I posted a little strategy on Brinksmanship to www.thepathofblood.com a few months ago. Since it may be of some interest, I'll repost it here: ********************************************************************* I just got back from tonight's games. I took a five-way with my Brinksmanship deck. I'm very curious to know how fast it can oust, since I've proven that it *can* oust. Our game took two hours and 28 minutes, but we stepped out for smoke breaks and stopped for phone calls and such, so that's pretty close to making it in under two (which is tight for many, many games). I only play with eight Slaughterhouses, so I'm not even getting completely jiggy with it. Of the games that I've won with this deck, I can't recall one where I didn't get at least one VP by straight-up bleeding, and I only have one Pulse. Most games, Folderol'ing to keep someone alive and able to get back up on their feet has happened. Bart is key, and I've also been keeping track of this.... I gained 22 pool from Bart, *not* counting the bleeds he reduced (somewhere around fifteen). 7 of that was from the Blood Doll, but he's never going to do anything other than play bleed reduction, or do some odd job that really needs doing, so I always drain him down to one. I also play with two Secure Havens, and he rarely registers as a big threat, so I've been able to get one on him regularly. Mostly people don't care to smoosh him once they're clear you aren't running dominate and mytherceria (I know I mangled that). You have three quarters of the game to fart around, gain pool, Cardinal Benedict, whatever, to get set up to play two votes: one is obvious. The other one is Dramatic Upheaval. One VP can slip away, probably your prey getting a VP, but you ought to be able to stop it. Deck your prey and, while he's unhooked, he decimates his prey. Keep your grandprey in the game with Folderol's and judicious pool handouts. This will only look like normal predator behavior. So in this time, you accumulate whichever elements of Call of the Hungry Dead, Spectral Divination, Daring the Dawn, Bribes, Telepathic Vote Counting, or Private Audience your table requires to get the vote to referendum and passed. If Juan Cali came out and if you drew the Demonstration, you may have that too. You don't actually need too many of most of these cards since you'll get to cycle your deck for a while before you need to call the votes. About the time you've decked your prey, he's ousting his prey. Play the Dramatic Upheaval to swap places with your prey, who probably has a butt-ton of pool (because, if anything, you've given him pool during the game), and absolutely no library. Not a bad predator to have. Also by this time the slow trickle of Slaughterhouses have accumulated to four or more, so you can almost immediately deck your new prey (he has been playing cards too, and I'm not claiming that any of this is fast). Maybe you get him with Brinksmanship, or you might be able to plink away the last bit of pool your old prey left him with. **************************************************************** And here's a version of the deck I was referring to: Deck Name: Slaughtered by Bart Created By: David Cherryholmes Description: Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 18, Max: 31, Avg: 6.42) ---------------------------------------------- 3 Bartholomew AUS dom MYT NEC obt 8, Kiasyd 3 Gisela Harden aus dem FOR NEC 7, Harbingers of Skulls, Priscus 3 Egothha AUS FOR NEC obf 7, Harbingers of Skulls 1 Le Dinh Tho aus dom NEC 5, Nagaraja 2 Juan Cali aus for 3, Ventrue Antitribu Library: (80 cards) ------------------- Master (18 cards) 2 Archon Investigation 1 Bleeding the Vine 3 Blood Doll 1 Demonstration 1 Parthenon, The 2 Secure Haven 8 Slaughterhouse, The Action (5 cards) 1 Aranthebes, The Immortal 1 Pulse of the Canaille 3 Revelations Action Modifier (13 cards) 2 Bribes 4 Call of the Hungry Dead 2 Daring the Dawn 1 Kiss of Ra, The 2 Private Audience 2 Telepathic Vote Counting Political Action (11 cards) 2 Autarkis Persecution 2 Brinksmanship 4 Cardinal Benediction 2 Dramatic Upheaval 1 Rumors of Gehenna Reaction (14 cards) 6 Folderol 8 Telepathic Counter Combat (14 cards) 6 Rolling with the Punches 8 Spiritual Intervention Equipment (1 cards) 1 Erebus Mask Combo (4 cards) 4 Spectral Divination