Deck Archetypes: Toreador Grand Ball

The Toreador Grand Ball (TGB) decktype is around for quite some time now. Essentially it is a political deck, which uses the "Toreador Grand Ball" to make the political actions like "Kine Resources Contested" and "Parity Shift" unblockable. Another alias for this decktype is "AAA" or "Triple-A" for the three main vampires it features, namely "Anson", "Anneke" and "Alexandra".

How to win with them

The TGB deck lulls the table into the belief, it is utterly harmless and it won't do anything. In a way this is true, until the deck has had its required setup, then the first TGB hits the table, and the vampires start voting.

The main action to keep the deck alive is "Parity Shift"; if you have an aggressive S&B or Combat deck as predator, then you need to take down the aggressor first, and then turn to your predator. The deck is also a master of deal negotation, since with the help of "Parity Shift" and/or "Anneke's" special ability it is able to deal damage quite effectively cross-table or block actions crosstable. The description of Erol Oenguen's TGB deck was "Survive and make a deal with someone who can oust." and that exactly was this deck archetypes strength: it had table control. All of the "AAA" trio of vampires has it's own superior asset:

• "Anson" provides a second master phase action,
• "Anneke" can block cross-table, and
• "Alexandra" can untap a "Toreador" during it's player's minion phase.

Another neat "trick" is having multiple TGBs in play, but effectively you only need to not to untap only one of your "Toreador" vampires. And even that can be circumvented by "Alexandra's" special ability. The deck not only generates large amounts of pool by "Parity Shifts", but also with any other vote, by first (nearly) emptying the vampires with "Minion Taps", and then refilling them with "Voter Captivation" later own.


Bleed defense
The deck's bleed defense is quite simple, yet effective. It uses "Telepathic Misdirection" to bounce bleeds of and/or "Second Tradition: Domain" to block it. The amount of intercept can often be enhanced by "Eagle's Sight" or other "Auspex"-based intercept cards.

Vote defense
Usually no special vote defense is needed here, since the TGB deck has a lots of votes to offer, A TGB deck might pack either the classic "Delaying Tactics" or even better "Scalpel Tongue", since it can turn around both a vote that you call yourself or a vote that is called by your adversaries.

Combat defense
TGB's combat capability is defensive in nature, with an abundance of "Majesty", and sometimes with sprinkles of "Obedience". Also "Secure Haven" is often seen in this deck type. Some deck variants also feature "Concealed Weapons" and ".44 Magnums" to be able withstand other combat decks more consistently and even provide hitback against ally or weenie decks.

How to win against them

Once the deck is built-up often having multiple high cap. vampires out, it is difficult to oust, even more so it has then generated a considerable pool buffer.

So early pressure is mandatory, but you need to be aware of the deck's capability to steal "back" one's pool by playing "Parity Shift". The victim of the "Parity Shift" is often, especially early in the game, its predator, not its prey.

If the deck is low pool, especially after putting itself deliberately down for being able to play the "Parity Shift", it is vulnerable to "Delaying Tactics" and even more so "Confusion of the Eye".

It is mandatory, for both the prey and predator of the TGB deck, to remove the name-sakes of the deck. This is true even if the TGB player can recycle TGB from the asheap and play it as a second master phase action in the same turn. The reasoning is that if he uses two master phase actions to retrieve and play a "used" TGB, he cannot use it for playing and/or retrieving other vital master cards. And without the TGB the Toreador are either blocked during actions or they don't try anything funny at all.

Key Cards

• "Toreador Grand Ball" -- the namesake of the deck, vital for taking political actions without the fear of being blocked.
• "Anthelios" -- retrieve "Toreador Grand Ball", "Direct Intervention" and other vital goodies from the ashheap. Best utilized with "Parthenon" and/or "Anson" in play.
• "Parity Shift" -- the main means to keep the deck alive.
• "Second Tradition: Domain" -- the decks untap card and main source of intercept as well.

One of the key cards used to be "Anarch Revolt", but due to the fact that you can get "immunity" from the "Anarch Revolt" by making one (or more) of your vampires an Anarch, it is no longer one of the favourite cards of a TGB deck.

Notable Examples & Variations

• Classic TGB deck /w multiple copies of the "Triple-A" vampires
  
  • Toreador Grand Ball by Kamel Senni -- the basic version.
    
  • Anneke+Anson by Ruben Van Cauwenberghe -- another basic version, but w/o Alexandra.
    
  • Erol Triple-A by Erol Oenguen -- focusses on blocking and table control.
    
  • AAA by Marc Desaulniers -- an aggresive version with more KRC.
    
  • Masters of the Grand Ball by Teemu Sainomaa -- an updated version w/ some newer cards added.
    
  
  
• "Alastor" variant --here the main vote is Alastor, and the deck mutates into a Rush combat deck during mid-game.
  
  • Alastores Pipoqueiros by Sergio Trentin Jr.

Decklist

Coupe de Paris
Paris, France
February 28th 2006
23 Methuselahs

Tournament winning deck
Created By: Kamel SENNI

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 17, Max: 42, Avg: 7,75)
----------------------------------------------
4 Anson aus dom CEL PRE 8 Toreador
2 Anneke dom AUS CEL PRE 10 Toreador
2 Alexandra dom ANI AUS CEL PRE 11 Toreador
1 Francois Villon chi obf pot AUS CEL PRE 10 Toreador
1 Dorian Strack cel AUS 4 Toreador
1 Delilah Easton pre 2 Toreador
1 Isabel de Leon AUS 3 Toreador

Library: (88 cards)
-------------------
Master (46 cards)
2 Blood Doll
6 Dreams of the Sphinx
2 Fortschritt Library
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Legendary Vampire
8 Minion Tap
1 Parthenon, The
1 Pentex Subversion
2 Sudden Reversal
1 Temptation of Greater Power
7 Toreador Grand Ball
5 Visit from the Capuchin
9 Zillah`s Valley

Action (6 cards)
4 Dominate Kine
2 Entrancement

Action Modifier (12 cards)
3 Aire of Elation
2 Approximation of Loyalty
7 Voter Captivation

Political Action (12 cards)
1 Anarchist Uprising
1 Ancient Influence
2 Ancilla Empowerment
3 Banishment
3 Parity Shift
1 Political Stranglehold
1 Reins of Power

Reaction (6 cards)
3 Obedience
3 Telepathic Misdirection

Combat (4 cards)
4 Majesty

Ally (1 cards)
1 Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)

Event (1 cards)
1 Anthelios, the Red Star