Nosferatu Royalty and Strohmann
Nosferatu bigcaps with titles. This well-rounded toolbox can adapt to different table positions and situations. The main
vampires, Alonso Petrodon and Strohmann, both have dominate and +1 bleed, so they bleed really well with cards
like Govern the Unaligned and Conditioning. The deck has enough titles to be a considerable political power and has
access to decisive political actions like Parity Shift. The animalism package brings some amount of punching power.
The deck needs to carefully exploit the opportunities at the table and use the weak spots of the surrounding players. It cannot afford to waste its powerful cards because they are scarce. Similarly, it cannot rely on a single strategy because many cards will be dead if you play it that way. It will rarely be the best deck in anything, but it has few weak spots.
Decklist
Deck Name: Nosferatu Royalty and Strohmann
Author: Aki Puolakka
Modifications: Petr Muller
Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=7 max=11 avg=9.)
==================
1x Gustaphe Brunnelle 8 obf ANI DOM POT Nosferatu:4
1x Josef von Bauren 11 cel ANI DEM OBF POT Nosferatu:4
2x Baron Dieudonne 9 ANI OBF POT PRO Nosferatu:4
3x Strohmann 9 dom ANI OBF POT THA Nosferatu antitribu:5
1x Benjamin Rose 7 ani pot AUS OBF Nosferatu:5
4x Alonso Petrodon 10 for tha ANI DOM OBF POT Nosferatu:5
Library: 86 cards
Master (18 cards)
==================
1x Fame
2x Information Highway
1x Labyrinth, The
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Papillon
2x Vessel
6x Villein
2x Warsaw Station
1x Wash
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
Action (13 cards)
==================
5x Govern the Unaligned
1x Army of Rats
1x SchreckNET
5x Deep Song
1x Abbot
Action Modifier (9 cards)
==================
1x Elder Impersonation
2x Faceless Night
3x Lost in Crowds
3x Conditioning
Action Modifier/Combat (3 cards)
==================
3x Swallowed by the Night
Political Action (7 cards)
==================
3x Kine Resources Contested
1x Parity Shift
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power
1x Banishment
Combat (15 cards)
==================
3x Taste of Vitae
5x Aid from Bats
1x Canine Horde
6x Carrion Crows
Retainer (2 cards)
==================
2x Raven Spy
Equipment (2 cards)
==================
1x Kevlar Vest
1x Leather Jacket
Reaction (17 cards)
==================
3x On the Qui Vive
4x Second Tradition: Domain
2x Sense the Savage Way
4x Cats' Guidance
4x Deflection
Amaranth: Deck Builder for Vampire the Eternal Struggle
TDWA Record
Bleed Big, Vote Big, Hit Big, So Many Oust Mechanisms! Never used Josef von Bauren, might change him for Dieudonne/Brunelle/Benjamin. Not sure about Army of Rats either; there seems to be always a “better” action to make. Currently, it’s a toolbox. It could be more bleedy or votery or combaty… So many options, very versatile base for a deck. Also, the whole crypt has really, really good abilities.
Ousting
The deck should oust by a combination of bleeding and political actions. Both Alonso Petrodon and Strohmann
have +1 bleed ability and dominate, and they can bleed with Govern the Unaligned and Conditioning.
Additionally, Deep Song can be used for bleeding. Bleed pressure can also be increased by bouncing bleeds
with Deflection.
The deck has enough votes to sometimes be a voting power by itself and usually is a significant table player. Several
aggressive politics (KRC, Parity Shift, and Reins of Power) are available. Still, there is no other voting support
other than the titles themselves, so you often need to strike deals.
The deck has two ways to deliver the payload: obfuscate package and combat. The deck can deliver painful hits in combat
but cannot overpower dedicated combat decks, especially those with good combat defense (like fortitude). Combat should
be mainly used to punish non-combat decks when they block. Consider not using precious stealth when you can punish the
blocker in a fight: maybe next time, they will not even attempt to block. Also, Aid from Bats and Carrion Crows help
get rid of pesky allies like legionnaires, nephandi, or Carlton van Wyk. The deck also plays Fame as another angle
to deliver some pool damage.
