Black hand Assamites

Hey there ! I would like to try things with the new Assamites, going for Quietus and Celerity, but I can't find any satisfying results, so I am submitting this.


How do you intend to oust?
A little bit of this and of that. Fame helps. Loss helps. Guarded Rubrics helps. Flurry allows card flow or bruise and bleed (though I have thought of -1 Flurry/+1 Fame)

How do you intend to keep from being ousted?
Bleeders are going to get bounced by Karif.
Voters can be threatened with combat, or can be talked into doing things.
Fight is a problem, because qui+cel is fragile.

What do you want your ready region to look like (ie, how many guys are you planning on getting out)?
Karif, plus one minion. In the best case, two (Reza and Joe). Reunion kamut is good but I feel it's kind of slow with big cap vampires.

What do you want your average turn to look like?
Karif bleeds, untaps if possible. Then other minions fight and bleed and equip. Or Reunion Kamut to get those minions out. It's good if one minion is untapped at the end of the turn.

What's your metagame like? How do your opponents play?
They like fight with Potence, so obviously the answer is "selective silence, taste of death, provision of the silsila", but I find the contract mechanics really too heavy.
Sudden and Wash are not innocent additions: they help against the last-minute villein or golconda, or the Pentex, or even the contesting of Fame.

What problems have you observed with the deck in play?
I had a version of this before Karif and Danse Macabre, but the combat module focussed on hand contracts, with Kabars for hand strike at 4+target vitals, some sticks, and some silver bullets for ranged combat.
The vamps are big and can still be sent to torpor. So I was being slow for nothing.
It was vulnerable to bleed mostly. And I couldn't pack in too much ousting power or installing/bloating. The hand got jammed quickly, so the additional hand size of the Weeping stone really helped combat.

Any thoughts ?

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 6 max: 10 average: 8.16667

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4x Karif al Numair 10 AUS CEL OBF QUI for Assamite:5
3x Joe "Boot" Hill 7 CEL QUI for obf Assamite:4
2x Izhim abd Azrael 9 CEL OBF QUI THA pot Assamite:5
2x Reza Fatir, The Da 6 CEL QUI obf pro Assamite:4
1x Djuhah, The Bronze 7 OBF QUI aus cel pre Assamite:5


Library [90 cards]

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Action [27]
5x Bum's Rush
2x Clandestine Contract
4x Flurry of Action
4x Loss
4x Recruitment Exercise
6x Reunion Kamut
2x Tattoo Signal

Action Modifier [2]
2x Seraph's Second

Combat [37]
4x Baal's Bloody Talons
4x Blur
5x Psyche!
5x Pursuit
3x Sideslip
2x Taste of Death
6x Taste of Vitae
8x Weighted Walking Stick

Equipment [1]
1x Guarded Rubrics

Master [13]
1x Fame
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
3x Shakar: the Hunt
1x Sudden Reversal
5x Villein
1x Wash
1x Weeping Stone

Reaction [10]
6x Black Sunrise
4x Telepathic Misdirection

Too few seraphs to make seraph's second work, especially considering you don't want to influence them out fast. Where are forced marches to help joe/karif multiact ?

Shakar: the hunt is good, but also unique, i wouldn't play more than two personally. It's very action-heavy, even with karif special it's going to clog your hand.

Recruitment exercise isn't ideal card for this kind of deck, you are pool constrained anyway so kamuts work better. With this many actions and good combat, powerbase:montreal sound like a no-brainer.

Change some black sunrises (1-2) for on the qui vive, playing one make them guess if you have more.

Given that you specifically stated that you wish to end your turn with an untapped minion, I'm surprised you went without Watchtower: Four Ride Forth (and to a lesser extend Metro Underground and Mylan Horeseed).

I would recommend either finding space for Wider View (your entire bounce tech relies on having Karif early in your uncontrolled region) or drop the bounce angle completely for Haqim's Law: Leadership, Truth in Blood and Nest of Eagles.

Also worth finding space for a few copies of Abbot, Resist Earth's Grasp and Khabar: Glory

Umberling wrote:

What do you want your ready region to look like (ie, how many guys are you planning on getting out)?
Karif, plus one minion. In the best case, two (Reza and Joe). Reunion kamut is good but I feel it's kind of slow with big cap vampires.

Keep in mind that Reunion Kamut does not require you to target a younger vampire. Ideally, with a RK in your starting hand, you can influence out a 6 or 7 cap and then ramp up to Karif (gets you two vamps a turn faster if you get 3 or 4 transfers on turn 1)

Umberling wrote:

What do you want your average turn to look like?
Karif bleeds, untaps if possible. Then other minions fight and bleed and equip. Or Reunion Kamut to get those minions out. It's good if one minion is untapped at the end of the turn.

Remember that Karif untaps someone else, not himself.

Umberling wrote:

What's your metagame like? How do your opponents play?
They like fight with Potence, so obviously the answer is "selective silence, taste of death, provision of the silsila", but I find the contract mechanics really too heavy.

Actually, I think the obvious answer is just Selective Silence and Taste of Death. Provisions requires a contract. For that number of cards, you're better off running Amaranth and Ebony Fox Hunt. If most of the meta is potence weenies, consider throwing in a Scourge of the Enocians.

Umberling wrote:

What problems have you observed with the deck in play?
I had a version of this before Karif and Danse Macabre, but the combat module focussed on hand contracts, with Kabars for hand strike at 4+target vitals, some sticks, and some silver bullets for ranged combat.
The vamps are big and can still be sent to torpor. So I was being slow for nothing.
It was vulnerable to bleed mostly. And I couldn't pack in too much ousting power or installing/bloating. The hand got jammed quickly, so the additional hand size of the Weeping stone really helped combat.

I can't help you here, since the version I run has far less combat in a 75 card deck.

I will think it over. Ebony Fox Hunt/Amaranth is kind of good. And if I go for truth in blood (not in ink), I will certainly add a lot of Forced Marches. Spying Mission also seems critical for responsible bleeds and better critical actions (guarded rubrics, tattoo signal, that rush on this big-cap vampire).

What I fear with Selective silence + taste of death is the weakness against all kinds of allies. This kind of ranged combat requires a bigger combat module and master module (with EFH/Amaranth) and is complicated to setup because your hand is so clogged if you want to have the perfect combat (SS+ToD+Am+EFH+Psyche to avoid s:CE...).

Remember that not dying is important to winning. So, in this sort of deck, multiact is great, especially when using kamut, rushes, loss, and bloat.

Nizzim is great standing agg hands support, and if you use the midcaps to kamut to thexbig vamps and use villein to pull back, things are better for your pool.
Lunging with loss and khabar glory is neat, but timing is key withthat. Recruitment and c contract arent great here. Hand contract is playable here. Honestly, since your going bruise n bleed toolbox, abbot is an idea.
Mayne powerbase montreal and barranqilla if you can block enough.