[Crime/Media] Gaining Advantage

[felixschroeter]

Hi there,
here's another deck build around the concept of card advantage. (Almost) every card lets you draw another card or discards opponent's card(s) and often itself remains in play (= +1 or +2 card advantage). As I didn't want to use counters that remain in play (Suleiman and the like) I relied on Crime and Media experts in agent and site removal.

Total (50)

Agents (21)
5 Raving Drunkard
5 Francesco Vecello
2 Mario Auditore
2 Giovanni Auditore
3 Ezio Auditore, Assassin
4 Maria Thorpe

Sites (7)
5 Assassin Stronghold
2 Hippodrome of Constantinople

Actions (22)
2 Political Patronage
5 Den Defense
5 Discreet Calling
5 Tactical Upheaval
5 Forced Charity

There is no need for a play book: Every agent and sites neutralizes another card on the board, the cost 4 Media agents even add to your income, which is great. With the exception of PP and Den Defense all the actions let you draw/tutor other cards and add to your income. The deck has proven quite strong, even against counter and rush decks. But don't play it too often: It's not newbie-friendly at all. As with pure counter decks it can be quite frustrating if every card on your side of the board is removed sooner or later while the opponent slowly but steadily gets more agents and sites on his side.

Has anyone already tried combining the Crime and Media 'removers'? What do you think of the 'card advantage approach' to the deck?

[Tuism]

Well I've made quite a few decks that rely on this concept, the strongest of mine (pre-revelation) was my scholar/crime advantage deck which bounces all the agents/sites with killing effects back to hand for another round (with Pandemic or Malfatto). I can safely say that this concept is great as long as you manage your income well. These days with so many income boosts that bring in cards too (discreet, forced charity, funeral pyre, tactical, etc etc) almost EVERY deck should be built on this concept

I haven't tried a media approach to it - but it looks solid, but their faction-specific killers (Templar or Assassin) makes them half as effective only. I prefer the crime killers to the media killers cos they're less easily thwarted.

[lurifaxb]

Cool. If you have him. Add a ezio mentor. There is nothing like killing at surprise speed...

Also, the assassins guild is really good too. Probably better than your media killers (either Templar or assassin). Secret catacombs are also good if you lose to site decks. It fits the card advantage profile by stealing their site

[felixschroeter]

You're right, Tuism. Maybe I'm a bit behind when I don't design all of my decks with card advantage as a major factor. However, there seem to be not so many decks in which (almost) every single card gets you +1 or +2. As for the Media agents: But I've learned to love 'em cause they are comparatively cheap, boost your income (necessary for those high cost Crime cards) and there is almost always a fitting target for them (in my experience with this deck at least).

[felixschroeter]

Thx, lurifaxb, that's some good advice! What you propose might be a more generic Crime deck, similar to the one Bronto posted recently. However, I started out from the idea of bringing those Crime and Media removers together. Maybe this is too much of a concept-driven approach and I should start about thinking being more competitive. But I just LOVE them Media agents. ;..)

[Brontobeuf]

I'm curious about that:

2 Political Patronage
5 Den Defense

Why not 5 PP? I think it's straight better.

[felixschroeter]

Well, Bronto, the reason is that I still own no more than 2 copies of PP.

[lurifaxb]

Bronto has neither of the cards I mentioned as a suggestion in his über deck.

[felixschroeter]

Oh, you're right. I've obviously mixed up some different decks that have been posted. In the Counter-Crusher deck there IS an Ezio, Mentor involved, though. BTW: I tried out your suggestions and they also work fine.

[lurifaxb]

Oh right. I forgot I also mentioned Ezio mentor

How does the deck do?

[felixschroeter]

Exchanging some Media killers for the sites you mentioned has helped to make the deck more versatile. Ezio is indeed great in the end game. However, the deck is considerably slower than before due to the higher cost of the cards. I think, I'll make two decks out of it and let them evolve in different directions. thanks for the help!!

[Tuism]

Of course card advantage isn't the be all and end all in deck construction. The flip side of the coin is pace advantage - and that's what the speed decks and PP are all about