Four casual games decks for evaluation

Adonai wrote:

I didn't find anything in your library that would make you want to restrict yourself to Camarilla Malkavians. If you were to throw in some Malkavian Antitribu, you could get a second unique hunting ground, and have Santaleous bleeding for three without cards while gaining plenty of blood at the beginning of your turns. Perhaps Marge Khan instead of Gem Ghastly?

An interesting idea. Too bad I don't own those vampires, but I could possibly trade them later on. both Marge and Hagar seem interesting. I'm usually big for clan integrity within decks, but that's no bad idea adding !Malks.

What do you mean by 'aggressive politics'?

Bleeding like hell. It sounded cool.

I think your pool gain is a lot lower than it could be when you have Renewed Vigor at your disposal. I don't think you need The Rack, as you should spend your efforts defending your pool instead. I'd drop it and the Dementation skill card, for more Villein if you have them, more Vessel/Blood Doll if you don't.

Fair enough. A decent bloodgain equals as decent defence in this deck, however. As long as Serenna is at good blood, everything's fine. If I don't draw Heidelberg early on, keeping her blood high could get problematic. You have a point with villeins/vessels/blood dolls, however. I think I have one villein spare still...

Superior Dementation enables Serenna to use plenty of cards way more effective, including Deny, Kindred Spirits, Confusion... This enables diversity, but if it's worth it, I'll have to experiment.

I'm not convinced that Pulse of the Canaille is good for you here. Free permanent bleed is almost always a better choice. J.S. Simmons, Tasha Morgan, and/or Camera Phone would all work well. I'm of the opinion that it and Restoration should both be dropped for more Renewed Vigor.

3 blood is, fair enough, a lot, and I remember discarding the card because of that. Just laptops and phones should work wonders here. Also, they are transferable with Heidelberg.

I'd be partial to more Freak Drive and fewer Mind Tricks. Veil the Legions before Mind Tricks as well.

I don't know if I can spare much freak drives. They aren't an infinite supply, I'm afraid. Veil the Legions I can manage, though. I just hate it when you have to have untapped vampires to use it.

Mind tricks take up blood, which is a problem. Agreed.

Forced Awakening or Fillip instead of Wakes? (To keep your hand size up.)

I don't understand what good Fillip is for here. Forced Awakening is fair enough.

Combat looks ok, if you are blocking a lot with Serenna. Another minion with fortitude might be a good idea.

Thank you.

Adonai wrote:

Tupdog is a bit baffling to me here. He can't take any of your actions, he can't bleed, he can't usefully play any of your reactions. Anarch Convert (or any other Caitiff) can do all of the same things for you (being a cheap minion, and it will actually stay around).

Tupdogs feed Shambling Hordes. I can't think of an easier way of making zombies than Shambling Tupdogs. A pool, granted, but still easy to pull off.

I'd replace the Two Wrongs with Narrow Minds, since you only have 3 Deflections. I'd also consider Wider View in place of the Discipline masters. Fortschritt Library to ensure that you get The Unmasking in play is also nice. Do you have a Jake Washington to throw in instead of one of the Procurers? Blood gained at the beginning of your turn can make a ton of difference in your offense over the course of a game.

I don't own Narrow Minds. Also, 2 blood for a bounce of my own is lame. But I see where you're getting. Same with Fortschritt Library.

Only Jake's in Serenna, sadly. It's not one of those cards you'd have plenty of, and I think I need it more in Serenna. Also, Tupdogs should do Wider View's job just the same, as well as feed the zombies.

With the horrendous amount of bloodgain (if I get the setup going), I'd need more vessels and blood dolls, however.

I'm not convinced that Divine Sign should ever appear in a deck that isn't devoted to ousting via intercept combat. Since it does untap you when you successfully put it into play, it isn't 100% horrible, but there are likely better actions to take. I'm not convinced you need the Blithe Acceptance, it would either be over-kill in my current environment or completely blood draining. I'd rather see those three as Elder Impersonation. Little Mountain Cemetery would also be a great choice if you have those.

Divine Sign is a bit off, that's true. At least when I have two of those. I think I just needed to try it out - not too much of an investment to be honest. Blithe Acceptance is a funny one, and especially if I could pull off more Freak Drives here, the static stealth could make all the difference. It's that funny a card I'm not ready to give it up yet. We'll get to stealth later. I also don't see Little Mountain Cemetary too good if the deck doesn't exactly work for the card - as in, plenty of vampires, and plenty of Cemetaries. I own 3 or 4, I think.

I've yet to be convinced that Procurer is better than simply playing another copy of Perfectionist. If you are in need of blood, your first step in addressing it shouldn't be to lose two blood. I also think you need more allies to be able to reliably bring the Hordes into play when they come into your hand.

I think 2 perfectionists are enough in almost any deck. At least one I will keep in there - the second was basically added to help me get one early on. The deck has a tendancy of running out of blood very quickly.

Allies I will need more of. I was thinking of one copy of both kinds of zombies. Also a werewolf? Those just don't go well with the theme. Any interesting necromany allies around, or some ghouls, hunters...?

A bit low for my taste, you could drop probably half of your combat if your actions were simply succeeding in the first place. i.e. I'd go for more Cloak/Veil to get the bleeds of the allies through.

It is low, I admit. Cloaks and Veils will get added, most likely - I'll just need to have a couple of copies of those allies to make best use of them. Good point about the combat.

