Wanderer's Counsel Akunanse Website
I got 2nd place in a 40 player regional qualifier without bounce! I don't normally post my non-winning decks, but there was some interest in my new tech at the tournament and there's been some interest about Akunanse here, so I thought I'd share. I'm not real sure this deck is all that well-optimized yet. I had some real good seatings in the prelim rounds and ended up with 2nd seed. I picked the wrong seat in the final, so I wasn't able improve my standing. Preying on someone who could intercept me and end combat was just bad news. Here's the deck with a few comments: Deck Name: Akunanse bleed and block with anti-weenie tech Created by: Matt Morgan Description: Crypt [12 vampires, average capacity: 6.84] 1x Matata ABO ANI FOR aus cel obf 9 Akunanse:3 2x Amavi ABO ANI FOR pre pro 8 Akunanse:4 1x Nkule Galadima ABO FOR ani aus pre 8 Akunanse:4 magaji 4x Uchenna ABO ANI FOR 7 Akunanse:4 magaji 1x Jubal ABO ANI for pot 6 Akunanse:4 1x Sanjo ANI FOR abo chi 6 Akunanse:3 1x Kikiyaon, The FOR abo ani 5 Akunanse:4 1x Hasani ABO for 4 Akunanse:4 /* I got out Nkule in three of four rounds, but I never wanted to spend 9 pool on Matata. Didn't draw the weenies enough either. I need to rework this a little. Maybe 2 Nkule, 4 Uchenna plus Amavi, Jubal, Sanjo, Kikiyaon, Hasani and Dolie? I originally thought one Magaji would be fine, but I ended up really liking having two out. */ Library [90 cards] Master [15] 1x Ancestor Spirit 1x Barrens, The 5x Blood Doll 1x Direct Intervention 1x Giant's Blood 2x Guardian Angel 1x Jungle Hunting Ground 1x KRCG News Radio 1x Mbare Market, Harare 1x Perfectionist /* The deck cycles pretty slowly, so maybe it should have a couple more masters. Probably a second Mbare, maybe a Sudden or something. Fame? */ Action [5] 1x Aranthebes, The Immortal 4x No Secrets From the Magaji /* File under table hate. Heh, heh, heh. */ Action Modifier [14] 2x Devil-Channel: Throat 7x Freak Drive 4x Predator's Mastery 1x Strange Day /* Really, only the Strange Day paid off very much. Without that, I think Ben Swainbank would've stopped me from equipping with a .44 and might have played more aggressively. */ Action Modifier/Combat [2] 2x Predator's Transformation /* Never had any use out of these, but they do cycle easily at least. */ Equipment [6] 1x .44 Magnum 1x Ivory Bow 1x Kduva's Mask 1x Laptop Computer 1x Reliquary: Akunanse Remains 1x Sniper Rifle /* Most people observing my deck probably would've expected to see more guns in the decklist, since I got an early gun in almost every game. I liked having the .44 better than the Sniper Rifle, but that's probably because I didn't see aggressive combat all day. The permanent +bleed is highly good. In round 3, I had two 3 bleeders and a 2 bleeder. */ Reaction [14] 6x Cats' Guidance 6x Predator's Communion 2x Terra Incognita /* Didn't get to TI a bounce card, but I'm sure it'll happen eventually. Predator's Communion cycles nicely when I'm all secure with my No Secrets and is good when I don't have it. */ Retainer [5] 1x Duma Rafiki 1x Elephant Guardian 1x J. S. Simmons, Esq. 1x Shaman 1x Tasha Morgan /* Didn't get any use out of Duma Rafiki or Elephant Guardian (bad synergy with Sniper Rifle here, I know, but it's only two cards). Could probably use another Shaman or Mr. Winthrop. */ Combat [29] 2x Canine Horde 6x Carrion Crows 4x Devil-Channel: Back 2x Devil-Channel: Hands 4x Invoking the Beast 5x Rolling with the Punches 4x Taste of Vitae 2x Whistling Up the Beast /* This package kept me alive and scary. The only change I'm going to make here is to drop Devil-Channel: Back. I had originally thought I could use it with a gun, but it's only usable for hand strikes. Since I'm not playing tons of combat, it's probably better to just have more Invoking the Beast for more presses. Maybe I'll try two more Invoking and add two masters. */ My games went like so: Round 1 Ben Swainbank playing !Salubri with Blissful Agony and Lorrie Dunsirn (see the combo?) me Rob Williams playing Giovanni Shambling Hordes Jared Strait playing g1 princes with obf (sometimes gained through skill cards) Josh Duffin playing Ishtarri vote/bleed all offense all the time I wisely discarded my first turn and then got Mbare Market when I replaced. A bit later, Uchenna got a .44 Magnum on a Strange Day. Let's hear it for Laibon excellence! Between my obvious bloat and strong defenses and the two vote decks behind him, Ben knew he'd have to bide his time, live a while and hope I overextend. He stayed mostly walled until Josh died (no defense), then went backward against Jared. Jared stole two of Rob's Shambling Hordes, so he had good rush defense for a while. I didn't get much +bleed early, so I just bled Rob for 1 a lot. Rob was sad about losing his Hordes, but he kept at it. Time started getting short. Actually, for some reason we thought we were down to the last few minutes, so Jared and I made that usual cross-table buddy deal where we help each other oust our preys. Jared probably thought he was getting the game win and time would be called right after Ben and Rob died. Turned out