mostly-common "learner" decks by Chris Berger Friday, 22 February 2008 I've noticed over the years that a lot of people post looking for good decks that they can make mostly out of commons to be used as "give- away" decks, or for teaching new people. And I also noticed that not a lot of those kind of decks have been posted anytime recently. I guess it's partly a factor of actually having playable starters out there, but the starters, while certainly being playable, seem to fall short of the ideal teaching deck as far as I'm concerned, for at least 2 reasons: 1) They are too varied. You want new players to be able to learn a lot of facets of the game, but if you throw everything at them at once, they get confused. A deck that has weapons and IGs in the same deck, or that uses damaging votes with no real way to pass them, or that bleeds with little stealth and little combat... well, it gets overwhelming and also frustrating, which leads to... 2) They are not very competitive. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're pretty good for what they are, but they're not put together to be very competitive decks. The design team has other goals when they create the starters, which may include reprinting cards that need to be reprinted, including new cards when appropriate (like the entire group of new vamps in the LotN starter, which were, IMHO, a nice touch, BTW), and making the starters attractive to both new players and old players. Recently, when I set about to reorganize and inventory my cards, I found that I had 40+ of most of the commons that have been around since Jyhad, such that the discipline-requiring cards no longer fit into one of those 2 ft. x 1.5 ft. card-boxes (I'm not too good with metric, but I think that's about 1 hectare for you Europeans... ;) ). So, I decided to go back through the cards and throw a bunch into a giveaway box, but I thought that first I would try to build some decks that used mostly commons and try to thin the herd a bit that way. In doing so, I remembered the questions I had seen on the newsgroup about mostly-common decks for teaching Jyhad, and figured I would try my hand at building a few. So, here are the decks I created. I haven't playtested them, so I could be wrong about their competitiveness (I don't expect any of them to be a world-beater, but IMHO I think that they could average around 1 VP per game in a reasonably competitive playgroup - that's all you really need for beginners, a chance to not always be first ousted). I'm guessing, but I think that the Celerity deck is probably the strongest, the Tremere is probably the weakest, and the S&B deck would be strong if it's mostly played against the other learner decks, but would weaken quite a bit in a heavy bounce environment. All of them are mostly commons. The only uncommons and rares are ones that I had plenty of extras of. I would think that most experienced players would easily be able to build these decks and give them away. A few substitutions might be required, but none of these decks relies heavily on one or two cards or combos. All of them have 12 unique vamps, and 3 of the 4 are built under 4CL (for a few reasons, I thought it worthwhile). The Tremere deck needed 8 Apportations and 8 Thefts, although I suppose it could still be tweaked to be 4CL if that's important to you. Feedback would be appreciated. Deck Name: Common Celerity Created By: Chris Berger Description: Mostly common, celerity +1 strength deck. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 13, Max: 28, Avg: 5.33) ---------------------------------------------- 1 Rake aus cel pot PRE 6 Brujah 1 Gaspare Giovanni cel nec POT 6 Giovanni 1 Bianca pot pre CEL 6 Brujah 1 Theo Bell (ADV) aus dom CEL POT PRE7 Brujah 1 Richter for pre CEL POT 7 Brujah Antitribu 1 Beast ani cel OBF POT 7 Nosferatu Antitribu 1 Theo Bell cel dom pre POT 7 Brujah 1 Volker pot CEL 5 Brujah 1 Parmenides qui CEL 4 Assamite 1 Sarah Brando CEL 3 Brujah Antitribu 1 Dre cel pot 3 Brujah 1 Jacob Bragg cel pot 3 Brujah Antitribu Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (10 cards) 1 Barrens, The 4 Blood Doll 2 Celerity 1 Depravity 2 Haven Uncovered Action (11 cards) 4 Ambush 2 Bum`s Rush 3 Flurry of Action 2 Harass Action Modifier (4 cards) 4 Leverage Reaction (13 cards) 3 Eluding the Arms of Morpheus 3 Fillip 3 Legwork 4 Rooftop Shadow Combat (44 cards) 4 Acrobatics 4 Blur 2 Fast Hands 4 Flash 2 Infernal Pursuit 4 Psyche! 