Deck advice

J wrote:
> Trying to put together a deck, some advice would be handy.

I have a similar deck, so I'll see what I can do to help. I change it
just about every time I play it though, as I can never seem to make my
mind up


> Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 18, Max: 36, Avg: 6.66)
> ----------------------------------------------
> 2 Salbatore Bokkengro for pro CHI 4 Ravnos
> 2 Khalil Ravana ani for pre CHI 5 Ravnos
> 3 Joaquina Amaya ANI CHI FOR 6 Ravnos
> 3 Gabrin dom for ANI CHI 8 Ravnos
> 2 Spider-Killer aus cel ANI CHI FOR OBF10 Ravnos

I'd drop Spider-killer, and replace him with Ivan Krenyenko. The
stealth is nice, but you want to be blocking and equip with surprise
during combat. So why bother? Without a lot of stealth modifiers to
back you up, you'll still get blocked by light intercept - so you're
effectively wasting the special of a 10-cap here imho.

> Library: (75 cards)
> -------------------
> Master (10 cards)
> 1 Park Hunting Ground
> 4 Blood Doll
> 1 Rack, The
> 1 Fortune Teller Shop
> 1 KRCG News Radio
> 1 Heidelberg Castle, Germany
> 1 Path of Paradox, The

Seems reasonable. I like the Path of Lilith myself, it's basically a
master-version of army of rats. I'd also add a few extra "stealable"
locations; Powerbases like Chicago will tempt people to attack them
instead of bleeding, which gives you more opportunities to block your
prey - and it means your predator isnt bleeding you for 3. The Erciyes
Fragments would be an awesome addition, too.

> Action (9 cards)
> 3 Mass Reality
> 1 Army of Rats
> 1 Tier of Souls
> 2 Sensory Deprivation
> 1 Atonement
> 1 Fatuus Mastery


> Action Modifier (2 cards)
> 2 Fata Morgana
As with Spider-Killer, the stealth here is a waste of 2 slots.
Personally, I'd either play a lot of stealth, or none. 2 cards just
isnt going to be enough to help you - so it can be better used
elsewhere (apparition, fortitude, etc)
You're playing stealth because you don't want to be blocked. I'd
suggest you turn the tables entirely - and make them afraid to block.
Use "dawn operation" and damage prevention - and they will regret every
block they make.

> Reaction (14 cards)
> 3 Cats` Guidance
> 2 Guard Dogs
> 8 Forced Awakening
> 1 Instinctive Reaction
I dont like Guard Dogs. Sure, the maneuvre is nice, but it's too
conditional. You cant use it on your prey, and you cant use it against
a vote-predator. Draba, on the other hand... now there's the daddy of
all intercept cards - especially when you have permacept in the deck.

> Combat (14 cards)
> 5 Concealed Weapon
> 4 Pack Alpha
> 5 Skin of Steel

I'd say you want more damage prevention, and probably some carrion
crows. Maybe drop the pack alphas, as you dont have that many ANI
retainers.

> Ally (4 cards)
> 4 Rom Gypsy
Again, stealth is unnecessary. At 3 pool, I cant justify including
these at all.


> Retainer (5 cards)
> 5 Raven Spy
>
> Equipment (11 cards)
> 7 Deer Rifle
> 1 Treasured Samadji
> 1 Laptop Computer
> 1 Sport Bike
> 1 Phased Motion Detector

I'd say the sport bike is unneccessary. If you keep the pack alphas,
you're better off with another raven, or even a draba. Ditto with the
PMD. If you play Ivan, you may find you can trim the number of guns
down a bit.

> Combo (6 cards)
> 2 Draba
> 2 Occlusion
> 2 Mirror Image

again, replace the stealth with more intercept or combat. You want to
blow people up, not go sneaking around like an assamite
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> again, replace the stealth with more intercept or combat. You want to
> blow people up, not go sneaking around like an assamite

Good comments, and I'll take them onboard. My only concern is that
Mass Reality is an undirected action at 0 stealth. Spider Killer +
other bits and pieces will allow me to get one out hopefully and then
once one is out, i should be right. Deer Rifle for 3 damage is pretty
good, and if one is out then there is every chance that i might be able
to get another out.

If i was to drop the stealth, then i'd be droping the mass reality and
therefore the guns, and i'd end up just playing a standard
animalism/chimerstry block deck then.

maybe i'll drop the Gypsies and put in 4 extra transient stealth cards
instead. There's just something to be said about permanent stealth
though.

--> J
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J wrote:
> Good comments, and I'll take them onboard. My only concern is that
> Mass Reality is an undirected action at 0 stealth. Spider Killer +
> other bits and pieces will allow me to get one out hopefully and then
> once one is out, i should be right. Deer Rifle for 3 damage is pretty
> good, and if one is out then there is every chance that i might be able
> to get another out.
>
> If i was to drop the stealth, then i'd be droping the mass reality and
> therefore the guns, and i'd end up just playing a standard
> animalism/chimerstry block deck then.

This is one of the reasons I play a much more combaty deck. I played it
in my local playgroup, after reading this thread. I was quite lucky in
that I started with both a gun (I play magnums) and a concealed weapon
to hand, so when Joaquina Amaya's first "recruit raven spy" action was
blocked by my prey it was time to go to town - even without a mass
reality.

I quickly set all the damage we would be seeing to aggravated with a
dawn operation, and equipped the magnum. I then laughed as my prey did
the same thing and also equipped a concealed magnum - and down went the
"terror frenzy" so he couldnt use it. One maneuvre is enough with the
TF in play, and boom - 2 aggravated. It's unfortunate I didn't have a
carrion crows to hand too, but you can't have everything

Imho, those two cards worked a LOT better than transient stealth.
Backed up with CHI/FOR damage prevention, dawn operation should never
cause you a problem - and sometimes you'll even want to be blocked! The
extra combat cards (FOR/carrion crows/terror frenzy/etc) also mean
you're in a very solid position when it comes to combat after blocking.

> maybe i'll drop the Gypsies and put in 4 extra transient stealth cards
> instead. There's just something to be said about permanent stealth
> though.

That's true enough, though I always found in my local group I just
couldnt get the stealth and intercept working together well enough. I
needed stealth to pass actions, then untaps and intercept to defend the
actions once they were in play... and then enough combat to fend off
the Cel-Gun decks. 7 cards just isnt enough Maybe I'll try the
gypsies in another deck soon, as you're right in that permastealth
might make a big difference.
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> maybe i'll drop the Gypsies and put in 4 extra transient stealth cards
> instead. There's just something to be said about permanent stealth
> though.

Yes. I'd leave 2 Gypsies and 2 Fortune Teller Shop and you have enough perm
stealth to count when needed, most of the time. Just be careful when / if
you can pay for these when you play them.

Orpheus
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