Hi folks!
So here is the second part of the article. I am going to give some examples here, all based on personal experience from games I played. Since some of these games happened years before I might be wrong in some of the details (or just reflecting the general idea of what happened), but that won't change anything in the point I am trying to make. If you haven't read the first part of the article scroll down and bit. :)
Like a lurking snake
This example is taken from the vanishing past when I used to play focused and hyper aggressive bleed deck. My favorite one was the Blanch Hill and dom/for powerbleed deck you can find on this blog: here. In those days I hated combat decks and adjusted my play style against them. The most important part, which was also the key to many game wins, was the one-turn oust technique. When I faced a combat deck as a prey I started slow on purpose. The key was to make many little deals, like when you offer not to bleed next turn so your prey won't rush you backwards. I transfered on different vampires with the plan to bring out several in one turn instead of bringing them out one by one. The use of the discard phase was also very important. You wanted to prepare either the perfect "anti-combat hand" or the "perfect oust hand", depending what philosophy you follow considering breaking deals. I had quite a long time in my v:tes career when I did break deals and there are many players who have no problem with this, so you always must take deal-breaking into consideration when planing your game!
In the case I wanted to keep my deal I've built the anti-combat hand. Once I had those cards I brought out all my other vampires (2-3) into play in the same turn (Governs or Enchant Kindreds kick ass). Of course my prey wanted to back rush at this time. All he achieved with this was a) tapping out and b) cycling my hand. So in my turn I had nothing else to do then to just play my freshly acquired bleed cards and do the oust, even if not all of the actions were successful. In the case I went for the deal break I brought my vampires out one by one carefully considering how much I may allow myself without loosing the option to deal with my prey. I made the I don't go forward if you don't rush me deal and kept it once or twice, depending on the situation. At one point, when my hand was ready for it I just broke the deal and ousted my prey in that turn.
All this just works if your prey doesn't play his combat deck the appropriate way. Now let us change the point of view. We are the combat deck and the bleed deck is our predator. Let us play the way I proposed in the previous part and the moment a potential bleeder shows up behind us just go and hit it no matter what deal he offers. There will be no Governs or whatever at superior, he will built up way slower and will have to face pressure himself so going forward will not be an option for a while. Even if your predator will suicide into you, he will do way less damage than with the one-turn-oust strategy. Never allow a situation when your predator can finish his turn with 4 healthy bleeders.
The Cantina decision
I played my Nana Buruku deck with some success at this tournament: tournament report. The second round of the preliminaries perfectly reflects my point. My predator brought Gerald Windham into play. I already wanted to announce my action to rush him, when he started offering deals to me. The guy who was my predator is player who can be trusted (I've never seen him breaking a deal), so accepting his deal that he won't come forward for 3 turns seemed tempting. I reminded myself of all I've learned about combat decks and did rush him. Well it turned out he had a Secure Haven + a Ponticulus in his hand. Since my prey was a tough nut to crack I am sure that I would have never won that game if I had accepted his deal. Since I couldn't win the 3rd preliminary round this one decision turned out to be very important. In the case I take his offer I would not have made it to the final!
When I had no chance
One of my all time favorite decks to play is my Dmitra Alastor deck, which has won me two finals (+ played at least 2 more finals) and never finished a tournament without a game win. One of its biggest strength is its combination of versatility and reliability at the same times. It can answer many situations, however there was one game were I had no chance at all. My prey was Guyla Ferdos who played a Toreador antitribu deck which was something like a wall and bleed hybrid deck. Not a deck I need to be afraid of, usually. Guyla made it sure that all my actions that I needed to set up will get blocked. No matter what deal I offered him, he simply denied to allow me any action, even Parity Shifts called from my predator with me offering him pool. I never got close to oust him. I write this down, because it shows that even non-combat decks should be very much be aware of their predator. Normally I have no problems with ousting such hybrid decks, but in this case I finished the table with 0 vps.
