Ropecon tournament report for \'Avenger\' Time Management Co.

Hi all!

It’s been AGES since my last update, I know. I’m not going to ramble on about that, however. I just haven’t had the time, nor too much to say for the last… half a year, perhaps? I mean, there’s always something to say, but if a hobby feels like more work than it’s worth, then it’s not really worth it. That goes with writing a blog as well. The main idea was – and is – to do this for myself, and other things have just kept me occupied enough.

That’s a shame, though, since there would’ve been loads to write about around the Finnish National Championships we hosted in May! Let’s just say that it was a great success, and not dwindle about the topic longer, since I’ve something else to talk about.

I participated in the major tournament in Ropecon, and this time I wanted to do better than my usual tournament scores. Usually all I get from three rounds is 1,5 points or something. I know I can do better, so this time I decided to let the shit hit the fan.

There’s something a very good friend of mine said, which might explain my choice of a deck a bit:

“You know, I’ve always been proud of how we (that’s me and my mates, the five of us) have always had this distinct way of doing things; how we’ve always been independent, and haven’t gone with the flow and latest trends all the time. That’s just what we do, and doing anything else just goes against our nature.”

I just nodded, and knew he was right. This was after the tournament, but even before that it was pretty clear that I would not even bother with a stealth bleed, voter or anything of sorts. It’s just way too obvious, and in my experience way too random. I was thinking about a G2 Lasombra bleeder with titles to help me against voters and Entombments (a deck that has done well enough in the past), but eventually decided to go with my first love after G2 Toreador – Al’Muntaquim the Avenger.

There’s just something about True Brujah, and I wanted to show that things can be done without stealths, bleeds and bounce as well. It’s hard as hell, but it’s doable. After the tournament I also learned a valuable lesson: how much I really love to maintain a level of control over the whole of the table.

So, the deck I was playing is listed below. It’s basically a multi-rush, which has been tooled up to work mainly against light to no combat at all. Outside the Hourglass is nearly a broken card, and disarm deals with the rest nicely. I don’t have to worry about combat ends anymore.

Deck Name: \'Avenger\' Time Management Co.
Author:
Description:
The Caitiff do the dirty work, and if they get too careless, they have a good home in the freezer - and after feeding, Al\'Muntaquim can eat their hearts for extra bleed.

Crypt (Capacity min=1 max=8 avg=3.33; 12 cards)
==================================================
4x Al-Muntaquim, The Avenger 8 obf pre FOR POT TEM True Brujah:4
1x Andy 1 for Caitiff:4
1x César Holfield 1 obf Caitiff:4
1x Dirk 1 pre Caitiff:4
1x Lisa Noble 1 ani Caitiff:3
1x Nedal, The Careless 1 cel nec Caitiff:3
1x Sandra White 1 -none- Caitiff:3
2x Anarch Convert -none- Caitiff:any

Library
=====================
Master
4x Anarch Revolt
1x Archon Investigation
1x Carver's Meat Packing and Storage
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Fame
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Tabriz Assembly
2x Vessel
2x Wash

Action
3x Ambush
3x Big Game
4x Bum's Rush
1x Clotho's Gift
3x Harass
1x Kiss of Lachesis
1x Path of the Scorched Heart, The
1x Preternatural Strength
2x Summon History
1x Vaticination

Equipment
2x AK-47

Ally
1x Mylan Horseed (Goblin)

1x Carlto van Wyk
1x Ossian

Action Modifier
5x Domain of Evernight
10x Freak Drive
3x Pocket Out of Time

Reaction
1x Delaying Tactics

Combat
1x Decapitate
7x Disarm
2x Indomitability
1x Lapse
9x Outside the Hourglass
2x Rolling with the Punches
7x Taste of Vitae
1x Unflinching Persistence

What I found out afterwards is that I was playing one Disarm too many, and I should’ve had 12 Outsides the Hourglass. The rushes and freaks were mostly fine, and the masters worked well enough, but I still lacked a bit of raw power. Outsides would’ve dealt with that. What I’ll change for the future is:

-1 Disarm

-1 AK-47

-1 Ossian

+3 Outside the Hourglass

The problem is that I don’t own Carlton, so he was borrowed from a mate. I’ll probably need to play Ossian in his stead until I manage to find a copy of Carlton somewhere.

