tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86206982708055811822012-01-18T15:59:17.559+08:00Here I record the journey of my involvement with VTES in the fine city of Singapore. Here the blood is strong; Here the un-life is good. If you happen to come to this city, do drop by my humble haven, I'm sure I can accommodate another Methuselah in the blood pool.xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.comBlogger2511100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-33533631070631050812011-11-17T10:35:00.002+08:002011-11-17T10:37:47.833+08:00

Over here Necromancy used to be (and still is) dominated by the presence of Zombieboy, aka Keith, and his myriad selection of Giovanni packages delivering different experience of necromantic death to any who opposes his immediate objectives. And he's really good at it. Perhaps due to the reverence to his dominance (he's got the Iron Throne in Vtes on Necromancy), I have built very few Necromancy

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-11275314146435634182011-11-09T13:23:00.004+08:002011-11-09T13:28:52.958+08:00

One of the most challenging thing about building a deck is the number of copies of certain cards that you want to include in the deck. Granted, there are quite a good number of cards that is generally easy to decide - for example, few includes more than 1 copy of Giant's Blood, or Ancient Influence in a deck simply because they can only be used once in a game, and are rarely game changing, or

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-33002048277974200812011-11-05T14:59:00.002+08:002011-11-05T15:04:20.913+08:00

Let's be nostalgic and talk about a very old card indeed - the Antediluvian Awakening. At first glance this seems to be a pointless card - since it damages everybody at a slow pace without giving the user any special treatment - all take 1 pool damage at untap phase (or burn a vampire of at least 4 cap to burn the card) - no questions asked. What's the point? I have yet to see a prey killed by

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-52918773069239017212011-11-03T12:40:00.003+08:002011-11-03T12:47:20.885+08:00

When I was in Manila, I got into a discussion with Bann about the standard stance to take at the opening of a Vtes 5-players game. I was trying to share with him the concept of not going after the prey too much so that the dynamics of the table will move towards a more favourable path for one's eventual victory. Bann looked at me puzzled and told me : "Of course, and you've only figured it out

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-84125160794153964202011-11-01T11:10:00.002+08:002011-11-01T11:12:52.044+08:00

Deck Name : The Big Blue Ones Crypt [12 vampires] ------------------------------------------------------------ 2x Arcadian, The       2x Pherydima             2x Isanwayen           2x Dame Hollerton       1x Omme Enberbenight     1x Roderick Phillips     1x Leila Monroe         1x Lucy Markowitz       Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-7857618132699036092011-10-30T13:45:00.005+08:002011-10-30T14:05:16.205+08:00

After looking at MYT don't you just think that the Kiasyd's unique Bloodline discipline made them one of the most efficient stealth bleeders? In fact, I feel that they are so good that the only thing stopping them from taking over the bleeding scene is their relatively thin crypt choice - which is a problem shared by pretty much all of the Bloodlines. That said, the Kiasyd actually do have a

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-61917834170692901902011-10-25T12:42:00.001+08:002011-10-25T12:45:56.292+08:00

Mytherceria, among the Bloodline disciplines, is probably the most toolboxy of them all, rather similar to Obtenebration and Chimestry in terms of the multiple abilities and bonuses that it can confer, and some of them extremely efficient. Combining this discipline with the Kiasyd is simply fearsome, making them perhaps one of the most feared bleeders of all times. Granted, almost every deck I

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-37711090473299165672011-10-24T16:29:00.000+08:002011-10-24T16:29:04.870+08:00

I remember you Ambulance, was quite a card during LotN, and I was usually quite happy when you appear in the booster pack, I remembered that the Ambulance cost something around $8 or so. However, after a while, it seems that Ambulance is almost nowhere to be seen, and very few decks in my community actually utilise its powers. Well, afterall, what would Ambulance know about vampires anyway.

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-70908825372599010592011-10-24T16:03:00.000+08:002011-10-24T16:03:50.944+08:00

I quite firmly believed in action efficiency, and strongly believed that if one is doing everything more efficiently than one's prey, then in the medium run, assuming no disasters happen, one should be way ahead of the prey's growth curve and therefore able to overpower him by sheer efficiency. In Vtes, this efficiency is measured in the various assets - pool, blood, minions and on-table

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-61491052257891215782011-10-21T13:43:00.001+08:002011-10-21T18:29:38.500+08:00

Deck Name : An Eze Evening Crypt [12 vampires] ------------------------------------------------------------ 5x Eze, The Demon Prince 1x Ugadja               1x Iniko, The Black Lion   1x Nana Buruku           1x Sobayifa             1x Aren, Priest of Eshu   1x Batsheva         1x Lumumba               Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Action

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-2581400060566075922011-10-20T14:01:00.000+08:002011-10-20T14:01:01.654+08:00

The Laibons are a fairly new addition to the Vtes scene, given that they are pretty much the last "sect"-based keywords that was introduced before Vtes goes into torpor a second time.  The Laibons, being in Africa and all, comes with their own set of special advantages just for being exotic. This article tries to look at the different Laibon cards that are good enough to be included in most

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-539386637613968072011-10-19T11:10:00.005+08:002011-10-19T17:37:19.971+08:00

The Daughters have always been one of my favourite clans in Vtes (who doesn't like pretty singing vampires? They're just girl versions of Lestat~). And the MELpominee discipline, despite being a little weird (blood into voice?), ended up (after HttB) as one incredibly useful, and deadly discipline. Combine this discipline with the many Clan-based Daughters cards, and this obscure (and did I

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-47468985803046603882011-10-18T11:54:00.003+08:002011-10-18T11:54:52.621+08:00

This Blog Is Having Formatting Problem. (o.o!)

