New Violence

Threadjacking lol no prob! OK for efficient ToD strikes I need Selective Silence. Now all that thwarts me is prevent. Heh. Otherwise I stand by this combat. IG is overall better, but to ignore dodges, Majesty and Earth Meld while making their strikes more costly is huge in the mid game, esp. the tournament arena. As for acting vs blocking, I cannot gain pool by blocking like I can with the new contracts. If I want blocking, I'll go midcaps and Open Dossier. I will only bring out 2 or 3 guys so they all have to focus on a fast oust or a dangerous predator. Let's see how it works in our combat-heavy meta.


I really, really wish QUI would have gotten the recursion card that NEC got.

Alex wrote:

Threadjacking lol no prob! OK for efficient ToD strikes I need Selective Silence. Now all that thwarts me is prevent. Heh. Otherwise I stand by this combat. IG is overall better, but to ignore dodges, Majesty and Earth Meld while making their strikes more costly is huge in the mid game, esp. the tournament arena. As for acting vs blocking, I cannot gain pool by blocking like I can with the new contracts. If I want blocking, I'll go midcaps and Open Dossier. I will only bring out 2 or 3 guys so they all have to focus on a fast oust or a dangerous predator. Let's see how it works in our combat-heavy meta.


I really, really wish QUI would have gotten the recursion card that NEC got.

Not even NEC, all Giovanni. Interesting point about how that card might have plugged a bigger hole with assamite combat vs giovanni.

That is also a good point about the new contract- it does make going forward profitable. Gogo assamite assassins (now that you exist).

How does it make strikes more costly to use sanguine entrapment?

brandonsantacruz wrote:

How does it make strikes more costly to use sanguine entrapment?

I think it's the Dam the Heart's River + Sanguine Entrapment combo, not SE by itself.

Alex O:

I've noticed something strange in your deck: you have Thin Blood, Taste of Death and Flash. What's your angle here? Do you want to be close or far?

You can't play both Thin Blood and Taste of Death in the same round. It would make sense if one of them was a back up card, like Thrown Sewer Lids in an Immortal Grapple deck, but then you have Flash, which I don't understand.

brandonsantacruz wrote:

I forgot to mention that almost all weapon strikes are prevented by grapple, where almost none are prevented from Sanguine Entrapment.

But if you lose the maneuver war, your Immortal Grapples will cause you grief in the form of a hand jam. Sanguine Entrapment can always be played, no matter the range. So it balances out.

I just don't like this deck anymore. I am now thinking Freakdriving gun combat with Joe Boot, Janni, and Antara along with support vamps. Thin Blood and Dam for round 1, hands for 3 with Joe and Janni. Then Psyche Selective Silence bang bang. Otherwise rely on Priority Contracts for pool defense. Open Dossier would go in. Smaller average crypt, 45 combat cards with just enough prevent. Master cards would need a FOR or 2. Any thoughts? Now it sccrifices bounce and Dom bleed for better dunking power. Because Assamite.

Hey Alex,

I made a similar deck recently that works pretty well. It uses the black hand assamites including Karif, the best vekn-created vampire, IMO. I played it against you and probably won, but I don't remember for sure. I have definitely gotten a GW or two with it already.

I don't get the obsession with Thin Blood. I get that it is a pre-strike card, which is definitely cool. But it's not knocking anyone into torpor and it doesn't work with Dam the Heart's River (which I think is a fabulous card). So even when you get Thin Blood to work, you still are at close range and are therefore susceptible to a million different types of damaging close range strikes from the opposing minion that assamites have almost no way to prevent (except for the few that have fortitude and then still only at inferior, other than Tariq, Tegyrius and Antara, whom can't play with the other two). I say focus on getting to long and strike with a gun, Blood Sweat (3r, unpreventable) or Taste of Death (2r agg). Dam the heart's river works with all of those. Play Dam the Heart's pre-range, use Selective Silence, a celerity maneuver (there are tons) a .44, sniper and/or Omael Kuman to get to long, Blood Sweat for 4 unpreventable and the opposing minion either doesn't strike at all, or loses another blood to play a ranged strike, which is pretty unlikely to be for agg damage. The guns are especially awesome since they a permanent, give you a maneuver and you can play add strikes with (which are all at +1 damage if you played Dam the Heart's River. Then you play Taste of Vitae and you're golden. I love the ridiculous untapping potential of Karif and Djujah with Karif's special, and Tatoo Signal and Seraph's Second with Djujah. I think the deck has potential to be tournament worthy with a little more tweaking and the more practice I get with playing it. Very fun and versatile deck. You could always go for more of the Auspex angle, but you'd want to put some Auspex master cards in there which I didn't want to do. Here's my deck:

Crypt: (12)
4 Djuhah, The Bronze Bow
5 Karif al Numair
2 Reza Fatir, The Dark Angel
1 Joe 'Boot' Hill

Library (90)
Master (17)
1 Alamut
2 Corporal Reservoir
3 Information Highway
2 Vessel
2 Blood Doll
1 Watchtower: Four Ride Forth
1 Perfectionist
1 Shakar: the Hunt
1 Priority Contract
1 Fame
1 Weeping Stone
1 Market Square

Action (17)
2 Abbot
4 Loss
2 Truth of Blood
5 Reunion Kamut
3 Tattoo Signal
1 Bum's Rush

Equipment (7)
3 .44 Magnum
2 Sniper Rifle
1 Kevlar Vest
1 Sport Bike

Action Modifier (9)
2 Resist Earth's Grasp
2 Enkil Cog
2 Swallowed by the Night
3 Seraph's Second
2 Faceless Night

Retainer (2)
1 Omael Kuman
1 Mr. Winthrop

Combat (29)
4 Dam the Heart's River
4 Selective Silence
3 Blur
4 Taste of Vitae
4 Blood Sweat
2 Pursuit
3 Sanguine Entrapment
2 Taste of Death
2 Psyche!

Reaction (8)
2 Blood Awakening
3 Black Sunrise
3 Truth in Ink