Is she underrated???

Hi folks!

I've just spent a couple of minutes searching the FELDB for any vampire I haven't played with, yet. I came across Louhi and I have to say that I can't understand why I never played with her. She has awesome disciplines, a cardinal title and a very good special. The supporting vampires seem nice, too. So what am I waiting for?

I've searched the TWDA for her and was really surprised to find only 1 deck which used her as the main vampire. Thinking back, I really can't remember any single tournament when I've seen Louhi hit the board.

So I am off building the deck! It will be some sort of Vote Deck with a multi action module using Enkil Cog and Rutor's Hand. I'll throw in some The Call's so I will not depend on the Villein for pool gain. Black Forest Base seems like a must have in it. I'll write a report after playing the deck a couple of times!

by: Mephistopheles

Thoughts on: Villein decks (?)

Hi folks!

One or two weeks ago I had a conversation with Ben Peal which was really inspiring. He actually called my TGB deck a "Villein Deck" more or less claiming that the Villein is actually your most important card. Next day I played my Hardestadt deck, which is a Villein Deck, too. This whole Villein Deck thing got really stuck in my brain and I just had to write this article.

In almost any Big Cap deck the most important thing is getting enough pool back in order to pop out 1-2 new vampires and still having enough pool to survive. In the good ol' times we played Minion Tap which got Sudden-ed from time to time. These days most of us play Villein which gets Wash-ed all the time, though the Sudden vs. Wash seems a much more difficult choice than the Minion Tap vs. Villein decision.

I tried to reload my memories which I have left somewhere in the deep v:tes ocean of my subconsciousness (poetry attempt: fails) and took a look at all my games I played with Mid/Big Caps. Almost every time my first Villein got Sudden-ed I couldn't make a game win, or even had a hard time to make a Vp. This is mainly true because the decks I played with didn't use any cards like Govern the Unaligned or Fourth Tradition: the Accounting. If you have no access to these kind of actions you will have a hard time to "play your game" once your Villeins got canceled.

Why am I writing all of this? There are two reasons. The first one being the pure and simple fact that entirely relying on Villein is bad. When building a deck you should try to avoid to plan your entire pool gaining mechanism on master cards. The problem is, that there are vampires who can't do better. In this case it is worth considering playing much more Villeins than you actually want to play in a game. Jay Kristoff's deck is a great example for this! You will find a second or third Villein soon enough to find your way back into the game after a Sudden-ed first Villein.

The second reason: Back at the NAC 2009 I've seen many big cap voter deck, which actually seem to dominate most of the day2 events and other "important" tournaments because of their very strong table control abilities. Most of these decks rely on an early pool gain. If you are aware of this you can easily tweak your deck against them. Play any kind of fast deck that can cause serious pool damage and throw in at least 4 Sudden Reversal's and a couple of delaying tactics. Save these cards to cancel their pool gain, even cross table if needed. You should be able to cut your way through the table!

The bottom line: Villein is a strong card, but planing your entire deck around it makes you vulnerable. Have alternatives or exploit this weakness! As always feel free to comment and share your ideas!

by: Mephistopheles

New Blog!

Hi folks!

I've decided to make a new blog, in order to keep my board games and v:tes separately. The link is: http://themongooseboardgameblog.blogspot.com/

Have fun reading it!

by: Mephistopheles

Tournament Report: Syrius Day Constructed

Hi folks!

I am back from the beach and just opened a beer. Finally I feel that the time has come to write the next tournament report. The event was held on last Sunday and 10 (!) players attended the tournament. I've decided to play my (currently) favorite deck: Hardestadt eats the world.

1st round: Me - Kyasid sb (István) - Valerius Maior (Ben Peal) - Lucian the Perfect (Frankie) - Samedi toolbox (Rudi)

The game started with me having the perfect library draw: Villein + Giants Blood. Too bad this combo was played by Rudi just before it was my turn. Well shit happens I said and villeined Hardestadt for 5 and discarded the Giants Blood. An early Ancient Influence was delayed by Ben, I don't want to have him as a cross table buddy again. :)

