The original First Team #21 had the issue that it overwhelming combat drawer was entirely dependent on T.F. MacNeil and anything like Blossom, Expulsion or even a Wyldstorm would cripple the deck. So we brought in a new team where the card draw and other benefits were a lot more spread.

The version of the deck I found looked cool but had all sorts of odd choices, so I've tweaked a few things. Notably, I removed all the prey and excesses of firearms to add more Gifts and some New Moons. I wanted to tailor this as a character-killing deck and that means prevent fox frenzies.

I went from choosing a tournament deck as that seemed like a good choice to publish to creating a completely overhauled deck I've never played. But it at least contains some fun interactions.

Characters

• 1 Elwood 'Slicer' Nedervitch (Crinos)
• 1 Carlotta Stearns
• 1 Leergo Cat Swallower
• 1 Charlene Brell
• 1 Melvin Spivey

Charlene is the best person to use for Sniper Fire, to keep her as safe as she can be. Obviously, Melvin is the main user of In the Public Eye.

Sept

• 3 Shotgun
• 2 In the Public Eye
• 3 Webbing
• 3 Psychotic Hallucinations
• 2 Rocket Launcher
• 3 Sneak Attack
• 2 Friends in High Places
• 3 Whispering Campaign
• 2 Consumption of Gaia
• 1 Unseelie Troll
• 2 New Moon
• 1 Caern of Rytthiku
• 3 Stuck Sideways

You have five firearms in your deck. Yes, did you know that Rocket Launcher is a firearm? Arguably you might want more

The gifts take advantage of the three Eater-of-Souls characters, leaving you with a lot of counters. Whispering Campaign counters pack defence, Consumption of Gaia prevents a lot of gifts, New Moon prevents fox frenzies whilst it's out (although your combat deck has answers to other frenzies) and Stuck Sideways not only prevents Umbral Escape but also may give you extra targets if you pick a secondary character. Troll gives you a backup in case Charlene is removed whilst Caern of Rytthiku gives you an answer if your targets become elusive.

Combat

• 2 Rally to Battle
• 1 Sniper Fire
• 1 Cornered Rat
• 2 Stunning Strike
• 2 Dismember
• 2 Whirlwind Defense
• 1 Iron Skin
• 1 Rapid Reload
• 2 Overextended Attack
• 1 Entrail Rend
• 1 Aggressive Bite
• 1 Dry Gulch
• 2 "'Eat Hot Lead, Dog Breath'
• 1 Lobotomy

The combat decks has four ways to draw combat cards. Which should mean that even if your opponent manages to avoid damage first time round, you can draw it back again. Additionally, Rally to Battle allows you to flip your characters sot that they can use Aggressive Bite to prevent Umbral Escapes (as well as other escapes).

The blocking strategy is reasonably comprehensive (for a round or two). Between hot lead, double Dismember and the Whirlwind Defences, all but the most dangerous attacks will be mitigated whilst a variety of unblockable or undodgeable damage is dealt. The Stunning Strikes are the main counters to frenzies, doubled in case of double frenzies.

Whilst  the deck strategy manifests quickly due the intrinsic power of automatic pack attacks, I think testing would give suggestions on improving this deck. I'm not sure what that might be at the time of posting.

Pentex isn't the power house that the garou (or vampires) are, but there are some combo cards that can shine if played right. One such is Wailer, a simple 4 cost character who can stymie any number of opponents merely by flipping. This deck combines that with all the boosters and and allies to make pack combat an evil, repeatable nasty. 

Your goal is to get allies into play and then pack attack any target you think that Wailer can successfully flip on. Then frenzy or otherwise flip Wailer; or use Roar of the Wyrm; so your targets have to just sit there and take the damage. Rage has always supported decks who control combat, and this is a good example.

Characters

• 1 Wailer
• 1 Barnaby Shadrack
• 1 Blossom
• 1 Fangs-Through-Eye

Wailer is the core of the deck, but Barnaby can actually help whack your targets with his submachine gun as well as drawing the rest of your pack and other tricks. Fangs is just a strong body, although he can give you Beast-of-War.  Blossom is there to run control.

Sept

• 3 Mass Pollution
• 3 Shapeshift
• 3 Sneak Attack
• 3 Enticer
• 3 Gooshy Gooze
• 2 Beast-of-War
• 3 Roar of the Wyrm
• 2 Stench of Death
• 3 Caern of the Unwashed Child
• 3 Infectious Touch
• 2 Unseelie Troll
• 3 Pentex Executive and Limousine
• 2 Kinfolk Small Town Cop
• 2 Greenpeace Assault Team
• 1 A Bus Full of People

One of the two large groups are cards which can frustrate your opponent and, as it happens, support your abuse of Wailer's ability. Caern of the Unwashed Child is especially powerful in this deck so it's worth having three to get it out first; whilst Infectious Touch is rarely as useful as it seems it should be. Shapeshift is rarely useful as a card, but I thought it was fun to try here to allow your to put Wailer back into Homid form, ready to frenzy again. Roar of the Wyrm is there as a backup option, but only Wailer can use it.

The second group are your allies. Pentex Executives and Limousines are a risk since they are juicy kills to make; but their ability to wreck havoc with caerns make them hard to pass up.

Three special notes. Sneak Attacks, in this deck, might be best once you have an alpha so you can use Ass Whuppin' Lynch Mob. And careful with Beast-of-War that you don't undermine your Wailer. However the combat resilience of the extra Rage is worth including it for.  The deck is also, at 38 cards, on the large side; but that's because Barnaby gives you a chance of drawing all those cards.

