Thoughts on: Narrow Minds vs. The Uncoiling

Narrow Minds seems like a very good card to have in any deck that doesn’t use bleed bounce. However I think that if you take a closer look, you will find that there are some arguments against playing with it. Basically there are two types of decks that will use this event card (based on what I have seen so far at tournaments).

The first being some sort of aggressive bleed deck that doesn’t use dominate or auspex like: weenie presence, pre-obf, weenie dementation, weenie obf (either computer hackers, or spying mission/night moves deck) and so on. Within this category I would suggest to make another distinction. You can either go with the standard 90 cards deck, or you can try to make your deck as tight as possible for a better card draw and maybe add some Ashur Tablets if you are afraid of running out of cards too early. My personal playstyle suggests the tightened version. In this case there are two important facts you want to keep in mind: a) since you want to tighten your deck, you will have only very few spots for master and event cards and b) you will rush for the end of the game as fast as possible. Because of a) you won’t find a free spot for Narrow Minds, since for any aggressive bleed deck the master section has to cover two things first: 1) efficient block denial and 2) sufficient blood support. My experience tells me that for a 60-75 card deck you should not play more than 13 master cards, assuming that you use some trifle master cards. At this point I have to make clear that I consider an event card to be a sort of master card. The reason is, that when you draw to replace action or action modifiers and you draw a master card you will have one less card in your hand that you can use to make a bleed successful! It's the same with event cards. With a deck that easily plays 10 cards or even more in a given turn you may end up with an annoying master/event jam. To cover point 1) and 2) you will most likely use the following cards: Pentex Subversion, Anarch Troublemaker, Misdirection, The Coven, Giants Blood, Life in the City/Vessel/Blood Doll. Let’s say we are going to play a weenie presence bleed deck. In this case we surely want to play: 2x Pentex Subversion, 1-2x Anarch Troublemaker, 1-2x Misdirection, 1x Coven, 1x GB and let’s say 4x Life in the City (better than Vessel because you can avoid hunting, maybe better than Blood Doll because it’s trifle). So you already used up ~11 master spots and you still didn’t cover the two other essential points: 3) prevent your prey from getting pool (due to villein, minion tap, blood doll, vessel, etc.) and 4) ensure yourself a better card draw (Dreams of the Sphinx, The Barrens for those of you who are afraid of contesting the Dreams, etc.). See what I’m saying? You have only 2 spots left and still have to face two unsolved points. At this pont you can either go with 2x Wash (wouldn’t miss this card) and leave point 4) unsolved or you can reduce your blood support and sacrifice 2x Life in the City for 2x Dreams of the Sphinx. So here comes the question: where is the free spot for Narrow Minds?

This question becomes even more interesting, if you look at fact b). Narrow Minds will increase the cost of bouncing bleed by one blood, which seems sweat, but imo doesn’t actually help your game. Since in the early stage of the game all vampires will be at full, or at least close to full capacity, the increased cost for bouncing a bleed will be only unpleasant for your first prey. I’d say that at least 75% of your whole game depends on how fast or easily you can oust your first prey. If your find yourself preying on a weenie auspex, or a defensive type of Ventrue! Grinder deck, your chances to win the game drop dramaticaly. Even to make that one vp will use up most of your resources and Narrow Minds won’t make the difference. When could Narrow Minds be of big help? I’d say only in the late game, when most of the vampires are on a low blood level, but this is exactly what you want to avoid! With a tightened, aggressive deck you never want to reach this stage of the game.