I don’t remember the players on each table by name, so sorry about that, but you’ll know who they were once Orava posts the finalized Archon. You’ll most likely find that on VEKN, as well as Extrala’s blog.

Table 1

Timo Rekola – AUS CEL guns

è Me – Avenger Time Management Co.

è ??? – G1 Malkavian voter

è Ari Lensu – Eurayle Tap&Bleed with !Ventrues

è ??? – Mind Rape Stanislava

Once Timo sat behind me I knew that my game would be pretty tough. The only thing I was really afraid of was another combat deck, and guns with celerity would definitely make things difficult. I was more than fine with Malkavians being in front of me, though, even though I was afraid that they’d start pounding me with their KRCs.

The game started with a Pentex (by Ari) on my Prey, and his game slowed down enormously. Stanislava player was very concerned with Eurayle from the start, since Ari had drawn Heidelberg at the start, and had already stolen the Malkavians for a couple of bleeds. So, Eurayle got an insane amount of stuff on her head – Mind Rapes, Banishments, you name it, and that made Ari less of a threat in my eyes. I was happy ‘bout that, to be honest, since that would help me double oust pretty quickly.

Timo kept bleeding me for one or two each turn, and I had to take out a couple of his minions before moving forwards. I also learned that Andre Leroux can reduce his own bleed for two extra, so he’s basically a bleeder for two! He had to go from the start.

Once I got my Anarch Revolts people started going Anarch instead of voting them away. This was exactly my plan, even though I took a couple of pool damage from them myself. The only problem at my first oust was that I didn’t draw one rush more, so that the Revolts took out Stanislava before I could react to that, and that effectively gave Ari a free VP. I got myself an AK about this time, and that forced Timo to play more carefully. He was bouncing back and forth from torpor, but his growing lot of minions worried me a lot, and I started thinking that it would be well possible that he’d oust me before I’d get a sweep. Thus I decided to torporize his anarch, giving Ari another free VP, but it was a trifle to decimate his vampires afterwards and get myself 3VP and a GW.

This game was pretty easy for me in a way that I got basically no resistance from my left side, but I grew so low on pool by the end (just slightly too slow ousting) that I had to hand a couple of VPs to my grand prey. It was mighty close to a sweep, but got no luck here.  It was a good game, none the less, and a nice start. I got more VP from a single game than I had had in any tournament before!

Second game

??? – G3-4 Malkavian S&B

è Niina Stenberg – Nakherhotep

è ??? – G4-5 Ventrue/Daughters of Cacophony voter

è Jussi Hattara – Undele and Armin Brenner

è Me – Avenger Time Management Co.

Once I saw what was being influenced out I was pretty much as confident as I could ever be – no combat on the table what so ever! I can’t screw this up, or I’ll have no chance to get into the finals. And everything seemed to go nicely once the Daughters took three Lily Preludes to Jussi before he got Armin up. This should be my game.

I was afraid everything would go wrong if the Malks saw what I was up to, so I tried to play it slow and gather a decent hand. Niina was struggling, since she played radios, and Naggy and all her tool up cost her plenty of pool. Roughly during the fifth turn things started going slightly against my way. First Niina agreed that it would be a good idea to play Giant’s Blood on Avenger to help me torporize the malks, but the malk player saddened that it. I was still pretty confident ‘cause I got Jussi to Kine me only for one or two a couple of times (the rest went backwards) so that I wouldn’t need to rush him (and his Carlton) and still let him cap for pool. But then my oust was delayed by a turn ‘cause my Anarch Revolt was saddened (again by the malkavians), and even though I tried rescued the famed vampire I had already torporized that turn, the second rush was blocked by a wake. This gave the malkavian player a chance to bleed me for four with a Kindred Spirits (something I had dreaded), and this diminished my resources annoyingly.

I was still pretty confident at this stage, and thought that now it was time to go backwards. I played my own Carlton to contest, since Jussi was doing well better than earlier, and equipped with an AK-47. However I was only at 1 blood, since I didn’t draw an Outside on time as I rushed Armin, and couldn’t do anything about his Majesty.

