DeSalle Spoiled the Punch: Show of Force Bruise Bleed

Klaital wrote:

With this crypt I would use legal manipulations instead of show of force, since bleeding for 3 is always better than 2, and it makes the blood gain from spoils to not be wasted. Also your combat isn't really terribly threatening, I would focus more on close range potence and forget the celerity, you need to be able to make a statement when your blocked so people stop blocking your every bleed.

Let me make this clear: this is a Show of Force deck. I'm going to figure this card out. Several design decisions follow from that.

I determined that if I bleed with Show of Force, I don't necessarily need to pack Torn Signpost. Immortal Grapple was already a given, and provides a press which amplifies the damage from Show of Force. Choosing to drop Torn Signpost frees up a lot of deck space, full stop.

The downside to that is that my minions are only dangerous on bleed actions, so I can't play Bum's Rush like a typical Brujah deck. Without back rush as an option, I need to use those extra card slots on survival. So, block or bloat? Since my combat only fires on all cylinders while bleeding, I chose bloat.

Presence provides good ways to bloat but my minions are too busy bleeding to play Enchant Kindred. I can feed off Blood Doll / Minion Tap and Taste of Vitae, so that's a start. When bleeds go unblocked, I can gain pool with Spoils of War. Adding Spoils of War influences the crypt significantly, so I put in Gang Territory and chose Grooming the Protege over Minion Tap for speed. Would I be better off with Enchant Kindred, or a few intercept cards and wakes? We'll see.

alek, ReverendRevolver: you're right, those Undead Strengths should be Slams. I think I might get rid of the extra Gatjil and go with 4 DeSalle, too.

You could also play some Esprit de Corps to give another +strength to all your dudes to make you more threatening if your blocked, the superior can also save few pool occasionally.

I'd beg for you to be my predator any day: no rush, bleeding hard and when blocked, a lot of damage in combat.... just need a couple of bounces and you kill my prey for me. Don't get get me wrong, I like your attempt. But just imagine a basic ventrue ant grinder ... this is exactly what makes a deck like that powerfull in my opinion.

I don't encounter a lot of decks that can bounce every bleed every time. Also, there is almost no bleed pump. Except for Lasalle's special, which Sabbat vampires can negat, the bleeds are never at stealth. The bleeding is relatively responsible.

Remember that the extra strength from Show of Force is optional upon the vampire being blocked.

My impression is that there are so few bruise and bleed decks out there that few players really know what it's like to have one for a predator. They wear you done, man.

Since there is no rush, I would change Fame for Pentex Subversion.

gotcha wrote:

I'd beg for you to be my predator any day: no rush, bleeding hard and when blocked, a lot of damage in combat.

You decide on the +1 strength when blocked, so if the bleed is bounced you can just hands for one. It's a well designed card — well thought through.

On the deck front, maybe switch the Aire of Elation's for Iron Glares, they're free and your core vamps can play it. Then it might be worth considering 2x Con boons + 2x Unexpected Coalitions and a sneaky Dogs of War.

I agree that the Mighty Grapples should be Slams, and would swap the Undead Strength for Target Vitals — the anti press component is really strong and allows all your vamps to hit for +2 damage.

Master wise I would go for 2x Vessels + 1x Blood doll and an Archon Investigation paired with a single Vendetta for extra style?

I think the grinder is a really bad matchup for this deck. I can't hope to run them out of bounce or out press them (or maybe I'll play a few grapples at the right time?). I think this deck will match up well against any deck that can't handle blocking my minions. There are enough maneuvers to handle "guy with a .44" or "ANI blocker", but maybe not weenie guns or weenie ANI. As usual, Potence is really good in metagames where no one is playing combat.

Honestly I'm worried that the deck just isn't fast enough to make up for the slow pool gain. Or maybe I should just double the number of spoils of war.

ETA: I had forgotten about the anti-press clause on Target Vitals. Seems like a good alternative to Mighty Grapple.