A Christmas Post - Stealth Bleeder Deck

Well, it's been a particularly busy two months, which is why I haven't been able to write anything. However, with the Christmas season and break, I may be able to finish the year with one or two posts.

In my last post, I wrote about stealth-bleed, and about the ways and means one would have to use in order to deal with it. I also included Johann Ong's Asian Continental Championship (ACC) deck, which, I have to point out, isn't that aggressive a stealth bleed deck, since it relies solely on Dementation (DEM) to get its bleeds through. However, given the right mix of table dynamics, the 2-3 stealth stemming from Confusion (+1 stealth, +1 bleed), Deny (+1 stealth at superior), and Mind Tricks is often enough to get the job done. In Johann's case, it made him the ACC champ.

 That being said, Johann's win, along with the spirited discussion that ensued from my stealth bleed post, spurred me to try to build my own stealth bleeder, using Obfuscate (OBF) and Presence (PRE). The deck list below is already modified from my testing the draft deck.
 
I originally centered it around Isouda de Blaise, but, as a 7-cap, she's too large to bring out quickly, and I wanted the deck to be speedy. So, instead, the center is now around Herbert Westin and Renenet, who both have Obfuscate and Presence at superior, and, at 5 capacity, are relatively quick to come out. I'm still not sure about whether to keep Antoinette, or swap her out with a 5-cap with obf and pre. I'll probably come to a clearer decision after testing this deck.

The weapons module of 4 Concealed Weapons and 4 .44 Magnums is also something I'm thinking about. A possibility is that I do away with it, and include other cards that prevent blocking, such as Misdirection or Anarch Troublemaker. Once more, testing will tell me what I need to do.

At any rate, this is a work in progress, so comments are always welcome.

A most merry Christmas to all!
 

Deck Name:   Stealth PRE Bleeder (3-4)

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 18, Max: 21, Avg: 4.91)
----------------------------------------------
  1  Antoinette                           cel obf AUS PRE          6  Toreador                   G3  Primogen
  2  Herbert Westin                    pot OBF PRE                5  Brujah                     G4
  2  Renenet                               ser OBF PRE                5  Follower of Set            G4 
  1  Axel Von Anders                cel obf pot PRE             5  Brujah Antitribu           G4 
  1  Evan Klein                          aus dem pre OBF          5  Malkavian                  G3 
  1  Louis Fortier                        aus dom for obf pre      5  Ventrue                    G4 
  1  Louis Fortier (ADV)            aus dom for obf pre      5  Ventrue                    G4
  1  Cristos Mantigo                    aus cel dom obf pre      5  Toreador Antitribu         G3
  1  Robin Withers                      dom obf pre                   4  Ventrue                    G4 
  1  Tock                                     obf pot pre                     4  Nosferatu Antitribu        G3 
   

Library: (80 cards)
-------------------
Master (11 cards)
  2  Dreams of the Sphinx
  1  Effective Management
  1  Information Highway
  1  Perfectionist
  1  Rack, The
  1  Sudden Reversal
  4  Vessel

Action (18 cards)
  1  Conceal
  9  Enchant Kindred
  2  Forgery
  3  Legal Manipulations
  3  Public Trust

Action Modifier (18 cards)
  4  Aire of Elation
  2  Cloak the Gathering
  2  Elder Impersonation
  4  Faceless Night
  2  Forgotten Labyrinth
  4  Lost in Crowds

Combat (21 cards)
  6  Behind You!
  4  Concealed Weapon
  5  Majesty
  6  Unholy Penance

Equipment (8 cards)
  4  .44 Magnum 
  2  Camera Phone
  2  IR Goggles

Combo (4 cards)
  4  Swallowed by the Night

Musings on Stealh Bleed

The Asian Continental Championship (ACC) ended with the Philippines' Johann Ong winning his second ACC title by using a stealth bleed deck (deck list below).

