Harbingers of Trophies 0.01 (rough draft)

Hi all,

Rather than a fully designed deck list, this is more of a design diary for a concept in its very early stages. I started by looking at clans that are usually not combat-focused and wondering how I could turn them into effective Trophy-hunting decks. Because, y'know, I'm tired of scoring VPs in games and want more interesting ways to lose
The first two I started with are Kiasyd and Harbingers, perhaps for no other reason than they sit next to each in my folders.

I pictured the Kiasyd Trophy deck as using some combination of Entombment, Earth Swords and Darkness Within to pick off allies & low- to mid-cap minions, then using Amaranth + Trophy: Diablerie to safely nibble their vamps.
The Trophies to include in such a deck would be Diablerie, clearly, plus Revered and perhaps Clan Loyalty - essentially, a bruise-bleed deck. Hunting Ground is always good, and could help pay for some of the expensive combat cards being used.
Other benefits of Kiasyd:
* some splash, to allow you to Daemonically Possess the burned minions back to you.
* Access to means bleed potential if Plan A doesn't work, not to mention Graverobbing if a non-Red Listed minion steps in your way.
* Access to stealth assists in getting key actions through.
Weaknesses for the Kiasyd are that they've only got three titled minions, so let's look at those;
* Omme is a 7-cap with and a decent cost-reduction special. Good, but not setting my world alight. The lack of Necromancy means no Possession tricks, but so be it.
* Pherydima is an 8-cap, . She's well set up for possession tricks, but might not be the main rusher.
* Marconius (9-cap, ) has got most of the goods. His additional strength and inferior fist means he'd be better set for another deck, I think.

So, nothing particularly amazing there - it'd be a Kiasyd deck that could throw some punches, but the Trophy angle doesn't give them many new tools. What about Harbingers? Two titled minions here, and some interesting specials. Unre's ability to gain permanent intercept from burning minions is very worthwhile, and using it in a Trophy deck (with Trophy: Domain, naturally) would be the best and perhaps only use for that effect I've ever seen. Just as interesting is Anisa Marianna Lopez - she isn't titled, but she has a 'burn weenie vampire' option as an inbuilt action - again, very nice for a Trophy deck.

Unlike the Kiasyd bruise/bleed module, Harbingers lend themselves more to bruise/intercept. Going with that, let's say we're looking at a Trophy module of Diablerie, Domain, Revered and maybe Hunting Ground.

The core of the crypt probably looks like this;
3x Anisa Marianna Lopez 8 cap,
3x Unre, Keeper of Golgotha 10 cap,
2x Mina Grotius 6 cap,
... plus 4 misc vamps with helpful specials, probably including 1-2 Anarch Converts to effectively reduce the crypt size.

Action module:
Pulse of the Canaille
Rush actions (Big Game, Bum's Rush, Harass)
Red List (obviously)
I was going to include Chair of Hades but that 'removes' rather than burns, so perhaps some Release the Shackled Soul instead for ally-burning.

Action Mods:
Freak Drives, plus the typical range of stealth you see from a Harbingers deck (including a couple of Crocodile's Tongue).

Combat Module:
Autonomic Mastery (for Unre)
Dead Hand (unpreventable by ... suck it, wall decks)
Mercy for Seth (burns mortals)
Pulled Fangs
Target Vitals
Taste of Vitae
Telepathic Tracking (for Unre only)
Trap?
Damage prevention in the form of Superior Mettle + Soak to stop simple grapple decks + enviro-damage.
Things I'd love to include but don't have room: a Thin Blood or 2 to scare the crap out of people in combat with Anisa, and a copy of Soul Stealing.

Equipment:
Erebus Mask
Ivory Bow (to take down long-range Aid from Bats decks)
Kevlar Vest
Leather Jacket

Masters:
Fame
KRCG News Radio
Tension in the Ranks
Trophy: Various
Villein (blood to be recouped by Taste)
Various crypt & transfer acceleration/manipulation: Info Highway, Wider View, Zillah's Valley

Reactions:
the regular mix of things here, with a tendency toward Precognition and Spirit's Touch.

