DOM POT (Gustaphe Brunelle)

Klaital wrote:

On quick glance... you need more governs, at least 4 more, as you don't want to pay full price for your vampires, also lids should be slams, undead strengths should be two more of each, signpost and grapple. I would probably take out the disarms, 1 deflection, and the vessel for 4 more governs. I would also switch liliths blessing for tension in the ranks, with that many masters in a combat deck, you don't really have the spare MPAs for using it.

12 is a lot of governs in a 80-card combat deck. One or two superior governs is what I want in a game, since my minions aren't that expensive and I have 6 pool recovery masters. I'm not looking to govern bleed every turn, and I find a big action module tends to clog easily.

I thought about having only slams, but as I said, I have found sever lid mandatory in a grapple-based combat deck that doesn't have some surefire way to get close (set range, 15 pursuits, drawing out the beast, that kind of thing). It's actually interesting that people advocate against using it. Just think about it, somebody has two maneuvers in hand. Slam : 1 blood wasted for nothing. Sever Lid : 3 damage + press.

I thought about if LB was useful in this deck, but I find the minions are likely to run out of blood at some point, then it's good to be able to use a MPA to restore a vampire to combat strenght, even while I have other masters.

brandonsantacruz wrote:

If you mostly leave out rush and make it bruise and bleed, you could have space for things like Seduction (i.e. that guy can fight, that one can't). I think that you don't need Villein in this deck, Blood Doll is more than adequate for mid-caps. Suddens/Washes are good vs things you don't like. More bleed mods maybe. Barrens instead of Lilith's Blessing.

Leaving out rush would just limit my options and very likely clog my hand with combat. I have tried those Dom/Pot B&B decks before and they didn't work at all. I like Blood Doll more than Villein but Villein's a trifle and there are a plenty of masters.

I quickly thought about what kind of masters I would cancel and I couldn't think of that many, and having 2 Wash to counter the few that bother me is too luck dependent. Golconda and Giant's Blood are probably the worst.

Jussi wrote:

The main thing of wash in this kind of deck is to nerf key masters of competitive decks:

- Pentex Subversion (takes at least one of your actions away, probably more).
- Giant's Blood / Lilith's Blessing / HG / Rack
- Week of Nightmares
- Temptation of Greater Power
- Smiling Jack
- Parthenon

Well yeah... It's just that having something like 2 wash strikes me as a completely random chance at nullifying one of those, and I can't really just sit on it and wait. I need my other cards to beat things up

Jussi wrote:

Ropecon is a place for not that aggressive play, so all your rushes should be Governs. With that in mind, you should concentrate more on Thrown Gate+Target Vitals and Mighty Grapples. You could keep some of the IGs (like 2-4).

What, why? That just reduces my options a lot. And I have tried that TG/TV combat before (with Shadow Step I think), and while it worked, I find that I like to use Immortal Grapple, which is in my opinion the best offensive combat card in the game.

Jussi wrote:

More wakes, so you can go forward more (say, one OtQV, one WWEF, one Sense the Savage Way, one Fillip).

I prefer to go low wakes in this kind of a deck, somebody is probably going to stay watch or backrush if that becomes necessary (say, no Deflection in hand and predator has some powerful bleed). I don't feel the need to go forward more, I prefer to take it easy and wait for the opportunity.

Jussi wrote:

Tweak the crypt, add: Donatello Giovanni and 2xTupdog (hey, you need chump blockers as well). Remove: Keith, Patrick and Arriette.

Well I don't know why I would use Tupdog but I don't have any and doesn't one cost something like 20 bucks, heh. Well anyway. This is a Potence deck, and inferior Potence doesn't really cut it. Inferior dominate, however, is still effective - bleed 3 or 5, deflect... (Hey I just noticed I have absolutely no consistency in using capital letters in disciplines or card names. I'm sure that's going to give somebody a headache.) Just think of Arriette and Patrick - just as effective combat minions as any other in the deck, but a lot cheaper. And Keith Moody is the best vampire ever printed Bleeds double his capacity, can deflect thrice and not be tapped.

Jussi wrote:

Throw away Fames and Haven Uncovereds (you may leave one Fame, but I'd rather not). Add KRCG and/or Channel 10. Keep Washes. Tribute to the Master is solid gold when you have 5-6 minions. Add Giant's Blood (rather your tupdog than your prey's Aksinya).

There's some merit in this idea, sadly I have never tried using media locations in this kind of a deck and as such I'm unsure if that's going to work. I think I'll switch LB for GB, you're right that I don't want others bloating with that thing.

Jussi wrote:

Replace some of the deflections with redirections. Add at least one DI (or DI2) to nerf your prey's bounces.

