struggling to find a GW after many years

Currently having a major slump in my regular games, ousted first in the last 8 games played. Looking for advice in deckbuilding. I'm not having any fun playing and halfway towards selling the whole lot. We have a heavy combat meta, with weenie potence, Gargolyes, ANI. First losing desk: 0 game wins, 0 VP in 5 last attempts. Akunanse Rush/bleed: Deck Name: Wings of Death Author: Alex Orzulak Description: Laibon bleed/rush toolbox Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=3 max=8 avg=6.) ================== 1x Amavi 8 pre pro ABO ANI FOR Akunanse:4 1x Jubal 6 for pot ABO ANI Akunanse:4 3x Kikiyaon, The 5 abo ani FOR Akunanse:4 4x Uchenna 7 ABO ANI FOR Akunanse:4 2x Aisata Swanou 7 abo ANI FOR VIC Akunanse:5 1x Dolie 3 abo ani Akunanse:4 Library: 88 cards Master (15 cards) ================== 1x Fame 1x Ancestor Spirit 2x Abombwe 2x Mbare Market, Harare 1x Pentex(TM) Subversion 1x Powerbase: Luanda 1x Tension in the Ranks 3x Vessel 1x Wash 1x Blood Doll 1x Channel 10 Action (8 cards) ================== 2x No Secrets From the Magaji 6x Deep Song Action Modifier (5 cards) ================== 4x Freak Drive 1x Strange Day Action Modifier/Reaction (1 cards) ================== 1x Akunanse Kholo Combat (38 cards) ================== 4x Hidden Strength 2x High Ground 5x Pack Alpha 1x Roll 5x Rolling with the Punches 6x Taste of Vitae 2x Terror Frenzy 3x Bestial Vengeance 5x Carrion Crows 2x Circle 3x Devil-Channel: Hands Retainer (6 cards) ================== 3x Murder of Crows 3x Raven Spy Equipment (1 cards) ================== 1x Reliquary: Akunanse Remains Reaction (14 cards) ================== 5x On the Qui Vive 3x Predator's Communion 4x Taking the Skin: Vulture 2x Cats' Guidance amaranth.vtes.co.nz/#deck/3ed45f39-f9d0-453a-910d-549126d6595c Agitate Responsibly, but Influence Unduly.

It depends what's your priorities. If you don't mind changing the gears a little bit from try maybe too hard to play a combat oriented deck into something more intercept/passive-aggresive combat-ish, Akunanse are well equiped to rule the combat heavy meta. Aisata group5 is a cool vampire, but it group3 you have Matata and Sanjo. In your crypt you don't have many vampires with disciplines for what you are trying to do with Fame, Tensions, maybe Pack Alphas, Murder of Crows and all that. What's great about Akunanse is its effectiveness. Carrion Crows + Invoking the Beast + Fortitude prevents + Taste of Vitae are pain in the ass of combat decks. Also, if your focus is to block, then you don't mind S:CE from an opposing minion that much. Cat's Guidane, Sense the Savage Way and Predator's Commune is a decent amount intercept + wake effects. If block is the focus, you don't need Murder of Crows that much and can add few more Ravens. In case you feel their intercept is not enough, you can always add Keep it Simple which has a good synergy with such with 2-3 intercepts. With the versatility of Sense the Savage Way and Predator's Commune you don't need to tap yourself with Deep Song bleeds or even occasionally bully someone. Since you would block more, you can Army of Rats and possibly Smiling Jack. With the upcoming errata of Pentex Subversion it won't be needed in such a deck anymore. Also, not sure what's the deal with Kikiyaon but Amavi and Jubal deserve the slots for multiples more than him.

