Massassi's love affair

Recently, a couple of posts here on Vekn got me thinking a lot. First, a couple of weeks ago Johannes posted here interesting and very fun !Nosferatu combat deck that he took to the finals of the tournament. That deck is very original as it uses a lot of permanent strength enhancers , which enables it to skip on usual close combat potence suspects (8+ torn signposts), and replace and substitute it with a nifty reaction package that allows it to survive without crushing your predator first.

On second hand, it also uses versatile Deep Song, that can provide both rush when needed, and bleed to speed up the ousts. Again, one card does two different, yet essential things for a combat deck. It gets it to combat, AND, when there is nobody to go to fight with, enhances its ousting potential. A sole reason we see so many successful animalism decks that were not possible before Deep Song was printed.

Secondly, there is an ongoing discussion on this forums why combat is weak. Now, people who know me are know how much i love playing combat. I do not consider it weak, or underplayed, and i even feel that worldwide, meta is shifting towards combat since KoT was printed. But i digress... There was an argument that i read ( i am sorry, i cannot remember who said it, and i could not backtrack it), but it went something like this :" Combat as an ousting method is worse than bleed/vote because it requires far more cards to be successful. Given perfect conditions, you only need one govern to do 3 pool damage to prey, or one KRC. But to be successful in combat, you first need a rush card, then a combat card, and even then, no pool is lost if that minion goes down if you did not use more cards before that (fame, tension, whatever)"

That made a strong impression on me. And i started thinking about what these two things relate to.
1. A combat deck should have a reliable way to enter combat.
2. A combat deck must conserve red cards to make the maximum effect with fewest cards played.
3. A combat deck, even after fulfilling first two conditions, must be able to oust, even without fame in play, and that means some sort of better bleed than for 1.
4. A combat deck should have a nice reaction package that can provide him with 3 things : an option not to backrush predator first, and option to stop if in crisis, and an option to channel some of the predator's aggression onto its prey, thus helping the oust.

Considering all that i decided to make this deck. Mind you, not to get misunderstood, i am not thinking this is THE deck to rule them all, or suprestelar machine of doom. Consider it a product of my thinking on the above subject.

Crypt : 12

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4x Massassi, 9, obf AUS CEL POT QUI

3x Jeremy MacNeil (ADV), 8, cel chi AUS PRE POT
1x Tatu Sawosa, 8, ani cel AUS OBF POT
1x Khalu, 7, ani pro AUS CEL POT
1x Abiku, 6, cel obt POT AUS,
1x Homa, 6, AUS CEL POT
1x Uzoma, 5, aus cel vic POT



Library : 80

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Master : 15

3x Celerity
2x Fame
1x Tension in the Ranks
1x Depravity
4x Vessel
1x Rack, the
1x Pentex Subversion
1x Giant's Blood
1x Dreams of the Sphinx

Action : 13

2x Enforcer
2x Well-Marked
2x Preternatural Strength
3x Heroic Might
2x Pulse of the Canaille
1x J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1x Tasha Morgan

Reaction : 23

8x Eyes of argus
3x On the Qui vive
6x Telepathic misdirection
1x My Enemy`s Enemy
3x Eagle's sight
2x Quicken sight

Combat : 29

4x Blur
5x Pursuit
2x sideslip
8x Immortal Grapple
3x Aura Reading
7x Taste of Vitae

Now, obviously, first point is covered by Massassi's and Jeremy's special. Massassi can rush any vampire, and Jeremy can rush younger vampires, which (when he gets CEL) is 8 cap and down. Permanent rush is strong, and it removed the need for rush cards
2. Lots of strength enhancers make Massassi and Jeremy potent combatants always. However, all the tool-up actions are blood intensive, so tastes of vitae are necessary to recoup some of the blood lost, and rest of the combat package is there to go around combat ends and make you hit hard enough to hurt even the biggest guys. Aura readings improve cardflow, or give info of the opposing hand.
3. Ousting - now , here is the problem of all combat that does not have multiact, dominate, or Deep song goodness. I opted for bleed permanents, hoping that they are enough to give me the edge in the endgame
4. Reaction package is more-less self-explanatory, aiming to keep me alive until i set up (which, i fear, might be really slow).

So :

How do you intend to oust?

-- Fame/tension, rush, bleed with permanents. Most likely need to reduce the table to 3 players before that.

How do you intend to keep from being ousted?

intercept combat, redirections, backrush if necessary

What do you want your ready region to look like (ie, how many guys are you planning on getting out)?

Massassi and Jeremy. If things go well, a third vamp

What do you want your average turn to look like?

Tool up in the first turns, then bleed or rush, considering the situation.
What's your metagame like? How do your opponents play?

everything and anything

What problems have you observed with the deck in play?

Never played it, but i do suspect it to be very slow. Also, high influence cost of vampires makes me wonder if it would be better to just use Massassi and Jeremy and use smaller support cast. Aggravated damage kills it dead. Dedicated wall that can block my tool-up actions is also a big problem. Dedicated gun combat can also be problematic without heroic mights.


Wow, that was a lot of text. Do comment B-)

Crypt is fine. It is a bit large however, but see below.

-1 Celerity
+1 Mbare Market, Harare (so many Laibon in crypt)
-1 Fame
+1 Smiling Jack, The Anarch
-4 Vessel (you don't care to burn Blood Dolls)
+4 Villein (you need to survive and can Taste of Vitae)

-1 Pulse of the Canaille
+1 Bowl of Convergence or Heart of Nizchetus

-2 Pursuit (not all your vampires have CEL, but all have POT)
+2 Slam (efficient red card even at 1 blood cost)

-1 Eagle's Sight
+1 Delaying Tactics (large cap stealth vote is bad for you)

More copies of Dreams of the Sphinx may help with getting your vampires out faster and flushing e.g. the extra Enforcer. I don't see doing you much good at all - I might even switch all the Pursuit to Slam, or perhaps Resist Earth's Grasp to stealth past a chump blocker. Consider Heart of the City for Jeremy.

@ Jeff :

I really dislike Mbare. Most of the times, it is inferior to dreams that are used to put counters in the uncontrolled region, and if you draw it late, it is a dead card. I would go with the second dreams before that.

Removing fame i am also not keen on. i like playing 2 fame in a combat deck. Helps the ousts.

Also, in this case, i am strongly against villeining. Sure, it is lets-have-pool-now thing, but here, as i plan to start slow, i think vessels are better because they allow me to have a permanent connection between my pool and my vampires, and all my tool up actions cost blood, and since my prevent is scarce at best of times, i will be hit back. So, villein is , i feel, not the right card here.

I dont feel i need the heart of cheating. With aura readings, and 1-2 dreams , i feel i can emulate its effect of hand cycling without actually having it. Plus, it contests like mad. Superbowl is , though, a possibly good thing to put in, as it provides me with some permanent resources on the table. Well worth considering.

@ Dorrinal :

Cel masters here serve a rare purpose. On one hand, they enhance Jeremy and Tatu, both excellent vamps with inferior cel. On second hand, they make Jeremy better, by making him a 9-cap, that can rush 8 caps. So i feel they should stay. Now, do i need 3 or 2, i cannot say.

Resist earth's grasp definitely needs to go in! I cannot believe i missed that one! Thanx, i will see to work in a few copies.

Looking at my suggestions, I realize I forgot one:

Lilith's Blessing!

You're packing skill cards, and I still believe Villeins are the right way to go, so LB makes sense too.

LoL

And while we are at it, maybe 9 ashurs, a parhtenon or two, DI or three and anthelies to boot!!! makes everything better B-)