Stealth bleed has been a key strategy ever since V:TES was created, since bleeding is the main way to oust one's prey. Generally speaking, the concept uses Disciplines which naturally provide bleed modifiers, such as Dominate (DOM), Presence (PRE), or Dementation (DEM), and these (sometimes) huge bleeds get through because of either stealth, of which Obfuscate (OBF) is the main Discipline, or block failure, using either DOM or Necromancy (NEC). However, as pointed out to me by a co-player, the latter method of getting bleeds through, by preventing blocks, is classified as power bleeding, which I will (probably; hopefully?) tackle in another post.  Between the two strategies, though, I've seen more stealth bleed decks, since the number of vampires with NEC is more limited.

Having a stealth bleeder as one's predator, in a word, sucks. A well-thought out stealth bleed deck will generally set up quickly, by getting small to midcap vampires out and putting them to work, e.g. bleed. During the 2011 ACC, I had the good luck to make it to the finals table, but had the bad luck to be on the receiving end of a stealth bleeder. The only reason I wasn't ousted was that my prey and grand prey decided to gang up on the stealth bleed deck, after which it became easy for its predator to oust him, and me.

The most common archetypes of the stealth bleed deck are the Malkavian '94 and the Kindred Spirits decks; in the recent ACC, Johann used the Kindred Spirits to win. Both deck archetypes are solid and efficient, and are often the entry-type deck for new players, since the decks are relatively simple to master.

That being said, I don't really have much experience with playing stealth bleed decks, since our local metagame (heavy combat) is inimical to it. Generally speaking, once a deck is identified as a stealth bleeder, players will ignore the predator-prey mechanic, and focus on beating the crap out of the stealth bleeder, since it's an obvious table threat.

One of the weaknesses of the deck concept is its single-mindedness on bleeding; oftentimes, there will be no space for combat defense. At the same time, when one has the entire table going after him/her, resource management becomes well nigh impossible. 

Aside from the table ganging up on the deck, other defenses against the stealth bleeder is to bounce the bleed via either DOM, with Deflections, or Auspex (AUS), with Telepathic Misdirections. Of course, a combat deck, whether pro-active (rush cards) or reactive (block and fight), will have a good chance of taking out the stealth bleeder's minions, although it will still depend on where one sits in relation to the stealth bleeder. A stealth bleed deck will go to town if there is a lack of any of these defense strategies. 

Below is Johann's winning deck list. As mentioned above, it's a Kindred Spirits-based deck, which relies solely on DEM. Based on a winning deck by Everton Biell, Johann tweaked it, and reduced it to a 75-card deck. Relying on small and midcap vampires, the deck looks like it will move swiftly, and, unless someone on the table acts against it aggressively, it will probably sweep a good number of tables.




Deck Name:   Johann's 2019 ACC DEM Bleeder
Created By: Johann Ong 

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 6, Max: 18, Avg: 3)
------------------------------------------
  1  Apache Jones                       aus for obf DEM          5  Malkavian Antitribu        G4 
  1  Persia                                        aus obf DEM           5  Malkavian                       G3 
  1  Uncle George                       aus dom obf DEM       5  Malkavian Antitribu        G3 
  2  Jackie                                                       DEM        3  Malkavian Antitribu        G4 
  1  Marta                                                  aus dem         3  Malkavian Antitribu        G4 
  2  Midget                                        obf pre DEM         3  Malkavian Antitribu        G3 
  2  Cassandra Langely                                 dem            2  Malkavian                       G4 
  2  Eddie Gaines                                     dem pot            1  Caitiff                             G3 

Library: (75 cards)
-------------------
Master (13 cards)
  1  Archon Investigation
  4  Dementation
  2  Effective Management
  4  Misdirection
  1  Pentex(TM) Subversion
  1  Sudden Reversal

Action (21 cards)
  21 Kindred Spirits

Action Modifier (29 cards)
  12 Confusion
  11 Eyes of Chaos
  6  Mind Tricks

Combat (1 cards)
  1  Coma

Ally (1 cards)
  1  Ossian

Combo (10 cards)
  10 Deny


  

PRE Midcap Vote (Deck Concept)

Last month, I shared my thoughts on voting in V:TES, and I am thankful for those who helped me understand the mechanic a little better, since, upon reflection, I was a little too focused on using Presence (PRE). Hindsight being what it is, I probably should have titled it "Voting with Presence."