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-33313124889613946112011-10-18T09:08:00.008+08:002011-10-18T11:58:21.460+08:00

Deck Name : Along Came a SpiderCrypt [12 vampires] ------------------------------------------------------------3x Uchenna 2x Ugadja 2x Nkule Galadima 1x Kikiyaon, The 1x Hasani 1x Dolie 1x Meno Ngari 1x Tupdog Library [90 cards]------------------------------------------------------------Action [15]1x Army of Rats5x

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-50251290415968502602011-10-17T14:18:00.002+08:002011-10-17T14:40:37.449+08:00

Picking up from where I've left off almost a year ago, my journey with the disciplines now come to the one most resilient combat discipline of all, and unquestionably one of the most powerful disciplines in the game - Fortitude. This is the one discipline that all combat decks must think of defeating, and every single deck with access to it will probably think of using it in some way. Much like

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-89890476973941524002011-10-16T00:55:00.003+08:002011-10-19T18:44:59.828+08:00

Well, the Asian Championship did pull out quite a bit of interest in Vtes for our community, and we are starting to plan for regular games again. Needless to say, we are all planning new decks and recreating older decks to prepare ourselves for Vtes games again. I am therefore, committed to reviving Singing Vtes as well~ lots of battles to record and I'm sure, lots of insights to learn from my

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-65083820160478012002011-10-11T10:09:00.011+08:002011-10-22T22:16:56.718+08:00

The day of 9th October, in the year 2011, Schizo Art Cafe, Quezon City, Philippines. After a very stressful work week before the tournament, I finally got the green light to fly to Manila on the very last day on Friday. D-1 Day was a hectic day of trying to tune the deck sufficiently to stand a chance in the tournament. And since I've only brought 3 decks and a very limited cache of cards to

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-43967415519023391092011-09-12T15:49:00.003+08:002011-10-20T07:32:12.341+08:00

Well, well, here comes the Asian Championship again~ Manila, here I come, now, have to try not to be too lazy and get that air ticket soon~ this torpor thing is pretty contagious. What deck should I bring over there to fight it out? Given that the last time I played Vtes was like a year ago, I can't very well remember how everything is like very well. Definitely not using my Ian Forestal

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-58724648529892504162011-02-20T09:54:00.001+08:002011-02-20T09:55:30.912+08:00

Well, I finally did it, creating a new blog for my new hobby. Here it is~ http://singinagot.blogspot.com/ (o.o)

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-30723532745613053632011-02-11T12:01:00.006+08:002011-02-11T12:57:03.545+08:00

I've committed to the A Game of Thrones (AGOT) LCG a couple of weeks ago, after hearing much about it. Supposedly this game is the nearest thing to a substitute to Vtes. It is a multi-player card game, strong on diplomacy, and had quite good reviews about the game play as well as the good active support by the company and the community. The most important aspect is of course our own little

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-82313944046728751402011-02-09T12:27:00.004+08:002011-10-19T18:48:32.042+08:00

Now that Vtes is officially out of support, I think everywhere around the world Methuselahs are struggling to keep the game alive by holding their respective play group together. Well, this is no easy work we're talking about here - once a game is out of support, recruiting new blood become next to impossible, and older vampires eventually go torpor, and with nothing new in the horizon, it is

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-85398056812455893282011-02-06T18:55:00.003+08:002011-11-03T15:04:18.426+08:00

Heard about this series of books for quite a while, but it has been my habit of not starting any series that has yet to be completed, in fear of it never will. (Took me about 12 years to finish 5 Star Stories, and let's not get started with the Wheel of Time) However, due to the fact that I've started A Game of Thrones LCG (which is the name of the first book in this series), out of curiosity, I

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-47297584603544015232011-02-05T09:26:00.003+08:002011-11-03T15:01:49.486+08:00

We all know that Vtes is gone for now, and probably will take a while for the game to reemerge. Now the problem I have is in what form will the game exit torpor - as it was, or in another form. Whether CCP, or anybody else who eventually pick up the game, will just continue the current way of gaming is for all to speculate, and probably only the Trujah has any way of knowing now. There are talks

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-92136945544742558402011-02-05T09:23:00.003+08:002011-11-03T15:02:29.900+08:00

Now that I'm going full steam into this game (and probably the Lord of the Ring LCG when it is released), I think I'll be using this blog for this game for a while, in hoping to attract Vtes players into the Game of Thrones and vice versa. I guess I'll still blog about Vtes happenings when they do happen, but in order to make sure I still write regularly, I 'll just have to include A Game of

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-480449701306673072011-02-04T21:26:00.002+08:002011-02-04T21:31:04.466+08:00

Well, like YY put it, nothing new to write about Vtes, no new tricks, no new sets, no new decks, and very little new urges to bleed. So after a couple of months pondering what I should do with my disposable income (not that I've much nowadays), I finally plunged into the A Game of Thrones LCG. Having heard quite a bit about it I cautiously bought the base set and a couple of chapter packs and