Hi, You said you scored 0 VP so the question is: how were you ousted? Maybe start working on that point to get a better defense. I don't see a lot of pool gain, a strange combat module crippled by 5 cards dedicated to getting a Raven Spy or a Murder of Crow, some High Grounds when you could play some Aid from Bats... Let's see in details what may get wrong: > Alex wrote: > Deck Name: Wings of Death > So I suppose you are very keen on playing Flight. So you play 3 Kikiyaon and 2 High Ground, 1 Roll, and 2 Circle. Those cards are not worth the slots and the effort you'll make to be able to play them (I have seen the Taking the Skin: Vulture). It's too cornercase, and you won't be able to make it work regularily enough. My advice would be to have a more regular combat module and remove them entirely or focus a lot more on them (even though I think it's pretty weak). But if you really want to play Flight, play a crypt where a majority have flight (Gargoyle in other words). > Alex wrote: > Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=3 max=8 avg=6.) > ================== > 1x Amavi 8 pre pro ABO ANI FOR Akunanse:4 > 1x Jubal 6 for pot ABO ANI Akunanse:4 > 3x Kikiyaon, The 5 abo ani FOR Akunanse:4 > 4x Uchenna 7 ABO ANI FOR Akunanse:4 > 2x Aisata Swanou 7 abo ANI FOR VIC Akunanse:5 > 1x Dolie 3 abo ani Akunanse:4 > I won't comment the crypt, it's a interesting thing but I would first focus on the library, and then adjust the crypt accordingly. You have a very toolbox master module. > > Alex wrote: > Master (15 cards) > ================== > 1x Fame => If you plan to oust with combat, 1 Fame is not enough. > 1x Ancestor Spirit => good for the +1 bleed > 2x Abombwe => Abombwe combat cards are good enough at inferior (superior usually only grant a press). I'd drop those, and improve the crypt if you really want to play Abombwe superior. See also Reliquary: Akunanse Remains that gives you a level of Abombwe > 2x Mbare Market, Harare => expensive, and not really worth it compared to a Powerbase: Montreal you can defend. > 1x Pentex(TM) Subversion > 1x Powerbase: Luanda > 1x Tension in the Ranks => not the best oust card (hurts players other than your prey), it''s interesting if you meet a lot of Nocturn, otherwise a Fame or Dragonbound is better. > 3x Vessel > 1x Wash => what for? There's no real master card you fear, and odds that you have one in hand at the right time are pretty weak > 1x Blood Doll > 1x Channel 10 => I'm not sure it's worth the cost in your deck. > Your pool gain is very weak. I'd rather play bigger, stronger vampires, and Villein to get pool back.Mapatano Utando is a good Akunanse cards. > Alex wrote: > 2x No Secrets From the Magaji > 6x Deep Song => if you plan to rush, 6 are not enough. And considering how ridiculously good Deep Song is when you need to cycle it, I would add 2 more without hesitation. > > Alex wrote: > Action Modifier (5 cards) > ================== > 4x Freak Drive > 1x Strange Day > Ok. Strange Day can be useful for a few but important actions (No Secrets especially) > Alex wrote: > Action Modifier/Reaction (1 cards) > ================== > 1x Akunanse Kholo > If you plan to counter vote decks with this, I'd rather put a few Delaying Tactics instead. But it depends on how you usually get ousted. Your combat module doesn't look good. You must focus on either - aggravated damage and prevent - Carrion Crows and long range (and less prevent) You sure can mix a little, but your module is too diluted. > Alex wrote: > Combat (38 cards) > ================== > 4x Hidden Strength => what for? You have superior Fortitude, and pressing is not your main concern. I'd rather play some Soak, or if there's a lot of agg damage in your environment, more Rolling with the Punches or Superior Mettle. > 2x High Ground => I'd drop the flight part. Those cards look like you're trying to save your ass in combat, but Fortitude is better for that. > 5x Pack Alpha => not a good idea, not in those proportions at least. See how a Concealed Weapon / .44 Magnum works, and how it cycles cards to make it work. You can't do the same. > 1x Roll => drop it > 5x Rolling with the Punches > 6x Taste of Vitae > 2x Terror Frenzy => why not, but in a deck with Aid from Bats / Carrion Crows. The superior isn't that useful for you (for instance, you can negate a Blur with a single Rolling with the Punches), if you want to get rid of equipment, play Canine Horde. > 3x Bestial Vengeance => weak card. Put more Carrion Crows for the same effect. Stacking 4R environmental damage is not that useful. > 5x Carrion Crows > 2x Circle => drop. If you want to press, play Aid from Bats. Otherwise, it means you should be playing agg damage, and presses are not useful. > 3x Devil-Channel: Hands > > Alex wrote: > Retainer (6 cards) > ================== > 3x Murder of Crows > 3x Raven Spy > If you get ousted because you don't have enough intercept, you should play more Raven Spy. If you get ousted because you get bested in combat, Murder of Crows won't help. So remove the Murder of Crows, and put the defense you need. > Alex wrote: > Equipment (1 cards) > ================== > 1x Reliquary: Akunanse Remains > Good card. Careful with its cost though. > Alex wrote: > Reaction (14 cards) > ================== > 5x On the Qui Vive > 3x Predator's Communion > 4x Taking the Skin: Vulture => nice for the maneuver, but you can't play it twice with the same minion between two turns, which can be annoying. I'd rather play only 2, and play more Cat's Guidance. > 2x Cats' Guidance > Prince of Paris, France Ratings Coordinator, Rules Director