Otherwise the table was great for me. Frankie ousted the Samedi with two bleeds which was great for me, since the Samedi was the only opponent in combat on the table. My first turn when I took any forward actions ended with the Kyasid having 0 vampires left. Shorty later I killed all of Ben's vampires. Oh! Frankie's Lucian got burned by Rudi. Rudi was ousted by a top-decked Blind Spot + Govern + Seduction + Conditioning by Catherine du Bois. After I killed my first two Preys Frankie stood up to shake hands. 1GW 4Vp's

2nd round: Me - Samedi (Rudi) - Assamite sb (Alma) - Kyasid (István) - Guruhi vote/bleed (Fefe)

In the early rounds I got two Sudden's played on my first two Villeins. I had a bad draw and couldn't kill my predators first vampire right away. This left me in a weak position. Since the Samedi and the Assamite deck bloated like hell I had close to 0 chance for the game win. In first 30 minutes on the game I had to focus on surviving. Most of the time I was below 6 pool with two vampires in my ass that could multi act and had superior presence. I had to back oust in order to survive. After the back ousting I made my vp with a Reins of Power. After the vp I had to back oust again, I've seen no other way to survive a Kyasid stealth bleed. Unfortunately a Fae Contortion + Arms of the Abyss + Entombment killed Hardestadt. Shortly later I got ousted. 1 Vp

Final: Me - (Lucian) Frankie - Ariadne (Feri) - Tremere Wall (Milan) - Assamite sb (Alma)

The Ariadne deck had a very strong start. This wouldn't have been a problem for me if he hadn't played Carlton my arch-enemy no.1. Here I made the mistake that cost me the final. I let Lucian get loose and make his vp. The problem with this was that Ariadne stopped all forward pressure and focused on surviving. Lucian did oust Ariadne. After this I killed Lucian so I had a vp as well. I was the top seat in the final so currently I was winning the tournament. The big mistake I made is this: in v:tes always the guy wins who has no predator. By this time Milan was fully equipped and had 6 vampires. Even worse, Alma decided to be "The Kingmaker" and asked Milan not go forward. In exchange he will try to oust me with all he has. Milan agreed of course. Alma ousted me (fxxking Yoruba Shrine!!!) and of course Milan ousted Alma. Game ended with 2,1,1,1,0 vp. The bottom line: Milan had no predator = he won. MEA CULPA!

HNC Ranking updated

Hi folks!

I've updated the HNC Ranking. Who is going to stop Gyula??? I've just realized that 0,5VP is still enough to qualify for the final tournament (top 40). Organizers!!! We really should do top 25!!!

by: Mephistopheles

TWD: HNC Katalinpuszta

Hi folks!

I just got the deck list of Szilver's winning deck. I really like this deck, especially the crypt choice. I hope the organizer(s) will post on the newsgroup so it will find its way in the TWDA!

Deck Name: bruce de guy vote

Created By: Sebestyen Balazs

Description:

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 21, Max: 40, Avg: 7,83)

----------------------------------------------

1 Andrew Emory aus dom pot OBT5 Lasombra

2 Anton de Concepcion aus ANI DOM OBT POT9 Lasombra

4 Bruce de Guy AUS DOM FOR OBT10 Ventrue Antitribu

1 Jefferson Foster for tha AUS DOM6 Ventrue Antitribu

1 Jesse Menks ani AUS DOM FOR8 Ventrue Antitribu

1 Keith Moody DOM 3 Tremere Antitribu

2 Omme Enberbenight cel dom MYT OBT7 Kiasyd

Library: (89 cards)

-------------------

Master (12 cards)

1 Blind Spot

1 Demonstration

1 Framing an Ancient Grudge

1 Giant`s Blood

1 Gurchon Hall

1 Information Highway

1 Monastery of Shadows

1 Vessel

4 Villein

Action (11 cards)

1 Eternal Vigilance

10 Govern the Unaligned

Action Modifier (32 cards)

4 Conditioning

2 Daring the Dawn

1 Enkil Cog

4 Freak Drive

1 Kiss of Ra, The

2 Notorious Brutality

5 Seduction

8 Shadow Play

1 Shroud of Absence

4 Shroud of Night

Political Action (12 cards)

1 Ancient Influence

1 Ancilla Empowerment

1 Banishment

7 Kine Resources Contested

1 Neonate Breach

1 Reins of Power

Reaction (15 cards)

8 Deflection

2 Eyes of Argus

2 Obedience

3 On the Qui Vive

Combat (7 cards)

7 Shadow Body

Note that Shadow Body is important to get the Governs at superior!

by: Mephistopheles

Tournament Report: HNC Katalinpuszta

Hi folks!