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-89283551222781434482010-12-27T11:28:00.003+08:002011-10-20T07:33:22.181+08:00

Ah, the mighty DOMinate. Probably the most feared and effective discipline in the whole of Vtes, DOM is rightly feared for its efficiency in aiding Methuselahs in bleeding their prey, as well as its defensive options against bleeding. Make no mistake, DOM is THE discipline to look out for if you're big on bleeding your opponents dry - quickly. ActionThe vast majority of DOM's power comes from

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-49942287805893184192010-12-22T02:24:00.004+08:002010-12-22T13:36:46.586+08:00

Pretty much the exclusive discipline for the new Malkavian and !Malkavian, probably created in an attempt to curb the mighty combination of the in-clan disciplines of the Group 1 & 2 Malkavians. (OBF & DOM is just too darn deadly) It is however, IMHO, quite a restrictive discipline and doesn't do very much and is not very interesting to me. It has quite a bit of annoying actions and stealth

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-45250783784170170042010-12-18T10:53:00.002+08:002010-12-18T11:28:35.954+08:00

Ok, first of the Bloodlines discipline, and the one that is one of the most interesting and difficult to use. Of all the bloodline discipline, this is one of the most restrictive - second perhaps only to the ridiculously unfriendly Sanguinus. The main issue with DAI, is that even if you throw a Spontaneous Power or an Agent of Power on a vampire, he's not going to be able to use it very

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-90935547758378002802010-12-16T12:03:00.002+08:002010-12-16T12:21:47.086+08:00

The one who sits (usually) to your right, looking at you with that blood-thirsty eye is your predator. He is the one that you hate most, but cannot get rid of (usually) until the end. In fact, it can be said that the ultimate purpose of every Vtes game (preferably), is to get rid of all those preys who are standing in your way to finally get the satisfaction (and the VP) of killing your first

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-52612640810324114172010-12-15T19:46:00.006+08:002011-10-21T19:41:39.194+08:00

Has been using, and has been on the receiving ends of this card lately. The lessons I've gained from it told me that Ravnos decks should almost always carry at least one of these, more if the deck has means of exploiting it. In fact, the power of this card is so intense that the moment of landing it, and the means of exploiting it successfully often spells the skill and focus level of the

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-47976906224777087602010-12-14T23:22:00.002+08:002010-12-14T23:58:05.804+08:00

Chimerstry is one of my favorite disciplines because it is such an unpredictable toolbox discipline that can do so many different things, some of them plainly scary, and many of them extremely efficiently. Of course, one of the main problems of this discipline is the blood cost that is attached to so many of its stapler cards, and therefore kinda curb its deadliness. On the other hand, the Ravnos

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-61587109258900473192010-12-13T15:27:00.006+08:002010-12-13T15:57:52.431+08:00

After playing a good number of Vtes games, I find that despite the exponentially huge permutations of Vtes possibilities, every Vtes game is just a variation of the same thing - an aggressive opening, patient mid-game and the inevitable rush to oust. That said, I don't think it is actually possible to exhaust all the possible scenarios of Vtes given the incredible amount of freedom and randomness

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-44732399372432122552010-12-12T11:06:00.003+08:002010-12-12T12:06:08.108+08:00

Once I've been told that ANI is a discipline that really doesn't work very well at the inferior level, but nowadays I feel that even at basic ANI it is actually pretty self-sustaining, capable of supporting singular discipline deck if one really wanted to. Celerity, however, is a discipline that really doesn't do much at basic level, and besides appearing in dedicated gun decks, would require

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-60126184891384963232010-12-05T11:35:00.002+08:002010-12-05T12:01:36.909+08:00

Like so many others of my community, I'm reasonably concerned about the medium-term and long-term feasibility of Vtes maintaining as a prominent and more importantly, sustainable game, especially in my immediate community. Although this is not the first time that Vtes had gone into torpor, is it going to just leave torpor again? And if so, how long will that take, and in what form? I wasn't

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-90864536261767409872010-12-03T18:02:00.004+08:002010-12-03T18:47:30.716+08:00

Having finally done with all my "A" decks, I've worked relentlessly on the letter B now. The first of them all is my Beautiful Eyes deck, which is a !Toreador PRO wall deck. And needless to say, it coincides nicely with the discipline of AUS that I had intended to look into. Well, AUS is essentially a very reactive discipline, and almost always play a supporting role in a deck. Even as the

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-87228109077311483722010-12-02T09:12:00.004+08:002010-12-02T10:11:36.408+08:00

Continuing with the tuning of the Akunanse, I had quite a bit of a look at Animalism. I find that at the end of the day, despite all the common complaints of ANI, it is actually a pretty good discipline to stand by itself, having answers to most of the problems of the game, and can be used as a single discipline for a deck if needed. ActionsWith the addition of Deep Song, ANI is semi-complete. It

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-74092663868080660382010-12-01T22:59:00.006+08:002011-11-03T14:17:33.124+08:00

In order to avoid the Sixth Tradition, I've been buzzing to gather all my cards from the various hiding places in the work room and transferring them to the study room to make space for the immediate conversion of the work room into the play room for the kids. Under the ever watchful eyes of my wife-sama, I quickly Auspexed all my cards and moved them quickly (and incredibly efficiently) to their

