Official VEKN Nosferatu Newsletter for September, 2007.

A Tale of Two Decks!

So this month, we have two versions of the same deck. I was discussing
Nosferatu decks with the inimitable John Eno, and he sent me a
(tournament winning?) Nosferatu Royalty Anathema breed deck that used
G1/2 Nosferatu with titles to make potence kids, call Anathema on his
preyıs vampires, and then mass rush them with Potence to beat them up,
burn them, and bloat up as he went. Iıve been playing a pretty
standard Nosferatu BreedBoon deck for a long time (and got one in the
TWDA), but when John showed off his hot Anathema tech, I was totally
sold on the awesome. So I completely bit off his deck and made my own
version that focused on the G2/3 titled Nosferatu and instead of going
OBF/POT like John did, I went ANI/OBF to maximize the use of Calebros,
the Martyr.

In any case, here is John original deck and commentary:

Deck Name: The Witchfinder Army
By: John Eno

Crypt (12 vampires, avg size = 5.33)
2x Selma the Repugnant (OBF POT, 8, prince)
2x Murat (OBF POT, 7, prince)
2x Nikolaus Vermeulen (obf POT, 7, prince)
1x Calebros, The Martyr (obf pot, 5, prince)
1x Agatha (obf POT, 4)
1x Agrippina (OBF pot, 4)
1x Duck (obf pot, 3)
1x Dimple (obf, 2)
1x KoKo (pot, 2)

Library (90 cards)
Master (15 cards)
3x Blood Doll
1x Giant's Blood
4x Haven Uncovered
1x Labyrinth, The
1x Mob Connections
4x Potence
1x Slum Hunting Ground

Action (9 cards)
3x Blood Hunt
1x Rampage
5x Third Tradition: Progeny

Political Action (11 cards)
4x Anathema
5x Consanguineous Boon
2x Nosferatu Justicar

Action Modifier (12 cards)
2x Cloak the Gathering
2x Domain of Evernight
2x Faceless Night
2x Lost in Crowds
2x Spying Mission
2x Veil the Legions

Action Modifier/Combat (3 cards)
3x Swallowed by the Night

Combat (30 cards)
4x Behind You!
8x Increased Strength
18x Thrown Gate

Reaction (10 cards)
2x On the Qui Vive
8x Second Tradition: Domain

[John Eno]Nothing shocking in the crypt. A bunch of princes to make
sure you can play your cards, and a bunch of dorks to get the other
stuff done.

The only possibly questionable inclusion is Agatha, since she can't
interact with any of the Nosferatu stuff (Labyrinth, Con Boons,
justicar vote, Nikolaus' discount ability). However, her cheapness,
coupled with her abilities to be sneaky when needed and kill folks
real good the rest of the time, more than make up for those minor
drawbacks.

Again, nothing groundbreaking in the Master selection. It's quite
possible that Mob Connections would be better off as any number of
other generically good masters (Barrens, Dreams, DI), as it generally
hasn't actually been used more than once or twice in games I've played.

Remember that you mostly want to discard the skill cards, as they're
more intended for the Third Tradition weenies than your crypt minions
(but having the ability to make Koko super-punchy is sometimes
worthwhile too, of course).

In the action department, the Blood Hunts will make you sad if you're
sitting next to titled Camarilla guys; otherwise, they're much
stronger than most people seem to realize - I've had lots of people
laugh or give me funny looks when playing them, at least until
the vampire they're played on gets evaporated due to Anathema and
swarm-rush.

Rampage could possibly be something else, but I like screwing with
other peoples' locations.

The Political section ends up being pretty massive bloat, which the
deck needs since it lacks bounce.

These aren't votes with much inherent sellability, should you see a
hostile vote deck at the table, but you may be able to use strong-arm
persuasion to get them passed. It's also possible sometimes to limp
along without being able to pass these votes - there's enough
toolboxiness in the deck to allow for some flexibility.

The combination of stealth and combat appears really ungainly on
paper, but tends to work very well in play. There are enough
must-block actions that your stealth shouldn't sit in your hand for
very long, and enough ways to dump combat cards if you need to, that
you shouldn't jam on either one.

