i Tupdogs & Nephandus
Highlights
This is an rush deck using Tupdogs to take down opposing vampires and Nephandus to bleed and defend. Antonio d'Erlette is the star in a sense, since his ability provides sure Nephandus recruitments with no risk of block.
The combat is dominated by the Tupdogs and their and cards combination, using Brick By Brick to set the range if needed, Immortal Grapple to prevent Dodge and Combat Ends, and Raking Talons for aggravated damage. Torn Signpost and Target Vitals can provide additional damage if needed.
The Nephandus themselves are not too shabby in combat, especially since they can use Haven Uncovered to rush and Target Vitals to inflict more damage.
The critical part of the deck is to get a Tremere antitribu i out, so that the Tupdogs can rush, Nephandus can be recruited and Deflection played. Antonio d'Erlette is best, he can even allow two Nephandus to hit the table in a single turn.
The core issue of the deck is the high pool cost. Tupdogs only last a single turn and the deck should get one out every turn at least for safety and control. Plus the Nephandus are 2 pool a piece, and the deck aims to recruit 4 to 6.
Tips & Tricks
To make use of Antonio d'Erlette's ability and influence a Tupdog in the same turn, more than 4 transfers are necessary. Master cards provide one more transfer, with Dreams of the Sphinx, Information Highway or Powerbase: Montreal.
Vote decks can be an issue here, as pool is scarce and quite a few minions can be out at the same time: Anarchist Uprising and Ancilla Empowerment might oust the deck swiftly. To cover this, the deck uses Poison Pill and Yawp Court.
Direct Intervention should be kept in hand to counter anti-ally actions like Entrancement, or problematic "one shot" votes like Reins of Power.
Secure Haven and Gran Madre di Dio are only included to be able to contest those cards if an opponent play them, as they are strong counters against this deck.
You might want to read Tommi Hakomaa's article about this specific archetype, it goes a bit more in details on how to build and play it.
Variants
The MMPA variant uses Ashur Tablets to control the card flow and bring some pool back. It can be stronger but can also jam the hand a bit, especially if the opponents also play Ashur Tablets, in which case the module is just an additional burden with no benefit. See Tommi Hakomaa's article for more details on this variant.
Although this is a different archetype, Nephandus can also be used without the Tupdogs, like in Laurent Ribeyre's deck from 2023. This is more of a toolbox but it has fallen a bit out of fashion, and is even more difficult to put together now after the Ashur Tablets nerf in 2024.