VtES EC 2010 Decks of Interest

During the VtES EC 2010 there was a strong tendency towards known and strong decks, which had proven to give players sure game wins (and sometimes even) tournament wins. For example regarding bleed decks, there were basically four types of decks:

• Kindred Spirits Stealth Bleed (including both weenie Dementation version and the version with larger vampires and more Obfuscate)
• Kiasyd or Lasombra Stealth Bleed (mostly with the G4/5 vampires) with or without Nocturns
  
• Giovanni Powerbleed
• Ventrue feat. Edward Vignes Bleed

In addition some, but not many Weenie Dominate, Baali Obf/Pre S&B or Gerald Windham & Friends Bleed decks showed up.

Or in other words, there were very few "rogue" decks with new and/or at least some surprising tricks. Some of the more interesting decks of the EC (not already shown as finalist's decks) include the following:

• Legendary Vampire (October 29th, 2010)
  
  
  
  • The Blood Brothers Kiev Bleed deck played by Jakub B. (POL) played, is built around the in-circle disciplines Sanguinus, Fortitude and Protean, but basically is stealth bleed deck with strong bloat component using 16 copies of Unwholesome Bond.
  
  
  • A Cybele/Lutz/Unmada deck was played by Otso S. (FIN), which basically runs the same engine as the now classic Cybele/Aksinya/Inner Circle deck, but uses Derangement to gain vote control on the table. The deck is not entirely new and already won the Finnish ECQ tournament earlier this year.
  
  
  • This is a Al-Munthahir & Friends Summon History built by The Lasombra and played by Robyn T. (USA). Key to this political deck is Summon History which is used to put several big cap titled Sabbat and Camarilla vampires on play.
  
  

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• Last Chance Qualifier (October 29th, 2010)
  
  
  
  • Christophe B. (FRA) fielded a Lasombra G4/5 feat. Appius Black Hand Nocturn deck, which was a nice of change of pace in comparison to the other Lasombra & Kiasyd Stealth Bleed decks. The deck uses a significantly different crypt consisting of Appius Claudius Corvus and his Lasombra Black Hand friends, and uses a few cards requiring the Black Hand to great effect.
  
  
  • When looking at the Midcap G2/3 Obf/Dom Ally "Stuff" deck, which was played by Otto K. (FIN), I am still wondering how this deck is gonna work. It has several minions with Dominate and/or Obfuscate, yet chooses to play Computer Hacking. The main vampire is Kyoko Shinsegawa, but the only card requiring a discipline she can play is Deflection. I mean, it looks like a bloat/swarm bleed deck, but it appears to be less effective than it could be. On the other hand it scored 1 GW 5.5 in the LCQ tournament.
  
  
  • One of the most interesting deck is the Followers of Set feat. Nakhthorheb Chameleon played by Marko S. (FIN). He uses Nakhthorheb, which becomes first Baron, then plays Chameleon to take control of vampires just moved to the ready region. The trick mainly works in the first half of the game, when Nakhthorheb is influenced quickly using Eternals of Sirius, but can be pulled off later as well with the help of Banishment.
  
  
  • Another deck based on Al-Muntahir is the Al-Muntahir Summon History Powerbleed used by Tomas W. (SWE) in the LCQ tournament. This time Summon History helps to gather a truckload of bleed equipment and bleed retainers, to finally be able to bleed for 7 without playing a card. Quite similar to an Una Freakshow deck ..
  
  
  • The Followers of Set G4/5 feat. Cybele Illomba Set's Curse deck built and played by Ivan M. (SWE) made it Deck of the Month September 2010. Read more there about this unique deck.
  
  
  • Teemu S. (FIN) played Arika/Tyler & Lasombra Friends Baltimore Purge. The deck uses Arika and especially Tyler to be able to first put down a number of opposing vampires using Baltimore Purge, and then diablerize one or more vampires with the help of Tyler's special ability to untap after she diablerize a vampire.
  
  
  • Similar to Robyn's deck (see above), the Al-Muntahir/Inner Circle Summon History as played by Martin S. (NOR) summons Inner Circle members to do their master's bidding. This deck is not as focused as voting as Robyn's, but has a stronger ally angle.
  
  
  • Frode L. (NOR) uses his Nadima/Mirembe/Nehsi Pro/Set Hatch the Viper Rush deck to setup his vampires superior Protean & Serpentis with a number of Hatch the Viper retainers, and then rushes his opponents to put them down
  
  
  • What do you do when you want to play Weenie vote deck and you're in need of some extra votes? Put 17 Orun in it, or at least that's what Benjamin B. (FRA) did with his Weenie Laibon Orun Vote. Similar to the Team Africa deck, the deck uses the different Laibon clans for gaining vote majority at the table without spending too much pool on its vampires.
  
