrel Justicar
4x Parity Shift
1x Praxis Seizure: Barcelona
1x Praxis Seizure: Brussels
1x Praxis Seizure: Dublin
1x Praxis Seizure: Glasgow
1x Praxis Seizure: Rome
1x Praxis Seizure: Venice

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Tzimisce Bruise Bleed 

I don't, as I don't like the (Pulse of the Canaille) action 
and painting a big target on someone's head. But then, I did 
sideline in a bit of dominate into the deck that follows:

1x Sacha Vykos Advanced (8) VIC, AUS, dom
1x Sacha Vykos (8) VIC, AUS, dom
1x Caliban (6) VIC, AUS
1x Corine Marcon (6) VIC, AUS
1x The Rose (5) VIC, aus
1x Liz Wastcott (5) AUS, vic
1x Devin Bisley (5) AUS, vic
2x Ana Rita Montana (5) VIC, aus, dom
1x Lolita Houston (4) VIC, aus
1x Horatio (2) vic
1x Christine Boscacci (2) vic, dom

5x Blood Doll
2x Library Hunting Ground
1x Rotschreck
1x Perfectionist
1x Fame
1x Direct Intervention

12x Fiendish Tongue
12x Changeling
8x Chiropteran Marauder
6x Breath of the Dragon
6x Meld with the Land
4x Conditioning
6x Telepathic Misdirection
2x My Enemy's Enemy
6x Aura Reading
4x Nose of the Hound
2x Corpse Balloon
2x Revenant
1x Living Manse
8xWake

This version of the deck seems a bit more haphazard than my decks 
usually do--I'm not sure why I have 2 hunting grounds, or the DI 
(like, yeah, DI is never bad, but I usually have them in decks for 
a particular reasons, and I can't think of what that is in this 
deck). And the 8 Wakes should probably be mixed up with some On 
the Quis. I probably stole some cards out and swapped in som 
others at some point, as I haven't played this for a while. 
But this is the jist. It works pretty well--can bleed pretty 
consistently, has ok combat when not faced by total combat 
monsters (and maneuver/S:CE in case of combat monsters).  
Light rush for culling the weak. Light permacept. Bounce. 
I like the Aura Readings particularly--I'll regularly Nose 
someone weak my prey has, just to look at their hand and see 
if it is full of intercept or bounce.

Peter D Bakija
pdb6@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"
-Gaff

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Giovanni Rush

So here is a deck that is probably a horrible idea. Everyone is all 
moaning about the new Giovanni, and how they got nothing new or cool and 
they are wildly uninventive (although apparently, Khazar's Diary is 
apparently a viable deck basis...), but I was all like "Hey! Gianmaria 
Giovanni! Hot and a 5 cap with POT/dom! There *must* be a deck here!"

So I threw this nightmare together using cool new tech. It'll likely be 
incredibly brutal to those unprepared for it, occasionally completely 
useless, but overall, might not actually be the worst idea ever:

1x Accorri Giovanni (6) POT, DOM
1x Benedict Giovanni (6) POT, dom
2x Gianmaria Giovanni (5) POT, dom
2x Lorrie Dunsirn (4) POT
1x Patrick (4) POT
1x Primo Giovanni (4) pot, dom
2x Almodo Giovanni (3) pot, dom
1x Nunzio Giovanni (3) pot
1x Eric Milliner (2) pot

3x Fame
2x Haven Uncovered
2x Vessel
2x Dis Pater
1x Metro Underground
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Secure Haven

6x Bum's Rush
2x Harass
2x Ambush
2x On The Qui Vive
1x Break the Code
8x Deflection
6x Conditioning
12x Torn Signpost
12x Immortal Grapple
10x Slam
4x Mighty Grapple
2x Disarm
1x Rampage
6x Taste of Vitae
4x Fake Out

So we got a good selection of Potence and Dominate (7xPOT, 7xdom). The 
crypt isn't incredibly weenie-esque, with an average of slightly more 
than 4, so I'll be able to get out 3 vampires, maybe 4 if I'm lucky. 
Fickle Benedict might be a problem, so the plan is to always get him out 
last; Lorrie might be a terrible idea, but assuming you can get folks to 
block her a lot ("Hey! I rush Arika! What? You block with a chump? 
Unheard of!"), which often seems to happen with this sort of deck (and 
if they don't block her Bum's Rush, she gets an extra maneuver, which 
isn't good for anyone but her...), she doesn't cost much extra.

The Dis Pater makes the deck pretty bleedy, as you go through cards like 
crazy, and every Giovanni can use it each bleed action--between the 
Fames, the Dis Pater, and the Conditionings, this deck actually has 
significant bleed potential, especially if you can bounce some big 
bleeds to your prey.

There might not be enough Rush (10 actions, 2 Haven Uncovered, Break the 
Code), but with all the Deflections, you probably don't have to back 
rush all that much.

Now the the Imbued have been hamstrung, they are much less of an issue 
(i.e. due to no Memories or Edge Explosion), but I figure a Break the 
Code is probably a reasonable inclusion anyway, if for no other reason 
that I see Beatrice Tremblay every single game locally and figure that 
other folks would have figured this out by now too.

I'm unconvinced by the Fake Outs, but figure a few backup maneuvers are 
probably good anyway.

I'd love to figure out a way to use some Necromancy cards in here, what 
with 8 vampires having nec, but can't figure out any that would be even 
remotely useful (as Dead Hand, which would be awesome, only is good at 
NEC). If only Nec had a maneuver. Stupid Cold Aura...

Ideas?

Peter D Bakija
pdb6@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

"Find hungry samurai."
-The Old Man

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AUSPOT 

So I threw together this deck as a sketch based on this discussion.
Probably not so good. But maybe?

1x Jeremy McNeil Adv (8) AUS, POT, cel
1x Jeremy McNeil (7) AUS, POT, cel
2x Khallu (7) AUS, CEL, POT
2x Homa (6) AUS, CEL, POT
2x Kisha Bhimji (5) AUS, cel, pot
1x Uzoma (5) POT, aus, cel
1x Ismita (4) aus, cel, pot
1x Mariano Pomposo (4) aus, cel, pot
1x Genghis (3) aus, cel, pot

4x Blood Doll
3x Wash
2x Fame
1x Dreams
1x Vist from the Capuchin

8x Nose of the Hound
8x Telepathic Misdirection
8x Ancestor's Insight
4x Telepathic Tracking
8x Flash
6x Pursuit
4x Blur
8x Sewer Lid
4x Stunt Bike
4x Thrown Gate
8x Wake
4x Taste
4x Desert Eagle
1x Osebo Kholo

Maybe it'll work? Maybe it'll choke on useless?

For what it is worth, I played this deck twice last night:

-Game 1: My prey was a weenie obf/computer hacking deck in a 4 player
game. I was endlessly foiled by, get this, Back Flips and disguised
Flash Grenades. And then Watenda for the extra humiliation. It was
ridiculous. Yet totally hysterical. Weenie Obf sweeps the table,
killing me last.

-Game 2: My prey was some kind of Assamite deck in a 5 player game. I
ended up doing well, as the other guy at the table doing well was a
CHI/DEM deck that conviniently locked down one of my prey's vampires,
and eventually one of my predator's vampires, with Sensory
Deprivation. I end up getting a 3VP table win.

So not horrible in its first go.

Crypt isn't bad. I wanna replace regular Jemery McNeil with a second
Advanced. Yeah, I can't get the merge action going, but the built in
Rush is significant.

Taking out the Wash. Replacing them with an Ancestor Spirit (perma +1
bleed) and a Haven Uncovered (maybe a Frontal Assault?). And 1 more
minion card.

Removing Osebo Kholo, 2 Ancestor's Insight and putting in 4x Quicken
Sight.

All in all, I wasn't totally horrified by the performance. And I like
getting some mileage out of the Osebo.

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So emboldened by this deck post, I put together a fairly similar
version (which in and of itself isn't that far off from the many
weenie animalism decks I have used in the past) and took it on a tear
tonight, winning 3 of 4 four player games (two of them 3VP/GW and one
a 4VP/GW sweep). It lost a game where its initial predator was a super
aggressive Obf/Pre Reckless Agitation deck, getting whacked right
quick. The other 3 games were pretty fighty, where it did surprisingly
well, although I didn't run into any other significant ranged combat.

My version is using G3/4 vampires (to enable Beatrice Tremblay more
than anything else, but Stick is nice too), doesn't have enough of a
single clan to justify a hunting ground, is a bit more toolboxy, and
has 4 ANI vamps in the crypt. Pretty fighty, reasonably blocky, tends
to get out a lot of minions and bleed for 1 a lot, and just having
Beatrice standing around means that the first 2 or 3 weenies get to
bleed for 1 without being blocked most of the time.

"Ani Weenimalism, MK IV"

Crypt: (12)
1x Bobby Lemon(G3) 4 ANI
1x Bothwell(G3) 3 ani
1x Clarissa Steinburgen(G3) 3 ani
1x C=E9l=E8ste Lamontagne(G4) 5 ANI
1x Darva Felispa(G3) 3 ani
1x Droescher One-Eye(G4) 3 ani
1x Lisa Noble(G3) 1 ani
1x Mouse(G3) 2 ani
1x Stick(G4) 3 ANI
1x Yuri Kerezenski(G4) 5 ANI
1x Zip(G3) 2 ani
1x B=E9atrice "Oracle171" Tremblay(G4)

Library: (90)

Master: (15)
4x Animalism
2x Haven Uncovered
1x Archon Investigation
1x Blood Doll
1x Channel 10
1x Dummy Corporation
1x Fame
1x KRCG News Radio
1x The Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper
1x Vessel
1x Wall Street Night, Financial Newspaper

Action: (12)
4x Harass
2x Army of Rats
2x Taunt the Caged Beast
2x Tier of Souls
1x Abbot
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal

Ally: (2)
2x Underbridge Stray

Combat: (48)
10x Carrion Crows
8x Aid from Bats
8x Scorpion Sting
8x Song of Serenity
4x Flesh Bond
2x Canine Horde
2x Drawing Out the Beast
2x Target Vitals
2x Taste of Vitae
2x Terror Frenzy

Conviction: (1)
1x Strike with Conviction

Reaction: (8)
4x Forced Awakening
4x Wake with Evening's Freshness

Retainer: (4)
3x Raven Spy
1x Mr. Winthrop

The Underbridge Strays are pretty solid--a couple of presses, or an
emergency untap, or a block (the dogs regularly listen to the
radio...) of some sort of unfortunate Rush or otherwise unblockable
action. This is the first deck I've used Target Vitals in, and while
it is pretty good (allowing, like, Lisa Noble to shoot for 3 with some
bats or something) in theory, in practice, most of the time it has
either been foiled by S:CE/dodge or foiled by damage prevention or
foiled by discarding 2 combat cards. It managed to connect maybe once
all night, which torped someone, but they were likely getting killed
by some means anyway. Having the nice multi option Flesh Bond is also
really handy--get your old lady's car out of a bad area or shoot
someone for 2. Good card. Aranthebes is in there for both the
reasonable defense it provides and to contest someone else's. I might
want a couple more Rush actions in case of a super aggressive predator
and/or avoiding having an all red hand shut me down, but otherwise, it
all worked pretty well.

-Peter D Bakija 


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What The Hell's a Trochomancy?"

Crypt:
3x Balbawo Alafin (7) AUS, NEC, Laibon, extra cycling.
3x Zygodat (6) AUS, NEC, burn 2 cards when she bleeds.
2x Sennadurek (6) AUS, NEC, untaps all the time.
2x Solomon Batanea (5) AUS, nec, Laibon
2x Prejudice (4) aus, nec

A lot of good, solid, AUS, NEC vampires with good special abilities. 
Zygodat and Balbawo help get more cards in your prey's ashheap. 
Predjudice might actually get to use his special in a deck like this.

Library:
8x Slaughterhouse
4x Vessel
1x Therbold Reality
1x Insurance Scam
1x Giant's Blood

12x Trochomancy
12x Call the Hungry Dead
8x Spectral Divination
8x Spiritual Intervention
4x Breath of Thanatos
10x Telepathic Misdirection
4x Enhanced Senses
4x Ancestor's Insight
3x Revelations
1x Emergency Rations
1x Erebus Mask
8x Wake

As noted, I don't want a ton of Slaughterhouses, just a couple, really, 
so 8 is usually ok, but once and a while, I don't draw any early, and 
if my prey isn't working so well, I end up not bleeding enough. But 
usually not a problem. There is a lot of block avoidance/stealth, which 
sometimes clogs up my hand, but Balbawo helps with that. The Breath of 
Thanatos could probably be more Spiritual Intervention (or some Fortitude 
in case I get grappled), but the surprise ag is actually kinda handy once 
and a while. Ancestor's Insight also could probably be something more 
useful, but I like the flexibility, extra bleed, and I just think the 
card is kinda cool. Much like Prejudice, the Emergency Rations might 
actually work in this deck. Revelations is good as it lets you see if 
your prey has bounce *and* gets an extra card in their ash heap to 
prime the pump. Pretty effective S+B with good defense. If it ousts 
it's first prey, it is usually in great shape, as by then it's second 
prey already has tons of cards in the ash heap and you can often deck 
them with just 2 or 3 Slaughterhouses.


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So I threw this deck together the other day, figuring it would kinda 
suck, but then I played it, got a 3VP GW, and came very close to the 5VP 
sweep. So I figured I'd throw it up here and see if folks had any ideas 
for tweaks:

"Reg's Reanimated Corpse Brides"

Crypt:
5x Reg Driscoll (8) OBF, THN, aus, for, +1 bleed, gives equipment away.
1x Quira, The Bitch Queen (6) AUS, OBF, +1 bleed
1x General Perfidios Dios (5) AUS, obf
1x The Colonel (5) AUS, obf
1x Victoria (5) AUS, obf
1x Miriam Benyona (5) AUS, for
1x Lithrac (5) OBF, for, thn
1x Maldavis (4) AUS, for

Library:
4x Blood Doll
2x Perfectionist
2x Houngan
1x The Rack
1x Giant's Blood
1x The Coven
1x Memories of Mortality
10x Cloak the Gathering
6x Lost in Crowds
4x Veil the Legions
4x Confusion of the Eye
4x Hag's Wrinkles
8x Hidden Strength
6x Freak Drive
6x Dust to Dust
2x Ashes to Ashes
8x Reanimated Corpse
8x Telepathic Misdirection
6x Wake
4x Camera Phone
1x Seal of Veddartha
1x Unlicensed Taxicab

So Reg gives everyone a Camera Phone, gets some Reanimated Corpses, 
Cloaks folks when they bleed for 2, takes a bunch of actions all the 
time, and hopefully doesn't run out of blood too quickly all while 
trying to avoid getting killed. Pretty good at bleeding. Some 
reasonable, if not overwhelming combat defense. Good bleed defense that 
doubles as light intercept (and an example of why Lost in Translation is 
unlikely to destroy the world--it is still generally easier to graft AUS 
or dom into any deck that is likely to use LiT for bounce). If Reg gets 
the Seal, he bleeds for 3 all the time. If Quira gets the Seal, she does 
the same thing, and gets Fortitude eventually too!

While building this deck, I began to wonder--why, for the love of 
G'Quan, aren't Reanimated Corpses "ghouls"? I mean, yeah, ok, I suppose 
in WOD, a ghoul is something different than a zombie (who are, btw, 
referred to pretty much only as ghouls in Night of the Living Dead...). 
But the Samedi have all those (2?) cards that help ghouls. And then they 
get an ally. That isn't a ghoul.

Peter D Bakija
pdb6@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

"Find hungry samurai."
-The Old Man


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I just put together an incredibly similar deck. Well, in the sense that 
it uses Banjoko to fuel Watchtower. But then instead of bleeding with 
Dominate (which is probably a good idea), it uses celerity to throw wolves 
at folks (which is probably a bad idea, especially as Banjoko doesn't start 
with celerity...).

"Banjoko and the Wolves of August"

Crypt:
3x Yazid (8) CEL, dom BH Seraph
1x Reza (6) CEL, BH
1x Dominique (6) CEL, BH
2x Skryta (5) CEL, BH
3x Banjoko (5) DOM, BH Seraph
1x Mosfair (4) cel, dom, BH
1x Mariano (4) cel, BH

6x Black Hand Contract
4x Celerity
4x Blood Doll
4x Watchtower: The Wolves Feed
2x Corporal Reservoir
2x Shakar
1x Fame
1x Weirding Stone

8x Reunion Kamut
4x Rumble
2x Black Hand Ritual
1x Tatoo Signal
6x Redirection
4x Truth in Ink
4x Wake
2x On the Qui Vive
16x Pursuit
8x Psyche!
4x Side Strike
2x Sideslip
3x Anthelios the Red Star
1x Dragonbound
1x Seraph's Second

Much less likely to actually oust someone that your version. But a lot
fightier, which is, ya know, almost a reward in and of itself :-)

The Redirections should probably be Deflections, but the seem to all
be in other decks. I'm also considering turning one of the Celerity
masters into a Drums of Zippy Totek so that Banjoko can buy into CEL
in one fell swoop. A lot of Masters, but of the 24, 8 are Trifles, so
they can move pretty quickly. I'm not convinced that the Weirding
Stone is that good at 3 pool, but at least it balances out the
Dragonbound.


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So I totally bit the basis of this deck of Adam Hulse, who won a 
tournament with a kind of similar deck, but I added the clever Imbued 
angle to make it extra ousty, and am just posting it here 'cause I am so 
very entertained by this deck. I played it twice tonight and won both 
games, although I certainly had advantageous seating both times.

"Guedado Ghoul"

Crypt:
4x Ana Rita Montana (5) VIC, dom, obf
4x Guedado (4) vic, obf
1x Droescher One-Eye (3) vic
1x Jennifer "Flame61" Vidisania (4)
2x Beatrice "Oracle171" Tremblay (3)

Library: (60)
Masters: (9)
2x Blood Doll 
1x Fame 
1x Forschritt Library
2x Memories of Mortality 
1x Left for Dead 
1x Mob Connections 
1x Powerbase: Tshwane 

Action: (2)
2x Root of Vitality
 
Action Modifier: (14)
6x Changeling 
4x Veil the Legions 
2x Faceless Night 
2x Forgotten Labyrinth
 
Action Modifier/Combat: (4)
2x Plasmic Form 
2x Swallowed by the Night
 
Ally: (9)
3x Corpse Ballon
1x Mr. Winthrop
1x J.S. Simmons, Esq.
1x Vagbond Mystic
3x War Ghoul 

Combat: (8)
4x Meld with the Land 
2x Boxed In
1x Breath of the Dragon
1x Chiropteran Marauder
 
Conviction: (3)
1x React with Conviction 
1x Second Sight 
1x Strike with Conviction
 
Event: (1)
1x The Unmasking
 
Reaction: (10)
6x Deflection 
4x On the Qui Vive 

So clearly, get out an ally or retainer, get out a War Ghoul with extra 
stealth, have the +1 bleed Imbued bleed either for 3 through a hole or 
for 2 at stealth (Well, Beatrice at least) while the War Ghoul makes 
that hole. If one of the Imbued end up uncapacitated, I'm thinking that 
you can burn them to make a War Ghoul, as War Ghoul does not specify 
"ready" ally or retainer (although my recent history on being up to date 
with all necessary rulings is spotty, at best).

I'm a little sketchy on the Root of Vitality, but at least it fits in 
the deck--they should probably be extra Vagabond Mysitcs. The Boxed Ins 
could be Traps or Fake Outs or something, but I figure the generic press 
is better for general deck use--the Ghouls can press to continue killing 
someone in an optimal situation, and everyone else can use them to press 
to end in a sub-optimal situation.

Probably gets killed by sitting next to a very fighty deck, but against 
low combat, it seems to do pretty well.

If I draw both Imbued, I'll get out Beatrice and use her till she is 
either burned or I am in oust range, and then get out Jen. Yeah, 
Beatrice will stab her in the face till she is uncapacitated, but then, 
well, Jen turns into a War Ghoul anyway...

The deck could be bigger if, ya know, I had more War Ghouls.


Peter D Bakija
pdb6@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html


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It is currently actually my most effective deck in practice--I put it 
together out of the wreck of a weenie fortitude/trap/undead persistence deck 
I had sucking up tables for a few weeks, and has since then won regularly in 
3 player games, did ok locally in a few bigger games, and then was fantastic 
going 2/8 in my 2 preliminaries. It doesn't look like it should be particularly 
good on paper, but is very resilient and has strong defense.

"The Worm is the Spice!"

1x Babalawo Alafin (7) AUS, FOR
1x Mariel Saint John (6) AUS, FOR
2x Solomon Batanea (5) AUS, FOR
1x Neighbor John (5) AUS, for
1x Maldavis (4) AUS, for
1x Nkechi (4) aus, for
1x Mr. Noir (3) for
1x Rosemarie (3) FOR
1x Aimee Laroux (2) for
1x Sarah Raines (2) for
1x Mary Johnson (2) for

7x Blood Doll
4x Effective Management
2x Fortitude
1x Fame
1x The Slaughterhouse
1x Anscestor Spirit

8x Telepathic Misdirection
6x Enhanced Senses
6x Melange
4x Eagle's Sight
2x My Enemy's Enemy
8x Indomitablity
6x Hidden Strength
6x Soak
6x Rolling with the Punches
4x Skin of Steel
1x Rapid Healing
7x Weighted Walking Stick
5x On the Qui Vive
5x Wake

I think the biggest flaw in the deck, currently is as noted, a lack of 
Kiss of Ra. I kinda wanna put a couple in, so I can discard one early 
to make folks afraid of it and then have another one to back up the bluff.  
I'll probably turn the Rapid Healing into a Kiss of Ra (although I did use 
the Rapid Healing in like every game I drew it). And then something else 
which I haven't decided on yet.