Still, among the various strategies people employ to facilitate their voting play, I find that PRE provides a good amount of push in getting votes through, which is why I built a deck centered around that Discipline for my voting deck.

So, this is basically a midcap deck, centered loosely around Tara. Other vampires may acquire titles via Praxis Seizures; looking at the crypt, I'm wondering whether adding the Brujah Justicar vote card would be helpful.  

Ousting is facilitated via Kine Resources Contested or Parity Shift. The Enchant Kindreds are more to facilitate getting vampires out of the controlled region.


To be sure, this is still a work in progress, as are many a deck I've built, but probably more so, since voting is not a strategy I often use. While the deck may sometimes win, if the votes on the table are substantial (i.e., the presence of Justicars, Inner Circles, and the like), it will probably go down. More often than not, it will require some sneaky table dynamics in order to win.

Also, the deck is limited by the cards that I currently have. As I'm not fond of breaking up decks in order to build decks, I'll probably add other cards as they become available.

As always, suggestions are always welcome.


Deck Name:   PRE Vote-Bleed

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 16, Max: 25, Avg: 5.583)
----------------------------------------------
  2  Mukhtar Bey                 obf pot FOR PRE QUI      7  Caitiff                    G4  Prince
  2  Tara                                              cel POT PRE      6  Brujah                     G5  Prince
  1  Tomaine                                    CEL POT PRE      6  Brujah                     G4  Primogen 
  1  Joseph DiGiaccomo                  aus dom for PRE   6  Ventrue                    G5 
  1  Marguerite Foccart                 aus pot CEL PRE     6  Brujah                     G4 
  1  Beth Malcolm                       ani FOR PRE             6  Ventrue                    G5 
  1  Hezekiah Rutledge                  ani cel pot PRE        5  Brujah                     G4 
  1  Bethany Ray                               aus PRE               4  Toreador                   G5   
  1  Reginald Moore                              PRE                  4  Brujah                     G4  Primogen
  1  Reverend Adams                       aus PRE                 4  Ventrue                   G4 
 

Library: (80 cards)
-------------------
Master (10 cards)
  4  Vessel
  1  Effective Management
  1  Information Highway
  1  Dreams of the Sphinx
  1  Sudden Reversal
  1 Elysium: the Palace of Versailles

Action (13 cards)
  8  Enchant Kindred
  1  Entrancement
  1  Heart of the City
  1  Intimidation
  2  Public Trust

Action Modifier (19 cards)
  2  Awe
  6  Bewitching Oration
  2  Bribes
  3  Change of Target
  6  Voter Captivation

Political Action (23 cards)
  2  Autarkis Persecution
  1  Banishment
  2  Consanguineous Boon
  10 Kine Resources Contested
  4  Parity Shift
  1  Praxis Seizure: Amsterdam
  1  Praxis Seizure: Dublin
  1  Praxis Seizure: Glasgow
  1  Praxis Seizure: Rome
 
Reaction (4 cards)
  4  Second Tradition: Domain

Combat (10 cards)
  10 Majesty

City Gangrel Rush

Back in June, I wrote about the City Gangrel, and how it managed to take a table. I thought I'd share the deck list, for the benefit of those who might want to try it.

Once more, the deck is meant to be multi-purpose, which helps in keeping people off-balance in dealing with it. At the heart of it is torporing opponent's minions, which allow the !Gangrel to run rampant. Whether it be Fame or Tension in the Ranks or The Path of Lilith, there are cards that will force other Methuselahs to burn pool. Diablerie, aided by the Conspiracy, allows the !Gangrel to remove difficult minions, although, of course, if an opposing Methuselah uses minions with Fortitude, it will make the !Gangrel's efforts to naught, to say the least.

Damage prevention is provided by Flesh of Marble or Leathery Hide. Not as effective as Fortitude damage prevention, but good enough in a pinch.

I use group 2-3 vampires because of Ellen, Zach, and Darrell, who all have the City Gangrel disciplines at superior.  Ellen, particularly, is useful because of her built-in Ambush ability. The other vamps serve as support and shock troops. 

Generally speaking, on a non-fortitude packed table, the City Gangrel have a good chance of taking it.



