{% 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 %}

{{ tzimisce }} Ani Barons

{% endblock %} {% block archetype %} {% trans trimmed adrino_manauara=card("Adrino Manauara"), aid_from_bats=card("Aid from Bats"), anarch_convert=card("Anarch Convert"), anarch_revolt=card("Anarch Revolt"), army_of_rats=card("Army of Rats"), bait_and_switch=card("Bait and Switch"), bounce=link("/strategy/fundamentals", _("bounce"), _anchor="bounce"), branimira=card("Branimira"), carfax_abbey=card("Carfax Abbey"), carrion_crows=card("Carrion Crows"), cats_guidance=card("Cats' Guidance"), combat_ends=link("/strategy/combat", _("combat ends"), _anchor="defence"), deep_ecology=card("Deep Ecology"), deep_song=card("Deep Song"), delaying_tactics=card("Delaying Tactics"), drawing_out_the_beast=card("Drawing Out the Beast"), dreams_of_the_sphinx=card("Dreams of the Sphinx"), fame=card("Fame"), groundfighting=card("Groundfighting"), ivory_bow=card("Ivory Bow"), kuyen=card("Kuyén"), massimiliano=card("Massimiliano"), mr_winthrop=card("Mr. Winthrop"), nsa_trio=card("NSA Trio"), organized_resistance=card("Organized Resistance"), poachers_hunting_ground=card("Poacher's Hunting Ground"), powerbase_montreal=card("Powerbase: Montreal"), protection_racket=card("Protection Racket"), raven_spy=card("Raven Spy"), rush=link("/strategy/archetype-categories", _("rush"), _anchor="rush"), taste_of_vitae=card("Taste of Vitae"), tension_in_the_ranks=card("Tension in the Ranks"), terror_frenzy=card("Terror Frenzy"), the_rack=card("The Rack"), vessel=card("Vessel"), villein=card("Villein"), wider_view=card("Wider View"), jozef_patrnciak_s_deck=link("/deck-search", _("Jozef Patrnciak's deck"), id="12293"), giulio_de_cicco_s_deck=link("/deck-search", _("Giulio De Cicco's deck"), id="11622") %}

Highlights

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.

Tips & Tricks

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.

Variants

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 %}