So, from what I discussed so far you can see that I am against the usage of Narrow Minds in decks like weenie presence, etc. But how about using The Uncoiling? You will still have a hard time to find a spot for it in your deck. The difference to Narrow Minds is that there are 3 good arguments to force The Uncoiling into your deck: a) The Unmasking, b) Anthelios and maybe surprisingly c) Dragonbound. The Unmasking can basically kill your deck. Imagine some Nephandi staying as a wall in front of you with a constant 1 intercept. Imagine a Khazar’s Peasant deck with The Unmasking in play. Nightmare. If you play a weenie presence deck, that one intercept will make your entrancements useless. You can’t mind numb, or use Anarch Troublemaker on allies. You can’t bypass them with a daring the dawn. A weenie dementation deck will have to play a stealth card besides confusion on every bleed action, but will be totally helpless against an imbued deck or a Carlton van Wyk. It’s often a metagame based decision, but ally decks with Unmasking are still pretty often seen at tournaments. Another event card that can really crush your game is Anthelios, the Red Star. An ever returning Minion Tap or Liquidation can really use up your whole bleed potential, leaving you with too little cards left in your deck for the Game Win, if you ever manage to oust this sort of deck. Don’t hesitate to burn Anthelios cross tabel! I mentioned Dragonbound because you will have 1-2 vampires in torpor almost every game, maybe even more. However, with a weenie deck this doesn’t have to mean that you can’t win the game, since you will often have enough pool to bring out more vampires. With 2-3 vampires in torpor, maybe one of them with a Fame and a successful bleed for 1-2 from your predator Dragonbound can be a real pain in the ass. Those extra 2-3 pool per turn will most often rob you of the opportunity to tranfer and bring out more vampires. Conclusion: though depending on your metagame I’d suggest to find a spot for The Uncoiling. This card can turn a possible disaster into a(n easy) game win and I wouldn’t think of burning an Unmasking or Anthelios as a corner case.

I think the discussion above will pretty much apply to a 90 cards version of any aggressive deck, too. The difference is, that you will be able to find a spot for Narrow Minds and The Uncoiling. This might make sense, because it provides you with versatility. While having the option to burn nasty events with The Uncoiling you still have the option open to play Narrow Minds instead. Since a 90 cards version won’t run out of resources too fast, you still can have a chance in the mid or end game. At this point the extra blood cost can make a difference so the usage of Narrow Minds can be justified.

The second deck type that may find usage for Narrow Minds is a non-auspex based wallish deck, which doesn’t have dominate available for bleed bounce. Such decks are: Ahriman, Ravnos (if it’s not based on Gabrin), Gangrel/Gangrel!, Nosferatu/Nosferatu!, etc. Narrow Minds can help these decks in two ways: a) less pressure from your predators side, since he/she won’t cycle bounce cards on bleeds for 1 (ofc. There are other reasons as well), and b) your prey will have a hard time bouncing your bleeds. Since you are most likely going to play Deep Songs or presence cards (I love Enchant Kindred in Ahriman decks) your prey will either have to take the bleed or loose 2 blood for playing that Deflection or Telepathic Misdirection. Since you can block his/her hunt actions, or other actions to gain blood and hurt him/her in combat this seems really sweet. A big pro for playing Narrow Minds here. However never forget to take a close look at the tables dynamic before you play Narrow Minds, since it effects the whole table. You may find yourself in a situation where it will hurt you more than it will help. Since I always play a copy of Dragonbound in such decks, I wouldn’t consider to play The Uncoiling.

My conclusion: in a bleed deck The Uncoiling is far more important than Narrow Minds, while most of the wallish or toolbox decks may find Narrow Minds a considerable card to play. This conclusion actually differs a little from what I have seen so far, but don’t forget that this article reflects my personal playstyle and therefore is entirely subjective. I hope you find this article interesting and if you have any thoughts feel free to comment. Helpful criticism is also appreciated.

by: Mephistopheles

Tournament Report: Fee Stake Budapest

Hi all!

I've just arrived back home and so I can finally write my tournament report. On Saturday we played our annual Fee Stake Budapest tournament (same as a Praxis Seizure in Camarilla infested cities) . I don't remember the exact attendance, but I think ~23 players registered for the event. As always we started too late. There was a special prize (a vtes table-cover) for the best anarch deck.