4 Pursuit 4 Pushing the Limit 4 Side Strike 4 Sideslip 4 Taste of Vitae 4 Torn Signpost Equipment (4 cards) 4 Camera Phone Combo (4 cards) 4 Resist Earth`s Grasp Deck Name: Common S&B Created By: Chris Berger Description: A mostly common, updated, take on Malk94. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 18, Max: 29, Avg: 5.75) ---------------------------------------------- 1 Roland Bishop aus dom obf 4 Malkavian 1 Laurent de Valois ani dom obf 4 Nosferatu 1 Zebulon aus dom pro OBF 5 Malkavian 1 Didi Meyers aus cel obf DOM 5 Malkavian 1 Count Ormonde dom pre ser OBF 5 Followers of Set 1 Badr al-Budur cel dom qui OBF 5 Assamite 1 Reverend Blackwood obf DOM THA 6 Tremere Antitribu 1 Ozmo dom obf AUS 6 Malkavian 1 Mariel aus tha DOM OBF 7 Malkavian 1 Greger Anderssen dom pro AUS OBF 7 Malkavian 1 Gilbert Duane AUS DOM OBF 7 Malkavian 1 Gratiano obf pot DOM OBT 8 Lasombra Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (12 cards) 1 Barrens, The 1 Slave Auction 2 Contingency Planning 1 Secure Haven 1 Obfuscate 2 Dominate 4 Blood Doll Action (8 cards) 4 Scouting Mission 4 Govern the Unaligned Action Modifier (36 cards) 4 Faceless Night 4 Cloak the Gathering 4 Spying Mission 4 Lost in Crowds 4 Conditioning 4 Bonding 4 Threats 4 Seduction 4 Sleep Unseen Reaction (16 cards) 3 Eluding the Arms of Morpheus 3 Wake with Evening`s Freshness 4 Obedience 2 Redirection 4 Deflection Combat (10 cards) 2 Glancing Blow 4 Behind You! 4 Gemini`s Mirror Combo (8 cards) 4 Swallowed by the Night 4 Murmur of the False Will Deck Name: Common Tremere Created By: Chris Berger Description: A mostly-common learner`s deck for Tremere. Unlike the other decks, this one is not 4CL, I just couldn`t bear to go with only 4 of Apportation and Theft of Vitae. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 13, Max: 29, Avg: 5.16) ---------------------------------------------- 1 Masika St. John THA 3 Tremere 1 Blythe Candeleria aus THA 3 Tremere 1 Martin Franckel tha AUS 3 Tremere 1 Thelonius aus dom tha 4 Tremere Antitribu 1 Richard Tauber tha AUS 4 Tremere Antitribu 1 Aisling Sturbridge dom AUS THA 5 Tremere 1 Hannigan dom AUS THA 5 Tremere Antitribu 1 Selena AUS DOM THA 6 Tremere Antitribu 1 Muaziz aus dom for THA 7 Tremere 1 Ladislas Toth for AUS DOM THA 7 Tremere Antitribu 1 Bryan Van Duesen aus pre DOM THA 7 Tremere Antitribu 1 Kij Dansky obt AUS DOM THA 8 Tremere Antitribu Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (10 cards) 4 Blood Doll 1 Dominate 1 Auspex 1 Fragment of the Book of Nod 1 Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper, The 1 KRCG News Radio 1 WMRH Talk Radio Action (6 cards) 4 Govern the Unaligned 2 Pulse of the Canaille Action Modifier (4 cards) 4 Conditioning Reaction (32 cards) 4 Telepathic Misdirection 4 Spirit`s Touch 4 Enhanced Senses 4 Eagle`s Sight 4 Precognition 4 Fast Reaction 4 Wake with Evening`s Freshness 4 Forced Awakening Combat (34 cards) 4 Movement of the Mind 8 Apportation 4 Blood Rage 4 Walk of Flame 2 Drain Essence 8 Theft of Vitae 4 Wind Dance Combo (4 cards) 4 Murmur of the False Will Deck Name: Common dompreobf Created By: Description: A mostly common Ventrue/Settite deck. Built to vote and bleed with varying degrees of success. