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Archetypes

V:tES has been played for years, and this has given birth to a number of efficient decks archetypes. Given the multiplayer nature of the game, many archetypes are valid choices at the highest level, as the efficiency of a deck depends a lot on its table placement and on the negociations skills of the player. Even on the modern tournament scene, dozens of different archetypes are usually played in a single event.

As such, having a basic understanding of the most common archetypes and their strong and weak points is a very important skill for a player. Knowing the inner workings of the archetypes on the table is the only way to fathom the table balance and detect the opportunities as they arise during the game.

The archetypes are usually divided into broader categories, as presented here.

Bleed

Bleed decks are focused on prey aggression and use bleed actions to inflict heavy pool damages. d is without question the most damage-heavy bleed discipline, plus it does come with bounce cards. r and e are good second choices.

Stealth & Bleed and Powerbleed

There are two ways to get bleeds through: using stealth is the most obvious one. o is the best stealth discipline, but it does not often come along with d. $ and j come second.

The other way to get bleeds through is to make sure the prey has no minion available to block the action. Along its strong bleed capabilities, d offers the excellent Seduction. O Elder Impersonation, N Call of the Hungry Dead, f Daring the Dawn and r Mind Numb are also effective tools. Combining these options with the few Master cards that can prevent block or lock minions — Pentex™ Subversion, Misdirection and Anarch Troublemaker — makes stealth and intercept irrelevant.

Bruise & Bleed

Yet another possibility is to get the bleeds through by the sheer intimidation of a strong combat module. This strategy, called Bruise & Bleed, is never used all by itself. It's either coupled to a compact but efficient blocking module to form a toolbox, like in the Euro Brujah or Haqim Royalty decks, or to a swarm strategy like with Emerald Legion or some instances of Haqim Royalty.

Simply put, trying to Bruise & Bleed is letting your opponents choose whether they block or let the bleed through. For this idea to work against good players and decks, there's a need to either bring some adaptability through blocks, or put out an overwhelming swarm that cannot be out-bloated or simply bounced away.

Flavours

Highlights

Bleed decks have the highest prey damage. They tend to oust their first prey quite often, but it also attracts the table attention on them and one oust is not enough for a game win. They are usually weak in combat. They tend to rely on « combat ends » effects, but some flavours can have aggravated damage or torpor strikes as a threat.

Stealth rotation

Stealth & Bleed archetypes have a strong stealth module, but it can jam the hand. If the prey assumes she will not have the means to block, she should decide not to attempt to block at all, and try to jam her predator hand on the stealth module. Well constructed Stealth & Bleed decks include some rotation tools to help with that.

As they are focused on their prey, bleed decks have a weak defence against their predator and do not try to intercept actions. They usually use d or A for bounces or strong bloat modules to survive.

Vote

Vote decks usually have a strong pool damage module to deliver to their prey. The difficulty to gather enough votes to get the referendums through is balanced by the constant +1 stealth bonus of vote actions. There are basically two ways of building a vote deck: either breed and find a way to give votes to all your vampires, or use older vampires with titles themselves.

Flavours

Highlights

Votes decks deliver high pool damage once they get the vote lock. They also have a good bloat, using Consanguineous Boon, Parity Shift, Ancient Influence or Political Stranglehold depending on the build. Depending on the exact build, stealth vary, but they are not easily blocked. Builds that do not have high stealth levels rely on a swarm of minions that make it hard to block them all. Finally, vote decks have a very weak combat module and — especially the swarm builds — a weak bleed defence, relying exclusively on bounces, if at all.

Table Talk

Votes can go either ways and can be targeted effortlessly across the table. This gives unique negotiation options to vote decks, that can be used to keep a low profile and a lot of friends throughout the game. Table Talk is always important in the game, but even more so for vote archetypes.

