TWD: High Ground, Pittsburgh

High Ground: Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
April 20, 2019
2R+F
12 Players
Karl Schaefer
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/9169

-- 2gw5vp + 4 vp in final

Deck Name: Lions and Tigers and Legionnaires, Oh My!
Author: Karl Schaefer
Description: Grinder-style Emerald Legionnaire deck

When building this deck, I wanted to take the traditional Ventrue/!Ventrue grinder, replace the Ventrue/!Ventrue with Harbingers and the Dominate with Emerald Legionnaires. There's not an even math in that conversion, however. There's no good answer to Deflection, since all of the Auspex bounce locks your vampires. Weighted Walking Sticks don't provide enough permanence nor enough safety for your vampires lacking Fortitude. Furthermore, space has to be made for Spectral Divination and Breath of Thanatos for their versatility. While I like the result, in the end, this is probably just a fightier version of Martin Weinmayer's Emerald Dream.

I wasn't sure what people would play today, but I wanted good defense. I finished up the deck about 2 hours before the event, and found the right mix for today. The final had two fast bleed decks that I knew about and two decks that I hadn't seen all day.
John M. (Toreador/!Toreador Anarch Toolbox) 0 VP -> John E. (Dem Breed with Madman's Quill) 0 VP -> Me 4 VP -> Mark (Nocturn Bleed) 0 VP -> Will (+Bleeders with AUS/OBF)

I knew both Mark and Will were strong bleeders, having survived as prey to each deck, I didn't want to risk that again. I was unsure of the other decks, so decided to be Mark's predator because I hoped to be able to wear him down during his undirected Nocturn recruitments. I felt that was still a risky choice. I don't have a lot of Eagle's Sight, so it was possible that Mark could have taken 3 VPs before I could get him under control.

Going third was perfect for me and I had a great crypt with four different vampires. I got Erebus in play on turn 2 and on the next turn gave him a Guardian Angel and a Bowl of Convergence. I got Maldavis in play next. Mark was only taking forward actions early and Will's Cornelius Ottavio had standing 3 bleed vs. every deck on the table. My predator hit Erebus with a Pentex Subversion, played Sibyl's Tongue to find a Conceal and immediately tried to burn the Bowl. Maldavis was barely able to block it. Maldavis took an action to remove the Pentex and drew a block. Mark was going forward very effectively and I had little to say about it. Will was trying to outrace his predator. John M, my grand-predator, took two actions to remove the Pentex (Change of Target on the first), then sunk a big bleed on John E. Erebus was able to block again and tried to do so with almost every action my predator took. After a few feints, John E got a Creation Rites in play. At this point, I got my first Legionnaire and then brought out Zygodat. Then knocked off the Creation Rites with Scourge of the Enochians. Mark started to take undirected actions, as the Nocturns came up. I wore down his vampires' blood totals (Obtenebration is expensive), but he made really good progress. When it came to my turn again, I played another Legionnaire normally and mostly held off. The pool totals are very low for both Will and John M. When a bleed of three gets bounced to me, I decided that sending it to John M instead of my prey is the better long term move. If Will can get a VP and I'm the last man standing, I'd win on seeding (or better). John M blocked, but that took critical resources. On my turn, I Pentexed Mark's fourth vampire and sent my Legionnaires after The Path of Night. Mark needs to take a lot of Nocturn actions and I lock every minion to keep Mark from going forward. Will survives and is able to oust John M. John E hits me with a bleed that I can't block, but doesn't have enough to really hurt me. I ousted Mark with Legionnaires and the next turn got Will. John E's bloat machine was working well, but his minions were low on blood. I had The Unmasking and four vampires and three Legionnaires. When I dropped Smiling Jack, John E conceded with ~30 minutes left in the final.

The critical play, in my mind, was recognizing that I needed to throw John M off the island and let Will have a VP and the extra pool that comes with it.

