We just can't have only one deck!

What's happening, Metuselahs?

I'll tell you what's happening... we are greedy. The eternal night makes us long for all the options, or everything we could try as our limited resources can manage.

We... are gamblers. Some of us just adore eBay, others purchasing boosters just like smokers, until we reach the rare or the number of commons/uncommons we put ourselves as objective in our dark deck lists. Internet is the spark that lit this fire. No doubt.

After playing other CCGs, I've never felt this sick desire of having more than one deck. I think it was easier then. In Warlord, par example, I only liked Deverenians and Elves, and my priority was the first ones. Fucking good was that game, its a pity it just died in Spain, afaik.

Now, here I am. From the V:TM I thought I could have one or two decks in this game with the clans I roled, maybe a third if it was as *cheap* as I thought (Toreador, !Toreador and Lasombra). Things in the card game were really different as the aims I had for them. At the moment, close to be completed there are 5 decks. Motherfucking fiive!!
Others have a lot more, and other players just stay in one clan... but at least a couple of decks of that clan.
And shared this thoughts with other players and companions, and in the end, its all greed.

"You know? I can try building a deck around this card....."

The beginning of your Apocalypse, my friend.

Don't you think, Metuselahs?

My decks: Valerius Wall

What's happening, Metuselahs?

I'll post one of my favorites (if not the most) decks I play, the Valerius Maior Advanced wall deck.
After reading about this infernal warlock in the Red List supplement in Vampire: The Masquerade, and playing it as a guest in the Carna deck I played before... got totally into him.

Playing then complete !tre decks around him, mixing with camarillas, others trying to get the most minions with daimonion and infernals to use the concordance, other versions without any dai except some Conflagrations to make a good surprise, toolboxes, Malgorzata and Valerius, etc etc etc the best results I've got were with the wall type deck.
At the moment, I long for getting a Barbaro Luchesse to put a bit more of the dai, and another Concordance user... just saying...

So this is the deck as I run it atm, but I think Kyoko will be dropped, that lack of tha makes me sick:

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 7 average: 5.66667
------------------------------------------------------------

4x Valerius Maior, He Adv 7 AUS DAI DOM THA nec pre !Tremere:4
1x Elena Mendoza Vasq 6 AUS THA dom obt !Tremere:3
1x Selena 6 AUS DOM THA !Tremere:3
1x Yasmin the Black 6 AUS THA dom pre !Tremere:3
1x Frondator 5 AUS dom tha bishop !Tremere:4
1x Kyoko Shinsegawa 5 aus cel dom for Tremere:3
1x Neighbor John 5 AUS dom for !Ventrue:4
1x Janine 4 aus dom tha !Tremere:4
1x Martin Franckel 3 AUS tha Tremere:3


Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [8]
1x Abbot
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
3x Concordance
3x Magic of the Smith

Combat [25]
2x Burst of Sunlight
4x Conflagration
4x High Ground
4x Movement of the Mind
2x Rego Motus
9x Theft of Vitae

Equipment [5]
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Ivory Bow
1x Leather Jacket
1x Ruins of Ceoris
1x Kaymakli Fragment

Master [17]
2x Blood Doll
1x Fragment of the Book of Nod
1x Infernal Pact
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Barranquilla
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
1x Rotschreck
2x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
1x Spirit Summoning Chamber
1x University Hunting Ground
2x Vessel
1x WMRH Talk Radio
1x Wash

Reaction [33]
4x Deflection
1x Delaying Tactics
4x Eagle's Sight
2x Enhanced Senses
6x Eyes of Argus
3x Forced Awakening
4x On the Qui Vive
3x Precognition
2x Spirit's Touch
4x Telepathic Misdirection

Reaction/Action Modifier [2]
2x Sense the Sin

Points to improve that I have in mind, with the Luchesse in the crypt, increasing by 2 the Sense the Sins, maybe lowering the masters, so that I don't get my hand full of green cards and stuck, thinking about dropping the something in order to include a Melange in there....

Not the best wall, of course, but really fun to play with, and I'm playing with one of my favorite vampires of all time, it can manage to get vps also.
If you like wall decks, I encourage you to try this. It is not as effective as weenie AUS, but it grants you good times and some epic moments.
Oh hai, predator, do you obf? :)

See you in hell, Metuselahs!

Results of the Poll

What's happening, Metuselahs?

Another poll comes to an end, and I must admit it was quite a personal question, because I have an eye on the Daughters of Cacophony, thanks to the cute Scout Youngwood and the new overrated Harmony, so the common question of the week was..

Will Harmony make choir decks playable?