Deck Name:   City Gangrel Rush

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 14, Max: 31, Avg: 5.83)
----------------------------------------------
  
  3  Ellen Fence                         aus CEL OBF PRO        8  Gangrel Antitribu          G2  Bishop
  2  Zachary                              for pre CEL OBF PRO   7  Gangrel Antitribu          G2
  2  Darrell Boyce                      CEL OBF PRO              6  Gangrel Antitribu          G2
  1  Harry Reese                         cel obf FOR PRO          6  Gangrel Antitribu          G3 

  1  Skryta Zyleta                      obf pot pro CEL             5  Gangrel Antitribu          G3 
  1  Scarlet Carson O'Toole       pro CEL                         4  Gangrel Antitribu          G3 
  1  Chandler Hungerford           PRO                              3  Gangrel                         G2
  1  Sadie                                   pro                                  2  Gangrel Antitribu          G2 

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (17 cards)
  4  Vessel
  4  Gangrel Conspiracy
  1  Campground Hunting Ground
  1  Fame
  1  Bay and Howl
  2  Haven Uncovered
  1  KRCG News Radio
  1  Path of Lilith, The
  1  Sudden Reversal
  1  Tension in the Ranks

Action (16 cards)
  2  Ambush
  1  Arson
  4  Bum's Rush
  4  Computer Hacking
  2  Fiendish Tongue
  3  Flurry of Action

Action Modifier (3 cards)
  3  Lost in Crowds

Combat (46 cards)  2  Acrobatics
  2  Amaranth
  7  Claws of the Dead
  4  Flash
  5  Flesh of Marble
  5  Leathery Hide
  6  Psyche!
  3  Pursuit
  6  Shadow Feint
  2  Sideslip  4  Wolf Claws

Retainer (2 cards)
  1  J. S. Simmons, Esq.
  1  Tasha Morgan

Combo (6 cards)
  2  Ritual of the Bitter Rose
  4  Swallowed by the Night

The Gangrel Do Not Fight

When I first started playing V:TES, as I mentioned in my Bindusara's Diary interview, I started out with the Gangrel preconstructed deck from the Anarchs set; if I remember right, I got two of them, because, unlike the newer preconstructed decks released by Black Chantry, the preconstructed decks needed several cards to make them competitively playable. Still, I loved the fact that the Gangrel, via Protean (PRO), had easy access to aggravated damage, which, unless one's opponent used damage prevention, or Strike:Combat Ends, normally meant one's opposing minion was going into torpor. While I dabbled with the non-aggresive side combat side of PRO (Earth Control, Form of Mist, etc.), I didn't really build any deck which made heavy use of it.

Until now.

I was thinking of a deck that could block (intercept) and get actions through (stealth). While Auspex (AUS) is the premier intercept discipline, and Obfuscate (OBF) the premier stealth discipline,  the Gangrel have access to Animalism (ANI), which is no slouch at intercept, and PRO, which has both stealth and some intercept. With that in mind, I set out to build a deck which did not make use of aggressive combat. Instead, I tried coming up with a deck which could bleed and block, and possibly survive combat.

Mind you, this is still a work in progress, but basically, it's a toolbox deck. It's either the minions bleed with Deep Song, augmented by either the Laptop or Tier of Souls (well, for three of them anyway), or put pressure on the table via the Jack, and defend it.

Horrock, with his built in Path (Protean cards cost one less blood), is the center, with both Pickman and Lamontagne as back-up. The others are midcaps that simply round out the crypt.

I still have to put this together, and test drive it, but I do have a good feeling about this. Another player in our circle, Faust, has used the PRO strike:combat ends in his own deck, and has had good results with it. A little bit of tweaking, and this deck shoudl be good to go.