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-61406961619026741772010-12-01T09:45:00.002+08:002010-12-01T10:17:18.697+08:00

Very often we see Methuselahs desperately trying to do random things so that he/she can cycle into what is (most of the time) absolutely life-saving, or at least useable; over here we called that cycling. I'm not sure if this is the official term, or at least a general accepted definition of this activity, but I was just thinking that cycling is such an important, and common aspect of Vtes, that

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-86220351670437248272010-11-30T08:33:00.005+08:002010-11-30T11:20:16.566+08:00

Deck Name : Magical History Crypt [12 vampires]------------------------------------------------------------5x Ian Forestal 1x Reverend Blackwood 1x Catherine du Bois 1x Cristos Mantigo 1x Laurent de Valois 1x Brooke 1x Saiz 1x Hanna Redmonds Library [90 cards]------------------------------------------------------------

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-66232707354241307702010-11-22T08:18:00.013+08:002011-10-22T21:55:35.533+08:00

The day of 21st November, in the year 2010, Games Garage. After a sad time getting over the torpor of Vtes as a whole, the First Asian Vtes Championship was held at Games Garage yesterday, and I was privileged to be able to participate in this monumental event. For the first time in history, Asian Methuselahs gathered to compete against each other. 15 Methuselahs were present for the battle,

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-88159933997919633902010-09-15T10:59:00.004+08:002011-11-03T14:16:23.669+08:00

The night of 14th September, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. My first game after the ceased production thing, but in essence, all things seems to be normal, and even Paul and Sheena were at the store for a while, but weren't able to play since there were a 6-player table going on. Oh, how I missed bleeding them. I hope they come back again next week. I quickly let myself die in Game 1

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-42332319358212388612010-09-13T11:46:00.005+08:002011-10-21T19:42:01.616+08:00

Well. This is one card you don't really see. Why? 'Cause this is one card that you shouldn't be using if you at least have some options left. You see, Master cards are very powerful actions in a game, so powerful that it has a phase dedicated to it, and you can generally only play one Master card during your turn. Ascendance is a good example of wasting that privilege. In a nutshell, spending

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-71241568199871929372010-09-12T13:47:00.004+08:002010-09-12T14:09:42.610+08:00

I remember. I remember Chi Yong showing me the 3rd Edition starters, and telling me that slapping 2x !Malkavian Starters together makes a tournament worthy deck, cheapest possible CCG to start during that time. I remember committing my hard-earned income on those starters while cursing and swearing on what AEG had done to me with their multiple "reboots" I remember how happy I was about Vtes

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-62428062927469024372010-09-11T10:03:00.003+08:002010-09-11T10:28:37.827+08:00

Rest in Peace, my fellow Methuselahs. May we leave torpor some day. Meanwhile, I think I'm just going to go somewhere and sulk for a moment, before asking all my minions to go burn the ghouls that are responsible for this. They deserved the Sixth Tradition, my friends. (T.T)

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-4438413941630883052010-09-09T10:46:00.006+08:002011-11-03T15:05:08.718+08:00

Very few allies are vampiric, and they don't even burst into flame or turn to dust in the sun, but you still see many of them running around bleeding, killing, or doing random things to Methuselahs that are usually minding their own business. What's so attractive about spending for a little thing that is usually not even immortal? (Of course, there are those who are, but they aren't as cool as

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-80352985785071940642010-09-08T13:36:00.003+08:002010-09-08T14:00:51.889+08:00

The night of 7th September, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. Now that the qualifiers is over, I don't have the pressure of testing or tuning decks for the deadly struggle of a tournament, so I started taking out old old fun decks and went down to PI for a game. YY and LF were already there doing community service in sorting clan cards for the pool, and after quite a while, other Methuselahs

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-59582667616958978342010-09-07T10:36:00.002+08:002010-09-07T11:08:54.699+08:00

Crypt [12 vampires] ------------------------------------------------------------2x Paul Forrest, False Prophet1x Ganesh 1x Tsunda 1x Callirus 1x Papa Legba 1x Brian Thompson 1x Devyn 1x Gharston Roland 1x Johann Matheson 1x Gwen Brand 1x Marion French Library [90 cards]-----------

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-41172140319021260732010-09-06T11:20:00.015+08:002011-10-30T16:58:06.278+08:00

The day of 5th September, in the year 2010, Games Garage. It was a pretty last minute decision (or rather, approval) for me to be able to participate in this qualifier, given the recent health crisis in the family and the issue that it was actually being held on a Sunday AND in the morning wee hours at 9am! (Must miss Church, must miss sleep, must entice wife...you know the drills...)

