BobbyDoc's deck clinic part 1: The Marcellus situation

The purpose of this clinic is to tune existing decks to the better (hopefully). So please, my fellow Methuselahs, contribute with your decks that needs some care and attention. Meanwhile I'll tweak my own decks here.

-- Deck idea --This is a toolbox deck featuring Marcellus and Ellen Fence as the main characters. There Marcellus is the main defender and Ellen is the one rushing.

-- Design --This is quite an old deck from back in the days. What I could remember it was doing ok. I haven't played it for 10+ years, but tweaked it a couple of times. But today, just by looking at it, I acknowledge the fact it's not that good. The positive news is that there are a some new cards since then that would improve it.

Crypt (12)

4 Ellen Fence, the Tracker (8, aus CEL OBF PRO, Gangrel Antitribu, Bishop, 2, Sabbat bishop: Ellen can enter combat with any tapped minion controlled by your predator or prey as a (D) action)

4 Marcellus (8, AUS CEL pro, Toreador, Prince, 2, Camarilla Prince of Monaco: If Marcellus is ready, political actions cost Nosferatu 1 additional blood. +1 bleed)

1 Darrell Boyce, Consul (6, CEL OBF PRO, Gangrel Antitribu, 2, Sabbat)

1 Skryta Zyleta (5, obf pot pro CEL, Gangrel Antitribu, 3, Sabbat. Black Hand)

1 Scarlet Carson O`Toole (4, pro CEL, Gangrel Antitribu, 3, Sabbat)

1 Wren (4, cel obf pro, Gangrel Antitribu, 2, Sabbat)

Library (71)

Masters (15)

2 Dreams of the Sphinx

1 Pentex

2 Wider View

2 Protean

3 Gangrel Conspiracy

5 Blood Doll

Action (5)

2 Shadow of the Beast

3 Bums Rush

Action Modifier (4)

4 Cloak the Gathering

Action Modifier / Combat (7)

2 Ritual of the Bitter Rose

5 Swallowed by the Night

Ally (1)

1 Carlton van Wyck

Combat (40)

6 Amaranth

3 Bone Spur

2 Earthmeld

2 Flesh of Marble

2 Form of Mist

2 Infernal Pursuit

8 Psyche!

6 Pursuit

4 Stutter Step

5 Wolf Claws  

Equipment (4)

2 Camera Phone

1 Bowl of Convergence

1 Ivory Bow

Event (1)

1 Urban Jungle

Reactions (9)

9 Second Tradition: Domain

Retainers (1)

1 Resplendand Protector

Votes (2)

2 Templar

-- Analyzing and redesign --The crypt looks ok. Will add Sadie. Also another Marcellus would be nice, since it's important to have a good defence at start.

    Ennoias Theatre is a no-brainer here, as well as Under Siege.

    Instantaneous Transformation will replace all obfuscate cards, it will definatly provide some extra momentum to the deck.

    Monster for more multi-action and I doubled up on Ivory Bow. Parity Shift is always good (no room for Templar).

I also (during lotsa pain) decided to slim the library to 71 cards (a whopping 19 cards difference), and this is the result:

Crypt (12)

4 Ellen Fence (8, !Gangrel, CEL, OBF, PRO, Bishop, rush d-action prey or predator)

5 Marcellus (8, Toreador, AUS, CEL, pro, Prince, +1 bleed)

1 Sadie (2, pro, !Gangrel, 2, Sabbat)

1 Scarlett Carson o’Toole (4, !Gangrel, CEL, pro)

1 Skryta Zyleta (5, !Gangrel, CEL, obf, pro, Black Hand)

Library (71)

Masters (12)

1 Dreams of the Sphinx

2 Pentex

1 Wider View

1 Protean

1 Ennoias Theatre

1 Gangrel Conspiracy

4 Blood Doll

1 Monster

Action (4)

1 Shadow of the Beast

2 Bums Rush

1 Under Siege

Action Modifier (5)

5 Instantaneous Transformation

Action Modifier / Combat (1)

1 Ritual of the Bitter Rose

Combat (33)

5 Amaranth

5 Claws of the Dead

1 Earthmeld

1 Flesh of Marble

1 Form of Mist

2 Infernal Pursuit

7 Psyche!

7 Pursuit

3 Stutter Step

1 Wolf Claws  

Equipment (5)

1 Camera Phone

1 Bowl of Convergence

2 Ivory Bow

Event (1)

1 Urban Jungle

Reactions (8)

8 Second Tradition: Domain

Retainers (1)

1 Resplendand Protector

Votes (1)

1 Parity Shift

-- Field Test --

Daniel H had a house warming party with VTES, so I brought this new creation. This evening would be more casual than the normal super-competitive environment of Stockholm, so a perfect moment to get a feeling of the flow of the deck.

Game 1 (which had three, yes three decks, using "Gear Up"):

BobbyDoc > Daniel (Giovanni Protean anarch multi-act) > Jonas (Ravnos Anarch breed boon) > Henrik (Teresita s&b) > Kalle (Giovanni/Samedi Shamblers Talbot Chainsaw)

Although I had no Ellen in the start crypt, I got the other three !Gangrel. So I was still pleased, and managed to get Ellen a little later with Wider View.

    One of the first actions of the game was Kalle trying to recruit Shamblers, but was promptly blocked and eaten by Marcellus. Excellent. This gave me time to set-up and move forward.

    After a while it was clear to me that Jonas would be hard to stop if he was allowed to gain more pool from Con Boon. A well placed Parity Shift weakened him and Daniel asked me to bleed him so he could deflect.

    So Jonas became the first casualty. Kalle, still in a losing position, had rushed backwards a little which had weakend Henrik. But soon Kalle was ousted and I was in a very good position.

    Now I didn't play my best game, I decided to rush backwards neutralizing Henrik, instead of just bleeding. But earned some extra style-points eating a full Frank Litzpar and played Ritual of the Bitter Rose, filling up all my four vampires.

    Daniel managed to oust Henrik and then conceded.

Robert 2 vp, Daniel 2 vp, Henrik 1 vp

-- Conclusion --The deck had a really nice flow and if I just played a little better I may have won the game. It will be interesting to play it more and see how it copes against tougher decks.

Thank you for reading!

/BobbyDoc