Banu Haqim Anathema

While preparing for Grand Prix Aarhus, I searched for a deck with good answers to several decks I expected to see. Resilient Gangrel variants were everywhere. Nina Nilsson played an Animalism Barons deck at an earlier Grand Prix and later brought it to TWDA at a smaller tournament in Stockholm. I expected the Nordic scene to follow her as she is an influential player. It also seemed that Brujah Barons with guns and/or spamming Dust Ups with Slow Withering were rising in popularity. Last but not least, Nephandi decks are becoming really popular again.

Overall, I expected a lot of Anarchs (and Barons because their stuff is so efficient and synergistic) and a non-trivial amount of grindy combat. It’s not the kind that locks you with Immortal Grapple and hits you for ten, but midcaps grinding out the opposition by consistently hitting for three or four per round in many combats. I remembered a friend who did well in a large Czech tournament a while ago with Banu Haqim, synergizing massive blood denial with Anathema. Stealing blood is an excellent counter to grinding combat; it does not care about distance or damage prevention, and celerity has counters to common tricks like aggro-pokes or S:CE. Rushes allow a proactive game plan, and Banu Haqim have enough ousting power through Haqim's Law: Retribution (HL:R)

Decklist

Deck Name: Banu Anathema
Author: Petr Muller / Joscar Gamaliel Malacaman / Otso Saariluoma / Emiliano Imeroni

Crypt (12 cards, min=22 max=34 avg=6.83)
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2x Kasim Bayar         9 CEL OBF THA aus pot   justicar   Banu Haqim:6
2x Oluwafunmilayo      8 AUS CEL OBF THA       prince     Banu Haqim:6
2x Farah Sarroub       7 CEL THA aus obf       prince     Banu Haqim:6
2x Kassandra Tassaki   6 CEL THA obf           prince     Banu Haqim:6
1x Kalinda             6 CEL OBF tha           primogen   Banu Haqim:6
1x Khadija Al-Kindi    6 CEL OBF THA           primogen   Banu Haqim:6
2x Warmaksan           5 THA cel obf           prince     Banu Haqim:6

Library (90 cards)
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Master (23; 8 trifle)
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1x Archon Investigation
6x Ashur Tablets
1x From a Sinking Ship
3x Haqim's Law: Retribution
1x Market Square
1x Papillon
2x Parthenon, The
3x Priority Contract
4x Villein
1x Wider View

Action (5)
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4x Hunter's Mark
1x Rutor's Hand

Political Action (4)
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4x Anathema

Action Modifier (2)
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2x Closed Session

Action Modifier/Combat (6)
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3x Resist Earth's Grasp
3x Swallowed by the Night

Reaction (8)
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8x Second Tradition: Domain

Combat (40)
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2x Blur
2x Flash
10x Hunger of Marduk
5x Infernal Pursuit
5x Psyche!
4x Pursuit
4x Quickness
2x Rego Motum
1x Side Strike
1x Sideslip
1x Walk of Flame
2x Weighted Walking Stick
1x Zip Gun

Event (2)
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1x Dr. Marisa Fletcher, CDC
1x Narrow Minds

Multiple Banu Haqim + Anathema decks appeared in recent TWDA. I mostly took the two linked ones as a foundation, not being a great deck builder myself. I rarely create decks from scratch, but I enjoy tuning decks to my preference.

Ousting

I want at least three vampires, with four possible if things go well. There are only three copies of Haqim's Law: Retribution (HL:R), but the deck usually flows well, so one or two should be on the table in a reasonable time, allowing me to play a bruise-bleed. It is vital to deny prey’s bloat opportunities like Villein. I rush large vampires quickly and drain them of blood, even if my vampires are full. It is more important for these vampires to not have blood, even if the Hunger of Marduk-drained blood overflows. Anathema can be treated as a mini Pentex Subversion; placing it on a blocker vampire discourages its owner from blocking everything just because they can. Three titled vampires are often enough to vote Anathema through, and cross-table allies can be convinced to allow it to pass, especially if they can cash the prize themselves. Other times, Closed Session will be necessary to pass it on tables full of barons.

Survivability

There are many opportunities to bloat; I usually Villein down as much blood as possible and restore it easily by draining other vampires. I will try to hit an Anathema jackpot, and even if I do not, the pool from Ashur Tablets completion and Priority Contract add up. Second Tradition: Domain provides a way to block important actions. I do not have any way to deal with heavy bleeds except to block them, so there is a copy of Archon Investigation, and I will often rush backward once or twice to get rid of an aggressive bleeder when necessary. When a Protean bleeder such as Unnamed or Ministry is my predator, I prioritize Psyche! to shut down Form of Mist; its users often do not run that many stealth cards, so Second Traditions are often enough to block successfully.