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Sop I picked up a booster pack today, opened it up, got a Daring the 
Dawn, and said "Huh. I should do something with all these Daring the 
Dawns I have now..." so I put together a version of a deck that folks 
have discussed in theory, but I have never actually seen in play. 
Likely, because it is so stupid. And likely to fail just as much as not.  
But heck, here it is:

"Irresponsible"

2x Catherine Du Bois (5) DOM, for
1x Ranajan Rishi (5) DOM, for
6x Ingrid Russo (4) DOM, for
1x Peter Blaine (4) dom, for
2x Lana Butcher (3) dom, for

10x Fortitude
3x Info Highway
1x Momentum's Edge
1x Pentex Loves You!

14x Govern the Unaligned
10x Conditioning
4x Bonding
4x Command of the Beast
6x Seduction
2x Command
6x Deflection
2x Slaughtering the Herd
14x Force of Will
10x Daring the Dawn
2x Forced Awakening
1x Soul Gem of Etrius

Clearly, you get out someone, give them a Fortitude skill card, Govern 
down, Force of Will/Daring the Dawn/Conditioning to bleed unblockably 
for 5 or so, get burned, and bring out the next vampire to do it again.  
Lots of flaws (you get rushed, you get killed; easy to block the Govern, 
although the Seductions might help). The Imbued will kill you (although 
I threw in a couple Slaughtering the Herd and Command as a bit of anti-ally 
tech). Should make a huge mess of your first prey (unless, ya know, they 
have a lot of bounce. Thus, the name...). Maybe kill someone else too. Who knows?

Rather than just going 12x Ingrid Russo, I figured I'd diversify some, 
as I might want a couple guys on the table at once.


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I have a lot of PRE, some FOR, and mostly cel. With, say, Ganhuru as
the main rusher (he has FOR and a free point of damage prevention),
the combat is really quite card efficient--someone Enrages him, he
rushes, (Flash to close as needed), strikes with hands for 2, prevents
by himself (with extra fortitude if necessary), if they don't S:CE,
blur for 2 more, Taste as needed, press as needed. Once he gets a CEL
skill card, the killing is even better.

Again, I'm unconvinced that it'll tear up tables or anything, but it
seems like it should work pretty well, what with the Uncontrolled
Impulses and sometimes Forced March for stealth on the Enrages, the
fortitude to stay alive, and the Celerity to make it all work. I think
the basic deck currently looks like this:

2x Ganhuru (7) FOR, PRE, cel
2x Ubende (7) CEL, PRE, for
2x Honorine Ateba (6) FOR, PRE, cel
1x Shasa Abu Badir (5) PRE, cel, for
1x Victor Pelletier (5) PRE, cel, for
2x Kenyatta (4) cel, for, pre
1x Fairuza (4) CEL, pre
1x Panya the Wicked (3) cel, pre

I'm not totally sold on the crypt yet--Victor could be any number of
other folks, but I'm just flaunting him now; Fairuza is certainly
dubious, but I think she is kinda funny and possibly effective. There
are a lot of other 6-7 caps from other clans I could use with the
right disciplines, but I like the potential for a Ganhuru/Ubende
combo. I've considered the 6 point Fishtari guy with FOR and +1 bleed,
but the only 1 superior discipline keeps me putting him down.

3x Blood Doll
3x Celerity
2x Fame
1x Depravity
1x Dreams
12x Enrage
10x Enchant Kindred
12x Flash
12x Blur
6x Forced March
4x Freak Drive
6x Soak
4x Rolling with the Punches
4x Hidden Strength
6x Taste
4x Uncontrolled Impulse

Probably not totally optimal (I kinda wanna get 6 Uncontrolled Impulse
in there; no Psyches; probably not enough Flash), but at least on
paper, it seems like it should do ok--pretty efficient combat, 10
untap cards, crypt acceleration/pool gain that doubles as good bleed
(I probably should have a second Shasa in there too).


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Nails is just so solid a vampire with so many destructive possibilities 
available to him, I figured Iıd present a deck that might make good use 
of him.

'The Burninator, MK II!'

Crypt:
2x Icarus, The Manchurian (7) POT, OBF, pro
2x Shahid (7) POT, OBF, pro
2x Nails (5) POT, obf, pro
2x Tabith Fisk (4) pot, pro
2x Alessandro Garcia (4) pot, pro
2x Bill Butler (3) pot, pro

3x Haven Uncovered
3x Blood Doll
3x Fame
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Perfectionist

8x Bumıs Rush
2x Rumble
12x Immortal Grapple
12x Torn Signpost
6x Undead Strength
8x Flesh of Marble
8x Claws of the Dead
6x Quick Meld
6x Swallowed by the Night
4x Spying Mission
6x Taste of Vitae

A clearly kind of silly Rush deck that is going to get in a fight and 
hit you for a lot of aggrivated damage. Totally foiled by heavy 
Fortitude, but should do ok in most other combat situations--it can 
prevent most non aggrivated damage with Flesh of Marble, foils most 
other combat with Immortal Grapple, has a good number of manuvers, can 
stealth Rush, and even can get a bit of bleed bonus with Spying 
Missions. Very blood intensive, but some Tastes and a Perfectionist help 
out. Icarus gets to look at your preyıs hand if you bleed with him, 
which is certainly helpful in a combat deck, and Shahid can cycle your 
hand pretty significantly in a pinch. I considered trying to fit Black 
Annis in, but even with her perma-rush and +1 strength, a 9 is kinda 
rough for a non multi acting Rush deck, although if I focused on her and 
the other 3 Nosferatu, I could fit in Drawing out the Beast for *really* 
trumpy combat. All in all, probably not super effective, but likely 
pretty entertaining.


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I was monkeying around with some sort of Pander based vote deck, and 
realized that unless I had a pile of Legacy of Pander, there wasn't 
much mileage in that (which may or may not actually be the case, but 
neither here nor there). So instead, I came up with this monstrosity. 
Which might be horrible. But might also be super awesome. Can't tell yet.

Spring Break: Miami!

Crypt:
2x Fabrizia Conreraz (4) pot, Archbishop
10x Hermana Hambrienta Menor (2) pot, san

Library:
12x Life in the City
6x Blood Doll
3x Info Highway
3x Hungry Coyote
2x Tribute to the Master
1x Powerbase: Rome
1x Communal Haven: Cathedral
1x The Barrens
1x Creepshow Casino
1x The Coven
1x Guru

12x Crusade: Not Miami (all different)
8x Kine Resources Contested
4x Conservative Agitation
6x Consanguineous Boon
10x Shell Game
4x Walk of Caine
4x Private Audience
4x Zillah's Tears
6x Thrown Gate

A variation on a weenie Praxis deck--get the first vampire or two on 
the table, become an Archbishop before anyone can oppose you and go 
from there--if you luck out and go 4th or draw a first turn Info Highway, 
you can possibly bleed, gain the Edge, and then call a Crusade with 
backup from the Edge. A lot of master cards, but 13 of them are trifles, 
so they should flow pretty well (especially as you can now play 2 trifles 
on the same turn). Using all Hermanas (except for sorority president 
Fabrizia) allows for Con Boon pool gain and Shell Game for stealth 
(and a handful of Walk of Caine for killing blows). The Thrown Gates 
are light combat defense simply 'cause everyone in the crypt has pot. 
The Zillah's Tears are dubious, but I figure being able to act twice 
in a turn once and a while might be handy (as might being able to untap 
to block some zero stealth action once and a while). I could probably 
use more Shell Games, as they cycle really easily. The Private Audience, 
I figure, will help out with vote opposition once and a while, except 
that you can't use PA to get a Crusade through (as you need to be an 
Archbishop to use the Private Audience).

This deck might be really, really bad. But then, it might actually work 
once and a while. We shall see. Any ideas?


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Raphael is a pretty crazy vampire. A 5 cap with OBF, PRE and +1 bleed is 
nothing to sneeze at, in terms of bleed offense. His disadvantage, while 
not totally debilitating, can be kind of a problem if you arenıt 
planning for it. His Aus, Pre, Obf discipline spread matches up nicely 
with a handful of pretty solid mid-cap vampires to form the core of a 
good, weird, stealth and bleed strategy. To this end, I built this deck:

³Iım Too Sexy For My Lips²

Crypt:
2x Stavros (7) AUS, OBF, PRE
2x Isouda de Blaise (7) OBF, PRE, aus
2x Antoinette, She Who Watches (6) AUS, PRE, obf
4x Raphael Catarari (5) OBF, PRE, aus, tha
1x Tock (4) obf, pre
1x Maldavis (4) AUS, pre

Library:
6x Blood Doll
3x Perfectionist
1x Shanty Town Hunting Ground
1x Auspex
1x Archon Investigation

16x Social Charm
16x True Loveıs Face
8x Majesty
8x Lost in Crowds
8x Swallowed by the Night
4x Spying Mission
6x Telepathic Misdirection
1x Precognizant Mobility
1x Rutorıs Hand
6x Disengage
4x Change of Target


A very focused Stealth and Bleed deck with reasonable pool generation 
abilities, light combat defense, and some bleed bounce. The core of the 
deck is clearly the True Loveıs Face tricksiness, where you go to bleed 
with a Social Charm. If they try to block, you deny their block with the 
True Loveıs Face, unless they pay a pool. After they pay a pool, you 
increase your stealth and bleed them anyway. If they donıt bother trying 
to block, you just play the True Loveıs Face for +1 bleed anyway. If 
they manage to block you, you might squeak out on a Change of Target 
(costing them a pool anyway, like with Aching Beauty technology), or get 
out on a Majesty. You can reliably bleed for 3 at stealth and generate a 
pool on each successful bleed. The Disengage and Majesty (with a bit of 
maneuver support) can help against dedicated Rush combat. A few Spying 
Missions can cancel some bounced bleeds. A few Telepathic Misdirections 
can save you from some heavy bleeds when necessary.


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So I'm putting together an imbued deck to, ya know, use all those
Nights of Reckoning cards I have floating around. My two main aims for
this deck are:

A) Avoid pissing off the whole table just by sitting down with it.

B) Have a few small vampires in there just for doing things like
hypothetically killing Smiling Jack, being Blood Dolls, and
diablerizing when convinient.

Here is my initial attempt:

Crypt:
1x Earl Deams (6) Jud, Vis, +1 stealth.
3x Jennie Orne (5) Inn, Jud, Vis, Get out of Hosptial cheap.
2x Jack Harmon (4) Def, Jud, Optional Manuver.
1x Paul Moreton (4) Def, Vis
1x Francois Loehr (3) Def, Jud, Costs extra blood to get him.
1x Inez Villagrande (3) Inn, Get her a power when she enters play.
1x David Morgan (3) +1 intercept vs vampires under 3 cap.
1x Nedal the Careless (1)
1x Sandra White (1) Make someone burn a pool when she diablerizes their
vampire.

Library:
6x Angel of Berlin
4x Memories of Mortality
2x Church of Vindicated Faith
2x Blood Doll
1x Fortschritt Library
1x Rose Foundation
1x Specialization
1x Unity
1x Vigil: The Thin Line
1x Vox Domini

10x Strike with Conviction
6x Second Sight
6x React with Conviction
6x Vigilance
6x Discern
3x Rejuvinate
1x Forsee
1x Hide
1x Inspire
8x Determine
4x On the Qui Vive
2x Poison Pill
1x Delaying Tactics
6x Leather Jacket
3x Improvised Flamethrower
1x Crusader Sword
2x The Unmasking
2x Edge Explosion
1x Anthelios

So my "clever" plans include using Determine to defend my pool,
building permanent defense with Unmasking, Discern, and Second Sight
(which I'd use 8 of, but apparently I only won 6...), bleed with Strike
with Conviction, and use my weenie vampires (2 Caitiff with no
noticable disadvnatge and a guy with conditional +1 intercept) to
generate some blood as Blood Dolls to back up the Church of Vindicated
Faith. Having no votes at all, I figure I should have some vote defense
(Poison Pill, DT, Vox Domini) along with the intercept. Some Leather
Jackets and Improvised Flame Throwers add a bit of combat defense. It
only has non debilitating Events (well, Unmasking and Edge Explosion,
with an Anthelios just in case I need one to get Edge Explosion in
play).

Likely not the best Imbued deck ever, but possible one that is viable.
Any ideas?

-Peter


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a current Weenie POT deck I am playing that does ok 
(regularly gets 1 VP. Sometimes wins games) looks like this:

"The Clown Represents Street Warfare"

1x Nigel (5) POT
1x Olivia (5) POT
1x Terry (5) POT
1x Jimmy Dunn (4) POT
1x Hugo (4) POT
1x Agatha (4) POT
1x Hector (4) POT
1x Duck (3) pot
1x Lupo (2) pot
1x KoKo (2) pot
1x Paul (2) pot
1x Hesina (1) pot

4x Haven Uncovered
3x Fame
2x Anarch Revolt
1x Archon Investigation
1x Tribute

9x Computer Hacking
8x Bum's Rush
4x Harass
16x Thrown Gate
14x Increased Strength
6x Thrown Sewer Lid
6x Mighty Grapple
2x Earth Shock
6x Back Step
2x High Ground
4x Taste of Vitae
1x Hourglass of the Mind
1x Smash and Grab

(I think that is the right count of stuff--I might be off due 
to bad math in my head right now)

Get out 4-5 small minions. Bleed for 2 a lot. Kill folks a lot. 
Play Fame to dunk and make your prey lose a bunch of pool quickly. 
Have someone Go Anarch the hard way and play an Anarch Revolt to 
speed up your prey's death. If your prey has someone Go Anarch, 
kill them, as they lose pool to the Anarch Revolt and they are 
easier to kill as they just spent 2 blood going Anarch. Back Rush 
as needed to stay alive till you get 6 pool from ousting. 
Then table manage as needed to be the last guy at the table, 
winning with 3VP. Which even works occasionally.

It has no way to deal with S:CE, which can be a problem in theory, 
but in practice, combat defense has moved away from S:CE due to folks 
realizing that Immortal Grapple is a good card.

Not a complete answer by any means, but possibly a bit more information 
that might help.

-Peter


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So with the introduction of Khalu in LoB, this deck is finally viable.
And by viable, I mean "viable". I don't know if that is actually a good
thing, and I'm unconvinced that it is actually worth playing, but it is
certainly satisfying in a sick, sick kinda way. And has a cool name:

The Burninator!

Crypt:
2x Khalu (7) POT, CEL, pro
2x Soldat (7) POT, PRO, cel, Black Hand
2x Henry Taylor (6) POT, cel, pro
2x Steve Booth (5) CEL, pot, pro
2x Skryta Zyleta (5) CEL, pot, pro, Black Hand
2x Tabitha Fisk (4) pot, pro

Library:
3x Haven Uncovered
3x Blood Doll
2x Potence
2x Tension in the Ranks
2x Fame
2x Shakar

6x Bum's Rush
6x Harass
8x Taste of Vitae
12x Torn Signpost
10x Immortal Grapple
6x Undead Strength
10x Pursuit
8x Bone Spur
6x Flesh of Marble
1x Black Hand Ritual
1x Ministry
1x Art of Memory
1x Chronicle of the Lost Tribe

 A straight forward killing and burning Rush deck, using Immortal
Grapple to land heavy Potence strikes that burn folks with aggrivated
hand damage. As everyone (well, except Tabitha) has Celerity, a bunch
of Pursuits gives solid manuver ability and half the crypt can
additionally strike for extra killing power. 4 of the 12 crypt cards
are Black Hand, which allows you to reasonably expect to be able to use
a handfull of good Black Hand cards. Tension in the Ranks is arguably
better than Fame in this deck (kinda) as it pays off for the burning,
where Fame doesn't.

Not likely to be incredibly useful in the long run, due to moderately
large vampires for a rush deck with no multi action capabilities, but
has pretty good trumpy combat power and will sometimes get to
successfully burn folks with big aggrivated hand strikes.

Ideas?

-Peter


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So 'cause it can only end in failure, I've been messing around and
trying to build a "viable" Jack Dawson multirush gun deck. I have put
one together, haven't actually played it yet, and am looking for ideas
as to how I might actually make it work. The current model:

"Jack and the Cold Gun"

5x Jack Dawson Advanced (8) FOR, OBF, cel, thn
1x Jack Dawson (8) FOR, OBF, cel, thn, qui
1x Jimmy Dunn (4) CEL, for
1x Sarah Brando (3) CEL
1x Max Lowell (3) cel, obf
1x Basil (1) obf
2x Sandra White (1)

5x Celerity
2x Blood Doll
2x Dirty Contract
1x Houngan
1x Regenerative Blood
1x Visit from the Capuchin
1x Giant's Blood
1x Perfectionist

5x .44 Magnum
1x Submachine Gun
1x Ivory Bow
1x Seal of Veddartha
1x Laptop Computer
1x Mylan Horseed
4x Bum's Rush
4x Harass
2x Big Game
2x Ambush
8x Psyche!
6x Flash
2x Sideslip
4x Flurry of Action
8x Forced March
4x Rolling with the Punches
2x Soak
2x Resilience
2x Undead Persistence
8x Swallowed by the Night
4x Hag's Wrinkles
4x Taste of Vitae

I went with 5 Jack Advanced and 1 non Advanced, 'cause apparently I
only have 5 Advanced. So I'll get another one eventually, but maybe the
1 regular is ok anyway in case I luck into him in my opening draw with
a gun in my hand. 2 Sandra White as she is really funny, and if I'm
gonna use her, I might as well have 2. Turned the Contacts into Giant's
Blood and Perfectionist (still using the Visit due to lack of available
Dreams). Restorations into Tastes. Silly Qui cards into 2 more
Swallowed (extra stealth for equipping) and 2 Ambush (up to 12 Rush, 2
Contract. Maybe still a bit low. Might turn a couple of the Flurry into
more Rush). 8 Pursuit into 6 Flash and 2 Sideslip (light dodge or more
prevent).

Still keeping the CEL angle, due to still thinking the Psyche! and
superior Forced are good. And with the CEL, I'm still clinging to the
Flurry of Action which might pay off. Oh, for another dozen Freak
Drives in my collection...

I'll see how it flies at some point.

-Peter


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So my first versionn of what is likely to be a never ending whirlwind of
Mexico City Blood Brother madness! The deck has lots of obvious flaws, but
is actually pretty funny and not that ineffective:

La Bleedzooka!

Crypt:
4x Hermana Mayor (4) pot, san
8x Hermana Menor (2) pot, san

Library:
6x Effective Management
5x Life in the City
2x Inbase Discotek
1x The Coven
1x Giant's Blood
1x The Rack
1x Gird Minions
1x Threestar Cab Company

12x Walk of Caine
10x Unwholesome Bond
10x Shell Game
8x Redistribution
14x Fake Out
14x Thrown Sewer Lid
4x Taste of Vitae

You get out a Mayor and as many Menors as possible, and start bleeding for 7
per action at +2 or 3 stealth with a 2 point minion. The blood management
works pretty well at keeping your minions at appropriate blood levels
(Unwholesome a Mayor, Redistribute so everyone has 2 blood, send someone to
bleed for 6 or 7 at + a couple stealth. If it works, do it again).

Yeah, bleed bounce, and Archon Investigation, and intercept and rush combat
and well, pretty much any kind of reasonable defense is going to hose the
deck. And it has no significant pool gain. Or any defense at all. But
getting a couple humongous bleeds through usually ousts someone nicely.

It clearly needs a Hungry Coyote or 2. But sadly, I don't have any. And
maybe a few more Life in the City. But in practice, it doesn't really have
blood management issues. Just all the other issues.


Peter D Bakija
pdb6@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6

"So in conclusion, our business plan is to sell hot,
easily spilled liquids to naked people."
-Brittni Meil


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"Don't Call Us a 'Girl' Band!"

Crypt:
2x Gail Piet (6) MEL, FOR, pre
3x Angela Preston (5) MEL, PRE, for
1x Brachah (5) CEL, PRE. for
2x Delilah Monroe (4) MEL, pre, for
2x Muse (3) mel, for
2x Celeste (3) pre, mel

Library:
8x Minion Tap
2x Blood Doll
1x Presence
1x Spontaneous Power
2x Paris Opera House

26x Choir
10x Concert Tour
10x Enchant Kindred
10x Majesty
10x The Missing Voice
6x Change of Target
4x Freak Drive

Works pretty well, and has even won a few games. You can enchant out
minions quickly, untap a lot, and farm a lot of pool off your minions.
You need to accept that most of the time, you aren't going to get a
full, what, 8 point Choir off, but you can regularly get a 4-6 point
Choir off, which isn't insignificant, and then you can back it up with
a reasonable amount of bleed at +1 stealth. It'll be killed by really
focused IG combat, but usually does ok otherwise. The recently much
maligned Concert Tour is actually pretty solid, getting a lot of blood
back into circulation quickly.

Brachah is a really good back up Daughter, as she has PRE (allowing her 
to Enchant at superior early), CEL (allowing her to use the outferior of 
Missing Voice) and for (for the occasional Freak). Give her mel with 
Spontaneous Power and you can pull off the mythical 10 point Choir.


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So Marty Lechtansi was one of the original wrecking machines of a superstar
vampire. Yeah, ok, he is currently kind of underpowered in relation to other
9 point vampires, but he comes with POT, OBF, and DOM backed up by ani and
for, giving him a good spread of combat abilities, potential for multi
action with Freak Drive, and you simply can't go wrong with superior
Dominate. And still, he is wearing a Mickey Mouse watch and coming to eat
you. Mix him up with another generally under appreciated vampire, Judah, and
you form the core of a deck with strong combat and bleed offense, and good
bleed defense that comes from the combination of Rat's Warning and
Deflection. Mix in pretty boy Shane Grimald, and the deck kind of builds
itself. Thus, I present to you:

"The Deck That Only Works If I Get Out Marty Lechtansi!", Mk. IX

Crypt:
5x Marty Lechtansi (9) POT, OBF, DOM, ani, for
2x Judah (6) POT, dom, ani
1x Lisette Vizquel (6) POT, DOM
2x Shane Grimald (4) pot, dom, ani
1x Laurent Valois (4) obf, dom, ani
1x Sammy (4) pot, obf, ani

Library:
4x Blood Doll
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Minion Tap
1x Storm Sewers
1x Slum Hunting Ground
1x The Labyrinth
1x Fame
1x Dominate
1x Fortitude

8x Govern the Unaligned
8x Deflection
4x Threats
8x Torn Signpost
6x Undead Strength
4x Earth Shock
2x Disarm
6x Spying Mission
4x Cloak the Gathering
8x Rat's Warning
8x Superior Mettle
4x Harass
4x Taste of Vitae
1x Ancient Influence
1x Reins of Power


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"Celtic Woman!"