So here is the tournament report I promised you guys. Altogether 18 players attended the event which is ok for this time of the year. The sun was burning us again, the temperature was around 35 degrees Celsius, so it was a tough day for playing v:tes.

I decided to play my Toreador AAA Grand Ball deck, which I had posted on this blog before. Though I still think it is a good deck I couldn't achieve the results I wanted.

1st round:

Me -> Shatter zhe Gate -> Kyasid sb -> Sebastian Goulet -> Nefertiti

The master cards all came wonderfully, I drew Zillah's Valley in the opening hand an

d an early Villein. The biggest problem was, that I didn't draw enough political action cards and once I tried to play got cross-table-delayed by Ben Peals Kyasids and another Political Card got Confusion of the Eye-d by my prey. I could have dealt with this if Ben hadn't been so fast. He got 2 fast and easy Vp's, since the Nefertiti deck didn't draw any Deflections (shuffle man!!!). Since I couldn't build up I was dead pretty soon. Ben won this round with a perfect sweep.

2nd round:

Me -> Esmeralda Fee States Rant -> Nosferatu Royalty with combat -> Kyasid sb (Ben again)

Great Crypt and nice card draw, but:

1. Got pentexed right in the beginning (Ben ofc).

2. After I got rid of the Pentex Ben delayed my vote.

3. Sudden Reversal on my Villein (Ben ofc).

4. Sudden Reversal on my 2nd Villein (Ben ofc).

Another round with 0 Vp's for me.

3rd round:

Me -> Omaya toolbox -> Cybele Shatter -> Baali Vote deck

I started with Alexandra. She got pentexed right away. LOL! Well I managed to get rid of the Pentex and could gain some pool with the Villein - Giants Blood - Villein combo. This helped my out to slowly build up. Since I didn't draw any Grand Ball I couldn't act. The Shatter deck finally managed to oust my predator. At this point I started to draw my Grand Balls so I could start playing. I had to remove another Pentex from Anneke. Finally I drew my own Pentex which I played on the remaining Annazir. Cybele did find her way to Golconda one turn earlier. After I played the Pentex two unblockable votes, an Anarchist Uprising and a KRC won me the game.

Yeah, 1GW 3Vp's which was enough for the 9th place. Well the deck seems good, but in the early game it is very vulnerable. A Sudden on your first Villein will most likely make the Game Win impossible. It is so much based on this card! Since you cannot use Govern at superior or Fourth Tradition with Alexandra you really need that Villein. The other problem I had with this deck is that it makes no fun to play it. I don't think I'll play it again. There are much more interesting decks in v:tes.

The final was really weird. Three Baali decks made it to the Final, two of them had Cybele as the star vampire, on featured Annazir which the other two players played also. The other two decks were Ben Peal's Kyasid deck and Szilveszter's Bruce the Guy deck. One Baali managed to make 1 vp, Ben ousted the two remaining Baali decks and almost ousted Szilveszter. Almost = not, so Szilveszter ousted Ben. Since Szilveszter was seated better he won the final with 2 Vp's, tied.

Congratulations to Szilveszter!

I will update the HNC ranking soon and hopefully write the other tournament report tomorrow.

by: Mephistopheles

Finally back home...

Hi folks!

After playing two tournaments this weekend I feel totally exhausted. Good to be back home again. Right now I feel to tired to write two tournament reports. I will write one tomorrow for sure and the other one will most likely follow on Tuesday.

by: Mephistopheles

Heat kills v:tes...

Hi folks!

Not much going on around here. For a week or even more it's ~35 degrees Celsius and the sun is shining and burning my flesh. So after work I prefer to go to the beach instead of playing v:tes or building decks in my apartment (40 degrees?!?). At least there will be two tournaments this weekend, so watch out for the report. Ben Peal will be there, too!

by: Mephistopheles

/is it really so hot, or is that me? ^^/

Killer Combo: Secret Horde + Parity Shift

Hi folks!

