Just a really brief note on the last tournament

Hi folks!

So I played a tournament last weekend with Eze again. I won't go into details, just a note here:

• I played 6 rounds with Eze in the last 2 tournaments
• I play 5 copies of Eze in a 12 card crypt
• I shuffle the crypt like it should be shuffled
• 3 out 6 games Eze did not show up in the starting uncontrolled region
• 2 out of these 3 times Eze was only the sixt vampire.
• 3 out of 6 games Eze showed up.
• I made 3 Game Wins out of these 3 times...

So when playing  star vampire decks like Eze I will go for 6 copies + 3 Wider Views in the future. It is a billion times better to have 4 Ezes in the starting crypt than 0.

by: Mephistopheles

Registered for the EC. Feeling strange.

Hi folks!

Life and its ways are pretty interesting. After last years EC I was very enthusiastic to gather a team and start organizing EC Budapest. Milán Horváth, Zoltán Németh, Tamás Bank and myself started our work. I had an easy time back than, because I was pretty much stagnating in my job. The economy was so bad that there was only little work to do. For those of you who do not know it already, I work in a family business. We are importing decorations and all kind of things for interior design from China. All went fine, we found a great Hotel, set up the very basics for the website and things were about to get serious. Right at this time my father whom I work with basically retired so I had to run the company on my own. Original plans were that I'll have to attend the Canton fair in China, which would be exactly at the same time than the EC. 

Life got pretty stressful suddenly. Parallel to all this I lots more and more interest in the game itself. Main reason for this is because I miss new ideas. I felt that whatever idea I have is just something I already played before. I think I really missed a new set. I am the kind of guy that has 1 or 2 (tops) ideas for a set that I find interesting enough to play with. There were other reasons as well, but I don't want to go into depth with this.

So I made a pretty hard decision. I resigned as NC for Hungary, quit the EC team and basically totally stopped playing v:tes. I don't regret this step. When people asked about this I always told them that one day I surely will return to the v:tes life, I just needed a really long break from all this. I think I had a burn out syndrome. 

Life always has its surprises and one of these was when we were offered the opportunity to take over one of our earlier customers, a wholesaling company in Budapest. This was actually the chance we were really looking for so we said yes. Well all the work that had to be done there was down to me since my partner (aka my father) retired to Thailand right before we signed the contract. I had three horrible weeks in September with 70-90 hours work a week and I drove like 10000+ kilometers. But as everything it also had its really good sides!

Since I spent so much in Budapest now I grabbed the chance to play a little v:tes here and there. All I had was my Eze deck, the last remaining deck I had fun playing with. At this point I ran into an awesome group of really old v:tes players. Talmi, Spider, Spáda and Csabi invited me to join them. It was and still is really fun to play with these guys. This was an experience I really needed. 

Now that I successfully opened the new shop in Budapest I have some free time again to spend and since I am in Budapest 3 days a week I can finally play v:tes on a regular base again. At this point I took a look at how the EC is going and I realized that these guys made an awesome job. Tibor Mórocz jumped in the team and with his experience and knowledge was a great boost to it. 

With the opening of our new shop the Canton Fair issue got moot so I'll be at home during the EC. Now here comes the part why I feel really strange. I registered to the EC of a game I just jumped out earlier from. Strange feeling. I am not qualified yet, so it's all down to the Last Chance Qualifier. Honestly I am preparing myself for the Silence of Death side event on Saturday and the First Chance on Sunday.

I would love to be the active and creative guy I used to be in v:tes and play the game way more often in 2013, but my main problem is still lingering around. I've been spending the last days thinking of decks to build. Nothing really changed: each idea I have is just the same old stuff again. It might be with 12 different vampires and 90 different library cards, but the way you play a certain deck type is just the same thing again and again.

Well at least I can see you guys soon again. There are many people out there in the v:tes community I am really looking forward to grab a beer with and just talk about whatever comes to our mind. See you guys soon!

by: mephistopheles

Currently I am like...

Y U NO SORT YOURSELF?