Next I had to make a deal with Niina that I’d let her do whatever until she got her first oust if she wouldn’t play Temptation of Avenger and steal my AK.  On the next turn I got banishmented by Armin (after Undele voted it back to his hand!), even though I really tried to block the vote with Niina’s help (I had promised to see to that we two would be in the heads up, and practically promised her two VPs for her radios), but an unexpected Forgotten Labyrinth decimated my dreams of a GW.

At this point I was really frustrated, since I was delayed by those couple of turns that the malkavian player suddened those crucial masters, and that I was so close to being saved (the radios, that rush a turn before, and even a delaying tactics I had played just a couple of turns before to save me from a KRC!), but what can you do! Even then I made a mistake of paying Carlton’s contest for one or two turns instead of saving that pool for bringing Avenger back up. I could’ve done exactly that with the help of a newly played Dreams of the Sphinx, but just as I was about to get him up (in 1 pool), Niina contested the Dreams and everything was hopeless again.

By this time I had already given up hope, but tried to survive to the last. I rushed Armin constantly with my Caitiffs, and forced him to play majesties and kept him in a hunt loop. Eventually Niina swept his preys off the table, and I was the last waiting for the Setites at roughly 5 minutes on the clock. Finally the finishing blow came as Dirk was put under a Temptation, and he bled my last two pool with an entrancement! Oh, the cruel world! It was great fun once it was clear I couldn’t rise anymore, however, so the game wasn’t wasted at all.

A reminder of how crucial it is to go backwards even though it might seem at a point that it’s not that useful. If I could’ve, I would’ve decimated Undele, but at every turn I was delayed by a very minor setback. And, ironically, the easiest table for me was lost by a card I had feared the most: Banishment. Oh dear…

Third game

??? – Lutz and Presence Malkavians

è ??? – G2 Tzimisce

è Me – Avenger Time Management Co.

è ??? – Anson with guns and Tablets

è Tomi Sillanpää – Black Hand Lasombra bleeder

What to say here... I was first off very tired, as we all were I suppose. Also, I was playing behind of a Swede, and we all know how well they play, and how good decks they play for that matter. Sorry I can’t remember your name, mate!  Anyways, I knew already what Tomi was playing, since we had talked about our decks in advance. Coming from the same town does that, I suppose. Anyways, Tomi’s a wonderful player, and his skills in deck building dwarf mine by far, so I had to be extra careful here.

The game for me started after Stavros was brought up by my grand predator, the Tzimisce brought a 8-cap with clan disciplines with the help of Powerbase Montreal, and I burned said Tzimisce after he blocked my attempt to steal Montreal. I really needed the pool, I knew, and if I could get rid of my Prey’s vampire at the same go, I was more than happy to do that. I apologized pretty quickly afterwards, since I knew how that would wreck his game, but I really didn’t want to risk him playing Changeling bleeds on top of bouncing both Tomi’s, and Lutz’s bleeds to me.

I pretty much despaired once the first Ashurs were played, and I knew what to expect from my Prey – Anson and guns. Oh shit, how in hell would I be able to fight through gun combat and infinite amount of pool, combat cards and Pentexes?! An early Anthelios didn’t help me at all, but giving up wasn’t a part of my plan.

I brought Anson to very low pool with superfast aggression and Anarch Revolts, but once the first Ashurs and Villeins started things slowed down a lot. My aggression kept Anson pretty much occupied, and Tomi got to be by himself a lot, and the rest of the table was pretty much playing under his shadow. I even tried to rush him once (I knew I could do nothing about Anson), which agitated him to no end, but eventually he just used a DI to my rush. I know, and I think everyone else knows, why I rushed him, and I’m pretty sure he knows as well, but he was pretty pissed off anyways.

We kept dueling with Anson, and my two Rolling with the Punches’ saved me from a couple of crucial combats, but Ashurs just kept him on medium pool all the time, and even though his 2^nd traditions grew him low on blood, he just wouldn’t die, nor was he close at any point. Bringing out Marcellus in the later part of game, and Villein + Giant’s Blood on him helped him a lot as well, even though some of that blood was used to save Anson from torpor where my Outsides had put him.