Survivability
The deck has a well-rounded defense package against pretty much everything, maybe except dedicated combat (especially
one with aggravated damage). Bleeds can be bounced. The deck can get permanent intercept with Raven Spies and
situational intercept with different animalism cards and Second Tradition (which notably cannot be played
by Strohmann; more on that topic in the Risks section). Intercept needs to be used intelligently to stop problematic
actions; the deck cannot afford to block everything. The combat package can be used to punish troublesome acting minions
when intercepted, even to only make a statement about what can happen, to make the acting player think twice about
attempting actions.
The deck does not have that much pool gain except for Villeins and Vessels, which also need to be used carefully
because you can find your vampires without blood when not careful (especially when involved in any combat but the
minimal one). Papillon really helps, and you should also take any opportunity to use Taste of Vitae to get some
blood back when you manage to hit someone with bats and birds.
The deck has minimal combat defense in Kevlar Vest and Leather Jacket but cannot hold too long against dedicated
combat decks (it has no S:CE cards). It can scare away some opportunistic combat decks with animalism combat, especially
if the opponent does not maneuver too much.
Likes
In an ideal game, you will have Alonso out first, who will use his superior Dominate to accelerate other vampires
with Govern the Unaligned. Ideally, the deck would like to have at least three vampires, which is only possible with
the help of bloating (Villein and Govern the Unaligned). It is crucial to avoid severe pool loss at the start of the
game; expensive masters like Papillon or Warsaw Station can wait until there is a reasonable pool buffer
after Villeining vampires.
The deck will have significant political power on most tables, which it should exploit to avoid collateral damage and parasite others’ political actions. Ideally, the deck will have a vote lock.
Risks
The risks of the deck are mostly related to it being a deck with big capacity vampires. The deck does not carry too much acceleration, so weenie predators can make quite some damage in certain table seating/crypt combinations. Without multi-acting, it is almost necessary to have three vampires, and with aggressive prey, it can be hard to achieve that. Nosferatu can deal a reasonable amount of damage in combat but are pretty soft themselves - losing a bigcap vampire to a random fight hurts when you only have two or three.
The deck is somewhat sensitive to sequencing, as not all vampires can play all important cards. Notably, Strohmann is
an antitribu, so he does not enable (and cannot be targeted by) some masters (Warsaw Station, Labyrinth)
. Baron Dieudonne is a great vampire but does not have dominate. Some vampires cannot play Parity Shift
or Second Traditions. It is essential to think about this when selecting vampires to influence to avoid navigating
into a situation where some strong cards are just dead.
It is tempting to overextend at the start of the game. Attempting to influence three large vampires and playing several expensive masters can be pretty taxing without a sufficient pool buffer, exposing itself to a lunge.
It is essential to avoid wasting cards that can oust opponents; as a toolbox, the deck does not have that many cards of
each individual purpose, so blindly bleeding with Conditioning into a bounce-capable opponent will likely waste that
card.
Early Game
The first influenced vampire will depend on the position on the table and the availability of acceleration.
Ideally, Alonso Petrodon is the first vampire to go out, but sometimes that will not be possible. It is usually
preferable to bring out Alonso in the third round over a Gustaphe or Benjamin in the second one, especially when
you have Govern the Unaligned. Still, it is better to have a Dieudonne or Strohmann in the third than an Alonso
in the fourth (this is the worst case of being the first seed without acceleration). Read the signals about how the
table will look and shape tactics according to that: sometimes you will rely on combat and other times on politics.
End Game
The deck likes to “ride the wave” rather than outgrind the opponents - if it is possible to get rid of wall decks before you end up in the three or even two-way, it is usually good to do so because you will not consistently outstealth them. The goal is to get into a three-player game in good shape (have good permanents, enough pool, enough blood): in that situation, your high-impact actions start to shine, and the deck can outpower other decks by taking advantage of their weaknesses. If possible, bring out a fourth vampire: action budget is the most scarce resource you have.
Ideas
Dominatediscipline master- Cut the deck down to 75-ish cards
- Replace Josef van Bauren with someone better
- Explore V5 card options