I had remarkably bad positioning, seatwise. If I'd been in poistion 2-4, I would have been into the game much earlier. Along with a poor deal made with John and poor vampire draw (no-one under 5 capacity!), this kept me locked out of the early game very effectively.
By the time I was up and running, and beginning to try and effect the heavy bleeders on the table, a misunderstanding (and bloodbath) with Gomi weakened us both to the point were John was able to run free. A lack of ability to target my prey (due to the peekaboo-percy trick).
In terms of deck, I was playing a fairly standard Assamite ranged combat deck, using black bloods for extra punch, taste of death/blood sweat for strikes, sudden motion to guarantee range, contract + assasination to prevent S:CE. Cardflow was alright, but it was a convoluted combo. The contract effecting cards, Hajij Marijava and Tarik El-Hadj were good, and Legacy didn't show up quickly enough, and I couldn't muster enough threat to make Winter Market work.
As to quietus cards, the PT strikes are currently less useful than the existing AH strikes, but the latest revision should fix that.
By the time I was ready to present a threat to the table, John was in a dominant position (combination of excellent deck, which was largely uneffected by either prey or predator and good table diplomacy), and my deck turned out to be way too slow. However, it was better than previous attempts at Assamite, and maybe the Assamites will become a viable force in the near future (even when I use them :).
As to other cards, I didn't like the operation of Raise the Ancients - and the fact that we saw so many in one game struck me as a sign that the card might be "too easy" to ab/use. I'd like to suggest a change:
Raise the Ancients
Master
Put this card in play and move 4 blood from the blood bank to a vampire
in your inactive region with capacity 8 or more. During each of your
untap phases, lose 1 pool. During any transfer phase, you may move pool
to this card. If this card ever has 4 pool on it, burn this card.
This way it has the same effect, accelerating control of big vamps, but instead of being slow payback, you effectively get all of next turns transfers this turn. This strikes me as a better mechanic themewise and mechanically.
"A lack of ability to target my prey (due to the peekaboo-percy trick)."
Which brings up my concern : The Percy deck was quite strong, despite its relatively poor showing here. I'd like to see Percy's special altered in order to cut this kind of soul gemmy thing out:
Percy, Sabbat Informant
Nosferatu Antitribu
4 obf
Sabbat: Percy counts as a Nosferatu and a Nosferatu Antitribu in all
respects. Name a discipline when Percy is brought into play; Percy
has the basic level of that Discipline.
"As to other cards, I didn't like the operation of Raise the Ancients - and the fact that we saw so many in one game struck me as a sign that the card might be "too easy" to ab/use. I'd like to suggest a change:"
While Raise the Ancients is definitely a staple of the Big-Ass Vampire Deck, I'm not sure it's overpowered. My main concern about it revolves around the credit-granting effect, spreading the cost out over 4 turns.
I'd be happier with:
Raise the Ancients
Master
1 pool
Choose a vampire in your inactive region with a capacity over 7. During
your next influence phase, gain 4 transfers, only usable to move blood
from your pool to the chosen vampire.
Essentially the same, only the pool is shelled out all at once instead of over 4 turns, after the vampire is out (and Minion Tappable/Blood Dollable/&c.)
"Raise the Ancients
Master
Put this card in play and move 4 blood from the blood bank to a vampire
in your inactive region with capacity 8 or more. During each of your
untap phases, lose 1 pool. During any transfer phase, you may move pool
to this card. If this card ever has 4 pool on it, burn this card."
Ick. That triples RtA's cost, far too much in my estimation:
Current RtA:
T1: Play RtA (net gain 3)
T2: move 1 to RtA (net gain 2)
T3: move 1 to RtA (net gain 1)
T4: move 1 to RtA (net 0)
T5: move 1 to RtA (net loss 1, burn RtA)
AFG-proposed RtA:
T1: Play RtA, move 1 to RtA (net gain 3)
T2: burn 1 pool, move 1 to RtA (net gain 1)
T3: burn 1 pool, move 1 to RtA (net loss 1)
T4: burn 1 pool, move 1 to RtA (net loss 3, burn RtA)
Unless 'any transfer phase' means 'any Methuselah's transfer phase,' in which case the cost is reduced to 0 in 4+ player games (your own xfer phase plus the 3 subsequent ones, you move a pool to RtA, burning it for 4 pool before your next untap, effectively canceling out the 4 pool gain, but not losing any pool). The cost does shoot up in small games and in the late game, but one doesn't often bring out big vamps at that point and isn't typically in a hurry anyway.