By this time Tomi had already gotten his first oust, and the second came soon enough. I gave Anson some room to rush and torpor Tomi’s vampires (or most of them at least), and after surviving for about an hour and a half and three pentexings (fucking Anthelios!), it boiled down to being just three of us, less than 10 minutes on the clock, Tomi with two VPs and me in a Pentex.

I had five pool, Mylan, a single Caitiff and Avenger with permableed of 5, my Prey had his smaller minions, Marcellus and Anson all tapped and on one or two blood, and Tomi had a single vampire with some blood. I told him to make his decision quickly – either bleed me for 5 and get Archoned, or help me rid my Pentex on Avenger, let me rush Anson and friends and at least give him a chance. After a minute or so, which felt like ages, he helped me with the pentex, which gave me a chance to get my shit together, a turn for Anson to torpor Tomi’s minions and bleed for a couple, and once again a turn for me to Fame Marcellus, torpor him and bleed for 6. There was a minute on the clock, I believe, by the time I bled Tomi for six after and got a GW with 3 VP.

What I learned from this game: Play more Outsides, for f’s sake! They’re so good I should have way more than 9. 12 should do, I think. Also, be glad that Anson didn’t play a single Taste of Vitae. One of those would’ve ruined my game even more that insane master tech ruined it now. I would’ve been okay with Presence Anson, but those guns really gave me a royal headache.

I don’t think Anthelios and Ashur Tablets were supposed to be a part of this game, to be honest. They’re just frustrating and annoying, so they are.

I was also very concerned about being a bleed sink in this game. I think I did well by burning the minions on my right, but still an irresponsible turn by any of the other players could’ve brought me to an early grave. Also, it wasn’t really an option to start rushing both Lutz and three of Tomi’s four minions to make the game possibly easier for me. So, this time I just had to prey, and some vampire gods were on my side.

Eventually I was very surprised I got the GW from the last game, and that I now stood at 7VPs and 2 GWs. Once I heard that it could well be that it might be enough for a final seating I kinda poofed, and called my friends and was pretty much out of it – and I was kinda crushed once I heard that the lowest that got into the finals was 2+9, and I had 2+7! If just that second game would’ve gone my way, I would’ve been there, or there was a fair chance – and a super star multi-rush for that matter!

Anyways, once I saw what kinds of decks they were playing in the finals I decided it was good enough for me and my mates that I got so close. At least I was saved some major ass rape they would’ve offered me in the finals. So, we had some late dinner from the grill and enjoyed the moment that one of us had gotten so close. And I was beaming, I can tell.

So, there, I eventually DID follow my instincts and decided not to play some half-assed stealth bleed. They’re just so not worth it, I’ve gathered. I can’t really play them, I can’t feel I’m in control, I don’t really even WANT to play them, so the best chance would be to just maim them in the ground so that I could finally play the game MY way. That went fine, really, in the end, and I’m sure to try this deck again in some major tournament.

Maybe even in Budabest, really, now that I’ve qualified… Hmm…

Surprise FC-call

Hi!

I'm in a bleedin' hurry, and buried in work, and it's night time and I still haven't finished this one presentation. Anyways, I'll just leave this hanging and get back to it as soon as I can:

Guys discussed at the European Championships where the next Finnish Nationals should be held. And guess twice if I did or didn't get an email today advicing to start looking for a place for 40-50 players for next Spring.

A hint: the answer's closer to the former.

Feel free to imagine dozens of different jumping and hooraying smilies here.

-Petrus

Lernean is a bitch

Hi!

A couple of months back we bought a couple of booster boxes of 3rd Edition for me and my mates to share. I pulled a set of Lernean among other things, and fell in love with... him?

Let's have a wee look at... erm, Lernean.

There are plenty of different kinds of decks one could plan for... our star this week. Celerity is pretty easy as there are some Tremere packing celerity in groups three and four. Fortitude goes very well with some Sabbat Tremere, but protean was my way to go.

I mean, how could you not notice how well Lernean and Eric Kressida go together?