Tournament Report: ECQ Belgrade

Hi folks!

I am writing this from the venue in Belgrade. Currently "the 5 five guys" are playing the final. As I wrote earlier I played my Ariadne toolbox deck, which was a terrible choice. Here is the very brief report since there is almost nothing to analyse.

1st table:

My predator was Peter Botos with his Trujah bleed deck. My prey played a Kiev circle Blood Brother deck. I blocked his first action an Unwholesome Bond and he aggravated his hand strike so I went right down to torpor. I counted on that might happen and took the risk. I did not count on him diablerizing me sacrificing his vampire since his prey had the vote lock. With my only vampire gone Peter made a fast vp and swept the table in like 25-30 minutes.

2nd table:

My predator was a Lucian the Perfect deck. He Brainwashed me, Pentexed me and when I rushed him he played Obedience. Oh and he bled me for 1000000000000000 pool. Played 5 minutes.

3rd table:

Another disappointing table. Yay! My prey is an imbued, so I can not rush him with Deep Song. My predator is a Nakthorheb deck. So I rushed backwards, but never saw an Aid from Bats. He caused me quite a lot of damage. His predator was an obf-pre stealth bleed who caused him a lot of damage but got Archoned (Adana di Sforza got burned ^^). The  imbued was fast enough to oust both of them. With all that pool loss I could not recover to deal with the imbueds who escaped from torpor by burning two convictions. 

So I finished with 0 VP total. Ariadne was just a bad choice. Shit happens. On the other side I met many nice guys, had great conversations and felt really good. Belgrade is a cool place to play v:tes, thank you guys for your hospitality! 

by: Mephistopheles 

Arrrgh!

Hi folks!

So here we have this vampire: Myrna Goldman. A wonderful vampire for a toolbox deck or wall deck. She can use Abbot, Sense the Savage Way, Cat's Guidance, Deflection and Obedience or Faerie Wards as an bad ass defensive module, while using the uber card Gremlins for destroying equipments or an Archon save bleed 3 at 1 stealth. It is just too bad that she has no city title for playing the Papillon. Oh, and of course Isanwayen is group 4, so no good master tech is available. Group 5-6 doesn't have any city title.

She would be so my new fav. vampire if she had at least an archbishop title or (what I would prefer) would be group 5. This is not the firts time that group 6 pisses me of like hell. Or at least Isanwayen should have been made group 5. Damn it!

by: Mephistopheles

Why is it so hard to get him???

Hi folks!

This vampire is wanted for play! It seems he his hard to find and even harder to obtain. Damn!

by: Mephistopheles

Impressive way to spend a day

Hi folks!

I've just spent more than 2 hours to build a deck and find and sleeve the cards just to realize that the deck sucks and that I don't really want to play with it. 

by: Mephistopheles

I feel gray

Hi folks!

With totally nothing going on regarding v:tes these days I simply feel gray. Thus the change in the blog design. By the way, could any of you guys tell me, how many cards I should draw at the beginning of the game? It's been awhile since I played the last time...

by: Mephistopheles

f.y.i.: moving away from Budapest didn't really help my v:tes career...

Repulsive in its splendid beauty

Hi folks!

Do you know the feeling when you just hate something without being able to explain it? You just look at it and think: "oh my God! Thats so...(insert any negatively loaded word here you want)!!!". Well I have this feeling whenever I hear about a "Girls will find" deck winning a tournament. Like here: Northeast Regional Qualifier 2011 

While I can truly see the idea behind the deck and I have to admit that it is clever, effective, innovative it still gives me the creeps. I shouldn't blog this late, but I had to get rid of this: I hate "Girls that find" decks. Fortunately nobody plays such a deck in Hungary.

by: Mephistopheles

I'm running out of tournament deck ideas...

Hi folks!

Since the NAC I've spent many hours thinking of new tournament decks to build, but I found it hard to match all those criteria I have developed:

1. I need to be able to rush vampires.

2. I need an effective combat package.

3. I need to be able to generate (lots of) pool.

4. I need either modest intercept or bleed bounce.

5. Ousting power should not rely only on torporizing or burning vampires.

So far I have three decks that fit these criteria.

