!Nos Big Caps Combat Toolbox

Deck Name: Immer mitten in die Fresse rein Author: Johannes Walch Description: I built the deck on the idea of wanting a combat deck that can handle Animalism well. This one can because I stay close, strike harder and Taste and they most likely don´t. It can also handle S:CE quite well, 10-cap is hard to Obedience and at least Cailean handles Guns. Apparently it hates VIC combat. On top of that a strong defense module so I only need to back rush when there are big voters. Managed 2nd place in German Qualifier, tied with 1,5VP in the finals but worse pre-final standing. Crypt (Capacity min=6 max=10 avg=8.58; 12 cards) =================================================== 4x Cailean 10 dom ANI OBF POT PRE !Nosferatu:2 2x Julio Martinez 9 nec ANI DOM OBF POT !Nosferatu:3 2x Mateusz Gryzbowsky 8 ANI OBF POT !Nosferatu:3 1x Ox, Viceroy of the Hollows 6 ANI OBF POT !Nosferatu:2 2x Tarbaby Jack 8 dom ser ANI OBF POT !Nosferatu:3 1x Teresita, The Godmother 7 for ANI OBF POT !Nosferatu:3 Library (90 cards) ===================== Master (19 cards) 4x Dreams of the Sphinx 2x Fame 1x Giant's Blood 1x Information Network 2x Monster // good in theory, but the blood is expensive. Would change for the future. 1x Nosferatu Kingdom 1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch 7x Villein Action (18 cards) 13x Deep Song 2x Heroic Might 3x Preternatural Strength Action Modifier (1 cards) 1x Enkil Cog Reaction (20 cards) 3x Cats' Guidance 7x Deflection 10x Sense the Savage Way Combat (27 cards) 7x Carrion Crows 2x Fists of Death 10x Immortal Grapple 1x Slam 7x Taste of Vitae Combo (5 cards) 5x Swallowed by the Night Created with Secret Library v0.9.3. (Apr 16, 2012 20:53:30)

I like the concept. I had tried to do something similar with flesh of marble, but never got something good from it. On topic : * why fist of death instead of torn signpost ? You fear being unable to play them before having a preternatural strength ? * By what would you replace Deep song if unavailable ? A mix of rush card and govern the unaligned ?

Torn Signpost don't mix well with Preternatural Strength.

> extrala wrote: > Torn Signpost don't mix well with Preternatural Strength. > Then again, the advantage to occasionaly be able to hit for 5 or cycle the card seem not that important compared to the 1 blood cost. I may be wrong, but the deck seem to have Fist of death primary for when a minion have neither preternatural strength nor a built in strength bonus enter combat. Torn signpost seem stronger in thoses cases (since you don't have to pay blood), while being weaker when thing go smoothly and you already have a frightful minion. That's why the choice seem counter-intuitive for me.

> Ohlmann wrote: > * why fist of death instead of torn signpost ? You fear being unable to play them before having a preternatural strength ? > I don´t like dead cards. Once I have one or two Prenaturals these are really dead. Also they stack when you happen to have both in hand. Torn Signpost would be an equally good choice, tough. > > Ohlmann wrote: > * By what would you replace Deep song if unavailable ? A mix of rush card and govern the unaligned ? > I think the deck is impossible without Deep Song. The versatility is key, always having rush or bleed depending if you need to oust or to torpor. I would appreciate some suggestion on what to use instead of Monster. Preferrably cards without pool cost, or one maximum.

Thanks > johannes wrote: > I would appreciate some suggestion on what to use instead of Monster. Preferrably cards without pool cost, or one maximum. > My first thought would be Mylan Horseed x1. No intelligent idea for the second one, except that the Barrens is in the general theme of "alway crafting the perfect hand" that seem to be very important. But it may be a bit overkill.

I would add 2x Enkil cog and 2x Raven Spy. I would remove 1x Smiling Jack (too unceratin with just 1x and don't see the point), 2x Monster and maybe 1x Nosferatu Kingdom but I always prefer tight master module. About 5 x Zillah's Valley is worth to consider if you feel the deck is too slow. Pentex Subversion is typical choice to think also. I would also remove 2x Fists of Death. Maybe put 2x Canine Horde depending on metagame or 2x Conditioning. But other than that deck looks solid. Have to make a bit similar deck with Cock Robin. EDIT on second thought there is only rare happening when this deck would need Canine Horde.

> johannes wrote: > I would appreciate some suggestion on what to use instead of Monster. Preferrably cards without pool cost, or one maximum. > I like having two copies of The Freeness (Nos Kingdom, in this case) in decks with libraries this big. It's a great card if you draw it early on, but not often later, so doubling your chances of getting it early is worth the later discard if you see the second copy. Toolbox decks usually benefit from having Barrens or Elder Library. Alternatively, just put some non-master in the deck; 19 seems high to me, given that you've got the potential to play a lot of cards between your master phases.