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-10594242488599481022010-09-03T11:42:00.011+08:002011-11-03T14:11:26.025+08:00

Well, if Vtes doesn't come up with new expansion(s) soon, I will have to write about Ascendance eventually. But meanwhile let's look at a very special (and requires pretty much a special deck for it) card - Ex Nihilo. The first time I saw this card I didn't realize how powerful it can be (it happens a lot to me, you need to write "+10 bleed" on a card to make me realize a card is good) During

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-66752942118940300992010-09-02T12:37:00.006+08:002010-09-02T13:27:43.440+08:00

When I first saw the doggie I wasn't too impressed. Just another generic little ally doggie that could help a little, and it has no bleed. Not worth the deck space was my original thought of this little card. I, of course, like most other times, were proven wrong rather quickly when the Stray turned up left right center among the ANI decks in my area. And these doggies are good! The little doggie

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-34897205526582399252010-09-01T09:39:00.004+08:002010-09-01T10:26:20.413+08:00

The night of 31st August, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. The last day of August, and quite a while since I had Vtes in PI, due to the recent crisis in the family. But it seems to be all clear now, so I'm starting to dedicate time for my favourite hobby. 6 Methuselahs were present so I thought I would be sitting out the first game, since I only brought 1 deck yesterday, but Bann had

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-55183334570046205562010-08-28T15:39:00.002+08:002010-08-28T16:19:46.105+08:00

There are 37 vampires with Advance option, that is, if you have the vampire on table, and another copy of it's other incarnation (be it the basic or advance version), you can spend 4 transfers and 1 pool to merge the vampire and make him into something like an "experienced" version of the same vampire. This merging will replace the advance version's title/clan with the basic's one, and many of

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-70983874578458367332010-08-27T13:27:00.001+08:002010-08-27T13:28:43.600+08:00

After a scary health crisis in the family, I've finally resolved the issue and is now happily preparing myself to partake in the coming Jyhad of the Asian Championship! Singing Vtes again~ (o.o)lalala

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-36737006800839354422010-08-10T13:43:00.002+08:002010-08-10T13:58:42.165+08:00

The night of 9th August, in the year 2010, Games Garage. National Day, and 9 Methuselahs gathered at Games Garage to continue the Eternal Jyhad. I turned up too since the previous Saturday I had like 4 games with my deck struggling to survive and never ever ousted a single prey, but was instrumental in preventing my predator from killing me, and with the exception of the first game, survived

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-20641911912262366002010-08-05T17:46:00.003+08:002010-08-06T12:08:24.489+08:00

This is one darn good reason to be a Magaji. Been playing with my Spider deck for a while, and it's centered on this magnificent card, so I thought it'd be good to honor this card while I remember. No Secrets From the Magaji is the ultimate dream for wall decks, and a good addition to decks that plays with any reasonable numbers of Magaji. In theory, it allows for unlimited attempts to block your

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-33992629325075113732010-08-04T12:55:00.003+08:002010-08-04T17:27:47.101+08:00

Here's an update of who's who in Singapore's Vtes struggle. (those I know and remember only, so if you couldn't find your name in this list, you know you've not held the Edge for too long) 1. YY (Prince of Singapore)2. Bann (previous Prince of Singapore, now the Treasurer of Singapore)3. LiFei (The Prince's Consort)4. G1 (Primogen for sure)5. Me (I write this blog)6. ZombieBoy (the Necromancer)7.

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-82620901272523164942010-08-04T12:30:00.002+08:002010-08-04T12:41:41.526+08:00

3rd of August, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. Work got in the way and I arrived late in PI where several Methuselahs were already engaged in a 5-player struggle. Hungry, I went down for dinner with Zombieboy, but came up to see that the Methuselahs had started another new game~ Oh well. Bann and the WeiYuan siblings went to play Race after their game and I was finally able to get a game~

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-60031028871794203082010-08-02T10:48:00.007+08:002010-08-02T11:22:22.493+08:00

Yeah, first post in August~ The night of 30th July, in the year 2010, Games Garage. Anyway, was late arriving at Games Garage, wife-sama sent me there with lots of books I wanted to pass to BK, clearing up some space at home to stack other books. Those who are interested to read all those very old codex or army books of Warhammer and Warhammer 40K please go look for BK, I have a full collection

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-74743219084625207322010-07-30T11:14:00.002+08:002010-07-30T11:16:45.699+08:00

I'm worried of course, about the current future of Vtes, since absolutely nothing has been talked about about a future expansion - absolutely nothing. This is either a very cunning marketing trick to hype up the next expansion, or a sure telltale sign of a disaster. Well, I guess I just have to keep my fingers crossed, and hope that this magnificent game doesn't just die. (o.o)x

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-8287913713072038502010-07-29T11:09:00.003+08:002010-07-29T11:22:57.898+08:00

This is the first iPhone vampire-related game that I've played. It is a cheap $0.99 game, something between a mix of Line-Drawing and Time Management. Nothing to really scream about, but it is pretty alright to burn off a couple of hours of free time, and is pretty ok to keep me distracted while waiting for a train or a bus or my wife to pick me up. Basically, you're tasked with the job to "draw"

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-59828509667312787642010-07-28T11:19:00.002+08:002010-07-28T11:36:23.588+08:00

The night of 27th July, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. Spent some time chatting with a long lost old friend I met in PI, so I only get to play 1 game (1 complete game anyway) yesternight. So here goes. Randomized Seating. Faz's Assamites, bleedingMy Beautiful Eyes, bleedingLF's Flash deck, bleedingDamien's Trujah. I had a reasonably ok start, bringing out Le'Epusette and had the first

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-75140130704808320582010-07-26T10:29:00.004+08:002010-07-26T11:10:10.156+08:00