In terms of crypt, you might want to run Matata instead of Aisata as he is pretty much superior to what you have in your crypt atm. I am agreeing with above posters in that pack alpha and murder of crows are not good enough for their cost. I'd rather replace them with animalism combat, more deep songs or wake/intercept cards. Besides, I personally think its much more feasible to simply recruit the spies the normal way, and then freak drive up considering you have access to fortitude. The only deck I have ran pack alpha in was Demdemeh, which heavily revolves around retainers. Also, the combination of high ground with hidden strength (and the seeming focus on ranged combat) is bit strange. With hidden strength you have to prevent damage in order to be able to use it and press, but if your opponent is at long range, they probably won't be able to strike and then hidden strength is unusable. I'd instead recommend using better and simpler prevent with some other form of press. My current favorite prevent card is armor of vitality, which prevents 3 damage from anything(including aggro and crows) with only inferior fortitude and blood cost of 1.(also destroys sticks at superior). Depending on your meta and whether you need aggro prevent, you could also just use soak. The combat seems to be bit all over the place. You should probably experiment with a more focused combat, until you find what best works for you. If you are afraid of the other combat decks, I guarantee you have better chance against them with carrion crows + good prevent than high ground + murder of crows. If your opponents are potence decks, simply aggro poke with devil-channel hands is going to go a long way, since potence decks tend to be light on prevent. You have to consider why NOT just use the standard animalism combat of carrion crows + bunch of aid from bats? Mbare market is too costly for its effect imo. I'd look for different ways to bloat. Just taking blood from minions with villeins/vessels and then filling them with taste of vitae or rack/hunting ground would be an idea. Admittedly Akunanse hunting ground is possibly the worst hg ever printed, but you could use rack. In terms of intercept you definitely need a bunch of sense the savage ways. Especially if you would run Matata. It is by far the best animalism wake/intercept card, but ofc needs a bigger vampire. The deck also has a distinct lack of ousting mechanism. This is most likely the main reason why you aren't scoring VP's. There should be something more than just one fame and one tension in here, and I know first hand that its hard to make combat decks oust effectively. I recommend at the very least a couple of army of rats. Keep in mind that fame will at best oust one person before it is removed from the game along with that person.. Smoking craters tell no tales. —Tex talks Battletech

The combat module lacks destruction (5 crows) yet packs 6 taste to go along with fortitude (that obviates the need for taste). You are very action light (14 actions 2 of which untap you and 6 that can become combat cards with pack alpha) to be playing freak drive. Honestly if people are playing a lot of combat you can just play fortitude/dominate and get easy wins.

> BlueSadDoll wrote: > It depends what's your priorities. If you don't mind changing the gears a little bit from try maybe too hard to play a combat oriented deck into something more intercept/passive-aggresive combat-ish, Akunanse are well equiped to rule the combat heavy meta. Aisata group5 is a cool vampire, but it group3 you have Matata and Sanjo. In your crypt you don't have many vampires with disciplines for what you are trying to do with Fame, Tensions, maybe Pack Alphas, Murder of Crows and all that. What's great about Akunanse is its effectiveness. Carrion Crows + Invoking the Beast + Fortitude prevents + Taste of Vitae are pain in the ass of combat decks. Also, if your focus is to block, then you don't mind S:CE from an opposing minion that much. Cat's Guidane, Sense the Savage Way and Predator's Commune is a decent amount intercept + wake effects. If block is the focus, you don't need Murder of Crows that much and can add few more Ravens. In case you feel their intercept is not enough, you can always add Keep it Simple which has a good synergy with such with 2-3 intercepts. With the versatility of Sense the Savage Way and Predator's Commune you don't need to tap yourself with Deep Song bleeds or even occasionally bully someone. Since you would block more, you can Army of Rats and possibly Smiling Jack. With the upcoming errata of Pentex Subversion it won't be needed in such a deck anymore. Also, not sure what's the deal with Kikiyaon but Amavi and Jubal deserve the slots for multiples more than him. > Brutal wall of text

Let them stack the obvious cards in their hands, deflection etc, I hate Crows, there are different options, but sadly it is true, that or you kick asses or do else, Toolboxes are hard to play. Please check this link ... wanderers-counsel.tripod.com/?fbclid=IwAR1QgDLX7AT7vOTCuq9_QnJ6Lv6bFE-j65TOVrBeHaEETsaqWj2HeJ3TftM How people moved from idea to another to get cool results with Wise Spiders.

Well, there are some problems I can see, having these kind of issues myself in the past. - Crypt issues, the others already stated this. Matata is a must. - You have way too many combat cards for the amount of ways you can get into combat. The intercept you can potentially generate is not enough to catch any deck that can reliably generate 3 stealth, which is not too hard. Also, the combat module itself is iffy. - How do you plan to oust? You don't really have any way to deal with even a base amount of pool, not to mention a deck with a bloat module, which is really common nowadays. The problem is that this iteration of your deck is not really meta-dependent either, it's just not functioning.