Here you can find the pictures taken at the scene: Fee Stake Budapest

On Thursday I tried to figure out what deck I should play, but I had to face the fact that I was too lazy to build a new deck. Fortunately I found a deck list among my e-mails, which was just simple enough for me. Since this deck consists of very few cards it was easy and fast to build:

Deck Name: No Brainer
Created By: Jakob Sievers, tweaked by Mephistopheles

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 9, Max: 19, Avg: 3,41)
---------------------------------------------
1 Adelaide Davis aus dem obf 4 Malkavian
1 Anarch Convert none 1 Caitiff
1 Apache Jones aus for obf DEM5 Malkavian Antitribu
1 Cassandra Langely dem 2 Malkavian
1 Fabrizia Contreraz dem pot 4 Malkavian Antitribu
2 Jackie DEM 3 Malkavian Antitribu
1 Marta aus dem 3 Malkavian Antitribu
2 Midget obf pre DEM 3 Malkavian Antitribu
1 Persia aus DEM obf 5 Malkavian
1 Uncle George aus DEM dom obf5 Malkavian Antitribu

Library: (69 cards)
-------------------
Master (13 cards)
2 Pentex Subversion
2 Misdirection
1 Anarch Troublemaker
1 Information Highway
2 Agent of Power
3 Dementation
2 Wash

Action (20 cards)
20 Kindred Spirits

Action Modifier (27 cards)
13 Confusion
7 Eyes of Chaos
1 Leverage
6 Mind Tricks

Reaction (2 cards)
2 Delaying Tactics

Event (1 cards)
1 Uncoiling, The

Combo (6 cards)
6 Deny

Well, this deck isn't really fun to play and after last weeks Kyasid stealth-yawn I think I won't play another stealth-bleed deck this year.

My first table was a little disappointing. I had a Gargoyle deck as a prey, followed by a Laibon Tzimisce ally deck. My grand predator was a Kyasid stealth bleed, while my predator was Guyla Ferdos with his Khazar Peasant deck. I had a bad crypt draw, since I only drew the "big caps" and the Anarch Convert, so I was too slow. The Gargoyle deck managed to bring a Tremere and a Gargyole into play. Even worse, the deck turned out to be a sort of wall deck. I wasted many turns and a bunch of cards on ousting it. My second prey, the ally Tzimisce turned out to be too strong for me, despite my successful removal of The Unmasking, which was played by Guyla Ferdos. I got ousted pretty fast, since the Guyla had plenty of Deflections and many little vampires. He could oust me without having the Khazar's Diary written, yet. 1 VP

The second table was like a wonderful dream. My first prey was an Amaravati based vote deck, which I ousted in like 3-4 turns. My second prey was Frankie, who play his Mistress Fanchon deck. I was totally lucky here, since I could delay his Ancient Influence and wash his Villein. My third prey was a Ravnos toolbox which didn't draw any of the superior Chimerstry vampires, so I could oust him, too. Before Frankie died, he went for a bleed with Govern the Unaligned, praying for a Conditioning to show up, which would have been enough to oust his prey. The Conditioning didn't show up. My predator was a deck built around Al-Muntaquim, The Avenger. Since I never blocked his bleeds (he bled for 4 pretty soon), he couldn't cycle his hand and Kindred Spirits provided me with enough pool. Face to face I had no problems winning the game. Sweep.

The third table wasn't too funny. I had a Nergal deck as a predator and a potence rush deck as a prey. I managed to Pentex Nergal twice which gave me enough time to try to oust my prey. It was a very hard work, but finally I managed to make my 1 Vp with my last remaining vampire.

Finals:

1st seat: BaluPanker with an anarch Toreador! bleed deck (undue influence + power of one).
2nd seat: Guyla Ferdos with a Khazar's Peasant deck.
3rd seat: Zoltan Panyik with an Ventrue! Grinder deck.
4th seat: Martin Major with dementation weenie's.
5th seat: Gergo Gyarmati with his Amaravati deck.

