TWD - Vidor: Cold Amber's Hold (Vidor TX, USA on 10 Dec 2022)

Vidor: Cold Amber's Hold
Vidor, Texas, United States
December 10th, 2022
3R + F
12 players
Darby Keeney
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/10454

-- 2gw7.5 + 1.5vp in final

Deck Name: Members Only
Created by: Darby Keeney (Not-Karl-Schaefer)
Description and Notes: Sometimes more than Legionnaires get recycled.

Recruit Legionnaires on the cheap with Erebus and Charisma. Because the deck runs such a thin library and I'm reusing quite a bit of it, I exclusively recruit from hand and recur via their card text as infrequently as possible. In the midgame, I might even retrieve Legionnaires with Sargon Fragment.

The Legion wants to get Leather Jackets and not be so fragile. Hunger of Marduk, Horseshoes, Touch of Pain, Carrion Crows and additional .44 Magnum strikes were so prevalent in the Vidor tournament that my vampires preferentially got the Jackets in most games.

British Museum can provide 12 unlocks over the course of the game, reducing costs of 7 of those actions, it is a priority for play. There are 4 additional unlocks from Shroud Mastery and potentially a lot more from NAC PAC and Leather Jacket text.

Filchware's Pawn Shop gets used Leather Jackets from the ash heap at no cost (+1 for Filchware, -1 for Museum) unlocking at the end of the turn for defense. Cooler and Blood Tears also recycle with it. Sometimes you even get a discounted toy from someone else's ash heap. Filchware's + Museum feels like a solid module for just 2 MPA (one trifled) and 5 DPA/Dreams/Heart/Babalawo interactions.

There's enough blood gain (Coven, Giant's Blood, Jake, Blood Tears, Cooler, Palatial Estate) to cover Villein for 5 as a default, Sargon actions, frequent modifier costs, bounces and Nicomedes' text. My vampires have not yet hunted with this deck.

Crypt (12 cards, min=21 max=28 avg=6.25)

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4x Erebus 7 AUS FOR NEC dem Harbinger of Skulls:3
2x Babalawo Alafin 7 AUS FOR NEC ani Harbinger of Skulls:4
2x Nicomedes 5 aus for nec vic Harbinger of Skulls:4
2x Zygodat 6 AUS NEC pot Harbinger of Skulls:4
1x Mina Grotius 6 FOR NEC cel Harbinger of Skulls:3
1x Solomon Batanea 5 AUS FOR nec Harbinger of Skulls:4

*// Babalawo and Nicomedes offer a lot of hand control, but I prioritize Erebus as one of the 2 opening vampires unless I have Charisma in hand.

Library (68 cards)
Master (22; 7 trifle)
1x Anarch Troublemaker
6x British Museum, London, The
1x Charisma
1x Coven, The
1x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Filchware's Pawn Shop *//recursion is broken
1x Giant's Blood
1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
1x Jake Washington
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
4x Villein
1x Wider View

*// I thought Heidleburg for Sargon+Mask would be useful, but is not worth the cost. It probably should be a duplicate Anarch Troublemaker. That slot could be a Parthenon if you want to add Maabara for truly excessive recursion.
*// Please do not email or IM with questions regarding an Ashur Tablets variation. I will not help build it.

Ally (12)
1x Carlton Van Wyk
10x Emerald Legionnaire *//recursion is broken
1x Vagabond Mystic

*// Ossian could be an interesting addition in some metagames. Getting a Leather Jacket and then rushing (with a Legionnaire then Filching the used Jacket) would result in a very fat werewolf.

Equipment (13)
1x Blood Tears of Kephran
1x Cooler
1x Erebus Mask *// tons of value when you act 3 times per turn
2x Heart of Nizchetus
5x Leather Jacket
1x Palatial Estate
1x Sargon Fragment, The *// did I mention that recursion is broken
1x Signet of King Saul, The *// less valuable in the current V5 meta

*// Adding a Bowl of Convergence is probably worthwhile, even if it temporarily ends up on an ally.

Action Modifier (10)
3x Acheron Vortex
2x Call of the Hungry Dead
4x Shroud Mastery
1x Trochomancy *// Monopolize recursion FTW

Action Modifier/Combat (2)
2x Breath of Thanatos

Action Modifier/Reaction (2)
2x Spectral Divination

*// Exactly the right amount of stealth in every game, but I wasn't spamming Acheron Vortex.

Reaction (4)
1x Delaying Tactics
1x My Enemy's Enemy
2x Telepathic Misdirection

Event (3)
1x NRA PAC *// might be overkill, but still useful.
2x Unmasking, The

I'll take the shout out even in the back-handed way it was given.

And congrats on winning the race to get British Museum in the TWDA. I didn't have any luck with Giotto, British Museum, and Legionnaires in my event.

Congrats for the first entry of British Museum! I find the deck fun, but lacks bounce IMHO (depending on meta, maybe on yours you don't need more bounce).

I would definately leave the Signet, with the Museum it's a free action. I would personally find place for an Incriminating Videotape (Signet + Tape you are unblockable against decks like Goratrix, for example). I would totally leave the NRA PAC also, it's lots of value to stay untapped at the end of turn.

Although you untap a lot I would definately add 1-2 OtQV, just to have defense against Misdirection (in our meta people start playing it in replacement of Pentex).

I would be really interested to know what were the finalists playing.

cordovader wrote:

I would be really interested to know what were the finalists playing.

Malk '22 -->
BH Retribution (varied from archetype slightly) -->
Legionnaires w/ Jackets-->
Hermana Blood Buff + Hive Mind Bleed Cannon -->
Baron Org Resistance Wall

Seating helped avoid upstream attention from the BH and Barons. I also found Sargon/Mask early and had 1-2 bounce + DI in hand for most of the game to handle any missed Unmasking blocks.

TryDeflectingThisGrapple wrote:

cordovader wrote:

I would be really interested to know what were the finalists playing.

Malk '22 -->
BH Retribution (varied from archetype slightly) -->
Legionnaires w/ Jackets-->
Hermana Blood Buff + Hive Mind Bleed Cannon -->
Baron Org Resistance Wall

Seating helped avoid upstream attention from the BH and Barons. I also found Sargon/Mask early and had 1-2 bounce + DI in hand for most of the game to handle any missed Unmasking blocks.

Pretty much all tier 1 decks except the Hermana Blood Buff.

Adds even more value to your victory.