I will Sleep When I am Dead - !Tremere Eternal Vigilance Grinder

Dorrinal wrote:

Deck Name : I Will Sleep When I Am Dead
Author : John McGlynn
Description :
Tremere antitribu grinder. Polly Kay Fisher and Ladislas Toth lead the crypt by getting Abbot, Eternal Vigilance, and paying for all the untap with Theft of Vitae. Use Misdirection or Pentex Subversion and lunge for the oust!

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 9 average: 6.83333

3x	Polly Kay Fisher	(8)		archbishop	Ventrue antitribu	(g4)
3x	Ladislas Toth, The Torch	(7)		archbishop	Tremere antitribu	(g3)
2x	Frondator	(5)		bishop	Tremere antitribu	(g4)
1x	Malgorzata	(9)		priscus	Tremere antitribu	(g4)
1x	Marino Reymundo Vasquez	(9)		archbishop	Tremere antitribu	(g3)
1x	Selena	(6)			Tremere antitribu	(g3)
1x	Martin Franckel	(3)			Tremere	(g3)

In few cases do I care what someone calls a deck. I'm all for fanciful names, names that have no connection to what the deck does, or whatever. However, occasionally, a deck archetype exists or arises that has enough definition that it becomes confusing when the nickname gets appropriated for other decks.

Why call this a grinder? It's a completely straightforward !Tremere deck with the exception of Eternal Vigilance. So, if I were to explain the deck to anyone, whether the person knows about !Ventrue grinder or Ventrue grinder decks, I'd just call it "!Trem Eternal Vigilance".

Now, if the deck were full of Rego Motus and relied on Weighting Walking Sticks with or without Theft, I can see the basis for putting grinder in the title.

In terms of the contents, I see it being too slow. Until you get EV, you are wake weak. I'm not seeing a particular reason to eschew Dreams and Info Highway.

Sure, once you get Governing online, things speed up immensely, assuming they don't get blocked - being blocked is also an issue with EV as your defensive abilities drop immensely without it. Might want to add Seduction.

Though, I want to make it slower, at least cryptwise, by getting rid of Martin for Carna. Extra Frondator, who does little in the deck, could be another Carna or Yasmin or whoever. Wider View cleans up the crypt duplication.

Then, the combat is inflexible. The advantage of WWSs in grinder decks is that they are a one card answer to either three combats or smacking someone around in one combat. You don't reliably press, so even one combat may see no more than a couple lost blood, and that's hardly any guarantee. Agg takes your guys out, barring some sort of timely Kevlar action, unlike the damage prevention heavy grinder decks. If the idea is to really play like a grinder deck rather than the typical Thaumaturgy combat deck, I'd be inclined to have more combat permanents and Rego Motus.

Of course, such changes require finding slots to remove. I'd remove a third to half of the Thefts with more permanent combat and probably at least two Apportations. Antediluvian Awakening and Misdirection can go. Other choices would probably fall into the "I don't want to take this out, but I need to to get to 80" sort.

This deck uses my Carna wall as a template: www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/7-deck-clinic/565-evil-eye-tremere-grinder?limit=10&start=30#9667
It was inspired by the !Ventrue grinder and plays similarly. Obviously goes about it in a different manner.

I am considering adding more wakes and either removing the 9-caps or adding Dreams of the Sphinx and Information Highway. Thanks for the feedback.

Dorrinal wrote:

Pullen: I agree but I do not use Anarch Troublemaker in decks that abuse Magic of the Smith.

You don't use the Troublemaker until the turn you oust your prey, at which point it can't be used against you. Or you use it and play another to contest it, hurting your prey doubly, keeping your second Troublemaker for future fun, and again preventing its use against you. Its freeness and double-effectiveness, combined with the ability to use it in conjunction with Pentex to remove three blockers in one turn, more than make up for the slim chance that a Troublemaker will go rogue and end up burning any of your equipment.

I'm not willing to take the risk, Kushiel. Too many ousts stuffed by unexpected reactions, DIs, Sudden Reversals, etc. But I'll think about it a little more.

Any opinions on the crypt, anyone? That's the part that is really making me nervous.

Dorrinal wrote:

I'm not willing to take the risk, Kushiel. Too many ousts stuffed by unexpected reactions, DIs, Sudden Reversals, etc. But I'll think about it a little more.

For what it's worth, I had at least one Troublemaker and some equipment in all of the three grinder decks with which I've won tournaments. Not once do I recall a Troublemaker ever coming back around to affect me at all.

Dorrinal wrote:

Any opinions on the crypt, anyone? That's the part that is really making me nervous.

Well, what do you reasonably expect your ready region to look like? Given how the crypt looks now, I assume you want 1x Polly Kay, 1x Ladislas and 1x other vamp. If that's the case, I'd make the crypt 4x of each of the main two, 1x each of four other guys, and run three Wider View.

That's more or less what I expect. The deck can probably run with only 1 archbishop out, but either way there should be 3 minions out.