1. Brujah Alastor

Pro: Very versatile, but still reliable. Has massive pool gaining ability with Parity Shift, Voter Cap and Grooming. Rush ability and Combat is fixed, saving resources. Another great advantage is that the deck can produce 3-4 stealth on critical actions. Second Traditions is awesome of course. Ousting Power is supported by perm +bleed through New Carthage, also Parity Shifts help to reduce your preys pool pretty fast. Can achieve total vote lock.

Contra: Can be very vulnerable in the first ~30 minutes. A bad draw in the early stage or an aggressive predator can ruin your game.

2. Nana Buruku + weenie Animalism

Pro: Many minions, that can cause a lot of damage either through combat or by bleeding. Very effective in combat. Ashur tech saves resources and provides you with pool. Also PB: Montreal and a hunting weenie gives an additional 2pool/turn when needed. Has access to some intercept via Animalism. Very good ousting power. Maybe my best deck for the 1GW 3 VP strategy.

Contra: Can have serious trouble when facing other decks with combat options like Akunanse or Apparition Ravnos. Very vulnerable to cross table ousts which are likely to happen. Combat Ends stealth-bleeders can be a serious problem, too.

3. Hardestadt eats the world

Pro: Can become very overwhelming. Diablerizes vampires, so whats dead, stays dead. Can produce large amounts of pool if the Amaranth - Villein engine starts working. Though it lacks intercept it can bounce bleeds, which is great. Very fun to play.

Contra: It's a star vamp deck, which is always a vulnerable deck type. Carlton is a real issue. Has problems against Animalism combat and decks running plenty of prevent cards.

Right now I am looking for another deck that could become No. 4 in the list. Any ideas? Potential candidates are Akunanse and Blood Brothers, though both have disadvantages: Akunanse can't handel S:CE and isn't weenie enough, Blood Brothers seem to lack stability: no bounce and Gestalt isn't really my favorite Intercept source to play...

Feel free to comment. Any ideas are highly appreciated!!!

by: Mephistopheles

v:tes isn't digital enough???

Hi folks,

you all know whats happening so you don't need my blog to announce it, too. But I have to comment on this. As you may or may not know the company actually running v:tes isn't really into paper related material. Printing stuff just won't fit in into the business plan. Or whatever. Profit? Yeah the last two expansions were selling good, but somebody maybe misses another 0 from the end of the number...

I think any explanation like "oh we can't support the game enough, so we have to stop..." is just fucking bullshit. 'nough said.

I do believe however that this game and community is like a big family and that we guys should keep playing, keep organizing tournaments, keep writing our blogs and keep the game alive! At this point I want to also thank people like Robyn Tatu, The Lasombra, LSJ, Oscar and all those I forgot for the time and energy they have put in this game. Let's keep up the work a little as a hobby and show the world that the BEST CARD GAME EVER TO BE MADE doesn't need a company in order to be played!!!

by: Mephistopheles

Tournament Report: HNC Szolnok

Hi folks!

So here is a brief report from Saturdays HNC round in Szolnok. We were only 14 players which is a very low number when compared to the 50+ players we had in Szolnok 2-3 years ago. I've decided to play my Broken Brujah deck because I just love playing it.

1st table: my face got stuck between two fists

Here's what happened: my prey played a potence princes deck and my predator played a Beast + potence/dominate weenie deck (which was my deck actually, I've built it for him the previous night). I've just got beaten to death before I could do anything. 0VP

2nd table: Dmitra in control!

