DECK CHALLENGE - Taking the Skin: Minion

Hello everyone, so this next blog is going to be a little different (and quite long!). A good friend of mine named Sonam has recently fallin' in love with the card "Taking the Skin: Minion" as it is the only card in the game that grants a minion the ability to bleed twice in a turn. And so he made a Hardestadt deck with the idea of Hardestadt getting one level of Abombwe, burning a minion and then bleeding twice (needing a freak drive if you burn minion first). Here is the card text below.

Taking the Skin: Minion    
Action Modifier/Combat      
Abombwe  
[abo] [REFLEX] Cancel a frenzy card played on this vampire as it is played.
[abo] Skin. Play when this vampire burns a minion. Put this card on this vampire and untap him or her. This vampire may bleed an additional time this turn and gets +1 bleed and +1 stealth when bleeding. Burn this card during your discard phase. A minion can have only one skin.

... Unfortunately Sonam's deck did not work so well. But we started talking and I remembered Martin's "Hardestadt Eats the World" deck. I showed him it and he asked me:

"How about adapting Martin's Hardestadt rush deck to include my idea of a rush deck that bleed lunges for a lot with Taking the Skin: Minion?"


Martin's deck in full glory can be found at

"http://hunfragment.blogspot.com/2010/04/tournament-report-martins-birthday.html"

First, here's Martin's decklist:

Deck Name: Hardestadt eats the world
Created By: Martin "Mephistopheles" Major
Description:
1. Kill titled vampires.
2. Kill everything else.
3. Try to oust with Ancient Influence for added fun.

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 22, Max: 44, Avg: 8,16)
----------------------------------------------
4 Hardestadt cel pro DOM FOR POT PRE11 Ventrue
4 Lodin (Olaf Holte) aus pro DOM FOR PRE8 Ventrue
1 Graham Gottesman obf pre tha DOM FOR7 Ventrue
1 Victor Donaldson for pre DOM 6 Ventrue
1 Emily Carson for pre DOM 5 Ventrue
1 Portia for pre pro 4 Ventrue

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (16 cards)
1 Pentex Subversion
2 Wash
4 Dreams of the Sphinx
4 Villein
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Golconda: Inner Peace
1 Monster
1 Wider View
1 Ventrue Headquarters

Action (14 cards)
2 Abactor
3 Ambush
6 Bum`s Rush
3 Harass

Action Modifier (9 cards)
1 Enkil Cog
8 Freak Drive

Political Action (4 cards)
1 Ancient Influence
1 Reins of Power
2 Parity Shift

Reaction (5 cards)
5 Deflection

Combat (42 cards)
11 Immortal Grapple
11 Claws of the Dead
4 Hidden Strength
4 Unflinching Persistence
2 Rolling with the Punches
2 Superior Mettle
8 Amaranth

by: Mephistopheles


[Some notes via Sonam:]

NEXT, here's a rough idea of the package of cards I think needs to be fit into the deck to

make it a lunge bleed monster:
5x Taking the skin: Minion
5x Abombwe
5x Conditioning/Foreshadowing
5x Govern

Cards to maybe think about:
Path of Death and the soul instead of 1 or two abombwe... as it allows you to get abombwe + blood when you diablerize.
Devil Channel Throat for block fails to get to the right target... though it may be unnecessary.
If you don't fear AI, maybe Heart of the City.

"So fitting in the bleed + abombwe tech without watering his deck down too much is your challenge."

......... CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

So let's get started!

The Good:
So 'Taking the Skin: Minion' is an interesting card. After burning a minion, you get a free untap, so its like a freak drive for a multi-rush deck. It's limited because your rush has to be successful, but you get the +1 bleed +1 stealth on both bleeds. NOTE 1: Take the extra untap into calculations.
An upside is that with Sonam's idea, Hardesdat can burn ANY minion (like predator's) and then continue bleeding prey twice.
There is an obvious higher payload in this version, so if a person draws a Secure Haven or pool sacks, this can be dealt with much better.
Abombwe is a trifle and it also helps with Ancient Influence and Reins of Power.