Other suggestions which I hope will be self-explanatory: Abbot Ancilla Empowerment Anarchist Uprising Neonate Breach Ancient Influence Political Stranglehold Metro Underground!!! Should you decide to add the political actions maybe you want to use Torn Signpost instead of Preternatural Strength.

Drop Smiling Jack and both Monster (although it seems that Monster would be good in this deck) - Lilith's Blessing - Owl Companion (checks to see if you save you IG) - Drawing out the Beast - Maybe switch 2-3 Deep song with Sense Death (rush at stealth) - Shepard's Innocence - The Barrens OR Increase Cailean by 1 add Abbot raven spy and Eternal Vigilance (very strong with Enkil cog)

I would definitely cut monsters and maybe dreams by 1-2, and smiling jack. Abbots, Depravity and Guardian agel are obvious choices for me This deck reminds me of an old deck i used to play, i will see tomorrow if i can dig up that decklist...

10-caps with a 90-card library = do not cut any Dreams of the Sphinx.

Hi, I like the deck quite a lot! Couple of things come to mind which could improve deck: - pentex subversion - haven uncovered (minor pentex) - lilith's blessing - ivory bow - kevlar vest - guardian angel and/or - conditioning (edit) and/or - depravity Smiler and Monsters can go. I don't like Heroic Might, even for it's ranged damage option. I think, that it's just too expensive: rather have murder of crows or extra Fists. I also like panic button option, and for that flesh bond would be great. Regards! ---- Banging trashcans, breaking windows We'll wake you up tonight We like the good time, we scream and shout And that's what fun's about

I would replace fists of death with more slams as you are bit low on manuevers while having mainly close range combat. Also the monsters could be changed to raven spies to give you more mileage out of all of those sense the savage ways.

No Beast? Big Hands compensate for small Crows. I would also be tempted to try Nahir. +1 bleed and +X hand size should be great in a deck like this and Swalloweds might as well be Slams and Mighty Grapples.

If i may be so bold, i took the liberty to re-do the deck and slim it down to my preference and playstyle, will try it this weekend : Alas, i do not own Enkil cog 4x Cailean 10 dom ANI OBF POT PRE !Nosferatu:2 3x Julio Martinez 9 nec ANI DOM OBF POT !Nosferatu:3 2x Mateusz Gryzbowsky 8 ANI OBF POT !Nosferatu:3 1x Ox, Viceroy of the Hollows 6 ANI OBF POT !Nosferatu:2 1x Nigel the shunned 1x Teresita, The Godmother 7 for ANI OBF POT !Nosferatu:3 Library (80 cards) ===================== Master (13 cards) 2x Dreams of the Sphinx 2x Fame 1x Giant's Blood 1x Information Network 1x Depravity 1x Nosferatu Kingdom 5x Villein Action (17 cards) 10x Deep Song 2x Heroic Might 3x Preternatural Strength 2x Abbot Action Modifier (2 cards) 2x Conditioning Reaction (18 cards) 2x Cats' Guidance 6x Deflection 7x Sense the Savage Way 3x rat's warning Combat (26 cards) 8x Carrion Crows 2x Slam 9x Immortal Grapple 7x Taste of Vitae Combo (4 cards) 4x Swallowed by the Night

Unbelievable... I did the exact same thing - downsize to 80 and shoehorn in 2 Conditionings and 2 Abbots. I considered a Kevlar Vest too, but decided it's an action you can't afford to take with the few you have available. What you posted there is almost down to the card what I had made of it when I played around with it a bit. Seriously, this is scary. What I have compared to this is: -3 rat's warning -2 Slam +2 Earthshock +1 Cat's Guidance +1 Deep Song +1 Enkil Cog It looks pretty nice deck, but in the end it's way too vulnerable to Pentex for my taste. Cailean gets a Pentex and you're basically fucked. I also feel it pretty slow having to bring out multiple fatties without acceleration and forward motion consisting of bleeds for 2 or the occasional Fame dunk. I have been trying to make ani/dom crypts work for quite a while now and usually end up in group 3/4. I'll certainly give this version a spin on a fridag night session when I get around building some new decks though. > No Beast? Big Hands compensate for small Crows. > I toyed with that idea, but Beast can't use Deep Song so all he really is is a rush and +1 strength. That's fairly expensive for 7 pool, especially since he can't properly play Sense the Savage Way either and with 10+ Deep Songs it's not like you're going to be short on rush.

