Ahrimanes bleedy toolbox

Before I start out I have to mention that this deck is very much inspired by a deck by Matias Frosterus that I found on the twda and tried to reshape it a bit to adapt it to my playing style.

How do you intend to oust?

I would like the game to play in the same vein as a Grinder deck. So basically it's supposed to be a toolbox with some bleeding power, some combat and some defense.

How do you intend to keep from being ousted?

Blocking with Spiritus and Animalism, sometimes rushing heavy stealth bleeders if I can't block them.

What do you want your ready region to look like?

Ideally I want to have three vampires in play. Muricia and two of the smaller ones. Either two of the 5-cap Ahrimanes or one of those and one of the small weenies.

What do you want your average turn to look like?

At least two of my vampires bleeding prefferably with a bleeding action and/or modifier

What does your meta look like?

There is a pretty big diversity of deck types. A lot of people try to play competetive decks without making them broken. Some law firms, aaas, grinders, EuroBruja, !Malks, shambling hordes etc.

What problems have you observed with the deck in play?

My favorite deck is a !Ventrue Grinder that i modified quite heavily towards bleeding. I tried to play this deck as a more defensive version of it. It didn't quite work out and though I mostly stayed alive for quite a while in the games I have used it (about 6) I have won only 1 or 2 victory points.

Also I would love to reduce the deck size to about 75 but I have difficulties choosing what to take out.

So here goes:


Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 15, Max: 28, Avg: 5.41)

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4 Muricia ANI PRE SPI 7 Ahrimanes
2 Gentha Shale pot spi ANI PRE6 Ahrimanes
2 Effie Lowery obf ANI SPI 5 Ahrimanes
1 Darlene Killian ani spi 2 Ahrimanes
2 Sahana ANI pre pro spi5 Ahrimanes
1 Stick ANI 3 Nosferatu Antitribu

Library: (78 cards)

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Master (10 cards)
2 Blessing of the Beast
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Fame
2 Pentex(TM) Subversion
1 Wider View
1 Anarch Troublemaker
1 Misdirection

Action (14 cards)
2 Abbot
4 Deep Song
2 Entrancement
1 Heart of the City
3 Legal Manipulations
2 Nose of the Hound

Action Modifier (6 cards)
4 Aire of Elation
2 Squirrel Balance

Reaction (16 cards)
3 Cats` Guidance
2 Delaying Tactics
1 Ears of the Hare
2 Falcon`s Eye
8 Speak with Spirits

Combat (23 cards)
9 Aid from Bats
2 Canine Horde
7 Carrion Crows
2 Leapfrog
3 Taste of Vitae

Retainer (3 cards)
2 Raven Spy
1 J. S. Simmons, Esq.

Equipment (1 cards)
1 Ivory Bow

Combo (5 cards)
5 Swiftness of the Stag

Hooray! I inspired someone

It's a very fun deck to play and has lots of answers to different situations. Like suddenly bleeding for five at three stealth. And your tweaks look good. I like the added Pentex, Misdirection and Anarch Troublemaker angle.

I did really like the Societies of Leopold that I had. They are extremely powerful in locking down vampires low on blood or finishing off nasty ones that are hard to keep down. Putting one on a predator's vampire essentially forces them to waste an activation doing something about it and since you're blocky, the Society usually goes elsewhere. An extremely underrated card IMO.

Terror Frenzy is also absolute gold making sure that the single maneuver from Aid from Bats is enough and shutting down guns.

But yeah, you wanted to take away cards, not add them. Howabout adding Barrens, which is kinda like taking out cards? With the two Dreams and the Blessings of the Beast, I think that this deck can afford to go 80 cards.

Finally, Charge of the Buffalo is funny with Muricia. Not all that good, really, but funny.

I strongly dislike not having fortitude, but Ahrimanes are great for this kind of deck.

Charge of the buffalo is a good one of, and adding a target vitals is good for dealing with uppity combat with limited prevent or blood regain, like potence cel and cel guns. Mostly the latter, since 2 hordes is yoir only way around them withoit running dotb.

Looks solid though. If you readily neex more imtercept, theres retainers with packalpha or Muricias call.

Why no Engling fury?

I like it!

I totally agree with Lemminkäinen (who I take it is Matias?) that Terror Frenzy is a perfect card for your combat. I'd probably drop the Leapfrogs, a crows, and an Aid to add four of them. I might even drop another crows and add a fifth.

Other thoughts, on a card by card basis (bearing in mind that these are just thoughts, not criticisms):

Master (10 cards)
2 Blessing of the Beast
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Fame
2 Pentex(TM) Subversion
1 Wider View
1 Anarch Troublemaker
1 Misdirection

I might throw in two (maybe three, but probably two) Two Wrongs here. They're trifles, and they would prevent you from having to engage in unnecessary combat with your grandpredator if your predator is a bouncer. You're generally light on other bleed defense.