The night of 24th July, in the year 2010, Games Garage. A busy day for me as I was positioned in Takashimaya for quite a bit of work before I could get to Games Garage in the evening. Quite a few Methuselahs were already there and we had enough players to start. Randomized Seating for Game 1 Bann's TupDog, bleedingGerrent's Daughters, bleedingFaiz playing G1's Malk'94, bleedingG1's Saulot,

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-9791405504206676152010-07-23T10:39:00.006+08:002010-07-23T11:01:02.008+08:00

There's been quite a bit of talk about converting Vtes into a Living Card Game (LCG). For those who doesn't know what this is, a LCG is basically a kind of card game where all the packs that you buy are not random - and that the decks/packs that are released periodically has a fixed set of cards in them. It's like buying most wargame miniatures - you know exactly what you get when you buy the

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-88090960113120326442010-07-22T11:00:00.003+08:002010-07-22T11:10:03.142+08:00

Was violently sick for a couple of days, so spent the time sorting out the Vtes cards at home. Yap, too many of them. Too many. Cards in boxes, the left 3 boxes are constructed decks waiting to be tested.Boxes from Right to Left:[Vampires2, Allies, Retainers and Events][Vampires1][Modifiers and Equipment] Vampire Cards sorted to clans and alphabetical order. Action Cards sorted into disciplines

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-13141949943000533302010-07-21T09:28:00.003+08:002010-07-22T00:34:14.299+08:00

All who has ever went up against any Malkavian or !Malkavian bleed decks (or bleed decks that make extensive use of DEM) knows that they have 4 common combat defense (there are others (like AUS defense or Gemini Mirrors) but those would be rare) - the "Take it!" defense, Disguised Weapons, OBF combat with No Trace, and the deadliest of all - Coma. I can't recall how many times I've refrained from

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-16201460041589784492010-07-20T10:32:00.002+08:002010-07-20T10:54:18.355+08:00

Well, a Methuselah ally is a VP waiting to happen, but until the fella to your left is lying in his own coffin waiting for you to claim that 6 pool, the ally is someone you have to work with most of the time. In general, there are 3 kinds of allies - your grand prey, your grand predator, and Danz. Danz we'll talk about in private, but the others, we can discuss. It's in your best interest to keep

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-42519424874808733882010-07-19T18:19:00.002+08:002010-07-19T18:52:44.120+08:00

Night of 17th July, in the year 2010, Games Garage. The second time I'm playing at Games Garage, and we have 2 new players that G1 was trying to embrace into Vtes. Therefore the first game was a demo game, and since there were more than 5 players involved, Bann, G1 and me sat out the first game and awaited the arrival of Derek and wife to start a second table. That wait took us about 2 hours plus

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-61858657019373256392010-07-17T14:03:00.003+08:002010-07-17T14:28:36.144+08:00

The 2 most important entity to you the moment you sit on a Vtes table, are your Prey, and your Predator, their wellbeing directly impact your success on the table, and therefore, one should quickly decide on what to do with them, and how to deal with them. This is almost like the mission statement of a running company. For the prey, it is usually rather simple. He is 6 pool and 1 VP to you, a

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-16719036941625683512010-07-16T10:43:00.002+08:002010-07-16T11:13:28.891+08:00

Weenies are young vampires generally of 4-cap or less, meaning that you can usually bring out 1 weenie per influence phase after the first turn of limited transfers. Weenies tech is a rather effective and usually deadly force on the table, mostly due to their speed to get to the table, and the large number that they usually comes in, resulting in a swarm of actions that few decks can hope to

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-33696678610227617472010-07-14T11:02:00.002+08:002010-07-14T11:39:04.793+08:00

Night of 13th July, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. After setting up my stuff in Takashimaya Craziest Toys Sales, I trot over to PI for Vtes night. After waiting for a while there were finally enough Methuselahs to start a 6-player table! That included Gerentt who came back from US for a while to be bled by us. Randomized seating for the 6-player game. John's Malkavian Sneak bleed,

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-64829353923208855982010-07-12T10:51:00.003+08:002010-07-12T11:01:16.505+08:00

10th July, in the year 2010, Games Garage. A new place for us to play Vtes, and a new Vtes gathering night on Saturday at Games Garage. I'll write about the new place some time later, but for a start, it is a great place to play Vtes. Nice table, ample time, and actually reasonably convenient for quite a lot of us. We do have to pay for it of course, and it will not replace our Tuesday Vtes night

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-59006803038595889402010-07-08T13:05:00.007+08:002010-07-08T13:44:58.003+08:00

Well, when there is fog in a war we kinda have to guess where the enemies are and where they'll turn up, and of course what they're up to. Fog of War is a problem common to Methuselahs too, since they have little idea what their opponents have up their sleeves and what they'll be throwing at them during their turns, as well as their potential defensive measures when one is taking a certain action

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-66912073761280663952010-07-07T09:58:00.003+08:002010-07-07T10:15:40.695+08:00

6th of July, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. After dinner, my fear of not having enough players for the night was proven groundless and we formed 2 tables of 4 very quickly, including the demo table that I sat on for the introduction of the game to 2 new players. Welcome to the game! After that we split into another 2 tables of four for the night. Randomized seating for the game - John's

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-75410247132775187162010-07-03T20:38:00.004+08:002011-11-03T14:13:32.287+08:00

