Dear Methuselah!

I’m gonna start a new serie of posts in which will talk about one different archetypes every time.

The tupdogs deck is one of the most feared in the game wherever it goes, because its huge destructive hability. It is a short-term deck, that means that you will live fast, die young and leave many bodies along the way (beautiful or not).

The first thing to talk about is the tupdog itself, vampire of capacity one with unique characteristics. It burns at the end of the minion phase, so it will only last one turn. He is a slave of the Tremere Antitribu, Visceratika’s cards cost him one less blood, and finally, he can enter combat with a minion as a D action.

This turns the tupdog into a very offensive vampire, has a practically unstoppable combat block and on the other hand, as he will die at the end of the turn, we don’t care (almost!) whatever happens to him.

The usual combat cards are:

Torn signpost – Strenght of 3
Brick by brick – Set the range (short). Alternatively, maneuver and 2R
Raking talons – Aggravated hand
Immortal grapple – To avoid combat ends
Lead Fist – Strike: hand +2 (with possible press)
Stonestrengh and Rockheart – Prevention / Press

As you can see, with three of the cards you can already do a lot of damage to almost anyone. The prevention can be used to continue pressing without going to torpor or to play an As the crow and continue acting (bleed or dive bomb for example).

Another card that is not negligible is the Voices of the castle, which gives +1 intercep or reduces a bleed by 2.

Finally, a great new addition is the Unleash de hounds, from +1 to bleed.

Tips for playing with Tupdogs:
The real difficulty lies in being aware that you are going to play between 10 … 12 … 15 actions and then you are dead. Playing with tupdogs is a very wild time trial and you cannot afford to let others set the pace of the game.

Tips for playing against Tupdogs:
Have the Tupdog divert his attention to another side of the table. Let his predator put pressure on him and then rescue him. There is one thing that is usually true … The Tupdog cannot usually fight against the entire table at the same time. Another option is to take several vampires at once (if it can be at the same time as other players better). Talk to your allies. Use time in your favor and you will see how the Tupdog dies alone.

• An example of a Tupdog deck:
  Deck Name: Tupdog
  Author:
  Description: Rush
  Crypt (30 cards; Capacity min=1 max=4 avg=3.)
  1x Ember Wright 3 aus dom Tremere antitribu:3
  1x Janine 4 aus dom tha Tremere antitribu:4
  2x Keith Moody 3 DOM Tremere antitribu:4
  1x Mosfair 4 cel dom tha Tremere antitribu:4
  1x Saiz 3 aus dom Tremere antitribu:3
  24x Tupdog 1 POT VIS Gargoyle:3
  Library: 90 cards
  Master (11 cards)
  1x Effective Management
  3x Fame
  1x Infernal Pact
  1x Information Highway
  1x Secure Haven
  1x University Hunting Ground
  1x Yawp Court
  2x Dreams of the Sphinx
  Action (9 cards)
  3x Govern the Unaligned
  3x Graverobbing
  3x Dive Bomb
  Action Modifier (9 cards)
  5x As the Crow
  1x Skin of the Chameleon
  2x Unleash the Hounds
  1x Conditioning
  Combat (52 cards)
  9x Immortal Grapple
  6x Lead Fist
  11x Raking Talons
  4x Rockheart
  7x Stonestrength
  7x Torn Signpost
  8x Brick by Brick
  Equipment (1 cards)
  1x Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers
  Reaction (7 cards)
  4x Voices of the Castle
  2x Deflection
  1x Delaying Tactics
  Event (1 cards)
  1x Uncoiling, The
  

Tomorrow I will talk you about another archetype: The Ventrue Lawfirm!