Ahrimanes - Need Help Please

oh, I was thinking, maybe it can help : I won a tournament a couple of years ago with this deck :
www.lotusnoir.info/vampire/decks/ahrimane-assault/
there's a graphical view of all the cards in it at the bottom of the page

there's a couple of Stick in the crypt, but the result would be essentially the same with one more Darlene and one more Sahanna. Stick is fragile and cannot play nose of the hound or spiritus cards, so I have to modify it. But it really works as it is.

Clearly a more combat-focused Ahrimanes deck. I think you need more offense.

-1 Guardian Angel
-1 Hungry Coyote
-5 Vessel

+4 Blood Doll
+1 Giant's Blood
+1 Dreams of the Sphinx

-1 Entrancement
-1 Heart of the City
-3 Nose of the Hound

+6 Deep Song

-1 Flak Jacket
-2 Raven Spy

+2 Squirrel Balance

-2 Cats' Guidance
+2 Speak with Spirits

-1 Aid from Bats
-1 Carrion Crows
-1 Pack Alpha
+2 Majesty

+2 Swiftness of the Stag

That should keep the card count the same. If you want to add more, I'd fill up the rest with 4x Social Charm and 2x more Squirrel Balance.

Jeff wrote:

Clearly a more combat-focused Ahrimanes deck. I think you need more offense.

See, that is just it. I am kind of confused what direction to take this deck and here is why. Currently I would say the deck is very tool boxy. It can block relatively well, has some rush ability, and bleeds at relatively small amounts but has things like Dragonbound and Fame to help offset that.

While that sounds all nice and good it still lacks. But, if I take it the offensive route I am left wondering why I am playing Ahrimanes when I could just be playing small to midcap animalism rush as I can get out more vamps. If I take it the defensive route then I am left wondering why I just don't play another deck that doesn't act as a better wall or what my plan would be if I am aiming to oust my prey at some point. Thus I would still need some rush and probably things like Dragonbound, etc.

What Ahrimanes have is decent flex cards like Swiftness of the Stag, Speak with Spirits, and Falcons Eye while things like Engling Fury can be nice as well. They also have some nice intercept between animalism and spiritus. And presence also gives access to things like Entrancement. What they don't have is built in bleed power, but access to presence which can provide that.

Ahrimanes can do a lot of things so they are good at being jack of all trades, but master of none. The moment I super focus on offense or defense there may be better deck options for that sort of thing.

So my goal is to build the best Ahrimanes deck possible that will perform the best possible in an environment like a championship (more State Side than Europe).

Stick with the toolbox aspect, that's what ahrimanes do the best. But keep enough untap to deter your predator's offensive, and deny both predator and prey from tooling up and getting an edge over you in the long run.
That's my vision of ahrimanes, but your mileage may vary.

Still, to add something constructive : As much as i like the toolbox aspect don't really like deepsong in this deck. I think it's half assed. you have access to presence for nice bleeds, to nose of the hound for nice rushes.
The stealth on the rush, the additional bleed and pool gain effect on presence bleeds is worth specializing a bit. Play both in reasonable quantities, but use your deepsong in real decks where they shine most.

RoddimusPrime wrote:

Currently I would say the deck is very tool boxy.

And I heartily agree that Ahrimanes are one of the best toolbox clans around except they lack bounce. My adjustments were intended to focus a little bit more on bleeding than blocking and combat.

The drawback to your crypt is lack of The Siamese whose inherent +1 bleed is huge for the clan. So having 10-12 total bleed actions (some of which have dual purpose as rushes) is just about right. I didn't take out any of the combat damage cards, but added more stealth and flexibility. Social Charm bleed should not be underestimated. Many people will just take the bleed for 2 and give you a free pool (and the Edge).

Engling Fury is one card I left off as well, though I'd find room for 2-3 of those as well. One final alternate suggestion is 1x Archon Investigation.

RoddimusPrime wrote:

...See, that is just it. I am kind of confused what direction to take this deck.....

That is the nature of G4 Ahrimanes, where they become [ANI] focused. At least G2 has 2 well-defined minions roles (Howler = block, Siamese = bleed). G4 minions seem more "taks at hand" - therefore more seat-of-the-pants.

That said, I think you still need to be able to take advantage of your prey's moments weakness. Your current construct is entirely unable to do that, which is a big part of why the deck seems less appealing to you.

I would go less block-centric, ratchet up some lunge and find ways to improve card flow.

Here are my suggestions. I don't know if the numbers add up less than 90.... didn't try to perfectly balance for any specific number of cards .

