Reasonably Priced Decks: Nosferatu Antitribu

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

The Nosferatu antitribu deck is basically a toolbox deck with an emphasis on both blocking and fighting. The deck is rather slow and requires some patience, because you need some time for the setup (that is recruiting allies and equipping) before you can eventually grinding down your prey(s).

Deck Name: Reasonably Priced Deck: Nosferatu antitribu v2
Author: extrala
Description:

Crypt (Capacity min=2 max=8 avg=5.67; 12 cards)
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1x Blister 3 obf pot !Nosferatu:4
2x Greensleeves 7 for pot ANI OBF !Nosferatu:4
2x Humo 6 obf obt ANI POT !Nosferatu:4
1x Joseph Cambridge 6 ani dom obf POT !Nosferatu:4
2x Lukas 8 pre ser ANI OBF POT !Nosferatu:4
1x Nails 5 ani obf pro POT !Nosferatu:4
1x Old Neddacka 2 obf !Nosferatu:4
1x Stick 3 ANI !Nosferatu:4
1x Teresita, The Godmother 7 for ANI OBF POT !Nosferatu:3

Library (60 cards)
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Master (10 cards)
4x Blood Doll
1x Depravity
1x Fame
1x Guardian Angel
1x Information Network
1x Mob Connections
1x Nosferatu Kingdom

Equipment (5 cards)
1x Baseball Bat
2x Camera Phone
1x Leather Jacket
1x Phased Motion Detector

Retainer (4 cards)
4x Raven Spy

Action Modifier (6 cards)
2x Cloak the Gathering
2x Lost in Crowds
2x Veil the Legions

Reaction (12 cards)
2x Cats' Guidance
2x Fillip
2x Guard Dogs
2x Instinctive Reaction
2x On the Qui Vive
2x Sense the Savage Way

Combat (19 cards)
5x Aid from Bats
3x Carrion Crows
2x Glancing Blow
2x Pushing the Limit
2x Sacrament of Carnage
2x Slam
1x Stunt Cycle
2x Taste of Vitae

Combo (4 cards)
4x Swallowed by the Night

Created with Secret Library v0.9.3. (Aug 2, 2012 14:28:44)

Offense: The deck is rather defensive until the mid-game. In the beginning, infrequent bleeds for one and blocking your prey's minions will be the only forward motion. But in the beginning establishing a solid position against your predator has a higher priority. So has getting the equipment and the retainers, because the deck heavily relies on these permanents.
The basic game plan is to recruit retainers/equip in the early game, and keeping your predator in check. Even to the point of torporizing one or two vampires controlled by your predator. Only after you established a solid position (with at least three vampires), you should go against your prey in earnest. In the midgame you should be able to take like two offensive actions against your prey (mostly bleeding). With the rather high number of reaction cards that allow you to untap or react as if untapped (10 in 60 cards), you should be able to block a lot of actions even with only one or two vampires untapped at the end of your round.
The only really offensive tools are the two Camera Phones and the Fame. But since there are no Rush cards in the deck, you have choose the target of the Fame wisely. Pick a vampire that is going to take actions, even if only that minion usually does only directed against your grandprey. It's important to use the Obfuscate stealth cards most of the time for the recruit and equip actions, and not for primarily bleed actions or some such thing. The permanents in the deck are the key to success.

Defense: Actually the strong part of the deck. But you have to keep in mind that you can't block everything. So take your picks and block only those actions by your prey or predator which grant them a significant long term advantage or that threatens lower your pool significantly.
If your prey is calling a Kine Resource Contested, he'll most likely give you 1 pool damage only, which the deck can easily compensate with Blood Dolls or Nosferatu Kingdom. If your predator is calling the Kine Resource Contested on the other hand, it is an entirely different matter. Another example is that you need to block when your predator is equipping a Heart of Nizchetus, whereas you let slip by an equip action for a Leather Jacket, since your deck can deal a considerable amount of damage and has a considerable number of presses. In short, pick your blocks wisely, not just "because I can".
Also you need to keep in mind, that although the number of untap-like cards is high in this deck, most of these cards are restricted by some condition (only usable by vampire with capacity > 6; only usable when you're being bled, ..)

Crypt: The focus is on superior Amimalism first and on superior Potence second. Obfuscate is less important, because the non-combat decks usually don't want to block you and most dedicated combat decks don't have that much intercept. The capacity of the deck is somewhat high, so it might take some time before you can safely move a third vampire to the controlled region. You should always try to move a vampire with superior Animalism and/or Potence out, Teresita is the prime candidate, but Humo or Nails are too shabby either.

Typical Turn:

• Move a blood from vampire with Blood Doll to your pool.
  
• Recruit an Raven Spy (or take an equip action).
• Bleed for one if your prey controls the edge. Otherwise (if there's no other (D) action against your prey (or predator) available), go hunting.
  
• Use the Nosferatu Kingdom to gain a pool.
• Block your prey (at least once, depending on how many wake cards you have in your hand.
  

Strengths: The strength of the deck is it's rather resilient and can survive even aggressive predators. It's designed to win in the long run, mostly with the numerous permanents it can put into play. Also the deck is able to dish out significant damage even though it has no direct answer to Strike: Combat Ends (or to lesser extent damage prevention).

Weaknesses: The deck gets a problem against fast decks (because of the time needed for the setup). Also cards like Forgotten Labyrinth can be a problem, for example Ventrue Obfuscate Vote decks are rather hard to handle. But still, Raven Spies can make the difference, since such a vote deck always needs to have the necessary extra stealth to bypass the Raven Spy and/or the Information Network. The biggest issue is really the lack of direct ousting power. A deck with large pool sack or heavy pool gain is gonna be very hard to oust within the time limit of 2 hours.

Possible Extensions: One thing I noticed during the test games was that I always run almost out of library (even though I was very cautious discarding cards). So adding a few more cards would enable the deck being discarding more aggressively. There are basically two directions the expansion could take. Either by adding a number of rush cards or by adding some more defensive capabilities.

• 2x Abbot -- a fine addition for extra intercept.
• 1x Canine Horde -- destroying equipment (e.g. weapons).
• 2x Delaying Tactics -- to fix the weakness against stealth vote decks.
• 2x Haven Uncovered -- to more easily take out vampires (especially the one with the Fame).
• 1x KRCG Newsradio -- one extra location of getting intercept.
• 1x Raven Spy -- an extra Raven Spy to keep card ratios intact.
• 1x Shanty Town Hunting Ground
• 2x Taste of Vitae -- convenient way of getting blood back.
• 3x Underbridge Stray -- extra untap & extra presses.
• 1x Vagabond Mystique -- keeping the Underbridge Strays alive.

Next time when I will present the next installment of the series, it'll be (most likely) a deck based on the Ventrue antitribu or Tremere antitribu clan.