You can almost see them walking hand in hand in the dark, empty corridors of the local university at nightfall, moonlight filtered to the walls and bloodred carpet through satin curtains. Every night, when no one is there to see, the two MEN unite, and let themselves loose together into the dream they share every long, long, passing day.

But, eventually, my most fabulous homo-erotic Tremere fantasy was ruined when I just had to make sure if Lernean actually was a he instead of a she. We had had debates of this matter in Joensuu before, and the opinions were divided rather evenly. My most helpful collegues at VEKN were ready with an answer when I needed it the most:

"FYI: Lernean is a woman. Several years ago (back in 2007) I actually asked Jeff Holt (the artist for Lernean) that question. Just dug up that e-mail, his response was:

'Lernean is a type rarely seen in fantasy art... an unattractive woman. Harsh featured and scowling. She holds a large, glowing gemstone which she is polishing. I suspect that the smooth gem may actually be solidified blood but I don't think that was specified in the notes.'

One of the mysteries of the VTES world is now solved!"
-echiang, VEKN, 20/10/2011

So damn you, Jeff Holt, for now I have to disassemble my protean+thaumaturgy deck. What's the fun in playing Tremere if you can't make gay jokes of them while waiting for your turn?

Anyways, thank you very much, echiang, for making this clear! Seldom do we encounter such dedication that someone would actually have thought of asking an artist about these kinds of things. It was hilarious to see the right answer literally handed to us on a topic where I was absolutely sure to find only opinions and humorous debate.

So, once again, I thank you all for your input!

Cheers

-Petrus

Divided Interests and Serious Newcomers

God, has it been a while?

The obvious answer: Yes. Yes it has.



I think I wrote a wee paragraph about my fears of this blog, and writing in general for that matter, getting lost in the lack of time, interest, my fears of failure or something similar. The former has gotten me this time. The latter is not that far off either, but that's a cronic dilemma I am going to face every now and then - and most likely until the end of time.

I titled this post with two different topics. The first one, "Divided Interests", has to do with my lack of time. The lack of time presently is caused by the Conservatorium. Actually, I think I should add that to my list of education I'm working with at the moment.

At the start of September I realized there was something amiss with my life. Or something like that. I couldn't exactly tell if something was missing, I was doing something wrong, or if I just needed to pursue something of my own; possibly I needed to justify the existance of my flute in the corner. I had been thinking of starting playing seriously again for the whole Summer, but it didn't occur to me before the last minute that I really, really needed to do something quick, or else I'd never be able to pick up music again for real.

So, a quick poll in Facebook resulted in my friends pretty much carrying me (mentally) to the last minute audition to get in to the Pop/Jazz department, and it seems the school was happy enough to take a flautist in. I knew it then, and I sure as hell know it well enough now, that it had nothing to do with my skills, but more with the fact that there hasn't been anyone playing anything else than guitar, bass, piano or drums in the Pop/Jazz department for years. Singers excluded, obviously. There're plenty of them.

Anyways, with me struggling with university, desperately trying to find courage to start my BA thesis, and banging my head against a musical wall with my (godamned...) flute, I was near just letting this blog go, and admitting a failure.

But sheesh, if I gave up on my hobbies, how easy would it be to take a next step and give up on my studies when it didn't go as planned with the first attempt?

Pretty easy, especially if I know myself well enough.


So, failures aside, let's move on to the topic you're actually interested in: VtES. We'll also discuss the second part of the title: Serious Newcomers.


I have been craving to get a word out some way. Let's just spill it out: the Autumn has been an utter, major success. There has been a lot of talk in, for example, VEKN about the game dying and only the most faithful of gamers continuing playing. The cards might've been forgotten in the backs of stores, gathering dust and eventually forgotten. We should ask our local distributer, Fantasiapelit, what's the situation now.

As far as I know, 10th anniversary boxes and Blood Shadowed Court vampire packs have been now sold out in Finland. There are no more !Nosferatu starer decks from Black Hand set in the stores. In addition to this, I know very well where they've all gone: to our new embraces here in Joensuu.

I could count roughly 10 new players who've started playing in here since last June. Half of them were friends or friends of friends who I recruited personally, and the rest are friends of those friends. I'm not entirely sure how large a stock of vampire cards Fantasiapelit has, but if the rate with which our embraces have been buying cards keeps up, I'm not sure how long the cards will last.

