Tier 1 deck archetypes

a) have the good sense to rush Enkidu before he can act, b) have set range + Immortal Grapple, c) there's a guy that can and will diablerize Enkidu and d) Enkidu doesn't have the answer to aggravated damage in his opening hand.

a) well, rushing a red-list is not a prob, plus just as Enkidu setup, others can as well.

b) what would Enkidu do at range? Hide? If Enkidu keeps hiding, problem solved?

c) anyone at the table would and if you are the target of Enkidu wrath, you would be the first volunteer to sacrifice even your star if it means not going out alone

d) with 5 answers out of 90 cards, you can bet on it, and if your deck is combat-oriented, you yourself would have enough resilience just to offer another agg/disarm threat soon enough. 12 cards per 90 to prevent dmg in combat is not uncommon or unreasonable in general.

So realistically, the only if is whether you can survive long enough, to deal your own havoc on Enkidu. This if is quite strong, but not really impossible even without special preparations. Rock-paper-scissors.

This does not make Enkidu war machine any less powerful, just illustrates, that it faces same problems any combat would, probably less than most.

kombainas wrote:

a) have the good sense to rush Enkidu before he can act, b) have set range + Immortal Grapple, c) there's a guy that can and will diablerize Enkidu and d) Enkidu doesn't have the answer to aggravated damage in his opening hand.

a) well, rushing a red-list is not a prob, plus just as Enkidu setup, others can as well.

Rushing Enkidu is not always the first choice for many players. Sometimes they might have to rush their predator, for example. Or maybe they just don't want to take the chance before influencing some chump to rescue. Either way, there's a non-zero chance that Hektor won't rush Enkidu on the first turn.

b) what would Enkidu do at range? Hide? If Enkidu keeps hiding, problem solved?

Enkidu only needs to run if he doesn't have some other answer to aggra. After surviving to his first active turn, he can rush softer targets until there's an answer to Hektor. So no, problem not solved.

c) anyone at the table would and if you are the target of Enkidu wrath, you would be the first volunteer to sacrifice even your star if it means not going out alone

Again, non-zero chance that nobody is capable or willing to diablerize early in the game. Hektor might not have an Amaranth and other players might not want to risk a blood hunt.

d) with 5 answers out of 90 cards, you can bet on it, and if your deck is combat-oriented, you yourself would have enough resilience just to offer another agg/disarm threat soon enough. 12 cards per 90 to prevent dmg in combat is not uncommon or unreasonable in general.

If we're talking Hektor with inferior Fortitude, he doesn't stand much of a chance in the prevention department.

I guess my main point here is that, for Enkidu to die badly against Hektor, a lot of things need to be true. Individually they might be even probable, but even if you assign something generous like a 80% probability for points a, b, c and d to go individually your way, Enkidu still only has a 41% chance of going down. The numbers are obviously pulled out of my ass but they should illustrate the point: it's not a black and white match up and there's no way to say with confidence that it'll go one way and not the other.

Our metagame is fairly combat heavy and after my own experiences the Melbourne Meta is very Aus-Guns heavy (and in general wall-ish). I saw a Tor Aus-Cel-Guns, Weenie Aus-Guns and there was at least one Animalism-type wall I remember hearing about but didn't play against.

Sydney tends to have a strong sideline of combat unless the deck is intended to be literally a one-trick-pony. Powerbleed decks used to pack hit-back combat. There aren't too many "S:CE All Day Every Day" type decks, but I have one of my own. On the flip-side, I'm also starting to play some of the few decks that have no red cards at all.

If I was listing Tier 1 Archetypes I'd be doing it be Ousting Method and then making "Families" under that. (I'm sure there are more than this smattering that appeared to mind)

Weenie

• Animalism
• Auspex
• Celerity Guns
• Celerity Sticks
• Dementation
• Dominate
• Presence
• Computer Hacks

Breeders

• Breed-Boon
• Palla Grande
• Ravnos Clown Car
• Assamite Death Star
• Anarch Palla Grande Undue Influence
• Laibon Ravnos Breed-Vote

MMPA

• Girls will XYZ
• Anson TGB

Princes

• Old Ventrue Lawfirm
• Ventrue with
• Eurobrujah
• AAA
• TGB Vote
• New Ventruw Lawfirm
• New Brujah Vote
• Nosferatu Princes with
• Nosferatu Princes (other tech)
• New Nosferatu Princes

Trick-Deck
A key card-trick or manipulating one vampire's card text to drive the main ousting technique of the deck.

• Sargon Multi-Entice
• Turbo Baron
• Spirit Marionette Force of Will Bleeds at Dawn
• Gangrel For-Pro Yo-yo bleeders
• Ayo Igoli
• XYZ Eats the World

Wall Decks
Characterised by being able to reliably block 2+ actions a turn and grinding down your prey (or the whole table) via permanents with actions built in.

• !Ventrue Stickman
• !Ventrue Teflon
• Animalism Wall
• No Secrets from Cesewayo
• Tzimsce Who See All and Block All

Powerbleed

• Lasombra
• Malk 94
• Brutal Influence
• Auspex-Based

Powervote

• Cap 'n' Tap
• Lasombra Vote
• Cryptic Rider/Malk Rider

Swarm Stealth Bleed

• Nocturn
• Mid-to-low Cap Dementation

Juggernaut1981 wrote:

Our metagame is fairly combat heavy and after my own experiences the Melbourne Meta is very Aus-Guns heavy (and in general wall-ish). I saw a Tor Aus-Cel-Guns, Weenie Aus-Guns and there was at least one Animalism-type wall I remember hearing about but didn't play against.

If the people keep on using the same archetypes/deck types or even decks time and again don't people build decks to counter the threats their decks pose? Or at least take it heavily into account when building a deck?

I have a deck already got 2 decks planned to counter heavy-blocking meta-games. They'll probably sit in my deck-box permanently until its needed.

It's not like this Enkidu Psyche list is new or anything. Enkidu was printed in what, 3rd? The Earth Meld Psyche thing has been around since then since then. That's more than 5 years now and in that time it won *drumroll* 4 tournaments. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the new breakout "tier 1 that can't be meta'd against" deck on our hands! Be prepared for contest-fest at EC2013 in a few months!

//

It's a reasonably ok deck in an enviroment where everybody Villeins for 8 and nobody really plays combat defense other than a few random Majesties to hate on animalism.