I have been experimenting with Imbued technology decks that 
don't use Gehenna Events or cards that generate table hate, in
the name of avoiding being Nergalized (Nergalization: When the whole
table gangs up on you, not 'cause you are necessarily winning, but
'cause your deck is really irritating and when you are ousted,
everyone else gets to play a normal game). My current idea is this deck
that fuses the Imbued with the Nosferatu for some reasonable, non
wildly debilitating table play.

"Tier 2 Imbued Technology Experiment 1A"

Crypt:
2x Rabbat, The Sewer Goddess (7) OBF, FOR, pot
1x Shahid (7) OBF, POT, for
2x Gerard Rafin (6) OBF, POT, for
2x Alonzo Guillen (6) OBF, pot, for
3x Jennifer "Flame61" Vidisania (4) Vis
2x Paul "Sixofswords29" Moreton (4) Vis, Def

Library:
4x Blood Doll
3x Angel of Berlin
2x Effective Management
2x Memories of Mortality
1x Fame
1x The Labyrinth
1x Slum Hunting Ground
1x Perfectionist
1x Fortitude

12x Cloak the Gathering
6x Behind You
6x Hidden Lurker
4x Swallowed by the Night
10x Pushing the Limit
6x Superior Mettle
2x Rolling With the Punches
7x Determine
1x Champion
4x Second Sight
4x Strike with Conviction
3x React with Conviction
4x Taste of Vitae
2x Bum's Rush
1x The Crusader Sword
1x The Ivory Bow
1x .44 Magnum

The basic theory of the deck is to use Jen to bleed for 3 every turn,
and if she gets blocked, have some Nosferatu killer, preferably Rabatt,
Hidden Lurker in and kill the blocker, so that next turn, Jen can go
bleed again and no one will want to block her. The Imbued bring most of
the bleed offense and bleed defense (in the form of Determine) to the
deck, and their Nosferatu pals provide extra stealth and combat
defense.

The crypt focuses on the good G3/4 core of Nosferatu with superior
Obfuscate and fortitude, revolving around Rabbat, who deserves some
special attention. Rabbat is a weird vampire, having good skills, the
ability to transfer a blood to your pool when she hunts, and the
ability to send an opposing vampire to torpor as a strike at the cost
of being Red List, unable to take D actions, and unable to block
actions that don't target her (or her stuff). Being Red List is kind
of a drag, generally speaking, as it means any chump on the table can
pay a blood to attack you. Luckily, Rabbat comes with good combat
abilities (OBF, FOR, ANI, pot) and, well, she can send you to torpor as
a strike. Which makes it seem pretty unlikely that anyone will actually
attack her, unless they are feeling really full of beans. She can't
take D actions or block much, but if her main purpose is to stand
around Cloaking the Imbued and then Hidden Lurkering in to get revenge
if someone blocks them, her disabilities aren't much of an issue. Her
bonus of being able to give you a pool by hunting is excellent,
especially if you slap a Perfectionist on her. If she has a Blood Doll
too, you are generating 2 pool a turn, Rabbat is breaking even, and she
can always wait to see if the Imbued need Hidden Lurker back up before
hunting. Gerard is a good mid cap with the important skills, Shahid is
a good fill in with the same disciplines as Gerard, and Alonzo, while
lacking POT, has a really useful special ability (burn the Edge to look
at someone's hand during your untap or discard phase). The Imbued
selection consists of Jennifer, who with +1 bleed and a recycling
Strike with Conviction, is a hard hitting bleeder. That, and she can
play Determine, to save you from some bleeds or unpleasant actions
(doubling as both bleed bounce *and* vote defense. And Rush defense,
too...) Her -1 stealth isn't that big of a deal, if you consider that
most of the time, she will be bleeding under threat of Hidden Lurker,
and if she goes out to equip or something, he Gathering can be Cloaked
to avoid embarrassing accidents. All that, and she equips for 1 point
cheaper. Nice. Paul is a good sidekick for Jen, as he gets to play
Determine too, and with the Defense virtue, he can become a Champion
and sacrifice himself to save you from some brutal 7 point bleed or
something.

The Master cards are pretty straight forward, with some Blood Dolls,
Angels of Berlin and Memories of Mortality to increase the utility of
the Imbued, Perfectionist for Rabbat, and some general support cards,
including Fame to further encourage folks not to block Jen.

In the Library, there is a good chunk of Obfuscate--Cloak for general
stealth for both Vampires and Imbued (and remember, if you have two
vampires with OBF, *each* of them can play a Cloak on the acting
minion, so you might even get Jen through with a stealthy bleed once
and a while); Behind You for maneuvers and dodges if needed; Swallowed
for a bit more stealth and maneuver; and Hidden Lurker, the key to the
deck. Hidden Lurker is generally derided as a weak card, and generally,
it is. In this particular instance, it is probably reasonably effective
due to the lack of need for any seriously long card chains to make the
Hidden Lurker pay off--Jen can pretty much always bleed for 3 without
playing any cards from your hand, Rabbat can torporize someone with a
Hidden Lurker and pretty much nothing else (maybe a maneuver to catch
someone trying to run away) or Gerard can do a lot of damage with just
a single Pushing the Limit. Likely, a reasonable block deterrent after
you play the first one. There is a good supply of Pushing the Limit in
there as a simple combat punishment module, and a good handful of
Fortitude to survive fights (especially when combined with Behind You
if things go badly). On the Imbued side of the deck, there is a modest
number of Conviction cards--not enough to play one every turn,
certainly, but as you get to fish one out when you put someone into
play and then recycle them out of your ash heap, you'll probably have
enough to do what you need to do most of the time. The Determines, as
mentioned, save the deck from an awful lot of trouble--you can bounce a
bleed, cancel a vote card, cancel a rush card, cancel some horrible
action like Sensory Deprivation or whatever. A very powerful defense
for any deck that can find a way to use it. The Champion is thrown in
as the only power in the deck--only Paul can play it, so it isn't
that likely to hit the table, but it is such a good effect (cancel any
unblocked D action against you or an Imbued and have the acting vampire
enter combat with the Champion) that any chance at all to play it
makes it worth having in the deck. The library is rounded out with some
Tastes, a couple Bum's Rushes, and some equipment for general Imbued
defense and 'cause Jen gets them on the cheap. Keep in mind that The
Crusader Sword plus a gun on the same Imbued means that they are likely
safe from an awful lot of abuse--use the gun to maneuver to long, and
monsters can't maneuver to close as long as you are holding the Sword
in your other hand.

Again, the optimal situation consists of Jen and Rabbat on the
table--Jen bleeds for 3 a turn under threat of Rabbat Hidden Lurker
destroying any blocker. Not a super effective strategy, but likely a
reasonably good use of the Imbued that is unlikely to generate undue
table hate. If you can get Paul into play, his best use is just
standing around and Determine away offensive actions, and if you are
lucky, Championing some stuff if needed. It'll probably have trouble
against really speedy bleed decks (what won't, really) and persistent
combat that kills your Imbued will probably make a mess too. But as
weird deck designs go, it probably has some promise, uses the Imbued,
and is unlikely to make anyone but your prey unhappy with you, and that
was gonna happen anyway.


To check out my older Nosferatu Newsletters, link to:

http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

-Peter D. Bakija
pdb6 // at \\ lightlink.com