Not wanting to Hijack the thread, but i have had a considerable success with Ani/dom crypts of Nos/!Nos, both in casual play and in tournaments. No tournament win, but a nice, smooth and dangerous deck : Crypt : 12 Julio Martinez x3 Gustaphe Brunelle x3 Petra x1 Joseph Cambridge x1 Tarbaby Jack x1 Jeremy "wix" Wychowsky x1 Stick x1 Harold Tanner x1 Library: 80 Master : 10 Pentex Subversion x1 Animalism x2 Dominate x1 Tension x1 Fame x2 Dreams of the Sphinx x2 Vox Domini x1 Action : 14 Govern The Unaligned x9 Deep song x5 Action modifier : 19 Conditioning x5 Mouthpiece x1 Swallowed by the night x3 Cloak the gathering x3 Veil the legions x2 Lost in crowds x3 Faceless night x2 Reaction : 14 Sense the savage way x3 Rat's warning x3 On the qui vive x2 Deflection x6 Combat : 23 Carrion crows x9 Aid from bats x10 Taste of Vitae x3 Canine horde x1

I love the original deck! Simple, lean and clear cut, but some modifications I would imply: -Smiling - you simply don't have the time for that and just generates the table hate (which you'll get anyway with this deck, sooner rather than later). -3 sense the savage way - no serious reason to untap, just to deflect, and it stucks in your hand. Maybe 2 Slam would be useful. -2 monsters should stay, in my opinion. Yeah, costly, but definitely worth it! If you decide against them, than it shold be Conditionings. -I'm still considering it, but nowadays I'm thinking seriously using some (2-4) street creds in this type of decks. Not expected, and saves the bloating action (and if this deck hits, then it hits way more that the opposing one). I would add 2, (sub the smiling and a sense).

> 3 sense the savage way - no serious reason to untap, just to deflect, and it stucks in your hand > This card NEVER sticks in my hand because I can cycle it for free. With DOM it allows to untap and then deflect. Also you stay untapped in case of Change of Target and whatnot. I would also not even consider going down on the number because I am usually going full tap out with everybody. > > I would also be tempted to try Nahir. +1 bleed and +X hand size should be great in a deck like this and Swalloweds might as well be Slams and Mighty Grapples. > Swalloweds are very useful to get your rush past Jake Washington and also they gave me a VP on two occasions because of the stealth on a bleed. Thanks a lot for the very good suggestions. Abbott is certainly going in. I thought about bringing the deck down to 80 or 75, but it flows very quickly and with the Dreams .. I did actually run out of cards twice with this deck already.

> Izaak wrote: > It looks pretty nice deck, but in the end it's way too vulnerable to Pentex for my taste. Cailean gets a Pentex and you're basically fucked. I also feel it pretty slow having to bring out multiple fatties without acceleration and forward motion consisting of bleeds for 2 or the occasional Fame dunk. > sate for small Crows. > Well there is 4x Dreams, Nosferatu Kingdom and the special from Tarbaby. So not a whole LOT of acceleration but also not none. I am considering dropping the two Monster against an Info Highway and Pentex. Or go with 2x Wash.

> johannes wrote: > > > Izaak wrote: > > It looks pretty nice deck, but in the end it's way too vulnerable to Pentex for my taste. Cailean gets a Pentex and you're basically fucked. I also feel it pretty slow having to bring out multiple fatties without acceleration and forward motion consisting of bleeds for 2 or the occasional Fame dunk. > > sate for small Crows. > > > Well there is 4x Dreams, Nosferatu Kingdom and the special from Tarbaby. So not a whole LOT of acceleration but also not none. I am considering dropping the two Monster against an Info Highway and Pentex. Or go with 2x Wash. > I wouldn't add Wash. It is too prayerish against Pentex and will just stay in your hand and make deck flow worse. Carlton and Mylan are ok against Pentex if your metagame has not become more combat happy also. With that kind of crypt I feel you have to just accept to get Pentexed some time. I would just play more with the deck and see what is important to change. If you feel the deck doesn't flow good enough I would cut it to 80 cards and keep all Dreams. Dreams or Nosferatu Kingdom in starting hand is very good because you are sure to get vampire out in two turns. Another thing to think is add some Conditioning to get some more lunge potential. Cards I would think replacing are 2x Heroic Might, 2x Monster, 2x Fists of Death, 1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch.

i like all deck, very good. only i change 2 monster and anarch by 1 info highway, a carver and Mark V for Cailen.

> johannes wrote: > I would appreciate some suggestion on what to use instead of Monster. Preferrably cards without pool cost, or one maximum. > Carver's / Scourge ? Pentex is a strong choice . Uncoiling is fun too

also, a totally lunatic idea, but perhaps a copy of two of Honor the elders? It usually passes...

You might also want to consider Shane Grimald in the deck in place of one of the support guys, he is really cheap at only 4 pool and has ani/dom/pot