It's time for the second chapter. It was a while ago, but it takes time to gather decks and see if I can do something about them.
-- Deck idea --
This is a Salubri Antitribu deck I saw my friend Kari played some time ago and I was intrigued. Loving Agony + Target Vitals is a cool concept. Hide the Heart is wonderfully flexible as well.
-- Design --
The original deck:
Crypt (12)
4 Adonai (7, AUS for VAL, Salubri Antitribu, 2, Sabbat: Adonai can enter combat with any ready Camarilla vampire controlled by another Methuselah as a (D) action. He gets +1 strength when in combat with a Tremere. +1 bleed)
2 Doris McMillon (2, val, Salubri Antitribu, 2, Sabbat)
2 Kervos, The Lieutenant (3, aus val, Salubri Antitribu, 2, Sabbat)
2 Thomas Steed, The Angry (4, ani aus val, Salubri Antitribu, 2, Sabbat: Thomas may search your library for a melee weapon and move it to your hand as a +1 stealth action. Discard down to your hand size and shuffle your library afterward)
2 Wolf Valentine (4, for VAL, Salubri Antitribu, 2, Sabbat: Wolf gets 1 optional press per combat, only usable to continue combat, when in combat with a Tremere)
Library (62)
Master (15)
1 Anarch Troublemaker
3 Blood Doll
2 Blooding by the Code
2 Hungry Coyote
2 Perfectionist
3 Vessel
2 Wider View
Event (1)
1 Uncoiling, The
Action (2)
2 Brother in Arms
Equipment (3)
2 Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers
1 Ivory Bow
Reaction (20)
2 Delaying Tactics
8 Hide the Heart
2 My Enemy's Enemy
6 On the Qui Vive
2 Wake with Evening's Freshness
Combat (15)
7 Loving Agony
2 Soak
6 Target Vitals
Combo (6)
6 Burning Touch
-- Analyzing and redesign --
Seeing the deck in action I recognized that the deck burned a lot of blood and also had problems getting the bleeds through.
I decided to make the deck mono-valeren, skipping the odd auspex and fortitude cards. Also to be able to play a lot of Hide the Heart, I opted to make it a 90 card deck! Then I made it slightly more combat focused, also by adding some rush I would be able to interact with the table even more.
I added three allies to further support the attrition theme and superiour Rayzeel's Song is actually playable with them around (but will obviously mostly be used for bleed).
Blissful Agony is mainly there to handle guns, but is generally awesome.
Not being dependent on Adonai, I could also have a smaller crypt. And here is the result:
Vamps (12)
2 Adonai (7, AUS for VAL, Salubri Antitribu, 2, Sabbat: Adonai can enter combat with any ready Camarilla vampire controlled by another Methuselah as a (D) action. He gets +1 strength when in combat with a Tremere. +1 bleed)
3 Doris McMillon (2, val, Salubri Antitribu, 2, Sabbat)
2 Kervos, The Lieutenant (3, aus val, Salubri Antitribu, 2, Sabbat)
2 Thomas Steed, The Angry (4, ani aus val, Salubri Antitribu, 2, Sabbat: Thomas may search your library for a melee weapon and move it to your hand as a +1 stealth action. Discard down to your hand size and shuffle your library afterward)
3 Wolf Valentine (4, for VAL, Salubri Antitribu, 2, Sabbat: Wolf gets 1 optional press per combat, only usable to continue combat, when in combat with a Tremere)
Library (90)
Master (16)
1 Code of Samiel
2 Hungry Coyote
4 Blood Doll
2 Path of Retribution
3 Blooding by the Code
2 Wider View
1 Direct Intervention
1 Giants Blood
Event (1)
1 Narrow Minds
Action (13)
3 Brother in Arms
5 Sense Death
5 Rayzeel's Song
Allies (3)
1 Greory Winther
1 Impundulu
1 Young Bloods
Retainers (2)
1 J.S Simmons
1 Tasha Morgan
Reaction (21)
1 Delaying Tactics
15 Hide the Heart
5 On the Qui Vive
Combat (27)
9 Loving Agony
8 Target Vitals
2 Weighted Walking Stick
6 Blissful Agony
2 Taste of Vitae
Combo (7)
7 Burning Touch
-- Field Test --
I decided to play this in the wednesday league and was afraid it would be crushed in no time, but as it turned out the other players did not either bring the best decks to the table.
Peter: Big Settites, big bleeds - 0 vp
Thomas: Shalmath Talbot Chainsaw - 1 gw 3 vp
Kalle: Lasombra combat w Talbot Chainsaw as well - 0 vp
BobbyDoc: Salubri Antitribu - 1 vp
I had an awesome start with 1 Blood Doll, 1 Code of Samiel and 1 Brother in Arms on my hand and a nice diversified crypt.
I was able to bring out 2 Brother in Arms quite quick and bled Peter right of the bat. After a while Thomas rushed backwards, making my game even easier. Now I did not play my best, I decided to continue bleed and build up. What I should have done was to save Peter's vampires from torpor so he eventually (hopefully) could oust Thomas. Meanwhile I managed to make my predators life difficult by continiously playing Hide the Heart, so I was in a good position.
Also Kalle should much earlier have tried to contest the chainsaw. Anyway, when I ousted Peter the game was all about Thomas, although I thought I had him a couple of times, but he always had a Lapse on hand when needed.
If I just had played better I would have won or split the table
-- Conclusion --
A very fun deck to play and it's hard for the opposition to figure it out, and that is always a bonus.
Thank you for reading!
/BobbyDoc
