The Future is Now: A V5-Only Preview, Part 1: Hecata

Black Chantry Productions is introducing a V5 format.  I was kindly asked to join a series of demonstration games, using the V5 card pool.  The goal of these games is to show off V5 as a format the isn't limited in innovation, challenge, or fun, just in card pool.  Part and parcel with the games, I will be discussing and releasing deck lists that I played in them.

The Deck

I had already experimented with quite a few Hecata decks.  I played a zombie-rush version for Welcome Hecata 2025, making the final along side another Hecata zombie rush deck.  I was able to get set up after the other Hecata deck was ousted, but had wasted too much pool by that point.  Steve had seen a few versions of my Hecata decks and after I mentioned having one that was V5-compliant, was basically told to play it.

A V5 ally deck is missing events, most importantly The Unmasking.  Let's be honest it's broken, so not having it in V5 is a good thing.  So, what is in there?

Deck Name: Hecata
Author: Karl Schaefer

Crypt (12 cards, min=14 max=27 avg=5.33)
========================================
2x Mora, the Death Seer           7 AUS FOR OBL ani          Hecata:6
1x Tommaso Sforza                 7 AUS OBL THA dom for      Hecata:6
2x Lenelle, Mambo of Birmingham   6 FOR OBL aus              Hecata:6
2x Monica Giovanni                6 AUS FOR OBL              Hecata:6
1x Gebeyehu Abdu                  5 AUS OBL for              Hecata:6
1x Holliday "Burgundy" Hall       5 FOR OBL aus              Hecata:6
1x Hiromitsu Asano                4 aus for obl              Hecata:6
1x Alek König                     3 OBL                      Hecata:6
1x Peter St. John                 2 obl                      Hecata:6

Library (77 cards)
==================
Master (18; 4 trifle)
----------------------
1x Biotech Company Hunting Ground
2x Blood Doll
1x Charisma
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fame
4x Family Gathering
1x Giant's Blood
4x Grooming the Protégé
1x Guardian Angel
1x Jake Washington
1x Rack, The

Ally (9)
---------
9x Aggressive Corpse

Equipment (5)
--------------
2x .44 Magnum
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Ivory Bow
1x Ritual Goblet

Retainer (1)
-------------
1x Mr. Winthrop

Reaction (23)
--------------
2x Delaying Tactics
5x Eyes of Argus
4x My Enemy's Enemy
2x On the Qui Vive
4x Shadow Sentinel
6x Telepathic Misdirection

Combat (21)
------------
3x Arms of Ahriman
3x Hidden Strength
3x Indomitability
2x Pulled Fangs
2x Soak
2x Touch of Oblivion
6x Weighted Walking Stick

Crypt

Half of the crypt has Auspex at superior, allowing me to bounce bleeds.  Really that's the only necessary piece...unless you have a non-bleeding predator.  The rest of the vampires can play the Aggressive Corpses and use the combat package to make headway.

Library

The deck was designed to grind up your prey and use Family Gathering, plus Grooming the Protégé, to have a wide enough board that you can create pressure.  I think that works very well.  However, the deck lacks some ousting potential with the bleed retainers, Camera Phones, and Laptop Computers not in V5.

In the end both my non-V5 and V5-only versions of this deck feel like they fall a little short.  For V5, some Spectral Servitors would help with ousting power, as would Screamer.  The latter likely works in this design because we can grind the prey to a point where they cannot block, effectively protecting the Screamer from harm when bleeding.

The Auspex package provides enough to survive in a lot of situations and Corpses can solve some problems by rushing backwards.  Survivability is not the concern; ousting is the concern.

The Game

So, this deck is weaker, for sure, than the Toreador deck that I played in the previous game (which you don't know about yet because we're talking about game 2 first).  As we noted above, it has less ousting potential.  So, how did this game fare? This game saw a lot of back-and-forth.  There were some definite points of weakness for most players.

Jan: Nosferatu Creeping Sabotage ->
Gines: Malkavian vote ->
Me: Hecata zombies ->
Hugh: Animalism Barons ->
Steve: Lasombra vote

Well, that's maybe the worst predator for this deck that I'm playing.  Stealth vote isn't going to get bounced and is going to get by my weak intercept.  You'll also notice the large mistake I make with my first zombie rush.  Remember to read the cards, folks!

The zombies are survivors though and I was pleased with how the deck recovered from some early pressure to reestablish a presence in the game.  This is one where I'd have like to have had one more turn.