Yeah, maybe 2 Redirections would be good. I'm sure you mean DI my predator's bounces, well I thought of that too but I couldn't figure out how to fit them in after I had all I need. I tried to make a pretty trimmed deck.

Lönkka wrote:

Demnogonis wrote:

I also wish I had some Pulled Fangs...

I'll try to remember to bring some of my extras with me so we can trade, OK?

Cool. Oh I need to order my trade cards, there seems to be a lot of piles I could get rid of, all the Baali and most of the bloodline stuff, some Ashurs, a bunch of other stuff...

@Jussi : yeah, that looks like an effective deck and pretty similar to the TG Lasombra deck (Shadow Step/Darkness Within awesomeness) I played, but I had terrible experience with it (Stop blocking me! Earth Meld #Q¤!#¤!"¤!Q"#¤). Nowdays I try to make decks 80 cards, I'm not sure about the math behind it but it feels somehow good in play.

Well, good luck folks, may the most vicious bastard win

Speaking of trading, I am interested in stuff to most bloodlines so try to find me in ropecon please and I am sure we can get some trading going, I go tons of cards for trade.

Demnogonis wrote:

Leaving out rush would just limit my options and very likely clog my hand with combat.

Gustaphe's entire role in life, when he's not Governing at superior to keep your overhead low, is to prevent your hand from choking on combat cards. If you're finding that you consistently have too many red cards in hand even when you've got a guy with a built-in rush in play, you don't need to add rush cards to your deck, you need to remove combat cards.

Demnogonis wrote:

I'm sure you mean DI my predator's bounces...

Not sure what he meant, but keep in mind that if you bounce a bleed and your prey also bounces it, DI can give your prey quite a sadnees.

As a side note, crypts with 4x of one critical guy and 1x of lots of others benefit greatly from 2-3 Wider View, both to ensure that you get the lynchpin guy and to turn extra copies of him into vampires you can use.

Demnogonis wrote:

This is entirely untested. I tried to keep it under 90 cards since I thought stacking really hurts this kind of a deck and I shouldn't run out of cards in a tournament anyway, but what do you think?

I think you should run closer to 72 cards, since you have significant ousting power. So I'm looking to strip 8 from your design as a starting place. In the process, I leverage Gus a little more, which has some innate risk - but makes the deck stronger when it works.

(NOTE: this is in direct contrast to some of the other comment you have received).

Demnogonis wrote:

14x Master
3x Villein
2x Blood Doll
1x Vessel
2x Fame
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Lilith's Blessing
2x Haven Uncovered
1x Pentex Subversion

-2 Fame, +1 Monster.
-1 Lilith's Blessing, +1 Carver's Meat Packing Plant (Or Giant's Blood)
-2 Haven Uncovered, +1 Warsaw Station
-1 Dreams, +1 Mob Connections

12 Masters.

Carver's hoses predator's/prey's weenies, you only have to rush them once after it is in play. In many cases, you'll get a bloodgain function similar to Lilith's, without the MPA overhead.

Superior Govern under Warsaw Station with Monstered Gus = fun stuff, and the potenital for 3 actions that turn (Govern at [DOM], Warsaw untap, innate rush, Monster untap, Graverob). Can you see how that might improve deck output?

Consider 1 Laybrinth for Gus' actions.

Demnogonis wrote:

36x Combat
8x Torn Signpost
8x Immortal Grapple
4x Undead Strenght
2x Slam
2x Mighty Grapple
4x Thrown Sever Lid
6x Taste of Vitae
2x Disarm

-4 Undead Strength, +2 Slam
-1 Disarm, +2 Pulled Fangs or +2 Decapitate
-4 Thrown Sewer Lid, +3 Drawing Out the Beast
-2 Mighty Grapple.

32 Combat (44 Subtotal)

Tough to trim this too far.

Ask yourself how many viable combats you really need and go from there.

A deck with Deflections needs fewer combats than in a deck without them. You probably don't want to immediately salmon-rush all your prey's bleeders until you are finished with your Akido-bounce.

Remember that there is now also tech in place to keep minions in torpor (Carver's and Pulled Fangs) so you'll need fewer repetitive rushes.

The good news is that you have an text-based rush to cycle potential combat jams. I saw a comment where you were worried about this. Gus is there for a reason, abuse his text.

Carver's is designed to keep small vampires out of the way forever. Pulled Fangs and/or Decapitate does the same thing for large vampires. STAY DOWN, Arika!

DoTB fixes your range problem and elimiates that potentially useless Sewer Lid. Force close, Grapple and you have 2 rounds to eliminate the problem, though you'll eat an extra hand damage each round. Just use it at the right time and stop worrying and 15 Flashes.

