At Your Disposal : Sudden Reversal

Sudden Reversal is the only (widely available) card in Vtes that pretty much resembles a "counter-spell" against master cards. It remains one of the most powerful out-of-turn master card, and remains the most versatile and easy to use card to counter dangerous, or important master cards played by any of your opponents.

To new players, this may not be much of a deal - afterall, it's pretty much a one card for one card trade. It takes up deck space, doesn't really win you any games, and typically requires the opponents to play some important cards for it not to clout up your hand.

This cannot be further from the truth. Sudden Reversal is an important card in Vtes, but using it requires skill, an understanding of your opponents' decks, and good judgment (and patience) on when and how to use it. Moreover, let me stress that Master Cards are powerful cards in Vtes - there is a reason that you normally can only play 1 master card a turn.

Let's look at the more common targets of Sudden Reversals.

First, Minion Taps (or similar pool gaining Masters) played by your prey (and sometimes even when played by other players). You don't want your prey's pool to increase again and again, making your job of ousting him an uphill battle - and one of the more common means of pool recovery is Minion Tap - and you want to make sure that doesn't happen too often, especially not when you're so close to get rid of him. So this one is a no brainer - you can reverse it early to slow him down, or reverse it mid-game to stall him, and reverse it late game to kill him. Similar cards in this family includes Giant's Blood, Golconda, and even Blood Dolls and Vessels when you're really close to killing him.

Secondly, speed cards that enhance influence should be reversed if you're lucky enough to have a Sudden Reversal early. You don't want your predator/prey to be ahead of you in terms of getting minions onto the table - so reverse Zillah's Valleys, Tomb of Ramses, and especially those Information Highways. Believe me, a weenie deck with an Information Highway is very different from one that doesn't benefit from one. Even Effective Management should be reversed if you know you can't handle that one more minion - that extra turn or two may mean life or death for you.

Thirdly, Stealth and Intercept Masters that may impact you. If you're running a vote deck with nothing more than Creepshow Casino, than you'd know the importance of making sure that that KRCG doesn't hit the floor before you're ready. On the other hand, the Carthage Remembered will kill you if you have very little intercept and bleed defense. Do not underestimate this function - very often, the decks that you're facing will only have 1 copy of the same Intercept Master Card, and not many copies of Stealth Masters - moreover, your allies and other players (preferably yourself actually) can also play it first to deter (discourage) him from playing a second copy later. (if he has a second copy)

Fourthly, protective use of Sudden Reversal includes cancelling cards like Haven Uncovered, Brainwash and Pentex Subversion. If you know your opponent uses these cards heavily, come prepared with Sudden Reversals, as any one of these hitting your Vampire(s) might mean the end of your Jyhad.

Fifth point, reversing key or important cards that you know plays an important part to your prey/predator's deck concept. This is normally only a delaying tactic since good players will have multiple copies of those cards. Cards of this kind includes Recruitment, Khobar Tower, Madness Network, Toreador Grand Ball etc. This one requires you to know your enemy. If you know his deck well enough, you'll know when, and whether or not, to reverse certain cards.

Six, you can use Sudden Reverse to remove contesting attempts, or pave the way for you to play certain cards yourself. Information Highway is one such card that is worth contesting this way, and sometimes, even Dreams of the Sphinx is worth it.

Last, but not least, Sudden reversals are great to annoy, delay and sometimes downright stall your opponents by cancelling some cards that do give them some advantages, or giving you disadvantages that you'd rather not have. These includes most of the Path cards, Powerbases, or even just a Perfectionist. And never forget that if you want to help out your ally, or you see a master card that you really wanted to be in play even if it is on the other side, you can always sudden reverse a Sudden Reversal.

But Sudden Reversal shouldn't take up too much deck space - maybe 2, at most 3 in your deck. This is a problem, since too many of it will dilute your deck - afterall, you can't win by sudden reversing cards. Too few of it, and it's at best a random deterrent. But even so, it is definitely good to include it.

Someone told me before that you can often tell how good a player is by looking at how he plays Sudden Reversal. I tend to agree with him.

(o.o)y