{% extends "archetypes/_layout.html" %} {% import "archetypes/_layout-erratum.html" as erratum with context %} {% import "archetypes/runner-ups/ani-barons.json" as deck_json %} {% block meta %} {% endblock %} {% block archetype_name %}
This is a {{ rush }} deck built on the group 6 Anarch Barons with superior Animalism {{ ANI }}. The crypt spans Tzimisce {{ tzimisce }}, Gangrel {{ gangrel }} and Ravnos {{ ravnos }}, but clan is irrelevant: what matters is that everyone is a native Anarch with {{ ANI }}, most of them Barons, with {{ anarch_convert }} to smooth the draw.
{{ deep_song }} is the engine, run in bulk, flexing between a bleed and a rush. Combat is pure ranged attrition on {{ aid_from_bats }} and {{ carrion_crows }}: the crows deal environmental damage every round while the bats add damage and the maneuvers to stay safely at long range. {{ terror_frenzy }} and {{ drawing_out_the_beast }} keep the opponent from closing in or pressing out, and {{ taste_of_vitae }} recoups the blood spent along the way.
The ousting plan is attrition too: {{ anarch_revolt }} drains every Methuselah without a ready Anarch each turn, while {{ fame }} and {{ tension_in_the_ranks }} convert the torpors the combat module produces into direct pool damage. The {{ ivory_bow }} adds aggravated damage at range, so vampires sent to torpor can be burned outright on a follow-up rush.
Defense is the classic Baron suite: {{ bait_and_switch }} to {{ bounce }}, {{ organized_resistance }} and {{ deep_ecology }} for wake and intercept, backed by {{ raven_spy }} and {{ mr_winthrop }} as permanent intercept.
The economy runs on {{ villein }} and a set of one-of locations — {{ carfax_abbey }}, {{ the_rack }}, {{ powerbase_montreal }}, {{ poachers_hunting_ground }} — to refill the vampires, with {{ wider_view }} and {{ dreams_of_the_sphinx }} for crypt and hand fluidity.
The standard combat line is {{ carrion_crows }} before range, then {{ aid_from_bats }} maneuvering to long range: most vampires take 2 or 3 ranged damage per round without ever landing a strike. Against dodgy opponents, inferior {{ terror_frenzy }} locks them at range, while the superior instead taxes every combat card they play a blood. {{ massimiliano }}'s +1 strength and {{ adrino_manauara }}'s built-in press make them the preferred rushers when combat is expected to go multiple rounds.
{{ anarch_revolt }} is the clock the whole table plays against: opponents can only remove it with a +1 stealth referendum, and the singleton {{ delaying_tactics }} is best saved to cancel exactly that. Run in numbers, one can usually be kept in play from the early game onward — combined with {{ fame }}, it often does more ousting than the bleeds do.
{{ nsa_trio }} never hampers the deck: {{ deep_song }} rushes involve no blocking vampire, and the deck plays no {{ combat_ends }} of its own. But when a wall blocks a {{ deep_song }} bleed, the blocker cannot strike to end combat in the first round, so the bats and crows always connect at least once.
Small crypt synergies matter: {{ kuyen }} pays 1 less for {{ raven_spy }}, and {{ branimira }} has +1 intercept only while one sits at 9 pool or fewer — mind that a big {{ villein }} can switch it off. {{ poachers_hunting_ground }} scales with the hunting grounds other Methuselahs control, so it is well worth playing even late.
The archetype is remarkably consolidated: this list is {{ jozef_patrnciak_s_deck }}, winner of the Polish Nationals two months earlier, taken over almost card for card (the credit is in the deck name). The only touches are two fewer {{ aid_from_bats }}, one more {{ organized_resistance }} and {{ deep_ecology }} each, {{ dreams_of_the_sphinx }} and {{ poachers_hunting_ground }} over {{ vessel }}, and the {{ delaying_tactics }} and {{ nsa_trio }} singletons.
Earlier builds were looser: {{ giulio_de_cicco_s_deck }}, from 2024, runs a thicker reaction wall with {{ cats_guidance }} and {{ protection_racket }}, {{ army_of_rats }} as an extra drain, and {{ groundfighting }} in place of the frenzy package. The core of the archetype — {{ deep_song }}, bats and crows, {{ anarch_revolt }} and the Baron reactions — has been stable ever since.
{% endtrans %} {% endblock %}