Demnogonis wrote:

14x Action
6x Bum's Rush
8x Govern the Unalinged

-1 Govern, +1 Graverobbing
-2 Bum's Rush, +1 Heroic Might

13 Actions (57 Subtotal)

You have an innate rush with a minion that now has nominal multiaction capability and tech in place to keep minions in torpor after you send them away. You will require fewer chump rushes and can drop a couple of Bum's Rushes.

That minion with multiaction potential NEEDS Meroic Might to leverage his [POT]. One Taste on a Signposted strike recoups the cost. Don't bother playing it if you are facing a lot of aggro damage (prob gonna lose no matter what in that scenario).

Nothing is worse than having a wheel minion Graverobbed. You have a [DOM] combat deck. That card is mandatory - and in the worst case, it is effectively a rush.

Demnogonis wrote:

4x Action Modifier
4x Conditioning

-4 Conditioning, +4 Bonding.

Modifiers 4 (61 Subtotal)

Bonding bypass chump blocks, but Govern/Bonding is still decent yield.

Demnogonis wrote:

12x Reaction
8x Deflection
4x On the Qui Vive

-2 Deflection, +2 Delaying Tactics
-2 On the Que Vive

10 Reactions (71 total)

The only time you're going to tap out is for an oust. After all, you wnat to leverage [DOM] deflection anyway. Why do you need to act as if untapped with 5% of your deck. I can see having a couple to use a chump to get in the way of something, or after you lunge.

I think you need to be able to stop/slow ConBoon, Parity Shift, Reckless Agitation and KRC, too. With no real vote presence, Delays are pretty useful.

Reactions are still 15% of your deck, and you'll churn cards during your turn. Hopefully, you won't jam on deflection when yuor predator isn't bleeding you.

At any rate, I hope a different take on the deck design at least amuses you, and at 71 cards, you can add here and there but remain streamlined.

Regards.
D.

Kushiel wrote:

Gustaphe's entire role in life, when he's not Governing at superior to keep your overhead low, is to prevent your hand from choking on combat cards. If you're finding that you consistently have too many red cards in hand even when you've got a guy with a built-in rush in play, you don't need to add rush cards to your deck, you need to remove combat cards.

I haven't played it yet, I don't know if I'll choke or not. Anyway I'll make it 5Gus/13, as I really need that guy.

Kushiel wrote:

As a side note, crypts with 4x of one critical guy and 1x of lots of others benefit greatly from 2-3 Wider View, both to ensure that you get the lynchpin guy and to turn extra copies of him into vampires you can use.

I don't like WW unless I have something like 4/4/1/1/1/1 guys. It feels like one random effective management. Well anyway, perhaps the random vessel could as well be random WW

TryDeflectingThisGrapple wrote:

stuff

That's crazy, 72 card deck with potence combat? I like it, thanks, I think I'm going to use that.

New decklist :

Big Numbers

13x Crypt
5x Gustaphe Brunelle
1x Black Wallace
1x Virgine, Prodigy
1x Dr. Julius Sutphen, ADV
1x Wah Chun-Yuen
1x Patrick
1x Arriette Sylla
1x Almondo Giovanni
1x Keith Moody

72x Library

12x Master
3x Villein
2x Blood Doll
1x Wider View
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Pentex Subversion
1x Carver's Meat Packing Plant
1x Warsaw Station
1x Giant's Blood
1x Monster

32x Combat
8x Torn Signpost
8x Immortal Grapple
4x Slam
3x Drawing out the Beast
6x Taste of Vitae
1x Disarm
2x Pulled Fangs

14x Action
4x Bum's Rush
7x Govern the Unalinged
1x Heroic Might
1x Graverobbing

5x Action Modifier
2x Conditioning
3x Bonding

12x Reaction
6x Deflection
2x On the Qui Vive
2x Delaying Tactics

Demnogonis wrote:

Kushiel wrote:

As a side note, crypts with 4x of one critical guy and 1x of lots of others benefit greatly from 2-3 Wider View, both to ensure that you get the lynchpin guy and to turn extra copies of him into vampires you can use.

I don't like WW unless I have something like 4/4/1/1/1/1 guys. It feels like one random effective management.

What Kushiel says above is absolutely right. You want to be able to get the guy you need and ditch the extra copies if they show up in favor of dudes you can govern down to and/or pay for. Wider View has changed the game a lot. His advice about not needing rush cards since Gustaphe has a built-in rush is spot on. Btw, don't forget about Joseph Cambridge. 1x Perfectionist would go well in the deck to top off Gustaphe. And it rhymes.