- No, that deck will never work. 10 (35%)
- Yes, I think so. 9 (32%)
- Never gonna play singer ladies. 9 (32%)

This was reeally close, but in the end, with one vote advantage, the Choir Girls aren't supposed to work at all.

Something different will come with the Shattering Crescendos =3 and also Lily Prelude, which I think is killer, but to get enough votes if you have another political deck in the table...

See you, Metuselahs!

Likes and effectiveness

What's happening, Metuselahs?

I've been thinking a while about the decks I build and the decks I have plans to complete, changes to them, etc, and it's very common to see players lowering the efectiveness of a deck but using the vampires they like, or focusing on a strategy they just love.

Some months ago, I had a Tremere deck, the typical, proved effective, blocker, Carna as a leader, other tremeres, govern, conditioning, chantry, etc and it just worked nice. Same the case of Anarch Fatima multirushing asses, but then I started to like vampires like Valerius or Malgorzata, and the deck was quite less effective (well, less Valeriu than Malgie) but the idea of getting back to the other deck is always discarded. I've also dropped Fatima to a Janni AK deck, which I find funnier to play but its huge less effective deck, but.... it's what we like!

In the international chat, in one of the talks, a user was thinking about a Lucubratio+weenies AUS+Anima Gatherings, and I enjoyed to read new ideas to me, and think how can you make a vampire that you hardly see a useful tool to get vps.
In the last tournament I assisted, saw some tier decks of many clans, and an Elimelech Rush deck that even the owned admitted it was something weird, but he came with it, to play against those decks with well-known-effective strategies. Awesome :D
Most of this times, when we get obsessed with a vampire, we build a deck around him and the deck also weakens (star vampire down? game gets harder..)

In conclusion, I like to see when we try to manage the most potential of some vampires we like, or cards that can be of some use, and maybe, someday, a new tier deck can be born from the mindfuck of someone creative :)
Of course, if you want to rank, and it's your primary objective, the easiest way is to use a tier deck, and to be an excellent player....
Still, I like to improve with the decks I play, even tho I own a tier deck that I use sometimes.

Do you play your creations, or are you always getting inspired in TWD?

Malkav gave us the way, minfuck, Metuselahs ;)

Tournament Report 17-4-2010

What's happening, Metuselahs?

I'll tell you what's happening... a tricicle, zero zero zero vps XD but I had so much fun this morning spent on a V:TES tournament, and I think I've learnt some interesting things to take into account for next struggles.

I won't put the names of the players, because this wasn't an official tournamend, and I didn't ask for permission xd so only the decks that attended the tournament:
-- Daughters of Cacophony embraces
-- Weenie dom/obf
-- !tre/tre toolbox
-- Stanislava Baltimore Purge
-- Elimelech Rush strange deck
-- !Ventrue Grinder
-- Nergal Calls the Great Beast
-- Uta Kovacs Tha Combat Rush

In Nexus 7, eight Metuselahs gathered to bleed like bi@tches, 3R+Final, for me 3R hahahh

First Round:
Uta -> me -> !ventrue -> Stanislava

First time in my life that I've played against a Baltimore Purge. !Ventrue killed Purges and Uta got GW. 0 VP

Second Round:
nergal -> me -> !ventrue -> weenie obf/dom

Basically the weenie ousts nergal really fast (he only manages to influence a weenie obf and his nergal adv) and the game gets a bit hard for me. Can't go forward a lot, and a Scourge of the Enochians my prey played helped me to have a 1vs1 with him. But no wakes, he had his wall buildt and got ousted bcs my pool was very damaged(I couldn't deflect all those bleeds, and a bad draw I had..) --> 0 VP's

Third Round:
Daughters -> Stanislava -> weenie dom/obf -> me

Stanislava does Information Highway and Zillah's Valley, fast start. Then weenie bleeds me a bit, and I manage to influence Ladislas, Frondator and Keith Moody, and the Daughters only move blood to uncontrolled, because I had the pressure of the bleeder, and the weenie wanted to oust me quick enough to influence more and resist the continous Purges.
After two turns, he finally pacts with me to bleed me and letting me bounce the bleeds to the Stanislava deck, that was making his game without any pressure.
After having the weenie and me ousted, the Daughters influenced completely the vampires and started to make embraces and trying to get his vp. Close call, Stanislava won again. 0 VP

The only spectate the final round, which was like !ventrue -> Uta -> weenie -> strange deck(changed the elimelech one xD) -> nergal
I only have to say that is was so fun to see it, and to hear them talking, pacting, to get Uta with blood (she was dry), an Anarch Troublemaker doing his job, the !ventrue grinder resisting, but finally game was for the strange obf deck.