Seating order: Martin -> Gergo -> Zoltan -> Balu -> Guyla

As in the second round, I managed to make my first Vp pretty fast, however it took me more turns this time. Many bleeds got deflected into me and Guyla had an Ossian and a Gregory Winter in play. Both of them were hitting me. Since I had not enough pool for new vampires and 2 nasty allies attacking me I lost my power. Zoltan was well prepared against bleeds. My biggest problem however was the fact that every remaining finalist was better seated than me. If either Zoltan or Balu makes a Vp I have to make a second one. Even worse, I couldn't play on a long term since Guyla was close to finishing the book and had already 10 minions in play. Since I saw no way of preventing anybody from getting a Vp I tried to rush for my second Vp. Of course, Zoltan had enough bleed bounce. Zoltan made his Vp and made the mistake that he also wanted to oust Guyla, who deflected Zoltan's bleed and ousted me on his turn. After this the table timed out and Guyla won the tournament. What I didn't mention yet: there was a lot of table talk, that's why the table timed out.

Congratulations to Guyla!

by: Mephistopheles

Open Dossier: Ferenc "Frankie" Vasadi

The first player to give an interview on HUN FRAGMENT is possibly the most notorious hungarian v:tes player. Not only did he win the EC in 2007, he also won the LCQ at the NAC in 2009 and played both of the other finals, too. He is also a member of the v:tes Hall of Fame. If you want to know more about him read on!


How did you get to know v:tes?

Through a friend of mine, with whom we used to play other card games. I wanted to try out some new stuff.

What was your first own deck?

In my very first game I played with a Sheldon & princes bruise deck. My first deck which I constructed from lended cards was a Giovanni bleed deck. Then I made a !Ventrue vote deck with obt from my own cards.

What is your favourite memory?

There are several good ones, but the NAC 2009 was something special for me. Got to know very nice people, played excellent games and enjoyed every minute of it.

What is your favourite clan?

I rather like deck types not specific clans. If it can vote then it is a good clan :) From V:tM I like the Nosfratu very much. I also love the bloodlines, especially HoS, Salubri and Samedi.

What is your favourite deck type?

Somehow I always end up playing some big cap voter or bleeder. The last two years I always built decks around a 10 or 11 cap vampire. Vote gives versatility.

How would you describe your play style?

Robyn once said I'm a builder. Which is 100% true. I'm starting very slow and it takes around 5-6 rounds until I start doing anything. I can't remember the last times I played weenies or a rush deck.

Do you have an all time favourite a) vampire, b) library card, c) deck?




a: Gabrin, Nergal

b: Crocodile's Tongue

c: Gabrin block, Tor vote





How do you like the recent expansions?

HttB is excellent, but I was always a BL fan. I rarely play Laibon, so EK was not my type, but KoT was one of th best expansions so far.

Thank you Frankie for answering my questions! If you, dearest reader, want to see other questions asked here on HUN FRAGMENT feel free to e-mail me!

by: Mephistopheles

Tournament Report: HNC Nagymaros

I've just got the link for the pictures from the HNC tournament in Nagymaros. It is a lovely town next to the Danube and since spring has finally arrived we had a wonderful Saturday.

Thirty players gathered together at the local club house for this event which was just great, since basic mathematics teaches us that 6x5=30 :)

There were surprisingly many aggressive bleed and vote decks and I have seen only 2 wall decks, which is really rare around here. At least there was only one time out and most of the tables finished within 1,5 hours.

Here are some of the pictures taken at the scene:




If you want to see all pictures click here: Balazs Palfy's Picasa Webalbum

I've decided to play a Kiasyd stealth-bleed deck, which turned out to be a good choice. It has pretty good combat defence with Obedience, Stone Travel, Fae Contortion and Oubliette, can bounce bleed and can bleed for a crazy lot.

