What triggers your need to build new decks?

For me it is non-standard disci mixes + rarely played deck e.g.:
!Malk POT/DEM Bruise&Bleed (featuring Toy)
Hermana Bleed
ANI/AUS/FOR Wall (no disci-less wakes and untappers)
Tzimisce Stealth Bleed

So currently while looking for alternative uses of Una, I am looking into PRO/DEM for a deck.

and my personal Holy Grail of VTES is:
making 3 tournament grade Helena decks.
One with Helena, one with Helena Adv, one with merged Helena.
(I currently am making good progress with the Helena Adv one, having had 2 GW in 2 games, in it's newest incarnation)

I'm all about trying to change people's preconceptions about the game. For example, I built a really different Malkavian deck that features no stealth bleed, no power voting and no "auspex wall" because I was tired of seeing players have the immediate "Oh no Malk stealth bleed" whenever they saw one hit the table.

Why do I build new decks...

#1 Because I want to create something to shake up the local metagame. This caused me to make a Trochomancy Deck, my Orun ICBM Bleeder, an Ishtarri Bonzai-Bleed, Lasombra w/ Animalism, etc...

#2 Because I don't see other people running that key tactic. Sydney had a big number of pounce-bleeders so I built the Ishtarri Bonzai-Bleeder (Ishtarri bleeding with to gain pool, pool defence was bloating more by bleeding...). Another time I was seeing a good number of combat-style decks but no votes, so I built my Nos Princes Hate you All deck that utilised Anathema and Archon to bloat yourself back to safety.

#3 Because I see something and want to test out if the deck concept works. Szechenyi's Wall of Balloons being one of the more recent examples.

#4 Because someone else has said "You can't make an X deck that does Y..." Then I try sit down and figure one out. Such as my deck which actually tends to be a Bruise'n'Bleed rather than an wall of Flaming Sticks.

#5 I got bored of playing the deck and everyone else knows how to nerf it exactly, efficiently and at minimal risk.

(These are also roughly in order...)

Usually it's just to try something new personally, and often to try something our local scene hasn't experienced before. Just as one example, for the longest time there had never been any anarch decks around here, until I put one together a little while ago. Sometimes I like to build around a star vampire too.

I'm still new enough to this game that I can find cards I have never seen before. Most of my deck ideas come from looking at cards which get me thinking about how they could be combined with existing deck concepts or other cards.

I don't like playing the <i>exact</i> same deck anymore than a couple of times in a row, so my decks are constantly evolving (or devolving... later variations don't necessarily perform as well...)

I tend to take a large-ish vampire with an interesting discipline combination, then go from there. For example, I made an Unre deck with Form of Corruption and Temptation, and a Potence-heavy Samedi deck with Troglodytia. These decks tend to find an (often-awkward) synergy between relatively disparate cards - in Unre's case, Mercy for Seth / Lazarene Inquisitor blood-loss both work well with Temptation.

I enjoy constructing decks that either (a) change gears rapidly, which can produce massive lunges or spikes in activity from a seemingly helpless position, or (b) require long set-up times and are strong in the end-game - various No Secrets, Legion and 419 decks all fit into this category... at least how I play them

cheers,
Disco Stu
Prince of Melbourne