This time the expectation analysis will be a little different. Since the ECQ will be a quite big tournament, at least big for me I have set my goal to that of qualifying instead of winning. Last year I played a !Salubri breed/suicide burn-deck for a total of 1.5vp and an epic failure. The year before that I managed to get 1gw 5vp and that was 0.5vp short of qualifying. Never mind, qualifying is extra interesting this year since there is actually a slight possibility that I will be able to attend the European Championship.
The Swedish ECQ is a quite odd tournament in that you will be facing top decks and top players mixed with odd decks and players that play the game just once a year. In other words you have to be prepared for everything.
So my goal is to get at least 1gw 6vp and I figure a bleed deck that doesn't die just because it sits next to a combat deck will do the trick. Kiasyd seems like the right choice with both great combat avoidance and the ability do deal some casual damage. This deck is not really the most creative I have created and you may even call it boring but I like to play it and even if the stealth/bleed/bruise-archetype have been around for a while I can still surprise some with the tricks up my sleeve.
I have tried to make it as tight as possible with no unnecessary or just-for-fun cards. I think the list speaks for itself but the idea is to get some minions in play and then bleed. Some occational damage dealing and maybe a block or two during the way to victory.
A deck like this should be able to take one game win out of three if I play it correctly and don't repeat last years cold and fever. I will probably not be able to make a table sweep so I have to grab some victory points in the other games as well. Play-testing has shown that this deck can do that even if it is bled heavily or beaten down early in the game so I should be able to reach my goal.
Let's have a look at the different parts of the deck:
This is the part where I have not optimized the deck and that is actually a choice I've made. I suspect there will be some contesting risk for Kiasyd group 4 at the tournament and Pherydima will be everyone's star. Therefore I have skipped Quincy the Trapper in favour of brand new Arcadian where the extra copies of Pherydima should have been. He is a good vampire on his own and I don't feel I desperately need Pherydima's special ability to be successful.
Maybe one or two Gremlins should be extra copies of GtU but the card is really nice and who knows when you need destroying Talbot's Chainsaw?
I instinctively feel 5 Conditioning is too few but I know from experience that they become early game discards if they are too many. Also, with only five I have to think before I use them and that is good and maybe even responsible. The rest is cheap, effective multi-purpose stealth that really makes the Kiasyd shine as a stealth/bleed deck.
I think this is enough to do the damage I need to do at the right moments. Hopefully I will even be able to frighten some with an early heavy hit.
Great Symposium is a wonderful card but I don't want to include any extra copies. It works very well late game and is no necessary early draw. The rest of the master module is pretty standard and Dreams of the Sphinx is really really helpful in this deck.
I hope 7 bounce cards is enough. The same goes for the 3 wakes. Earlier versions of the deck had more of them but I just ended up discarding.
I really hope and believe I will be able to reach my goal this time. This is a good deck and I hope I am good enough player to handle it right. Don't wish me any luck because when you are reading this the tournament has already happened.
The Swedish ECQ is a quite odd tournament in that you will be facing top decks and top players mixed with odd decks and players that play the game just once a year. In other words you have to be prepared for everything.
So my goal is to get at least 1gw 6vp and I figure a bleed deck that doesn't die just because it sits next to a combat deck will do the trick. Kiasyd seems like the right choice with both great combat avoidance and the ability do deal some casual damage. This deck is not really the most creative I have created and you may even call it boring but I like to play it and even if the stealth/bleed/bruise-archetype have been around for a while I can still surprise some with the tricks up my sleeve.
Deck Name : Stormöte i Pysslingklubben
Author : Stefan Karlsson
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 8 average: 6.83333
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Arcadian, The 8 DOM MYT OBT chi for Kiasyd:5
2x Pherydima 8 DOM MYT NEC obt pot bishop Kiasyd:4
2x Omme Enberbenight 7 MYT OBT cel dom priscus Kiasyd:4
2x Roderick Phillips 7 DOM MYT cel obt tha Kiasyd:4
2x Isanwayen 6 DOM MYT OBT Kiasyd:4
2x Dame Hollerton 5 DOM OBT myt Kiasyd:4
Library [75 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [13]
9x Govern the Unaligned
4x Gremlins
Action Modifier [16]
2x Bonding
5x Conditioning
2x Seduction
2x Shroud of Absence
5x Stone Travel
Action Modifier/Combat [7]
7x Fae Contortion
Combat [11]
5x Earth Swords
4x Target Vitals
2x Taste of Vitae
Master [13]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Coven, The
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Great Symposium
2x Grooming the Protege
1x Misdirection
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Vessel
Reaction [12]
6x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive
1x Redirection
1x Wake with Evening's Freshness
Reaction/Action Modifier [3]
3x Aura Absorption
I have tried to make it as tight as possible with no unnecessary or just-for-fun cards. I think the list speaks for itself but the idea is to get some minions in play and then bleed. Some occational damage dealing and maybe a block or two during the way to victory.
