Press to 2nd ONLY

It's an attempt to use Spawning Pool!

Press to 2nd ONLY

1. How do you intend to oust?
Bleeding at stealth.

2. How do you intend to keep from being ousted?
Some bloat here and there. Ashurs to tweak the deck mid-game.

3. What do you want your ready region to look like (ie, how many guys are you planning on getting out)?
Casino, Nik and a nerd. Someone should be waiting to block bleeds.

4. What do you want your average turn to look like?
Casino uses ability. Someone bleeds with Deep Song. Casino uses Aid from Bats then Spawning Pool in 2nd round (hence the name of the deck).

5. What's your metagame like? How do your opponents play?
Right now there's a mix of everything, but on an average day everyone is prepared for combat.

6. What problems have you observed with the deck in play?
This hasn't been played. It's (for now) just a mental exercise.


Note:
- I want to keep this deck at the 70-72 card range. What should I cull?

Comments very welcome.

CryWolf wrote:

It's an attempt to use Spawning Pool!

Good luck

2. How do you intend to keep from being ousted?
Some bloat here and there. Ashurs to tweak the deck mid-game.

You need Intercept to use the Spawning Pool anyway. You should probably focus on that rather than bloat. A dedicated S&B will laugh at your 4 retainers.

So here's the updated, more transient version:

Press to 2nd ONLY! v2

Major change:
1) Decreased permanents since they don't mesh well with Ashur tech.
2) Upped reactions, especially intercept-generating ones

Okay, so Spawning Pool is a Bad Card(TM). How can it be made to work?

CryWolf wrote:

So here's the updated, more transient version:

Press to 2nd ONLY! v2

Major change:
1) Decreased permanents since they don't mesh well with Ashur tech.
2) Upped reactions, especially intercept-generating ones

Okay, so Spawning Pool is a Bad Card(TM). How can it be made to work?

1. Cut your masters somewhat. Metro Underground can go, Dreams and Parthenon. The House of Sorrow is somewhat dubious.
1 more Spawning Pool. An intercept location (WHMRH Talk Radio, Channel 10 or KRCG News Radio) could help a lot.

2. Use Immortal Grapple on superior. That way you can ensure, that there is a second round. S:CE foils your Spawning Pool plan.
Try Mob Connections for vampires with .

3. More reactions. Use a lot more of Cat's Guidance, Sense the Savage Way and Instinctive Reaction, along with the 4 Raven Spies. Drop Owl Companion and Tasha Morgan.
A couple of Guard Dogs/Rat's Warning would be ok. Drop Pack Tactics.

4. Drop Anthelios, you don't need it and it give others a benefit.

5. Drop Aid from Bats and Relentless Pursuit completely, replace with a mix of Immortal Grapple, Carrion Crows and Mighty Grapple to get the press.

Focus on getting to second round without getting too much hurt. However, Spawning Pool will only work against blocked bleeds, so you may be in situations where it is quite useless...
You will need a Hunting Ground to pay for the blood you have to put on SP. Maybe drop the Heidelberg Castle, which doesn't do much for you.

Hope this helps. B)

Spawning Pool is only good against bleeds, only if you block those bleeds, only if you have had time to build up, and only if you get to the second round of combat.

It is unique; like any strategy focused around a single unique permanent, that suggests a) a way to fetch it from your library, or b) a 60 card deck, possibly with Ashur Tablet support.

It has the "do X to do Y" templating, so you will never be able to use it multiple times in the same combat, even if you do use House of Sorrow. House may still be worthwhile, though, as it lets you use it on a second block in the same turn.

Because it takes time to build up, you really want it ASAP. You also want to be able to put counters on it quickly. You need a Nos in play to be able to play it, but the blocking minion doesn't need to be a Nos, which opens up a number of crypt options and strategies.

Cards that can be used to fetch a location:
- Goblinism (at myt)
- Sibyl's Tongue
- Inconnu Tutelage (probably not a good idea)
- Danylo's special (probably not so handy, either.)
- Research and Development (ick!)

Other ways to put counters on your Spawning Pool:
- Church of the Order of St. Blaise (potentially useful)
- Goth Band (almost certainly too expensive)

The best combat card to combine with the Spawning Pool is Telepathic Tracking.
Pretty much as soon as you play TT, you can tap the Spawning Pool. If your intention is to use the Pool, it may even be a bad idea to try to do damage on the first round. Far safer to drop a Dodge or S:CE, then follow up with TT + Spawn after combat is over. AUS is also not a bad thing to have around when you intend to be blocking a lot of bleeds.

Grapple kinda works too, but it does get a bit card/discipline intensive, as you end up needing both maneuver support to make the Grapple stick, press support, and a way to avoid taking too much damage at close even in a Grapple. (That may be fortitude, but you might be able to make do with Guardian Angel and/or Song of Serenity.)

Evil Eye is an interesting option here, if you can manage the graft. It does two things:
- it stops folks using S:CE to avoid round 2 of combat, and gives you some limited combat defense.
- it punishes decks for trying to oust you with votes

Direct Intervention is also a decent pick; it can also make combat more reliable and cancel vote cards.

Bringing up the rear as ways to get your combat to round 2 reliably are Death Seeker, Supernatural Resistance and The Jones... they all have advantages, but they're probably too hard for you to set up for the benefit you'd get.

Guardian Angel is also a good card here. You intend to block bleeds, it helps you block bleeds. You intend to survive until the second round of combat, it prevents damage.

Mixing in Sabbat minions gives you both the Church, for cheaper and faster Pool growth, and Abbot, for ease of bleed blocking.

Petaniqua (base) is also an interesting combo with Spawning Pool; her 2 damage is in exactly the same window.

So, the main approaches I see here are:
- pure Nos, masses of Raven Spies, maybe Grapples to ensure second round.
- Sheldon, AUS, TT, Second Tradition etc
- G5 Nos with AUS, mainly Sergei Voshkov (+Homonculus for untap?) with support from Benjamin Rose and Federico di Padua
- Nos/Kiasyd mix, using Goblinism to fetch the Pool and the Church. One or the other should be weenies; I'd recommend weenie Nos and Bartholemew, who has AUS and will help you bloat when people refuse to bleed you.
- Nos/AntiMalk mix, with Sibyl's Tongue. I recommend a G2/3 crypt focusing on obf AUS - you get Krid / Regilo / Quira / Marie Faucigny / The Colonel / General Perfidio Dios, with Kite and Kurt Densch if you want to climb that high.
- Petaniqua+ weenie nos, with or without Evil Eye.