Cat Blast Fever

A Black Cat/Beretta deck based on ideas from this discussion . I tried building an Anarch version with Undue Influence, but all the Anarch tech fattened up the deck and got in the way of the trick, i.e.: Black Cat gets a metric butt-tonne of Berettas and Nods them to her pals. So I switched to weenie CEL. Any suggestions for improvement would be welcome, particularly ways to cut the deck size. 16 Beretta/16 Concealed Weapon in 80 cards almost works, but if I could cut the deck to 70 (or smaller?), it would probably work way better. But what to drop? There are lots of permanents in there. I might like to try to find room for a Dragon's Breath Rounds or two, maybe some Taste of VItae. How do you intend to oust? Several bleeds for 2 or 3 per turn. How do you intend to keep from being ousted? Tributes, permanent intercept, back-rushing. What do you want your ready region to look like? Black Cat and three or more well-armed assistants. What do you want your average turn to look like? Early game: Black Cat picks a fight (bleeding, rushing or blocking) and loads up on Berettas. After she's passed them around to her friends, it's just a matter of keeping the pressure on. What's your metagame like? How do your opponents play? All kinds of stuff. People here seem to like to spend time tooling up before throwing down. What problems have you observed with the deck in play? No Black Cat in the opening crypt sucks. The trick is also dependent on a good draw. One game, my opening hand had a couple Berettas/CW, and I just kept top-decking more, so Black Cat had lots of guns to pass around when Nod came up (which it did right away). The game before, though: no guns for the first dozen or so cards. Hence the desire to trim the deck size. Thanks in advance! Deck Name: Cat Blast Fever Crypt (Capacity min=3 max=5 avg=4.67; 12 cards) ================================================== 1x Abd al-Rashid 5 obf CEL QUI Assamite:2 4x Black Cat 5 pot pre CEL Brujah:1 1x Brachah 5 for CEL PRE Brujah:2 1x Dodd 5 dom pre CEL !Brujah:2 1x Jimmy Dunn 4 for CEL POT Pander:2 1x Rigby, Crusade Vanguard 5 aus pot CEL PRE !Brujah:2 1x Sarah Brando 3 CEL !Brujah:2 1x Victor Tolliver 4 pot CEL !Brujah:2 1x Volker, The Puppet Prince 5 pot CEL Brujah:2 Library (80 cards) ===================== Master (16 cards) 1x Amusement Park Hunting Ground 1x Fame 1x Gang Territory 1x Haven Uncovered 1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany 1x Mob Connections 4x Nod 4x Tribute to the Master 1x Warzone Hunting Ground 1x Waste Management Operation Event (1 cards) 1x NRA PAC Action (6 cards) 2x Atonement 2x Bum's Rush 2x Harass Equipment (22 cards) 16x Beretta 9mm 1x Flak Jacket 1x Heart of Nizchetus 1x Kevlar Vest 1x Laptop Computer 1x Pier 13, Port of Baltimore 1x Sport Bike Retainer (5 cards) 2x Ghoul Retainer 1x J. S. Simmons, Esq. 1x Mr. Winthrop 1x Tasha Morgan Reaction (3 cards) 3x Eluding the Arms of Morpheus Combat (27 cards) 4x Blur 16x Concealed Weapon 4x Flash 3x Psyche! Created with Secret Library v0.9.3. (Sep 14, 2012 09:17:13)

I've tried berettas. I want to like them. Really I do. Even if you can get them for free, they take up card space (and the concealed weapon to go with it!) Try adding another Black Cat. 5 copies in a 13 vampire crypt is ideal. Consider using .44 Magnums. You can cut 16 cards (8 guns and 8 concealeds) at the cost of paying 1 pool for each. (if your deck is 90 cards, be lucky if you see 4 of them anyway.) You could also consider using a mix of Saturday Night Specials and .44s and including Suppressing Fire. Independent Futurist. Contrarian (titled, X votes where X is the number of votes as the acting minion.) Target Vitals is always the better combat card.

From my experience a combination of hand size increasers like Dreams, Eldar Library or even Visit from the Capuchin are your friend to get the combo of. Also maybe Spezialization. 4 !Bru seems a bit prayerish for Gang Territory to work, maybe double 1 or 2 of those and use Wider View to get rid of addtl. Cats also. Also IMO a bit low on rush, Frontal Assault? Cheers alf <INSERT CLEVER QUOTATION HERE>

Had a deck like this one... with vast wealth and more piers (you need the pier on black cat asap). Didn't worked very well... you end up getting with all the deflected bleed on the table, and if you rush everyone you are just destroying the table... Its fun, but you will be lucky if you get more than 1 vp... And if you get a weenie dementation deck or something like that you won't get enough rush actions/pool to survive. Berettas are a piece of crap... you need 2 to get one maneuver. Its better to pay 1 for a magnum.