While I was thinking about decks I used to play and would like to play again I came over my nosferoyalty deck. It pretty much differs from the well known Zillah's Valley type-o-deck. I used to play it with:

4x Parthenon

4x Rumors of Gehenna

9x Secret Horde

18x Parity Shift

The main idea was to use the Secret Hordes for pool control and always be able to parity shift my prey or predator if I wanted to weaken him. Once I had my first prey down to less then 5 pool I just bled with all my vampires for 1 and meanwhile I shifted my grand prey. Parity Shift actually worked great when only 3 of us were left. On the 1 vs 1 I had three master phase actions and (no kidding) 30+ pool on the secret hordes, so I could gain 3 pool/turn. By this time I had 5+ vampires. Also Parity Shift is much better in the end game than most of you may think:

KRC on 1 vs 1: 3 pool loss for your opponent, 1 pool loss for you = 2 pool difference

Parity Shift on 1 vs 1: 2 pool loss for your prey, 2 pool gain for you = 4 pool difference

The only big weakness of this deck is called Delaying Tactics. Well, if you get delayed, take it like a man. :)

I think I will re-build this deck, but this time it will be enhanced with cards like Warsaw Station, Old Friends and Monastery of Shadows.

by: Mephistopheles

Poll Result: do you like HUN FRAGMENT'S new design?

Hi folks!

The poll is closed, here is the result. 39 votes have been cast in the poll.

• It is ugly as hell! 3 (7%)
• Try again kiddo! 3 (7%)
• I've seen worse... 23 (58%)
• I like it! 5 (12%)
• Well done! 5 (12%)
• You rock!!! 0 (0%)

I was hoping for a better result. Since most people don't like it, please add your comment, what kind of design you prefer. However, I might keep this one. I don't like any background pictures so that's not an option.

by: Mephistopheles

On demand: my TGB AAA deck

Hi folks!

Torrance Circle asked me to post my Toreador Grand Ball deck, so here it is:

Deck Name: AAA - yawn

Created By: Martin

Description:

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 31, Max: 44, Avg: 9,41)

----------------------------------------------

4 Alexandra ANI AUS CEL dom PRE11 Toreador

2 Anneke AUS CEL dom PRE10 Toreador

4 Anson aus CEL dom PRE8 Toreador

1 Francois Villon AUS CEL chi obf pot PRE10

Toreador

1 Tatiana Romanov AUS cel pre 7 Toreador

Library: (75 cards)

-------------------

Master (27 cards)

1 Archon Investigation

2 Dreams of the Sphinx

1 Giant`s Blood

1 Monastery of Shadows

1 Pentex Subversion

7 Toreador Grand Ball

7 Villein

1 Wider View

6 Zillah`s Valley

Action Modifier (11 cards)

1 Approximation of Loyalty

3 Awe

3 Perfect Paragon

4 Voter Captivation

Political Action (15 cards)

1 Anarchist Uprising

1 Ancilla Empowerment

2 Banishment

4 Parity Shift

4 Kine Resources Contested

2 Neonate Breach

1 Reins of Power

Reaction (13 cards)

2 My Enemy`s Enemy

2 On the Qui Vive

3 Second Tradition: Domain, The

4 Telepathic Misdirection

2 Wake with Evening`s Freshness

Combat (7 cards)

7 Majesty

Equipment (1 cards)

1 Heart of Nizchetus

Event (1 cards)

1 Anthelios, the Red Star

I didn't take it to a tournament, yet. After several rounds in casual games I have a very good feeling for this deck. It seems well balanced and I could win most of the recent games with it.

by: Mephistopheles

Thoughts on: numbers, numbers, numbers...

Hi folks!

I am thinking about some new decks these days. After reading the article "Cutting down a vtes deck" on extrala, I've asked myself some questions:

1. How much successful political actions do you need for a game win?

2. What bleed potential must your deck have to ensure a game win, before running out of bleed modifiers?

3. How much vampires do you have to torporize/burn to win? How much combat cards are needed for this?

It would be great if some of you guys could take a closer look at these points during the next few tournaments. Let's make some notes during the game! If you already have a statistic like this, please kindly mail it to me: major.martin.tibor@gmail.com

// The last time I played a Toreador Grand Ball deck I played only 6 political actions and won the game with 1GW 4Vp's. The deck started with 90 cards, after the first few games I reduced it to 80. Now I am seriously considering to cut it down to 70-75. //

by: Mephistopheles