3x Victorine Lafourcade (8) DOM, FOR, PRE, Prince
1x Mustaffa, The Heir (6) FOR, PRE, dom, Prince
5x Lorrie Dunsirn (4) POT, for, nec
2x Katherine Stoddard (4) dom, for
1x Lia Milliner (3) dom, nec

3x Fortitude
2x Blood Doll
2x Haven Uncovered
2x Special Report
2x Fame
1x Creepshow Casino
1x Bravo
1x Ventrue Headquarters

8x Immortal Grapple
8x Rolling with the Punches
6x Unflinching Persistance
8x Freak Drive
8x Deflection
2x Conditioning
4x Bewitching Oration
1x Whispers of the Dead
4x Taste of Vitae
4x Bum's Rush
4x Ambush
2x Big Game
2x Blood Hunt
4x Second Tradition
4x Wake
7x Parity Shift

I figure this one is better than the previous Auspex backed version--my
other vampires have fortitude for better skill integration, dominate
for Deflection and a couple Conditionings; Victorine has a fantastic
special ability; and a much better capacity for passing votes due to
PRE and Ventrue HQ. The flaws, still, are getting the Parity Shifts
blocked, but at least with Creepshow Casino, there is occasionally +1
extra stealth, and the princes don't get killed so much when they are
blocked.

I'm figuring that Bravo is arguably better than Perfectionist in this
deck by way of the following logic--Lorrie's Rush actions cost you a
pool if they are successful. People will not block her rushes,
generally speaking, as they want you to pay the pool. So if she is
going to be rushing, and successfully 'cause no one wants to block her,
Bravo seems like a fantastic plan--if she rushes and you block her, she
doesn't gain a blood but doesn't cost you a pool; if she rushes and you
don't block her, it costs me a pool but Lorrie gains a blood. Put a
Blood Doll on her, and her built in cost is completely nullified.
Perfectionist might be as good (as Perfectionist is pretty much always
good), but can be foiled by a random Wake cycle or something. So I'm
sticking with the concept that *here*, Bravo is a good card.

The crypt is slightly compromosed by my vain wanting of the deck to
count as a Abomination deck by the standards of the TWDA (at least 5 of
the main clan, no more of any other clan), so, ya know, when I win a
tournament with it, it will be a moral victory! Anyway, as a result,
I'm limiting myself to only 4 Ventrue, when the 2 Katherine Stoddard
and Lia Milliner should probably be, like, Earl and Lana the Butcher or
something (although Lia also can play the one Whispers in the deck if
Lorrie has something more important to do).


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While thinking of subjects for a new newsletter, I was looking at the many new 
bad decks I had built last week. Focusing specifically on a really atrocious
Brujah based Ghouled Ally deck, I thought to myself "Self, this deck would
probably work much better if the allies had a default bleed of 1. Hmm. What
mortal allies have a default bleed of 1...", which led to this particularly
atrocious Nosferatu based Ghouled ally deck, which, while highly
questionable, might be so crazy, it just might work!

"I Ain't Gonna Be No Repo Man!"

Crypt:
2x Teresita, The Godmother (7) ANI, OBF, POT
2x Chritianus Lionel, The Mad Chronicler (6) ANI, OBF, pot
2x Ox, Viceroy of the Hollows (6) ANI, OBF, POT
2x Cicatriz (5) ani, obf, pot
1x Agatha (4) POT, obf
1x Josef (4) ani, obf
1x Shannon Price, the Whisperer (3) ani, obf
1x Tommy (3) ani, pot

Avg of 5.16

Library:
2x Channel 10
2x Nosferatu Kingdom
1x KRCG News Radio
1x The Rack
1x Shanty Town Hunting Ground
1x Sunset Strip, Hollywood
1x The Coven
1x Festivo dello Estinto
1x Using the Advantage
1x Archon Investigation
1x Left for Dead
1x Charisma
1x Memories of Mortality

15x Thrown Gate
10x Lost in Crowds
4x Psychic Veil
8x Animal Magnetism
10x Courier
2x Vagabond Mystic
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter!)
1x Caiaphas Smith
1x Repo Man
3x Unlicensed Taxicab
10x Ghouled
8x Autarkis Persecution
2x The Unmasking

Clearly a silly and flawed deck from the get go, but even then, it has some
entertaining angles. What got me to this point was, as mentioned above,
trying to make a Ghouled Ally deck that had some forward momentum. As most
mortal allies have no default bleed, I had to pack my deck with Computer
Hackings, which was a losing proposition, as there were never enough
Hackings to bleed as much as I needed, especially when most of the Hacking
bleeds were destined to be blocked. Thus, I fell back to the !Nosferatu, and
their goofy ally, Courier, who comes with a default bleed of 1. On the up
side, this means that a Ghouled Ally deck has some forward momentum. On the
down side Couriers, especially Ghouled Couriers, are expensive, at 3 blood
per successful recruitment. So I messed around, trying to cover all angles,
and came up with this monstrosity.

In the Crypt, there are two each of the three medium sized no brainers for
the deck, Teresita, Christisanus, and Ox, all of whom can use Animal
Magnetism at superior. Then, however, the crypt selection becomes a bit
trickier. With no other !Nos with ANI/OBF in a smaller size, I had to start
weighing the advantages of the various !Nos with mostly inferior
disciplines. Two Cicatriz seems like a good idea, as he gets a vote (kind of
making up for the inferior disciplines) and has a useful special ability.
Then I find myself in the weird situation of saying "Man. How come the !Nos
don't have a Sammy?". Which is weird, as I rarely ever use Sammy. But if he
were !Nos, I'd be using him now. Anyway, in goes Agatha, who is cute and can
Gate people well when blocked; Josef, who can sneak around and use inferior
Animal Magnetism; Shannon, who apparently is in every deck I build; and
Tommy who, really, is just a 3 cap body for making a Courier.

The Master selection contains intercept locations (so allies can block), an
ally support infrastructure (Charisma, Left for Dead, Sunset Strip,
Memories), and ways to get blood back on my vampires (Rack, Hunting Ground,
Coven, Festivo, which synergizes nicely with the hunting option of Sunset
Strip). In a deck with all !Nosferatu, two Nosferatu Kingdom are kind of a
necessity (as they are so good, you want one early), Using the Advantage is
a surprisingly useful card in a long game, and I'm currently in a phase of
including Archon Investigation in every deck I build, just so people will
worry about it locally.

In the minion card selection, there are allies, cards that make the allies
work, and general deck support. The core of the deck are the Ghouleds and
the Allies, so there are a lot of both--10 Couriers seems like a reasonable
number; 2 free Mystics as healers seem like a reasonable number; Carlton as
primary blocker; Caiaphas, surprisingly, seems like a reasonable plan in
this deck--he'll usually be able to intercept something as soon as you bring
him out, and between your prey and your predator, he should be ok, and he
can always go out and recruit his pal Carlton; and Repo Man (the impetus
behind the questionable deck title), while he can't be Ghouled, exists to
pull the Taxicabs out of the deck. With a lot of Ghouled allies who can play
a pot strike card, and pretty much everyone in the crypt having Potence at
some level, 15 Thrown Gates isn't at all unreasonable, as a lot of time, a
Courier will go to bleed for 1, get blocked, and then maneuver and fling a
gate. 10 Lost in Crowds for general stealth. 4 Psychic Veils for en masse
bleeding--play the Veil and send ten or so minions to go bleed for 1 each at
+1 stealth. The Unmasking let the allies block--granted, the Couriers start
with -1 intercept, but with the Unmasking, they can block the zero stealth
actions, and Channel 10 lets them block a lot of stuff, while Carlton or
Caiaphas can start blocking like crazy with The Unmasking in play. Then
there is the most dubious aspect of the deck--the Autarkis Persecutions. As
most of the master slots are taken up with blood management (as opposed to
pool management), and most of my minions will be not real useful for
harvesting pool off of anyway, this deck is kind of stuck for pool gain
options. Clearly, the best option available to it is Autarkis
Persecution--gain 1 pool for every minion you have in play. The obvious
flaw, is, well, it gives *everyone* pool, including your prey, who you are
pretty slow to oust anyway. This being said, I don't think the card is that
crazy, as this deck will likely be generating twice the pool on each vote
than everyone else will, people cross table will often help you pass the
vote, it will help keep your grand prey alive, and with a couple turns of
Psychic Veil masse bleeds can oust when unexpected, especially if your prey
over extends himself with all the extra pool you give him.

How does the deck work? Well, get out some !Nosferatu, start building an
army of Ghouled Couriers, and hope you don't get ousted too quickly. Call
Autarkis Persecutions when you are low on pool. Occasionally bleed forward,
possibly using the secondary "discard cards off the top of your prey's deck"
function if you don't think you can get Couriers through to bleed that
turn--given that this deck might make any game a long one, it isn't at all
unreasonable to run someone out of a deck (hey--I clearly need a
Brinksmanship in here!). When it looks convenient, send Couriers forward to
bleed for 1, and if they are blocked, have them fling a gate. When it looks
like a good time, play a Veil and bleed a lot at +1 stealth. This might just
work!

What are the flaws of the deck? Well, clearly, there are many. It might get
ousted early by a speedy bleed predator before it can get set up. A
persistent rush deck will probably eat it for lunch. Your minions run out of
blood really quickly. On the up side, it can generate a lot of pool, set up
a reasonably consistent blocking defense, has a reasonable amount of
stealth, can sometimes accidentally torporize folks, and might actually be
able to oust folks.


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So after chatting it up at Origins with various people, I finally got off my
ass and put together the Moby Dick of all decks. Yes. That's right. I wanted
to get in on the ground floor.

Lorrie Dunsirn multi-Rush.

This deck is awsome. Awsome, I say. Ok, maybe it won't, like, necessarily
win any national championships or anything real soon, but man, the pure
fantasticalness of it all makes it toally worthwhile, if I say so myself,
and, man, do I.

I played this tonight in 2x four player games, and scored a total of 1GW/4VP
for the two games. Not bad, really.

"This Deck's So Cool, It'll Make You Cry!"

Crypt:
3x Anistaszdi Zagreb (8) AUS, Justicar
1x Ira Rivers (7) AUS, Prince
2x Maldavis (4) AUS, for
5x Lorrie Dunsirn (4) POT, for, superior killitude
1x Martin Franckel (3) AUS

Library:
3x Fortitude
2x Blood Doll
2x Haven Uncovered
2x Fame
2x Special Report
1x Archon Investigation
1x Stranger Among Us

4x Bum's Rush
4x Harass
2x Big Game
2x Blood Hunt
2x Second Tradition
3x Wake
8x Telepathic Misdirection
4x Precognizant Mobility
4x Telepathic Vote Counting
2x Anima Gathering
8x Rolling with the Punches
6x Unflinching Persistance
6x Freak Drive
8x Immortal Grapple
6x Taste of Vitae
7x Parity Shift
1x Praxis Seizure: Barcelona

So clearly, the plan is to get out Lorrie, Anistaszdi, and hopefully a small
AUS dude for not a huge amount of pool. Lorrie rushes and kills folks quite
nicely. The AUS guys bounce bleeds and help untap Lorrie for more killing
action. When your pool gets low, as it will quickly, call a Parity Shift
rigged with Telepathic Vote Counting which hopefully passes. Mark folks with
Blood Hunt for perma-rush. Give Lorrie +2 intercept and +1 bleed with Anima
Gathering. Untap her and block when no one expects it with Special Report.
Oh, the killing!

I'm unconvinced that the Ira Rivers is the best option, but he is a 7 point
backup Prince with AUS and useful special abilities. Maybe Maris Streck is
better, but I keep thinking 9 is just too big. And I kinda want to figure
out a way to make Lorrie's nec useful, but at best I can get +1 stealth out
of it, which isn't that useful.

I mean, like, yeah, if there is a lot of table vote presence, this deck will
have a hard time (unless, ya know, you can kill their voters...) And very
serious counter combat is problematic (Enkidu with Flesh of Marble; Flung
Junk). But other than that, the deck can move, baby.


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"Bats with Birds in Their Mouths"*

Crypt:
1x Christianus Lionel, Mad Chronicler (6) ANI
1x Nigel, The Shunned (5) ANI
1x Devin Bisley (5) ANI
1x Calebros, The Martyr (5) ANI
1x Bobby Lemon (4) ANI
1x Tommy (3) ani
1x Shannon Price, The Whisperer (3) ani
1x Dani (2) ani
1x Mouse (2) ani
1x Gillian Krader (2) ani
1x Zip (2) ani
1x Lisa Noble (1) ani
Avg of 3.33

Library:
4x Animalism
3x Blood Doll
2x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
1x Information Network
1x Fame
1x Metro Underground

3x Bum's Rush
3x Games of Instinct
9x Forced Awakening
3x IR Goggles
21x Aid from Bats
14x Carrion Crows
9x Raven Spy
8x Drawing Out the Beast
2x Cat's Guidance
2x Owl Companion
2x Army of Rats
1x Murder of Crows
1x Canine Horde

*(And when they echo-locate, they shoot birds at you.)

Right. A kind of absurd deck on first look, what with the 21 Aid from Bats
and all, but really, the Aid from Bats is the main fuel rod that makes the
deck engine go.

The crypt starts out with a horde of little weenie vampires with ani, and
then a core of bigger vamps with inherent ANI. The crypt is tweaked up a bit
bigger than it needs to be to facilitate having enough !Nosferatu to justify
using the cheap and handy Information Network (which is cheaper and much
less likely to be contested than KRCG). Christianus is big for the crypt at
6, but there isn't really a better ANI 5 to replace him with (Lord Ashton?),
and the extra pool cost is paying for, essentially, an Elder Library anyway,
so he strikes me as a reasonable choice. Calebros is also an always
controversial choice, but as I look at it, this deck is completely without
votes and vote power otherwise. If he keeps his title due to no one eligible
to take it, being able to defend it, or people just forgetting, that is
fantastic. If he does lose it, no big deal, as someone likely already had
more votes than me anyway. The rest of the crypt is pretty straight
forward--smallish vampires with ANI (hello, Bobby Lemon!) and super small
vampires with ani. Yeah, if I wanted to minimize my ability to use Info
Network, I could replace, like, Tommy with Spleen Three Frooks or someone to
save a pool, but overall, it seems like a good one.

The Master selection is pretty standard. Not a lot of cards to avoid jamming
up in a high cycling deck. Animalism masters to get reliable ANI on the
weenies. Blood Dolls for pool gain. Two Heidelburgs so as to make it likely
to have one--being able to stack 3 or 4 Raven Spies on one minion (along
with some IR Goggles and a Owl) makes blocking incredibly easy. The Info
Network for extra intercept, Fame for a bit of ousting power, and Metro
Underground for some added defense capabilities.

In the main minion cards, the core is the crazy Animalism based combat
engine--Aid from Bats/Carrion Crows/Drawing out the Beast. Aid from Bats is
a very strong card, what with the maneuver and press at superior. Stack on a
Carrion Crows and a DoTB, you are in a situation where your opponent can't
press to end, can't use weapons, and takes 4 damage a round at long range
that is almost completely unaffected by Dodge or Skin of Steel type damage
prevention. With the huge number of Aids, you can regularly press and play
another one, just to stack on huge amounts of damage while humiliatingly
killing your opponent with, ya know, Aid from Bats. True, S:CE will foil
this combat madness, but as the deck is defensively strong otherwise (what
with the intercept and Forced Awakenings and all), killing folks isn't that
vital (i.e. someone playing a S:CE at the wrong time when you can't counter
it is unlikely to get you ousted like it is in a standard kind of Rush
deck), and Owl Companions can help scout out for Majesties and whatever
anyway, allowing you to save cards if necessary. The Rush actions are there
for opportunistic combat and preying on the weak and again, unlike in most
standard Rush type decks, the high opportunity cost of Games of Instinct
isn't really an issue--it will be rare that an inability to play it at any
given moment will cause problems, and if it pays off, it can gain you a lot
of blood. The support cards consist mostly of useful permanents (Ravens,
Owls, Rats, IR Goggles) that can get swapped around through the Heidelberg
to best effect.

The obvious question is (especially in light of the similar deck posted by
The Lasombra last month) "Why no Pack Alpha"? As mentioned in last month's
Newsletter, I think Pack Alpha is a very solid card in some decks, but in a
deck like this with significant combat that doesn't really mind getting
blocked so much, they are probably unnecessary. Assuming I don't get blocked
trying to recruit a Raven Spy, a Forced Awakening is just as good, if not
better, than a Pack Alpha. Assuming I do get blocked trying to recruit, I'm
likely in the same place I would be if I had the Raven Spy--in a fight with
someone. Sure, in some situations, a Pack Alpha might be very handy (like
where my prey is a super intercept/S:CE deck, and my predator is a high
stealth S+B deck), but overall, I think the deck does fine without them, and
adding them would require removal of something (Bats?).

The deck does pretty well overall--as discussed earlier, it can defend
itself pretty well, and with 4 or 5 minions in play and maybe an Army of
Rats, it can bleed folks out with reasonable speed (especially as it can
usually block pool gaining actions by its prey), while due to its defenses,
it is usually in no huge hurry. It'll have trouble against someone who
flings a lot of Sewer Lids or has a lot of maneuver based close combat, or
whatever, but I'll probably take them down with me a lot of time, so it is
kind of a wash. Most other deck strategies aren't likely to 'cause unusual
problems (although, like, a well placed cross table Shepherds Innocence
could be problematic), giving this deck a good fighting chance in most
seats. 


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"I Want To Destroy"

1x Raful al-Zarqua (6) AUS
1x Victoria (5) AUS
1x Miriam Benyona (5) AUS
1x Maldavis (4) AUS
1x Idalia (4) AUS
1x Richard Tauber (4) AUS
1x Remilard (4) AUS
1x Martin Franckel (3) AUS
1x Isabel (3) AUS
1x Zoe (3) AUS
1x Feo Ramos (1) aus
1x Franciscus (1) aus

9x Anarch Revolt
6x Galaric's Legacy
4x Blood Doll
2x Seattle Committee
2x Smiling Jack
1x Millicent Smith
1x Society of Leopold
1x Momentum's Edge
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles

10x Read Intentions
10x Eagle's Sight
8x Enhanced Senses
6x Telepathic Misdirection
6x Precognition
6x Spirit's Touch
10x Forced Awakening
2x Go Anarch
2x Magnum
1x Ivory Bow
1x Blow Torch

Raful should clearly be Jost Werner, but I simply can't abide his portrait.  
Feo would probably be better off as some 2 with aus, but he is funny, and 
I like the symetry of him and Franciscus. There are a lot of masters and 
no extra master phases, but 6 of the 28 are Trifles that can be turned into, 
essentially, more Forceds later in the game with the PB:LA. The weapon angle 
is certainly sketchy, due to it being difficult to equip them, but if I can 
get one in play, it makes it much easier to whack someone's token Anarch 
(in theory, your 1st prey never gets an Anarch as you block all the actions, 
and when you oust him, you try and mangle any token Anarchs your next prey 
has by blocking and shooting).

With the Millicent, Society, weapons, and Eagle's Sights, killing that
necessary Anarch is not that impossible. Momentum's Edge and Smiling Jack 
make being the last guy standing after killing your first prey that much 
more likely.


Peter D Bakija
pdb6@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6

"So in conclusion, our business plan is to sell hot,
easily spilled liquids to naked people."
-Brittni Meil


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After messing around with various crazy deck designs trying to capitalize 
upon Tock, I finally hit pay dirt, and built a deck that really makes Tock 
good. In fact, it makes a lot of under utilized Nosferatu good. 
Here is that deck:

"Tock! You're Home!"
Crypt:
2x Harrod (11) POT, OBF, pre, IC, +2 bleed
2x Ellison Humboldt (9) POT, OBF, PRE, Primogen
2x Amadeo (8) POT, OBF, pre, Primogen
1x Synesios (8) POT, obf, PRE, 2 votes
1x Murat (7) POT, OBF, Prince
2x Sundown (6) POT, obf, pre
2x Tock (4) pot, obf, pre

Avg: 7.6

Library:
8x Minion Tap
3x Information Highway
3x Presence
1x The Labyrinth
1x Major Boon

8x Kine Resources Contested
2x Conservative Agitation
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power
1x Banishment
1x Disputed Territory
1x Peace Treaty
1x Reinforcements
1x Command the Harpies
1x Honor the Elders
1x Praxis Seizure: Brussels
1x Crusade: London
8x Lost in Crowds
6x Elder Impersonation
4x Forgotten Labyrinth
8x Iron Glare
8x Voter Captivation
4x Bewitching Oration
1x Awe
2x Legal Manipulations
7x Majesty
4x Thrown Gate

What we have here is a pretty focused Stealth Vote deck that benefits from
being Nosferatu by virtue of being able to get some serious mileage out of
the incredibly useful Iron Glare. By using Nosferatu with added Presence,
you can sneak votes past intercept, push them through with Presence vote
modifiers, gain blood and pool with Voter Captivation, and switch to pretty
significant Stealth and Bleed without much effort if necessary.


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Neutral Ground
New York City, New York
August 14, 2004
14 players
2 rounds + Final

Peter Bakija -- Weenie Obfuscate Cooler Bloat

Peter's Winning Deck:
"My Deck is Cooler Than Yours!"