This was a good one. My prey was a dominate bleed deck without intercept and combat defense. My only cross table "ally" (4 playa table) was a Lutz deck. My predator was a Shambling Horde deck. This went pretty easy: I managed to become an Alastor pretty soon and fetched an Assault Rifle which just pwns Shambos. I influenced out Karen as a second vamp and played a New Carthage. I let my prey play all his Governs at superior to make sure he has a bunch of pool and feels save. Why you ask? To play 2 Parity Shifts on him in 1 turn and a 3rd one next turn! With +12 pool I influenced out Carlak. My prey of course could oust Lutz which was fine for me because I've got the total vote lock. From this point on I did torporize at least 1 vampire in my turn and since the two remaining players tried to play against me I could start playing those second trads to kill at least 2 minions/out-of-turn. My first target was Le Dinh Tho whom I diablerized. Pretty soon everybody ended up in torpor and a Dragonbound was the final word... 1GW 3Vp's

3rd round: time is ticking away

Another part of the Pentex Subversion Love Story. With New Carthage and a Parity Shift in my opening hand and 3 transfers to go (dreams included in this) I've decided to start which Karen Suadela. Well, as soon as she popped out my predator (Nadima Wall Deck) pentexed her. By the time my Dmitra hit the board Nadima had already 3 Raven Spies on her. Well, 'nough said. I was happy to stay in game until we timed out. 0,5 Vp's

With an altogether 1GW 3,5 Vp's I've finished 7th place cause of worse TP, Ben Peal had also 1GW 3,5 Vp's. Of course the 5th place had 1GW 4Vp's, so I missed the final by 0,5 Vp's. Again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again...

The final was won by Guyla Ferdos and his potence princes deck. Didn't memorize all of the final but Colos (Zsolt Cziraki, playing Virstania + Gargoyle swarm bleed) could have easily won it with 1GW 4Vp if he had made a deal brake. He decided to keep his word. I held him in the highest respect for this!

by: Mephistopheles

/pictures will follow/

by: Mephistopheles

I need a divine inspiration!!!

Hi folks!

As most of you might know the ECQ Bratislava is coming up. I still have no deck, but I have to build one today since I will be away on holiday until Saturday. So 'nough said, lets go build a deck!

by: Mephistopheles

/after 1 month without v:tes an ECQ is the first game I will play... /

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? ^^/

Tears of Mephistopheles: No path for the Samedi

Hi folks!

As some of you might know, I am a big fan of the bloodlines. Since HttB I constantly think of building new types of Samedi decks like my Pressing Shambo deck. I don't want to build any well known deck around them like the Reanimated Corpse, or turbo Baron deck. While trying to figure out new ways of using Samedi I realized that there is one card missing like hell: a Path!

Samedi's greatest problem lies in blood management. You have Houngan, which is great, but surely not enough. While Samedi have awesome cards, like Under My Skin, Rigor Mortis or Compress, most of their goodies cost blood. Since they cannot bounce bleeds and can't generate enough intercept, you need to rely on Vessels, Blood Dolls or Villeins to get some pool. This will leave your vampires with only 3-4 blood left or even less. From this blood amount you need to be able to pay for their cards. I am pretty sure you will run out of blood very fast.

This is the point the Path could come handy. You could play those combat cards "for free" to get blood back from taste of vitae, or you could use that Under My Skin to stealth over any blocking minion when going for a restoration. Let's take a look at two other Path cards that were released in HttB!

The Ahriman got the Path of Harmony. No doubt, it is a great card, but did they need one? I'd say no. Ahriman was already very strong without the Path. With cards like Engling Fury and Vulture's Buffet, they were very good at blood management without the Path. Cards like Ears of the Hare, Falcon's Eye, Swiftness of the Stag, Speak with Spirit's don't even cost blood!

The other Path I want to write about is the Path of Servitude. Was there really a need for it? Again, my answer is no! Raking Talons, Roll, Dive Bomb, Patrol, Voice of the Castle and the list continues. Notice something? They don't cost blood. With Potence as a clan discipline and all their prevent cards, the Gargoyles are perfectly fine with Taste of Vitae as the only source of blood management, but they also can defend the Rack.

I am only one player, so my word really doesn't count, but if there is somebody out their who feels a little sympathy for the Samedi please support me. A Path of Voodoo or whatever the card will be named wouldn't really hurt the game, but it would help the Samedi a lot!

by: Mephistopheles