4 rushes, 1 haven uncovered? How do you get them in combat? Here's my version: Deck Name: Beretrap Author: floppyzedolfin Description: A tribute to Tom. Crypt (14 cards; Capacity min=1 max=5 avg=3.29) =============================================== 1x Angel 2 cel Brujah:1 1x Antoinette DuChamp 1 cel pre Caitiff:2 5x Black Cat 5 pot pre CEL Brujah:1 1x Carter 2 cel !Toreador:2 1x Itzahk Levine 3 cel pre Ventrue:2 1x Kanya Akhtar 2 cel Assamite:2 1x Mariana Gilbert 4 cel PRE Toreador:1 1x Nik 1 cel Caitiff:1 1x Sarah Brando 3 CEL !Brujah:2 1x Uma Hatch 3 cel pre Brujah:1 Library (90 cards) ================== Master (17) 2x Fame 2x Frontal Assault 3x Haven Uncovered 5x Nod 2x Tribute to the Master 3x Vessel Event (1) 1x Dragonbound Action (15) 10x Bum's Rush 5x Legal Manipulations Equipment (15) 15x Beretta 9mm Combat (42) 15x Concealed Weapon 10x Flash 3x Sideslip 4x Taste of Vitae 10x Trap Created with Secret Library v0.9.3. (Sep 14, 2012 14:08:43)

Hum... other version: Deck Name: Black Cats Rush Created By: Description: Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 15, Max: 20, Avg: 4,58) 1 Parmenides CEL qui 4 Assamite 1 Abd al-Rashid CEL obf QUI 5 Assamite 5 Black Cat CEL pot pre 5 Brujah 1 Brachah for CEL PRE 5 Brujah 1 Victor Tolliver CEL pot 4 Brujah Antitribu 1 Sarah Brando CEL 3 Brujah Antitribu 1 Dodd CEL dom pre 5 Brujah Antitribu 1 Jimmy Dunn CEL for POT 4 Pander Library: (90 cards) Master (17 cards) 1 Al`s Army Apparatus 1 Warzone Hunting Ground 1 Vast Wealth 3 Heidelberg Castle, Germany 1 Filchware`s Pawn Shop 1 Waste Management Operation 3 Blood Doll 3 Vessel 2 Fame 1 Pentex Subversion Action (12 cards) 12 Bum`s Rush Reaction (5 cards) 5 Wake with Evening`s Freshness Combat (29 cards) 8 Pursuit 8 Psyche! 4 Sideslip 5 Infernal Pursuit 4 Taste of Vitae Ally (2 cards) 1 Arms Dealer 1 Repo Man Equipment (25 cards) 3 Laptop Computer 3 Leather Jacket 6 .44 Magnum 4 Pier 13, Port of Baltimore 3 Sport Bike 6 Kevlar Vest All minions have CEL. Black cat equips the stuff, the other minions fetch it either with heidelberg or by themselves (leather jacket to stay untapped at the end of the turn in that case). Repo man goes for the bikes and is also a Daring the Dawn blocker. When he is done he can also grab a .44 and rush the weaker ones. Laptop increases the base bleed. Off course that putting a pier on Black cat early in the game is a must. Vessels and blood dolls to keep the pool at an acceptable levels and infernal pursuits instead of dreams or visits.

Why do people lynch pin this to Black Cat, besides the obvious pool savings? It complicates things. Throw in Jack of Both Sides so your other minions can discount the guns. That should speed up things considerably. Naturally Pier 13, Leather Jacket, Concealed, etc. stays in. Now what you do about ousting... that's on you. A lone copy of Fame and two unique bleed retainers equals a whole lot of bleeds for one. How do you want to shape the crypt to improve this? Brujah w/ Legal/Public? Flurry of Action to bleed for one and stay up? Suppressing Fire or Resist Earth's Grasp seem generally useful here, at the very least letting your rush land on your target. I don't know what you want to do about defense. You look like the bleed sink here. Dodd & Anvil for Deflections? Major Boon and or Dummy Corp with Aversions and or Keep it Simple? Gotta make a decision. Four Tributes with midcaps is just not enough bloat for defense, IME.

