Made in Hungary: Ashur Anson rush

Hi folks!

This new column is about decks that were made in Hungary and achieved international attention. I am not claiming that we alone invented it, neither do I want other players to give us credit. It's simply about showing what our v:tes community came up with.

I won't introduce these decks following a chronological order. The first one I want to introduce is the well known Anson Ashur rush deck, which was first built by Péter Korsós. 

The deck is basically an enhanced weenie celerity rush deck. It sacrifices being all weenie, but has access to two master phase actions and titled vampires so it can add Second Tradition: Domain. The key to success is the Liquidation / Ashur combo, which generates pool to pay for the .44 magnum and recycles the needed combat, rush or reaction cards depending on what you need. It is another one of those decks that can be played very defensively if needed and still be able to eliminate it's prey in one turn with a Fame + Frontal Assault + Dragonbound combo. 

The first real success was when Gyula Erdős won the Hungarian ECQ on May 16th, 2009 with it. I was watching the final and had a great time doing so. In that final Gyula's predator was a Tzimisce Wall and there was another Wall deck, a Tremere weenie cross table (grand-prey). With 2 walls in the final the game was progressing only slowly. Gyula's prey was an Animalism based Ravnos deck. Sitting between Canine Hordes and aggravated range damage Gyula had to play very carefully. He waited for the time out to be close enough and than launched a sudden attack which scored him 1 VP and won him the Final.

A few weeks later on June 13th, 2009 Marcin Watras won a mini qualifier with this deck and was chosen as Deck of the Month on extrala. Marcin gave credit to Péter Korsós for which we are very thankful! After this success this new Deck Archetype has seen two more tournament wins:

Carlos Martín's version

Marcin Watras' another version

Besides winning tournaments I often met this deck archetype at tournaments were it achieved more or less success. I remember seeing it at least twice in a final. 

So here is the original decklist as it was played by Gyula Erdős:

Hungarian ECQ
Budapest, Hungary
May 16, 2009
47 players

Gyula Erdos' Tournament Winning Deck

Deck Name:   Ashur CEL
Created By:  Péter Korsós
Played By: Gyula Erdos

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 13, Max: 32, Avg: 5,33)
----------------------------------------------
  4 Anson             aus dom CEL PRE  8  Toreador
  3 Volker            pot CEL          5  Brujah
  1 Carter            cel              2  Toreador Antitribu
  1 Jimmy Dunn        for CEL POT      4  Pander
  1 Parmenides        qui CEL          4  Assamite
  1 Sarah Brando      CEL              3  Brujah Antitribu
  1 Victor Tolliver   pot CEL          4  Brujah Antitribu

Library: (77 cards)
-------------------
Master (18 cards)
  6 Ashur Tablets
  3 Dreams of the Sphinx
  2 Fame
  2 Haven Uncovered
  3 Liquidation
  1 Tension in the Ranks
  1 Powerbase: Montreal

Action (9 cards)
  9 Bum`s Rush

Reaction (8 cards)
  8 Second Tradition: Domain, The

Combat (34 cards)
  4 Blur
  7 Concealed Weapon
  9 Psyche!
  6 Pursuit
  3 Sideslip
  4 Taste of Vitae
  1 Fast Hands

Equipment (7 cards)
  7 .44 Magnum

Event (1 cards)
  1 Dragonbound

by: Mephistopheles