This is a swarm bleed deck built on the Group 6 Hecata {{ hecata }} and their signature wraith, {{ spectral_servitor }}. It floods the table with cheap allies bleeding for 1 at stealth: the prey drowns under a stream of small bleeds while {{ shroud_of_decay }} takes care of the rest.
The servitor does everything a swarm wants, and crucially it plays basic {{ obl }} non-action cards as a vampire would — so the stealth modifiers ({{ shadow_cast }}, {{ shadow_cloak }}, {{ stygian_shroud }} and {{ where_the_veil_thins }}) serve the wraiths as well as the crypt. {{ charisma }} makes its bearer's recruits free, and a recruiter with superior {{ OBL }} can keep a servitor alive for 1 pool during the unlock phase instead of burning it.
{{ shroud_of_decay }} gives the vampires their own reach: a +1 bleed whose forced discards feed the prey's ash heap, but more importantly superior mode that strips that same ash heap to burn pool — an oust no {{ bounce }} can stop, and serious extra reach once the game drags on.
The all-Hecata {{ hecata }} crypt means {{ family_gathering }} always hits, speeding up the next vampire. Defense is solid for a swarm deck: {{ telepathic_misdirection }} on the superior {{ AUS }} vampires, {{ shadow_sentinel }} to wake a surprise blocker — a wraith too, at superior — {{ the_unmasking }} turning the swarm into actual blockers, and {{ parijat }} taxing blocks against the wraiths.
Sequence the turns around the unlock clause: only the first successful recruit unlocks the vampire, so spread recruits across the crypt instead of chaining them on a single minion, then use the unlocked vampires to bleed with {{ shroud_of_decay }} or to hold {{ telepathic_misdirection }} up.
Do not pay the upkeep by reflex. A servitor is 1 blood for a stealthed bleed of 1: letting it burn is fine business. Keep only the ones needed as blockers under {{ the_unmasking }}, or as repeat bleeders once the prey's defense is down. Burnt copies are not lost either — {{ mora }} and {{ lenelle }} both fish cards back out of the ash heap.
The deck plays no combat card at all — it does not need to win fights, only to avoid them. {{ pentex_subversion }} shuts down the table's dedicated blocker, superior {{ where_the_veil_thins }} taxes non-Oblivion {{ OBL }} blockers a blood and bars allies from blocking outright, and {{ parijat }} discourages the rest. {{ jake_washington }} refuels an emptied recruiter, {{ perfectionist }} recoups blood on unreacted actions, and {{ heart_of_nizchetus }} keeps the cards flowing.
The sore spot is {{ vote }} decks, as {{ delaying_tactics }} is the only political defense, and heavy ally hate votes like {{ anarchist_uprising }}.
There are no settled variant names yet, but the winning lists spread along a single axis: how much of the deck goes to the swarm versus to {{ shroud_of_decay }}. {{ stefano_chiodi_s_deck }} (25 players, 2025) trims the wraiths down to 6 for 12 {{ shroud_of_decay }}, a thicker reaction package, {{ villein }} {{ bloat }} and 8 {{ pass_through_shadow }} — closer to a classic {{ stealth_and_bleed }} with the swarm as a side engine. {{ ke_carlton_s_deck }} (22 players, 2025) goes the same route with 14 {{ shroud_of_decay }}, 11 {{ family_gathering }} and a suite of Powerbase locations, banking on the superior pool burn to close games.
{{ richard_aumann_s_deck }} (24 players, 2026) keeps the shell but swaps the wraiths for zombies: 15 {{ bone_shambler }}, which lock one another for +1 bleed, with {{ cappadocian_crypt }} covering the blood economy and no {{ shroud_of_decay }} at all.
The neighboring {{ hecata_corpse }} archetype shares the crypt and the shadow stealth module, but builds around {{ aggressive_corpse }} and a {{ toolbox }} of utility allies rather than the pure servitor swarm — different enough to be its own archetype.
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