Crypt:
1x Cicatriz (5) obf
1x Lithrac (5) OBF
1x Agrippina (4) OBF
1x Sammy (4) obf
1x Duck (3) obf
1x Dollface (3) obf
1x Watenda (3) obf
1x Dan Murdock (3) obf
1x Shannon Price (3) obf
1x Dimple (2) obf
1x Normal (2) obf
1x Basil (1) obf

Library:
13x Blood Doll
6x Life in the City
4x Effective Management
2x Perfectionist
1x The Coven
1x The Rack
1x Specialization
1x Storage Annex
1x Archon Investigation

8x Cooler
1x Blood Tears of Kephran
1x Aaron's Feeding Razor
2x Muddled Vampire Hunter
4x Kindred Intelligence
4x Rumors of Gehenna
2x Delaying Tactics
10x Computer Hacking
6x Lost in Crowds
6x Spying Mission
6x Swallowed by the Night
6x Faceless Night
4x Cloak the Gathering

A Blood Doll/Cooler bloat deck I have been working on for a while (and
failed to get anywhere significant at the NE Reigonals this past
February with) that Jon Darbro convinced me to play at this
tournament. The Perfectionists turned out to be incredibly useful (who
woulda thought...), but the last minute inclusion of Specialization
didn't really help much--it would have been better off as, well,
pretty much anything (maybe a Zoning Board to get rid of locations?)


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So I saw some discussion of some Samedi Shambling Hordes deck last week or
so, but didn't see the actual deck in question yet still was intrigued.
Always wanting to have a viable Samedi deck, I figured "the last 7 have
sucked, why not try this kind?", so I put together a Baron powered Shambling
Hordes deck. So far, it has won, like, 2 out of 3 games it has been played
in, which fills me with Samedi-esque joy. Granted, I probably won due to
table position in those two games more than anything else (in one game, my
predator was a Gangrel deck that bled for not much per action and in the end
game, my flesh eating zombies were unimpressed by Jon's ability to control
time; in the other, my predator was a Salubri based intercept wall that was
having trouble staying up under a DEM bleed deck), but still, the deck seems
to have some legs. I wouldn't, like, play it in serious competition or
anything (due to it being fragile and totally hosed by PTO), but I've been
enjoying it so far.

"Shoot It In the Head, Man! Shoot It In the Head!"

Crypt:
5x The Baron (9) THN, OBF, NEC, FOR, dom
1x Le Din Tho (5) NEC, dom
1x Lia Milliner (3) nec, dom
1x Rudolpho Giovanni (3) NEC
1x Ohanna (2) dom
1x Christine Boscacci (2) dom
1x Marcianna Giovanni, Investigator (2) dom
1x Basil (1) obf

Library:
3x Fame
3x Memories of Mortality
2x Special Report
1x Blood Doll
1x Creepshow Casino
1x Coroner's Contact
1x Charisma

15x Shambling Hordes
4x Summon Soul
8x Deflection
5x Conditioning
8x Rolling With the Punches
4x Restoration
2x Freak Drive
4x Compress
2x Ashes to Ashes
8x Lost in Crowds
8x Trap
4x Fake Out
2x Pulled Fangs
4x Wake with Evening's Fresheness

The crypt is pretty straight forward--enough Barons so I can reliably get
one in my opening crypt draw; Le Din Tho for his NEC/dom spread and useful
discard ability (look and see if your target has any, like, Majesties or
Deflections). The useful weenies--the very sexy Lia Milliner; the
increadibly Gustav Klimptian Ohanna; the surprisingly useful Marcianna; the
"once every 4 turns or so" Hordes machine of Rudolpho; Mr. "I get The Baron
out of Torpor or Deablerize folks" Basil; and the also very sexy (as well as
having fantastic musical taste) Christine Boscacci (who really should be,
like, Mustafa or Lana Butcher or someone, but I'm so very fond of her...)
Mostly the Baron does all the work, and the weenies stay around to Deflect
bleeds and eventually bleed through the holes that the zombies make.

For masters, I have multiples of the necessary Fames and Memories, some
badly needed intercept from the Special Reports, the requisite Charisma, the
very useful in such a deck Creepshow Casino, and the "just in case"
Coroner's Contact (which if I get it early, insures that I get the Baron and
gives me a free transfer, and if I get it late, it is a free cycling master
that gets an extra baron out of my crypt so I am more likely to draw a not
Baron if I go fishing for more vampires). The biggest flaw here is my utter
lack of pool management, but for the one Blood Doll, that usually goes to
putting blood *on* my vampire rather than theother way around.

The bulk of the library is a lot of cards that The Baron can play with his 5
disciplines--the 15 Hordes for early and often discarding and play; blood
management in Restoration and Summon Soul, reasonable Horde combat backup
from Traps, Fake Out, and PF, good bleed defense, enough damage prevention
and Compress to make messing with the Baron less attractive, and some
stealth. And Conditionings, making the always popular dom weenies a force to
be reckoned with as well as making the Baron capable of being Archon
Investigated.

It could probably use more Freak Drives, but they are all in another,
actually good deck, and the Summon Souls can recycle them a few times (along
with the Conditionings if necessary) anyway. It'll probably die a swift,
unplesant death if next to a moderately fast vote deck (what with the very
limited intercept and minimal vote presence), but if it can set up some and
start eating brains, it should do ok. The Fake Outs are certainly fringe,
but they occasionally keep my zombie hordes from being humilliated by casual
guns and will sometimes save a weeine from an unfortunate torporization.

Any ideas?


Peter D Bakija
pdb6@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6

"Punk rock's been pretty good to me for twenty years. It's my year to give
back: I'm dedicating the next year of my life to fucking the Bush
administration."
-Fat Mike, http://www.punkvoter.com


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The following deck is based on (or shamelessly lifted from) a deck I saw Ben
Peal playing at Totalcon in Boston this past February (and apparently, Ben
Swainbank was playing a very similar deck in the same tournament), although
as I didn't see it that closely, I'm not sure how similar it really is. 
By focusing on Black Hand advantages (Reunion Kamut, Bloodwork, Ministry) 
and the obvious discipline overlaps, I have put together a deck that revolves 
around the gender ambiguous Ingram Frizer and his/her discipline combination.

"Really! I killed Marlowe!"

Crypt:
1x Tarbaby Jack (8) POT, OBF, Black Hand
2x Teresita, The Godmother (7) POT, OBF, Black Hand Seraph
1x Kazimir Savostin (7) AUS, pot, Black Hand Seraph
3x Ingram Frizer (6) OBF, AUS, pot, Black Hand
1x Quira, The Bitch Queen (6) AUS, OBF
1x The Colonel (5) AUS, obf, Black Hand
1x Roger Farnsworth (4) OBF, aus, Black Hand
2x Piotr Andreikov (2) aus, Black Hand

Library:
4x Blood Doll
3x Corporal Reservoir
1x Watchtower: The Four Ride Forth
1x Watchtower: Chosen are Called
1x Visit of the Capuchin
1x Information Network
1x Remover

10x Reunion Kamut
10x Bloodwork
2x Art of Memory
6x Ministry
8x Wake with Evening's Freshness
6x Telepathic Misdirection
6x Spirit's Touch
2x Aura Reading
10x Swallowed by the Night
6x Cloak the Gathering
6x Thrown Sewer Lid
6x Marijava Thuggee

A fairly straight forward deck with good defense including both bleed bounce 
and strong intercept possibilities, reasonable offense with Bloodwork and 
horde bleed possibilities from the Thuggees, some combat capabilities in the 
heavy maneuvers and Sewer Lids, and the always very useful free pool/transfers 
of the Reunion Kamuts.

The crypt, again, seeks to focus on Obfuscate and Auspex with a splash of
Potence, meaning the Ingram Frizer is the best possible vampire for the crypt. 
By mixing in various Black Hand members who have AUS (for bleed bounce) and 
Obfuscate (for extra sneaking about), you end up with a reasonably slid crypt. 
Quira, while not Black Hand, has a good discipline spread for the deck (with 
her AUS/OBF), gets +1 bleed, I always thought she was cute, and I just got a 
copy from the Tatus, and having 1 non Black Hand vampire in the crypt is rarely 
going to be an issue from the Reunion Kamut front.

The Master selection is fairly light, but contains standard Blood Dolls, which 
are always good, the surprisingly useful Corporal Reservoir, and useful support 
cards, like The Four Ride Forth which is fantastic in a deck that wants to keep 
a strong defense up without compromising forward momentum.

The bulk of the deck consists of the strong Black Hand cards--Reunion Kamut, 
allowing you to get out vampires quickly and cheaply early and rack up extra 
pool late; Bloodwork which is often simply "bleed for 2 at +1 stealth"; 
Ministry which gives a very strong intercept potential, especially as Sabbat 
vampires are as popular as they are currently; a couple Art of Memory as they 
double as, generally speaking, either 2 more Reunion Kamut or 2 more Bloodwork. 
The Auspex angle provides more intercept, the always strong bleed bounce, and 
maneuver possibilities. The obfuscate provides, ya know, stealth, but also more 
maneuvers (allowing your vampires to avoid a lot of close range unpleasantness 
as well as fling the occasional Sewer Lid) and Cloak lets you provide extra 
stealth to your non obfuscate enabled Black Hand pals. The Thuggees are a 
remarkably potent addition to a Black Hand deck, and possibly one of the strongest 
allies in the game--at only 2 pool, you get a minion that is hardy (3 life) 
and incredibly useful--they bleed for 1, can use obfuscate for stealth, and 
their inherent poking ability becomes very influential late in the game. 
Their inherent disadvantage (tap them all if you have more Thuggees than Black 
Hand vampires--mind you, this is Black Hand vampires you control, not *ready* 
Black Hand vampires) isn't really an issue when all but one vampire in your crypt 
is Black Hand--you can reliably get 3 Thuggees in play, and even more if you 
are feeling saucy.

Overall, this deck is remarkably well rounded, and plays pretty well (it is 
currently batting 2-0 in 4 player games). It'll have trouble with persistent 
ranged combat, but should stand up well against most other deck types.


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So in an attempt to make poor, weird, long armed Tock useful, I figured that
I might as well come up with an Anti-Nosferatu based deck with Presence. And
as the best possible Anti-Nosferatu with Presence to build a deck around is
probably Cailean (especially as I have 6 of him now), I decided to make a
Cailean deck, which would possibly justify using Tock, which was my whole
plan in the first place. A few years ago, I played in a tournament against
John Whelan using some sort of Cailean deck, elements of which I shamelessly
lifted for this particular deck, and wanted good intercept, good combat, and
potent forward momentum. Cailean is really good at intercepting stuff (ANI
and Archbishop status, facilitating the highly necessary Eternal Vigilance),
and his OBF/PRE combination give him good Stealth/Bleed options. Caileanıs
combat action clearly revolves around his ability to set range, so
outfitting him with a gun, some Traps, and some Animalism support can really
shut down some Rush decks, and he will do a number on decks with limited
combat defense. Anyway, on to the deck:

³Cailean? This deck is all about Tock!²

Crypt:
6x Cailean (10) PRE, POT, OBF, ANI, dom. Archbishop. Sets range each round.
1x Christianus Lionel (6) OBF, ANI, pot. +1 hand size.
1x Josef (4) ani, obf
2x Tock (4) pre, obf, pot
1x Shannon Price (3) ani, obf
1x Dani (2) ani

Library:
1x Shanty Town Hunting Ground
1x Nosferatu Kingdom
1x Blood Doll
1x Barrens
2x The Rack
2x Information Highway

9x Lost in Crowds
5x Disguised Weapon
7x Raven Spy
1x Owl Companion
6x Catıs Guidance
6x Ratıs Warning
6x Drawing Out the Beast
6x Carrion Crows
6x Iron Glare
4x Social Charm
4x Legal Manipulations
2x Majesty
4x Deflection
5x Eternal Vigilance
5x Combat Shotgun
6x Trap

Right. Starting with the crypt, contrary to the deck title, 6 Cailean seems
reasonable. You are unlikely to draw 4 in your opening crypt while unlikely
to end up without any in your opening crypt too (any statistical folks wanna
hook me up with actual percentages?). Christianus seems like a reasonable
addition, as he has two important superiors and a good special. Tock is good
for back up S+B capabilities, but sadly his lack of Animalism often is
problematic. Josef is mostly disposable, but he has ani/obf, which is
reasonable for the deck. Shannon Price, who tends to show up in more of my
decks than any other vampire these days, is a good addition, and Dani is
good as a chump blocker. Overall, you want to get out Cailean and then one
or two other errand runners, depending on how you are doing pool wise after
you get Cailean out.

The deck has a pretty thin Master selection, due to needing a lot of other
cards, but of them all, the Racks are the most important--Cailean needs a
Rack. A lot. The Info Highways are good for early speed, and far more
cycleable late in the game than Zillahıs Valley. One Blood Doll exists for
Cailean, and then a bit of pool gain and cycling. Could probably use a few
more Masters overall, but space is thin in this deck.

In the main deck selection, 9 Lost in Crowds is enough stealth to get
through important actions, generally speaking, and then help some mid game
S+B action, but in general, you are going to be relying on the idea that
folks donıt *want* to block you more than anything else. 7 Raven Spy and 6
Catıs Guidance lend significant intercept. The Ratıs Warning could probably
be better served by being Wakes or something, but the Ratıs presses are
actually handy in this deck. The bulk of the rest of the deck is offense,
including Traps, repeating environmental damage (and protection from
weapons/presses to end) from Carrion Crows and DotBs, and Disguised Combat
Shotguns (probably the best weapon for Cailean, as he doesnıt need a
maneuver and isnıt striking more than once a round in any case) and some
good bleed support (the POT/PRE Iron Glare is a very good deal for those who
can use it). The 5 Eternal Vigilances are the key to the deck, as once
Cailean has one of these, he can untap and block anything he wants,
generally speaking, and when he blocks folks, he often mangles them horribly
(barring S:CE or Assamite combat). Throw in a couple Majesties to get your
old ladies car out of a bad area and some Deflections, as who canıt use
Deflections, and you have a pretty well rounded deck.

The strengths of the deck are a combination of reasonably strong forward
momentum, good defenses, and significant combat, plus the humiliation factor
that comes from being a total trump to many close range combat strategies.
The deck has many weaknesses, most of which are common to decks that rely on
a single vampire--that vampire getting locked down somehow, or worst of all,
Protect Thine Own, which this deck can do nothing against if it comes from
across table (Probably the main reason to not play this deck in a
competitive situation. Sad, really). It also will have trouble coming back
from early pool devastation, as it takes some time to set up. It also
suffers from having a lot of dead cards once the deck gets going--after the
first Disguised Shotgun is out, and after Cailean is already Eternally
Vigilant, there are upwards of a dozen mostly dead cards in the deck. The
Barrens helps out, but this deck spends a reasonable amount of time drawing
into redundant cards.

This being said, the deck is pretty entertaining if it lives past the first
4 or 5 turns (and then doesn't get PTOed...), it certainly has winning
potential. 


Peter D Bakija
pdb6@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6

"Punk rock's been pretty good to me for twenty years. It's my year to give
back: I'm dedicating the next year of my life to fucking the Bush
administration."
-Fat Mike


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So I was sitting around today, not working (Veteran's day and all),
and I wanted to put a new deck together. I looked through all my
unused cards, and found large piles of Sanguinarius cards, as well as
8 Daring the Dawns that were going unused. I figured that there *had*
to be a way to use these effectively, and rather than doing that, I
put this deck together, that may be one of the stupidest decks I have
ever built.

"That's My Kinda Town!"

3x Jerry (5) SAN, for, pot
3x Larrry (5) SAN, for, pot, dem
3x Terry (5) POT, san, for, aus
2x Barry (5) san, pot, for, ani
2x Tom (3) san, pot, for

I'm going with 13 vamps rather than 12 as I wanted 3 each of the
important vampires and at least 2 of the other two (so they can get
burned occasionally and I can still maintain all 5).

7x Effective Management
6x Minion Tap
4x Information Highway
1x Powerbase: Chcago

I'd probably be better off with Blood Dolls instead of Minion Taps,
but I have run out (something about keeping, like, 15 decks around at
once). The powerbase isn't really a good idea, but what kind of deck
would this be if it wasn't in there (clearly, the answer is: "a good
one" Badum-bum-kat-CHING!)

18x Unwholsome Bond
14x Walk of Caine
8x Daring the Dawn
4x Rapid Healing
6x Pushing the Limit
6x Deflection
4x Mind Tricks
4x Enhanced Senses
2x Raven Spy
6x Wake

Ok. A really sketchy deck based on using Unwholsome to get out
vampires and gain pool as well as regain blood while making large
unblockable bleeds. As I'll probably have all 5 of the given vampires
out in any given game (lots of Effectives and Unwholsomes again), I
can splash a few good cards on fringe disciplines in the
deck--Deflections for some bounce, some light intercept, a bit of
stealth. Pushing the Limit is in as light "fight back" defense.

I went with the Chicago circle, rather than the Torrance circle as
they are smaller (and thus quicker and more disposable), and they have
funny, if actually useful, special abilities (Jerry lets you freely
rearrange blood; Larry gets built in intercept).

Any ideas or rampant mocking?

-Peter


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So anyways, inspired by a recent discussion thread involving the
necessity of Blood Dolls in decks, I wondered how much good Blood
Dolls actually do. Thus, in an attempt to really use some serious
Blood Doll action as well as integrate some lesser appreciated Anarchs
cards into a deck, I pulled together an arguably Nosferatu based
horde/bloat deck.

'Blood? Again?'

Crypt:
1x Basil (1) obf
1x Normal (2) obf
1x Dimple (2) obf
1x Max Lowell (3) obf
1x Watenda (3) obf
1x Dollface (3) obf
1x Shannon Price, The Whisperer (3) obf
1x Duck (3) obf
1x Sammy (4) obf
1x Agrippina (4) OBF
1x Cicatriz (5) obf
1x Lithrac (5) OBF

Library:
14x Blood Doll
6x Life in the City
4x Effective Management
1x The Rack
1x The Labyrinth
1x Humanitas

7x Cooler
2x Blood Tears of Kephran
1x Aaron's Feeding Razor
1x Palatial Estate
1x Catacombs
4x Kindred Intelligence
2x Arson
3x Rumors of Gehenna
1x Ritual of the Bitter Rose
1x Muddled Vampire Hunter
18x Night Moves
6x Lost in Crowds
6x Cloak the Gathering
4x Spying Mission
4x Faceless Night
2x Clotho's Gift

A weenie horde deck with the potential for a ridiculous amount of pool
gain and consistent, if small, bleed potential, if this deck survives
the early game and gets set up, it has the capability of rolling
forward though most opposition.

The crypt is a pretty straight forward weenie Obfuscate crypt,
focusing on Nosferatu (to facilitate the Kindred Intelligence angle).
On the high end, there is Lithrac to combo with the total prayer
Ritual of the Bitter Rose--if someone, somewhere is in torpor with
some blood on them, get the Edge, send Lithrac to diablerize and play
Ritual to refill all your vampires. Between the Edge, Lithrac's
special, Cicatriz's vote, and an extra Rumors vote card, he might just
survive the Blood Hunt (and if there is a great deal of vote presence
on the table, just send Basil...) Cicatriz is handy for a touch of
vote presence and a strong special ability in a heavy Obfuscate deck
(if no one ever tries to block you, Cicatriz's extra discard can be a
lifesaver). Sammy is the one real oddball, as he should be Regillio,
Seeker of Akhnaten, but I simply cannot abide by Regillio's portrait.
Sad, but at least Sammy is finally seeing some actual play in one of
my constructed Nosferatu decks!

The Master selection consists of an absurd number of Blood Dolls
(which, as the key to absolute victory, much like infernalism, should
drive me to winner?s ville :-). I figure with 14, I should draw them
early and often, facilitating survival in the early leg of the game,
as the only defense this deck has is pool gain, and without playing
Blood Dolls like every turn from the start of the game, the deck isn?t
really going to make it. By mid game, with 6 or 7 Blood Dolls and
enough blood influx, the deck should be able to survive quite a bit of
non Rush combat abuse. Life in the City keeps minions topped off, and
the Humanitas (combined with the Catacombs) stands in for the only
combat defense in the deck--yeah, you can torporize me with impunity,
but I'll just pop back out for free (at least in theory).

With lots of minions and lots of actions available, equipment is going
to work out just fine. The Coolers result in a constant influx of
blood to the vampires with little of the risk that is associated with
hunting grounds--they are very unlikely to be burned or stolen and you
can pack multiples of them without contesting. Aaron's Razor is great
for the long run, and the Blood Tears are an easy investment in the
future. Rumors of Gehenna help the deck flow (and survive early in the
game by speeding up the Blood Doll application), and if you give
everyone at the table the benefit, it just might actually pass. 18
Night Moves is in no way out of the question, in terms of efficiency
and forward momentum--with 7 or 8 minions in play by the mid game,
they will flow much better than regular stealth (as most folks will
stop trying to block at some point), and combined with 1 stealth
modifier will tend to make most bleeds unblockable. Sure, you can't
ever bleed for more than 1, but who was going to do that anyway?

The strengths of the deck are clearly the potential for rampant pool
gain and the advantages that come from having lots of weenie minions.
Most bleed defenses will be hard pressed to keep up with the deck, as
bouncing 1 point bleeds is generally futile and and it'll be difficult
to intercept reliably +4 stealth bleeds.

