Okay, I really wanted to post Shaun's "Shadow of the Beast" deck, but he has 
been very busy.  Shaun, if you're reading this: the world wants to see your 
deck.  In the meantime, I have decided to post one of my own creations.  In 
light of the recent "tournament-worthy" debates, I wanted to share with 
everyone a tournament-worthy Gangrel deck.  

Weenie Animalism
Gangrel / Gangrel Antitribu, intercept deck 

Name                    Clan and Capacity       
Raziya Samater          Brujah, 3       
Gunther - Beast Lord    Gangrel, 7      
Bear Paw                Gangrel, 5      
Anastasia Grey          Gangrel, 3      
Vliam Andor             Gangrel, 2      
Shane Grimald           Gangrel Antitribu, 4    
Luther                  Gangrel Antitribu, 6    
Leon                    Gangrel Antitribu, 3    
Nigel the Shunned       Nosferatu Antitribu, 5  
Tommy                   Nosferatu Antitribu, 3  
Dani                    Nosferatu Antitribu, 2  
Navar McClaren          Caitiff, 1      

Average Vampire age: 3.67
Average opening crypt draw: 14.67 (less than half your pool)
Maximum draw: 23 
Minimum draw: 8

Total Library Size: 90 cards

Action: 9
· Tier of Souls (3) 
· Shepherd's Innocence 
· Army of Rats (4) 
· Atonement 

Combat: 29
· Song in the Dark (2) 
· Aid from Bats (4) 
· Carrion Crows (10) 
· Song of Serenity (6) 
· Canine Horde (3) 
· Trap (4) 

Equipment: 11 
· Leather Jacket (6) 
· Saturday Night Special (2) 
· Ivory Bow 
· Palatial Estate 
· Flak Jacket 

Master: 17
· Animalism (6) 
· Direct Intervention 
· Tribute to the Master (2) 
· Slave Auction 
· The Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper 
· Blood Doll (2) 
· Guardian Angel 
· Zoo Hunting Ground 
· KRCG News Radio 
· Misdirection 

Reaction: 19
· Forced Awakening (3) 
· Rat's Warning (6) 
· Cat's Guidance (10) 

Retainer: 5
· Mr. Winthrop 
· Murder of Crows (2) 
· Raven Spy (2) 

Strategy: Get all four minions out and have them take any and every action 
possible.  Be very proactive, and cycle the deck to get the permanent 
intercept, because the temporary intercept (Cat?s Guidance) will not be enough. 
 Get one or two vampires really buffed up (Jackets, Retainers, Guns) and let 
them do multiple blocks with untap cards.  Protect the Tiers and the Army of 
Rats, and put constant pressure on your prey.  It doesn?t have to be massive 
bleeding or demoralizing combat.  Just irritate them with the low bleeds and 
intercept.  Later in the game (after Tributes and VPs), you should continue to 
influence vampires.  You?ll average about 6 vampires up.  

Result: Amazing staying power.  This deck can sucker in the weakling bleed 
decks when all of your minions are tapped out.  After adding Tiers and Army of 
Rats, you are eventually doing a significant amount of damage to your prey each 
turn (4-5 points) that cannot be ignored.  Also note, the bleed modification 
from your Tier of Souls cannot be deflected, which hoses deflection decks 
considerably.  You are eventually required to torporize all of your preys 
minions (not too hard, but it slows you down).  Versions of this deck have 
taken 2nd and 3rd places in the two tournaments it has entered.

Why this is good for a tournament:  Cheap, fast, and effective. It never 
matters which four vampires start in your crypt, so you get consistent play 
from round to round (no worries of getting a bad draw in the final).  
Furthermore, the risk  (and the price) of contesting vampires is very low.  It 
holds and keeps the edge.  Really good blocking power.  It hoses bleed-bounce 
strategies, blocks votes, and almost stands toe-to-toe with rush.

Bleed defense: multiple untaps, intercept, lots of extra pool 

Vote defense: intercept, lots of extra pool

Combat defense: leather jackets, dishes out environmental damage (and strikes) 
that cannot be dodged or maneuvered away from, immortal grapple causes no 
problems, some aggravated damage, some guns

Weakness:  Every deck has its weakness,  but fortunately this deck has very 
few.  It will struggle against strike: combat ends and Obedience.  It really 
sucks to pitch all of your "before range" cards just to get nowhere.  I have 
discovered that blocking the actions is usually enough.  A little combat card 
cycling is good, but remember that your opponents will Majesty just for the 
untap.  Eventually they will run out.  Instead of waiting you could try adding 
a Dog Pack.  In this deck, it is highly affordable and potentially useful, 
especially since you can have one vampire block several actions a turn.
        The other weakness is votes.  But I?m not worried about the votes of my 
predator or my prey.  I can block those.  I am more worried about the votes 
that come from across the table.  Domain Challenge can cripple this deck.  
There?s almost nothing you can do short of a Direct Intervention.
        Finally, unblockable bleeds could be a serious problem (Day Operation, 
Daring the Dawn).  Still, the deck is designed to have excessive pool which 
could handle one or two of these actions.

Possible Changes: Amazing.  I just noticed that my crypt is missing Caitlin.  I 
would probably replace Luther or Shane Grimald with Caitlin so that I could get 
the Bishop vote.  If I play this deck in a tournament again, I think I will add 
more Direct Interventions.  DI can counteract all three areas of weakness by 
canceling S:CE, votes, and unblockable action modifiers.  A Backways might be 
useful, but it?s been unnecessary so far.  These changes would bring my master 
card count pretty high for a intercept-combat deck that needs to cycle.  What 
to cut?
I would also like try adding an Owl Companion or a Dog Pack so that I can know 
when and how to play my combat cards.  As I said before, one vampire can do a 
whole lot of blocking each turn.  If anyone tries this deck with a Dog Pack, 
then let me know.  I am real curious.  More Tier of Souls might be good.
And finally, I have thought of adding the vampire, Laurent de Valois.  He and 
Shane Grimald both have dominate which would let me add a few random 
deflections to this deck... but then it wouldn?t be an Animalism deck, now 
would it?

Rules: Official DCI-rules