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 17, Max: 38, Avg: 6.58) ---------------------------------------------- 1 Diana Vick dom pre 3 Ventrue 1 Robin Withers dom obf pre 4 Ventrue 1 Black Lotus aus obf ser DOM 5 Followers of Set 1 Renenet ser OBF PRE 5 Followers of Set 1 Catherine du Bois for obf pre DOM 5 Ventrue 1 Mustafa cel dom FOR PRE 6 Ventrue 1 Edward Vignes for DOM PRE 6 Ventrue 1 Amenophobis dom pre OBF SER 7 Followers of Set 1 Kahina the Sorceress nec pre AUS DOM OBF SER 9 Followers of Set 1 Neferu dom nec OBF PRE SER THA 9 Followers of Set 1 Lucinde Alastor obf pot tha DOM FOR PRE 10 Ventrue 1 Marcus Vitel DOM FOR OBF OBT PRE 10 Ventrue Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (12 cards) 4 Blood Doll 1 Temple Hunting Ground 1 Ferraille 1 Ventrue Headquarters 1 Uptown Hunting Ground 2 Obfuscate 1 Presence 1 Dominate Action (15 cards) 4 Social Charm 3 Govern the Unaligned 2 Distant Friend 2 Entrancement 4 Enchant Kindred Action Modifier (30 cards) 4 Bewitching Oration 4 True Love`s Face 4 Spying Mission 3 Lost in Crowds 3 Faceless Night 4 Cloak the Gathering 4 Seduction 4 Bonding Political Action (13 cards) 2 Conservative Agitation 4 Kine Resources Contested 1 Disputed Territory 1 Reins of Power 1 Political Stranglehold 1 Ancient Influence 1 Year of Fortune 2 Finding the Path Reaction (4 cards) 4 Deflection Combat (12 cards) 4 Behind You! 4 Staredown 4 Majesty Combo (4 cards) 4 Murmur of the False Will Ugh... it seems like Google Groups no longer has a Preview button... I hope this post doesn't come out all jacked up... Oh, and also, I noticed when posting that 3 of 4 use dom, and those 3 all have Murmur of the False Will. I didn't originally intend to use that much dominate, but I guess when you're trying to make competitive decks with common cards, you go with what works... ;) I'll try to make a 5th deck soon, to make a full table, and I'll have to consciously avoid dominate in that one. Here's another one. I originally wanted to make 5 so there would be a complete table of learner decks. Even though I want them to be playable against everyday good decks, I also intended them to be used against each other, so a 5th one was needed. This one is basically an Aid from Bats deck with light-to-medium intercept, and little rush. Most of the offense comes from the fact that it's a weenie horde. I know I'll get crap for the Tiers of Souls. I happened to have a few extras, and they do make the deck a little better. You don't need them though. They can easily be replaced with Camera Phones, Laptops, or Computer Hacks. Or just with more Aid from Bats or Cat's Guidance. As you may be able to tell from my other decks above, I like Behind You!. It might be better replaced in this deck with more Backsteps, though. Or High Ground. You don't get the Dodge option on your OBF guys, but you can use them in later rounds as well. Deck Name : Common Animalism Author : Chris Berger Description : Mostly-common animalism weenie deck, with a little obfuscate splashed in, mostly because of my 12 unique vampire constraint, which necessitated using some 3 caps, so I chose the ones with ani obf. This one is not 4CL. Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 6 average: 2.91667 ------------------------------------------------------------ 1x Christanius Lionel 6 ANI OBF pot !Nosferatu:2 1x Calebros, The Mart 5 ANI obf pot prince Nosferatu:2 1x Bobby Lemon 4 ANI pro Gangrel:3 1x Clarissa Steinburg 3 ani obf Nosferatu:3 1x Panagos Levidis 3 ani obf Gangrel:2 1x Shannon Price, the 3 ani obf !Nosferatu:2 1x Dani 2 ani !Nosferatu:2 1x Gillian Krader 2 ani dem Pander:2 1x Mouse 2 ani Nosferatu:3 1x Spleen, Georgio Gu 2 ani chi Ravnos:2 1x Zip 2 ani Ravnos:3 1x Lisa Noble 1 ani Caitiff:3 Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Action [12] 4x Ambush 4x Army of Rats 4x Tier of Souls Action Modifier [4] 4x Cloak the Gathering Action Modifier/Combat [4] 4x Swallowed by the Night Combat [30] 12x Aid from Bats 4x Backstep 4x Behind You! 2x Canine Horde 8x Carrion Crows Master [16] 3x Animalism 1x Channel 10 4x Effective Management 1x KRCG News Radio 3x Obfuscate 3x Tribute to the Master 1x WMRH Talk Radio Reaction [18] 4x Cats' Guidance 4x Forced Awakening 4x Guard Dogs 4x Instinctive Reaction 2x Rat's Warning Retainer [6] 2x Owl Companion 4x Raven Spy Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Fri Feb 22 09:12:56 2008]