Cybelotron

This deck was originally based on Erik Torstensson's Summon the Serpent deck, which won a tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2005. His deck mixes in Settites, and includes Temptation and Form of Corruption. The deck is a blast to play, but I felt the need to strip it down to its core: Cybele, Great Beast, and Golconda. I took out the Serpentis actions, replaced Vast Wealth with Magic of the Smith, added more stealth, dropped some unneeded masters, dropped the Minion Taps down to 4, and increased the Golcondas up to 4. I put the deck on the back burner for a while, as I was working on intercept walls, but I saw that Johannes Walch happened to make the finals of the 2007 Dutch Qualifier with a Cybele + Great Beast, so, emboldened by Johannes' succes, I figured I'd get back to work on my own version. Johannes' addition of Antediluvian Awakening was pure genius, so I included it in my version. The operation of the deck is as follows: you put a skill card on Cybele, who then plays Magic of the Smith to get the Soul Gem of Etrius, untaps via Truth of a Thousand Lies, then plays Call the Great Beast (OBF PRE SER). Cybele explodes, bringing out a brand new Cybele. The Great Beast bleeds, and the new Cybele bleeds with her special. On the next turn, you Golconda your Great Beast and play a skill card on the new Cybele. Cybele bleeds with her special, untaps via Truth of a Thousand Lies, then plays Call the Great Beast, and the Great Beast and Cybele bleed again. When you can (when you need to), you Minion Tap the Great Beast or play Redeem the Lost soul to cash in one of your blown up Cybeles. You also have some protection against Archon Investigation, as you're free to pump up Cybele's bleeds due to the Soul Gem, If they play AI, then they've paid 3 and given you a new vampire who can now bleed for 3 more. I think Johannes is right to have 3 Soul Gems in his deck instead of the 2 that my version and Erik's version use. I nearly lost the finals due to drawing both Soul Gems while sitting in between 2 intercept walls. I also think that Johannes is right to have 5 Golconda and 3 Minion Tap instead of the 4 and 4 that I use, since you'd rather get rid of the Great Beast and make a new one instead of Minion Tapping it and leaving it around. Antediluvian Awakening is an amazing card for this deck, as it gives you the ability to blow up Cybele when you need to, such as when Cybele is sitting in torpor, or if Pentex Subversion is played on her. Johannes' version adds in some bleed cards -- Sense the Sin and True Love's Face -- as well as Ossian (he found the ability to rush to be helpful). My version stays focussed on the combo, and is stealthier.