Basic Strategies in Post-Sabbat Jyhad

Article written by John Whelan (jbwhelan@dorsai.org) in response to a question by Scott Wills.

Scott Wills (Scott.Wills@intelnet.co.uk) wrote:

Greetings one and all.

I've just recently started playing Vampire with a group of friends, and whilst I am now pretty familiar with the game I was wondering if someone on the group would let me know what typical deck 'styles' there are and what cards work well together - that sort of thing.

I haven't got a lot of cards, but I do have a whole mess of commons donated by my friends, and around 1/2 a box of Sabbat bought over Christmas. I could probably get hold of some via trading and single purchasing but any strategies that doesn't include 6 of a particular rare would be appreciated!

I've heard/seen mentioned two particular decks - the Rush deck and the Vote deck.

Rush Decks

A "Rush deck" is a type of combat deck. Like all combat decks it uses a shitload of combat cards. The easiest clans to use are the Gangrel and the Brujah, since both have disciplines that help them avoid damage to themselves (Fortitude and Celerity respectively) while still damaging their opponents. No matter what strategy you use when in combat, however, you need a strategy for getting into combat. Having the toughest vampires on the block doesn't help when your prey refuses to block you and your predator is bleeding with stealth. "Rush" Decks, "Intercept & Destroy" decks, and "Bruise & Bleed" Decks all use different strategies for getting into combat.

"Rush Deck": Enters combat via cards that allow its minions to attack other minions as directed actions. Cards that help you do this are:

Strategy is to disable prey by torporizing all its Vampires, then slowly bleeding prey to death. You are also "bleeding" indirectly by removing blood from Vampires which might be used to replenish pool through minion taps and blood dolls. You are also hoping that your prey will bleed himself by continually trying to bring out more vampires as each is torporized or burned. A rush deck is often obliged to spend time concentrating on its predador before turning to its prey, especially if your predator is a stealth bleeder, or an obnoxious vote deck.

"Intercept & destroy Decks": Try to get into combat by blocking the actions of predator and prey. Disciplines that help are Auspex (lots of cards) and Animalism (Cat's Guidance (common) and Raven Spy (uncommon)). You can also use Sport Bikes (uncommon x2) and KRCG News Radio (uncommon). Also helpful are cards that allow you to untap like Wake with Evenings Freshness and Rats Warning. I have never successfully constructed an intercept combat deck, though I have included intercept in my rush decks. Perhaps someone else could give you advice on this strategy. One problem is that if you put in too much intercept, you find yourself short of combat cards once you enter combat.

"Bruise and Bleed": Strategy here is to be good enough at both combat and bleeding so that your prey is screwed whether he blocks or not. Am not sure this is a viable strategy as have never tried it.

The above strategies can be combined, of course. Throwing a laptop computer or two into your Rush Deck can be a great help, so that your prey cannot completely laugh off your bleeds. Ditto for adding intercept.

Vote Decks

There are lots of types of Vote decks. What they all have in common are that they try to win by calling and winning votes rather than by bleeding or combat. Clans that use presence are helpful because of Bewitching Oration (common) to help pass your votes. If you play Ventrue then Ventrue Headquarters (Unique Location, uncommon) is also helpful here.

By the way, Gideon Fontaine (a 3 cap vamp with Superior Presence) is really useful here. You can have him out on the first turn, and on the second turn he he calls vote with Bewitching Oration = 5 votes. You're almost sure pass your vote, expecially if you also get out a Ventrue HQ.

Two very uselful cards for damaging your prey are Kine Resources Contested (KRC for short) and Conservative Agitation (both common). They have the advantage that they can be used to damage more than one Methuselah, (usually your predador and your prey), so in this way you bribe the Methuselah across the table to support your vote. KRC is considered so effective that you will hear people talk about the "KRC Deck". It was considered too effective, for which reason it was once (I think) on the list of restricted cards.

