Official VEKN Nosferatu Newsletter, Aug 1 1998
PDB6
This month I am (re) posting my favorite Nosferatu Rush combat deck, and
examining it in light of the recent errata.
This is a pure and unadulterated Rush deck that lives and dies by its ability
to kill. Its bleed defense is preemptive killing, its vote defense is
preemptive killing, and its combat defense is its steely tenacity overpowering
violence. It is a perfectly viable tournament contender, having done very well
in the tournies where I have played it (it got into the finals at Origins,
having swept one table). I built it to take advantage of the Meta Game on a
National level, namely that no one gives Rush decks any respect, as "they can't
win tournaments", and as such neither fear nor prepare for them.
"The Nosferatu Hate You!"
2 Hasina Kesi (1) pot
1 KoKo (2) pot
2 Duck (3) pot, obf
1 Agripina (4) pot, OBF
1 Sammy (4) pot, obf
2 Agatha (4) POT, obf
2 Olivia (5) POT, OBF, Bishop
1 Nigel (5) POT, obf
Average of 3.41
2 Storm Sewers
1 Elder Library
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
3 Potence
3 Blood Doll
4 Haven Uncovered
12 Bum's Rush
12 Immortal Grapple
10 Undead Strength
10 Torn Signpost
4 Fists of Death
4 Decapitate
4 Disarm
8 Behind You
8 Taste of Vitae
4 Rampage
I realize that this deck has an inordinate number of Rares in it (29?!?!), but
Immortal Grapple is uncommon in Sabbat and Behind You is one of the extra sucky
Rares. Besides, the Nosferatu can use all the help they can get.
Anyway, "The Nosferatu Hate You!" starts out quickly, often getting out Hasina
or KoKo out on the first turn and mangling any vampire needed on the second.
It can usually operate with 4 minions, often for less than 14 pool, meaning it
has a lot of cushion to soak up bleeds. Between the Bum's Rushes, Behind You,
and Storm Sewers, there are easily enough maneuvers to deal with any half
hearted maneuver based defense (Zip Guns or light combat), but will have
trouble against a determined Brujah Flash deck. Luckily, however, the chances
of running into one of these at a tournament are pretty slim. The Rampages
exist completely to destroy The Elisium (and pre 7/7, Tombs) but often serve as
back up Rush ability.
The recent errata had a minor, but not particularly deleterious effect on this
deck. As Immortal Grapple now only works for one round, it is important to
have POT so you are pretty much assured to torporize on the first round. This
required me to increase the number of Potence masters (up to 3) as well as play
with Fists of Death, which were not really needed before the errata (originally
this deck relied more on pressing, so regular pot and 3-5 point strikes were
usually sufficient). 12 Immortal Grapples, however, means that even if you fail
to kill someone on the first round, you often can press and play a second if
need be. The biggest problem caused by the 7/7 errata was the fixing of Pulled
Fangs. In this deck, which originally packed 4, every time I played Pulled
Fangs, I burned a vampire. This was amazingly handy, but _way_ overpowered.
With the new errata (PF no longer does Aggro damage) they can't burn vampires,
so I replaced them with Decapitate which may or may not work out well.
Peter D Bakija
PD...@aol.com
"Oskar Schindler es bueno.
Senor Burns es el Diablo!"
-Senor Spielbergo