Wall

Wall decks maximise their defence, trying to block their prey and predator actions alike while slowly building up bloat and pool damages. The ability to intercept and wake are tantamount in these decks, so a and i are the most common options here. a gives more options and a higher intercept all in all, with the excellent Eyes of Argus atop. It is also the only discipline besides d that provides bleed bounce reaction cards. i also has good intercept cards though, and better combat options than a: it can be used with no additional equipment or discipline. Anarch, Sabbat, Camarilla and Laibon titled vampires each have access to excellent intercept cards: Organized Resistance, Eternal Vigilance, Under Siege, Second Tradition: Domain and No Secrets From the Magaji.

Flavours

Highlights

Wall decks obviously have an exceptional defence. Moreover, having high block capabilities let them play fragile master cards that need protection to be efficient like Smiling Jack, the Anarch, The Rack, Powerbase: Montreal, Powerbase: Barranquilla (Sabbat) and Anarch Revolt (Anarchs), helping both with bloat and offence. Still, wall decks tend to have a weak offence, dealing only a moderate amount of damage to their prey. They're very good at exhausting other decks around the table though, and will eventually win a game if no other player can get enough Victory Points first.

Cross block

Eagle's Sight and Falcon's Eye are the only minion cards in the game that let a vampire block any action, even if it is directed upon another Methusalah or undertaken cross table.

This ability to cross block is an excellent asset in wall decks with A or Z as it enhances table control and allows for example to intercept a dangerous vote from the grand-predator or a bleed from the prey that could be lethal to the grand-prey. Wall decks that do not use these will often include some rush capabilities instead.

Toolbox

Toolbox decks balance their offence and defence capabilities. They have good intercept, a decent combat module and efficient pool damage options to use on their prey, sometimes even some votes they can try to pass or a bit of stealth. The key to this archetype is to use versatile cards offering multiple play options.

Flavours

Highlights

Versatility is obviously the best asset of a toolbox deck. It can handle and exploit any table configuration. To make the most out of toolbox decks, one has to display excellent table awareness and negotiation abilities. For the toolbox to have a proper effect around the table and display all its efficiency, one needs to play their hand, whatever is in it. The deck chooses the strategy as much as the Methusalah. The player still chooses on which target to use its cards, but the cards in hand demand to be played for the deck to shine.

The Heart of Cheating

The Heart of Nizchetus is often included in toolbox builds, as it gives more control to the Methusalah over what his play can be. Its effect makes such a difference in efficiency it has been nicknamed « The Heart of Cheating ».

Finally, toolbox decks have strong defence, although not as strong as wall decks. They tend to have good intercept options and/or rush capabilities to handle their predator. Having much less offensive options than a vote or bleed deck, they cannot rely on pure speed to best their predator: they have to deter its actions actively using blocks, bounces or combats depending on the build.

Rush

Rush decks use combat as their main weapon. Many disciplines have good combat options and they are also good combat cards with no discipline. Getting vampires down around the table is fun, but does not help so much to get the prey's pool down. To this effect, a handful of cards can help, namely Fame, Dragonbound and Tension in the Ranks.

Flavours

Highlights

The ability to take down any minion provide these decks with a strong defence against their predator. Depending on the predator archetype, going against its minions first is a common strategy for a rush deck: it may take some combats to get them down, but they can disable their predator very fast. On the other hand, they have a weak offence and have trouble finding a way to deliver pool damage to their prey. This is the core issue of the archetype.

Finnish Politics

If they do not take down their prey very fast, rush decks have a unique control over the table balance as they can take down the minions of any Methusalah. Proper table control is essential to the succes of such builds, but it also opens a unique strategy for negociation: using the threat of combat to get things out of your neighbours.

The finnish players have perfect this negociation strategy to such an extent, it is now known as "Finnish Politics" among seasoned players.

Special

Some decks do not fit into any of the aforementioned categories. These rare constructs are unique combinations of cards that proved unexpectedly efficient. The following examples are not exhaustive.

Flavours

Highlights

Special decks tend to use complicated card combinations to a devastative effect. Their strength is in the absolute advantage their combination provides if all goes well. Their weakness is the frailty of such a combination. Blocking the right action or countering the right Master can often stop them dead in their tracks. Moreover, known combinations tend to attract the attention of all players, often leading the Methusalah to lose all its allies very early in the game.