Singing a New Tune - Magical History

Deck Name : Magical History

Crypt [12 vampires]

------------------------------------------------------------

5x Ian Forestal

1x Reverend Blackwood

1x Catherine du Bois

1x Cristos Mantigo

1x Laurent de Valois

1x Brooke

1x Saiz

1x Hanna Redmonds

Library [90 cards]

------------------------------------------------------------

Action [17]

7x Govern the Unaligned

10x Summon History

Action Modifier [17]

2x Conditioning

4x Domain of Evernight

5x Forgotten Labyrinth

2x Lost in Crowds

2x Mirror Walk

2x Seduction

Ally [11]

1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)

1x High Top

1x Mylan Horseed (Goblin)

1x Remnant of the Endless Storm

2x Renegade Garou

1x Rock Cat

1x Succubus

1x Tutu the Doubly Evil One (Bane Mummy)

1x Tye Cooper

1x Veneficti (Mage)

Combat [9]

4x Outside the Hourglass

5x Rego Motus

Equipment [4]

1x Amulet of Temporal Perception

1x Ankara Citadel, Turkey, The

1x Assault Rifle

1x Heart of Nizchetus

Event [1]

1x Unmasking, The

Master [23]

6x Ashur Tablets

1x Creepshow Casino

1x Direct Intervention

3x Dreams of the Sphinx

1x Fame

1x Giant's Blood

1x Infernal Pact

1x Obfuscate

1x Perfectionist

1x Spontaneous Power

2x Vessel

2x Villein

2x Wider View

Reaction [8]

6x Deflection

2x On the Qui Vive

I've done some fine-tuning to my Magical History deck after the Asian Championship, noticing some faults and weaknesses in the process of the games, and hopefully made it a little better and more able to deal with some issues that I've found out the hard way during the tournament.

Primary Path of Ousting

This deck eventually kills with bleeding of course, being so pampered with vampires that boast the DOM discipline. It however, usually achieves this through the might of the Summon History's ability to call forth combat allies that will first decimate the prey's defenses before the vampires go in to bleed indiscriminately.

The normal route to victory is therefore to Summon the allies and set up enough little ones with DOM and wait for the right time or opportunity to go in and destroy the prey's defenses and bleed him dry. There are enough vampires with DOM that can use the Governed the Unaligned to great effect when the prey has no blockers and deflecters, and since they are principally just weenies, they can also just bleed and cause quite a lot of damage over time. Given the number of allies usually sitting there eyeing the vampires greedily, the prey will not really be too interested to block bleeds from the lesser vampires in order to block the non-stealth combat actions of the allies.

When all fails, there are some stealth in the deck, though limited at best, to help with big bleeds and hope for the best. Governed plus Conditioning with Lost in Crowd and Domain can still give a reasonable +2 Stealth (+3 if I can find that Obfuscate, or hard cast OBF with Spontaneous Power or Infernal Pact) to deprive the prey of some pool. The Veneficti is also a great bleeding ally with stealth and good bleed capability. Too bad I have no Kerebutu to add to the deck, or it will give me even more bleeding options. That said, add in Mylan, Tutu, Tye Cooper and Succubus, this deck can create a good number of weenie bleeds if needed.

Secondary Path of Ousting

There is a Fame in the deck, and the combat allies such as the Remnant and the Renegade Garous are very good in getting rid of the prey's vampires repeatedly. When the Fame is actually in play, the allies can go in again and again (and in the case of the Renegade, the stealth is excellent for the job) to send the vampire into torpor and claim that 3 damage, hopefully augmented by my smaller vampires' rescue attempts so that multiple damage can be achieved in the same round to kill off or cripple the prey.

This actually works pretty well if the Fame comes early into my hand, as after I eliminate the first famous prey, the Ashur Tablets can recycle the Fame as needed and go for the second kill. I've not had such luck in the game yet, but it sounds alright in theory.

Crypt

This deck requires Ian Forestal to be in play, absolutely. And if he's not around I usually must use enough transfers to find him. Without him, Cristos Mantigo is a good secondary, as he can search for the Amulet and use Summon History to call forth defenses for the time being while I frantically try to get Ian into play. With 5 copies of Ian it usually isn't a big issue, and there are 2 Wider Views to help cycle out the extra Ians for little weenies to work against the prey in the mid-game.