Since vote decks contain presence, they often rely on Majesty's (also common), for combat defence. Majesty is an extremely effective combat defence, for which reason it was also once on the restricted list. For bleed defence you can either block and play Majesty, or use Bleed Bounce (Ventrue use Deflections, Toreador use Telepathic Misdirection--both common). Deflections are best, and extremely effective.

You have probably heard of the Weenie Vote Deck. You will probably not be able to construct this one since it requires alot of Praxis Seizures (each is rare, but there are lots). The strategy here is to get alot of Weenies out early in the game, and quickly have them declared princes before any other vamps vampires are available to stop them. Once they create enough Weenie princes, they can pass any votes they want. Such decks are now easier to build since the expansion sets (Ancient Hearts and Dark Sovreigns) have more than doubled the list of Praxis Seizures, and the new cards are not rare.

I currently have a Nosferatu Weenie vote deck that contains about 20 (different) Praxis Seisures plus a couple of Nosferatu Justicars (rare). Besides declaring themselves princes, the Nosferatu Weenies also reproduce themselves through Embrace (rare), and 3rd Tradition Projeny (uncommon). They then generate massive blood by calling Consanguinous Boons (common) on Nosferatu. They then vote themselves Archons (uncommon) and rush their opponents, whipping out Assault Rifles (uncommon) via Disguised Weapon (common). Once the vampires of their prey are mostly pulverized they all go for a bleed-fest. This warped example of a vote deck which is not at all typical. I merely mention it to show the variety that is possible.

Bleed Decks

You did not ask about Bleed Decks. They tended to rule the game environment before the reprinted set came out with the anti-bleed cards. They are still very effective, and easy to build using commonly available cards. Two main types are Stealth & Bleed and Tap & Bleed.

The Malkavians were the masters of S&B. Dominate & Obfuscate has turned out to be an awesome combination. A Malkavian with Superior Dominate can play Govern the Unaligned (common) for +2 bleed, then add Conditioning (common) for +3 more (6 bleed!). Computer Hacking (common) is another fine bleed action card which does not even require a discipline or cost a blood. Other bleed modifiers available are Bonding and Threats (both common). For Stealth you can use Lost in Crowds, Faceless Night, Cloak the Gathering, (all common) as well as Spying Mission (uncommon).

One problem with the S&B deck is deciding how much stealth to put in. If you put in too little your prey may have enough intercept to block you. If you put in too much, your prey may decide not to block you at all. Since you are not allowed to add stealth if it is not needed, you are soon stuck with bleeds of 1 pool and a hand jammed with stealth cards. Worries about stealth-card hand jam make Bonding a preferred action modifier for S&B decks, though it can only increase a bleed by one. Its advantage is that, besides being a bleed modifier, it is also a stealth card at superior. If your prey blocks you can use it for the stealth, but if he doesn't you can use it at inferior for the bleed alone, thus avoiding hand jam. New anti-bleed cards like Archon Investigation are another reason why Bonding is preferable.

Since you have Dominate, you can use Deflections for bleed defence, so that even your predator is helping you bleed your prey to death. The combination is deadly.

Tap and Bleed decks generally use Ventrue mostly, plus some Toreador and Malkavians. They use Misdirections (common) (and other cards) to tap out their prey, and then go for massive bleeds using presence and dominate. The advantage is that there is no danger of stealth card hand jam. The disadvantage is that your prey might have a Wake (with Eve's Freshnss) or a Rat's Warning, so its best to have a few Majesties so you can survive combat. The Sabbat set has a new dominate card (The Sleeping Mind--common) that should help alleviate this problem. One problem is that the Misdirections cost 1 pool for each minion tapped, but this can be recooped by the successful use of Social Charm or Legal Manipulations (both common) which will gain you a pool if you have superior presence. You still use Deflections for bleed defence.

I hope this is helpful. The above has barely scratched the surface of possible deck strategies. They are merely the most obvious and infamous. Perhaps if you gave us a better idea of the clans you like to play, someone could give more specific examples of deck strategy.

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