Deck Name:   The Gangrel Do Not Fight

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 19, Max: 24, Avg: 5.41)
----------------------------------------------
  3  Horrock                            vic ANI PRO                6  Gangrel                   G3
  2  Janey Pickman                 for ANI PRO                6  Gangrel Antitribu    G4
  2  Celeste Lamontagne         for ANI PRO               5  Gangrel Antitribu    G4
  1  Spider                             ani for CEL PRO           6  Gangrel Antitribu     G4 
  1  Bernard                            ani for pre pro              5  Gangrel                    G4 
  1  Dr. Allan Woodstock      ani aus for PRO            5  Gangrel                    G3 
  1  Jacob Fermor                         ani tha PRO            5  Gangrel                    G4 
  1  Jezebelle                                ani for pro               4  Gangrel                    G4 
  
   
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (14 cards)
  2  Smiling Jack, The Anarch
  2  Tribute to the Master
  2  Dreams of the Sphinx
  1 Ecoterrorists
  1 Ennoia's Theater
  1  KRCG News Radio
  1  WMRH Talk Radio
  4  Vessel

Action (14 cards)
  2  Shadow of the Beast
  2  Army of Rats
  8  Deep Song
  2  Tier of Souls

Action Modifier (8 cards)
  8  Earth Control

Reaction (22 cards)
  4  Eyes of the Beast
  6  Sonar
  4  Cats' Guidance
  2  Guard Dogs
  6  Instinctive Reaction

Combat (22 cards)
  6  Claws of the Dead
  6  Earth Meld
  6  Form of Mist
  4  Form of the Ghost

Retainer (4 cards)
  4  Raven Spy

Equipment (2 cards)
  2  Laptop Computer

Combo (4 cards)
  4  Rapid Change

The Nosferatu Justicar

In case you've read the post on the Gangrel Justicar, and were wondering about how the Cock Robin deck was built, here it is:

Deck Name:   Cock Robin Bruise-Bleed
Created By: 
Description: 

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 24, Max: 40, Avg: 7.66)
----------------------------------------------
  4  Cock Robin                         aus for ANI OBF POT  10 Nosferatu                  G3  Justicar
  1  Ferox                                   ani FOR POT VIS          7  Gargoyle                   G2 
  1  Ferox                                   ani FOR POT VIS          7  Gargoyle                   G2 
  2  Nikolaus Vermeulen            ani for obf POT              7  Nosferatu                  G2  Prince
  2  Calebros                              obf pot ANI                     5  Nosferatu                  G2  Prince
  2  Teresita                                for ANI OBF POT          7  Nosferatu Antitribu   G3 

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (16 cards)
  4  Vessel
  2  Villein
  2  Smiling Jack, The Anarch
  2  Fortitude
  1  Powerbase: Montreal
  2  Haven Uncovered
  2  Fame
  1  Rack, The

Action (13 cards)
  6  Deep Song
  3  Ambush
  2  Tier of Souls
  2  Army of Rats

Reaction (15 cards)
  6  Second Tradition: Domain
  3  Instinctive Reaction
  3  Sense the Savage Way
  3  Cats' Guidance

Combat (40 cards)
  8  Carrion Crows
  6  Torn Signpost
  6  Drawing Out the Beast
  6  Immortal Grapple
  4  Armor of Vitality
  4  Superior Mettle
  2 Rolling with the Punches
  4  Taste of Vitae

Retainer (6 cards)
  6  Raven Spy

As you can see, it's probably a little easier to use the smaller princes (Nikolaus and Calebros) than Decker and Rossler. Still, since there are more vamps in the previous deck that have Fortitude (FOR) at superior, that's two extra card slots for something else; in this deck, only Ferox has FOR at superior. Sadly, FOR is not a Nosferatu clan discipline.

Expect, though, a lot of jokes at Robin's expense when he comes out.

The Gangrel Justicar (concept deck)

Originally, I started out trying to tweak my Cock Robin deck to be more of a toolbox, but, along the way, over discussions with other Methuselahs, I decided to switch it to using Xaviar ADV, who's the Gangrel Justicar (given the RPG story, I would have thought that it would be the other way around, but, anyways ...). Doing that meant that I switched Potence (POT) with Protean (PRO), and added some Gangrel tech, such as Ecoterrorists and Ennoia's Theater.

