"I love the dead" and other misfortunes

Seeing the n-th Shambling Hordes deck, the latest called "I love the Dead" on Lasombra's TWD archive, especially the so-called Speed Shamblers variant, I would like to discuss the key cards of the deck, and some tips how to beat the deck.

Example decks can be found here

• I Love the Dead by John Ivar Sandvik
• The Black Parade by Jason Ryan
• SpeedShambling by Miriadel - Olivier Perez

The key cards of the deck are usually:

• Liquidation -- provides both pool gain and the ability to fetch the cards the Shamblers player needs right now by Sudario Refraction.
• Parthenon -- Speed Shamblers is often play with less than 90 cards, but still a high count of Master cards (20+), so the Parthenon is essential.
• Acquired Ventrue Assets -- the card to quickly refill the Giovanni to get the next shambler; better than a hunting ground since you can use more than one a single Giovanni at once.
• Sudario Refraction - to gain/recycle those cards currently needed that may have been milled away by a Liquidation earlier.
• Shambling Hordes - the Meat and Brain of the deck, chumps to kill key vampires, block weenies, etc. Get them early, get lots of them.
• Unmasking & FBI Special Affairs Division - the Unmasking for the obvious intercept, the FBI for punishing especially other combat decks if they dare to attack one the Giovanni.

The Speed Shamblers deck is far from invincible, though if harrased it is often still the strongest deck at the table, since it is needs little setup, and can replace lost resource often quite easily. Here are some tips on how beat it:

• Play "Wash" or "Sudden Reversal" on the "Parthenon" or the "Memories of Mortality".
• Block the "Sudario Refraction"; remember you will usually need two minions with +1 intercept each to block. If you are a wall deck, block the Giovanni early and block them often. This is their Achilles heal: lack of stealth and other ways of bringing their actions through other than "Call of the Hungry Wolf".
  
• Play "Sniper Rifle" or other long range weapons. Even two or three in a deck are enough if you can manage to wake often enough to block attacking shamblers. Good news is that you do not need stealth for block the brainless.
  
• If you are a Rush deck, rush them first; the Shamblers if you can put them down, the Giovanni if you can get past the Shambler blockers.
  
• If you are play a political deck, pack some "Approximation of Loyalty". The Giovanni playing the "Delaying Tactics" are usually mid-caps or weenies.
• Talk to your crosstable buddy and your prey to get rid of the "Memories of Mortality". Profit from the bad image the Speed Shamblers have.
  
• And most importantly: Don't get initimidated by the threats the Giovanni player is making, and do not let them built up!