Reverend BlackWood is a good secondary lieutenant as he is !Tremere, and he has all the necessary disciplines for the deck. He is however, pretty expensive, and I usually wouldn't consider him right away unless I have a Villein in hand, or is in a great position. (Or I have no choice)

Combat

This deck relies on the combat allies to initiate combat against opponents. The Remnant of the Endless Storm is an intimidating opponent in combat, dealing out an incredible amount of damage while being quite protected against retaliation. The Renegade Garous have stealth to enter combat with the right people, and they themselves can cause 4 damage pretty consistently. The Rock Cat is needed when there are weenies in play, and she can quickly decimate opponents that cannot survive a second round of combat. The High Top is usually a defensive ally, but when it is needed, he can also go into combat, especially if I had the opportunity to summon forth a Assault Rifle and pass it to him - he will be extremely deadly in that case.

Combat defense is mostly for the vampires, specifically Ian Forestal. Rego Motus is supposed to be able to allow me to deal with most straight forward damaging strikes that Ian gets into when he is blocked or my allies being unable to intercept enemy direct attacks. Besides that, Outside the Hourglass at basic TEM, is a great combat defense card, providing a Dodge plus a Maneuver. As an acting vampire, if Forestal (or any other !Tremere with Infernal Pact) has superior TEM due to discipline cards, then the Domain of Evernight plus Outside the Hourglass combo is deadly against blockers.

Defense

This deck is a true believer of the notion of "best offense is the best defense". The combat allies are deadly in removing threats that cannot deal with combat quickly. Remnant and Renegade together, can usually remove 1-2 threats in a single round - work that over 2-3 rounds and the predator usually gives up on the attack and goes into defense. With the Ankara Citadel, Ian can call forth more and more combat allies if he's given the chance to, and he usually has enough blood to call forth the Ankara, Remnant, a Renegade, and the Rock Cat before he needs to recharge. And if I'm lucky enough to get hold of a Giant's Blood, or even just a Perfectionist, he will be able to do much more, potentially getting every ally out from the deck before he retires to hunting.

And therefore there are usually enough allies to block enemy attacks, and those defense allies, such as High Top and Carlton Van Wyk, can usually survive the ordeal. If I can get the Unmasking in play, then the defense is even more formidable.

Against powerful bleeds there is also always the reliable Deflections.

Pool Recovery

Minor pool recovery is provided with Vessels and Villeins. 6 Ashur Tables are there also to provide some pool gain, but it's mostly used strategically to recover Summon Historys and important cards, such as Fame, Governeds and Stealth, when needed.

Early games usually see this deck sitting tight without too much offensive activity, when this deck is most vulnerable. During then, and later when things aren't going too well, I can still use the good number of Governed the Unaligned at superior to either bring out vampires to Villein or Vessel away, or just pull back for some additional pool.

Surprise Element

Not a lot over here, but there are enough interesting allies in this deck to make it quite adaptable and unpredictable when played - call forth Succubus when one needs some aggravated damage, Veneficti for the bleeds, High Top for the Intercepts, and the occasional Assault Rifle for the laughs.

Known Weaknesses

Losing the key vampire, usually Ian Forestal, will decimate this deck. So will preventing Summon Historys from being played, either with very high Intercepts, or enough blocks and cancel cards to prevent it from getting started. Enough combat that can stealth through my ally defense is also a big problem for me, so will superior number of minions that can survive ally combat (such as Ambrosius)

Anti-ally cards, or damaging votes that kill with number of minions (Domain Challenge or Ancilla Empowerment) can kill me off instantly, so will steal ally cards such as Entrancement. Furthermore, out-fighting my combat allies (which isn't really that hard since I didn't pack any combat support for them) will also deplete the deck's ability to stay in the game.

Playing the deck

This deck requires some time to set up, not too much so it is not cripplingly difficult. I need to get Ian Forestal on table, Summon the Ankara Citadel, and then call forth the first ally that would most fit the situation - usually Remnant or High Top, depending on the situation. Once these 3 steps are taken, the deck is usually quite safe for a moment.

Losing the first ally is not a good thing, so the deck usually stays low profile and bring out 1 or 2 other weenies to rescue or supplement Ian when needed, while calling forth more allies to strengthen the defense.

The need to use the weenies as a secondary option to use Summon History is only needed when speed is of the essence. There are enough small allies for the smaller vampires with TEM (usually with the Amulet or Infernal Pact, I try to use Spontaneous Power cautiously), such as Mylan or Veneficti, so reserve those for the smaller vampires to call if possible.

The Ashur Tablets is important for cycling the right cards back into the deck, usually Summon Historys and Governed the Unaligned, and sometimes combat cards, stealth, or Seduction. The cycling capability granted by the 3 Dreams is important for me to discard the useless ally cards in hand, and get into hand something better, hopefully more Summon Historys.

Once the deck is set up and ready, send the allies to do their stuff, and wait for the prey to run out of minions before bleeding them dry.

(o.o)