Dominated

Back when I started playing, more than a decade and a half ago, I made it clear as to what I would play, and what I would not play. Of course, as I said in the post, "never" is such a long time, and I've shifted some of my self-imposed restrictions. For example, thanks to the Lords of the Night expansion, I've experimented with Assamite and Setite decks, albeit with little success so far. I've also long incorporated Immortal Grapple into a number of my combat decks, such as the Cock Robin deck, which I used in the Asian Championship in 2011. However, there is one concept, one that has been around since the game started, that I've long kept myself from using, and that is Dominate.

Dominate (DOM) is the bleed Discipline, as a combination of its library cards can bleed one's prey for a hell of a lot. Combine it with Obfuscate (OBF), and you've got a stealth bleeder that will absolutely tear through your prey's defenses (unless, of course, your prey decides to bounce it). DOM, on its own, is also effective at shutting down your prey's minions via cards like Seduction, and The Sleeping Mind.

As a defensive Discipline, DOM also shines. Cards such as Obedience takes care of minions coming after your own, while Deflection and Redirection bounce your predator's bleeds to your prey.

Other DOM cards of note are Graverobbing, which allows you to take control of your opponents' torpored minions; one of my friends built a gravedigger deck for this purpose, and would often wind up with half a dozen minions that weren't originally his.

Mind Rape allows you to take control of your opponents' vampires for a turn, and, depending on the target vampire, can be used to perform a good number of actions; it's a bonus if the controlled vampire has similar disciplines to your own.

Of course, there is the all-purpose DOM card, Govern the Unaligned, which can either be used to bleed for 3, or, early in the game, make it easier for your uncontrolled minions to rise from the crypt. I forget from which strategy guide I read it, but it recommends that you should block the early Governing down to the uncontrolled region.

All in all, DOM is a versatile Discipline, capable of dealing with a number of table concerns. This is why, back in 2004, I eschewed using it, since it was too easy to use. I felt back then it was a cheesy option, when I was still grappling with the niceties of the game's strategy and tactics.

My switching to using DOM in my decks has more to do with rising to the challenge of using the Discipline creatively, without falling into the easy grip of just stealthing the bleed through.

So far, I've built two decks which use DOM, and have conceptualized two others, meaning I've organized the deck list, but haven't put them together. They are as follows:

1. A Tremere/!Tremere deck - while built, I haven't played much with this; it's still pretty experimental. It's basically a toolbox, which I feel is a more responsible way of using DOM, but it's still pretty wonky, so I should play with it some more so that I can get a feel of how to use it properly.

2. Gotsdam, the Tired Warrior - So far, this is the deck I've been constantly tinkering ever since I incorporated DOM into my strategies. Gotsdam is versatile, and can stand up to the combat metagame in Manila. I've had a lot of fun using this deck.

3.  DOM Midcap - So far, this is a work in progress. Being mostly 5-cap vampires, Govern can only reliably used as a bleed card, which means this is basically a forward-moving deck, with little defense and combat options.

4. Giovanni powerbleeder - Technically, this deck doesn't rely on stealth to get its bleeds through, but rather, it relies on Call of the Hungry Dead to make blocks fail. This is also still a concept, because I haven't had the time to put it together. Also, I suspect I lack enough cards to make a separate deck, and I may have to take apart another deck, probably the Tremere, in order to build this.

I actually am intrigued by the possibility of building a version of the dreaded Malkavian '94 deck, a stealth bleeder archetype which has withstood the test of time, and remains terribly effective to this day.

While I probably won't completely embrace DOM and go all out on the bleeds, I will have to concede that it provides a lot of entertainment, due to its versatility. It will always be a useful tool in one's repertoire of tricks in Vampire.

Janky Stuff - The Flung Junk Deck

Over in our local group chat and during our games, I learned about the term, "janky,"; in the Oxford Dictionary, the term, which is of unknown origin, it means "of extremely poor or unreliable quality." In the game, specifically, it means using card combinations or crypt discipline combinations that are either so weird, or funky, or strange it makes other players wonder why the hell you decided to use that.

