I have been playing around with Smiling Jack the Anarch for a while with
many ways of untapping minions to block multiple attempts at trying to
burn him.  I have tried a Fortitude-based deck with mid-range Gangrel
and Ravnos and it worked well but I wasn't able to get enough intercept
at times so I tried to switch to a Toreador-based version.

The primary skills I use here are Auspex and Celerity.  The Auspex
provides me with enough intercept to block attempts to burn Jack along
with another avenue of defense in bouncing some bleeds via Telepathic
Misdirection.

The celerity is used to help me take out vamps that I block by using
guns with multiple strikes.  The deck doesn't have a lot of offense
outside of Jack however.  I thought of taking advantage of the Presence
that Toreador have to maybe toss in some built-in bleed mods but when
I tried that, it seemed to water the deck down.  I'd like to make it
competitive for tournament play and it seems that intercept-based
passive decks cannot cut it, but call me determined.

My vote defense (along with the intercept) is that I use large Toreador
with built-in votes that also happen to have special abilities that
coincide with Smiling Jack.  I think that the deck has some fantastic
synergy, but it still needs tuning.  The deck also has a lot of pool
gain to both feed Jack and protect me from excessive bleeds.


Jack Says:  Come Get Me!

Crypt (12):
2x Felicia Mostrom - CEL AUS pre - 5
2x Kallista, Master Sculptor - CEL AUS pre - 6
2x Anson - CEL PRE aus, Prince, 2 masters - 8
2x Masika - CEL AUS PRE, Primogen, +1 bleed, untaps between turns - 10
2x Anneke - CEL AUS PRE, Justicar, block anyone, +1 bleed - 10
Francois Villon - CEL AUS PRE, Prince, steal 2 blood at +1 stealth, +1
bleed, - 10
Alexandra - CEL AUS PRE, Inner Circle, Untap/tap another Toreador, +2
bleed - 11

Average: 8.25 (terrible, I know)
Least: 22
Most: 41

Why I chose these particular vampires?  All of them have CEL and all but
one has AUS.  The larger ones that were chosen all have an ability that
works very well with Smiling Jack.  Masika can act for free and be
around to block to protect Jack.  Anson lets me get more of my
pool-gaining masters into play, can use 2nd Tradition (to help Jack) and
has 2 votes to protect me from possible voting nastiness.  Anneke can
block anyone, use 2nd Tradition and has votes.  Francois steals blood
that could be used to pay for Jack and Alexandra can impart Masika's
ability onto any other Toreador.  I plan on using a lot of pool-gaining
cards to help pay for Jack anyway, so I can also play with a
larger-than-average crypt to take advantage of the pool gain.

The deck:

Masters (24 - a little high but possibly not with Anson out)
4x Minion Tap (fairly necessary with so many large vamps)
2x Blood Doll (a blood-gainer that doesn't cost pool)
1x Art Museum (pool-gain and bring out more vamps)
1x Powerbase: New York (pool gain and I have the intercept and untap to
keep it)
1x Powerbase: Chicago (same as above)
2x Dreams of the Sphinx (pool gain or break hand-jam)
2x Vast Wealth (makes it easier to go get the guns)
1x Giant's Blood (an unblockable Fifth Tradition)
1x London Evening Star, Tabloid Newspaper (probably should be the Sabbat
Tabloid instead now)
1x KRCG News Radio
1x The Rack (helps with Pool Gain via Blood Dolls/Minion Taps)
1x Heidelberg Castle (reuse a gun, more pool gain with Blood Dolls)
1x Unnatural Disaster (candidate for my omission - maybe Sudden Reversal
is better or maybe a minion card)
1x Protected Resources (in the mid game, helps me to avoid having to
block as many bleeds in lieu of protect Jack)
1x Antediluvian Awakening (more offense like Jack)
1x Anarch Revolt (ditto above)

You may question the addition of the locations that give me intercept,
but sometimes they help in politics around the table to keep my
grand-prey alive from my predator (as I am passive usually)

Minion Cards (56 - total of 80 cards, maybe should add 10 here):
Equipment:
1x Palatial Estate (the private Hunting Ground)
4x .44 Magnum (the best gun for this deck IMHO)
1x Ivory Bow

Combat:
5x Blur
6x Flash
4x Acrobatics
3x Vampiric Speed (when I don't use the maneuver for the gun, I like to
Dodge for my first strike)
3x Sideslip
2x Majesty
2x Taste of Vitae
1x Quickness (can probably be better to have a 6th Blur)
1x Pursuit (can probably be better to have 7th Flash)
1x Fast Hands

I try to diversify my combat cards and not depend on the maneuver from
the guns.  Against someone using Potence,  prefer to use the maneuver to
avoid Immortal Grapple, but against non-potence, I like to stay at close
and see if I need to Dodge first (I am usually blocking to get into
combat).  Hence, I'll commonly wait to see my opponent's strike, use
something like Vampiric Speed to Dodge and then Blur for 2 Strikes and
then press from the Vampiric speed to use the maneuver (from the gun)
for the next round of combat.  Perhaps Psyches would be good in this
endeavor as well.  MAYBE some ammo cards, though I prefer the additional
strikes instead.  Against Thaumaturgy decks, I usally like to use Flash
to maneuver to long even if I have the gun as I don't commit myself with
my first strike.  THe Sideslips help to Dodge that first strike or in a
pinch, prevent 1 aggro damage to me if it is coming.  I am thinking of
removing the Tastes of Vitae (I orignially had a lot more, but I have
rarely ever gained more than a few blood for them.

Reaction:
4x Telepathic Misdirection (to direct big bleeds at my prey since
I don't bleed for very much)
2x Spirit's Touch (love that maneuver it gives)
1x Precognition (probably should switch it to Spirit's Touch)
3x Enhanced Senses
8x Forced Awakenings
4x The Second Tradition

I feel that the 6 pure-intercept reactions are just the right number for
this deck as when I block, I usually send the offending vampire into
Torpor.

I welcome all kinds of comments as I really want to make this deck
viable.  It is very slow to play and I can't think of a way of making it
faster without changing the theme.  Maybe I need more Anarch Revolts?
When I originally constructed this deck, my group played where Anarch
Revolts were not cumulative (and we still do as I am only
SLOWLY convincing the group to play by tourney rules).

The deck wins when I can keep 2 cheaper vamps out with one big vamp and
my pool machine is working and I have Jack out.  People try to get rid
of Jack, I block and do lots of damage to their minions and untap for
the next guy to take his shot at Jack.  And a lot of the time, people
actually leave Jack alone because they can't commit resources while
still playing THEIR game.  Maybe this is a sign that I can include some
bleeding of my own.  Maybe replace a few of the Master cards with
Misdirections and throw in some Aire of Elation (since the whole deck is
Toreador and a lot of them have PRE).  Maybe I can sacrifice the use of
so many untapping mechanisms and try to get smaller-capacity minions
into the crypt and possibly play with skill cards??

Thanks in advance for your help.

Myron Mychal