Anarch Ahrimanes g4-5

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 7 average: 3.58333
4x Anarch Convert (1) Caitiff (group 0)
3x Effie Lowery (5) Ahrimane (group 4)
2x Muricia (7) Ahrimane (group 4)
1x Sahana (5) Ahrimane (group 4)
1x Stick (3) Nosferatu antitribu (group 4)
1x Darlene Killian (2) Ahrimane (group 5)


Library [90 cards]

Action [13]
1x Army of Rats
1x Constant Revolution
4x Deep Song
3x Engling Fury
2x Muricia's Call
2x Vulture's Buffet

Combat [22]
8x Aid from Bats
8x Carrion Crows
2x Leapfrog
4x Taste of Vitae

Combat/Action Modifier [8]
8x Swiftness of the Stag

Event [1]
1x Narrow Minds

Master [13]
4x Anarch Revolt
1x Fame
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
4x Vessel

Reaction [26]
4x Cats' Guidance
2x Ears of the Hare
4x Falcon's Eye
2x Forced Awakening
4x On the Qui Vive
10x Speak with Spirits

Retainer [7]
3x Murder of Crows
4x Raven Spy

I've been toying with g4-5 Ahrimanes for quite some time and have had considerably more success than with g2 version (I believe this is due to both smaller vampires and my decision to drop PRE altogether).

However, just like with most wall decks, games veered on the slow side, so I decided to rework just a bit a normal Sabbat angle (thus dropping staple Sabbat cards, like Hungry Coyote and Abbot) and speed things up with Anarch Revolts.

1. How do you intend to oust?

Usually small bleeds backed up by Anarch Revolts/Fame.

2. How do you intend to keep from being ousted?

Block a lot. Play cheap(ish) vamps. There is also a fair ammount of bloat mechanism (Ahrimanes actions, Montreal, Rack)

3. What do you want your ready region to look like (ie, how many guys are you planning on getting out)?

This deck plays quite well with only two vamps out, preferably Effie and Munricia. Should there be another, smaller vamp, she won't go amiss.

4. What's your metagame like? How do your opponents play?

Varied and mixed, but serious combat and serious wall and/or bloat decks are a common sight, much more than powerbleed decks. Much more midcap+ decks than weenie decks and a preference towards larger libraries than not (this is not the rule, but I believe more a reflection of preferred deck types)

5. What problems have you observed with the deck in play?

For starters, none of the vamps is durable at all. They dish damage like crazy, but can't take it and are prone to ending up in torpor a lot. This may (and have) lead to being ousted by my own Anarch Revolts.

Moderate stealth can be a problem early in the game, as can serious stealth later.

Stopping all vamps from going anarch can be a problem (I usually don't bother with non-prey's vamps), especially later in the game, after a first oust. Some more rushes could remedy that, but deck is at 90 cards as it is.

S:CE is a problem (as those are very common in my meta), but that isn't something Ahrimanes can get around...

I would still keep some presence there, and use Gentha also. Couple Heart of the Cities and entrancements/enchant kindreds can help a lot. I also generally use couple sanguine instructions in my Ahrimane decks to give both Gentha and Sahana superior spiritus.

Any action your deck takes can be blocked by a Second Tradition.
I don't feel that you can or should leave the Raven Spy actions to chance, you must get those into play.

Pack Alpha must find a way into the deck.

I'd go with Visionquest over Sanguine Instruction , the Animalism is the only reason you're dangerous in combat, so let the ones that need the improvement take the risk. Keep the 2 non-defective ( having) minions for the better actions. No one blocks SI when Howler is taking the action, everyone should block Effie or Muricia if they aren't already tooled up with Murder of Crows.

I'd recommend a review of the appropriate Newsletters...
www.thelasombra.com/ClanPages/ahrimanes/index.htm

Muricia is just as dangerous in combat as Howler is.

i've played this deck quite a bit lately and from my expirience, you really don't need more bleed, permanent or otherwise. Yes, it would be nice to have more, but once your prey stats losing 2-3 pool every turn to Revots/Jack/Fame/Revolution, you don't need to act that much.

As far as stealth/Pack Alpha goes, there might be some truth there, although I have dropped 2 Squirrel Balances from the deck to accommodate anarch tech and I haven't missed it that much. If I were to bring back some 2-4 cards in order to increase chances for Spies/Murders, what should I drop?

Sanguine Instructions/Visionquests...previous versions of this deck had at first 1-2 Visionquests, but its drawback was too much of a hindrance. Then I swapped those for a single Sanguine Instruction, and truth be told, i don't feel a superior SPI or ANI on Sahana/Darlene is worth an action and a card slot. I treat those as secondary vamps and as long as I have at least one, and usually two vamps with both disciplines on superior, I'm not sure a third vamp needs more disciplines. I'm not entirely convinced that my standpoint is 100% correct here, though...

Adonai wrote:

Any action your deck takes can be blocked by a Second Tradition.
I don't feel that you can or should leave the Raven Spy actions to chance, you must get those into play.

Typically, decks that can reliably block with 2 intercept don't need to block a Raven Spy because the transient intercept is enough to block them anyway. Conversely, decks that need to block the Raven Spy usually can't. If I was really, really worried about Second Tradition -> Obedience/Majesty I would just run WMRH or Anarch Free Press instead of Pack Alpha.