I had a very bad card draw during the first round so I couldn't oust my first prey. From all those combat defence cards mentioned above I didn't draw any when I needed it. After a successful rescue action and a Giant's Blood I tried to oust my prey, but all the cards I drew where those combat cards I would have needed the turns earlier. 0Vp

The second and third rounds where much better. During the second round I had a Lucian the Perfect deck as a prey, who ousted his prey with two actions (2x bleed 9)! Fortunately his next prey AI'd him on his next action. Two turns later I played a "heads up" against a Anarch Torador! bleed deck. I Sudden Reversal-ed his Coven, so he had to hunt. On my turn I tapped Isanwayen for an additional master phase action and Pentex-ed him. 1GW 3Vp's


I played my deck during the third round very slow. Lot's of Govern the Unaligned at superior and a Great Symposium helped me to get out 4 vampires. My predator was an Ahriman Wall deck, but fortunately for me, he was really busy with a weenie obf computer hacker. My prey went down to 6 pool, but played a Guardian Angel and a sport bike. He didn't have enough wakes though, since he never got the chance to cycle his combat cards (he played a Themistocles deck) 'cause of my Stone Travels. Meanwhile my grand prey ousted the weenie obf deck and some turns later the Ahriman wall too, but had to use 2 Daring the Dawns. Another well timed Pentex won me the game. 1GW 3Vp's

The Finals:

Gyula Erdos - Ventrue! (I name it Yawn 0.0) 1st seat with 3 Gw's 13 Vp's
Zsolt Cziraki - Teh Unnamed bleed deck 2nd seat with 3 Gw's 11 Vp's
Martin Major - Kyasid Stealth-Yawn 3rd seat with 2 GW's 6 Vp's
Zoltan Panyik - Weenie Pander-Caitiff vote 4th seat with 1 Gw 7,5 Vp's
Peter Botos - Protean-Dominate stealth-yawn 5th seat with 1 GW 5,5 Vp's

Seating order: Zoltan Panyik -> Zsolt Cziraki -> Peter Botos -> Gyula Erdos -> Martin Major

The finals began with a real assault. Zsolt Cziraki didn't have a third untap phase. After this, the game slowed down a little. I managed to bring my Priscus in the game and Peter had a bishop. Since Zoltan had only two Crusade's in the game we could always make 1 referendum to fail with the edge. I also could block Zoltan once with an Aura Absorption and drew a delaying tactics to save Peter. Three turns later I finally managed to oust Zoltan (I had to bleed him out from 24 pool). By this time Peter was still weak and Gyula already had 5 vampires. Peter tried to oust Gyula, who deflected all the bleeds, so he could oust me in his turn. Two minutes later Gyula won the game. Congratulations!

Here is my deck list:

Deck Name: Yawn 1.0
Created By: Martin "Mephistopheles" Major
Description: Yawn 6 at 3 stealth.

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 25, Max: 32, Avg: 7,08)
----------------------------------------------
2 Arcadian DOM MYT OBT chi for8 Kiasyd
3 Isanwayen DOM MYT OBT 6 Kiasyd
2 Omme Enberbenight cel dom MYT OBT7 Kiasyd
2 Pherydima obt pot DOM MYT NEC8 Kiasyd
3 Roderick Phillips March cel obt tha DOM MYT7 Kiasyd

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (13 cards)
2 Capitalist
1 Coven, The
1 Dark Influences
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Great Symposium
1 Pentex Subversion
1 Sudden Reversal
2 Vessel
1 Wash

Action (14 cards)
10 Govern the Unaligned
4 Gremlins

Action Modifier (22 cards)
3 Bonding
8 Conditioning
4 Seduction
7 Stone Travel

Reaction (20 cards)
7 Deflection
2 Delaying Tactics
5 Obedience
6 On the Qui Vive