This is clearly another deck where you would greatly benefit from abusing from recursive combo infernal pursuit + ashur tablets. First part fetch near to all guns to black cat and deplete your deck. Second part play nod and get all celerity and rushes back to the deck. Third part is action time.

> Dr.Mafrune wrote: > This is clearly another deck where you would greatly benefit from abusing from recursive combo infernal pursuit + ashur tablets. > > First part fetch near to all guns to black cat and deplete your deck. > Second part play nod and get all celerity and rushes back to the deck. > Third part is action time. > Fourth part: realize Black Cat is spelled Anson.

Here is a first draft version of a deck with the above mentioned strategy: Deck Name : Dark Passion Play Author : Dr.Mafrune Description : I took several ideas from the last version of Otso Saariluoma´s deck at Ropecon Gun Control, which, if I´m not wrong, is a version of a deck by Torstensson. I think it needed 12 ashur and Waste Management, because the consuption pattern of infernal, combined with several concealed + beretta is even greater enhanced as in general ashurcelgun deck. I don´t think master cards should be a great problem, thanks to infernal pursuit,two parthenon and the fact that the deck only acts and not reacts. I would also liked to have it reduced to 80 cards, but I have really no clue what can I let appart. Indeed I wanted to include a second dragon breath and a wider view. This card can give you several pool thanks to recursion, which is great for a deck which only bloats with tablets and frontal assault. At last, the name of the deck comes from an album by finnish music band Nightwish. Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 5 average: 3.66667 4x Black Cat 5 CEL pot pre Brujah:1 3x Anarch Convert 1 Caitiff:0 1x Dodd 5 CEL dom pre !Brujah:2 1x Rigby, Crusade Van 5 CEL PRE aus pot !Brujah:2 1x Jimmy Dunn 4 CEL POT for Pander:2 1x Victor Tolliver 4 CEL pot !Brujah:2 1x Sarah Brando 3 CEL !Brujah:2 Library [81 cards] Action [12] 1x Arson 4x Big Game 7x Bum's Rush Action Modifier/Combat [1] 1x Resist Earth's Grasp Combat [31] 1x Blur 12x Concealed Weapon 1x Dragon's Breath Rounds 9x Infernal Pursuit 4x Psyche! 2x Pursuit 1x Sideslip 1x Taste of Vitae Equipment [12] 12x Beretta 9mm Event [1] 1x Dragonbound Master [24] 2x Anarch Revolt 12x Ashur Tablets 1x Fame 1x Frontal Assault 2x Haven Uncovered 3x Nod 2x Parthenon, The 1x Waste Management Operation Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder.

> js_vtes wrote: > Cat Blast Fever > Me and Ted Nugent approve! Finnish Politics!

Thanks to everyone for the thought-provoking comments and suggestions! I'm going to stick with the Berettas rather than the more "reliable" .44s. I would still need to pack the deck with them to draw them reliably, and every pool I spend on one is a pool I can't use to bring out another guy to pass along a bunch of FREE guns to. Four .44s mean no Victor or Jimmy. As Mr. Bajika put it in the linked discussion above: > Non-existant user wrote: > ...it isn't a *good* deck, but it has a plan, and that plan is "Black Cat gets a million Berettas for free and spreads them around with Nod." If Black Cat is getting a million .44s, they aren't free, and you just oust yourself... > So yes, this deck's more for fun than a tier-one tournament-blaster. But it did do some things surprisingly well: - A minion with 3 Berettas can press twice and gets a free maneuver ALL THREE rounds. A .44 would just give you one. - 3 Berettas + 2 Ghoul Retainers = 6R damage, before any additional strikes. Press, everybody passes their guns around and does it again. Ouch. - Minion A has a Laptop and J.S. Simmons. That's a 3-point bleed. Heidelberg that stuff to Minion B and repeat. Then there's Minion C who's been sitting there with Tasha, too. Point is, it can do much more than just lots of bleeds for 1. > Dr.Mafrune wrote: > This is clearly another deck where you would greatly benefit from abusing from recursive combo infernal pursuit + ashur tablets. > > First part fetch near to all guns to black cat and deplete your deck. > Second part play nod and get all celerity and rushes back to the deck. > Third part is action time. > YES!! LOVE it! (Of course, I would expect nothing but good advice from a doctor.) The seed of the deck idea is that, after "the plan" has been pulled off, I'm left with a 40-or-so-card deck that I would move through pretty quickly, slapping permanents into play and drawing into the transient stuff just often enough. I was considering an Ashur module, but Infernal Pursuit is EXACTLY the missing element I need to make it swing. And those bad boys stack, too, don't they? So if I play one each time I draw it, I could very well burn through my whole deck during that first combat. I just have to be smart enough (a shaky proposition at best) to leave myself with a decent hand when the dust settles. Say, Parthenon, Ashur, Ashur, Ashur, Nod...? Any other suggestions? > Suoli wrote: > Fourth part: realize Black Cat is spelled Anson. > Hmm. I thought he might just be too big for the deck's premise, but he'd certainly come in handy for the whole "burn through cards fast" plan. Nothing like chiseling out 3 Ashur Tablets in one shot. Thanks again, all! Any more thoughts, please share!