What'll kill this deck? Clearly, Rush combat. These little vampires
will just get thrown into torpor with reckless abandon if attacked.
The Humanitas and Catacombs are a token effort, but the best defense
against Rush combat for this deck is to simply hope they don't have
blasters. Early speed bleeding is also likely to be a problem, as the
pool won't start rolling in until the mid game, so it is not
impossible to get run over before getting set up.

http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

-Peter Bakija


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"We Still Have +1 Strength"

2x Parmenedies (4) CEL, +1 str
1x Sargon (5) cel, pre, +1 str
2x Bianca (6) CEL, pre, +1 str
2x Parnasus (7) CEL, +1 str
2x Richter (7) CEL, pre, +1 str
2x Miller Delmartigan (8) CEL, PRE, +1 str
1x Aziz (10) CEL, PRE, +1 str

6x Minion Tap
1x Depravity
1x KRCG
1x Rumor Mill
1x Market Square
1x Guardian Angel
1x Presence
1x Giant's Blood
1x Metro Underground

8x Bum's Rush
4x Taste of Vitae
8x Wake
7x Elder Intervention
1x Sport Bike
1x Mr. Winthrop
1x Sengir Dagger
8x Legal Manipulation
2x Aire of Elation
9x Pursuit
8x Blur
8x Sideslip
7x Flash
2x Acrobatics
1x Rapid Thought
1x Quickness

Kind of all over the place for a deck by me, but it just might work.
Pretty good rush and combat, Wakes, some reasonable permanent
intercept, some good transient intercept against bleeds. I think more
than anything, it needs more Tastes, but all my other ones are in
other decks. It completely lacks any Psyches, but I figure with the
intercept angle and the good bleed, they are less necessary (that, and
they are in other decks with the rest of my Tastes). Reasonable pool
gain from the Minion Taps and Legal Manipulations. But then, I'm still
using Sargon, 'cause I am still convinced that Infernalism is the key
to ultimate victory...

-Peter


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³Iım Compressing Your Head!²
by Peter Bakija

Crypt:
2x Wolfgang (4) for, obf, pot
2x Lithrac (5) OBF, for, thn
2x George Fredric (6) FOR, THN, obf
2x Jorge De La Muerte! (7) OBF, THN, for
2x Reg Driscoll (8) OBF, THN, for
2x The Baron (9) FOR, OBF, THN

Library:
7x Minion Tap
3x Coronerıs Contact
2x Fortitude
2x Dirty Contract
1x Regenerative Blood
1x Vast Wealth

10x Freak Drive
8x Restoration
8x Rapid Healing
8x Force of Will
8x Indomitibility
8x Compression
2x Ashes to Ashes
8x Lost in Crowds
4x Swallowed by the Night
2x Hidden Lurker
2x Bumıs Rush
2x Harass
4x Laptop Computer

A pretty straight forward Fortitude based bleed deck, with a few handy
angles. Get out a minion (preferably one with FOR), Minion Tap some 
pool back, have them Restore, Force of Will at stealth, Freak, 
Rapidly Heal out of torpor. Repeat as necessary. The Compressions 
give the Samedi some reasonable combat threat--with some light rush 
capabilities (including Hidden Lurker, just to really punish some 
Majesty monkey for blocking), Compression can reliably burn vampires 
late in the game, especially with Indomitability to provide light 
prevention and presses (to facilitate removing some of your 
opponentıs blood before the Compression for a burn).
Indomitability keeps a little extra blood on your vampires, and two 
Ashes to Ashes give you an unprecedented ability to get your old 
ladies car out of a bad area--get unfortunately Immortally Grappled 
by some Brujah bruiser? Play Ashes to Ashes/Fun to Funky, get out of 
combat free, take no damage, untap, and gain 2 blood! Sure, no you 
are in torpor, but with the plentiful Rapid Healings and reliable 
stealth, you are out of torpor quickly, and 3 blood richer than when 
you started this whole action. Not shabby! Wolfgang is a handily 
action runner who, while he canıt burn anyone with Compression, can 
certainly punch for 3 in a pinch, which is often all you need.

The Master selection allows you some reasonable pool gain, light 
rush, and the 3 Coronerıs Contact allow you to pretty much always 
have the right Samedi for the job, and you get a free transfer, to 
boot! The Vast Wealth makes finding those Laptops much easier, and if 
you can play it on Reg Driscol, he can set everyone up with a nice, 
new computer.

The Crypt seems reasonably solid--an average of 6.5, but the Minion 
Taps certainly help out there. 4 of the vampires in the Crypt have +1 
bleed, and another 2 have conditional +1 bleed, so between that, the 
Laptops, and the Forceds, the this deck can put up quite a bleed 
assault.

What are the weaknesses of this deck? Well, clearly bounce is going 
to be bad (unless you Compress the bouncer), as is a really fast 
bleed predator (well, unless their vampires are easily killed). 
Immortal Grapple combat could be problematic (as Compression is not a 
hand strike...), but Ashes to Ashes certainly can help out in such a 
situation. And votes. This deck has, like, zero intercept and only 
two votes in the whole deck (4 if Lithrac diablerizes someone!), so 
it is likely to get shifted all over the table. Basically, this deck 
is fraught with issues, but in the right circumstances, it might do 
just fine.


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Tortured Confessions: Ithaca
Ithaca, New York
April 25th, 2003
10 players

The winning deck by Peter Bakija:
"But Where are Kim and Kelly Deal?"

Crypt:
2x Selma the Repugnant (8) OBF, Prince
2x Murat (7) OBF, Prince
2x Nikolaus Vermullen (7) obf, Prince
2x Calebros. The Martyr (5) obf, Prince
2x Laurent de Valois (4) obf, dom
1x Agrippina (4) OBF
1x Dimple (2) obf

Library:
8x Obfuscate
1x Dominate
3x Blood Doll
1x Slum Hunting Ground
1x Secret Library of Alexandria
1x Powerbase Montreal
1x Powerbase Rome

10x Third Tradition: Progeny
2x Second Tradition: Domain
12x Consanguineous Boon
3x Ancillae Empowerment
2x Parity Shift
1x Kindred Restructure
4x Praxis Seizure (various)
2x Nosferatu Justicar
8x Spying Mission
6x Lost in Crowds
6x Swallowed By the Night
6x Night Moves
6x Behind You!
6x Deflection


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So after the abject failure of my +1 strength/CEL deck y'all helped me out
with a couple weeks ago (too slow, vampires too big, too vulnerable to other
types of combat), I stripped it for parts, and, deciding to take advantage
of the cool new Concealed Weapon, I reassembled the wreckage as a new
CEL/gun deck.

Granted, it is built around the exact same Rush engine I always use (one
could even claim it was "modular"...), but it has cool new stuff!

Pistolero!

Crypt:
1x Angel (2) cel
1x Kanya Akhtar (2) cel
2x Sarah Brando (3) CEL
2x Victor Toliver (4) CEL
2x Jimmy Dunn (4) CEL
1x Parmenides (4) CEL
1x Dodd (5) CEL
1x Black Cat (5) CEL
1x Volker (5) CEL

Avg of 3.75

4x Haven Uncovered
4x Blood Doll
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fame
1x Slave Auction

12x Bum's Rush
8x Concealed Weapon
8x .44 Magnum
8x Taste of Vitae
8x Computer Hacking
10x Psyche!
10x Blur
8x Pursuit
6x Side Slip

Pretty straight forward--The crypt seems reasonable--I could use some of (or
both of) the 1 point caitif with cel instead of the 2's, but I figure 2
blood gives more room for error when Blur costs a blood (that, and I could
use Carter instead of Kanya, but I found his blue border *way* too garish
for the crypt...) I was thinking about Black Cat instead of, say, Rigby, but
I don't think her special works with Concealed (although still is handy if I
wanna waste an action to equip), and I'm not real fond of Black Cats's
picture.

I kinda like the Slave Auction, as if I get it early, it is like 4 free
pool, especially considering how few master cards there are, although it
might simply be better off as a Blood Doll or a Fame.

The minion cards seem pretty obvious, although I'd consider swapping out 2
Blur for 2 more Pursuit, for extra manuvers in a pinch, although there are
plenty of manuvers already, considering the guns and the Bum's Rushes.

Any ideas?


Peter D Bakija
PDB6@bigplanet.com
http://www.myplanet.net/pdb6

"she tore down Paris on the tail of Thom Paine
but the left wing's broken and the right's insane"
-Bowie


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So 'cause it was so fun last time, I decided to post another deck, looking
for advice from the various luminaries about.

This deck is, well, something. I like it, but when ever I play it, on the
down side, everyone hates me, but on the upside, the game is much faster :-)
That, and I'm fairly certain, every time I have played this deck, I have
ousted Sackett across the table, so he keeps kicking me. This being said, it
has won more often than not, but does extra well in 3 player games.

We Got Auspexitude!

2x Franciscus (1) aus
1x Brazil (2) aus
1x Dieter (2) aus
1x Zoe (3) AUS
2x Isabel de leon (3) AUS
1x Idalia (4) AUS
1x Richard Tauber (4) AUS
1x Remilliard (4) AUS
1x Aleph (4) AUS
1x Miriam Benyona (5) AUS

9x Anarch Revolt
1x Antediluvian Awakening
1x Smiling Jack
1x Millicent Smith
1x Auspex
1x Metro Underground
1x Parthenon
2x Life Boon
1x Blood Doll
1x Tribute to the Master
1x Short Term Investement

14x Eagle's Sight
8x Precognition
8x Enhanced Senses
8x Telepathic Misdirection
2x My Enemy's Enemy
8x Read Intentions
2x Anesthetic Touch
9x Telepathic Counter
9x Forced Awakening
2x .44 Magnum

Right. Where I am in need of most advice is the pool gain Master selection.
I originally had 5 blood dolls, but then realized that I didn't want to
deplete all my small vampires and have them hunting all the time or not have
the blood necessary to Misdirect, and/or get intercepted and killed. So I
took out the 5 Blood Dolls (after, ya know, depleting my little vamps,
having them hunt, and them getting intercepted and killed...) and replaced
them with other stuff. I left in 1 of them, figuring that one blood doll is
always a good thing, and I might want to send blood back; I put in a
Tribute, as a massive gain of 4 or 5 pool in one shot is always useful in
the land of Anarch Revolts. I put in an STI, 'cause I couldn't think of any
other way to reasonably gain some pool (barring Ascendance) that didn't take
it off my minions or wasn't very protacted (like a Powerbase that just takes
to long to pay back). Any ideas there?

I like the crypt, but full well know that I could be using Dorian
Strackackackackack, but I simply don't like his picture (the violin and
pirate shirt just don't work for me, as much as I love pirates), so he's
out. I really like Miriam, as she wins the "I'm the best 5 point for just
AUS vampire in the game!" award. The Anasthetic Touches aren't, generally
speaking, any better than the Read Intentions, but they let the aus vamps
dodge sometimes, and in a pinch Miriam can, like, get her old lady's car out
of a multiple strike situation (Ooh! Ooh! Saved from Garou! Score!).

Any other good ideas?


Peter D Bakija
PDB6@bigplanet.com
http://www.myplanet.net/pdb6

"she tore down Paris on the tail of Thom Paine
but the left wing's broken and the right's insane"
-Bowie


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We Got +1 Strength!

So inspired by a conversation Ihad with Derek at the NE Quallifiers, I built 
a +1 strength/CEL rush deck to try out. I played it last night and didn't do 
too hot, but just by pure luck, the table consisted of, in order:

-Malk S+B deck
-Guns/Cel Rush deck
-Nosferatu Pot/Ani Rush deck
-Gangrel poke in the eye Rush deck
-My +1 strength/CEL Rush deck

Which was odd, as we had played three games, and in the other two, there weren't 
really an significant combat decks at all. This one just sort of ended up 
randomly to be all combat (suffice to say, the Malk deck didn't fare so well :-) 
I made a mess of the Malk deck, and managed to oust him (mostly by virtue of us 
being both screwed and him transfering out his last 2 pool to spite the table), 
but had a lot of trouble against my Gangrel predator, and was in a rough spot, 
as my grand prey was another Rush deck filled with spite (isn't the amount of 
spite in VTES fantastic :-), so if I got out Parmenides early, he just would 
have been killed.

After the game, I tweaked it up, and here is what it currently looks like:

2x Paremenidies (4) CEL, +1 strength
1x Sargon (5) cel, pre, +1 strength
2x Bianca (6) CEL, pre, +1 strength
2x Blaise (7) CEL, +1 strength
2x Richter (7) CEL, pre, +1 strength
1x Parnassus (7) CEL, +1 strength
2x Miller Delmartigan (8) CEL, PRE, +1 strength, free Blur

6x Minion Tap
1x Blood Doll
3x Haven Uncovered
1x Depravity
1x Fame
1x Special Report
1x Fragnod

12x Bum's Rush
12x Psyche!
12x Blur
12x Pursuit
10x Side Strike
8x Legal Manipulation
10x Taste of Vitae

Very straight forward--Rush n kill with multiple strikes, using Psyche when necessary. 
Lots of additional strikes, lots of dodge to avoid things like Gangrel, enough manuvers, 
lots of Taste to fill up after Minion Tapping, some reasonable bleed out capabilities. 
I put in a Special Report as it is funny, and in most cases, will be just as effective 
as a 4th Haven. I was trying out using some Harass last night, but was instantly 
screwed on my first viable action 'cause all I had in my hand was a Harass and my 
prey had an untapped 6 point vampire who I couldn't attack (so I tried to bleed him, 
got bounced to the Nosferatu, blocked, and we beat eachother mercilessly which didn't 
help either of us, but it was certainly spite-tacular). I have Sargon in there as is, 
he is pretty cool and has presence--that, and the key to ultimate victory is *always* 
being infernal...

I'm currently debating between the Side Strikes (dodge/additional strike) and 
Side Slip (dodge/damage prevention). The Side Slip is kind of easier to cycle 
and is really good against Gangrel (and still handy for prevention), but then 
I'd be down 10 extra strikes (leaving me at, well, 24...). 
What do you think, sirs?


Peter D Bakija
PDB6@bigplanet.com
http://www.myplanet.net/pdb6

"she tore down Paris on the tail of Thom Paine
but the left wing's broken and the right's insane"
-Bowie


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On to the deck of the month, which is kind of a silly deck, but might
actually be moderately useful. Or not, but if nothing else, it is funny.
Based on the interaction between the new wording on Patagia: Flaps Allowing
Limited Flight (which now provide limited flight!) and the powerful new High
Ground (well, powerful if you have flight), I have devised a
Nosferatu/Gargoyle flight based combat deck. Granted, I canıt actually build
it, due to my lack of High Grounds (hey--if anyone wants to trade me some,
drop me a line...), but in theory, it seems viable.

Crypt:
2x Wolfgang (4): pot, for, obf
2x Obsidian (5): pot, for
2x Alonzo Gulien (6): OBF, pot, for
2x Gerrard Rafin (6): POT, OBF, for
2x Ferrox, Rock Lord (7): POT, FOR
2x Nikolaus Vermullen (7): POT, obf, for

Library:
4x Haven Uncovered
3x Blood Doll
2x Minion Tap
2x Fame
1x Tension in the Ranks
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Slum Hunting Ground

6x Patagia: Flaps Allowing Limited Flight
10x High Ground
6x Freak Drive
6x Skin of Rock
4x Indomitability
16x Thrown Sewer Lid
6x Increased Strength
4x Bumıs Rush
4x Harass
2x Ambush
6x Taste of Vitae
6x Cloak the Gathering

Is this deck good? Probably not, but it is kind of funny. It acts as kind of
a combat trump deck, good for punishing your pal who always plays a close
range combat deck. Have your Nosferatu grow wings, rush, set range to long,
and fling sewer lids till something dies. Youıll tend to avoid damage from
most folks, and for those who can shoot you at range, there is some light
damage prevention. The Freak Drives make up for the need to waste actions to
grow wings, and allow for multiple rush actions with a single minion on a
single turn (Gerrard Bumıs Rushes, Freak, Harass, Freak, vist someoneıs
Haven, etc). Light stealth can help get the Patagia actions through against
someone who really wants to block, and can pave the way for laser guided
Rush actions.

What are the weakness of this deck? Well, the main weakness is that it is
kind of dumb. That being said, itıll have trouble against a predator that
does anything quickly, as it brings out minions slowly and then doesnıt have
that many anyway. Against the dreaded Strike: Combat Ends, itıs got nothing.
At all. So hope you donıt run into any of that :-)

On the up side, itıll really trump close range combat, and can kill pretty
well. Even with inferior potence, you can do respectable damage, so the
master card selection is wider than in most combat decks, due to not really
needing any skill cards. As it will pretty much always be fighting at long
range (otherwise, well, it isnıt going to work), your minions arenıt going
to take much damage, so you can afford to suck most of their blood back into
your pool.


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The Presence of Vicissitude by Peter D Bakija

1x Violet Tremain (6) vic, pre
3x The Rose (5) VIC, PRE, aus
3x Creamy Jade (5) vic, PRE, aus
2x Enid Blount (5) vic, pre, aus
2x Hugo (4) vic, pre
1x Lolita Huston (4) VIC, aus

5x Vicissitude
5x Blood Doll
1x Library Hunting Ground
1x Anarch Troublemaker

8x Social Charm
6x Enchant Kindred
6x Aire of Elation
12x Changeling
8x Plasmic Form
8x Chiropterian Marauder
6x Meld with the Land
6x Inner Essence
2x Horrid Form
4x Spirit's Touch
4x Enhanced Senses
2x Marijava Ghoul
6x Wake

It'll probably get totally killed by a standard S+B deck, but other than that, 
it isn't that bad--good bleed, reasonable stealth, light intercept, good combat 
defense/light offense. Changeling is a fantastic card, and I actually used the 
dodge from Plasmic Form more than once (as I was sitting next to multiple combat 
decks...) The Marijava Ghouls are probably unecessary (as I have 20 cards that 
can provide stealth already, and I'm likely to torporize interceptors), and I 
might replace them with 2 more Meld with the Land.

I'm considering removing Violet from the crypt, and replacing her with maybe a 
second Lolita. Any other ideas?


Peter D Bakija
http://www.myplanet.net/pdb6


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This month, I have put together what is probably a pretty effective Nosferatu
deck. Ok, sure, it is only a Nosferatu deck by virtue of having 4 total
Nosferatu in the crypt, but they are the key to the deck, and without them, the
deck doesn't really do anything good.

"Prom Queen"

2x Grendel the Worm-Eaten (5) OBF
2x Agrippina (4) OBF
1x Lena Rowe (3) obf, pre
1x Celeste, the Voice of a Secret (3) pre
1x Delilah Easton (2) pre
1x Fredrick, the Weak (2) pre
1x Vasilis, the Traitor of Tom Cruise (2) pre
1z Angela Decker (1) pre
1x Igo, the Hungry (1) pre
1x Antoinette DuChamp (1) pre

Avg. of 2.75

8x Presence
4x Effective Management
4x Blood Doll
2x Secure Haven
1x Fragment of the Book of Nod
1x Powerbase: Montreal

18x Cloak the Gathering
4x Disguised Weapon
12x Enchant Kindred
10x Social Charm
6x Kindred Intelligence
2x Patagia-Flaps Allowing Limited Flight!
2x Nosferatu Justicar
2x Rumors of Gehenna
6x Fake Out
4x Arson
2x Flame Thrower
2x Assault Rifle

Prom Queen (clearly referring to Agrippina, the belle of the ball) is
essentially a Presence weenie bleed deck with stealth back up. It gets all the
benefits of speed and relentlessness that come from a little vampire bleed
deck, but backs it up with the incredibly flexible stealth provided by Cloak
the Gathering. Agrippina or Grendel can hand out +1 stealth on every action
taken by another vampire, tapped or no. If you have out Agrippina and Grendel,
they can combine Cloaks (effectively circumventing the "only one of each type
of action modifier per action per minion" rule) for +2 stealth if necessary.
Heck, if it is Lena Rowe acting and someone tries to block in earnest, you can
play up to three Cloaks on a single action! Sure, if no one ever tries to
block, you are stuck with a whole lot of unusable stealth, but if no one is
trying to block, you are probably ousting your prey anyway (well, that or
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NorthEast Qualifier Tournament at Totalcon 
Feb 23rd, 2002 
Andover, MA. 
Winning Deck by Peter Bakija

The Nosferatu Hate You! (version 6.0)

Crypt:
2x Hesina Kesi (1) pot
1x Paul DiCarlo, The Alpha (2) pot
1x KoKo (2) pot
2x Duck (3) pot, obf
2x Agatha (4) POT, obf
2x Olivia (5) POT, OBF, Bishop
1x Nigel the Shunned (5) POT, obf
1x Beast, Leatherface of Detroit (7) POT, OBF

Average of 3.5

Library:
4x Haven Uncovered
3x Potence
3x Blood Doll
2x Fame
2x Dreams of the Sphinx

12x Immortal Grapple
10x Undead Strength
10x Torn Signpost
4x Fists of Death
4x Disarm
2x Decapitate
8x Behind You
8x Taste of Vitae
11x Bum's Rush
6x Computer Hacking
1x Delaying Tactics

The Delaying Tactics was my total prayer card, put in to hopefully avoid
getting Dramatic Upheavaled and having my VP stolen, but I never actually
played it this tournament. The Computer Hackings were a fairly recent
addition, and they were nothing but good--they sped up my ability to bleed,
often doubled as a Rush action, and could always be cycled. I'm thinking
about taking out the last two Decapitates for 2 more Hackings. And the Paul
DeCarlo? Yeah, sure he is just another 2 cap with pot, but between the hot
chick, cool suit, and looking like John Cale, he added nothing but class to
my deck.


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The deck I decided to put together revolves around the titled Nosferatu
vampires, most of which have Fortitude (making including the Samedi an easy
proposition). As I was planning on using titled vampires, a political and
Traditions based deck was the obvious plan, but to back up the votes as well as
make the inclusion of the Samedi moderately logical, I backed up the basic
strategy with a combat function.

