I've always got a lot to consider when it comes to building a new deck. Some said that I think too much, and nothing will ever get done. Well, statistically my non-net-based decks usually take forever to build, but tuning an existing list stolen from the net is no easy feat either.
The key element of my considerations is of ousting my prey. Well, to put it bluntly, a deck that doesn't know how it is going to do that has no reason to be on the table. I therefore dedicate a good number of hours play-testing to figure out what I need and how long it takes to kill my prey. This will constitute much of my consideration on card ratio.
The most common ousting support cards are bleed enhancers. Without these, even weenies will take quite a while to kill a prey, and that will give your predator time to bother you, as well as giving your prey ample opportunities to recover, or even to get ahead of you. For some disciplines this is a no-brainer : DOMINATE has the mighty Conditioning and the lesser Threats, to name just a few, PRESENCE has good bleed actions such as Enchant Kindred and the modifier Aire of Elation. Most disciplines have some form of bleed enhancers, not all of them efficient, but almost always good to include a couple, or even just one in the deck, for the surprise that may give you that 1 VP. Some of these bleed enhancers are actually pretty good multi-purpose cards (Sense the Sin comes to mind) and should always be in a deck where the relevant disciplines are being utilised.
Some disciplines suffer from a complete lack of bleed enhancers, POTENCE for example, have little support where it comes to enhancing bleeds. Of course, there are always support disciplines to fall back to in order to fill in that blank, which is why vampires have several in-clan disciplines. But there will come a time when you find that certain clans have ABSOLUTELY no support with in-clan disciplines where bleeding is concerned. In such cases I generally look at the 2 potential alternatives : permanent bleed enhancers or discipline-less bleed cards.
Permableeds are usually retainers or equipment. The free Camera Phone allows a (D)+1 Bleed, which adds up after a while (better than nothing), and they have displaced many Laptop Computers. JS Simmons and Tasha Morgan are free retainers that add to your bleeds. These take an action to equip or recruit, but stay with you after that. The retainers are unique, so not too many of these are usually in the deck - making it unreliable. Master cards such as Pentex Loves You! gives bleed enhances, and again, is good to have, but nothing to write home about. Apparently the stronger bleed enhancing master cards are already reserved for clans who have no problems generating heavy bleeds. Oh well.
There are other Permableeds that are discipline-related - usually for disciplines that are not known for strong bleeding enhancements. Tier of Souls and Pulse of the Canaille are some examples, and whenever I can, I'll include a couple in the deck.
Single-use bleed cards such as Computer Hacking can help you to generate the necessary bleed enhancement. Usually used in weenie swarms or ally decks that really has no time to equip, or no means of keeping the vampire alive for too long to justify any further investment, these cards can still help you to speed up the demise of your prey significantly.
I've tried working with decks without a single bleed enhancement card, relying on their primary ousting path, like combat-related pool damage cards such as Dragonbound. But these are generally unique master cards that are neither efficient nor reliable. At the end of the day, even my Gargoyle deck is peppered with several Force of Will, just so that I can deliver a good bleed to keep my prey guessing - without that, sometimes you can be completely looked down upon.
(o.o)y
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