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.
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