Crypt:
2x Sheldon, Lord of the Clog (9) POT, OBF, for, Justicar
2x The Baron (9) THN, OBF, FOR, 2 votes
2x Suhailah (9) pot, OBF, FOR, Prince
2x Selma, the Repugnant (8) POT, OBF, for, Prince
2x Nikolaus Vermeulen (7) POT, obf, for, Prince
2x Lithrac (5) thn, OBF, for

Library:
8x Minion Tap
3x Zillah's Valley
1x Info Highway
1x Secret Horde
1x Dirty Contract
1x Coroner's Contract

6x 5th Tradition
8x Second Tradition
1x Ancient Influence
1x Political Stranglehold
6x Parity Shift
6x Kine Resources Contested
8x Superior Mettle
8x Compress
1x Ashes to Ashes
6x Immortal Grapple
6x Torn Signpost
5x Swallowed by the Night
5x Forgotten Labyrinth
1x Hidden Lurker
3x Bum's Rush
2x Taste of Vitae
1x Ritual of the Bitter Rose
1x Hand of Conrad

Looking at the crypt, Sheldon, Selma and Nikolaus are all very obvious
inclusions, as they have the appropriate disciplines and titles, and Nikolaus's
has a very solid special ability. Suhailah is a perfect counterpart to the
titled Nosferatu, as she has a good spread of matching disciplines, a title, +1
bleed, and a good special ability that isn't that unlikely to be useful. As for
the Samedi, the Baron is an excellent choice as he has all neccessary
disciplines at superior, 2 votes, and +1 bleed (although his other special
ability will rarely every be important). Lithrac is an excellent choice for
this deck, as he is cheap, has a reasonable discipline spread, and gives extra
support to Blood Hunt votes (which is smomething this deck will often have
opportunity to take advantage of). His +1 stealth for Bum's Rushing is even
useful. It is a large and expensive crypt over all, but 8 of the 12 vampires
are big enough to benefit from the Zillah's Valleys, and they are mostly going
to be Minion Tapped anyway.

Overall, this deck is moderately effective, occasionally winning games, but
sometimes getting shut down by a quicker more traditional vote deck. The Samedi
fit in nicely, help out with combat and general support, and don't really take
much away from the deck--sure, they could be replaced with other titled
Nosferatu, but I don't think it would make that much difference, as The Baron
is just as effective as any other vampire that could replace him, and Lithrac
is both cheap and effective in this deck. Problems include fast stealth and
bleed deck with heavy stealth and heavy vote opposition from around the table,
although all the political action cards in the deck have bribery options--KRC
and Parity Shift can help another player in exchange for vote support, and
Ancient Influence and Political Stranglehold often have many supporters around
the table. The deck has enough stealth to get past light intercept and enough
combat to dissuade rush based attackers and intercept attempts. All in all,
certainly an effective casual deck, but probably not up to incredibly
competetive standards.


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Weenie Animalism

1x Joaquina Amaya (6) ANI
1x Bear Paw (5) ANI
1x Devin Bisley (5) ANI
2x Nigel the Shunned (5) ANI
2x Shannon Price, the Whisperer (3) ani
1x Tommy (3) ani
1x Wendy Wade (3) ani
1x Vliam Andor (2) ani
1x Dani (2) ani
1x Navar McCracken (1) ani

6x Blood Doll
4x Animalism
2x Shanty Town Hunting Ground
1x KRCG
1x Rumor Mill
1x Metro Underground
1x Nosferatu Kingdom
2x Smiling Jack

16x Aid from Bats
2x Canine Hordes
7x Carrion Crows
12x Cat's Guidance
4x Rat's Warning
4x Guard Dogs
4x Army of Rats
6x Raven Spy
4x Murder of Crows
2x Owl Companion
3x Shepherd's Innocence
1x Mr. Winthrop
7x Forced Awakening

Yeah, I suppose this is much more of an Intercept deck than anything else, 
but as it doesn't really care about killing folks, the killing angle, while 
strong, isn't so vital. It can pack some pretty strong intercept (with the 
Shepherd's Innocence, if I have a S+B predator, I can get 3 or 4 Ravens on 
one guy, and just keep untapping him to block). With ANI, Aid from Bats is 
incredibly efficient, as you get a manuver (avoiding the need for Song of 
Serenity in most cases), a press (avoiding the need for a Trap) and the point 
of damage (which is greatly enhanced by the Carrion Crows and the Murders of 
Crows). Against a serious combat deck, it is screwed (much like yours), but 
against a S:CE deck, it doesn't really care--if I can kill your guys, good, 
but if not, I can just keep blocking. Plus, with the Owl Spies, you can see 
if they have S:CE before you waste any cards...


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"Night Out at the Gothateria"

 1x Fredrick the Weak (2) pre
 1x Delilah Easton (2) pre
 1x Remilliard, Devout Crusader (4) pre, AUS
 1x Mariana Gilbert (4) PRE
 1x Felicia Mostrom (5) pre, AUS
 1x Ramiel Dupre (5) PRE, aus
 1x Victoria Ash (6) PRE, aus, Primogen, can tap younger vampires
 1x Ian Wallingford (6) PRE, aus, Bishop
 1x Jost Werner (6) PRE, AUS, +1 stealth
 1x Sheila Mezarin (6) PRE, AUS, +1 bleed
 1x Greta Kircher (7) PRE, AUS, can reduce bleeds
 1x Jessica (7) PRE, AUS, Bishop

Average vampire size of 5.

 6x Misdirection
 1x Anarch Troublemaker
 6x Blood Doll
 2x Auspex
 1x Presence
 1x Fetish Club Hunting Ground
 1x Society Hunting Ground
 1x Art Museum
 1x Palla Grande

12x Majesty
 9x Social Charm
 6x Enchant Kindred
 3x Propaganda
 1x Entrancement
 6x Aire of Elation
 6x Mind Numb
 8x Telepathic Misdirection
 2x My Enemy's Enemy
 4x Change of Target
10x Wake
 3x Marijava Ghoul


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The Nosferatu are well known for their abundant stealth but
lack of anything good to do with it. By taking full advantage of the numerous
(albiet huge) Nosferatu with Fortitude, we can attempt to build a viable
Nosferatu S+B deck with Force of Will for bleeds, various Obfuscate cards for
stealth, and some Potence and Fortitude for combat defense (in case you get
rushed or blocked). Its so crazy, it just might work!

"Hey! We Can Bleed Too!"

Crypt:
1x Nakova, Advocate of Golconda (6) pot, FOR, Primogen
1x Chester Dubois (7) POT, obf, for, Primogen
2x Nikolaus Verboten (7) POT, obf, for, Prince
2x Selma the Repugnant (8) POT, OBF, for, Prince
2x Marty Lechtansi (9) POT, OBF, for, Primogen
2x Sheldon, Lord of the Clog Dance (9) POT, OBF, for, Justicar
1x Suhailah (9) pot, OBF, FOR, Prince
1x Basilia (10) pot, obf, FOR, Primogen

Average of 8.16

Library:
6x Fortitude
6x Minion Tap
4x Zilla's Valley
2x Info Highway
1x Golconda
1x Humanitas

8x Force of Will
8x Rolling with the Punches
4x Rapid Healing
6x Undead Strength
4x Torn Signpost
4x Immortal Grapple
2x Burning Wrath
4x Lost in Crowds
4x Cloak the Gathering
6x Swallowed by the Night
6x 5th Tradition
4x Taste of Vitae
2x Rumors of Gehenna
4x 2nd Tradition
4x Bum's Rush

This deck is rather toolboxy, what with it having a little bit of
everything--some pool gain from the Minion Taps/5ths; some moderate stealth
bleed; some rush; some intercept; good fight back defense--if someone
intercepts you or attacks you, you can beat them up pretty well. Eight Rolling
with the Punches provides you with some effecient damage prevention, as you can
cycle it for just 1 point of prevention against weak opponents, or play it at
superior against a determined rush attack.

The biggest weakness of this deck is the size of the vampires--if you luck out
at get a Info Highway and/or Zilla's Valley early, you'll be ok. You then need
to manage to get a Fortitude skill card on your vampires, as without superior
Fortitude, your bleeds aren't going to be all that effective.

Once you end up in torpor, you'll have some Rapid Healings and maybe a friend
with Humanitas to get you out, and your moderate stealth available should keep
you from getting blocked.

Not a perfect deck by any standards, but it certainly takes advantage of the
various Nosferatu with Fortitude, and if nothing else, gives Marty Lechtansi
(and heck, even Nakova is kinda good in this deck!) somewhere to live where he
might be effective, and that is always a good thing.


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Dr. Doomlittle, Mk. IV

Crypt:
1x Dani (2) ani
1x Dimple (2) obf
1x Shannon Price, the Whisperer (3) ani, obf
1x Panagos Levidis (3) ani, obf
1x Cicatriz (5) ani, obf
1x Nigel, the Shunned (5) ANI, obf
2x Calebros the Martyr (5) ANI, obf
2x Grendel, the Worm Eaten (5) ani, OBF
2x Christianus Lionel, the Mad Chronicler (6) ANI, OBF

Average of 4.33

Library:
6x Blood Doll
3x Obfuscate
3x Animalism
1x Slum Hunting Ground
1x Shanty Town Hunting Ground
1x Labyrinth
1x Heidelberg Castle
1x Nosferatu Kingdom
1x Rumor Mill

10x Aid from Bats
8x Cat's Guidance
6x Carrion Crows
5x Guard Dogs
5x Raven Spy
2x Army of Rats
2x Song in the Dark
2x Terror Frenzy
1x Tier of Souls
6x Scouting Mission
6x Swallowed by the Night
6x Cloak the Gathering
2x Rampage
5x Forced Awakening
3x Lap Top Computer
1x Tasha Morgan
1x Mr. Winthrop
1x Ivory Bow

A well rounded deck that is easily built (it only has 7 or 8 rares, and most of
them are easily replaced or omitted), capitalizes upon the few advantages that
the Nosferatu have going for them, and is fairly effective. 


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Sammy, Nosferatu Justicar!

Crypt:
1x Sammy (4) ani, obf, pot
1x Agripinna (4) OBF, pot
1x Grendel-The Worm Eaten (5) ani, OBF, pot
2x Calebros, The Martyr (5) ANI, obf, pot
1x Chester DuBois (7) ANI, obf, POT, Primogen
2x Nikolaus Vermeulen (7) ani, obf, POT, Prince
2x Murat (7) OBF, POT, Prince
2x Selma-The Repugnant (8) ani, OBF, POT, Prince

Total of 66, average of 5.5

Library:
4x Blood Doll
2x Animalism
2x Potence
1x Succubus Club
1x The Labyrinth
1x Slum Hunting Ground
2x Secure Haven
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Golconda, Inner Peace
1x Sudden Reversal

8x Thrown Gate
2x Rampage
6x Carrion Crows
4x Forgotten Labyrinth
12x Cloak the Gathering
8x The Second Tradition: Domain
4x The Fourth Tradition: The Accounting
6x Conservative Agitation
6x Kine Resources Contested
6x Consenguaneous Boon
2x Parity Shift
2x Kindred Restructure
2x Banishment
1x Ancilla Empowerment
1x Ancient Influence
1x Autarkis Persecution
1x Praxis Seizure: Paris
2x Nosferatu Justicar

A moderately effective vote deck with enough stealth to get past light and
moderate intercept, good offense, good pool gain, light combat, untap and
intercept, and a good selection of flexible corner case cards. One of the
advantages of the Political deck is that if you are relying on inherrent votes
from titled vampires, you are relying on few cards per action--just a political
action and maybe some stealth is all you need for your basic action. This means
that your deck is going to be less card-combo intensive (as opposed to, say, a
Rush deck or something), giving you room for more flexible cards. Throwing in a
few PA's like Kindred Restructure and Autarkis Persecution can be very helpful
in some situations, and due to the ability to toss a vote during someone else's
political action, they are easily cycleable if they prove unecessary.

Having a handfull of combat defense (the Thrown Gates and Carrion Crows) might
allow you to manuver away from a close range combat deck or possibly deter a
long range combat deck, as you can do upwards of 4 damage per round at long
range. The very strong Prince related cards (2nd Tradition and 4th Tradition)
provide good defensive abilities and pool gain. Cloak the Gathering (which
effectively stacks) and Forgotten Labyrinth provide adaquate stealth vs all but
very dedicated intercept.

In terms of weaknesses, the biggest one this deck faces is a lack of true vote
power. Without Presence to fall back on, you have nothing to work with but your
votes on the table and maybe the edge. If there is another strong vote deck at
the table you can be shut down, and early in the game, even a few titled
vampires spread around the table can slow you down considerably. On the up
side, you have the Succubus Club to broker deals (and some Rampages and votes
that give folks pool to barter with) which might help get some important votes
through in a pinch, but still, this deck can often face a rough time at a vote
heavy table. Often, however, the card that saves the day is Nosferatu
Justicar--just when you think all is bleak, drawing the Justicar vote can give
you the edge you need, and it is much easier to pass the Justicar vote due to
the extra push from each Nosferatu on the table. Once Sammy becomes Nosferatu
Justicar, you position is safe, and no one will ever mock him again.

Peter D Bakija
PDB6@aol.com 



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So I have been playing this here deck for a few weeks, and it has been rather
effective (it has won, like, 3 of the 4 games it has been in). I figure I'd
post it and see if anyone has any useful advice to make it work even better.

"Mighty Zombie!"

Crypt:
2x Ghivran Dalaal, The Dead God (5) FOR
2x Camille Devereux (5) FOR, PRO
1x Badger (6) FOR, PRO
1x Sarisha Veliku (6) FOR
1x Nakova, Advocate of Golconda (6) FOR
1x Joquina Amaya (6) FOR
1x Gitaine St. Claire (7) FOR, PRO
1x Dominique (7) FOR
1x Omaya (7) FOR, pro
1x Jan Pieterzoon (7) FOR

Deck:
14x Minion Tap
4x Info Super Highway

12x Restoration
8x Skin of Rock
8x Rolling with the Punches
6x Resilience
6x Unflinching Persistence
6x Force of Will
6x Rapid Healing
6x Freak Drive
2x Dawn Operation
2x Daring the Dawn
2x The Kiss of Ra
2x Movement of the Slow Body
4x Laptop Computer
1x Tasha Morgan
1x J.S. Simmons Esq.

Clearly a variation on the old "jump in and out of torpr" deck, but with a lot
of pool gain and alot of damage prevention (which is never wasted in my
playgroup, but might be problematic elsewhere). I don't have Raven in my crypt
'cause I don't own one (anyone wanna trade me one?), and I'd probably use more
Daring the Dawn (defenitely) and Kiss of Ra (possibly) if I had more. And hey!
In this deck, Nakova is better than most of the other 6 point vamps! She has
all the disciplines I need *and* a vote for only 6! 

The original intention was to be all Fortitude and have all my vamps with FOR
(I like avoiding the need for skill cards), but I realized that 5 of my vamps
have Protean and a couple MotB would often act just like a more free Freak
Drives (which I only own the 6 of). I suspect that it'll have trouble with a
speedy S+B deck (as its only bleed defense is moderate pool gain and doesn't
oust ral quickly), but it has been doing well in the combat heavy environment
in which it lives (there has been at least 1 Assamite deck in every game it has
been used in so far...)

So hey--you can play Rapid Healing with a vampire in Torpor who has zero blood,
right? I'd assme you can ('cause otherwise the card would be kind of useless),
but usually a vamp with 0 blood has to hunt...

On a complete aside, for those keeping track, I played my Rush deck last night
(the version with 4 Computer Hacks and 2 Fames and no Pentex Loves You!) at a 4
player table and swept (4VPs). The table set up was:

-Me (Pot/Obf Nosferatu IG Rush)
-Andrew (Dom/Nec/Pot Giovanni Bruise Bleed with a lot of bleed and some hit
back)
-Ben (Qui/Cel Assamite long range Rush)
-Brad (Obf/Dom Malk S+B)

I worked backwards a bit to slow down Brad's S+B deck (who bled me for 3 or 4
an action when he got to take them), and the ripped into Andrew's Giovanni, who
was rather sucessfully bleeding Ben's Assamite deck down. Andrew fought back,
but not enough, and Brad's Malks were very soft and gooey. Ben had spend a lot
of effort defending himself from Andrew's bleed attacks, until I bled through
Andrew (after killing most of his vampires) and held Brad back (by killing most
of *his* vampires). Ben was kind of run down at this point, so I Famed one of
his vamps, killed him, ousted Ben, and Brad (who at this point was represented
by the number 3...) died immediately after.

Granted, I was in a situation with 2 combat decks (almost 3), where usually one
of them is going to win, but still--Rush deck, 4 player game, 4 VPs, no deals
or table splits.


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So to fully capitalize upon Beast, I have come up with a fairly absurd deck as
a thought experiment--I haven't actually built this, and have no idea if it
would actually be any good, but it seems fairly sound. Thus, I present:

"Search and Destroy"

Crypt:
4x Beast (7) POT, cel
4x Theo Bell (7) POT, cel
4x Amelia (7) POT, CEL

Master Cards:
3x Celerity
3x Blood Doll
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Minion Tap
2x Fame
1x Recruiting Party
1x Pentex Loves You!

Minion cards:
12x Immortal Grapple
12x Torn Signpost
14x Undead Strength
6x Increased Strength
4x Thrown Sewer Lid
2x Decapitate
2x Rampage
10x Flash
6x Acrobatics
8x Taste of Vitae 


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This month I have another deck design I have been playing of late that has been
moderately sucessful. It is based on a deck that I saw Robin Merril playing at
Origins in a pick up game (I actually saw it the hard way, as Famous Huang got
used in and out of torpor like nobody's buisness...). It is essentially a
weenie, all Obfuscate horde deck, but with guns for defense. It gets to fin
under a Nosferatu deck by virtue of being all Obfuscate based, and by having 5
Nosferatu in the crypt. I present:

"Hey! What's That In Your Pocket?" 

2x Agripina (4) OBF
2x Tansu Bekir (4) OBF
1x Duck (3) obf
1x Dan Murdock (3) obf
1x Shannon Price, the Whisperer (3) obf
1x Watenda (3) obf
1x max Lowell (3) obf
1x Dimple (2) obf
1x Normal (2) obf
1x Basil (1) obf

Total of 36, average of 3, worst 16, best 8

7x Tribute to the Master
6x Obfuscate
5x Effective Management
1x Gird Minions
1x Haven Uncovered
1x The Parthenon
1x Archon Investigation

22 out of 90 or 24%

4x Bum's Rush
6x Wake
2x Rumors of Gehenna
2x Delaying Tactics
2x Pack Tactics
9x Saturday Night Special
3x Gas Powered Chainsaw
1x Ivory Bow
5x Dragon Breath Rounds
10x Disguised Weapon
10x Swallowed by the Night
6x Vanish from Mind's Eye
6x Hidden Lurker
2x Behind You

As one might imagine, this deck gets out a good number of minions 
pretty quickly and bleeds for 1 a lot.  You don't mind if you are 
blocked, as you can then pull a pistol out of your watch, maneuver 
to long range, and punk someone for a point or two, and then just 
go bleed with someone else. Against a slow prey, you can overwhelm 
them pretty quickly and wear them down. It has trouble against decks 
with significant long range combat, and speedy bleed predators are 
a problem as well.


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I have a new deck that I have been playing for a few months
that is moderately effective. VTES is well known for having 
three main strategies--bleed, combat, and vote, and all of 
these essentially exist to reduce a player's pool and oust 
them. The !Nosferatu were provided with a rather interesting 
card in Sabbat War that allowed a whole new strategy to become 
viable--not necessarily good, but viable: The Discard Deck. 
Yeah, folks used to try and play the fabled "7 Raptor Rush" 
discard deck, but it was always incredibly slow and hard to 
pull off. Now with the new ally Courier, you can build a 
reasonably effective discard deck. Couriers allow you to discard 
the top card of your prey's deck whenever you bleed him, so 
by using multiple Couriers, you can rapidly grind your prey's 
deck to nothingness. Thus, I present...

"You Two Girls! You, On the Bike!"

Crypt:
2x Shannon Price, the Whisperer (3) ani, obf
1x Josef (4) ani, obf
2x Shane Grimald (4) ani, dom
2x Laurent de Valois (4) ani, dom, obf
1x Olivia (5) OBF
2x Cicatriz (5) ani, obf
1x Ox, Viceroy of the Hollows (6) ANI, OBF
1x Christanius Lionel (6) ANI, OBF

Average of 4.4, worst draw of 22.

Masters:
2x The Rack
2x Shanty Town Hunting Ground
1x Steam Tunnels
1x Using the Advantage
1x Festivo dello Estinto
3x Dominate
2x Obfuscate
6x Blood Doll

18 of 90 or 20%

Minion:
12x Courier
4x Delaying Tactics
2x Pack Tactics
6x Zip Gun
2x Conditioning
8x Deflection
8x Rat's Warning
2x Raptor
2x Terror Frenzy
12x Night Moves
6x Lost in Crowds
2x Behind You
6x Fake Out

This deck is fairly straight forward, in terms of how it 
operates--get out as many Couriers as you can as quickly 
as possible, and repeatedly bleed for 1 at a huge amount 
of stealth with the Night Moves. When you do successfully 
bleed your prey, tap all of your Couriers and force your 
prey to discard a sizable chunk of their deck with a single 
bleed action. With a maximum of 12 Couriers, you have a 
realistic chance of running your prey out of cards in a 
reasonable amount of time. Once they are out of cards, 
you can bleed them with impunity (unless they are packing 
plenty of permanents). Three of the stronger aspects of 
the Courier are that A) you can tap him for his discard 
effect the turn he comes in to play B) they cost 2 Blood 
instead of Pool (meaning that they are certainly affordable) 
and C) they all can bleed for one, so once your prey is out 
of cards (or it seems convenient), you can bleed him with 
a huge mob of minions for one each.

