Reasonably Priced Decks: Tzimisce

The following deck based on the Tzimisce clan is the first deck in the Reasonably Priced Decks series, which I have outlined in a previous blog post.

In its core it's a plain, simple Bleed deck with some diversions in combat and intercept .. and the diversions are what makes your opponent guess how much combat and intercept you actually have in your deck. Which, of course, makes it difficult for him to (re)act accordingly.

Deck Name: Reasonably Priced Deck: Tzimisce
Author: extrala
Description: The first in the Reasonably Priced Deck series, designed for beginners.

Crypt (Capacity min=3 max=8 avg=5.17; 12 cards)
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1x Adhiambo 6 pot ANI VIC Tzimisce:4
2x Ana Rita Montaña 5 aus dom obf VIC Tzimisce:3
2x Droescher One-Eye 3 ani vic Tzimisce:4
2x Elizabeth Westcott 5 ani cel vic AUS Tzimisce:3
1x Ilias cel Frumos 3 aus vic Tzimisce:4
1x Kazimir Savostin 7 ani pot AUS VIC Tzimisce:3
1x Lady Zara Slatikov 8 ANI AUS OBF VIC Tzimisce:4
1x Laika 7 chi obf vic ANI AUS Tzimisce:4
1x Yuri Kerezenski 5 aus for vic ANI Tzimisce:4

Library (60 cards)
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Master (10 cards)
1x Auspex
1x Capitalist
1x KRCG News Radio
2x Sudden Reversal
2x Vessel
2x Blood Doll
1x Vicissitude

Action (6 cards)
6x Fiendish Tongue

Equipment (3 cards)
2x Camera Phone
1x Leather Jacket

Retainer (3 cards)
2x Corpse Balloon
1x Revenant

Action Modifier (10 cards)
8x Changeling
2x Mind of the Wilds

Reaction (12 cards)
2x Enhanced Senses
4x Guard Dogs
2x On the Qui Vive
4x Telepathic Misdirection

Combat (14 cards)
2x Carrion Crows
5x Chiropteran Marauder
3x Quick Jab
4x Starvation of Marena

Combo (2 cards)
2x Plasmic Form

Offense: As you can see, the deck's main intend is to oust by bleeding with Fiendish Tongue, Changeling and Camera Phones. Even though the use of both Fiendish Tongue and Camera Phones seems counter-intuitive, since you cannot use both in the same action. But on the other hand the Camera Phones are permanents (equipment) which will help you keep bleeding beyond your initial prey and conserving Fiendish Tongue when you need/want to untap key Tzimisce at the end of your turn. The two Sudden Reversal should be used to prevent early pool gain (i.e. Vessel or Villein).

The bleed portion of the deck is supplemented by a strong 14 card combat section, which will make your prey's minions think twice about blocking. You can either use Chiropteran Marauder as aggravated damage, preferably with Quick Jab which makes the aggravated damage land with First Strike, thus effectively being save from hitback. Or you can use Chiropteran Marauder as maneuver to then strike with Starvation of Marena and possibly press to the second round. It's essential to pick your fights wisely. Against a non-combat deck stay at close range and hit him with the aggravated damage. Against combat deck's it's more tricky. Often it's better to stay at long range and hit back from there, but with a Quick Jab and Chiropteran Marauder you can sometimes take down combat monsters like Beast with ease.

Defense: The defense of the deck is mainly orientated versus other bleed decks. There are six untap cards in the deck (along with the potential untap of Fiendish Tongue), although four of them (Guard Dogs) can only be used during a bleed action. Depending on your predator's offense you can use Telepathic Misdirections either as intercept or as bounce cards.

Crypt: The initial goal is have three vampires out (staying above 10 remaining pool) , maybe even four. Key disciplines is superior Vicissitude, especially for the offense. You need at least one mid-cap vampire superior Vicissitude (6 candidates) and a second one with superior Auspex (5 candidates) to bounce bleeds. But since there two disciplines cards in the deck, you can enhance the capabilities of those vampires lacking these disciplines at superior later on in the game quite easily.

Typical Turn: Bleed with Fiendish Tongue plus Changeling for 2 pool damage at +1 stealth or 3 pool damage (at no stealth) with the possibility to untap at the end of the turn. To maximize your bleeds, use Fiendish Tongue preferably with those vampires with superior Vicissitude, since your prey is generally more afraid of blocking those. Usually start bleeding with the small capacity vampire though, since your prey will often let the smaller bleed pass, because he's expecting more from the mid-cap vampires. So bleed with 2 or maybe three vampires and (hopefully) still have two vampires untapped at the end of your turn to block your predator's actions or bounce his bleeds to your prey.

Strengths: Doesn't need much stealth, because that is compensated by the combat capabilities provided mostly by Vicissitude.
Weaknesses: Since this deck is no powerbleed, the deck has problems if your prey bloats very much. Also an intercept deck with access to damage prevention is the antidote to this deck (i.e. Ventrue antitribu Grinder).

Possible Extensions: Adding some Breath of the Dragon would help dealing with other combat decks or in general to avoid hit back. Or adding some Target Vitals to make combat more efficient in general. Another route to go is the inclusion of a couple of War Ghouls to take down minions from your prey (to prevent block or bounce) or from your predator (if they prove to be a problem). But this would also require one or two additional retainers or allies. Good choices would be either the bleed retainers (Tasha Morgan) or inexpensive allies like Vagabond Mystique or Jake Washington. Also helpful are some generic cards like Ivory Bow or a Bowl of Convergence.

This improved/expanded version of the deck has bit more emphasis on blocking and fighting by adding the following 15 cards to the original deck:

• 2x War Ghouls
• 2x Breath of the Dragon -- alternatively two more Chiropteran Marauder.
• 2x Jake Washington (Hunter) -- could also be J.S. Simmons Esq. and Tasha Morgan.
• 1x Chiropteran Marauder
• 2x Deep Song -- alternatively two more Fiendish Tongue.
• 2x Eagle's Sight
• 2x My Enemy's Enemy -- alternatively two more Telepathic Misdirections.
• 2x On the Qui Vive

Next week I will present the next installment of the series, this time a deck based on the Brujah antitribu clan.