q Dementation Bleed
Highlights
This is a stealth & bleed deck using the disciplines. The idea is to bring maximum pool damage to the prey as fast as possible.
Stealth is high, with many Obfuscate and a few Dementation modifiers. Many vampires in the crypt have a native +1 bleed ability, and the deck includes a lot of Eyes of Chaos to bring each bleed to a potential 4 or 5. It also includes a good number of Touch of Clarity, to cancel some Deflection and making sure the bleeds land on the prey.
Two thirds of the vampires have , so Telepathic Misdirection can be used against bleeds. Nonetheless, the deck still includes Narrow Minds, with the idea that it will hurt the prey much more than it hurts the deck itself.
Kindred Spirits provides some bloat by itself and, coupled to a few Villein, should let the deck get three or even four vampires out.
When it comes down to combat, the deck relies on No Trace to end them, but also packs a lot of Secure Haven and Secret Passage to avoid rushes.
Tips & Tricks
Compared to other bleed variants, this deck takes its time. It is supposed to set things up, and take the time to protect the main vampire (with the bleed bonus) with a Secure Haven or Secret Passage. It includes a few Spying Mission so it can cancel a huge bleed being bounced: it would otherwise help the prey if carelessly allowed to hit the grandprey.
The couple of Wash are typical: a counter on a Villein amounts to a bleed of 5. They can also counter a permanent intercept location like KRCG News Radio.
Dreams of the Sphinx helps with cards rotation and avoid jamming the hand with stealth if the prey chooses not to block. Touch of Clarity might be pointless if the prey is not using bounces, but it can also be used defensivly to prevent a or bleed action.
Variants
Depending on what's expected, a few other cards could find their place in the deck. The Call is a common inclusion, Hide the Mind could be considered to counter the widespread bounces like Telepathic Misdirection. Finally, a couple of Restructure can be added against allies.
Louhi can give birth to interesting variations thanks to his ability, like in Pedro Paulo de Sousa Mendes's deck from 2015: Villein are out of question since he'll need his blood for his ability, but The Call can be used to compensate. The result is slower, but, again, the availability of both Hide the Mind and Touch of Clarity provide great lunge opportunities.
The deck can be built with Dementation only, and lower capacity vampires, as in Bram van Stappen's deck from the 2013 German NC. This is faster, but also more fragile as the stealth gets lower and the vampires have no good solution against combat.