When I didn't play my way, I've failed
Back at the ECQ in Burton-upon-Trent (UK) I had a wonderful start. I started with 3 transfers and a Dreams in my hand, so I could put Dmitra into play within 2 turns. In the 3rd turn I played a Grooming the Protege and used my Dreams for the last time to have Carlak in play, too. The 4th turn gave me an Alastor with an Assault Rifle. Awesome. At this point I wasn't consequent enough. Even with an easy to oust prey and this awesome start I should have back rushed every turn. My predator was a Kyasid stealth bleed and my grand predator was a weenie animalism deck, who stupidly enough didn't rush him with the deep songs, but bled, which was of course deflected. The Kyasid promised me not to bleed me in the case I go forward. It was too tempting. So I focused on ousting my prey like the majority out there thinks is the right thing to do. What happened was the one-turn-oust technique becoming my doom. When the Kyasid put his additional 2 vamps in play I back rushed, just to cycle his meanwhile accumulated s:ce cards. The Kyasid made 2 easy vps and won the game. This mistake was even more annoying, since I've won the last round and had a vp from the first turn, too. So that stupid mistake cost me the final, since even a 1GW 3VP from that second table would have been enough to make it to the final.
Obeying the pressure to remain silent
With this article written I put this subject six feet under. You either agree with me or you don't. The next time you play any version of combat and get suddenly ousted without a clue what happened, ask yourself if you did back rush after the first Govern at superior being played (actually you should rush back before the Govern can be played). If you didn't, you have the answer why you got ousted, even if it happened turns later.
by: Mephistopheles
One of my all time favorite decks to play is my Dmitra Alastor deck, which has won me two finals (+ played at least 2 more finals) and never finished a tournament without a game win. One of its biggest strength is its combination of versatility and reliability at the same times. It can answer many situations, however there was one game were I had no chance at all. My prey was Guyla Ferdos who played a Toreador antitribu deck which was something like a wall and bleed hybrid deck. Not a deck I need to be afraid of, usually. Guyla made it sure that all my actions that I needed to set up will get blocked. No matter what deal I offered him, he simply denied to allow me any action, even Parity Shifts called from my predator with me offering him pool. I never got close to oust him. I write this down, because it shows that even non-combat decks should be very much be aware of their predator. Normally I have no problems with ousting such hybrid decks, but in this case I finished the table with 0 vps.
When I didn't play my way, I've failed
Back at the ECQ in Burton-upon-Trent (UK) I had a wonderful start. I started with 3 transfers and a Dreams in my hand, so I could put Dmitra into play within 2 turns. In the 3rd turn I played a Grooming the Protege and used my Dreams for the last time to have Carlak in play, too. The 4th turn gave me an Alastor with an Assault Rifle. Awesome. At this point I wasn't consequent enough. Even with an easy to oust prey and this awesome start I should have back rushed every turn. My predator was a Kyasid stealth bleed and my grand predator was a weenie animalism deck, who stupidly enough didn't rush him with the deep songs, but bled, which was of course deflected. The Kyasid promised me not to bleed me in the case I go forward. It was too tempting. So I focused on ousting my prey like the majority out there thinks is the right thing to do. What happened was the one-turn-oust technique becoming my doom. When the Kyasid put his additional 2 vamps in play I back rushed, just to cycle his meanwhile accumulated s:ce cards. The Kyasid made 2 easy vps and won the game. This mistake was even more annoying, since I've won the last round and had a vp from the first turn, too. So that stupid mistake cost me the final, since even a 1GW 3VP from that second table would have been enough to make it to the final.
Obeying the pressure to remain silent
With this article written I put this subject six feet under. You either agree with me or you don't. The next time you play any version of combat and get suddenly ousted without a clue what happened, ask yourself if you did back rush after the first Govern at superior being played (actually you should rush back before the Govern can be played). If you didn't, you have the answer why you got ousted, even if it happened turns later.
by: Mephistopheles
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