I'd lean a bit more towards the On The Qui Vive. That way your Reanimated Corpses can get that last action in before they lose their last pathos counter and still block on their way out.

I would too, on a second glance. I don't know why I have that many wakes in there. Propably 'cause of the new artwork?

Pulled Fangs? The Shambling Hordes will hit for a sufficient amount that it is frequently playable. The Reanimated Corpses hit for two as well, so it is easily played by them. With this much combat, I think you need a reliable way to get into combat to cycle it. Perhaps change up some of the reactions to be more able to block and cycle cards on other players' turns?

Pulled Fangs are in another deck at the moment, but that deck will get changed anyways soon enough - bastard sword/pulled fangs/target vitals/dark intensifying goggles with Harbingers wasn't too much of a success. But pulled fangs, definitely. Works wonders with basically all minions in this deck.

That's a lot of combat. I wanted to try how it works: not too shabby. The combos work, but the idea of the deck is avoidance anyways. That said, way too much combat. I've seriously humiliated even Brujah Combat a couple of times with Withering and Groaning Corpses, but going just defensive with that huge a lot of red cards isn't that good an idea.

Blocking's a bit of a problem. Possibly Hag's Wrinkles + sport bike? Not too thematic, I'm afraid. Only Baron can use spectral divination on superior without the discipline card. Adding a copy of almost every radio could do the trick.

Tupdogs feed Shambling Hordes. I can't think of an easier way of making zombies than Shambling Tupdogs. A pool, granted, but still easy to pull off.

Discarding is free.
Take any 4 allies and dump them in your ash heap.
Instant Shambling Hordes.


Re: posting 4 decks in one thread

I was kind of afraid that would happen, but at the same time I really didn't know if people would appreciate a newcomer littering the forums with four different deck threads.

Are you in a hurry? If you still can't find a local game, post one deck a week and see what develops.

B)

anarchfreepress.myzen.co.uk/vtesuk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=929

Kraus wrote:

Fair enough. I was kind of afraid that would happen, but at the same time I really didn't know if people would appreciate a newcomer littering the forums with four different deck threads. I guess I went wrong there.

Honestly, the first time I looked at this I thought "Ok, I've got Crypts... and descriptions... where's the rest?" I don't mind you putting in a block of 4 decks, it allows us to specifically tailor the advice to the specific deck and also if other people are planning a version of the same deck they can get the variety of opinions in the one place undiluted.

on the True Brujah deck:

I think the masters could use more work as well. Sudden/Wash was already suggested, they could replace the Two Wrongs. you won't always cancel a bounce, but you'll always have a use for canceling masters. Replace the Vessels with Blood Dolls. I think accelerating your crypt would be worth it to generate more Caitiffs, so I recommend Information Highway, Effective Management, or Wider View.

Hidden Lurker can be untapped from if you already have a Clotho's Gift in play, which could be interesting. On the other hand, all you're gaining from it is another combat. It might as well be another rush action.

Lapse is hella expensive but it trumps so much combat I'd still recommend a few, not too many. People often overlook that at it can stop all maneuvers. even getting the +2 strength at is acceptable if you're planning to taste the blood back anyway.

I think Decapitate is usually overkill. Disarm is better and works well with your OtH and prevention cards. and if you need to permanently remove a dangerous vampire, you can have the caitiffs diablerize them for you.

Ravnos Remnants deck:

Master (22, 8 trifles)
1 Chimerstry
1 Erciyes Fragments, The
1 Fortune Teller Shop
1 Kumpania
2 Life in the City
1 Park Hunting Ground
3 Path of Paradox, The
1 Pentex(TM) Subversion
1 Perfectionist
1 Sudden Reversal
2 Svadharma
4 Vessel
2 Villein
1 Week of Nightmares

pretty good master selection. when I play with this many trifles I like to use a Storage Annex to stash the extras for next turn, and here it can hold the Week of Nightmares too. just my style, though.

Action (9)
2 Biothaumaturgic Experiment
1 Entrenching
2 Fatuus Mastery
2 Reality
2 Rutor's Hand

Rutor's Hand looks cool, but you don't really have that many actions in this deck to use it on. Clueless players just end up using their free actions to hunt every turn and get the 4 blood back. Besides, you already have freak drives.

Biothaumaturgic Experiment is also odd. Compare it to Baseball Bat, which practically gives you +1 strength as long as you're not grappled. You lose the maneuver, but it has no requirements and you get an untap at the end of turn.

If you want to make the most of Thaumaturgy, there are better cards. Magic of the Smith, Seeds of Corruption, Blood of Sandman -- these all have strong effects you can't find anywhere else.

Reaction (20)
4 Deflection
1 Forced Awakening
5 Ignis Fatuus
4 Instinctive Reaction
1 On the Qui Vive
2 Rat's Warning
3 Wake with Evening's Freshness

I'm more a fan of Cat's Guidance over Instinctive Reaction. untap or intercept is very versatile.

swap a few Ignis Fatuus out for Draba, maybe?

Combat (14)
5 Apparition
5 Apportation
2 Burst of Sunlight
2 Theft of Vitae

this is where I feel the thaumaturgy angle just doesn't pay off at all. Only about half your crypt can play those cards. Apparition is a great card. Apportation is awkward. It really seems to me like you'd be better off using the old Apparition + Trap combo. Mix in some for carrion crows and it becomes so much stronger than a random Theft or Burst.