Riff Raff (from Cause & Effect 8's Deck Clinic)

By popular demand I'm opening a thread to discuss the deck I sent to be operated in the show.

I don't have the version available that the guys did in the show though...
Does one of the hosts have the new *sniff* raped version to post here?

Haven't had time to put a proper look in the operated version, but it sure looked totally different take from mine. MUCH more focused, in good and bad. I do suspect that it'll perform better than previously, but I'll see when I'll be able to play it -I'm really looking forward to it! Haven't played any since Warsaw and our current kitchen renovation hasn't really helped any



You can go to secretlibrary.info and search for decks under my nickname (Lönkka). The deck in question is Riff Raff and the version dissected at the show was Riff Raff 2.4. I posted all the past versions of it as well as the original version, Perfect Pulse so if you're REALLY interested you can check the shabby evolution of it.

Here's the info I sent the guys:
Somewhat toolboxy but the main idea is to be able to bleed a metric shitload with Paul Cordwood and make sure he isn't intercepted. Originally the deck also had MANY copies of Perfect Clarity but those were removed (however 1 copy was added just recently).

Infernal Pact is for Paul (OBF).
Monocle of Clarity (1st question: "Do you have any copies of Archon Investigtion in your deck?", Afterwards: "Are you currently able to bounce my bleed?" or something similar)

Heh, sometimes Drusilla's special is golden.
Like in the Finnish NC 2010 where she took control of my predator's Arika who Diablerized my predator's Democritius (EDIT: Actually both were my PREY'S vamps which is, erm, even better). And voted for the bloodhunt to burn herself. Pure gold!

Modify howevermuch you want.


Regarding the name of the deck, Paul Cordwood is a dead-on lookalike for Richard O'Brien (Riff Raff of the classic Rocky Horror Picture Show AND the writer of the original play).
If you are ignorant (WTF!?), here's a crash course


Couple of additional clarifications behind the original decks reasoning:
-wanted to have star minion (Paul C) that could bleed plenty (even like 9 or so).
-wanted to have support vamps with OBF that could Cloak and Veil.
-wanted most of the support vampires to have useable, if sometimes a cornercase, special ability. (Sennadurek is golden! Most likely untaps after Telepathic Misdirection AND often goves you a glimpse at the hands of your prey and predator).
-wanted to have Political defence provided by some titled vampires.
-wanted to most of the support vampire being able to play Pulse of Canaille too. Having, say, 3 vamps with Pulse is nice.
-Paul usually seems to be rather low on blood so plenty of blood recursion (Blood of the Sabbat IS so great and Procurer is quite good. Get them both with support vampires). Hence also the concentration on Auspex bounce which is going to be played by the support vamps.
-Gran Madre Di Dio is also a defence against weenie decks in general, not just Tupdogs. Same goes for Aranthebes -don't really want to block and against weenies that is kinda redundant and the bounce is gonna run out against them.
-Kindred Segregation is protection aginst packs of War Ghouls and Nephandi. Stealing one won't do much good...

Deck Name: Riff Raff 2.4
Author: Lönkka
Description:
Now with added Sennadurek goodness 'cause she's so awesome. Also the small combat module was removed.

Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=5 max=8 avg=6.83)
===============================================
1x Drusilla Euphemia 6 !Malkavian:4
1x General Perfidio Díos 5 !Malkavian:3
1x Ladislas Toth, The Torch 7 !Tremere:3
3x Marie Faucigny 7 !Malkavian:3
1x Matthew Romans 7 Pander:4
3x Paul Cordwood 8 !Tremere:4
2x Sennadurek 6 Nagaraja:4

Library (90 cards)
==================
Master (18)
1x Blood Doll
1x Elder Library
1x Giant's Blood
1x Golconda: Inner Peace
1x Infernal Pact
1x Institution Hunting Ground
1x Jake Washington (Hunter)
1x Lilith's Blessing
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Perfectionist
2x Secure Haven
1x University Hunting Ground
4x Vessel
1x Wider View

Action (16)
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
1x Blood of the Sabbat
1x Dominate Kine
1x Far Mastery
5x Govern the Unaligned
4x Pulse of the Canaille
2x Revelations
1x Scouting Mission

Political Action (1)
1x Kindred Segregation

Equipment (4)
1x Gran Madre di Dio, Italy
2x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Monocle of Clarity

Ally (3)
2x Hexaped
1x Procurer

Action Modifier (28)
5x Bonding
4x Cloak the Gathering
3x Conditioning
1x Elder Impersonation
1x Foreshadowing Destruction
4x Mirror Walk
1x Perfect Clarity
5x Seduction
4x Veil the Legions

Reaction (20)
1x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics
1x Eluding the Arms of Morpheus
6x Eyes of Argus
1x Poison Pill
2x Redirection
7x Telepathic Misdirection

Here's the pimped version of the deck Riff Raff. We acctually did post it in the Cause and Effect 08 thread, but behind a spoiler alert thingy!