If you needed to make room for the Barrens, per the above post, I'd probably drop either the Fame or the second Pentex.

(Actually, I'd drop both Pentexes and throw in a Blind Spot, but that's because I pretty much hate that @#$*&^ card -- it's in less than 4% of my decks -- which has nothing to do with what YOU should do with your deck.)

The Fame seems incongruous with the rest of your deck for a few reasons. If you lay down a Fame, you're announcing that you're a combat deck, and you're going to draw the sort of response that combat decks draw (people will save their combat combinations just for you). But you really aren't -- you're a combat heavy deck, but that's not the same thing. You also don't have the stealth to reliably remove the vampire from Torpor if you need to.

Action (14 cards)
2 Abbot
4 Deep Song

If you've got one, I'd add one more of these -- at the expense of a Speak with Spirits if you need to keep the card count down. The flexibility is really nice in a toolbox deck. Otherwise, this is a great spread of actions. I *might* sub out a Tier of Souls for a Legal Manipulations, but you don't have a lot of your-turn untap, so you might not want to waste the actions.

2 Entrancement
1 Heart of the City
3 Legal Manipulations
2 Nose of the Hound

Action Modifier (6 cards)
4 Aire of Elation

I've never been wild about this card for anything other than Toreador. I might drop this to two and use them just for finishing.

2 Squirrel Balance

Stealth is good.

Reaction (16 cards)
3 Cats` Guidance
2 Delaying Tactics
1 Ears of the Hare
2 Falcon`s Eye
8 Speak with Spirits

I'm a little torn here. On the one hand, Falcon's Eye isn't going to be great with only two of them -- you might just end up sitting on it for a long time waiting for the good time to play it. On the other hand, it's absolutely golden with Blessing of the Beast.

On the third hand, with just two of them, you might not have one in hand for Blessing of the Beast when you play it.

I think for the deck you're building (which is different than the deck I'd build) I'd use 3 Falcon's Eye and drop the Ears. If someone's going to drop 5+ Stealth on you, just rush them first.

Combat (23 cards)
9 Aid from Bats
2 Canine Horde
7 Carrion Crows
2 Leapfrog
3 Taste of Vitae

Terror Frenzy (as described above).
Something strikes me as weird about three Tastes. Two would seem to be enough if you just wanted an emergency refill. Otherwise, I'd think four or maybe five. Three strikes me as a sort of nobody-wins compromise.

Retainer (3 cards)
2 Raven Spy
1 J. S. Simmons, Esq.

I can see no reason not to put Tasha in here, too, and maybe Winthrop (as noted above).

Equipment (1 cards)
1 Ivory Bow

I suppose. It's a great card. It's just so... Also -- it's not clear to me that you're going to be able to use it because your primary maneuvers are from Aids, which commit you to a different strike. Are you just putting it in here for Contesting purposes?

A third Canine Horde might be better if you're worried about it being used against you. Actions are at a premium for this deck, and I'm not sure that getting the Ivory Bow out is really all that great a result for one of your precious taps. (Terror Frenzy makes it less dangerous, too.)

Combo (5 cards)
5 Swiftness of the Stag

Stealth is good. Since you're running Blessing, maybe 6?

I realize that there's a lot more "add stuff in" than "take stuff out" in the above comments. But you're running a high-cycling deck, with a pretty decent amount of combo combat.

I *LIKE* this. If I had a few extra Deep Song lying around, I'd probably throw in a version of this as another constructed deck in my collection. But I don't -- they're all in decks.

Thanks for posting!

thank you for all the great advice!

@Lemminkäinen: Thak you again for designing your deck and getting it on the twda!

Looking at all of your posts, I guess I'll try and put in some terror frenzies in the deck. I own three, so that's the number I'll start out testing with. I also understand the advice to drop the fame and that is basically the same reason I decided to drop the societies of Leopold as they would draw aggression towards me more than I would like to.

@Legendre: I understand your dislike for Pentex subversions but I actually use it heavily because it's so powerful and putting 'only' one in a deck is already a big step for me

I am not yet sure about two wrongs, but I'll just likely throw them in and see how they work out, not sure what I'll take out for them though (fame and something else maybe) as I don't want my master package to explode.

Sadly I only own 4 deep songs or I would gladly put in one more. I also don't own any Engling Furies which has kept me from playing Ahrimanes for a long time. But I think that this deck actually could play quite well without them so that's why i built it. If I ever acquired any though, I'd slip them in to try them out.

Once again thank you for your posts, I'll put up a new version of the deck as soon as I have tested it a few times.