Tactics: Harmless until Proven Deadly.

This is partly a deck-design tactic but also a playstyle. The idea is simple: Convince the table that you are not particularly dangerous, then turn around and break that assumption.

It's hard to do with certain deck types. Ventrue Lawfirm, AAA, BB's Combat, Tzim War Ghoul-tacular and other well known decks with clear powerful offence capabilities are much harder to use for this purpose. To exploit this you need decks that don't seem to have the raw power.

My own decks, some tested on JOL, that fit this category are: Mexican Sl*ts (when played less aggressively), Treaty of Bleedbach (AUS-SER-THA deck) & Nos Princes Hate you All are decks that I would fit into this category.

Treaty of Bleed or the Cryptic Treaty
The Treaty of Bleed deck utilises Sundevere & Tremere Vamps of moderate capacity in a hybrid deck of a Cryptic Mission Deck and a Corruption Counter-Revelation of Desire bleed module. The Crypt contains Sundevere (AUS SER THA others, +1bleed, opt burn 1 blood for +1bleed) and a collection of lower-priced Tremere (Martin Frankel, Valois Sang, Eugenio Estevez, etc). Treaty of Laibach is INCREDIBLY important to the long-term functioning of this deck, but with a number of copies, 7+ Ashur Tablets and Specialisation will allow you to burn through the cards you don't need right now to recycle them for later. There is an active Auspex Reaction module, primarily flick and bleed reduce; there is limited defence against votes other than bloating and some quirky hitback (Cobra Fangs in particular... bye bye Ossian...).

It also contains a number of other blood-denial cards and minions. Young Bloods, Impundulu, Gregory Winter, etc. These feed back into the third angle of the deck: Temptations, Form of Corruption and Heidelberg Castle.

Yes, I know that this is an 'unfocussed' deck in the sense it does many different things. But all of them are attempting to leverage the same synergy: Thaumaturgy removes blood, Corruption likes low blood and people don't worry too much about Corruption Counters.

The Cryptic Mission module facilitates the Corruption Module because of:
Weigh the Heart
Type: Action Modifier
Requires: Auspex & Serpentis
[aus][ser] +1 bleed. After playing this card, you cannot play another action modifier to further increase the bleed for this action.
[AUS][SER] Only usable as a (D) action is announced. If this action is successful, put a corruption counter on a minion controlled by the target Methuselah (after resolving the action).

You take Cryptic Mission and play Weigh the Heart, usually targeting a minion that is unlikely to ever be stolen by a card like Venenation (6+ cap). Many people do not block this action because it is mostly harmless. "What harm will there be in gaining 1 corruption counter on an 8cap?". Where this deck gets dangerous is when there are three or four corruption counters on your prey. If you can't Cryptic Mission, then a 1-bleed will often do the trick and again people tend not to block; it's even better if they reduce since the action is successful, triggering Weight the Heart, but it does no damage (and is once again, harmless).

Revelation of Desire
Type: Action Modifier
Requires: Serpentis
You cannot play another action modifier to increase this bleed amount.
[ser] +1 bleed.
[SER] Burn one of your corruption counters from a minion controlled by the target Methuselah to get +3 bleed against that Methuselah.

Play Advice: Start slow. Recruit an ally here. Ping a mid-to-large cap with Cryptic Missions, NOT allies (unless its an obvious main angle to your prey's deck) there. Probe-bleeds for 1, sometimes with Weigh the Heart. Always keep one or two minions untapped, so you appear defensive. Put Temptations on non-key vampires of your prey, not on their Main Vampire. Put the Form of Corruptions down only on a Speed Bleed predator until the middle game. Don't look nasty, just look wacky and unexpected and a bit bloaty. Remember: Cobra Fangs on your predator or prey is a nice trick to tangentially engage in a bit more Blood-Denial by forcing them to Rescue. (Plus playing Cobra Fangs at (ser) on your Prey's Ossian is always hilarious...)

Pros: 1) Placing the corruption counters tends not to be blocked. 2) This is a form of 'responsible bleeding' - you can't hit the wrong player for a bleed of 3+ because of the "against that Methuselah" clause. 3) Sundevere can land a bleed for 6 with a cardless action using 1 action modifier that costs a total of 1 blood. Heck any of your Tremere's (after their Treaty) can do this sort of bleed for 4...

Cons: 1) You get to do this about once or twice before people suddenly realise and turn on you. Hopefully you're set up already... or this will end badly. 2) Metagames with lots of Ashur Tablets can hurt this deck; being able to recurse the right balance of cards into your library is very important and a major part of playing this deck.

Nos Princes Hate you All
This is another variation on a Nosferatu Princes Deck. It's a combat variation that exploits Archon and Anathema. Yes, it contains Parity Shift (4 copies), KRC (4 copies)... but since you are not dropping them frequently, people tend to view the deck as more harmless than it is.

The primary mechanic is to wait for people to spend their pool, you included, then pick their more vulnerable mid-to-large cap minions to make Anathemas before you send in the Air Support Archons (Carrion Crows, Aid from Bats, Mighty Grapple for Handstrikes and spare Presses to continue). Explode one or two minions and suddenly your pool is much healthier and you can begin working on your next 7+ cap vampire.

Like all static vote decks, it suffers when it is in a heavy-static vote Meta; that's just how it is. So do what all VTES players need to learn to do best... Deal, Deal, Deal. Try to choose minions controlled by your Prey, but if needed choose your Predator; don't screw your Cross-table unless there is no other way for you to get the pool you need.

Like many Nos Princes deck it also requires setup time. If your setup time is rough (and it can be very rough), that ironically works to your advantage because people will let you have an Archon to terrorise your predator... and by the time they realise otherwise it's hopefully too late.

It's a G2/3 Crypt. Casino, Cock Robin, Nikolaus, Calebros & Sundown (ANI POT and a burn a blood for a vote ability... he also makes a nice Archon). They are just on the expensive end (7.75 cap average crypt) but with Nikolaus, Fourth Trads and Fifth Trads you can manage both pool and blood cost. Plus don't worry if you get low, one Anathema can net you 6+ pool and if you can back that up with a Parity Shift its even better.

Play Advice: Play it weak, play it grudgingly, play to let your predator cycle a little stealth and land a couple of bleeds on you... don't go after your prey early. You want to look like a predator that could have teeth but is too busy worrying about managing their own crap to be a table threat.

Pros: 1) Medium builder with a weak start; 2) Your weak start adds to your "I'm not dangerous" argument and is enhanced by letting your pool stray into dangerous territory (<=6 pool kind of dangerous); 3) Playing it easy and not letting your prey go without some pressure (bleeds for 1, Army of Rats, etc) convinces people that you aren't a useless predator... and someone they may prefer to have as a predator Cons: 1) Slow start... you can get annihilated by big bleed or swarm bleed in the early part of a game. 2) You can be out-punched without too much effort, but then that deck needs to be a dedicated combat machine... 3) People see Nos Princes and think Parity Shift.

Conclusion
The trick to this style of play is: Slow starts, build gently, appear competant but not dangerous. You want to give everyone a reason to keep you around and no reason to oust you (beyond being someone's prey). Convince the table that you'll keep some pressure on your prey, but that you are a very useful barricade for their Grand Predator. Then turn around and unleash. Open the full force of the secrets you've been keeping and go after your prey.