So, basically, the point of the toolbox deck is to do many things relatively well. Thus, there are several possibilities with the deck:

• It can attack others using the Smiling Jack. At the same time, the amount of Animalism (ANI) intercept, along with the Raven Spy permacepts allows minions to defend it;
• It has some bleed capability with the Deep Songs and Tier of Souls;
• Making an opposing minion Fame-ous makes it a torpor target, which then burns 3 pool from the minion's Methusleah;
• Or, as the Cock Robin deck, it can fight, although strike:combat ends is always a possibility without Immortal Grapples.

 The crypts is centered around three main vamps: Xaviar ADV, Mark Decker, and Ingrid Rossler. Any of them can use the Second Tradition, although, unlike the Cock Robin deck, it might be harder to get all three out, if ever they're in the opening crypt. Well, it's a work in progress, considering that I haven't built or tested the deck yet.

Still, the hypothetical draws (via FELDB) seem promising, so we'll see how it works out.

Deck Name:   The Gangrel Justicar

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 23, Max: 40, Avg: 8.08)
----------------------------------------------
  4  Xaviar (ADV)                  aus cel pot ABO ANI FOR PRO10 Gangrel         G3  Justicar
  2  Ingrid Rossler                   dom ANI FOR PRO         9  Gangrel                    G2  Prince
  2  Mark Decker                    ani for obf pot CEL PRO  8  Gangrel                    G3  Prince 
  1  Beckett                              cel ANI FOR PRO           7  Gangrel                    G3 
  1  Antonino                           ani pre pro FOR               6  Gangrel                    G3 
  1  Dr. Allan Woodstock        ani aus for PRO                5   Gangrel                    G3 
  1  Lord Ashton                     for pro ANI                       5  Gangrel                    G3 
 
 

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (16 cards)
  1  Ecoterrorists
  1  Ennoia's Theater
  2  Fame
  2  Haven Uncovered
  1  Powerbase: Montreal
  2  Smiling Jack, The Anarch
  1  Sudden Reversal
  4  Vessel
  2  Villein

Action (13 cards)
  2  Army of Rats
  6  Deep Song
  1  Rewilding
  2  Thing
  2  Tier of Souls

Reaction (15 cards)
  3  Cats' Guidance
  3  Instinctive Reaction
  6  Second Tradition: Domain
  3  Sense the Savage Way

Combat (40 cards)
  6  Armor of Vitality
  6  Carrion Crows
  6  Claws of the Dead
  6  Drawing Out the Beast
  4  Rolling with the Punches
  6  Scorpion Sting
  4  Superior Mettle
  2  Wolf Claws

Retainer (6 cards)
  6  Raven Spy

Janky Stuff - Hermanas Hambrientas (concept deck)

In my previous post, I tackled the difficulty of using the Blood Brothers bloodline

Still, rising to the challenge, V:TES players have tried to make workable Brothers decks. I remember that, before I came into the game, someone using a Chicago circle deck managed to win a tournament, while my friend Paul has tried out the newer Budapest and Kiev circles.

Juggernaut of VTES had an idea to use the Mexico City Circle minions, which ties into my own deck concept.

In the role-playing game accessory, Mexico City by Night, the Las Hermanas Hambrientas (a.k.a. the Hungry Sisters) were an experiment by Tremere antitribu Elena Mendoza Vasquez to study whether the Blood Brothers were capable of creating new vampires (All other Blood Brothers are sterile, incapable of Embracing new vampires.). While Vasquez apparently succeeded, the result was a vampire that burned blood at a high rate (hence the "burn 2 blood" text on the Hermanas card). After the Tremere antitribu, including Vasquez, were obliterated in 1999, one of Vasquez's experiments escaped her chantry when an unsuspecting Harbinger of Skulls searched her lab. Now loose in the slums of Mexico City, the Hermana has continued to spawn, and now there are 20 Hungry Sisters, all starving for blood.

In V:TES, there are two Hermanas cards, the Mayor (4-cap, for san pot) and the Menor (2-cap san pot). Both burn 2 blood upon being controlled, else they burn. While this may be a rather difficult handicap, there is a way around it, although it's also tricky. The master card, The Hungry Coyote, gives Sabbat vampires +1 hunt, which means that, when either Hermana hunts after being influenced out, they'll be up to full capacity (unless they're blocked). While there are other blood gainer cards, such as The Rack or The Coven, the Coyote is probably the best bet to bring the Hermanas back up to full blood capacity.