there was like 15 minutes left. My intercept combat took Jared down with a few minutes to spare. Me - 3, Jared - 2 Round 2 David Tatu - Inner Circle + Synesios vote with Hall of Hades Court Mark something - Germaine beatings/bleedings Pete Oh - Lasombra vote/bleed Paul something - Weenie Giovanni bleed with some allies and junk me I got an early No Secrets that nobody could block, so Paul was pretty much screwed. Unfortunately, David kept gaining so much damn pool, I just couldn't keep up with him. Mark's brutal combat took Pete down early. Paul got a few allies and bled a little, but couldn't really put a dent in my pool. I couldn't do much to David. Looked like David would kill Mark, but Mark barely survived thanks (oddly) to me agreeing to suffer a bounced bleed of 3 from him. Then David ran out of stealth and stopped trying to do anything other than get out four Inner Circle members and call a Political Stranglehold. Bleh. After that, I'd bleed every turn and David would just grin at me and move a few counters from his pool to the blood bank. Naturally we went to time. Mark - 1.5, the rest of us who are not Pete - .5 Round3 me Vinnie C - Marthe Dizier & friends bleed Scott Gomes - Anarch Undue Influence (mostly Setites) Adam something - Setite bleed something something - Helena intercept with Malks and Victoria bloat I regret not being able to remember my predator's name at all this game. He was a really nice guy that I don't think I'd met before. Anyway, I tooled up early because I had an agreement with my predator that we wouldn't block each others' tooling. He needed his Bowl of Convergence and Sniper Rifle and stuff, I guess. I bled Vinnie some. He bled Scott, Scott bled Adam, my predator Night Moves'd me. Yeah, I think I had the good end of that deal. Anyway, Scott got Adam, then I got Vinnie. Scott worked on my predator for a bit and realized too late that he should've formed an evil alliance against me. Then he died and I beat my predator in the end game by pushing to Blood Dolls for a long time so I could survive his combat and cycling into my own combat and eventually taking down Helena. Final I chose my seat poorly. Had I known Jonathan's deck, I probably would've chosen to be his prey (still not a great spot but at least I wouldn't have been bleeding into someone who'd just end combat all the time). Ben Peal - Setite Waters of Duat with Anima Gathering Jared Strait - g1 princes me Jonathan Scherer - Gangrel blocking with some dominate and lots of Earth Meld Pete Oh - Lasombra vote/bleed In the opening moves, we all tooled up a bit. Ben got out a KRCG, made some Waters. Jared and Pete Governed down a couple times. I got a Shaman, a .44 and Aranthebes, but sadly no No Secrets nor a Mbare. Jonathan got a Garou. Ingrid came up a little late and got a Raven Spy, which marked an abrupt end to my tooling up phase. Jonathan blocked all subsequent attempts on my part to get Laptops and stuff. I was pretty stuck. Ben looked strong for a while. Then Jonathan had a moderate bleed bounced to Ben, which Ben took. Pete knew it was his moment to strike. He called KRC was blocked, then Ancilla Empowerment, was blocked then finally got past Ben with a Domain Challenge (if memory serves). Jonathan might have been able to block anyway, but Pete and Jared convinced him that he needed Ben gone to take the table. I kept quiet because I didn't feel I was doing very well anyway and therefore didn't want to weigh in on who needs to die so long as it wasn't me. Ben was ousted. The vote also put my prey down to 3 pool, but fat chance of my getting even a bleed for 1 through at that point. I kind of hoped for a miricle to occur (that would've been that I somehow cycle into Ancestor Spirit, Strange Day and Predator's Mastery, even though I wasn't playing any cards, and then Jonathan doesn't Deflect me), but that didn't happen. After that, Jonathan blocked Pete all of the place and I blocked Jared a lot. Both of them were starting to get in rough shape. Pete was worse off because he was also getting bled. Eventually Pete died. I started trying to negotiate for 2nd place not because I didn't think I'd be able to oust Jonathan. I'm pretty sure I could've ousted Jonathan eventually due to all my permanents and the fact that I had a lot more deck left than he did. It just might've taken 4-5 hours. Yeah, at that point 2nd place would have to do. Anyway, Jonathan and Jared had a deal where I was supposed to die, but sadly, they didn't include me in the deal and it just wasn't happening. With a few minutes left, Jonathan decided the best way to stop our childish squabbling was to let everyone withdraw, thus giving me 2nd place (I was 2nd seed and Ben was 1st) and Jared 3rd place. The only sad thing was that that pushed Pete down to 4th and he'd really taken one for the team by ousting Ben. Ah well. It was a better showing than I expected the deck to make. Any comments are welcome. In fact, check the decklist again. See the lack of bounce? I got 2nd place in a 40 player regional qualifier without bounce! Matt Morgan farquar // at \\ io.comBack to the index.