The Bad:
One issue is that all the cards Sonam suggested are not useful in the "burning minion action". So we have to figure out ways to make sure that flow is not affected. Also, the card flow is a more intensive - Martin's deck was IG - agg - amaranth. Now its IG - agg - amaranth - Skin + freak drive (for concept). And if one is trying to draw into cards, one is now more likely to draw "the other". Draw combat when need bleed, and visa versa. Also 5 cards are not usable if you don't draw an Abombwe.


Analysis -
So you can't make an omelet with breaking some eggs. By doing this deck design, we will obviously create other weaknesses. That doesn't make it worse the Martin's deck, just makes it different. [ See my old old article, http://vteswall.blogspot.com/2011/12/best-is-not-always-better.html ]. But what we have to is acknowledge those new weaknesses (and what new strengths) so there is awareness about them.


[Side note: I was actually given this challenge a while ago, and it stumped me for a bit. But when I started thinking about how the deck is made 'weaker', it also made me figure out how to play to its new Strengths!

Point 1:
So in Martin's deck, burn vampires to somewhat-clear (at least of the important guys) the table seems to be the idea. In this deck, burning ONE minion is in order to have a huge payload of bleed is the idea. So when you think about it a little further, this new deck is to burn a 'key minion' and prevent other minions from blocking/bouncing. Let's look at some cards that can help this.

Blind Spot - Either Blind Spot an annoying blocker, then burn other minion, then bleed and the blockers still can block or bounce.
Momentary Delay / Ambulance - this allows you to torpor (or maybe even burn!) and then still fight the minion you want to fight.
Approximation of Loyalty - Pretty strong - if you have it during the 'combat hand' its a seduction so you can fight the juicier targets. If you have it during the 'bleed hand' its also an anti-wake bounce.

Point 2:
In Martin's deck, he deals with card flow by having have many of the same cards and obvious ways of increasing hand size (Dreams of the Sphinx). Since our concept has to have the combat- then-bleed combo, we need to make more increase hand-size (for fix hand) and perhaps card search/storage ability.

Dreams of Sphinx - already in there.
Barrens / Fragment book of Nod - get the hand you need.
Heart of Nizchetus -  This means you don't lose the cards you might need later
Storage Annex - To store the "Taking of Skin: Minion for exmample.
Monestary of Shadows - The stealth and hand size.
Inconnu Tutelage - An underused card - in this case, its for getting the abombwe or Taking
the skin. However, in this deck, probably a mistake. Too many people will be searching for
those Pentex's...
Ashur Tablets - Always a possible option.
Path of Death and the Soul - since you are burning vampires. This card seems like a goodslot. Important to note that you can get the discipline card from the ashheap.


Point 3:
Since we will not always have a pure combat or pure bleed hand, we have to consider permaments to offset these issues.

Island of Yiaros* - punching for 7 agg I heard is good
Sengir dagger - perm agg - while doesn't go with IG, one doesn't always have a dodge or combat ends
Heart of the City - Perm bleed boost.
Prenatural Strength* - this is only necessary if we cut down on the amaranths. 5 agg burns better then 3 agg of course.
Kevlar vest - with all the IG, one can cut some fortitude as an option (unclear)
Learjet - An underplayed card but an interesting option. Should be used in big vampire decks with a lot of acceleration (which are not needed in mid-game).

*It should be noted that extra strength does NOT fit into Martin's module since you want that blood back for the amaranth. While Amaranth is still part of this new deck idea, we will have to make some card cuts, thus probably less Amaranths, the Island of Yiaros seems like a better fit, so we can use it if we don't have an Amaranth in hand.


REVIEW - So now we have discussed weaknesses and strengths of this new deck idea in comparison to Martin's deck. Have discuss possible cards to aid in this new deck idea. And looked at a couple of card ideas are options but might not make the cut, but could in your deck design!

So now lets get to the deck building! Below is my attempt at this challenge based on the analysis above.

Deck Name: Hardestadt Wears Your Face!
Created By: Adam Hulse
Description:
1. Burn minion(s)
2. Play Taking the skin to have Hardestadt bleed twice for about 6-8 each bleed lunge.


Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 22, Max: 44, Avg: 8,16)
----------------------------------------------
5 Hardestadt cel pro DOM FOR POT PRE11 Ventrue
3 Lodin (Olaf Holte) aus pro DOM FOR PRE8 Ventrue
1 Graham Gottesman obf pre tha DOM FOR7 Ventrue
1 Victor Donaldson for pre DOM 6 Ventrue
1 Emily Carson for pre DOM 5 Ventrue
1 Portia for pre pro 4 Ventrue

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (18 cards)
1 Island of Yiaros
4 Abombwe
4 Dreams of the Sphinx
4 Villein
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Path of Death and the Soul
1 Monster
1 Storage Annex
1 Ventrue Headquarters

Action (13 cards)
3 Ambush
3 Bum`s Rush
2 Harass
5 Govern the Unaligned

Action Modifier (21 cards)
1 Enkil Cog
7 Freak Drive
5 Taking of the Skin: Minion
5 Conditioning
3 Approximation of Loyalty

Political Action (4 cards)
1 Ancient Influence
1 Reins of Power
2 Parity Shift

Reaction (2 cards)
2 Deflection

Combat (30 cards)
10 Immortal Grapple
9 Claws of the Dead
2 Hidden Strength
2 Unflinching Persistence
2 Rolling with the Punches
5 Amaranth

Equipment (2 cards)
1 Heart of Nizchetus
1 Sengir Dagger


----------

Whew! So that was a lot of writing! So obviously anyone who wishes to use this deck for ideas they are more then welcome. Just remember to take one's metagame into account.

So I hoped everyone enjoyed the little VTES road travelled here. Sonam, thanks for letting me try this challenge. It was actually harder then I thought but I had a good time analyzing it.

Adam Hulse

NEW YORK CITY VTES LEAGUE #4

NEW YORK CITY VTES LEAGUE RULES

Introduction: So what do you do when you have a small play group, not many tournaments and are trying to make things not stagnant for your players? You start up a league that's what! This is a description of what the New York City VTES league rules will be. Other people are free to use this idea, or hopefully use this idea to spice up this great game in other ways.

Disclaimer: This is not a "official" tournament in terms of VEKN records and rulings. This is an exercise to have fun while being competitive and hopefully to encourage my New York players to try out new decks.

Background: The New York VTES crew is about 8 consistent players and 6 inconsistent players. We play every Wednesday and Friday. It is a good group of people with interesting decks and varying play styles.  Okay, enough of this, on to the League!


LEAGUE RULES
The rules are simple.

OVERALL RULES
1) First person to Five Game Wins (GW) wins the league.
2) If someone gets a GW, THAT PERSON Victory Points (VP) in that game are NOT counted.
3) If someone gets VPs but does not get a GW, those points ARE COUNTED.
4) Half points (.5) are not counted.
5) If the is NO game win, then Victory Points (VP) are counted.
6) FIVE Victory Points equal one Game Win
7) In 6 player game (see below), X effects (ex: Conservative Agitation, Parity Shift, Slave Auction) are capped at 5.
8) When a deck has won a Game win (not due to 5VP = 1GW), that deck cannot be played again BY THAT PERSON for the rest of the League.

RULES IN TEST
1) No 3-player league games
2) 4 player - time limit: 1 hour 30 minutes
3) 5 player - time limit: 2 hours
4) 6 player - time limit: 2 hour 30 minutes
5) 1 League game per day per player


Common questions asked in development:

1) Q: Why have a league?
A: To add a bit of competitiveness with some actual prizes.

2) Q: Why only to 5 Game Wins?
A: I want the leagues to be short, to test out some League rules and to get prizes in the hands of the people who play. If someone wins early... okay next League! So far in the first two leagues we have averaged about 4 months, which for me this is just about right.

3) Doesn't the people who go to Wed and Fri games have an advantage?
A: Technically... yes. But the purpose of the League is to encourage people to play. And the person who plays the extra day still needs to win of course.

4) Q: Are you still going to have tournaments?
A: Yes. A smaller tournament is in the works but I want to try and get out-of-towners to come.
(setting one up soon, and there is a DC one in June!)

5) Q: What is the prize support?
A: Currently the prize support is 10 packs. In addition, for those who RSVP AND show up (obviously) for a night of gaming will get a bonus random pack. The winner of the league can choose to trade 1-pack for a rare (not-super rare) of my collection.

6) Q: Why allow 6 player games?
A: Because I don't want to penalize people for showing up. RULE: If we have 7 players, 1 person will play two games but can only win on one table (decided randomly and hidden to that player).