Kyoko Shinsegawa is the only Japanese vampire (or at least the only one with a Japanese name) in the Vtes crypt selection at the moment, and she is a most preculiar Tremere. As a Group 3 vampire she is within the batch of vampires that are very versatile in crypt selection, and she is young enough to be used occasionally in decks just to "fill in" space, mainly due to her dominate discipline,

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-7158918789503597612010-07-01T11:02:00.006+08:002010-07-01T11:50:50.900+08:00

The construction of a deck will necessarily deal with the size of the deck's crypt and library, and therefore is often one of the earliest decisions that one has to make when assembling a deck. A Vtes deck has 2 components - the crypt and the library, and therefore technically one has to make 2 decisions as to the size of each of these. The Crypt is a simpler choice. Although there is no cap as

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-68214701102785054442010-06-30T11:10:00.004+08:002010-06-30T11:29:37.928+08:00

29th June, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. We had 2 tables to start with yesternight, and I happened to sit on the table with Danz as my predator - which immediately given me an edge over everybody else (except his predator) since I now have the aid of the Alleme (The enemy of Allies) of Vtes on my side. Randomized seating as follows: Danz's Gehenna, bleedingMy Bouncing Magic,

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-50676593957342872992010-06-29T15:45:00.004+08:002011-10-20T08:41:34.572+08:00

I find my tendency to salivate...I mean, predisposed towards nice charming female art a key ingredient in my fascination with this very interesting clan to play with in Vtes. (And no, I refuse to use Harlan Graves - he should stay IN the grave). The Daughters of Cacophony, besides being one of the very few clans that (was supposed to) was to be a single gender clan of vampires (they even

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-55867171509490037822010-06-29T11:18:00.002+08:002010-06-29T11:30:14.724+08:00

I think one of the coolest thing about Vtes is the fact that almost every deck that one has needs to constantly evolve to adapt to the changing environment of the play-field. The extreme of it would be what I think people call Meta-Game - where one actively changes the cards in order to hose one or several other players' known deck or playstyle. In most other games Meta is not always necessary,

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-23438448854755436562010-06-22T10:15:00.001+08:002010-06-22T10:16:28.942+08:00

Been down with the Vampiric disease for a couple of days already... Hope the potence of the blood come back soon~ (o.o)sick

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-49160116841489742742010-06-13T17:00:00.004+08:002010-06-13T17:25:53.790+08:00

12th June, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. Arrived at PI near evening, but spent the early part of the evening playing Race for the Galaxy instead of Vtes. After losing ALL the Race for the Galaxy games (good thing Cockroach is there so I didn't lose to EVERYBODY), and went for a reasonably nice dinner, we sat down to play Vtes. Randomized seating for the first game -LF's Samedi,

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-17721993111136845692010-06-12T15:01:00.002+08:002010-06-12T15:30:17.284+08:00

One of the best allies available in the game, and probably the best that is exclusive to the Black Hands (not that they have anything else to compete against). But even within the large number of selection of available allies in Vtes, these Thuggees remain one of the most effective and efficient allies that you'd want to consider using. One of the most important advantage of the Thuggees is that

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-75232933087864003992010-06-11T11:42:00.004+08:002010-06-11T12:06:34.446+08:00

The Society of Leopold is an under-rated card. Many considered too risky to use since it can be moved to pretty much every vampire on the table, and that the burning of a blood at the untap phase is not really a big deal, given that Vessel and Hunting Ground can easily help the "society"-plagued vampire to survive the inconvenience long enough to slap it on somebody else. This is seen as another

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-74860065142430749202010-06-10T11:00:00.002+08:002010-06-10T11:13:48.692+08:00

8th June, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. The first Vtes night after SporeCon, and despite all the Day Operations that everyone had played during then, more than 2 tables worth of Methuselahs turned up, including some new blood-thirsty Methuselahs (whom are graciously taken in by Dzaki, who no doubt is greedily trying to recruit these new forces into his side and aid him in future battles)

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-416982258589188972010-06-08T12:27:00.005+08:002011-10-20T08:44:57.878+08:00

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

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-16154854602332784572010-06-07T10:40:00.005+08:002011-10-20T08:47:05.054+08:00

The days of 5th and 6th June 2010, Pasir Ris East Community Center. As commanded by the prince, I arrived at Pasir Ris East Community Center on the 5th June, Saturday, around 12pm, in preparation for the attempted embracing of new Methuselahs for Vtes in Singapore during the annual SporeCon event held by PI. And after 2 days of Day Operations, I begin to understand why Embrace costs 2 blood.

