E Nergal Beast
Highlights
This is a one-vampire turbo Stealth & Bleed engine starring Nergal, an established classic that has been quietly winning tournaments for years. The crypt is a single vampire in two versions, the base and Nergal (ADV), and the whole library exists to make him work overtime: bleed big at stealth, summon the Great Beast, and never spend a turn locked.
Call the Great Beast is the signature card: it burns the acting Baali E to drop a fresh 9-capacity infernal into play, but only once it carries 11 ritual counters — and it enters with counters equal to the Baali E's capacity. The Dementation skill card raises Nergal to capacity 11, so the Beast arrives fully loaded and fires in a single action. Give it , and and it can pilot almost every card in the deck, Visions of Zapathasura included.
Soul Gem of Etrius, fetched with Magic of the Smith, turns the sacrifice into pure profit: because the burned Nergal was raised to capacity 11, the base-10 copy the Gem pulls from the crypt counts as younger and comes back at full blood wearing the Gem. Milk him with Villein beforehand and the leeching loop nets pool, blood, and a second heavy hitter.
The bleeds are brutal: the base Nergal bleeds for 3 unassisted, Legal Manipulations and Aire of Elation push that to 5 or 7 while regaining pool, with Lost in Crowds, Elder Impersonation and Daring the Dawn to get through. Both Nergal and the Beast are infernal and do not unlock normally, which is why the deck runs a heavy Freak Drive engine: it is the unlock phase and the action multiplier rolled into one.
Defense is thin but sharp: Unleash Hell's Fury intercepts one direct action, Visions of Zapathasura and Touch of Clarity blunt the predator's bleeds, Archon Investigation caps the big ones, and Majesty ends the odd combat. Antediluvian Awakening is a classical turbo deck trick: a way to destroy (and refresh) a torpored Nergal wearing the Soul Gem of Etrius.
Tips & Tricks
The deck is built to punch through the classic bleed defenses: Perfect Clarity makes an action immune to and reactions, Hide the Mind and I am Legion cancel the bounces, and Narrow Minds taxes whatever remains. Do not spend these early — hold them for the lunge that ousts.
The two versions play differently: the base Nergal discounts a card each turn, so a Freak Drive or Legal Manipulations is regularly free, while Nergal (ADV) taxes reactions and buys his own stealth. Keep a pool in reserve to unlock manually on turns when no Freak Drive shows up. Note that with the Dementation and the Gem in place, even an opposing Archon Investigation merely recycles Nergal.
A good third of the library is singletons and pairs, so hand management matters: Heart of Nizchetus — the other Magic of the Smith target — filters the draw, backed by Visit from the Capuchin, Monastery of Shadows, Dreams of the Sphinx and The Bitter and Sweet Story for hand size.
Society of Leopold is a nasty gift for a problem blocker — a standing blood tax the bearer can only shed by passing it on, so expect it to travel. Enkil Cog gives Nergal +1 bleed and, more valuably, an action on other Methuselahs' turns — one more bleed every table round.
Variants
There are no strong variants, and the core never moves: an all-Nergal crypt, Call the Great Beast, Soul Gem of Etrius with Magic of the Smith, a capacity-raising skill card and a thick wad of Freak Drive. The list is remarkably stable: Jesper Bøje's 2023 deck won with virtually the same seventy-eight cards two years earlier — a sixth Aire of Elation, a third Soul Gem of Etrius and a couple more Freak Drive being the main differences.
Christian Camara's deck shows the observed spread: Celerity replaces Dementation for the same capacity trick, and the economy gets greedier — Golconda: Inner Peace cashes in a spent capacity-11 Nergal for 11 pool, with The Parthenon providing the extra master phase actions and a 6/6 crypt split leaning on Nergal (ADV)'s bought stealth. Infernal Servitor adds disposable 3-bleed actions, and the bleed module trades Aire of Elation for a heavier stealth package.