In a tactical sense, this deck is rather flexible--it can 
deflect bleeds well, it has a good amount of stealth (although 
you have to look out for folks intercepting your recruit 
actions), a bit of intercept (that can double as even more 
discard), and some light combat defense. The Zip Guns are 
worth using in that they are free, you can always play them, 
and taking one point of damage at long range from the gun is 
always going to be better than taking close range Potence or 
Protean strikes. Against long range combat, you are going to 
be killed anyway, so the point of Zip Gun damage is irrelevant. 
The Fake Outs could be replaced by more Behind Yous, but the 
Fake Outs can serve to save the Couriers in a pinch. As you 
are only bleeding for 1 per action (barring the 2 surprise 
Conditionings for that final killing blow), you are unlikely 
to be deflected, but if you are, you don't have to tap the 
Couriers--save them for the next bleed of 1.



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In an attempt to make a deck that Justifies the use of Judah, 
I present the following Bruise/Bleed deck that is a variation 
on the ever popular "Deck That Only Works When I Get Out 
Marty Lechtansi" series, but is a tad more vibale, due to the 
smaller vampires.

"Judah, Judah, Judah. You were always my favorite, Judah." 

Crypt:
3x Judah (6) POT, ani, dom, Primogen
1x Anvil (6) POT, dom, Primogen
1x Lisette Vizquelle (6) POT, DOM, Bishop
3x Shane Grimald (4) pot, dom, ani
2x Cameron (3) pot, dom
1x Raziya Samater (3) pot, ani
1x Tommy (3) pot, ani

3x Potence Master
3x Animalism Master
3x Blood Doll
3x Haven Uncovered
1x Fragment of the Book of Nod
1x The Barrens

10x Conditioning
8x Deflection
8x Rat's Warning
8x Drawing Out the Beast
10x Immortal Grapple
8x Torn Signpost
10x Undead Strength
8x Taste of Vitae
6x Bum's Rush

Pretty straight forward--you go and bleed with your vampires. 
If someone blocks, you beat them up pretty well, and if they 
don't block, you bleed them for 3 an action (Lisette could bleed 
for 4, but it probably isn't worth the risk of an Archon 
Investigation). There is enough Rush (3 Haven and 6 Bum's Rush) 
to take out any serious bleed predators or vampires who are
likely to want to Deflect you. There are enough untaps and 
Deflections to lend some serious defense against a bleed 
predator. It'll have trouble against a well combat defended 
vote deck (having no intercept to speak of and only 5 Primogens 
in the deck), and is a tad slow when compared to other Rush 
decks (having the 5 big vampires and all), but might be able 
to hold its own in the face of actual competetiton.


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Where Daliyah really shines, however, is in the all Protean deck. 
There are plenty of little vampires with Protean, and even a good 
supply of small ones with superior Protean. By designing a good 
Weenie Protean deck, you have a great place to take advantage of 
both of Daliyah's strengths--her PRO and the fact that she is a 
4 point vampire.
 
The following is an all Protean deck that does surprisingly well, 
and while it is far more a Gangrel deck than a Nosferatu deck, 
Daliyah is one of the starring components:
 
"Yummm. Proteolicious."
 
Crypt:
1x Camille Devereux (5) PRO
1x Mirembe Kabbada (5) PRO
2x Daliyah (4) PRO
2x Chandler Hungerford (3) PRO
2x Ricki Van Demsy (3) pro
1x Anistasia Grey (3) pro
1x Sadie (2) pro
1x Igo-The Hungry (1) pro
1x Huang, Blood Cultist (1) pro
 
Crypt average of 3.08
 
Library:
2x Eco Terrorists
1x Zoo Hunting Ground
1x Backways
4x Blood Doll
4x Protean
4x Effective Management
14x Computer Hacking
2x Body Flare
4x Bone Spur
9x Earth Meld
9x Form of Mist
4x Delaying Tactics
8x Wake with Evenings Freshness
1x Atonement
1x Mr. Winthrop
4x Sport Bike
4x Renegade Garou
2x Hawg
1x Meat Cleaver
1x RPG Launcher
 
This deck is pretty much the extreme end of the Strike: Combat Ends 
nightmare that leads directly into heavy Immortal Grapple useage. 
It is an 80 card deck with 18 S:CE cards, but because of the deck 
structure, they will rarely, if ever, go unused and will rarely cause 
hand jam. The deck has persistient light bleed--a constant stream of 
small vampires Computer Hacking for 2 each--that if is blocked, will 
just play Form of Mist and get through anyway. Due to the low card 
combo intensity of this deck (the basic action consists of 2 cards-
-Computer Hacking and Form of Mist), there is plenty of room for 
defenses and what not. It packs a great deal of light intercept, 
8 WWEF, and enough Earth Meld (S:CE-untap this vampire) to be a 
nightmarish wall to even the most persistient Weenie Tap and Bleed 
deck. Delaying Tactics is almost always useful, and can shut down 
a single minded vote deck for a whole turn (Delaying Tactics their 
KRC and watch them look arounf confused and hunt for the rest of 
the turn). The Renegade Garous are a great defense against Stealth 
and Bleed, weenie decks, and any slow soft vampire deck. Yeah, they 
cost 5 pool, but between the small vampires, blood dolls, and Eco 
Terrorists, this deck has a good pool supply to work with. Get the 
Garou on a Hawg with a Meat Cleaver or the RPG launcher, and you 
have a horrifying killer.
 
This deck will have trouble with a dedicated IG combat deck, but 
hopefully the Bone Spurs will make them work in another direction 
for a while (and if you are expecting heavy IG combat, swap out 
the Bosy Flares for more Bone Spur and mix some Flesh of Marble in 
for some of the S:CE). The Garous will become little more than 5 pool 
loss for you against a deck that has any worthwhile combat (or the 
ability to steal your allies...), but are very effective in most 
other situations, as is the deck as a whole.


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This month I have another Nosferatu deck design, that is, primarily, the
result of James Coup wondering if such a deck could be built. Never one to
pass up a challenge, I decided to put together the Pot/Ani/Aus intercept deck
that grew out of a recent thread, and see how it went. Thus, I present to you:

"Hey! That's _MY_ Clog!"

Crypt:
6 Sheldon-Lord of the Clog (9) POT, ANI, AUS
2 Sebastian Marley (7) pot, ANI, aus
2 Kendrick (7) POT, ANI, aus
2 Sabine Lafitte (5) pot, aus

Total of 92, average of 7.6, worst draw of 36.

Library:
6 Minion Tap
3 Auspex
2 Potence
2 Info Superhighway
1 Slum Hunting Ground
1 Golconda
1 Giant's Blood

9 Undead Strength
6 Torn Signpost
1 Burning Wrath
1 Death of My Conscience
9 Eagle's Sight
6 Precognition
2 My Enemy's Enemy
1 Pulse of the Canille
7 Cat's Guidance
6 Drawing out the Beast
5 Rat's Warning
3 Raven Spy
1 Army of Rats
6 5th Tradition: Hospitality
6 2nd Tradition: Domain
5 Forced Awakening

Total 90 cards, 16 Masters.

This deck is actually very effective at intercepting stuff, but as an
Intercept deck, suffers from the same problem as all Intercept decks--namely
that it can't really get more than 2VPs in a five player game (one from the
other guy at the table and one from being the last guy standing). The theory
was to make an intercept deck that could use Eagle's Sight to be able to
intercept your prey's actions, use the Potence to beat them up really good
(making them get out more vampires), and end up ousting them in the same
fashion as a Rush deck. The problem, however, is that it takes so much deck
space to be a reliable interceptor that the combat angle is skethy, at best.
The deck has, out of its 90 cards, 43 that exist to make the intercept
strategy viable, and as such, simply doesn't have enough room to be truly
effective at combat.

Its intercept ability is very effective, having light permanent intercept,
Eagle's Sight, a good selection of transient intercept, and an incredible
selection of untapping ability (up to 23 cards for this purpose).

The combat angle, on the other hand, simply isn't as effective as it needs to
be, but still is a bit of a threat. The lack of Immortal Grapple in this deck
isn't as detrimental as it is in a Rush deck, as the destruction of opposing
vampires isn't as necessary to its survival, and as it is going to get in to
most combats by intercepting an action, you can see what your opponent is
going to do as a strike before you have to commit to yours. The DotB could be
replaced by Immortal Grapples, but I am actually more afraid of getting into
combat with some long ranged combat nightmare than having my opponents
playing S:CE, so DotB it is.

There were originally Fast Reactions in this deck, as this is presumably the
best kind of deck to utilize it, but as it turned out, it was simply chaff
and did nothing but get discarded in the games I used them. Having to rely on
2 vampires to try and kill one of them simply is not effective, and the
opportunity cost of the FR is just too prohibitive for reliable, effective
use.

The crypt is kind of silly, but you need to have Sheldon out, as he has all
three disciplines at superior as well as being a Justicar (for using the
various Traditions in the deck). Kendrick is excellent, and Sebastian and
Sabine are just happy to have a deck where they are useful.


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Now, for a deck that highlights Ebanezer...
 
"Oops, that *is* 7 points of aggrivated damage, isn't it?", version 2.0 
 
Crypt"
4x Ebanezer Roush (8) POT, ANI, pro
2x Badger (6) PRO, pot, ani
2x Zack North (6) pot, pro, ani, +1 hand damage 
2x Lisette Vizquel (6) POT, pro
1x Daliyah (4) PRO
1x Chandler Hungerford (3) PRO
 
Masters:
4x Blood Doll
4x Potence
3x Info Super Highway
3x Haven Uncovered
1x Slum Hunting Ground
1x Zoo Hunting Ground
 
Minion:
10x Bum's Rush
8x Taste of Vitae
10x Immortal Grapple
8x Torn Signpost
10x Undead Strength
4x Fists of Death
8x Bone Spur
8x Quick Meld
6x Flesh of Marble
2x Owl Companion
 
The immediately obvious problem with this deck is that the crypt 
is full of huge vampires, you have limited pool gain, and you won't 
have many action per turn. There is no real answer to fixing 
that--this deck is simply going to suck in a situation where it's 
predator is a really quick deck. Once you come to terms with that, 
it will probably be really fun to play in a game where everyone is 
using kind of stupid, experimental decks, or where everyone is playing 
something really slow. Suffice to say, if you bring this deck to a 
tournament, don't blame be when you get ousted before you take a 
single action.


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"The Deck That Only Works When I Get Out Marty Lechtansi, Mk. V" 
 
Crypt:
6x Marty Lechtansi (9) POT, OBF, DOM, ani, for
2x Judah (6) POT, dom, ani
2x Aurora Van Brand, Paladin (6) pot, dom, for
1x Shane Grimald (4) pot, dom, ani
1x Cameron (3) pot, dom
 
Masters:
5x Minion Tap
2x Fortitude
2x Potence
2x Golconda
2x Info Superhighway
1x Tomb of Ramses III
1x Barrens/Fragment/Dreams of the Sphinx
 
Library:
8x Govern the Unaligned
2x Conditioning
6x Deflection
4x Bum's Rush
8x Immortal Grapple
8x Torn Signpost
8x Undead Strength
6x Drawing out the Beast
5x Rat's Warning
8x Skin of Steel
2x Dawn Operation
4x Freak Drive
6x Taste of Vitae
 
Total of 90 cards (15 Masters/75 Minion). This deck starts 
off slowly, as most of its vampires are huge, but with the 
two Info Highways and the Tomb of Ramses, it might just start 
working before it gets ousted. It has good combat offense/defense, 
and in most cases, your prey will only block you once. Once. 
With the Rat's Warning and Deflections, you have some good 
bleed defense (when combined with the Bum's Rushes). What you 
need to worry about most is a really speedy predator, getting 
Marty Banished, and getting Deflected. The Freak Drives allow 
you to get the most use out of Marty. Govern at superior to 
speed up your vampire production, Freak Drive, go bleed with a 
Conditioning, Freak Drive, and then Bum's Rush someone to Taste 
and fill up Marty. It'll only happen, like, once per game, but 
when it does, boy, will you feel cool. 


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Peter Bakija's Praxis Seizure: Buffalo 99 winning deck

"The Nosferatu Hate You", Mk. IV

Crypt:
2x Hesina Kessi 1: pot
2x KoKo 2: pot
2x Duck 3: pot, obf
2x Agatha 4: POT, obf
2x Olivia 5: POT, OBF
1x Nigel 5: POT, obf
1x Beast 7: POT, OBF

Avg 3.5

Library:
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Storm Sewers
3x Blood Doll
3x Potence
4x Haven Uncovered

12x Bum's Rush
12x Immortal Grapple
10x Torn Signpost
10x Undead Strength
4x Fists of Death
4x Decapitate
4x Disarm
4x Rampage
8x Behind You
8x Taste of Vitae

This deck is highly proactive--its bleed defense is killing the vampires who 
want to bleed it, its vote defense is killing the vampires who want to call 
votes against it, and its combat defense is to kill, kill, kill. It rarely, 
if ever, blocks anything, and as such, is almost always completely tapped 
out, having had all of its vampires attacked on its turn. It'll have a lot of 
trouble with a persistent Gangrel deck, a serious manuver deck, or some sort 
of deck that has a lot of Fortitude and Presses, but these are pretty 
uncommon in a tournament environment.


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Official VEKN Nosferatu Newsletter for April 1, 1999.

This month, I figured I'd post a favorite deck of mine that, while not
particularly Nosferatu, is named after a Nosferatu, and primarily exists
because I wanted to build a deck that made him worth using...

"The deck that makes Tiberius useful"

Crypt:
1x Normal (2) obf
1x Watenda (3) obf
1x Zoe (3) obf, cel
2x Tansu Bekir (4) OBF, cel
2x Tiberius-Scandalmonger (5) obf, cel
1x Victoria (5) obf, cel
1x Abd al-Rashid (5) obf, CEL
2x Kalinda (6) OBF, CEL
1x Miranda Sanova (8) obf, CEL

Total 56, average 4.66

1 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Madness Network
1 The Rack
4 Blood Doll
5 Celerity
4 Haven Uncovered

6 .44 Magnum
2 Saturday Night Special
1 Ivory Bow
1 Flamethrower
2 Dragon Breath Rounds
11 Bum's Rush
4 Taste of Vitae
10 Flash
9 Psyche
5 Blur
5 Acrobatics
4 Pursuit
4 Sidestrike
1 Fast Hands
9 Disguised Weapon

This is, obviously, a fairly streamilined Celerity based Gun Rush deck, with a
good supply of Disguised Weapon to get around the laborious process of
equipping. The vampires are a tad expensive (and so are the guns), so there
will rarely be more than 3 on the table, and the Blood Dolls are very important
for pool management. There are more Masters than I usualy like in a combat
deck, but as the deck relies on guns for its striking ability, there is often
less card cycling than in a more card intesive combat deck, so they aren't
usually a problem.

Generally, this deck will get out its first vampire, they will Rush someone,
pull a Magnum out of their watch, and Blur them in to torpor. If an opponent
uses S:CE as combat defense, there are plenty of Psyches for anti S:CE work,
and since they double as presses, so they won't often clog my hand.

This deck suffers from most of the problems that Gun decks do, mostly that guns
are expensive, fragile, and unreliable. With plenty of manuvers, IG probably
won't be a problem and S:CE has already been mentioned, but a Tremere deck
using Blood Fury will be troublesome.

While I wouldn't want to bring this deck to a highly competetive game (as it
would be killed by high speed weenie decks), it is relatively successful in low
intensity games, and does very well against most other combat decks.


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Heck, I'll post my deck to compare and contrast:

1 Igo: 1 pro 
1 Huang: 1 pro
1 Sadie: 2 pro
1 Anastasia Grey: 3 pro
2 Ricki Van Demsy: 3 pro
2 Chandler Hungerford: 3 PRO
2 Daliyah: 4 PRO
1 Mirembe Kabbada: 5 PRO
1 Camille Devereux

4 Efftv Management
4 Protean
4 Blood Doll
2 Eco Terrorists
1 Zoo Hunting Ground
1 Backways

14 Computer Hacking
9 Form of Mist
9 Earth Meld
4 Bone Spur
2 Body Flare
8 WWEF
4 Delaying Tactics
1 Attonement
4 Renegade Garou
1 Mr. Winthrop
4 Sport Bikes
2 Hawg
1 Sawed Off Shotgun
1 RPG Launcher

As you can see, this deck is pretty similar to yours, but has a bit less
focused Form of Mist action, and extra defense and pool gain. Where you seem to
have an incredibly abundant supply of stealth, I pretty much have just enough
to convince my prey to stop blocking me, and then not jam up my hand. With the
amazing untap ability that Earth Meld provides, having reliable, light
intercept is also very handy. All the guns and crap are clearly for the Garou,
who are incredibly useful as anti bleed defense. Nothing is worse for a
Malkavian than a Garou on a Hawg with an RPG :-)

By having half of my crypt start with PRO, I'm not as dependant on the skill
cards, and can usually start working quickly. The Blood Dolls, hunting ground,
and Eco Terrorists provide a great deal of pool in the long run, and this deck
usually ends up with 6 or 7 vamps and a Garou or two on the table.


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"Joanie loves Chachi"

Crypt
6 Selma, the Repugnant (8) Prince, OBF, POT, for, ani
6 Anson (8) Prince, CEL, PRE, aus, dom (2x Masters a turn)

14 Minion Tap
3 Info Highway
3 Golconda
2 Elisium
1 Giant's Blood
1 The Labyrinth
3 Dominate
2 Presence
2 Obfuscate
1 Fortitude

8 Obedience
5 Redirection
4 Majesty
4 Freak Drive
4 Aire of Elation
6 Legal Manipulation
2 Lost in Crowds
10 Cloak the Gathering
1 Death of my Conscience
5 2nd Tradition, Domain
9 5th Tradition, Hospitality

Total 90 cards, 32 Masters.
Average crypt size 8, best 32, worst 32.

The idea of this deck is pretty clear--get out Selma and Anson, Minion Tap them
repeatedly, 5th Tradition them to refill, and strive to keep them alive,
eventually bleeding your prey to death with infrequent but large stealthy
bleeds.  32 Masters is high, sure, but as you will always have Anson out, they
flow quickly.  If someone gets sent to Torpor, you always have the option of
Golconda-ing them and bringing out a second one.  

The Discipline card selection is based on the fact that I know I will always
have all the disciplines I need, so I can easily use the best cards from each
discipline without having to worry about not being able to use them.  Obedience
and Majesty for combat defense, Redirection (which might just be better as
deflection, but I want to spare the vampire blood) for bleed defense, Legal
Manipulation and Aire for bleeding, Cloak as general stealth (for either
vampire, regardless of whether or not Anson gets Obf), and 2nd Tradition for
general defense (I'd use more, but I only own 5.  I'd like to go up to 8. 
Anyone have any extras for trade?).  The Freak Drives allow Selma to act
multiple times a turn, and the DomC is a (one time) surprise for the Rush
decks.

The deck works very well as a pool gaining monster, but suffers from being very
vulnerable to losing one of the two vampires.  Without Selma, my stealth angle
fails and without Anson, most of the rest of the angles fail.  Luckily,
however, with a strong supply of Obedience to avoid combat, as well as some
Majesties and Elisiums (it would also probably be useful to add some Secure
Havens, but mine are in another deck), a Rush deck should have a bit of trouble
taking anyone down.


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For about a minute after my last post I was thinking I was really clever for
deciding to build a Obf/Cel deck, but then I thought "Hey, wait a minute. 
Isn't that just an Assamite deck?  Doh.", But I built it anyways.  Any comments
are welcome.

"The deck that makes Tiberius useful!"

1 Dimple: 2 obf
1 Watenda: 3 obf
1 Zoe: 3 obf, cel
2 Tansu Bekir: 4 OBF, cel
2 Tiberius-Scandalmonger: 5 obf, cel
1 Abd Al Rashid: 5 obf, CEL
1 Victoria: 5 obf, cel
1 Kailinda: 6 OBF, CEL
1 Zachary: 7 OBF, CEL
1 Miranda Sanova: 8 obf, CEL

Victoria is good 'cause she has a great picture and the ability to get you 2
free pool (assuming I can keep the edge, which is a big assumption).  Watenda
is good, 'cause, well, he is Watenda.  I'm using 2 Tiberius 'cause he has one
of the coolest pictures ever and I have always wanted to build a deck that
makes it worth using him, and gosh darn, I'm gonna use two of him.  Miranda,
well, she would probably be better off as a second Zach, but I wanted to have a
token vote, and well, I always thought she was really cute. There might also be
a few smallish Assamites that I could be using, but I don't have them, so I
don't know who they are.

5 Celerity
5 Blood Doll
4 Haven Uncovered
1 The Rack

9 Disguised Weapon
3 Hidden Lurker
10 Flash
5 Blur
5 Acrobatics
4 Pursuit
4 Side Strike
9 Psyche!
1 Fast Hands
10 Bum's Rush
3 Taste of Vitae
2 Dragon's Breath Rounds
6 .44 Magnum
2 Saturday Night Special
1 Flame Thrower
1 Ivory Bow

The Side Strikes might or might not be better off as something like more Blur
or Pursuit.  The Fast Hands, while probably going to be mostly useless, is
worth having just for the possibility of stealing someones Flame Thrower or
something and Bluring Napalm all over them.  The deck will have a lot of
trouble with pool management, but should be pretty good at killing stuff and
pretty capable of dealing with S:CE (9 Psyche, 3 Hidden Lurker, Watenda).  The
Vamps will run out of blood a lot (although probably not from damage), which
the Rack might help with.  If only I had more Tastes for this deck.

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So inspired by (I think) James Coupe's Europen Rush deck, I have put
together...

"Constanza Vinti!  Can I be your love slave?"

