E Infernal Royalty
Highlights
This is a vote deck relying on Princes and Barons with and .
There are multiple ways to approach this build given the variety of good Princes in the V5 Precons. This example focuses on using Arishat as a key vampire: her ability helps secure a vote lock, plus she has superior and and, last but not least, she can summon Unleash Hell's Fury for defence.
The plan is to get Princes in play fast with Information Highway for the vote lock, then use Parity Shift to bloat and Kine Resources Contested for additional damage. provides a welcome support with stealth modifiers to ensure the votes do not get blocked easily.
provides useful vote-oriented support like Perfect Paragon and Voter Captivation, while gives access to stealth, especially the excellent Forgotten Labyrinth. On the combat side, the deck relies simply on Majesty to avoid getting hit too strong. A couple of Second Tradition: Domain are included for versatility: a careful and well-timed block can change the flow of a game.
Another key feature of the deck is its density: packing only 60 cards with two sets of Ashur Tablets, it is able to very quickly adapt to the table dynamics by getting the exact 13 cards we need most back in the pile.
Tweaks and variants
This deck is obviously inspired by Bram Van Stappen's Infernal Princes of Anarchy.
The most important point probably, if you have access to legacy cards, is to include some Reckless Agitation in the mix. They cost blood, but that can be recouped with Voter Captivation, and it does more damage than Kine Resources Contested. On the other hand, it is unusable in a duel (it requires at least two other methuselahs), so it can not completely replace Kine Resources Contested, but it packs a heavier punch. Other cards that deserve the mention are Protected Resources and The Parthenon.
What to buy
This is an expensive build if you're starting from nothing. The crypt itself has vampires coming from a lot of different bundles: most of the V5 Precons (Malkavian, Ventrue, Ministry, Banu Haqim, Brujah), plus both Keepers of Traditions. On the other hand, if you started a small collection already and have one of each of most products in print, you should already have most of the cards. If you didn't get all the bundles already, you might want to buy or trade the vampires directly instead. If you're considering buying some and trading, focus on the , and , they'll give you most of the library cards you need. Jacques Rouge is a Promo card, it can be replaced by Vivian VI.
Other than the crypt, key parts are two Heirs to the Blood 1 (that will give you Arishat and Unleash Hell's Fury) and two Anthology 1 for the Ashur Tablets. Forgotten Labyrinth has been reprinted in New Blood Malkavian but otherwise it's easy to trade since it was a common in legacy sets. Getting four Information Highway is another tricky step: you might want to get Parliament of Shadows and 25th Anniversary to complement your bundle here: both provides a couple of useful cards on top.