TWD - Week of Nightmares - Origins Thursday 2 (18 June 2026)

Origins Thursday 2
Greater Columbus Convention Center
18/06/2026
Standard Constructed
2R + Finals
TO: Ben Peal
51 Players
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/13216

3VP in Final

Deck Name: [I'm the Face in Your] Dreams of Glass
Author: Anemone
Description: G7 Ravnos stealth bleed w/ defensive module

Crypt (12 cards, min=16 max=29 avg=5.58)
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1x Noluthando 8 ANI OBF PRE aus cel Ravnos:7
1x Sreelekha 8 ANI FOR OBF PRE Ravnos:7
1x Hafthor Thorsteinsson 7 ANI OBF PRE pot Ravnos:7
1x Doc Martina 6 ANI OBF for pre Ravnos:7
1x Luciano Carvalho 6 ANI OBF pre Ravnos:7
1x Roberto Rivamonte 6 ANI OBF PRE Ravnos:7
2x Phaibun 5 OBF PRE ani Ravnos:7
1x Gathii 5 ANI PRE obf Ravnos:7
1x Jean-François 4 ani obf pre Ravnos:7
1x Zafira 4 PRE obf Ravnos:7
1x Oleg Kaprizov 3 obf pre Ravnos:7

Library (90 cards)
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Master (18; 9 trifle)

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1x Anarch Railroad
1x Club Illusion
5x Dabbler
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fortune Teller Shop
1x From a Sinking Ship
1x Park Hunting Ground
1x Sudden Reversal
4x Villein
2x Week of Nightmares

Action (20)

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16x Break the Bonds
2x Entrancement
2x Field Training

Action Modifier (33)

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2x Elder Impersonation
2x Lost in Crowds
11x Memory Rift
3x Power of One
4x Spying Mission
2x Veil the Legions
9x Visions of Gehenna

Action Modifier/Combat (2)

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2x Swallowed by the Night

Reaction (14)

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3x Dogged Pursuit
4x Night Terrors
1x On the Qui Vive
6x Visions of Zapathasura

Combat (2)

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2x Majesty

Event (1)

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1x Narrow Minds

[I’m the Face in Your] Dreams of Glass
Aka
Ravnos G7 BtB SB w/ Defensive Reactions

6/18/2026 WoN Thursday evening tournament

3VP in finals

Finals table: Me -> G6 Tremere dominate bleed -> Oblivion Lasombra vote / bleed -> Dementation Malkavian stealth bleed -> G4 Toreador Vote

Somehow it seems appropriate that the deck I managed to win an event with this week included Week of Nightmares as a key component.

This post is intended more for a beginner player or someone who has never played Group 7 Ravnos before and wants to see the thought process behind card choices. Experienced players can probably just skip reading this entirely, as it’d be fairly apparent to them why certain cards are chosen.

Regarding the deck name: it’s lyrics from the Smashing Pumpkins song ‘Zero’. In addition to stealth bleed (normally) being a sharp, albeit brittle strategy (like glass), there’s also a line that mentions “a sinking ship”, which I managed to play in the finals. And besides the lone copy of ‘Dreams’ (of the Sphinx), we also have various Visions (‘dreams’) cards and Night Terrors; “Bullshit fakers” (Elder Impersonation); “Enchanted Kingdoms” via Entrancement. Idk, I also just like the band and that song, and the music video kinda looks like what I’d imagine an Elysium event for vampires in the WoD to be like. Billy Corgan also might actually be a vampire. Judge for yourself:



For the crypt: I love Hafthor and Phabun. Gathi is good as well. Sreelehka is actually very underrated, as both of her specials are extremely powerful and more than justify the 8 pool imho (the extra discard can really help fix situations where you’re stuck with the wrong portion of the deck in hand, and the +1 bleed really adds up over time) — I know a lot of players understandably feel like she’s too slow for this kind of deck, but that’s why she’s often a later influence rather than the initial choice (as you absolutely want to prioritize having a vamp out by the second turn at the latest, so you can immediately start the BtB onslaught). Point being here is that running 2x copies of any of these minor ‘stars’ is justifiable, but you really want diversity as you’d much prefer to see 4 unique vamps from the outset, rather than needing to buy a new one until it’s absolutely necessary. Another way I’ve seen it done successfully is by playing some number of Anarch Convert or even New Blood instead, in order to cycle the crypt easily (and sometimes, just having a lower cap can be helpful to block rushes on your Ravnos, or to perform various tasks like rescuing from torpor); alternatively you can think about playing some number of effective management and perhaps also wider view. Prioritize superior presence over the other 2 disciplines as you really want to be able to play Visions of Gehenna at superior, but in any case, so long as you have variety you can’t really go wrong.

Master module is basically solved: 4+ Villein, 4+ Dabbler, 1-2 Week of Nightmares, 1-2 Club Illusion. **NOTE**: don’t forget that dabbler triggers regardless of whether the action gets blocked or is successful, so long as you used 3 disciplines. I’m a firm believer in playing the +1 Stealth locations, as some blocky tables will practically require them (and in longer games they ensure you can preserve your stealth cards so you don’t run out of deck), and in other tables that don’t demand as much stealth you can just pitch them on the end step if they’re deemed unnecessary. To fill out the Masters (approximately 17-19 in 90 cards), you can then add various options in as you see fit (DI, AI, Pentex, Dreams, Jake Washington, PB Los Angeles, Park Hunting Ground, Garibaldi, Wash/Sudden — of which I prefer the latter, 1-2 Effective Management, and even more fancy/exotic stuff like an Anarch Revolt, Momentum’s Edge or From a Sinking Ship, etc. — basically it’s all to taste, and none feels particularly required over another choice, as each can and will find niche uses).