Anyways, enjoy!

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 20, Max: 32, Avg: 6.58)

---

1 Andrew Stuart AUS DOM THA 5 Tremere
1 Frondator dom tha AUS 5 Tremere Antitribu
1 Graham Gottesman obf pre tha DOM FOR7 Ventrue
1 Halim Bey DOM SER obf tha6 Followers of Set
1 Janine aus dom tha 4 Tremere Antitribu
1 Jefferson Foster for tha AUS DOM6 Ventrue Antitribu
4 Paul Cordwood obf pre AUS DOM THA8 Tremere Antitribu
2 Preston Varrick aus nec DOM OBF THA7 Tremere

Library: (75 cards)

---

Master (9 cards)
1 Anarch Troublemaker
1 Coven, The
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Jake Washington (Hunter)
1 Life in the City
1 Misdirection
1 Pentex Subversion
2 Secure Haven

Action (19 cards)
1 Far Mastery
12 Govern the Unaligned
4 Magic of the Smith
2 Revelations

Action Modifier (27 cards)
5 Bonding
2 Cloak the Gathering
5 Conditioning
7 Mirror Walk
5 Seduction
3 Veil the Legions

Reaction (17 cards)
3 Deflection
2 Delaying Tactics
3 Eyes of Argus
1 My Enemy`s Enemy
3 On the Qui Vive
5 Telepathic Misdirection

Equipment (3 cards)
1 Gran Madre di Dio, Italy
1 Heart of Nizchetus
1 Monocle of Clarity

Lönkka wrote:

Monocle of Clarity (1st question: "Do you have any copies of Archon Investigtion in your deck?", Afterwards: "Are you currently able to bounce my bleed?" or something similar)

I would just answer I don't remember to the first question. Or just say yes I do, you can always remember incorrectly. I don't think you have to remember exact contents of your deck, though I might be wrong.

Azazel wrote:

Lönkka wrote:

Monocle of Clarity (1st question: "Do you have any copies of Archon Investigtion in your deck?", Afterwards: "Are you currently able to bounce my bleed?" or something similar)

I would just answer I don't remember to the first question. Or just say yes I do, you can always remember incorrectly. I don't think you have to remember exact contents of your deck, though I might be wrong.

"I don't remember" isn't a option and I think it is downright cheesy to claim that you can't recall if you have any copies of pivotal card in your deck. Possible yes, but highly unlikely.

FROM THE NEWSGROUP
> So, in this example, she isn't allowed to say "I don't know" as her answer?
LSJ:
Card text: He or she must answer "yes" or "no" truthfully

LSJ does also say "Best for the asker to stick to what can be "known" a couple of times. So it would be best not to ask questions cardwise on anything that is not immediately visible but not explicitely forbidden.

It is difficult ground, but I do think that in most cases players tend to know things like that, but not necesarily if they have X or Y amount of cards A or B in their deck ("Do you have 8 Immortal Grapples in your deck?").

The card says "If the question pertains to the future, the answer is not binding." and a question regarding the deck contents isn't about the future. The deck was, is and will consist of the same cards during a tournament. Some cards mat be removed from the game, but these still belong to that deck, right? (besides, the removed cards are of no interest -those are already known)

Possible options, in order to get the answer right, could be the player to a) check his decklist (if they are used), b) leaf through his deck and reshuffle and c) have the judge leaf through the deck (no need for resuffling).


Monocle of Clarity
Unique equipment.
During your untap phase, if bearer is ready, you can ask any Methuselah a yes-or-no question pertaining to the game. He or she must answer yes or no truthfully. If the question pertains to the future, the answer is not binding.

Instead of continuing this here, I'll ask about it in the rules questions.

If the Infernal Pact was mainly for Ladislas, that would make sense.

But if it is mainly for Paul (and you don't have many !Tremere in your deck), I wonder if you're better off with just an Obfuscate skill card.

The Pact costs 1 pool and is Unique (meaning a potential contestation scenario). An Obfuscate skill card grants the same effect, is free, plus you get a capacity increase (might be useful for Governing down and other effects). You're not playing with any other disciplines that Paul doesn't already have, so the flexibility of Infernal Pact is wasted. Plus, the skill card could also be fetched with Lilith's Blessing and could potentially be used on the General or Sennadurek as well.

Solid points there!
In crappy crypt draw Infernal Pact can also indeed be used for Ladislas (who used to be more numerous in previous versions).

But Infernal Pact is so going to be replaced now.