Call of the Hungry Dead: Zombie Paparazzi

I don't know why, but this deck of mine never fails to draw groans from the table whenever people realise I'm playing it. Must be because of the flash grenades. But anyway, it has proven to be a moderately successful deck which attempts to control the table and swarm bleed for VP.

Deck Name: Zombie Paparazzi
Created By: The Necromancer

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 12, Max: 19, Avg: 3.91)
----------------------------------------------
1 Nicomedes aus for nec vic5 Harbingers of Skulls
1 Prejudice aus dom nec 4 Nagaraja
2 Thomasso Ghiberti pot NEC 4 Giovanni
2 Primo Giovanni domnec pot 4 Giovanni
1 Margaret Milliner dom for nec pot pre5 Giovanni
1 Nunzio Giovanni nec pot 3 Giovanni
1 Cristobal Ghiberti nec 2 Giovanni
1 Kay Polerno dom necpro 4 Giovanni
1 Stephen Milliner necpre 3 Giovanni
1 Gianmaria Giovanni POT dom nec obt5 Giovanni

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (18 cards)
3 Vessel
1 Charisma
2 Perfectionist
4 Path of Bone, The
1 Dis Pater
1 Barrens, The
1 Vast Wealth
1 Nod
1 Powerbase: Cape Verde
1 KRCG News Radio
1 Morgue Hunting Ground
1 Tribute to the Master

Action (2 cards)
2 Sudario Refraction

Action Modifier (7 cards)
6 Call of the Hungry Dead
1 Conditioning

Combat (20 cards)
10 Concealed Weapon
8 Cold Aura
2 Trap

Ally (16 cards)
13 Shambling Hordes
2 Procurer
1 Ossian

Equipment (17 cards)
12 Flash Grenade
1 Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers
3 Camera Phone
1 Pier 13, Port of Baltimore

Event (3 cards)
1 NRA PAC
2 Unmasking, The

Combo (7 cards)
7 Spectral Divination



Primary Oust Method:
One would have noticed the Flash Grenades. These little pretties are important for the deck to work. Nobody likes being denied the chance to untap. The general idea is for the vampires to recruit Shambling Hordes, which are then either kept untapped as blockers, or used to rush potential problem vampires and hurl flash grenades into their faces(Sometimes even beating them up somewhat before blinding them with a grenade). If you have enough flashes, any celebrity will go home. Meanwhile, swarm bleed the prey with Camera Phones and Dis Pater. Don't worry if your vampires are blocked, pull out a concealed flash grenade, set range to long with Cold Aura, and let the grenade do the work. Sometimes I even find that I don't have to use the grenades because people are so fearful of not untapping that they would rather not block. The cute thing about Flash Grenades is that they trump Strike:Combat Ends cards(except those that allow the vampire to untap after combat like Majesty). Dodging is one way to avoid the debilitating effects of the grenade, but I think on the whole you're less likely to encounter dodges than S:CE. By careful application of a few grenades(Either through blocking/being blocked, or delivery by shambling horde), you can slow down either your predator or prey sufficiently and give you time to keep the bleed pressure up. Oh and the Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers is useful in this deck, since you cause vampires to remain tapped.

Secondary Oust Method:
There isn't much of a Plan B to fall back on in this deck, so maintaining forward momentum is important. I suppose you could try to beat up your prey's vampires with the Hordes, but many a good player will have combat defenses to defeat unsupported zombies. You could also try playing havoc with the table by tossing grenades at vampires belonging to Methuselahs other than your prey and predator. This could actually be beneficial, as if you can successfully stall the table and prevent anyone from getting VP, it buys you some time to bleed out your prey.

Plan C:
Uhhh.....bloat as best as you can?

Strengths:
-Flash Grenades are a great deterrent. Ends combat and punishes your opponents in their next turn.
-Ability to control table. Strong psychological influence. Sometimes you can bluff your way through while bleeding with threats of not untapping, even if you don't have a grenade in hand.
-Strong against decks that have only a couple of big capacity vampires and hence can deny a greater proportion of actions.
-Shambling Hordes with the Unmasking are useful for blocking all the typically important +1 Stealth actions.

Weaknesses:
-Needs to set up a bit. Hence likely to suffer heavy pool loss from stealth bleeders in the early game before being able to shut their vampires down with Flash Grenades.
-Equipment hosers are obviously a problem for this deck. Count Germaine, urp... Or Terror/Frenzy.
-Shambling Hordes can be twarted in their attempts to throw grenades by Immortal Grapple(though perhaps this is mitigated somewhat by the fact that they still hit for 3 or 4 with a hand strike).
-Possible problems against Ally decks or Imbued since the grenades only end combat against them but don't tap them or force them to remain tapped.
-Pool gain tech is nothing much to be sniffed about.