I lost track of the discussion thread in the group chat, but some of the more recent concepts included a discussion on political combat and splashing in a Discipline such as Thaumaturgy (THA) to make use of cards such as Rego Motus (damage prevention) and Magic of the Smith (equipping something).

In my case, I'm not sure if it counts as janky, but I used to have an obsession with the Well-Aimed Car:

As you can see, the card is pretty cornercase, meaning it's not really that useful. One, it can only be used at long range, and, two, it can only be used after the first round of combat. This means that, when getting into a fight, you have to survive the first round, press for the second round, and then maneuver to throw it on a minion. Still, it was compelling enough for me to build a deck around it, which I nicknamed "Flung Junk" because it relied on long-range combat.

I chose to use mostly Brujah and Brujah antitribu for this deck: one, they had the Celerity (CEL) and Potence (POT) Disciplines, necessary to throw stuff, and they had Presence (PRE), which constituted one of the means for me to oust, namely bleed modifiers.

There are four Potence combat cards wherein one can throw something: Thrown Gate (which has a built in maneuver), Thrown Sewer Lid (No maneuver, but a press at superior), Stunt Cycle (damage and damage prevention, but can be countered by a vampire with CEL), and, of course, the Well-Aimed Car.

The centerpieces of the crypt revolved around Amelia and Jacko, two Brujah antitribu, whose specials, Amelia being able to get into combat with weenies, and Jacko having an extra strike that does not count against the strike limit, made them fairly useful. A good number of the vampires in the crypt (Amelia, Jacko, Sela, Miguel Santo Domingo, and Sir Ralph Hamilton) also had POT and PRE at superior, which allowed me to pack Iron Glares, mainly for the bleed modifier (+2).

The deck was janky because the combination for the Well-Aimed Car did not come out consistently, although, when it did come out, it was glorious. The most memorable victim of the Car was the Setite Sarrasine, who went down after the combat.

 Looking at the current deck list, I would probably remove the Blurs and the Flurry of Actions, and put in tech that might help me move more forward. Admittedly, there is no intercept in this deck, since I envisioned it to be more proactive than reactive, although I might consider placing light intercept in, considering the current metagame. Still, it would probably compel me to up the library to 90, and I'm not sure what that would do to the probabilities.

At the same time, in the current local metagame, a good number of players pack damage prevention, namely Fortitude, that would trump the damage done by the Flung Junk. If you look at the deck list below, there is no damage prevention in the deck; it relies mainly on long-range combat. This makes it vulnerable to the same type of combat, which means I would have to look for a way for the vamps to get back the blood. Perhaps more Tastes? Or maybe a Procurer or two?

As I write this post, I'm getting ideas in my head regarding how I would tinker with the deck, so it's possible, the next time I play the Flung Junk deck, it may be more potent.

Deck Name:   Flung Junk

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 21, Max: 30, Avg: 6.41)
----------------------------------------------
  2  Amelia                                  CEL POT PRE              7  Brujah Antitribu           G2  Bishop
  1  Evangeline                                   cel pot pre              4  Brujah Antitribu           G2 
  1  Henry Taylor                       cel pre pro POT              6  Brujah Antitribu           G3 
  2  Jacko                              obt CEL POT PRE              8  Brujah Antitribu           G2 
  1  Miguel Santo Domingo     cel for POT PRE              7  Brujah Antitribu           G3 
  1  Pug Jackson                      for pre CEL POT               6  Brujah                          G3  Primogen
  1  Rigby                                aus pot CEL PRE              5  Brujah Antitribu           G2 
  1  Sela                                   cel obt POT PRE              6  Brujah Antitribu           G2  Bishop
  1  Sela (ADV)                       cel obt POT PRE              7  Brujah Antitribu           G2  Archbishop
  1  Sir Ralph Hamilton           cel ser POT PRE              6  Brujah                           G3 

Library: (80 cards)
-------------------
Master (10 cards)
  4  Blood Doll
  1  Celerity
  1  Fame
  1  Gang Territory
  2  Haven Uncovered
  1  Path of Lilith, The

Action (16 cards)
  3  Ambush
  3  Bum's Rush
  6  Enchant Kindred
  3  Flurry of Action
  1  Intimidation

