n Banu Politics

VDB

Highlights

This is a Banu Haqim n vote deck using titled vampires, with decent combat abilities to make the Second Tradition effective. Bram Von Stappen won the 2023 Dutch NC with this, so it must be good, or maybe it's just the player and a good bluff fluke that will be hard to reproduce.

The idea is to influence the highest capacity vampire first, so they can Fourth Tradition others if they get the chance. Kasim Bayar is the star here, so he's our first choice if available. His ability can make use of the vote cards in combat, so, for a vote deck, it's surprisingly dangerous in a fight.

Alastor is used to fetch Helicopter and Assault Rifle at a discount, while Kine Resources Contested and Parity Shift are used to damage the prey. Getting the vote lock might be tricky here, so other voters should be the first targets to take down in combat.

Considerations

Should the deck not have a Bowl of Convergence? Maybe an Anathema or two? What about Alamut and The Black Throne for additional votes? Maybe a second Haqim's Law: Retribution? Are the Ashur Tablets really worth it or should they be cut in favor of those Master cards?

More importantly, did this work because it was a susprise and opponents mistakenly supposed it was closer to a Haqim Royalty deck and misplayed against it? Or is it really good in and by itself? Or is it just the player? After all, not all of us can match Bram's talent.

All in all it's a very fun variant, making good use of Kasim Bayar's ability. Vote decks that are this capable in combat are a rarity so they can be challenging to handle for the opponents. Maybe it is worth refining and playing more.