The offensive portion is also essentially solved: 16-18 BtB + 10-12 Memory Rift, 8-11 Rumors of Gehenna, and then tweak the stealth package from the selection of usual suspects for delivering bleeds (though I definitely love having at least 4 Spying Mission, and 2-4 Elder Impersonation to deal with certain otherwise frustrating scenarios — used selectively, these help with not inadvertently ousting your grand prey). Power of One also becomes really useful if you’re playing a lower number of Visions of Gehenna, but be aware that anything that costs blood needs to be carefully considered, as even with Dabbler you can quickly deplete your blood and run into issues in the late game after dropping Week of Nightmares. Some number of Entrancements for the occasional ally thievery option. Some number of Field Training (2 copies has seemed like plenty as of late). Don’t forget: Visions of Gehenna can always be cycled by selectively playing it at Basic — so if you need to move cards despite getting blocked or having the bleed bounced, it’s still something you can play, even preemptively if you are trying to dig into more stealth. And don’t forget about how it denies allies being able to block the action in both modes. Hide the Mind is a card I haven’t tried playing in this archetype yet, but I can see how it’d be really powerful on plenty of tables.

Equipment: I think the deck tends to flow well enough on average that Heart of Nizchetus isn’t required, though needless to say it’s always very strong and sometimes might be worth equipping it if even just to contest it to jam your prey’s hand and hinder their ability to find bounce/wakes/intercept and pool gain (or similarly, to slow down your predator’s forward momentum). You can also consider the Tarot if you want a similar effect but want to reduce the likelihood of contesting. Samadji is fine, but the game has felt too fast as of late to be able to afford taking too many turns off by equipping — it seems like a better fit for the variant build that plays British Museum. However, beware that a minion with an equipment becomes a very juicy target for a cross table rush or Banishment.

Events: I really like having Narrow Minds in this deck, but I can see the argument in eschewing it due to the possibility of unintended consequences elsewhere on the table — if you find it super early, you might even want to consider holding onto it for a turn or two before dropping it to see how the table situation evolves. Unsure about Bitter and Sweet Story; it seemed a bit ‘Win More’ to me when I tested it. Other possibilities include Scourge of Enochians or even The Uncoiling (but only if you know for a fact that you’d expect to see The Imbued or some sort of deck that’s trying to put Veil of Darkness into play — the Unmasking is not that much of a problem for this deck thanks to Visions of Gehenna and Force of Personality).

Now, the main thing that makes this deck a ‘toolbox’: Having some sort of defensive module is honestly a really good idea for this archetype imho for a variety of reasons.

1. There is so much bleed in the format that you can’t expect that relying on your Villeins alone will grant you enough pool to survive between successive ousts. Thus: 6 Visions of Zapathasura.
2. There is also the possibility that a really strong start could be counteracted by the table conspiring to bounce large bleeds into you (and not simply your predator doing it). If you’re on a roll, it’s possible that you might simply not care and be able to tank those bounces anyways, especially with enough Visions.
3. The bleed reduction makes it a lot easier to afford the first four vampires, and then continue onto buying the fifth and perhaps even sixth (if the game is going exceptionally well for you). So somewhat paradoxically, this defensive element actually increases the offensive potential output of the deck. Because opponents will also be Villein’ing back pool, you need to maintain a lot of forward pressure to outpace it. If you haven’t made an oust within the first hour of the game, things are going south and you might be looking at the sort of game where you’re ultimately just playing for a half point.
4. On the other side, Night Terrors allows for cross table meddling on key actions (which can also grant some leverage with the fragile and temporary relationship you have with your cross table allies), and also can surprise your predator/prey with blocks they’d normally not be expecting to come from such a deck (made quite a lot easier if you got lucky with also having Hafthor in your initial crypt). Be judicious with it; for example, a prey’s Parity Shift is a much more important thing to stop than a KRC.
5. Dogged pursuit is thus the perfect wake that allows you to plow forward and still be capable of reacting to stop actions as necessary, and use Dabbler triggers for the blood gain rather than unlocking. 4-6 copies thus feels right, as you generally want to end a turn with at least one in your hand. The only reason this TWD had 3 (and an on the qui vi in the fourth slot) was because I hadn’t purchased another NB deck yet and was lazy about requesting to borrow more.
6. Throwing a couple standard S:CE in is also useful, but not necessarily required. Your meta situation may or may not require it at all (and if you’re next to potence grapple or psyche celerity, you were likely screwed regardless — Maybe a Secure Haven would be a better random fun-of one-of if you expect to see this). I don’t really have a super strong opinion about which S:CE is ideal, as there are merits to running any combination of Majesty, Force of Personality, Staredown and even Unholy Penance. FoP has the advantage of being easily cycled on tables where it’s not needed, and can also sometimes matter in later game scenarios where blood is exhausted.
7. 1-2 copies of Confusion of the Eye/Delaying Tactics are decent considerations if you have reason to expect a lot of politics, but otherwise seem too narrow. Another one you might even consider is Vox Domini. YMMV, but I feel like this might be an area where you’d rather just plan to race any political decks, or block their key votes with Night Terrors.

Finally: unless you’re knowingly playing into it, or encounter a bizarro deck that you know plays a ton of copies, don’t play in fear of Archon Investigation. Juice every bleed to the max if it looks like it’s going to land and not get bounced, especially if you’re holding a Spying Mission and have superior obfuscate. Your vamps are mostly interchangeable to begin with, and sometimes the 3 pool and tempo loss (from the opponent being unable to play a Villein or whatever on their following turn) might actually be better for you in the long run than intentionally keeping bleeds at 3 or below.

And as proof of Sinking Ship being played in the finals, here’s this beautiful, official tournament proxy created by the TO Ben Peal:

https://imgur.com/a/Q68AXxX