Action Modifier (2 cards)
  2  Iron Glare

Combat (52 cards)
  4  Blur
  8  Flash
  4  Increased Strength
  4  Psyche!
  5  Pursuit
  4  Sideslip
  2  Stunt Cycle
  6  Taste of Vitae
  8  Thrown Gate
  5  Thrown Sewer Lid
  2  Well-Aimed Car

Back to One's Roots (Sort of) - The City Gangrel

When I started playing V:TES, I came in using clan Gangrel, mainly because I liked the idea of combat, of which the Gangrel were masters in spades. Using the Disciplines of Fortitude (FOR), Animalism (ANI), and Protean (PRO), the Gangrel, especially the older ones, could take out opposing minions, and live to tell about it, often without a scratch. One of the first Gangrel decks I built, a toolbox, managed to make it to the finals of one of the old storyline tournaments.

After more than a decade and a half of playing the game, I've tried out a number of deck concepts, and, finally got to include Dominate in one or two of my decks this year (that'll probably be the next post after this). I've also managed to use the FELDB app more efficiently to keep track of the decks I've built. Yesterday, at the friendly games, I playtested the City Gangrel deck, a deck type I'd been tinkering with ever since I started playing. I only played one game, but the deck managed to win the one round I played in, and I'm likely to reward the deck by finally placing it in sleeves.

The City Gangrel, in the role-playing game, are Gangrel antitribu who have adapted to hunting in the urban jungle, hence their name. Instead of the regular Gangrel Disciplines, the City Gangrel use the Disciplines of Celerity (CEL), Obfuscate (OBF), and Protean (PRO), which means they are preternaturally fast and agile, they can efficiently hide themselves, and, with Protean, they can do a number of nasty actions. So, how does one play a City Gangrel deck? There are several options.

One can focus on two of the clan Disciplines, and create either a combat deck (using CEL and OBF) that focuses on fighting with weapons, or one can go the stealth method, combining OBF and PRO to get the minion's actions through.  Or, of course, one can focus on the three clan Disciplines, and this can be a combat deck.

For the combat part, the Gangrel, with PRO, are masters of aggravated "poke" damage. This entails getting into fights, and there are a host of options to get this done: actions, such as Bum's Rush or Ambush, Haven Uncovered, or a minion's built-in ability, such as that of Ellen Fence, the Tracker.

Once in combat, one can ensure one's strike will get through, courtesy of Shadow Feint. Then, one sets the range to close, either by using CEL or OBF maneuvers. When range is close, a hand strike using PRO aggravated damage can send the opponent into torpor.

With the Gangrel antitribu in general, once a minion is in torpor, diablerie is a usable action, since the ensuing blood hunt can be canceled by Gangrel Conspiracy. A good combo at this point is to play Ritual of the Bitter Rose, which will then give all of your vampires an amount of blood equivalent to that of the blood on the diablerized minion. Fortunately, for me, the right cards came out in the game yesterday, which allowed me to fill up my vamps with blood, PRO being a blood-intensive Discipline (Note to self: include Path of the Feral Heart in the deck).

In our group chat,  one of the players who wasn't able to make it asked what ousting mechanism the deck relied on, to which another answered Computer Hacking. While the Computer Hacking came out early enough for me, there are a number of ousting mechanisms I can turn to, such as the use of Fame, or Tension in the Ranks, or the Path of Lilith, none of which came out. Instead, I had to rely on table dynamics, wherein the other players expended their resources and made it easier for me to exploit the gaps.

It also helped that my prey and grandprey were using Nosferatu antitribu and the EuroBrujah archetype, respectively. Neither clan has built in FOR, or else they would have shrugged off my aggropoking. As the case was, I was able to take out or diablerize Tarbaby Jack, Volker, the Puppet Prince, and Constanza Vinti, which paved the way for me taking the table.

As with any deck in V:TES, no deck is truly unbeatable; there will always be some trump card or deck or player who will make life miserable for your deck. In all likelihood, it's entirely possible that, given a different seating position or different decks used in the game, the City Gangrel deck would have gotten stomped. Still, it will depend on what you do in the game that will result in failure or success. In the end, as we players are wont to say, play your game.