Crypt (13 cards; Capacity min=4 max=7 avg=5.428571)
==================
5x Erebus 7 dem AUS FOR NEC Harbinger of Skulls:3
1x Sennadurek 6 dom AUS NEC Nagaraja:4
1x Zygodat 6 pot AUS NEC Harbinger of Skulls:4
2x Neighbor John 5 dom for AUS Ventrue antitribu:4
1x Nicomedes 5 aus for nec vic Harbinger of Skulls:4
2x Solomon Batanea 5 nec AUS FOR Harbinger of Skulls:4
1x Maldavis (ADV) 4 for pre AUS Caitiff:3

Library: 90 cards

Master (18 cards)
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2x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Erciyes Fragments, The -- only seen and played in the finals. Got The Unmasking, Leverage (used for the oust), and Madman's Quill
2x Guardian Angel -- so good in the light combat environment
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion -- played to prevent my prey from acting, not from blocking
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
2x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
5x Vessel
1x WMRH Talk Radio

Action (1 cards)
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1x Aranthebes, The Immortal -- never played all day, saw it every game

Action Modifier/Combat (5 cards)
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5x Breath of Thanatos -- so good, the aggpoke scared people and I burned a vampire using Target Vitals

Action Modifier/Reaction (4 cards)
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4x Spectral Divination -- versatility is key; be careful of the nec vampires, which can't use it for intercept

Combat (15 cards)
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3x Concealed Weapon
5x Indomitability -- swapped all Hidden Strength for these and it was exactly right for this environment, easier to cycle
2x Rolling with the Punches
2x Soak
3x Target Vitals -- so good, as always

Ally (9 cards)
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1x Carlton Van Wyk
8x Emerald Legionnaire -- never had more than 3 in play at a time, recycling them was key

Equipment (5 cards)
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1x Bowl of Convergence
2x .44 Magnum
1x Ivory Bow
1x Sniper Rifle

Reaction (31 cards)
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2x Delaying Tactics -- almost no votes all day
3x Eagle's Sight -- blocked prey's ousting bleed in round 2
7x Eyes of Argus
3x Forced Awakening
2x Melange -- never burnt it for +bleed; Enhanced Senses instead?
3x My Enemy's Enemy
4x On the Qui Vive
2x Precognition
5x Telepathic Misdirection

Event (2 cards)
==================
1x Scourge of the Enochians
1x Unmasking, The

RE: Aranthebes

I think a lot of players are scared off weenies by Scourge, so maybe that's a free slot to play around with.

This deck looks a lot like the one I've been kicking around with the exceptions of reactions where you're a decent amount higher (I'm not at 90 cards though). The crypt is also a big change probably for the better. The mid caps look good and serve their purpose well. I am in love with Erlick (bleed, handsize, 5 blood back is wtf levels of good) but giving him up for neighbor John seems like a solid trade.

Did you consider the Vengeful Spirit? In a grind deck it seems so good, and a single heidelberg can move them onto any minion regardless of clan.

Were you worried about crows from the Newark folk? They love animalism.

Congrats on the win!

DJHedgehog wrote:

RE: Aranthebes

I think a lot of players are scared off weenies by Scourge, so maybe that's a free slot to play around with.

There were some 3- and 4-cap that I could have affected with it, plus is like another media outlet vs your predator. My problem was mostly that I'd rather take a different action or leave a blocker in place. I agree that swapping it for something else would be useful. I'd probably just add another Eagle's Sight or Emerald Legionnaire.

DJHedgehog wrote:

...neighbor John seems like a solid trade.

Neighbor John's built-in intercept was key in rounds 1 and 2. He blocked my prey's ousting bleed in round 2. Didn't see him in the final. The early Bowl made up for the loss, but he's just so good, even considering he can't play Necromancy or recruit Legionnaires. I think if I focused on Mordecai instead of Erebus, cutting the reaction package would be a lot easier.

DJHedgehog wrote:

Did you consider the Vengeful Spirit? In a grind deck it seems so good, and a single heidelberg can move them onto any minion regardless of clan.

I did. I just think that leads to a different deck that what I have here and you can't have all of the things. I really want to build a version without Legionnaires and focuses on Vengeful Spirit, I think that build may actually be stronger.

DJHedgehog wrote:

Were you worried about crows from the Newark folk? They love animalism.

That's one of the reasons that I wanted to have prevent and why I also ensured that I had presses. I even considered Police Department, so I didn't get stuck eating CC + Aid from Bats + Aid from Bats + etc. In the end, I was lighter on prevent than I wanted, but it was more than enough for the day. Having the Indomitability over Hidden Strength allowed me to cycle a few times, using another prevent, then pressing with Indomitability, since the guns and the Guardian Angels were almost enough anti-hitback for the whole day.

kschaefer wrote:

2x Guardian Angel -- so good in the light combat environment

Can we stop saying this and just call it normal vtes?

Thank you for the details and explanations, very cool.