bginner's deck: Giovanni Shamblers

One path could become a hunting ground to avoid jamming on them and add some variety (always good for a beginner deck). Without Unmasking, I would consider intercept locations, for example instead of Swiss Cut, Dis Pater and a Fame (in that order if you add less than 3 locations).

Replace the Bondings with Conditioning. This deck does not need Stealth when bleeding, it needs to oust fast once the table has been cleaned and at that point you don't care about spending your last blood anymore. Or if you want more variety, do something like 2 Conditioning, 2 Threats, 1 Bonding.

And if possible, On the Qui Vive instead of Wake.

Adonai wrote:

Molloy wrote:

The deck is one of several I am building to offer beginners -- people who have at least seen a demo but are still fairly new to the game.

To give away, or to lend out?

I make these decks to lend out and/or sell for a few dollars. That's why it doesn't have Charisma or The Unmasking or Sudario -- I can't part with any of those.

If it helped get a new player involved, I'd sell them this deck for $3.

Molloy wrote:

The deck is one of several I am building to offer beginners -- people who have at least seen a demo but are still fairly new to the game.

This is way more complex than what I would do for a deck specifically designed to give to a beginner. This is more along the lines of a deck I happen to have already built that would be less complex than my usual decks.

Master (14)
4x The Path of Bone
3x Life in the City (trifle)
2x Fame
1x The Barrens
1x Dis Pater
1x Giant's Blood
1x Powerbase: Cape Verde
1x Swiss Cut

I would drop Dis Pater, Cape Verde, and Swiss Cut. Replace with Blood Dolls. Dis Pater requires making decisions and paying attention to one's ash heap and not eating one's own Shambler materials. Cape Verde is much more complex than a Blood Doll and far, far less common. Swiss Cut is esoteric and requires paying attention to see if something that won't happen will add a counter to it.

I'm not opposed to more complex cards when the card is going to be ubiquitously played, e.g. Perfectionist.

Ally (16)
11x Shambling Hordes
3x Procurer
1x Gregory Winter
1x Tye Cooper

I would drop Gregory and Tye, as adding a great deal of unnecessary complexity.

Combat (16)
4x Fake Out
4x Trap
2x Dead Hand
2x Dead-End Alley
2x Pulled Fangs
1x Glancing Blow
1x Target Hand

Dead Hand, Alley, and Target Hand are esoteric *and* odd. I don't see any compelling reason to add Pulled Fangs or Glancing Blow. While Pulled Fangs's complexity largely just matters to the opponent, people should know what their own cards do and reading it is just a hassle when there are far more important things to understand about the game and the deck. One-ofs should be minimized, which would be my argument against Glancing Blow.

Thanks for all the suggestions (which I don't mean as a call to stop suggesting; share 'em if you got 'em!). I'll definitely use some of them. I'm not going to switch to Govern and Conditioning because of the blood cost. I'm not using Acquired Ventrue Assets because all the cards are new-layout.

My experience is that newbies who will actually stick with the game don't want a deck that's too simple. They tend to like to read and learn about the cards in the game, and some of the things that make the game fun are different than the things that make a deck highly efficient or extremely easy to play.

ICL wrote:

Dead Hand, Alley, and Target Hand are esoteric *and* odd.

Trap + Target Hand rocks!
Playing Target Hand might save some lives on the Shambler giving it slightly more bang for the buck.

Lönkka wrote:

ICL wrote:

Dead Hand, Alley, and Target Hand are esoteric *and* odd.

Trap + Target Hand rocks!
Playing Target Hand might save some lives on the Shambler giving it slightly more bang for the buck.

It's fun against guns, too.