[Crime/Media] Thief Weenie Deck

[felixschroeter]

Hi all,
here is a deck I've played to some success for two days. It focuses on thief rush and drawing power. Even if some cards are crucial, I didn't include 5 copies each. With Media and Crime there are so many must-have cards that it would boost the deck to 70+ total.

Total (50)

Agents (20)
4 Romani Pickpocket
2 Vali Cel Tradat
2 Ruthless Robbers
5 Turkish Assassin
2 Damat Ali Pasha
2 Altair, Assassin
2 Antonio de Magianis
1 La Volpe

Sites (4)
4 Assassin Stronghold

Actions (26)
1 Political Patronage (only have 1, should be more of course)
5 Den Defense
5 Discreet Calling (for Altair or Damat Ali Pasha)
5 Splinter Bomb
5 Forced Charity
5 Bearer of Mixed Tidings

Playbook:
- draw Altair in start hand or tutor him => play before opponent has enough income for counters
- spam you cheap thiefs and keep drawing cards (I just love this part!)
- slow down opponent with Smoke Bomb (they won't draw each day; you don't need the daily draw )
- keep drawing with BMT and Forced Charity
- against agents use Stronghold, against sites use Antonio
- if all your agents are killed/erased, just spam a new handful of 'em

There are some obvious cards missing (I'm looking at you, Lanz! And Magnetic. And...), but I tried to keep the focus on cheap agents and card drawing. I might experiment with Magnetic Personality in the future, though.
I posted this under Fun/Concept because I'm lacking experience how the deck performs against discard (which might be a problem early in the game) and other thief rush decks (Damat boosts ALL thiefs ). Against most other deck types it might stand a chance due to excessive drawing, the threat ability of most agents and the Antonio/Stronghold toolbox.

Comments?

[Brontobeuf]

Got one of this.
I play more rush oriented, and Magnetic Personality on Yusuf Tazim is my best combo.

Smoke Bomb... is it Smoke Signal? Splinter Bomb?

[felixschroeter]

Oh, that ought to "Splinter bomb", thx, Bronto! Your suggestion makes for an even more efficient rush deck, I guess. With focusing on card draw I might have a small advantage in late game. But maybe I'll try your version, too. You didn't post it here somewhere, did you?

[lurifaxb]

I really like this deck. I think it is competitive. First game we had where you beat me, I was a bit surprised to see you fill up your HQ with agents after I just killed all of them with target practice

The drawing power is really nice.

One black meta card is the catacombs. If you lose to site decks, then try one of these. It is usually a big surprise when their über sites turns to your side

I'm pretty sure this will beat most agent rush decks like nicocide and I would also bet on this vs a militant rush. Counters may be hard if they get your Altaïrs early game. Otherwise you will outdraw and rush them.

[felixschroeter]

Yep, "most rush decks" says the man using a evil laughing-at-thieves merchant-6/6-horses deck.

[lurifaxb]

Haha. Sorry. You can try against my militant rush later if you like.


Shit. I'm still not working!

Work work!!!

[Brontobeuf]

I would certainly lose against yours, unless I got an explosive hand with MP and Yusuf. Butit's quite rare.

My list is pretty boring. It's 5 of all rushers (Yusuf, Lanz, Draw-man, Cento, Pickpocket), 5 PP, Bearers, Magnetics and Smoke Bombs. Straight forward. No Callings, no charity.

It's a choice.
The more you make your deck polyvalent, stable, with drawpower etc, the less you rush. The less you rush, the less chances you will have against hard-controls. The less your rush without being a hard-control, the more chances you will have against rushes. :]

I choose pure rush, only Bearers to help me to go mid game. And 2or 3 Hippodromes to steal games (Stronghold would be great but I don't like the idea that I can't attack ^^).

During my 500c today, I played it (started with my Abbazia to refresh memories that it is still strong and present ^^). Anyway, got two games that I won before day 2. Funny because my opponents were playing a lot of control decks today against me.

In your deck, I would replace Damat by Lanz. Damat suxx a lot. :]

[felixschroeter]

Thanks, Bronto, that was insightful (as usual)! Day 2 win is obviously no option with this deck. Therefore, Stronghold is not only a nice addition but a crucial card: Often it buys me the time I need to let my thieves grow when scoring. Also, there's no need NOT to campaign when using Stronhold: It's more surprising if you kill all 4 agents and then spam 2 new ones on your side of the board (drawing memories as well ).
As to your Lanz-suggestion: With Damat each thief is responsible for his own stats boosting. With Lanz it's just... Lanz. And if he's blocked no one gets a boost. I thinks it's a stability vs. speed question again. Oh, and I like Damat having threat and his synergy with Romani Pickpockets. :-P

[lurifaxb]

Maybe take out the Vali Cel Tradan and replace with Lanz?

I agree that he should be there but not on the cost of Damat. He works nicely in this deck I think.

Assasins stronghold also works as a last minute game winner and as site rush defense. I like the use of these.

It seems like you have a lot of income generation. Maybe replace some with a few thieves? Cento Occhi Footpads are nice for income. Instead of forced charity? You already have the draw power from the agents you probably don't need to extra draw from forced charity?

[felixschroeter]

Thanks, lurifaxb, I will certainly try changing some actions for agents. But the more I substitute high-cost for low-cost agents the slower it gets (therefore Lanz instead of Vani might be problematic). However, you and Bronto are right: Lanz fits the theme of the deck really well, so I might as well give him a try.

[demkon]

Really nice deck! Have to get me some Altairs, because I have a similar idea in mind.

Would love to test my new Nico Power deck against this one.

[Brontobeuf]

Tell me when you remove Damat from your deck.

[lurifaxb]

Bronto, why is damat so bad compared to lanz?

[felixschroeter]

Hey Bronto, I followed your advice and swapped Damat for Lanz. It had no significant effect. When he scored that was great, but most times he didn't. And I missed Damat's 'threat' as I predicted. What did you think of my Damat/Lanz reasoning (see above)?

[Joek]

Damat allows any thieves to boost 1/1 when they score. This includes your opponent's thieves. I personally only play one or two, wait till both my opponent's colors are shown, and bring them out with discreet calling.