CRYPT.

-1 Darlene, +1 Ayiana. You pay 1 more and don't get [ani] - but inferior Animalism is mostly useless anyway. In return, you get

 (and crappy stealth).  Until lunge time, you have another option for your Hungry Coyote blood farm.



Action package

You can drop an Entrancement, maybe even 2.  [ANI] doesn't fear allies, so it's not vital to steal them.  Sure, its good, but seeing a War Ghoul anywhere on the table shouldn't give you pause even without Entrancement in hand.



Drop 3 Noses, add 2 Deep Songs, increases your bleed potential and will combo with the Majesty I suggest for a minimal Tap-n-Bleed effect.



When I see a 
 7 cap and a 
 6 cap in a deck, I think it's unforgivable to not run Enchant Kindred.  You buy 2 pool and 2 transfers every time you play it in the early going (e.g., 4+2=1 turn 6 cap).  Every time you play it late, well, you know..... With this crypt and [SPI] untap-intercept options, I would run 5-6 Enchants without a second thought.  You won't need stealth for [PRE} Enchanting - you have [ANI]



Modifiers

Drop 1 Swiftness

Add 2 Squirrel Balance

Add 1 Mole't Tunneling.

Add 1-2 Aire of Elation



Look, its a stealth bleed module to go with that 
 action we just included.  Repeat after me "Muricia, with Heart of the City and Robert Carter, Enchants for 8 with this Aire of Elation.  Your minions get -2 intercept, OK?"



The best part, all of the -1 intercep options can be freely played if you need to cycle.



Combat



The combat package is fairly heavy for a "toolbox design."  I would be inclined to drop 2 Carrion Crows, drop 3 Aids from Bats, add 1 Taste.



Consider changing the Canine Hordes to Drawing out the Beast (they can't press to end against your Aid from Bats, they'll take an extra damage which you can Taste and if you do get hit once, oh well.)



Add 2 Majesties.  I put 1-2 S:CE in every combat deck, because things just go wrong sometimes.  You can another option....Deep Song rush a deflector, tap them, Majesty and bleed with Enchant Kindred.  It's kind of cornercase with only 2 of each, but the Majesty doubles as a post-block defensive untap too (saves a Speak with Spirits, combos with Channel 10).



Equipment

Drop the prevent, add a Heart of Niz.  You're a toolbox deck.  Nothing says "go from defense to offense" and "it's too early for Aire" like the Heart.



Add Ivory Bow.  I know you can blow it up, or kill the minion with it.  Using it is even better.



Event

I know you want to fight stuff.  That's OK......but bleed instead of locking 6 hand size in your toolbox design.  And with the suggested 
 bleed additions, Dragonbound is extraneous.



Master

Drop the 3 Vessels, make em Blood Dolls.  With all the Villein we see these days, the problem of losing Blood Doll to pred/prey Vessel is almost non-existent.  You might want to keep 2 of these conversion cards as Vessels.  It's inefficent and slow, but hedges master jam and destruction risks.



Add 1 Dreams of the Sphinx (see Heart of Cheating).



Drop the Wash.  One cancel, giving them back another MPA is pretty weaksauce these days, especially with all the damn Ashur's floating around.



Insert a Haven Uncovered.  You can protect it and it's a persistent way to drop combat cards mid-turn if you need to.  Stick it on something without [OBF] and profit.



Heidleburg is a must add - moving retainers, tasted blood, and Coyote hunt blood is too important in a deck that is built this way.



Consider 1 Channel 10.  Even if you miss the first action's block, you'll have people 2nd guessing anything else in your turn.  Stupidly powerful in a deck with true untap reactions, and/or untap S:CE



The Guardian Angel is a possible cull.  I would be tempted to turn it into a Blessing of the Beast, working the hand with Heart and Dreams before firing it.



Reaction

Drop 1 Sense the Savage Way (only 1 minion can use it).



Retainer

Drop 1-2 Murder......aren't Carrion Crows (and DotB good enough)?



Consider dropping 1 Raven.  If you do, you might drop to 2 Pack Alpha (or maybe not, with better card flow)



Consider 1 Robert Carter.  Remember, with Heidleburg, these things are always where you need them.  Getting double mileage from Carter = 4 bleed per turn.



Consider 1 Owl Companion.  Nice to see the AI or wake/deflect in advance (even on you predator).



Allies

Add 1 Carlton Van Wyk.  Mandatory inclusion for a toolbox wall.



Dang, long post - sorry about that......lots of stuff to think about.