Assamites with presence

I hate that moment when you create a deck and then are reminded, "oh yeah, still fucked by immortal grapple, Spirit Marionnette + Heidelberg. Nevermind." Here's another deck I won't build:

Deck Name: Assamite with presence
Author: Brandon Haas
Description:


Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=1 max=10 avg=7.42)
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1x Alu 2 obf Assamite:5
1x Antara 8 aus obf pre CEL FOR QUI Assamite:4
1x Basir 1 qui Assamite:4
1x Djuhah, The Bronze Bow 7 aus cel pre OBF QUI Assamite:5
5x Jamal 10 pot CEL OBF PRE PRO QUI Assamite:5
1x Kashan 7 obt pre CEL OBF QUI Assamite:4
1x Monty Coven 8 dom for pre CEL OBF QUI Assamite:5
1x Vardar Vardarian 6 cel pre OBF QUI Assamite:4

Library (90 cards)
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Master (18)
1x Barrens, The
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Market Square
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
4x Presence
1x Secure Haven
6x Villein
1x WMRH Talk Radio
1x Yoruba Shrine

Action (10)
1x Condemn the Sins of the Father
4x Enchant Kindred
2x Entrancement
1x Khabar: Glory
2x Loss

Political Action (3)
3x Reckless Agitation

Equipment (4)
1x .44 Magnum
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Ivory Bow
1x Sport Bike

Ally (3)
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
1x Deviki Prasanta
1x Mylan Horseed (Goblin)

Action Modifier (10)
6x Aire of Elation
4x Zephyr

Reaction (16)
10x Black Sunrise
6x Nest of Eagles

Combat (24)
12x Catatonic Fear
6x Focus the Blood
4x Target Vitals
2x Thin Blood

Combo (2)
2x Scalpel Tongue

Created with Secret Library v0.9.4d. (Apr 7, 2016 19:32:07)

I don't understand the reason of making this deck Assamite. It's pure presence deck. Being assamite just make it worse because of weak crypt

I don't mean to be rude, and maybe I'm missing something here. But isn't this a star vampire bruise/bleed deck with very little defense? I think that IG and Salubri aren't the only things that are going to ruin its day, so blaming them specifically seems odd.

Wow, friendly crowd. Nearly all non-standard deck concepts are going to be weaker than established decks. There is a reason that these decks are established. Just commenting to point that out doesn't really seem to accomplish anything other than alienating the player who posted. And if you haven't noticed, there aren't many of us left. Let's not drive off the few people who still play VTES.

I also think that the comment regarding very dominant archetypes is a fair one. To my mind, it's a shame that card like Immortal Grapple shut down deck ideas (oh melee weapons other than WWS, how I miss you). And vampire stealing has no place in our game. Protect Thine Own was also banned because one action shouldn't deprive a player of that much pool along with their ability to act / defend. Vampire stealing is directly analogous. But I suppose I'm wandering off topic now.

Brandon - I'd love to see how this deck performs the next time we play. I'm excited to see you squeeze value out of Deviki Prasanta.

I didn't meant to be harsh. Rather want to mention better alternatives for crypt choices. Also, as I really like deck building aspect in Vtes, I'm just curious is there a design reason behind this deck being assamite or the author just love the assamites. Which is good enough reason
One last thing, if you are afraid of IG so much you can add few copies of disengage. And add more target vitals.

alek wrote:

I didn't meant to be harsh. Rather want to mention better alternatives for crypt choices. Also, as I really like deck building aspect in Vtes, I'm just curious is there a design reason behind this deck being assamite or the author just love the assamites. Which is good enough reason
One last thing, if you are afraid of IG so much you can add few copies of disengage. And add more target vitals.

The deck is a PRE QUI deck that also uses some assamite cards and celerity cards. Having Focus the Blood pay for Thin Blood + Catatonic Fear is awesome, Catatonic Fear + Target Vitals is also pretty awesome. It all fits in this combat package. There are many more cards I would like to play here, but there isn't room.

Entrancement, Enchant Kindred and Loss all have non-bleed options on them, allowing the player to decide when they want to use the card to gain control vs bleed. There is a pretty solid reaction package, especially if you can get at least one permacept card in play like WMRH. Even if not I can be untapped for a vote after Black Sunrise and maybe Scalpel Tongue or to reduce with Nest of Eagles.

Disengage is not a good card. If you are playing Disengage, just play Groundfighting, DI or fortitude. In theory Disengage allows you to get away from grapple, but 90% of the time it only succeeds in taking what would be useful cards in your deck and turning them into garbage. None of the above options is all that good vs dedicated IG except Fortitude, which is pretty boring/problematic.

This deck is probably too toolboxy to be that effective in a game of VTES, but you never know.