Events:
Now, here's where things get tricky. I figure that it may be difficult to land a blow on my prey if I'm surrounded by Strike: Combat Ends, but what if I used Absim's Army? AA creates chump blockers and bleeders that could be moderately easy to Red List, rush and burn. And if my prey doesn't create AA ghouls, fine, I'll make my own and bleed him.

So, thoughts? I know it's very sketchy but do you think it could work?

cheers

Disco Stu
Prince of Melbourne, Australia

Disco_Stu wrote:

So, thoughts? I know it's very sketchy but do you think it could work?

Here's what I think about trophies in general:
1.a. Build a well functioning deck with a lot of combat but no access to permarush.
OR
1.b. Build a well functioning bruise deck that would benefit from the ability to dump combat cards every once in a while (I'm thinking something like !/Ventrue grinder).
2. Add 2-4 Red Lists and trophies.
3. Enter combat by marking the red list minion.
4. Enter combat by trying to diablerize the red list minion.

In essence, build a deck that doesn't need trophies to win and treat the mechanic as a source of permanent rushes. If you ever get the trophies they should guarantee a win.

Alternative: Go w Trophy Progeny x 20
I'm sure it says somewhere in the rulebook a breed deck featuring Unre is worth an additional 1 VP

Actually could be a viable, if cheesey, idea - Add some DOM discipline masters & boost bleeds & bounce...

PS: it's a bit mean, but i think a trophy Nagaraja deck could be the real challenge, Disco. R U UP FOR IT???
U may be forgiven tho - no titles in the entire clan ;-(

Also, would u consider the Caiaphas Smith option for triggering the Trophies? ie: play caiaphas, he goes to the pred, red list him, rush/burn & grab the goodies...
Namely suggested as it's a reliable target u can easily take down w autonomic mastery.

technobabble66 wrote:

Also, would u consider the Caiaphas Smith option for triggering the Trophies? ie: play caiaphas, he goes to the pred, red list him, rush/burn & grab the goodies...
Namely suggested as it's a reliable target u can easily take down w autonomic mastery.

Or, for the gentleman who prefers to lose with style, Uriah Winter + Anisa Marianna Lopez.

If you're playing with Harbringers, you should be rushing with Nose of the Hound. Nothing as good as rushing with built-in stealth on the action, combine it with an Erebus Mask you've got a Harbringer heat-seeking missile of combat.

I'd be looking at basically Skin of Night, Trap, Dawn Op with Nose of the Hound. Which would result in a +2 stealth with auto-agg for your opponent, convert agg to normal for you and anough rounds from the Trap to make sure you put them down. How you destroy them after that is your problem. You can then easily turn around and use Pulse + Erebus Mask as a good way to pressure your prey.

Maabara should make an appearance. Maybe NEC tricks like possession.

Here is a fairly rough draft deck that could work.

Deck Name : Trophies of Skulls
Author : Juggernaut1981
Description :



Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 6 max: 9 average: 7.08333

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3x Gisela Harden, The 7 FOR NEC aus dem priscus Harbinger:2
3x Agaitas, The Schol 6 AUS NEC for Harbinger:2
2x Unre, Keeper of Go 9 AUS FOR NEC dom ser thn bishop Harbinger:2
2x Anisa Marianna Lop 8 FOR NEC QUI aus Harbinger:2
2x Mina Grotius 6 FOR NEC cel Harbinger:3


Library [80 cards]

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Action [28]
6x Daemonic Possession
6x Death Pact
6x Nose of the Hound
4x Pulse of the Canaille
6x Red List

Action Modifier [14]
6x Dawn Operation
8x Freak Drive

Ally [1]
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)

Combat [22]
6x Dead Hand
4x Skin of Night
6x Superior Mettle
6x Trap

Equipment [2]
2x Erebus Mask

Master [13]
1x Giant's Blood
1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
2x Maabara
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
4x Trophy: Diablerie
2x Trophy: Domain
2x Trophy: Revered