  

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• EC 2010 Day 1 (October 30th, 2010)
  
  
  
  • The deck played by Otso S. (FIN) was Weenie G1/2 Anarch Auspex Wall. This is more or less a run-of-the-mill Weenie Auspex deck, but with Constant Revolution it has a stronger finisher than the regular deck. And the cost is for this angle is rather low, all you need is a number of Anarch Converts and two copies of Constant Revolution. Also two copies of Madness Network strengthens the bloat capability in conjunction with Victoria's special ability. And she's good spin for the deckname .
  
  
  • Peter B. (HUN) played a True Brujah G5/6 Aus/Tem Bleed deck, yet another example how the latest VtES expansion gave the bloodlines a boost. Peter uses both Lydia and Al-Muntahir (paying even the Scarce penalty) to equip with various unique bleed equipment, and then bleed hard with them. Instead of using copious amounts of stealth the deck relies on Tangle Atropos' Hand and Crocodiles Tongue to outplay the opponent. In addition the deck punishers with the simple yet efficient Domain of Evernight & Outside the Hourglass combo.
  
  
  • The fourth and last Summon History deck in this list is Ian Forrestal & Friends Summon History by Evgueny L. (FRA). He uses Ian Forrestal instead of Al-Muntahir (or any other True Brujah) to summon a number of different, most notably Tye Cooper and Ponticulus. With their help he can use Talbot's Chainsaw to turn this deck into a rush combat deck.
  
  
  • Daniele P. (ITA) plays a Mata Hari 50 Freak Drive Allies, and with that he has the deck with most copies of a single card during the tournament, even beating the Una Freakshow decks with exactly 50 Freak Drives. With 14 different allies the deck is obviously strong on allies and their individual strengths.
  
  

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• EC 2010 Day 2 (October 31st, 2010)
  
  
  
  • Tomasz I. (POL) had a Followers of Set feat. Hesha Temptation/Bloat deck at the start, which uses Temptation as its key card both for tempting their own vampires (for bloating and equipping) as well as tempting key vampires of the opposing players.
  
  

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• First Chance Qualifier (October 31st, 2010)
  
  
  
  • Emiliano I. (ITA) with 2 GW 7 nearly reached the final in the FCQ. He played a Tzimisce G2/3 Maris Streck War Ghoul nicknamed "Wallghouls". The deck has strong control angle with Maris Streck's special, and it becomes even stronger when (in addition to Unmasking) the War Ghouls are granted the intercept Maris Streck provides.
  
  
  • Kristofer Å. (SWE) with his Assamite G4/5 Black Hand Contract deck in the first place looks like a standard (usually not very successful) rush combat deck, but in fact this deck has more to offer. It uses not only the Black Hand angle, specifically Black Hand Contract, but also the Anarch angle for the use of Steely Tenacity, giving the Assamites a copious amount of rushes.
  
  
  • The Mata Hari & Friends Vote/Sensory Deprivation deck played by Pierre-Denis B. (FRA) is another Mata Hari deck. The deck is rather toolboxy, but interestingly the deck has strong vote angle with various political locations, but also Sensory Deprivation as backup plan.
  
  
  • The Maureen & Friends Infernal Servitor was played by Pieter H. (NED) and built by his fellow countryman Izaak H. The deck uses the classic Dominate/Obfuscate bleed mechanism for ousting. Beyond that it has an added strong Baali angle with Unleash Hell's Fury for defense and Infernal Servitor and Greater Curse for offense
  
  
  • Let me present you the most focused deck in all of the EC 2010 tournament decks. This Brujah G1/2 Weenie Arms Dealer Flash Grenade deck was played by Christian N. (DEN). When looking at the deck you'll see that it has only 11 different library cards. For my point of view it might get a bit boring to play after a while, but it sure has focus. The basic trade of the deck is to equip the arms dealers (and/or Weenie Brujah) with Camera Phones and bleed your opponent with a horde a Weenies and Arms Dealers. If blocked play Concealed Weapon on Flash Grenade and thereby keep the opposing vampire tapped for his next turn.

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I am not saying all of these decks are truly good and well-executed, but all of them (some more, some less) were a welcome change to a lot of standard decks seen during the EC. You can find (a few) extra EC 2010 decks on Secret Library when entering "EC 2010" as title in the deck search form.