E The unnamed

VDB

Highlights

This is a stealth & bleed deck starring The unnamed. The idea is to use his ability to bleed and bloat at the same time. Tend the Flock is used to improve the bloat.

At some point in the game, he gets Enkil Cog and Homunculus, allowing him to bleed again during another turn, doubling his bleed and bloat power.

The versatile Instantaneous Transformation is a great asset and other options are included to let him unlock as much as possible: Homunculus, but also Eluding the Arms of Morpheus, Mylan Horseed and Majesty. The more he unlocks, the less the Methusalah has to pay for the Infernal penalty.

His threatening combat ability makes unlocking and trying to block a real threat — Sense the Sin becomes more versatile than in most Baali decks.

Flurry of Action is rarely played overall, but very typical of this archetype. It lets The unnamed bleed and unlock with a single card, at no cost. A bleed enhancement action is less useful than it can be in other decks, since Sense the Sin, True Love's Face, Enkil Cog and The Horde already provide enough bleed enhancement, and the deck rarely bleeds over 3 because of Archon Investigation anyway.

Tips & Tricks

Rötschreck is a nice surprise that can disable quite any combat module if used with The unnamed ability when blocking.

Infernal Servitor is a powerful bleeder and can even use o for some stealth. Moreover, it can be played twice in a turn, back-to-back.

Shadow of the Beast and Kaymakli Fragment are rare inclusions and Darby Keeney comments they could be cut.

Mask of a Thousand Faces is seldom played, but here it lets The unnamed "takeover" when someone unexpectedly blocks a sidekick.

The whole deck tends to cost a bit of blood, so Perfectionist and Giant's Blood are played to help restore The unnamed's blood. The Coven is also common.

I am Legion is versatile: it can be used to counter some a intercept or bounces but can also be used just for 1 pool on a successful action: the card text states "and/or gain 1 pool".

Variants

Many small variations exist over the minion cards. Form of Mist is often included for its versatility. and D'habi Revenant as a bleed enhancer.

The Legal variant disregards the Enkil Cog and Homunculus combination and replaces Flurry of Action with Legal Manipulations.

The Maleficia variant plays Maleficia and uses Psalm of the Damned, Greater Curse and/or Evil Eye. Fernando Naves Resck's deck from the 2017 Brazilian CCQ is a good example.

The Anarch variant uses Anarch Convert to go anarch, which opens access to Illegalism and Power of One, as in Delmar Sittoni's deck from 2021. Since the publishing of the V5 Ministry deck, The Platinum Protocol, Revelation of the Serpent and Enchanting Gaze also deserve consideration.