Likes

I find the deck quite viable in the V5 meta. Stealing blood with additional strikes is both good offense and defense against most V5 combat, except other blood-stealing Banu Haqim. Like most dedicated combat decks, it can tear through decks that pack a limited amount of combat defense, especially if that defense is not S:CE. Stealing strikes also deal with most of the resilient allies efficiently.

Risks

Like most rush decks, it is hard to play towards a game win; it is very easy to ruin someone’s game and die. It is crucial to select rush targets (and blocks) that suit my game plan on the given table. Killing vampires just for fun and opportunity rarely leads to victory. Other players’ Ashur Tablets can ruin the deck’s game plan by denying recursion and pool gain. Most Ashur Tablets decks play three sets – more than I do – which means I am likely losing the race (also, it often means contesting Parthenon, which leads to green hand jams). Losing even one copy reduces recursion events to just one, in which case I need to adjust card management and discard more carefully. Aggressive bleeding or political predators are a problem. In most cases, the pragmatic defense is to kill a minion or two backward, especially if the grand predator is less aggressive. Titled Banu Haqim compensate for the lack of multi-act by playing Second Traditions to untap for blocking, which leaves them vulnerable to tapping Ravnos bleeders. Early game is vulnerable to hand jams when none of the flow-enabling cards are drawn early and opponents manage to avoid combat, preventing me from cycling cards. In such a situation, all focus should go into kicking off the card flow through any means; try blocking anyone, including a deflected bleed, discard an Anathema to a referendum, anything to draw that HL:R.

Combat

The heavy core of the combat module is stealing blood with Hunger of Marduk and additional strikes. It is usually not that important to send the opponents to torpor or to let them burn; it is often enough if they cannot efficiently spend blood to play cards, must hunt from time to time, or become an easy victim to cash out an Anathema. Simply stealing blood is a good defense against standard damage, such as from Animalism or gun decks. There are enough maneuvers and presses so that I usually control what happens in combat, but when things go wrong, there are some dodges and prevent cards, but only a few. Recognizing when these are important (aggravated damage…) is key, so they are not discarded for an inconsequential +1 bleed or blindly spent for their secondary effect. I appreciate the variance in combat cards; variable combat is more challenging for opponents to predict, and these single copies of Sideslip or Walk of Flame can go a long way. They can be discarded into HL:R when not needed, but I am in combat often enough to play them for their effect.

Backbone Cards

Kassandra Tassaki / Farah Sarroub: Primary vampires. They are cheaper than Kasim Bayar or Oluwafunmilayo but can do everything important just as well.
Ashur Tablets: Recursion is necessary for HL:R decks that play and discard many combat cards. I only found space for two sets, but I would not be surprised if three would be better, replacing utility masters like Papillon, Market Square, and that one cute From the Sinking Ship.
Priority Contract: This is the main forward rush vehicle. Cash it in fast; it is unique, and I will draw more. I often want to recurse a copy or two in a Tablets batch.
Hunter's Mark: Main backward rush vehicle (because contracts are better forward). Against Presence or Protean that S:CE denial will be crucial; use stealth or good sequencing to avoid simple block wasting it.
Hunger of Marduk: Primary combat trick; avoid playing it without an additional strike unless necessary to survive combat. It is OK to play it to force the opponent to play an S:CE. Recursion should ensure enough copies throughout the game.
Infernal Pursuit: Utilized as early as possible to dig to important, high-impact cards like masters or missing combat elements.

Early Game

Being aggressive too fast against the prey often switches them into turtling mode, where they stop trying to do damage forward and focus on survival. The deck has little raw power to quickly oust such a player, so this will often lead to the grandprey having an easy game, which is terrible, especially if they are a resource buildup, late-game oriented deck. It is desirable to deprive prey’s vampire of excess blood, especially if they are likely to play Villein, but not torporize them early. Therefore, the early game should be focused on bringing the vampires out and setting up resources such as Anathema and reading the table. How likely are others to be open to deals, or do I need to get a Closed Session? Or are Anathema dead cards because of the massive Camarilla vote competition? Getting the card flow-enabling pieces like HL:R and Parthenon on the table is crucial. If I need to draw them, I will enter combats and cycle as many cards as possible, ideally with Infernal Pursuit, to get them.

Late Game

It is good if someone dies fast; this is especially true if they are a deck that builds power over time. Do not worry about someone getting that one VP, and happily From a Sinking Ship that last-stand defending player’s vampire. Blood-intensive decks are a good matchup for the late game because they work worse after I drain their blood. Focus on burning vampires through Anathema, diablerie (modern Banu Haqim are not cursed), and an occasional Dr. Marisa Fletcher trigger.

Experience and Ideas

Try nine Ashur Tablets copies, likely replacing From a Sinking Ship, Papillon, and Market Square
Two to four copies of Judgment: Camarilla Segregation
Use Oluwafunmilayo as a star vampire, likely accompanied by Auspex discipline card for Kasim and Farah, and have access to Telepathic Misdirection