Combat

• 1 Hunting Party
• 1 Ass Whuppin' Lynch Mob
• 1 Shieldmate
• 1 Taking the Death Blow
• 1 Head or Gut ?
• 1 Beat Unmerciful
• 2 Lucky Blow
• 2 Overextended Attack
• 2 Reckless Swing
• 1 Surprise Attack
• 2 Off-balanced Attack
• 2 Stinging Wound
• 1 Dodge
• 2 Run Like Hell
• 1 Fancy Footwork

The combat deck is mainly low-Rage damage cards, with a smattering of 4- and 5-Rage cards. It differs from Gaia weenie because it only has one Hunting Party; generally you should end up with one Hunting Part or Lynch Mob in your hand after every mass combat. Instead it has a shieldmate, so you can bring in Wailer whoever they attack. Finally, it's "only" 21 cards - the 21st is Head or Gut? - for the same reason.

It's worth noting that you aren't expecting a huge lot of damage back: at full deployment, your opponent is at -5 Rage and -6 Gnosis. Most decks aren't prepared for that and will have to escape or go home (which is why you have a Beat Unmerciful, since Run Like Hell and Fox Frenzy may be the only two repeatable escapes they can use).

I remember using Wailer in a Wyrm weenie deck. It had fewer sept cards but its theme was largely the same. I used the Barnaby version here to show how impactful he is. It makes the deck slightly less reliable; but probably more effective.

The sept deck probably requires fewer cards and if you feel you can eliminate some after testing then go for it. You could tweak the combat deck to include some Head Wounds or simply Dry Gulches and maybe some more evasion; which would make it easier to defend prey or do more damage; but I'm not it's required with the Rage denial in your sept deck.

This is largely based on my favourite deck from the classic era. Most of the deck are commons, there's lots of disruption and it gives those rare frenzy decks a run for their money. Putting this deck here feels like I'm giving away my old secrets. Unfortunately, large packs tend to make Lackey unhappy so I didn't play it as much later on. 

The goal of this deck is similar to frenzy decks, but focuses much more on enemies. Against a low Rage enemy, especially against high Rage decks, you can play tactically without Stand Like a Fool. But if you have a Stand Like a Fool, there are very few decks which can survive a single round against you.

Characters:
Characters:

• 1 Carleson Ruah
• 1 Susan Anthony with a Kinfolk Small Town Cop
• 1 Frenar
• 1 Dharma Bum
• 1 Passer
• 1 Banana Split
• 1 Jubati
• 1 Cesare Sodalis

Carleson Ruah is the single most important character in your deck because it allows you to have a Renown 0 alpha who acts first. So no matter how big the other alphas, you get first dibs at whatever is in the Hunting Grounds and, if they attack you, they get nothing to show for it. The other characters are a combination of synergistic abilities and with the ability to play your sept deck. Banana Split is just nifty as an extra Stand like a Fool.

One thing to note is that this is a post-Wyrm version which means it can survive a Breath of the Defiled should somebody actually play it. 

Sept deck

• 3 Stand like a Fool
• 2 Sticky Paws
• 3 Ka Spirit
• 1 Flame Spirit
• 1 Wyldstorm
• 3 Friends in High Places
• 3 Sneak Attack
• 3 New Moon
• 2 Kinfolk Small Town Cop
• 1 Dreamspeaker Mage
• 2 Sky River Caern
• 2 Pentex Refinery
• 2 Pentex First Team 43
• 2 Chainsaw

In this version, I really went to town on those low Renown allies, all of whom are fantastic in a Hunting Party; but shout out to the Ka Spirits who might never die. New Moons are your answer to frenzy. Even though they are less effective against some Wyrm decks if you're playing by older versions of the rules, they are still really good in the deck. As a combat deck, it has the full suite of Sneak Attacks, Friends and stymies. Wyldstorm is in there because there are very few good decks for this silly card - it's often not that effective for you. There are a few top cards in there to give you extra protection.

Kinfolk Cops do double duty of attacker and a way of locking down opponents. More effective against some decks than others.

Combat deck

• 2 Hunting Party
• 1 Taking the Death Blow
• 1 Attacking the Wyrm
• 2 Bitch Slap
• 2 Off-balanced Attack
• 2 Stinging Wound
• 2 Run Like Hell
• 2 Lucky Blow
• 2 Overextended Attack
• 1 Surprise Attack
• 2 Reckless Swing
• 2 Dodge
• 1 Bite
• 2 Entrail Rend

I found that this deck always needed to be oversized, otherwise you wouldn't be able to draw enough cards. Whilst Attacking the Wyrm allows you more attackers, and is ideal for alpha actions, it can't be used with Sneak Attacks. You have three so you should always have one in hand, ideally the one you need. The Entrail Rends can be bluffed if you get through all your opponents playable cards. A lot of decks don't have a lot of low-Rage cards so that happens. But you also have a couple of Chainsaws. They are essentially there so you can finish off a large opponent, otherwise you would struggle.

Run Like Hell are for prey, and Taking the Death Blow are to protect your key characters (Carleson mainly, but also Banana Split if you haven't used his ability). 

I never came across a better weenie deck than this, but there are other things you can do with the combat deck. If you add more weapons (Flamethrowers or Shotguns probably), you can add cards like Head Wound or Beat Unmerciful (to counter Run Like Hell). You can also tweak the numbers and probably remove Sky River Caern for Visit from the White Fathers. And of course you can swap characters to include your favourites. Tim Rowantree was in one version.