My deck was an attempt to build an Infinite Loop deck using Percy's special (inspired by Chris's Recycling Aurora deck). Percy comes out, gets a Fortitude skill card, and equips with the Soul Gem. Then he Embraces, followed by Force of Will with Day Operation and/or Daring the Dawn, burning him and bringing out a new Percy, etc.
While the deck worked, it was prone to jamming on Soul Gems; also, the mix of cards wasn't quite right, so that I kept getting stuck with Day Ops and Darings with no actions to use them on. So while in theory my deck could sweep the entire table in a single turn, in practice I never managed to bleed for more than 6 in a turn.
My deck used no playtest cards other than Percy. While I don't think the old, free-skill-card-when-he-comes-out version of his power was unbalanced, the new version is probably cleaner. Note that while this deck doesn't work with the new Percy, you could still make a version of it using Ivan and Rite of Passage.
I disagree that Raise the Ancients is too good; now that ToRIII has been fixed, the main thing distinguishing Raise the Ancients from ToRIII and Info Highway is the ability to play mutiple RtAs.
My deck was constructed with the metagame in mind. Seeing that intercept had completely fallen by the wayside, I felt that everyone was getting a little complacent figuring that their actions would succeed. Also, I figured that +1 stealth actions and minion tapping were essentially sure things. I also wanted to retool my vampire burning deck that Dave crashed and burned with in pt5. Finally, I felt that the Camarilla had been ignored for a long time and I wanted to prove to myself that they aren't less powerful than the Sabbat.
That's how I came up with my Ventrue princely deck. I hoped to vote everyone's minions into oblivion and then use natural permanent bleed to quickly oust everyone. I used Freak Drive, Aggressive Lobbyist, and 2nd Tradition to guarantee as many actions as possible and still be very defensive. Card flow was essential to the deck; ideally, I would act on my turn until I jammed with combat and reactions, then react and defend until I jammed on masters, actions, and action modifiers, at which point it would be my turn again.
Table diplomacy turned out to be essential to this game. I first conspired with Gomi and Dave when Autarch played the contracts and threatened both of us. I was surprised when Gomi got so upset over the Contract, because Quintus is immune to (D) actions. So, yes, the Contract can be played, but Quintus could never be attacked. However, by making sure that the feelings of resentment between the two sides remained strong, I could kill off my predator's major vamp and destroy a threat to Arika at the same time. So, I made sure I remained nice to Autarch, and passed the nasty deal that he complained about. Basically, I promised to remove Saqqaf and Quintus from play and give Autarch three pool, for which he would refrain from attacking/bothering me until we became predator and prey. Of course, I wanted to get rid of my predator and prey's major vampires, and call a Political Stranglehold that gave me six pool and incidentally gave Autarch 3 pool anyway.
The Infinite Percy deck also helped to maintain my alliance with Autarch. I didn't fear Infinite Percy too much, because I had Deflections. However, with the only source of intercept on the board (Audio Generator), I became a hot commodity.
Of course, a really well-tuned Infinite Percy would have killed everyone, Deflections or not. There's only so many I can draw. The only thing that makes Infinite Percy so horrible is the fact that Percy, as written, gets a free capacity. That's how the Aurora Infinite Loop is supposed to work, too. (The real problem is and has always been the Soul Gem, but I'm sure we'll see errata to Computer Hacking before Soul Gem.) So, we should prevent any actions in which the acting vampire gains capacity. I like the "choose a discipline" line on Percy better than "give him a skill card." Also, we should remove the +capacity line to Rite of Passage for the same reasons.
I still think that keeping Percy both Sabbat and Camarilla and Nosferatu and Nos Anti at the same time is okay, and I think the proposed change there will simply serve to make Percy more unwieldy. Of course, a Camarilla vampire isn't non-Camarilla, so only the occasional newbie question would be worrisome by keeping both sects.
Raise the Ancients is good, but I don't think it's too good. As a basic, stupid comparison, I could say that Effective Management is a better card, because it essentially nets you four transfers and a pool, whereas RtA costs a pool and gives you four transfers overall. The trick is that the getting out the biggie one turn sooner can mean a lot; you have to be ready for it. Minion Tap/5th/ToV is a quick and easy way to get the blood you will spend back, practically with interest.
The uses of Hajij Marijava, Legacy of Haqim, Hatch the Serpent, Aban, Quintus, etc. seemed to be just fine. They didn't bother me. Just having Aban on the table, though, I found scary, but a biggie should be scary.
Personally, my biggest concern was with Aggressive Lobbyist. Essentially, he's an ally that can call a vote, even Protect Thine Own. Chances are his untap ability won't be blocked because the block will be spent attacking the vampire calling the vote in the first place. Also, the "who has taken a political action" is ambiguous. If Arika attempts a political action and is blocked, can she be untapped by the Aggressive Lobbyist?