Well, learnt some things, got the gift of experience ;) and had lots of fun this morning, even if I went there after 2 nights of insomnia, some huge mistakes today. No tears for spilt milk, as we say in Spain :P

Bleed HARDER, Metuselahs!

Results of the Poll

What's happening, Metuselahs?

Another poll ends, as the pool of some of my preys eh eh eh (?)

So the poll question was:

Which is the best High-Cap Baali?

- Nergal 16 (35%)
- Cybele 10 (22%)
- The Unnamed 8 (17%)
- Huitzilopochtli 5 (11%)
- Nergal Adv 5 (11%)
- Petaniqua Adv 1 (2%)

The base version of Nergal has won. He is epic. Nothing more to say.
Followed really close by Cybele (my vote was for her, yey!) and the only lack I see on ther is the lack of fortitude.... Nice art, btw.
Next one is the new big one, The Unnamed, which specials can make him/her/that thing awesome for bruise/bleed or stealth/bleed + bloating.
Then we have Huichachilipu, this dude should have been called the true unnamed, geez... that name... heheh
In the same position of mr. H, we have Nergal Advanced, and then the advanced version of Petaniqua Adv, which I do prefer the base one, but she doesn't fit here because he is Malkavian, not Baali. Nothing for you, Petaniqua!

Have fun, Metuselahs!

The game is getting quite expensive...

What's happening, Metuselahs?

Even though I buy boosters, I'm a regular ebayer, and we do suffer about how high people manage to pay for this cards.
And this is not a brainfuck coming from a Spanish Troll on teh Int3rnet. It has been commented in forums and several blogs, and it made me think a bit.

Par example:
- Mind Rape 19$
- Summon History ~20$ (the auctions I've seen..not yet ended!)
- Harmony 17$ (wtfzomg! do you really think this will make your choir deck a tier 1? Pwnd)
- Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter) 39$ (ok, do you like e-anal-sex?)
- Nergal Base Promo 39$
- Enkil Cog 39$
- Preternatural Strenght 29$

.... well, enough for my brain...

My gut feeling is that the price of the cards that have always been coveted, will maintain their price, and those new cards like Summon History will increase their cost on ebay....
I hope Harmony decreases someday its cost, because I have a dark desire with the Daughters :D

Try to save some cash, Metuselahs...

Results of the Poll

What's happening, Metuselahs?

So the question of the last poll was...

Best Camarilla Clan for Voting?


-- Ventrue 18 (50%)
-- Toreador 11 (30%)
-- Brujah 6(16%)
-- Nosferatu 1( 2%)
-- Tremere 0(0%)
-- Gangrel 0(0%)

Well, I voted Toreador. My souls belongs to Arikel.

This results were so PrEdIcTaBlE but I expected more votes to the Nosferatus.
Brujah, with the new crypt have become a very decent voters, and Dmitra Ilyanova is so pro that everyone wants to use her. I admit it, I do use her too, but in a combat rush deck :D


Cheers, Metuselahs!

edit: I missed one clan.... blogwriting drunk isn't best to make accurate em things.

Reprint -> Melange

What's happening, Metuselahs?

As a newbie in this game, there are tons of cards that I have never used, read, etc and one of this card is the Melange.

Even though I like to make new decks, and try more clans, I stick with two of them, as you might suppose, the Tremere Antitribu(well, I've also been Camarilla hehh) and the Assamite. So now I run for the first one a bleed/block deck, whick I'm trying to improve the most, and after purchasing a !Ventrue/!Salubri HttB Starter, I got a copy of this card, and the plan is to getting 2 more.

Melange
Reaction, Auspex, R , [Sabbat:R, SW:R, HttB:Starter Deck]
[aus] +1 intercept.
[AUS] As above, and if you successfully block the acting minion, put this card on the acting minion; you still control this card. You may burn this card to get +1 bleed when this reacting vampire bleeds the controller of the vampire with this card.

At superior Auspex it's sick, and every deck that runs AUS should include at least a couple, imo.
Bleed boost for my Govern+Conditioning ( I do not fear the archon!! bwahhah... ehmm well xD enough), and for other decks like Tzimisce one, can reach some bigger bleeds, like bleed for 2 with deep song and burn the Melange that was used to block to get finally a bleed of 3...

Worst part: is rare, and only one per starter.... the starter that gets sold the very first!

Best part: in eBay, it's cheap, 1-2$ each one most of the sellers.

Have you ever used it?

Have fun, Metuselahs!