Combat (7 cards)
7 Oubliette

Combo (14 cards)
7 Aura Absorption
7 Fae Contortion

I am still waiting for Gyula's deck list. I will post it as soon as I get it.


by: Mephistopheles

HNC Ranking updated

We held our second HNC tournament yesterday in Nagymaros. Thirty players attanded the tournament, which is really nice. I have updated the HNC Ranking already, however I still have to wait for the pictures taken at the tournament. I will write a detailed tournament report as soon as I get them.

by: Mephistopheles

Making use of HttB (2nd part): Pressing Shambo

Not only does Pressing Flesh feature one of my favourite artworks, I also love this card's name and ability. I always wanted to design some funny Samedi deck to play on Friday's Night v:tes in Veszprém or for any casual game where fun is more important than effectiveness. So I came up with this deck, which makes good use of two new cards: Pressing Flesh and Under My Skin. Morlock is the key vampire, since he has every discipline I use at superior and also +1 bleed, which is always nice. I don't think this deck really needs any explanation.





So here it is:

Deck Name: Pressing Flesh ver. 02
Created By: Mephistopheles

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 19, Max: 32, Avg: 6,41)
----------------------------------------------
2 Baroque NEC THN aus for obf7 Samedi
1 Kay Polerno dom nec pro 4 Giovanni
2 Macoute FOR obf NEC thn6 Samedi
1 Margaret Milliner dom for nec pot pre5 Giovanni
4 Morlock FOR NEC THN obf8 Samedi
1 Primo Giovanni dom nec pot 4 Giovanni
1 Raphaela Giovanni DOM NEC pot pre6 Giovanni

Library: (77 cards)
-------------------
Master (13 cards)
1 Carver`s Meat Packing and Storage
2 Charisma
3 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Fame
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Houngan
1 Pentex Subversion
3 Vessel

Action (5 cards)
5 Pressing Flesh

Action Modifier (10 cards)
4 Call of the Hungry Dead
6 Under My Skin

Reaction (10 cards)
5 Deflection
5 On the Qui Vive

Combat (17 cards)
1 Compress
3 Rolling with the Punches
6 Soak
5 Target Vitals
2 Trap

Ally (17 cards)
1 Gregory Winter
1 Ossian
14 Shambling Hordes
1 Young Bloods

Equipment (2 cards)
2 Camera Phone

Event (3 cards)
1 Dragonbound
1 FBI Special Affairs Division
1 Unmasking, The

The first version of this deck didn't include On the Qui Vive and Trap. I played a couple of games with this deck already and really missed the ability to wake. This deck is immense fun to play, but definitely not a deck I would take to a tournament. However in casual games it seems solid and I managed to make 2 vp's on a four player table with it.

by: Mephistopheles

Tribute to the Master

Yesterday was the birthday of the biggest man alive! Chuck Norris is 70!!! Happy birthday Chuck!

Check out this site: Chuck Norris Facts

by: Mephistopheles

Wednesday Night V:TES

Yesterday I played some games in the Phoenix Club in Budapest. We play there every week on Wednesday. Yesterday 25 players gathered together for a terrific v:tes night!

Here are some pictures:




Sorry for the bad quality, I took them with my phone and I really should get a better one.

Among the players where many new guys who started playing or joined our playgroup through one of the Progeny Tournaments, which makes me feel really good. It seems like v:tes life is flourishing again!

by: Mephistopheles

Hungarian National Championship (HNC)

The HNC traditionally consists of several tournaments unlike many other countries national championships. The basic idea is, that we play several tournaments and create a ranking, which takes in account only game wins and victory points. The final tournament is played by the top 40 players. The winner of this tournament is the National Champion. We also reward the first ranked player of the preliminary tournaments.

In 2006 5+1 tournaments formed the HNC, in 2007 and 2008 it was 7+1 and in 2009 it was 10+1. We don't know how many tournaments will form the HNC this year, yet.