The boom hit some people a bit more seriously than others, though, and I am still very surprised by how much money some people put into the game. A fellow I've known for a long time, but who got really into the game just recently, spent roughly 100 euro to buy a tournament winning deck from eBay, just to try it out. The deck included cards like Dragonbound and Parity Shift, as well as plenty of Eyes of Argus. This other guy, whose understanding of card values has been largely affected by years of Magic the Gathering, started the game off by ordering cards from eBay to build a Ventrue voter. The value of the stack of cards sum up at 150 euro.

Cards like Monastery of Shadows sold at 40 euro, people ordering six copies of Black Metamorphosis from eBay -- just double check the value of these cards from eBay!

My tone of writing should not be misunderstood, however. I am more than glad that people have taken the hobby seriously. I just hope that these relatively few individuals will not scare off our other newcomers, who have not invested serious amounts of money into the game from the start. In my opinion a random stack of 3rd ed or Jyhad commons to boost two or three well picked starter decks will be enough for almost any player. Others, however, see things differently, and obviously have the money and commitment to invest in more powerful stuff.

As the prince of the city the obvious success has been the recruitment of many new faces, who in part have given a lot to the community by recruiting friends of their own. We also held a successful tournament with a whacking 14 player attendance. This is more than Helsinki had for their latest casual tournament. Now, the next challenge will be keeping the less active players in the circles, and making their life a bit easier. At the moment our older, more experienced players are more than happy to welcome new challenge and serious decks for a change, but to keep the city from dividing into two (or, in the worst case scenario, one group plus dozens of people who just tried it out), I'm afraid it once again falls on my shoulders to make sure gaming is interesting even for the less active parties. It is easy to get left behind, and lose interst in the game if you are beaten to a pulp or ousted in ten minutes every single time.

The atmosphere of arms race is what worries me the most, however. I was always a fan of playing with what I got, and trying to get by. It forces you to interact, and to learn the game better. Sometimes I wish I could just start anew, with two starters or something, and relearn the game. The first years were so much fun.

There is also the fact that people have started to evaluate cards by their eBay values and rarity, not exactly by how useful the card is to them in person. This creates situations where cards are being withheld just because they are valuable in the internet, even if the owner would not exactly need them for any of their decks.

The reasons for these two phenomena are clear, and not to be shunned, banned or critizised. Personally, however, I am not too happy about the turn of events and atmosphere. I am one of those people who try to get by with a bit less, rather than a bit more, and I cannot say I feel exactly at home in the current environment.

Anyways, things are definitely better than they have been in some time. I actually got to write a post. Secondly, we have plenty of new players. Thirdly, we have some serious competition in our town again. Lastly, we are now discussing if the next Finnish Championships should be hosted by us instead of the South of Finland!

And, seriously, how cool would that be?

Thanks for reading, and 'till next time! A lot is happening in here, and I just wish I could write some about everything. There is a lot to say about our decks, how the beginner decks have started to evolve, about player interaction, codes of behaviour and how to deal with people in the same group you just don't agree with all the time.

Probably next time something about jazz? I'm reading this book with these chord progressions, and --



Okay, okay, sorry. Until next time!

-Petrus

Wishlists or plausible card additions?

Just now I noticed yet another suggestion for a new card to deal with some other threat in VEKN. This time it was a political action to deal with allies. Let's see what we were suggested:

Name: Trust no One
Cardtype: Political Action
Successful referendum means each Methuselah burns 2 pool for each ally he or she controls.

It is like a mix of Kindred Segregation (each ally is burned unless their owner repays their pool costs) and Anarchist Uprising (each metuselah burns a pool for each minion they control), out of which Anarchist Uprising already hurts ally decks loads. In a conventional ally deck you would most likely see one or two support allies (like Vagabond Mystic or Mylan Horseed) and from two to five main allies to do combat or bleed, supporting about three vampires. That's around six minions already, and at least later in the game suddenly losing six pool to a vote hurts. Rather a lot. In fact I lost a face-off this year in Ropecon to Ventrue princes with my Baron's Zombie Sickness, mainly because of that card. I could have taken a Parity Shift, but Anarchist Uprising (nine pool damage if I remember correctly) was a tad too much.