For this deck, the main point of it is to bleed using Walk of Caine, aided by Stealth provided by Shell Game. If caught, one uses the Hermanas' Potence to fight.

And then, of course, there's Angelo, who can be part of any circle. By using his superior Sanguinus, one can use Unwholesome Bond in order to facilitate a number of Hermanas coming out at the same time.

The nasty surprise here would be Angelo using Coagulated Entity, with a lot of Hermanas in play. It could mean a ton of hurt for the opposing minion.



I haven't put this deck together, so I have no idea how it's going to do at a table. As Juggernaut observed in his own post, it's also a forward-moving deck, so defense is pretty much nil, unless you use the Haven Uncovered or Ambush on your predator's minions.

Also, this deck concept still has no Fortitude, so combat is going to be a little tricky, unless I go Juggernaut's route, and use Thrown Gates instead of Undead Strength. I may still try that instead of this current build, and I might also go to 90 cards in order to include some Fortitude damage prevention, but, for now, for better or for worse, here is the Hermanas deck (with Angelo).

Deck Name:   Hermanas and Angelo

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 8, Max: 22, Avg: 3.5)
--------------------------------------------
  2  Angelo                             pot vic CEL FOR SAN          7  Blood Brother              G3 
  4  Hermana Hambrienta Mayor           for pot san              4  Blood Brother              G4 
  6  Hermana Hambrienta Menor           pot san                    2  Blood Brother              G4 

Library: (80 cards)
-------------------
Master (15 cards)
  4  Agent of Power
  2  Haven Uncovered
  1  Fame
  3  Tribute to the Master
  2  Effective Management
  3  Hungry Coyote, The

Action (18 cards)
  6  Computer Hacking
  2  Coagulated Entity
  6  Unwholesome Bond
  4  Ambush

Action Modifier (16 cards)
  6  Walk of Caine
  6  Shell Game
  4  Claiming the Body

Combat (27 cards)
  2  Free Fight
  3  Coordinate Attacks
  4  Octopod
  6  Brother's Blood
  8  Undead Strength
  4  Brute Force

Equipment (4 cards)
  4  Laptop Computer

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)
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  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

Stealth Mission: The OBF Deck

So, it was a start, and then, a long absence. So much for posting regularly. At any rate, let's pick up where we left off, and maybe, I can manage some regularity.

In my last post, I was exploring my shift from weenie to midcap play. Below is one of the results of my efforts.

Obfuscate (OBF) is one of the more useful Disciplines, mainly because of the stealth factor. Play enough stealth, and your opponent would not be able to block it, even if his/her deck was built to intercept. Some of the OBF stealth cards, such as Faceless Night and Elder Impersonation, added some extra oomph by respectively keeping blocking minions locked or preventing further blocks.

In combat, using Disguised Weapon to surprise opponents with .44 Magnums or Flamethrowers makes them think carefully about getting into combat. While Celerity has the edge in determining combat range, with OBF, getting away from close combat is facilitated by Behind You! and Swallowed by the Night maneuvers. Thus, the dedicated OBF deck can fight, to a certain extent.

The ousting mechanism for the deck is the Night Moves+Spying Mission combo. While not as potent as Dominate or Presence bleeds, using the Mission to bleed for 3 is fairly effective, if a little slow.

Thus, after some tweaking, below is the deck list for the OBF deck.

On further thought, I could focus it on particular vamps with special abilities, such as Synner-G or Luc, but I tend to work with whatever I have handy. That's also the reason for the Blood Dolls, which I would swap with Vessels if I had any spare ones.

