Ankou's Pyre

An idea i had a while ago, fleshed out this deck, then shelved it. I checked it out recently as i have always intended to make it one day. Now seemed like a good time to try it in play. So having looked at it i'm not sure if it's a good spread of stuff & tricks, or if its too diffuse & needs better focus.

The deck has a few questionable angles - probably the most obvious is Minion Tap. The idea was to use multiple ones on Ankou, but i wonder if it's better to cop the pool loss of a villein for the trifle effect, given most players use villein & i'll pay for multiple Minion Taps anyway.
The Events could be a waste of time - they're mainly to fuel the Thirst, which only ever gets to hit 4-caps at best. Bit lame. And the Anthelios may be used to retrieve Vampiric Disease. Still a bit lame. Might be better to just play more things like Spirit Marionette, Wakes, Kindred Spirits, etc
Another basic issue may be that Ankou, a 10-cap can only really act once in my turn - makes for a v pricey action, tho the untaps to burn hunting vamps may compensate. (ie: maybe include Mylan to help)




Deck Name: Ankou's Pyre2.1
Author: technobabble66
Description:
Ankou burns all who hunt
Serenna is also used for stealing minions, drain them w Heidelberg, then burn with Ankou.
Note Babble can be used to untap other minions, but as a reaction... so untap them as a reaction to another meth's minion's action, ready to be grabbed in my turn. So Babble can easily untap prey's vamps, and Precognizant Mo' untaps pred's minions
Could possibly remove all events - need to gauge effectiveness...

Could Use Mind Rape instead of Spirit Marionette - using 11-caps to MR: Lucian, Elimelech or Mistress Fanchon...



Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=3 max=10 avg=7.33)
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4x Ankou, The 10 AUS DEM OBF Malkavian:5
2x Arthur Denholm 5 obf AUS DEM Malkavian:5
1x Bela 3 ani obf pro DEM Malkavian:5
4x Serenna the White 8 ani dem AUS FOR OBE Salubri:6
1x Veejay Vinod 3 AUS Nagaraja:6

Library (90 cards)
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Master (14)
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
4x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
6x Minion Tap
1x Tension in the Ranks
2x Vampiric Disease

Event (5)
1x Anthelios, The Red Star
1x Blood Trade
1x Break the Code
1x Nightmares upon Nightmares
1x Thirst

Action (24)
1x Blithe Acceptance
3x Call, The
2x Haunting, The
4x Kindred Spirits
4x Precognizant Mobility
3x Renewed Vigor
7x Spirit Marionette

Equipment (1)
1x Helicopter

Ally (2)
1x Gregory Winter
1x Young Bloods

Action Modifier (25)
3x Cloak the Gathering
3x Elder Impersonation
1x Enkil Cog
3x Eyes of Chaos
2x Forgotten Labyrinth
4x Into Thin Air
4x Neutral Guard
3x Repulsion
1x Spying Mission
1x Veil the Legions

Reaction (14)
3x Babble
6x Eluding the Arms of Morpheus
5x Telepathic Misdirection

Combo (5)
3x Swallowed by the Night
2x Touch of Clarity

Created with Secret Library v0.9.3. (Oct 7, 2011 16:07:15)


1 - Basically intend to oust by crippling/removing minions of preys (& others) and bleed out my prey.

2- Defence is a splash of bounce, intercept and minion-stealing/crippling/burning, plus Serenna caption of bleed reduction.

3 - Ready Region ideally has Ankou, Serenna, and 1 of Arthur/Bela/Veejay

4 - Average turn may be Minion tap Ankou to suck out some pool. SM a minion by Serenna, Heidelberg the blood over to Ankou or Serenna & either leave a blood on it to bleed, or drain it all to hunt then use Ankou to burn it. If Ankou hasnt acted, he can bleed or stay ready to pounce. During other players turns, he can act to burn hunting vamps, or if tapped become untapped via Babble/Eluding then burn them.

5 - Melbourne metagame varies enormously - all main types can pop up randomly: bleed/vote/combat/trick, & hence a variety of quick-movers & slow-movers; & experienced players to less experienced.

6 - Not played yet...


Really unsure about this concept (which i think is kinda cool ) & the balance of cards in the deck, so i'd love feedback!!
Thanks

technobabble66 wrote:

Another basic issue may be that Ankou, a 10-cap can only really act once in my turn - makes for a v pricey action, tho the untaps to burn hunting vamps may compensate. (ie: maybe include Mylan to help)

Mylan doesn't work with Camarilla vampires.

"Mylan can untap a ready non-Camarilla vampire with a capacity above 7 as a +1 stealth action."

Gift of Sleep seems to be a necessary card for this deck. Also, why Minion T-crap over Villein?

Edit: I see why you put in minion tap, but it isn't a good enough reason most of the time.

Ankou gives you an access to Muddled Vampire Hunter - useful minion at bloodless meta.
Use more Babble as it is nice combo with Serenna. Toy also may be useful in this tech.
I think Event Module is unnecessary.
Add some Gift of Sleep also. Flexible card here.

And don't forget, that the Game is not about burning most vampires, but to get Game Win or maximize your Victory Points.

Thanks -
Removed Minion Tap & Added Villiens
Removed Events
Removed Haunt
Removed VD, Added Wider View
Added Muddled
Added Gift of Sleep - the deck was constructed before HTTB, hence i wanted some feedback to see if the deck was even worth trying, & if so then what tweaking would it need.

Not sure how Toy would fit into this - he's a !malk slave (a mistake, or is he to play the reaction cards? - could be worth it just for that, i suppose)

It may already be obvious, but i should mention a major reason for this particular combo of minions is because i've seen Spirit Marionette decks before, & the major defence against them can be to tap & hunt to avoid being an eligible target. Hence Ankou will either dissuade the Meth's from doing that or risk getting stolen...

Part of the reason i was asking for feedback was because i wasn't sure if i had focused too much on the burning minion part, and not enough on the winning the game part.
So, any thoughts on that would be appreciated, and any suggestions as to how to fix it would be especially appreciated!