In 2008 91 and in 2009 101 players attended at least one of the HNC tournaments, we hope for an even higher attendance this year!

This year the first HNC tournament was held in Szeged (20.02.2010) with a disappointing attendance of 14 players. Folks! We can do better!!! The next HNC will be in Kismaros (20.03.2010) with hopefully ~30 players like in the good ol' days.

by: Mephistopheles

Making use of HttB (1st part): Synesios based vote deck

No other v:tes expansion had such a big influence on me like HttB. Since I opened my first booster hardly a day passes by without having at least one new deck idea. Besides, that many bloodlines became really playable, this expansion also emphasises the "role playing part" of the respective bloodlines. Cards like Cheat the Fates, Great Symposium, Pressing Flesh or Shattering Crescendo are not only useful but create a certain "atmosphere".

This time my deck relies on two major "combos". First of all I will make use of Synesios' special ability, which allows you to gain an extra master phase action for one pool when you play a master: out-of-turn. When combined with a trifle master: out-of-turn like Wash this will result in two master phase actions! Check here: Synesios + Wash

The second "combo" is based on the new card Outside the Hourglass. While acting as a combat defence card for the malkavians it is the basis for an offensive combat solution for Synesios when combined with Domain of Evernight. Two aggravated damage before range will take care of almost any blocking minion. Combine this with some pieces of Mask of Thousand Faces and a Monster on Synesios and people will have a hard time blocking you.

This deck is mainly an aggressive voter deck. Don't forget that Synesios can use the Mask of Thousand Faces on Malkavian Justicar since it can be called by any vampire! The basic idea is to wash every master card from which your prey might get pool and oust him as fast as possible. In some situations you can also stand and defend and try to go for the one-turn-oust.

This deck reminds me a little of the old Rabbat decks, however it does have much more ousting power. I have already played with a 90 card version of it, but figured that a 75 card version with Ashur Tablets might work better.

I think it is amazing how one common card like Outside the Hourglass leads to a whole new deck idea. At this point I have to give credit to Péter Korsós. This deck was inspired by his similar version featuring Krassimir + obf-dom weenies and working as a kind of bruise and bleed deck. Since his version relied on drawing an obfuscate skill card on Krassimir, so he can use Mask of Thousand Faces, I thought that Synesios might be more reliable. Also I find it harder to defend against a vote deck than a bruise and bleed deck.

So, here is the deck list:

Deck Name: Synesios and Malkavians ver02
Created By: Mephistopheles

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 17, Max: 32, Avg: 6,41)
----------------------------------------------
1 Didi Meyers aus cel DOM obf5 Malkavian
2 Gilbert Duane AUS DOM OBF 7 Malkavian
2 Greger Anderssen AUS dom OBF pro7 Malkavian
1 Roland Bishop aus dom obf 4 Malkavian
4 Synesios obf POT PRE ser TEM8 True Brujah
1 Watenda obf 3 Malkavian
1 Zebulon aus dom OBF pro5 Malkavian

Library: (75 cards)
-------------------
Master (18 cards)
6 Ashur Tablets
1 Coven, The
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Pentex Subversion
6 Wash
1 Monster

Action Modifier (20 cards)
8 Domain of Evernight
3 Forgotten Labyrinth
3 Lost in Crowds
6 Mask of a Thousand Faces

Political Action (20 cards)
9 Kine Resources Contested
3 Malkavian Justicar
2 Neonate Breach
3 Parity Shift
3 Reckless Agitation

Reaction (5 cards)
5 Deflection

Combat (12 cards)
3 Amaranth
9 Outside the Hourglass


by: Mephistopheles

Upcomming Events in March

March 20 - National Championship: Kismaros

March 27 - Fee Stake Budapest

Progeny Tournament - Definition, History, Future

Approximately 2 years ago the number of v:tes players in Hungary reached a worrisome point. After having some wonderful years with a regular tournament attendance of 50+ players, we now dropped down to an average of 25 players. It was at this point that we decided to take actions to recruit new players. Our efforts resulted in what we call a Progeny tournament. So what is a Progeny Tournament?