The combat package is pretty basic, but it works very well offensively
and fairly well defensively. "Fair" is good enough defensive combat
since you generally don't care too much about any particular minion
with this deck, and should have enough spare actions to rescue should
something go awry. CEL/guns will probably kill you dead, though you
might be able to take them with you as you go down.

I know there is a lot of untap, but I like playing with lots of
wake-up tech. Also, it's not uncommon to have to tap out with this
deck even once you've got 6-8 minions on the table, as both its bleed
and rush strategies can be pretty action-intensive.

Fun side note: This decks runs out of library more consistently than
any other deck I've ever made (including 60- and 70-card decks).
:)[/John Eno]

So I was so darned impressed by the entertainment value of this deck,
I immediately decided to build my own version. Rather than go with
OBF/POT, I wanted to go ANI/OBF, figuring that I could use Animal
Magnetism for extra vote push and Carrion Crows/Aid from Bats is
arguably a more robust combat angle than Increased/Thrown Gate due to
the inherent press and the Crows not being strike damage; yeah, less
shock value then a Thrown Gate for 10 damage, but also less foiled by
most standard combat defense. As I wanted to maximize ANI, I had to go
with the G2/3 crypt of titled Nosferatu which worked out well, as then
Calebros becomes super awesome and you get to take advantage of Casino
Reeds.

Crypt: (12)
3x Casino Reeds (9) ANI, OBF, Prince
2x Nikolaus Vermeulen (7) ani, obf, Prince
2x Jara Drory (7) ANI, OBF, Primogen
2x Calebros, The Martyr (5) ANI, obf, Prince
1x Clarissa Steinburgen (3) ani, obf
1x Krid (2) obf
1x Mouse (2) ani

Library: (90)
Master: (15)
6x Animalism
4x Haven Uncovered
3x Blood Doll
1x Giant's Blood
1x The Labyrinth

Action: (10)
6x Third Tradition: Progeny
4x Blood Hunt

Action Modifier: (10)
4x Animal Magnetism
4x Lost in Crowds
2x Elder Impersonation

Action Modifier/Combat: (6)
6x Swallowed by the Night

Combat: (26)
12x Aid from Bats
12x Carrion Crows
2x Canine Horde

Political Action: (15)
5x Anathema
4x Consanguineous Boon
2x Parity Shift
2x Nosferatu Justicar
1x Praxis Seizure: Cleveland
1x Praxis Seizure: Rome

Reaction: (8)
8x Second Tradition: Domain

In the crypt, I decided to maximize Casino Reeds, as he is a totally
fantastic vampire--a Prince who comes with built in Grooming the
Protégé and does +1 damage with Aid from Bats. Originally, I had Cock
Robin in the crypt, but as he is so huge and I often turn Calebros
into the Nosferatu Justicar as my first action, poor Cock Robin often
got left uncontrolled. Calebros becomes a super star in this version
of the deck, as his ANI is huge and occasionally, he wonıt even need
to change his title due to the high occurrence of non-Camarilla
vampires these days.
Jara Drory is possibly a questionable vampire to use two of in the
crypt, but she has ANI/OBF in a reasonable 7 capacity package, her
Primogen vote is often very helpful in the vote push limited Nosferatu
crypt, and her special ability is actually kind of useful, if you can
remember to actually use it all the time.

In the library, I went with more skill cards, figuring my 3rd
Tradition kids will pull most of them out of the deck, and it is handy
to be able to give Nikolaus ANI early on. I have lighter stealth, a
similarly sized combat selection, although again, the Crows/Bats
combination is less likely to be foiled by a single dodge or Skin of
Steel. Because of being able to use ANI/OBF, Animal Magnetism becomes
a useful vote pushing tool, and I decided to fit a few Parity Shifts
in for extra pool gain and offense all in one (and really, who doesnıt
like Parity Shift?).
Much like Johnıs version, a gun deck is probably going to kill you,
but at least having ANI, I can send some dogs out to eat my opponentıs
guns once and a while.

In casual play, this deck has been doing surprisingly well, winning
more often than not. Weıll see how it goes in the next tournament I
attend...

-Peter D Bakija

You can check out all of my old Nosferatu Newsletters at:

http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

Peter D Bakija
pdb6@...
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

"Find hungry samurai."
-The Old Man