A deck like this should be able to take one game win out of three if I play it correctly and don't repeat last years cold and fever. I will probably not be able to make a table sweep so I have to grab some victory points in the other games as well. Play-testing has shown that this deck can do that even if it is bled heavily or beaten down early in the game so I should be able to reach my goal.
Let's have a look at the different parts of the deck:
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 8 average: 6.83333
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Arcadian, The 8 DOM MYT OBT chi for Kiasyd:5
2x Pherydima 8 DOM MYT NEC obt pot bishop Kiasyd:4
2x Omme Enberbenight 7 MYT OBT cel dom priscus Kiasyd:4
2x Roderick Phillips 7 DOM MYT cel obt tha Kiasyd:4
2x Isanwayen 6 DOM MYT OBT Kiasyd:4
2x Dame Hollerton 5 DOM OBT myt Kiasyd:4
This is the part where I have not optimized the deck and that is actually a choice I've made. I suspect there will be some contesting risk for Kiasyd group 4 at the tournament and Pherydima will be everyone's star. Therefore I have skipped Quincy the Trapper in favour of brand new Arcadian where the extra copies of Pherydima should have been. He is a good vampire on his own and I don't feel I desperately need Pherydima's special ability to be successful.
Action [13]
9x Govern the Unaligned
4x Gremlins
Maybe one or two Gremlins should be extra copies of GtU but the card is really nice and who knows when you need destroying Talbot's Chainsaw?
Action Modifier [16]
2x Bonding
5x Conditioning
2x Seduction
2x Shroud of Absence
5x Stone Travel
Action Modifier/Combat [7]
7x Fae Contortion
Reaction/Action Modifier [3]
3x Aura Absorption
I instinctively feel 5 Conditioning is too few but I know from experience that they become early game discards if they are too many. Also, with only five I have to think before I use them and that is good and maybe even responsible. The rest is cheap, effective multi-purpose stealth that really makes the Kiasyd shine as a stealth/bleed deck.
Combat [11]
5x Earth Swords
4x Target Vitals
2x Taste of Vitae
I think this is enough to do the damage I need to do at the right moments. Hopefully I will even be able to frighten some with an early heavy hit.
Master [13]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Coven, The
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Great Symposium
2x Grooming the Protege
1x Misdirection
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Vessel
Great Symposium is a wonderful card but I don't want to include any extra copies. It works very well late game and is no necessary early draw. The rest of the master module is pretty standard and Dreams of the Sphinx is really really helpful in this deck.
Reaction [12]
6x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive
1x Redirection
1x Wake with Evening's Freshness
I hope 7 bounce cards is enough. The same goes for the 3 wakes. Earlier versions of the deck had more of them but I just ended up discarding.
I really hope and believe I will be able to reach my goal this time. This is a good deck and I hope I am good enough player to handle it right. Don't wish me any luck because when you are reading this the tournament has already happened.
Nice too see you! Sorry about my cheesy deck.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend these changes:
Skip all Earth Swords, Vitals and Taste. You do not want to be blocked and you have limited ways to block yourself. Also these will not save you vs a combat deck. But Obliette will work (against the most common fighty archetype in tournamnets) thanks to Fae Contortion. Vessel is too slow for this kind of deck, Govern down is both speed and saves pool. Almost always all your vampires would be tapped (and ten of them have DOM), so I would swap all deflection for redirection and also definatly swap wake for OtQV. Probably need 1-2 more OtQV as well. Little more Seduction for that dedicated blocker, also easy to cycle if you have hand jam. Bonding should be Conditionings I think.
Nice blog!
Cheers
Robert
I am going to skip the tastes. But Earth Swords and Target Vitals are really more helpful than more stealth and bleed push. They totally saved me against a War Ghoul predator in the last round of the tournament.
ReplyDeleteVessel isn't there for bloat, Govern is doing that just fine, but for blood control. To be able to put a blood on an emtpy vampire late game can be crucial.
I rarely tap out completely with this deck (unless facing heavy Mind Numb of course) and Pherydima's special is often used to have an untapped deflector.
Maybe two seduction is too few but I havn't yet experienced a game where I would have wanted more. Sure, many times Conditioning is better but I like to mix in a couple of Bonding.
I understand the reasoning behind most of your suggestions but if I wanted pure stealth/bleed I could have played Malk 94 instead. Many thanks though and it is always nice playing with you, even when you run me over with the PRE-bulldozer.
/ Stefan