Crypt:
2 Constanza Vinti (8) POT, CEL, Prince
2 Donnal O'Connor (8) POT, CEL, Prince
2 Rake (6) CEL, pot, Prince
2 Volker (5) CEL, pot, Prince
2 Jimmy Dunn (4) POT, CEL
1 Dre, Chronic leader of the Cold Dawn (3) pot, cel
1 Jacobbb Bragagagag (3) pot, cel

Library:
6 Potence
5 Haven Uncovered
4 Minion Tap
2 Blood Doll
1 Fragment

14 Thrown Gate
8 Thrown Sewer Lid
8 Flash
8 Psyche
6 Blur
5 3rd Tradition (Progeny)
5 Amaranth
4 5th Tradition (Hospitality)
4 2nd Tradition (Domain)
10 Bum's Rush

I played it in 2 three player games tonight and well, went 50-50, which isn't
that bad.  First game, my prey was a wacky Intercept/Disguised Stake/Lucky Blow
deck and my predator was a Malkavian S+B deck.  I pretty much wrecked both of
them and won, but the Intercept deck ousted the Malk first.  The next game my
prey was a speedy weenie presence vote abomination, and my predator was the
same Malk S+B deck.  I was squashed like a bug on a speed bump.

I suspect that it is simply too slow for actual competetive play, relying on
such big vampires, but if I am not in the line of fire of some quick kill
nightmare, I can actually cause some damage.  The 3rd Traditions are kinda
funny, especially if you use them to Diablerize someone (giving them POT...),
but again, probably too slow for highly competetive play (in both games, I
didn't have time to play them until I was already winning the first game, and,
well, dead in the second one).  All the Princes are cool for vote power and the
Traditon angles, which are handy.  I'm thinking of replacing the Blurs with
either Pursuits or Sidestrikes.  I'm also thinking that there might not be
enough Thrown Gates...

Any suggestions?


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This time around, I have an example of a really stupid Nosferatu based deck
that, under the appropriate situations, is actually quite effective.  It
revolves around two of the lamer Nosferatu:  Harod, the most sucktastic of the
Inner Circle Members and his pretty weak pal Amadeo.  Just because the two of
them are total washouts, however, doesn't mean they can't be the backbone of a
fabulous deck.

Ladies and gentlemen...

"Don't hate us because we are beautiful."

Crypt:
3 Harrod (11) OBF, pre, IC Member
1 Sheldon, Lord of Clog (9) OBF, Justicar
3 Amadeo (8) OBF, pre, Primogen
2 Nikolaus Vermulen (7) obf, Prince
1 Murat (7) OBF, Prince
2 Dimple (2) obf

6 Presence
3 Anarch Revolt
2 Info Highway
2 Secure Haven
2 Elisium
2 Minion Tap
1 Labyrinth

11 Cloak the Gathering
12 Majesty
6 Bewitching Oration
2 Voter Captivation
9 3rd Tradition (Progeny)
8 Bribes
12 Consanguineous Boon
6 various Praxis Seizure
2 Nosferatu Justicar
2 Parity Shift
1 Ancient Influence
1 Political Stranglehold

Clearly, this deck exists to get out some large vampire, start spawning kids,
call the Con Boons, get the pool rolling in, and eventually overrun all
opposition with swarms of itty bitty vampirelings and Anarch Revolts.  It has a
great deal of trouble gaining a foothold early in the game, as it needs to get
out a vampire with voting power and a prince to start the spawning, and it
often gets whacked by a quick bleed predator.  If it can survive the early
stages of the game, through either quick Bribed Con Boons or wheeling and
dealing, and can get established with a Prince or two and some vote
superiority, it can produce obscene amounts of pool very quickly and maintain a
poweful vote lock on the table.

As noted before, a quick bleed predator (weenie Pre/Dom bleed) will kill it
rapidly, and an Immortal Grapple Rush deck will probably end it even before it
gets started.  However, it has good vote defense (being full of titled
vampires) and prodigious Pool gain, so it can thrive in a low combat
environment (if it isn't whacked in the first 4 turns). The 12 Majesties might
be a tad much, but they will do a great deal to survive non IG combat (like the
handful of very sucessful Zip Gun/Cel decks that were flying around here for a
while) and are pretty easy to cycle with all those Nosferatu kids with
Presence.  Often vote decks suffer from a complete shutdown at the hands of
light intercept, but the good pile of Cloak and the Labyrinth helps this deck
avoid that sort of problem (although not against strong dedicated intercept),
as well as allowing the kids to sneak bleeds through late in the game.

This deck tends to either get ousted very quickly, or sweep the table and end
the game with 60 or 70 Pool, either of which happens with equal regularity.


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This month I am (re) posting my favorite Nosferatu Rush combat deck, and
examining it in light of the recent errata.

This is a pure and unadulterated Rush deck that lives and dies by its ability
to kill.  Its bleed defense is preemptive killing, its vote defense is
preemptive killing, and its combat defense is its steely tenacity overpowering
violence.  It is a perfectly viable tournament contender, having done very well
in the tournies where I have played it (it got into the finals at Origins,
having swept one table).  I built it to take advantage of the Meta Game on a
National level, namely that no one gives Rush decks any respect, as "they can't
win tournaments", and as such neither fear nor prepare for them.

"The Nosferatu Hate You!"

2 Hasina Kesi (1) pot
1 KoKo (2) pot
2 Duck (3) pot, obf
1 Agripina (4) pot, OBF
1 Sammy (4) pot, obf
2 Agatha (4) POT, obf
2 Olivia (5) POT, OBF, Bishop
1 Nigel (5) POT, obf

Average of 3.41

2 Storm Sewers
1 Elder Library
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
3 Potence
3 Blood Doll
4 Haven Uncovered

12 Bum's Rush
12 Immortal Grapple
10 Undead Strength
10 Torn Signpost
4 Fists of Death
4 Decapitate
4 Disarm
8 Behind You
8 Taste of Vitae
4 Rampage

I realize that this deck has an inordinate number of Rares in it (29?!?!), but
Immortal Grapple is uncommon in Sabbat and Behind You is one of the extra sucky
Rares.  Besides, the Nosferatu can use all the help they can get.

Anyway, "The Nosferatu Hate You!" starts out quickly, often getting out Hasina
or KoKo out on the first turn and mangling any vampire needed on the second. 
It can usually operate with 4 minions, often for less than 14 pool, meaning it
has a lot of cushion to soak up bleeds.  Between the Bum's Rushes, Behind You,
and Storm Sewers, there are easily enough maneuvers to deal with any half
hearted maneuver based defense (Zip Guns or light combat), but will have
trouble against a determined Brujah Flash deck.  Luckily, however, the chances
of running into one of these at a tournament are pretty slim.  The Rampages
exist completely to destroy The Elisium (and pre 7/7, Tombs) but often serve as
back up Rush ability.

The recent errata had a minor, but not particularly deleterious effect on this
deck.  As Immortal Grapple now only works for one round, it is important to
have POT so you are pretty much assured to torporize on the first round.  This
required me to increase the number of Potence masters (up to 3) as well as play
with Fists of Death, which were not really needed before the errata (originally
this deck relied more on pressing, so regular pot and 3-5 point strikes were
usually sufficient). 12 Immortal Grapples, however, means that even if you fail
to kill someone on the first round, you often can press and play a second if
need be.  The biggest problem caused by the 7/7 errata was the fixing of Pulled
Fangs.  In this deck, which originally packed 4, every time I played Pulled
Fangs, I burned a vampire.  This was amazingly handy, but _way_ overpowered. 
With the new errata (PF no longer does Aggro damage) they can't burn vampires,
so I replaced them with Decapitate which may or may not work out well.


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This month, in the light of all the discussion on combat decks, I present a
fairly viable Nosferatu Rush deck (revolving around the high capacity Fortitude
enabled Nosferatu), that while not extremely competetive, is a very potent
killer and definitely on the high end of the combat meta-game power curve.

"Ding-dong.  Sheldon calling."

Crypt:
3 Sheldon, lord of Clog (9) POT, ANI, for
1 Mart Lechtansi (9) POT, ani, for
2 Selma, the Repugnant (8) POT, ani, for
3 Chester Dubois (7) POT, ANI, for
2 Nikolaus Vermulen (7) POT, ani, for
1 Uriah Winter (1) pot, for

Library:
4 Minion Tap
1 Blood Doll
3 Haven Uncovered
1 Info Highway
1 Golconda
1 Dreams of the Sphinx

10 Bum's Rush
9 Immortal Grapple
10 Torn Signpost
10 Undead Strength
6 Mighty Grapple
2 Fists of Death
4 Disarm
10 Skin of Steel
8 Drawing out the Beast
5 Taste of Vitae
1 Rampage
4 Fifth Tradiiton

90 cards, 11 Masters.

This deck is pure killing power, and is pretty much the ultimate in Potence
combat.  It will Rush a vampire, play Drawing out the Beast, Immortal Grapple,
and pound its foe for a rediculous amount of damage, using Skin of Steel and
Taste to prevent all damage in return.  If the large hand strikes don't
torporize its foe, then the Disarms and/or extra DotB damage probably will. 
Its strengths are its lack of need for Skill cards, as all the vampires in the
crypt have all the appropriate skills (but for Uriah, who is just in there
cause I think he is funny) and only superior POT is really needed, almost
complete immunity to Obediance, absolute combat dominance, worthwhile voting
power, and respectable pool gain with the Minion Taps and Fifth Traditions. 
Its main weaknesses are that it will generally only have 2 vampires out and it
is kind of slow, so any really speedy bleed deck will tend to kill it quickly,
as well as that high Fortitude percentage in an opposing deck will cause a
great deal of trouble (although there are alot of presses available).

Generally, with, say, Sheldon and Chester in play, you will either Rush and
utterly destroy 2 opposing vampires a turn, or use one of your vampires to
Fifth Tradition a recently Minion Tapped vampire and the other to kill someone.

This deck is not particularly viable for a Tournament setting, as there will be
_way_ too many weenie speed-kill decks around, but will do very well in a high
combat meta enviornment,and will give pretty much all other combat decks
nightmares.


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Last month I explored the strengths and weaknesses of the Nosferatu as a clan,
and this month I have an example of a fairly effective Ani/Obf Nosferatu deck
that capitalizes upon their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses.

_Doctor Doomlittle_
2 Ebanezer Roush (8): OBF, ANI
Sebastian Marley (7): ANI, obf
Kendrick (7): ANI, obf
Grendel-The Worm Eaten (5): OBF, ani
2 Nigel the Shunned (5): ANI, obf
Sammy (4): ani, obf
Laurent de Valois (4): ani, obf
Josef (4): ani, obf
Panagos Levidis (3): ani, obf
Dimple (2): obf

3 Minion Tap
2 Blood Doll
2 Animalism
2 Obfuscate
2 Spawning Pool
1 Labyrinth
1 Slum Hunting Ground
1 Elysium
1 Secret Library of Alexandria

10 Aid from Bats
2 Canine Horde
2 Terror Frenzy
2 Army of Rats
10 Cats Guidance
7 Rat's Warning
5 Spying Mission
4 Lost in Crowds
4 Cloak the Gathering
4 Swallowed by the Night
6 Behind You
5 Elder Intervention/Pack Tactics
5 Wake with Evening's Freshness
3 Raven Spy
1 Owl Companion
1 Murder of Crows
1 Mr. Winthrop
1 Laptop
2 Tasha Morgan/J.S. Simmons

Total of 90 cards, 15 Masters (16%), and a crypt average of 5.1.

_Doctor Doomlittle_ is a surprisingly resilient and flexible deck, with enough
untap/intercept to hinder even the most dedicated Stealth and Bleed deck,
enough bleed to consistently (if a bit slowly) take out your prey, and enough
combat to survive intercepting opponents.  The Aid from Bats (usually a pretty
laughable card) is a very important card in this deck, as by constantly
intercepting actions, your vampires are going to see alot of combat, and even
if it is just a point of damage here and there, it adds up.  Aid from Bats
provides for a maneuver, a point of R damage, and a press at superior, which in
combination with Rat's Warning presses and the Spawning Pool can result in a
great deal of damage being dealt to intercepted minions.  Against a combat weak
foe, continual pressed Bat attacks is a particularly humiliating way to be
torporized.  This deck relies heavily upon retainers for permanent intercept,
combat enhancement, and bleed bonus, and while retainers are usually frowned
upon due to their lack of speed, with the amount of untap available to this
deck (7 Rats, 5 Wakes, 10 Cats), spending actions to recruit is hardly a
hindrance, as most of your effort will be spent intercepting anyway.

_Doctor Doomlittle_ has the ability to hold off bleeds and votes (by
intercepting them) for a good, long time, while a few minions consistently
stealth bleed its prey with Spying Missions and permanent bleed bonuses.  It
does fairly well in a low combat environment, but sitting next to a very
determined combat deck will usually be its downfall.  By using versatile
Animalism and the more flexible Obfuscate cards (Spying Mission, Swallowed by
the Night), this deck is an example of how the Nosferatu can be used to deal
with many situations in a fluid manner and often can come out on top.


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In light of the current discussion involving the cards we think are broken, I
thought I would design a deck specifically to abuse Mind Rape, and I think this
one is a good example.  I'm sort of making it up as I go, and could use some
tweaking I'm sure, but I think it shows how Mind Rape is pure evil:

Crypt:
all 8+ vampires with DOM and OBF from the Malks, Ventrue, Temere, and Lasombra.
 Use plenty of Princes, Justicars, or IC members.

Master:
6 Minion Tap
4 Golconda
4 Society of Leopold
2 Antedeluvian Awakening
1 Elisium
1 Ventrue HQ
1 Place that you tap to trade stuff and blood between vampires
1 Milicent Smith

Minion:
12 Mind Rape
10 Cloak the Gathering
10 Lost in Crowds
8 Deflection
8 Obedience
8 Wake With Evenings Freshness
8 Banishment
6 5th Tradition


90 cards of pure, unadulterated evil (make sure not to touch it...).

Every action that this deck takes will result in someones vampire getting
stolen and then either Golconda'ed, Minion Tapped and Banished, or burned via
the Socitey of Leopold or Diablere. If he has any equipment or you need some of
his blood, you can steal it off with the trade stuff master that I can't
remember the name of. This isn't even using Tomb of Ramses III or Return to
Innocence, which would make it even more abusive.  You will destroy all of your
preys vampires, effectively ousting them, and dispose of any other vampires at
the table that cause you trouble.

Now if you replaced all of the Mind Rapes with Grave Robbings, the deck
wouldn't get anywhere, as the opportunity cost of Grave Robbing is too high to
make it work.  Mind Rape has no opportunity cost, and thus makes the deck very
efficient and very evil.


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Hey, hey, it's Marty Lechtansi!

The deck that only works if I get out Marty Lechtansi, Mk.IV.
(Mk.I-III all failed miserably over the years).

I decided to post my new deck for input and ideas. 
It is sort of a Bruise/Bleed deck with a good amount of blood 
gain (needed to get out the huge vamps) and some Rush for defense 
and general havoc. I played it 3 times last night, the first two 
times I was whacked quickly by a S+B deck and then a Tap and Bleed 
deck (the one James Hamblin posted recently), but the third game 
of 4 players I swept the table, so hey, it sort of works. 

It uses Potence and Fortitude for good combat abilities, damage 
prevention, and Dawn Opps, and uses Dominate for Govern the 
Unalligned, one of the most useful cards in the game (IMHO), 
to either bleed my prey for 3 or take a +1 stealth action to 
gain 3 pool. The dream manuver this deck has (as a threat if 
nothing else) is some cool vamp going to Govern the Unaligned 
of my prey thru the Storm Sewers who gets blocked during the 
Dawn Operation, Immortally Grapples them (as range is 
automatically close), hits them for 5 or so aggro hand damage, 
and prevents all of their damage. It won't happen often, but 
hey, I can dream (it worked once last night...). 

(our group uses SPTR rules, 90 card maximum deck size 
and a few cards fixed, like TB and WWEF) 


Crypt
(12 vamps, avg 6.75, worst 36) 

2x Marty Lechtansi POT, DOM, for 
2x Helena Casmir POT, DOM, for 
2x Emerson Bridges DOM, FOR, pot 
2x Aurora Van Brand pot, dom, for 
1x Judah POT, dom 
1x Lisette Vasquelle POT, DOM 
1x Cameron pot, dom 
1x KoKo pot (I always use KoKo) 

(Plus, the crypt has all cool purple border clans. Its fabulous.) 

Library

Masters

4 Fortitude 
4 Minion Tap 
2 Haven Uncovered 
2 Storm Sewers 
1 Info Superhighway 
1 Tomb of Ramses III (yeah, I know it's wack...) 

Minion

10 Govern the Unaligned 
8 Immortal Grapple 
8 Torn Signpost 
8 Undead Strength 
6 Mighty Grapple 
2 Fists of Death 
8 Skin of Steel 
8 Unflinching Persistance (the only manuvers available) 
6 Dawn Opps (makes blocking scary) 
4 Restoration (to back up the Minion Taps) 
2 Freak Drive (always useful) 
6 Bums Rush (for Rush Defense, but could be Deflections instead) 

Keep in mind that we have a very combat heavy play environment, 
so all the Fortitude is almost never wasted. 

Any ideas? 


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Oops! That is seven points of aggro damage, isn't it?

So anyway, this is the 
"Oops! That is seven points of aggro damage, isn't it?" deck. 
It is built under 4CL (Lets stay away from that everyone, shall we...) 
in an envornment where most players have been shamed out of playing 
real fast Malkavian S&B decks, so everyone usually has a chance 
to work up to speed before they are killed. 

Crypt
Ebaneezer Roush(8) x2 The "deck was built for me" vampire. 
Grendel-The Worm Eaten(5) 
Agripina(4) 
Daliyah(4) 
Duck(3) 
KoKo(2) 
Badger(6) 
Zack North(6) 
Camille Devereux(5) The Jyhad version of Raven. 
Ricki Van Demsy(3) Should be Anastasia Grey, but I love her picture. 
Chandler Hungerford(3) 
Total of 57 avg 4.75, 7 Nosferatu, 5 Gangrel 

Masters
4x Haven Uncovered 
2x Labyrinth 
2x Blood Doll 
2x Potence 
2x Protean 
Slum Hunting Ground 
Storm Sewers 
Malkavian Dementia (Ocasionally it allows me to kill 2 vamps.)
15 for 18% 

Minion
4x Fists of Death 
4x Torn Signpost 
4x Undead Strength 
4x Immortal Grapple The card that makes this deck work. 
2x Mighty Grapple 
4x Claws o the Dead 
4x Wolf Claws 
3x Gleam of Red Eyes 
3x Form of the Ghost 
2x Flesh of Marble 
3x Rats Warning 
2x Raven Spy 
1x Owl Companion See if they have Skin of Steel. 
2x Lost in Crowds 
2x Cloak the Gathering 
2x Behind You 
2x Sacrificial Lamb 
4x Wake with Evening Freshness 
4x Bums Rush 
2x Trap 
2x Taste of Vitae 
2x Pulled Fangs We use Jyhad Aggro, so it can't burn anyone. 
1x Tash Morgan 
1x Lap Top 
1x Renegade Garou Rarely useful, just pure coolness. 

Total 80 cards 

Generally, I will get out 3 or 4 vamps and start killing. 
It rarely wins (maybe 1 in 4) but it is very good at deciding 
who will win, as it regularly burns 6 or 7 vampires (my own 
special victory :-) a game through huge Aggro strikes, Diablere, 
or Sacrificial Lamb. In a no card limit game, most of the hard 
to get rare potence (FoD) could be replaced by common cards, 
except Immortal Grapple, which is absolutely vital so I can avoid 
Strike:Combat Ends and Dodge, and put the Brujah into torpor before 
they can Additional Strike. We still play the Jyhad Aggro rules, 
where you need to do (current blood)+2 Aggro damage to burn a vamp 
in combat, so with a 7 point hit (TS, FoD, US, CotD) I can instantly 
vaporize a vamp with 5 or less blood. It is easily killed by S&B and 
KRC, unless I kill all their vampires before they can vote. 


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This is a Potence based combat deck with some stealth for surprise bleed
damage and unblockable Bum Rushes.  The plan is to get in a fight,
Immortaly Grapple the victim, beat them senseless, and take no damage
because of the Fortitude cards. In prime form, it will have a big fighting
vamp (like Marty), a S+B attacker (Agripina), and a couple of errand
runners for Diablere and Rampaging on things.  It suffers from a total
lack of intercept, and only limited voting ability.  The small bit of Dom
is for unexpected bleed bonus, Deflecting the bleeds I can't intercept
(like most of them), and very important for the "Discard Conditioning I
can't use" phase that will come up often.

Vamps: (Avg cost of 4.5)
Marty Lechtansi (Mr. Lechtansi, to you.)
Selma-The Repugnant
Chester Dubois
Anvil (for POT and dom)
Grendel-The Worm Eaten
Sabine Lafete (pot+dom, and I think she's cute)
Agrippina
Duck
Lupo The Butcher
Dimple
KoKo
Uriah "Ghazban" Winter (at least he won't be contested...) 

Masters: (20%)
2 Fortitude
2 Potence
Ofuscate
Dominate
2 Haven Uncovered
2 Labyrinth
Storm Sewers (we don't need no stinking manuvers!)
Malkavian Dementia (almost always useful and/or ammusing)
2 Short Term Investment
2 Blood Doll

Minion:
4 Torn Signpost
4 Fists of Death
4 Undead Strength
4 Immortal Grapple
2 Burning Wrath
2 Rampage

4 Lost in Crowds
4 Cloak the Gathering
2 Faceless Night
2 Spying Missions
2 Behind You
Sacrificial Lamb

4 Skin o Steel
2 Unflinching Persistance
2 Indomitability
Day Operation (+Uriah Heap=somthing useful, usually) 

2 Deflections
2 Conditioning (+spy mission=6 point bleed. Yeah, right.)

2 Rats Warning
2 Wakes (I can't intercept anyone anyway)

3 Bum Rush
2 Fake Out
Tasha Morgan
J.S. Simmons, Esq.
Lap Top
Sengir Dagger
Vial o Garou Blood
Destructive Secrets 
Nosferatu Performance Art (stylish if not useful)

Total of 80 cards (yes, it is built under 4CL, but lets not go there...)

-Peter D Bakija


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Send Peter some feedback.

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