Why Vtes?

Was talking to wife a couple of nights ago about why I chose Vtes as my hobby of choice. I've played Magic and Legend of the Five Rings CCG quite a lot, spending easily thousands of dollars on those games (more on magic, L5R probably didn't hit that much) before, and I've played many other CCGs at some point of my life, like NetRunner, Warlords, SpyCraft, Star Wars, MiddleEarth, and heck, even Highlander.

What makes Vtes keep me so much longer than the others?

Rich Background

Vtes is based on White Wolf's Vampire the Masquerade setting in the Old World of Darkness, a setting that I'm already inherently familiar with and impressed with. The card game, unlike many of the other "background" or "story" driven card games (like Gundam Wars), put forth an excellent play format to represent the setting. The whole concept of referendums in the game, and the diplomacy required in multi-player format is a testament to Richard Garfield's genius in game designs. Also, playing a blood-hungry, evil to the bones Methuselahs IS much more satisfactory than playing say, a random Mobile Suit trying to shoot down another random Mobile Suit...

Multi-Player format

I've not yet had the opportunity to try out any other multi-player format CCG, with Vtes being the only one that I've tried. But Vtes was designed for multi-player, and at this point of my life I tend to prefer playing in a multi-player format than a one-on-one slug-it-out game. This is also reflected in my choice of other board games - if it's only for 2 players I usually pass on it. The multi-player ruleset of Vtes is well thought out and the players do not have to struggle with the system (such as when you play things like THE CIRCLE) but instead can focus on each other. This is a game experience that I feel refreshing in every game.

Economical

Well, given the amount of money I spent on each expansion, maybe it's not really cheap. However, this game is a lot cheaper to play than, say Magic. Commons are easy to come by and absolutely necessary in most decks, making competitive decks build-able without spamming on power rares. Even the rares are relatively cheap compared to almost every other prominent CCGs, and White Wolf had the great wisdom to help bring down the prices of power rares by reprinting these rares in pre-con starters.

Community

The Vtes community in Singapore is visible and nice. They're friendly (when they're not bleeding or beating you, that is), intelligent, and there are enough dedicated players to ensure that the game gets its necessary attention. The community has a card pool to help new players (and old ones too) to get cards that they need, the secondary market to obtain cards (overseas or otherwise) is active and vibrant - with consistent ebay purchases organised by the community every month - making getting the cards as easy and as cheaply as possible as it is. Many events are organized pretty regularly - we have tournaments, drafts, home games (thanks G1 and Rachel) and late night games. But most importantly, I think, is that I can always drop by PI on Tuesday night and find enough Methuselahs to play Vtes with.

And of course, all the other things about balanced rules, good gap of expansion releases, nice art, my own interest and everything add together to make me a Vtes fan. 4 years and going strong!

May the Jyhad continues eternally!

(o.o)