The most feared allies around seem to be Ossian, War Ghouls, Nephandi and Shambling Hordes. All of them for a reason, to be sure, but when we take a look at how Kindred Segregation deals with them we should see that there is really little need for a new anti-ally vote. A Nephandus deck aims to bring out three or four nephandi in addition to the vampires. If you want to keep them after Kindred Segregation you'll have to pay up six or eight pool. Once again quite a handful. The same goes for War Ghouls and their hefty cost of four pool. Kindred Segregation will not deal as much pool damage as Trust No One potentially would, but it does offer others the choice of burning their allies, or paying for them. This adds to the verstaility of VtES, which in my opinion is one of its credits. You won't just instantly and surprisingly kill off people, like you probably would in Magic the Gathering. Instead in Vampire you should be given options, and often plenty of them, of which the best (or the least horrible) one should be chosen.

It is true that Kindred Segregation will not affect Shambling Hordes or Reanimated Corpses, or other blood cost based allies, but then again Anarchist Uprising does - that is, IF we really need to turn to votes for anti ally techs. The obvious deals put aside, in which Entrancement, Far Mastery and Restructure are prime examples, how should we then learn to deal with combat allies? Arguably Nephandi can be included here.

Combat is obviously a choice, but it is hardly used in tournament decks these days. If allies feel problematic, however, most disciplines should have something to deal with them that could be used against vampires as well. Celerity and guns work wonders, obviously. Guns without Celerity should be alright as defence also. Guns cost pool to be fair, and against stealth and bleed, stealth and vote, or stealth and whatever the tournament decks throw at you just plain gun combat will not do you much good. Guns should be easy to discard, though. Viscissitude has Horrid Forms, Potence should be rather clear, Thaumaturgy has plenty of techs in combat, as does Animalism, and many disciplines have Strike: Combat Ends. Those should be included in most tournament decks anyways, at least in small amounts.

The main argument against this will most likely be that tournaments do not favour combat techs these days. If an odd ally deck happens to put decent pressure on an average tournament deck tells something about the tournament scene as is, and that hardly warrants for extra techs to deal with them - especially outside combat, if there is already a decent tech to deal with them! Allies are very fragile, even those Neppers, and once they're dead, they're dead. Even if I saw an ally deck actually winning a major tournament I would cheer more to something new than an old and dusty Kiasyd. Asking for extra defense (or, as in this case, offense) against allies is hardly warranted, and easily is interpreted as a wishlist - against something that really is not much of a threat in the first place, to be sure!

There are already votes to deal with allies. Even if votes are not your cup of tea, try beating them to ground for once. It's not like they're going to come back. A combat card or two should not wreck your bleed deck's synergy that bad. And, if you ask me, if it does, then you're just asking for it. Going a wee bit toolboxy will not hurt anyone, at least in the grander scheme of the game.

As for ideas for new cards: really think through if the game really lacks something. It is far easier to invent clan spesific cards, or vampires and balance them.

Embrace of a Blog

First steps are always first steps. I was always horrible with steps to begin with, let alone first ones.

The horrible thing about steps is that the first ones usually aren't even the worst ones. If I had problems with those, I sure as hell suck horribly with later steps. It's okay when you learn to walk, but after the treshold after which you actually need to work with something further after the first few stumbling efforts - that's where the problems start.

The same was with this blog. I created the account in June, I believe. It is a good half way through August now that I actually get to try out what an actual post looks like.

So here it is. Blogger seems like an easy tool to do stuff (like blogs), but there are still loads of tools and attributes to tinker with it will most likely take plenty of time before I learn which of those I need or want to use.

Anyways, we came here for a reason, and that is VtES; or Vampire the Eternal Struggle, the one game that has struggled with survival plenty of times, and for a good while this time. I hope some issues (which I hope to address in this blog too) would be easier to solve through communal efforts, and that my musings would in turn contribute to that community. First I have a community of my own to address, however, and that is the gaming group (or the remains of which) of my home town.

Then again, measures in the favor of survival have already been taken - and, to be honest, successful ones.