> Lönkka wrote: > > > js_vtes wrote: > > Cat Blast Fever > > > Me and Ted Nugent approve! > Heh. Thanks. Next idea: Wang Dang Con Boon-tang!

> - 3 Berettas + 2 Ghoul Retainers = 6R damage, before any additional strikes. Press, everybody passes their guns around and does it again. Ouch. > Yes, that is nice, but an Assault Rifle does as much damage with additional strikes, takes less cards, less actions to equip and costs the same pool. I am not sure you can afford the 2 pool of the Ghoul Retainer in that deck: you can have vampires for that price.

> Non-existant user wrote: > > > - 3 Berettas + 2 Ghoul Retainers = 6R damage, before any additional strikes. Press, everybody passes their guns around and does it again. Ouch. > > > Yes, that is nice, but an Assault Rifle does as much damage with additional strikes, takes less cards, less actions to equip and costs the same pool. I am not sure you can afford the 2 pool of the Ghoul Retainer in that deck: you can have vampires for that price. > Those are all solid points. Although I can't Conceal an Assault Rifle. If the trick works, I should be able to get lots of free guns out with NO equip actions. The Ghoul Retainers in the mix make 4 of that 6 damage environmental, too, which beats Skin of Steel and other "strike" prevention. And they can move around with Heidelberg. Plus, I like to imagine them all tossing guns around in a John Woo-style choreographed firefight. I'll try it out and see if they're worth it.

> js_vtes wrote: > Those are all solid points. Although I can't Conceal an Assault Rifle. If the trick works, I should be able to get lots of free guns out with NO equip actions. > But you can't conceal ghoul either. > js_vtes wrote: > The Ghoul Retainers in the mix make 4 of that 6 damage environmental, too, which beats Skin of Steel and other "strike" prevention. And they can move around with Heidelberg. Plus, I like to imagine them all tossing guns around in a John Woo-style choreographed firefight. I'll try it out and see if they're worth it. > It's true, but be prepared to see less and less strike prevention card and more and more Flesh of Marble and Armor of Vitality.

The combo of berettas with ghoul retainer is pretty interesting, but there are two problems that arise from its inclusion in the deck: 1) It costs two pool, not blood; which is the typical tool-up cost you wanted to avoid making this deck. If the focus of the deck is to spare pool, I wouldn´t spend it if not absolutely necesary. On the other side, the pool cushion you have is the only defense you have against bleeds; therefore I think is quite wise to preserve it. 2) You have to invest a valuable action to equip it. For a deck which has only american defense, every action has a high opportunity cost. The kind of decission you have to face is whether to have a nice ghoul and a "friendly Mr.Chains" blowing on your nape one turn more or try to let him have a peaceful existence....in torpor this turn. On pure rush decks free lunch actions are very, very scarce.

Flesh of marble would be a good celgun defense if the card psyche would not have been printed.

> Dr.Mafrune wrote: > Flesh of marble would be a good celgun defense if the card psyche would not have been printed. > You say that because you don't have tried it seriously enough. Flesh of marble is awesome because you can still do something to damage your opponent. He can Psyche, so what ? you stil have an entire round to carrion crow, slam, or mercury arrow, and you can replay another flesh after a psyche. And you can press to preserve your flesh of marble . At one damage per round, Celegun, Potence combat, and Animalism combat just don't do anything. Only aggravated can do something nasty against this card. The only true problem of flesh of marble is it pre range statut. For all the rest, it's pure gold to destroy thoses combat type. (of course, it is for deck that actually does damage in combat. There is nothing especially sexy to use flesh as earth meld proxy)