Deck Name:   OBF Midcap Spying Mission
Created By: 

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 15, Max: 20, Avg: 4.58)
----------------------------------------------
  1  Antoine                            aus cel dem OBF    5  Malkavian                 
  1  Florentina Lengauer        aus OBF                  4  Malkavian                  
  1  Frank Litzpar                   ani for pot OBF      5  Nosferatu Antitribu       
  1  Jeffrey Mullins                cel OBF                  4  Gangrel Antitribu         
  1  Layla bint-Nadr               qui CEL OBF         5  Assamite                    
  1  Lubomira Hradok            OBF                        3  Nosferatu Antitribu       
  1  Luc                                  dem vic OBF           5  Malkavian Antitribu       
  1  Petra                                aus ANI OBF          5  Nosferatu                 
  1  Renenet                           ser OBF PRE           5  Follower of Set          
  1  Ruxandra                         ani aus OBF            5  Nosferatu                 
  1  Skulk                               ani OBF                   4  Nosferatu Antitribu      
  1  Synner-G                         pro CEL OBF          5  Gangrel Antitribu          

Library: (80 cards)
-------------------
Master (14 cards)
  1  Archon Investigation
  4  Blood Doll
  1  Direct Intervention
  2  Effective Management
  1  Heidelberg Castle, Germany
  1  KRCG News Radio
  1  Vast Wealth
  1  WMRH Talk Radio
  2  Wash

Action (16 cards)
  8  Computer Hacking
  8  Night Moves

Action Modifier (18 cards)
  4  Cloak the Gathering
  4  Faceless Night
  2  Lost in Crowds
  8  Spying Mission

Reaction (4 cards)
  4  Forced Awakening

Combat (13 cards)
  6  Behind You!
  4  Disguised Weapon
  3  No Trace

Retainer (3 cards)
  1  J. S. Simmons, Esq.
  1  Mr. Winthrop
  1  Tasha Morgan

Equipment (10 cards)
  4  .44 Magnum
  2  Flamethrower
  2  Laptop Computer
  2  Sport Bike

Combo (2 cards)
  2  Swallowed by the Night

ACC 2014 Deck List: Auspex Weenies

Here's the deck I decided to use in last weekend's Asian Continental Championship (ACC).

Deck Name : Auspex Weenies, ACC 2014 ed
Author : Frederick Tomas
Description :



Crypt [13 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 4 average: 2.84615
------------------------------------------------------------

1x Idalia, Prophet of      4  AUS dem       !Malkavian:2
1x Maldavis                   4  AUS for pre   Caitiff:3
1x Michael Luther         4  aus pre       Toreador:3
1x Remilliard, Devout   4  AUS pre       !Toreador:2
1x Richard Tauber, Ay  4  AUS tha       !Tremere:2
1x Isabel de Leon           3  AUS           Toreador:2
1x Martin Franckel        3  AUS tha       Tremere:3
1x Zöe                           3  AUS cel obf   Malkavian:2
1x Almiro Suarez          2  aus           Tremere:3
1x Nicholas Chang        2  aus           !Toreador:3
1x Piotr Andreikov        2  aus           Tzimisce:3
1x Feo Ramos                1  aus           Pander:3
1x Franciscus                 1  aus           Caitiff:2


Library [80 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [1]
  1x Constant Revolution

Combat [4]
  4x Concealed Weapon

Equipment [17]
  3x .44 Magnum
  1x Bowl of Convergence
  2x Cooler
  3x Leather Jacket
  5x Saturday-Night Special
  1x Sniper Rifle
  2x Sport Bike

Master [23]
  2x Anarch Revolt
  1x Archon Investigation
  2x Auspex
  1x Direct Intervention
  1x Golconda: Inner Peace
  1x KRCG News Radio
  1x Millicent Smith, Puritan Vampire Hunter
  1x Parthenon, The
  1x Powerbase: Montreal
  1x Rack, The
  2x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
  1x Sudden Reversal
  1x Vast Wealth
  5x Vessel
  1x WMRH Talk Radio
  1x Wash

Reaction [34]
  2x Eagle's Sight
  4x Eyes of Argus
  8x Forced Awakening
  2x My Enemy's Enemy
  2x On the Qui Vive
  4x Precognition
  4x Spirit's Touch
  8x Telepathic Misdirection

Retainer [1]
  1x Mr. Winthrop

Assessment: While the deck did well as a blocker, the cards I needed for forward movement (Jack, Revolt, Constant Revolution) did not consistently come out, and, when they did, they were immediately blocked or Reversed.

The next time I'm in a tournament, I'll probably consider a more pro-active deck rather than a reactive one.