1. It is an unofficial tournament where only new players are allowed to play. "New players" doesn't mean, that it's their first game. At this point they already did play a couple of times with friends.
2. Players are kindly asked to build decks from their own cards and not borrowing decks or a bunch of expensive cards from other players.
3. There is no real price support, so players have no interest in violating point 2.
4. Every attendant is given a bunch of useful common and uncommon cards as a gift (the cards are granted by the "old" players).
5. There is no, or only a very small entrance-fee.
6. There are multiple judges, normally one for every table. Time limit can be extended to 2,5 hours, so the judges can take their time to explain the rules or answer questions.
7. Finalists of a progeny tournament may not participate in such an event again.

This kind of tournament helps players to learn the rules, get some experience and have fun. Earlier I noticed that many newbies get frustrated when participating in a regular tournament, since they often get ousted real fast, or get stuck between 2 good players playing some kind of fun killing auspex wall deck.

Last year we held 2 progeny tournaments and we received really positive feedback. Some of the progenies are already playing in regular tournaments with noticeable results!

This year we held our progeny tournament on February 27. This time it differed from the earlier ones, since the majority of the players where participating in earlier progeny tournaments or had enough casual game experience, so we could returned to the normal 2 hour time limit. Also there were some players who used to play years ago and now started to play again. This time 27 progenies attended the event. We decided to fill up the remaining "3 spots" with old players: every round 3 different old players where seated to the 3 four player tables. They were allowed only to play a pre-constructed deck with the addition of 2 blood dolls and 2 wake with the evening's freshness.

This time the meta game was very combat heavy. One Jaroslav Pascek and two potence rush combat decks made their way to the finals. The other two finalists played a Tremere wall deck and an obfuscate weenie (spying mission, night moves, marked path) deck. The final was won by Juhász Gergő with the following deck:

Szergej Bell's winning deck
Created By: Juhász Gergő


Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 17, Max: 28, Avg: 5,83)
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2 Victor Tolliver CEL pot 4 Brujah Antitribu
1 Richter CEL for POT pre7 Brujah Antitribu
1 Jimmy Dunn CEL for POT 4 Pander
2 Amelia CEL POT PRE 7 Brujah Antitribu
1 Sela cel obt POT PRE6 Brujah Antitribu
2 Theo Bell (ADV) aus dom CEL POT PRE7 Brujah
1 Volker CEL pot 5 Brujah
2 Anvil dom CEL POT pre tha6 Brujah

Library: (89 cards)
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Master (16 cards)
1 Haven Uncovered
2 Fame
2 Potence
2 Vessel
1 Tension in the Ranks
1 Gang Territory
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Blood Doll
1 Fragment of the Book of Nod
1 Amusement Park Hunting Ground
1 Archon Investigation
1 Two Wrongs
1 Frontal Assault

Action (13 cards)
1 Public Trust
3 Legal Manipulations
3 Ambush
6 Bum`s Rush

Reaction (7 cards)
5 Wake with Evening`s Freshness
2 On the Qui Vive

Combat (53 cards)
6 Taste of Vitae
8 Increased Strength
1 Fractured Armament
2 Blur
1 Fast Hands
5 Psyche!
8 Pursuit
8 Thrown Gate
8 Thrown Sewer Lid
3 Side Strike
1 Stunt Cycle
2 Sideslip

Congratulations to Juhász "Szergej" Gergő!

After a while it will be hard to get new people involved. Currently we will try to use this event to unify small playgroups and try to get people to tournaments who prefer to play casual games only. Also players who play for a year or more, but feel uncomfortable at a regular tournament could find such an event interesting. We'll see what the future brings...

by: Mephistopheles