{DECK} Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't

Deck Name: Damned if You Do - Damned if You Don`t
Created By: Thrall of Arika
Description: The Marthe-Enkidu Alliance

Started off with the idea of Mask of a 1000 Faces with Enkidu. Bleed
with a little minion, if they get blocked, Mask in Enkidu for major
damage. Then thought it would be interesting to have a choice that if
the bleeder isn`t blocked, then Mask in a major bleeder. Marthe fits
very well for this idea, with a built in +1 bleed, good synergy with
the disciplines I'm using with Enkidu, plus being able to get Pulse and
Revelations into play (no worrying about Archon Investigation). Plus
Marthe can become a mean little Enkidu herself with the Art of Pain and
Shakar on her. With Revelations, you can plan ahead, seeing what your
prey has in their hand.

Major problems with the deck:

To fully work, it needs 21 pool of vampires out at a minimum, so pool
gain is a must. Minion Taps/Taste of Vitae help with this. It can work
with just one of the pair out, but can end up being one sided. Don`t
block the bleed if only Enkidu is out, block if only Marthe is out
(unless she gets Art of Pain on her as well).

Blood gain. Marthe is spending a lot of blood, but with little to get
it back unless she goes into combat and Tastes.

Damage prevention (a bonus with Revelations, so you know if you need to
play the Flesh of Marble or save it for another combat). But aggravated
damage is a bane.

High stealth environment. If Enkidu can tool up with ravens and
raptors, then you've got protection, but otherwise, not much in the way
of intercept.

Play tested a couple of times last night, and it worked better than I
expected. I honestly thought that getting the two out would be a near
impossible thing, but managed it fairly well in both games. Still needs
testing, as my prey both times was a Lasombra vote deck, and a
!Toreador gun/vote deck that didn't get it's guns out in the first
game, and a basic Tzimisce deck in the second game as predators.

I can see that the deck would suffer against power bleed, but then most
decks do. I did find that bringing Enkidu out first is the way to go,
as it deters your predator, and the built in rush lets you do things
while working on bringing Marthe out. For both games, I pretty much
only played with Enkidu and Marthe, so the crypt could expand to 4 each
of them, with 4 support weenies, dropping Creamy Jade and Cristos. The
first game I brought out Cristos, partly to protect an early Powerbase:
Mexico City, as well as becoming a blood doll. Though he soon went to
torpor and found I didn't want to waste the action or the pool to bring
him back out. The deck would probably work just as well with just 6 of
each of Enkidu and Marthe, but I like having the smaller vamps, just in
case pool gain goes your way. A third or fourth minion is not a bad
thing.

Comments or suggestions for improvement?



Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 17, Max: 43, Avg: 7.5)
---------------------------------------------
3 Marthe Dizier pro AUS CEL OBF PRE10 Toreador
Antitribu
3 Enkidu for ANI CEL OBF POT PRO11 Gangrel
Antitribu
1 Skryta Zyleta obf pot pro CEL 5 Gangrel
Antitribu
1 Scarlet Carson O`Toole pro CEL 4 Gangrel
Antitribu
1 L`Epuisette aus cel pro 4 Toreador
Antitribu
1 Creamy Jade aus cel vic PRE 5 Toreador
Antitribu
1 Sabrina aus cel pre 4 Toreador
Antitribu
1 Cristos Mantigo aus cel dom obf pre 5 Toreador
Antitribu

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (16 cards)
4 Minion Tap
1 Palla Grande
1 Fetish Club Hunting Ground
1 Guardian Angel
2 Blood Doll
1 Art of Pain, The
1 Rack, The
1 Shakar
1 Giant`s Blood
2 Information Highway
1 Powerbase: Mexico City

Action (8 cards)
1 Carrion Coffin
1 Shadow of the Beast
2 Pulse of the Canaille
4 Revelations

Action Modifier (11 cards)
7 Mask of a Thousand Faces
2 Forced March
2 Freak Drive

Reaction (10 cards)
4 Sonar
3 Forced Awakening
3 Wake with Evening`s Freshness

Combat (33 cards)
2 Acrobatics
4 Blur
2 Flash
2 Psyche!
2 Pursuit
3 Claws of the Dead
6 Flesh of Marble
3 Wolf Claws
4 Immortal Grapple
5 Taste of Vitae

Retainer (6 cards)
2 Homunculus
2 Raven Spy
2 Raptor

Combo (6 cards)
6 Swallowed by the Night

This deck was last saved at 1:35:45 PM on 08/04/2006

Thrall of Arika skrev:

> Major problems with the deck:
>
> To fully work, it needs 21 pool of vampires out at a minimum...

Exact. I wonder in what enviroment you plan to play a deck that need 1
cap 11 AND 1 cap 10 AND some weenies in play. Without any bleedbounce.
Skip Marthe. I recommend Enkidu+dominate weenies (for Deflections, some
Conditioning and the superfunny Graverobbing).