Magnetic Antonio

[pryingtuna85649]

Someone mentioned putting Magnetic Personality on Antonio de Magianis when block being pretty brutal, so I decided to build a rush deck around this idea. It's done pretty well given my limited cards...has certainly made people rage quit, lol. There are definitely cards that would be better choices than some of what I have in here (like maybe la Volpe instead of Lia), but yeah...still working on gaining cards.

Actions:
5 Plentiful Crap (for income)
5 Disceet Calling (used mostly to get Antonio in my hand)
3 Tactical Upheaval (for income, defense, and card drawing)
5 Nimble Thrust
5 Tactless Theatrics
5 Magnetic Personality (primarily for Antonio, but has also saved my ass used on others)

Agents:
5 Paola (for income and for her ability)
4 Ugo (income, threat, and to get people to use up whatever defenses early)
5 Lanz
4 Antonio de Magianis (this deck's meanie, obviously)
4 Lia de Russo (kinda of filler for lack of better cards...her recovery is pretty good though)

This deck doesn't always do well against blue decks that often because of blue's counters and officials, but if I can knock out the officials the rest is cake. Site control decks (well, good ones...and really just good control decks in general) are usually a problem as well. But against site or agent rush decks, especially site rush, it can be a bitch, lol.

The biggest problem I'm running into now is that so many more people have better cards than I do...but that goes with all my decks now, lol. Despite that, this deck has really held its own. I definitely don't win them all, but it's also definitely better than my Noble/Official rush (which feels more syncronized), which was my best deck. I'm now in the top 550, lol...doesn't mean much, I know, because it's still the top 5% (ie, I haven't moved up in percentage brackets yet) but it's still better than the top 1000.

[gamemaestro]

This looks like the deck you were using when we matched up this morning. I was playing a deck that's a bad matchup for you so it wasn't a good test for you. I like playing Lanz and Antonio and MP (used to play a deck that focused on the combo) but ended up liking my blue version better.

[thest4lker]

I also enjoy this kid of deck a lot. I like your innovative approach to income without PP, with nimble thrust and tactless giving +1 at suprise speed. When you do get PP and forced charity, I think those would be the cards to start reducing, as threat agents (esp lanz) tend to get panics blocked a lot, so you usually end up killing your opponents agents anyway.

Some things to consider: I always carry one footpad in this deck, which I fetch with discreet calling early on to boost income if I need to. Only one.

Do you ever run into income problems against site decks, because you shave nimble thrust and tactless, and can't drop them for income boost? If that is a problem you might want got consider against all odds, 3 cost, plus 1 at suprise speed, kills target launching templar memory.

I dont have a single lia, but before I had la volpe I used to use bartolomeo (gold thief). For 4 cost he gives you 4 influence, and he has threat, so if he is blocked he doesn't loose health. The only time he is weaker than lia is if you need him to do the blocking, with only 2 health, but for 3 less cost, I think he fits better in a deck without PP. And you can always mag pers him if you are forced to block with him.

I don't have this in my similar deck, but for someone reason I feel like art gallery would slot in nicely. Maybe you want to test that? If it was me, I would probably drop one nimble thrust, one tactless theatrics, 2 Paulo and put in 4 art gallery. Just something to consider.

[coolkendude]

Yesterday was the first time this combo was done to me (not by you Tuna) and my first thought was denial that Antonio would score and thus wouldn't kill my site. I was using my Master Architect deck and would have won if he/she didn't use MP on a blocked Antonio. I must say it totally surprised me and almost did a rage quit but thought he/she deserved to win (without me quitting) for using a great combo.

Great deck! I learn something new everyday.

[pryingtuna85649]

Because of the number of Paolas and Plentiful Craps I have in this deck, income actually never is a problem. Site rushes actually aren't a huge problem with this deck...site control (especially when it includes Order cards) are, though. I did have a few Against All Odds in this deck at first, but it didn't seem to work well. Maybe I'll try it again, but it seemed like I never got when I needed it/only got it when I couldn't use it.

Lia is both just backup and protection for Antonio in this deck, actually. I mostly just put her in as an extra thief with high power, thinking I would need her for when Lanz is targeted/neutralized (because people do always seem to go after Lanz first), but I've also brought her out before Antonio so my opponent would get rid of their neutralize cards on her first (so yeah, income really isn't a problem, lol). When I get around to either hatching or buying La Volpe, I wanna replace her with him. But I dunno...I'm not there yet.

[ABXantos]

Well I play tested your deck. The Combo itself is pretty nice, especially when people are trying to pull the Rome Lock and block me with a random agent, only to get the taste of magnetic personality in the face and destroy Rome. Although I had a really difficult time if my hand was full of Tactless and Nimble especially when there were no agents to use it on, a problem I suffered during the Common Deck Tournament. I'll try to make recommendations with using Templar/cheap assassin cards.

First what I would do is get rid of as many of Tactless and Nimbles as possible. I'd say at least get rid of 5. My preference would be to keep 2 Nimble and 3 Tactless. Use Nimble on X/1 agents and Tactless on X/2+ agents.

When it comes to agents, I think having 5 Lanz is overkill in this particular deck. I would say dropping it down to 3 is good enough.

Also, I don't think you need 4 Lias. It's too much of a cost and if you draw too many too early you only end up hurting your chances on drawing cards you actually need.
I would reduce that to around 2 and/or as thest4lker said, go with Bartolomeo. has 3 less cost than Lia + he has threat and can be played earlier.

And speaking of big hitters, I'd go with adding 1 Rosa. She can be used a quick early beat stick against other agents in combo with Magnetic Personality so long as you don't get blocked by agents when using her.

I'd also go along with thest4lker's suggestion with Footpad. Quick income burst and a 2/1 agent if you didn't get many income cards at the start.

I would also swap out all your Ugos for some Treacherous Cutthroat. With all the income you are already getting from Crops, Discreet, TacticalU, and Paola, you are better off having the reversed version right away (and will save you from using TU wastefully)

Now for just pure additions. Antonio is the Deck's Key card, he should automatically be a 5. So try getting one more.

Also, try adding two more TacticalUs, for additional draw power and income. Try keeping all Tutors and Draw cards at 5. The more draw power, the faster you get your cards.

I would also try re-adding Against All Odds, as it gives your deck some removal to get rid of Templar cards that would cause you major problems if they were to hit the field.

I would also recommend adding 2 Man of the People. Its MP but for all your agents. if you need to swarm your enemies fast or don't have MP on hand yet, you can get some good amount of fierce points with multiple agents. And it doesn't hurt stacking an MP on a MotP buffed agent if you don't think one buff is enough.

Recommended Reductions:

• -2 Lias (-4 if swapping with Bartolomeo)
  
• -2 Lanz
  
• -2 Tactless Theatrics
  
• -3 Nimble Thrust
  
• -4 Ugo
  

Recommended Additions:

• +1 Antonio
  
• +1 Cento Occhi Footpad
  
• +1 Rosa
  
• +2 Bartolomeo (if swapping with Lia)
  
• +2 Tactical Upheaval
  
• +2 Man of the People
  
• +3 Treacherous Cutthroat
  
• +3 Against All Odds
  

Hope this helps you out.

[thest4lker]

I've also added against all odds into my thief/media deck, it's extreme useful against Borgia tower, Grimaldi etc.