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-69582587605589909912010-06-03T10:49:00.002+08:002010-06-04T10:29:40.295+08:00

The sequel to the Fiends of the Eastern Front, and to be honest, is quite a disappointment as compared to its predecessor. The first obvious issue is that the author obviously knows nothing about Japanese culture, and the painful efforts that he tried to put in depicting Japanese culture put tears into my eyes. The author obviously cannot differentiate the different cultures in China, Thailand

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-22907798064132790842010-06-02T14:40:00.003+08:002010-06-02T15:08:10.581+08:00

Well, generally the creation of any deck comes with either the construction of the library, or the crypt. (yap, I realized that I've just stated an obvious fact~); so obviously the crypt selection is one of the most important aspect of deck construction. But curiously, if you ask around and look around, very seldom do you see people talk about the crypt construction process as vigorously or

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-11484590218049286232010-05-25T14:12:00.001+08:002010-05-25T14:12:56.814+08:00

Meanwhile, I forgot to say. I hate Twilight. (o.o)boo

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-73316002627666317682010-05-25T13:56:00.003+08:002010-05-25T14:11:29.826+08:00

This book has 2 of my favourite genre - war and vampires, so needless to say I eagerly grabbed the book from the shelf and started digging into it the moment I found it lying forgotten somewhere around my bookshelf a couple of nights ago. (And I do have a lot of books, my last Excel spreadsheet exceeded 18,000 books to date, not including those belonging to my sons.) The Fiends of the Eastern

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-41940419711170328702010-05-24T12:30:00.004+08:002010-05-24T12:45:17.044+08:00

The Evening of 22nd, May, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. As commanded by the Prince, I arrived at PI at about 530pm prepared to sort out the community card pool. For those who not know, the Singapore Vtes community has a pool of cards in PI that is dedicated to support players in building decks. This pool of over 10,000 cards are contributed by various Methuselahs. Of course, these cards

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-44714967097146421972010-05-20T16:25:00.002+08:002010-05-20T16:49:40.192+08:00

When a bleeder (usually a stealth bleeder with OBF somewhere on his card) bleeds irresponsibly everyone complains, simply because they could've been stocked up with Spying Missions instead of all the Eye of Chaos. However, for a dedicated stealth bleeder (or the majority of power bleeders), responsible bleeding is a diplomatic tool and a "good to have" thing rather than a "must have" mechanics.

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-36370222049452354372010-05-13T13:13:00.001+08:002010-05-13T13:14:40.816+08:00

I think I'll take Ryan's stance and change my Air Rock deck into nothing but beat beat beat beat beat. (o.o)o

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-8698691620744714262010-05-11T15:13:00.004+08:002010-05-11T15:56:01.246+08:00

The problem with Lasombras nowadays is that they're kinda second choice for many things that they do pretty well actually. For example, with DOM and OBT, they are excellent stealth power bleeders, able to deal out incredible amount of damage with OBT providing reasonably good stealth to get through opponent's defenses. This advantage, however, is not pronounced enough since the mighty bluies

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-58753848312016969672010-05-07T16:24:00.002+08:002010-05-07T16:52:01.364+08:00

Now that the Battlelines Storyline is legal for normal play, one of it's most influential card will probably see emergence in many decks. Lilith's Blessing is probably one of the most effective and powerful cards that will impact the environment in the post HttB scene. Of course, we still have very little use for the Bahari status. At this point, its only purpose is to prevent a vampire from

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-35381173529020823912010-05-06T15:23:00.003+08:002010-05-06T15:26:19.419+08:00

Before HttB, Infernal is a real pain, extremely difficult to pull off. For their cost they don't really deliver much that is worth it. Therefore Baali and other Infernal Vampires only appears in very thematic and specific superstar decks. Of course, you still see the TurboCybele decks, Valerius multi-action combat and the ever deadly Nergal. But for these decks Infernalism doesn't really shine

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-8755313890124917512010-05-05T10:50:00.002+08:002010-05-05T10:53:34.305+08:00

I think I'll go torpor for a while to recharge my zest for Vtes, it's been a couple of hectic months and I think I'll a little burnt out for Vtes games - the night shifts implemented due to unforseen circumstances didn't help, neither did the emergence of Final Fantasy XIII, the iPhone and of course all the other thing generally classified as work~ Now that Sporecon Vtes demo is coming up, I

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-87781998634237256142010-05-04T16:01:00.002+08:002010-05-04T16:26:33.702+08:00

There are some cards that are simply weird, or so interesting that only Malkavians understand them. Mind of a Killer is such a card. It is a cute card that does very random harassment to your enemy, or if used in large number successfully makes a very interesting deck, though hardly considered a feasible strategy, or at least, the primary DEM clan has easier ways to get the VP. The issue with

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-3421755428814415092010-04-30T11:38:00.003+08:002010-04-30T11:42:48.742+08:00

One interesting thing about Vtes is that the environment does force you to constantly adapt and tune your decks in response to the metagame. This sometimes changes with an entrance of new players or new decks, or a shift in the entire community, but it almost always changes when a new expansion is released, especially if they have cards that impact existing norms - such as when Vessel and Villein

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-38119900847919422132010-04-28T19:27:00.009+08:002011-10-30T16:59:33.525+08:00

The night of 27th April, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. Thus begins the final table for the Battlelines Tournament Singapore. Since Danz couldn't make it and Bann didn't bring his deck, G1 became the 5th player in the final table without the need to roll any dice to compete for it. After all have settled down, the Methuselahs soon chose their individual seating, and the final table's

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620698270805581182.post-22946159017520846702010-04-26T20:15:00.005+08:002010-04-26T21:32:38.729+08:00

The Day of 24th April, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum. Battlelines Storyline Tournament Singapore. Take 1. Well, that's what you get for trying to run a tournament in the day, where the sun is still strong. Apparently many Methuselahs didn't survive the Day Ops to get to the store, and I have only (more or less) 7 players in this tournament, down from the 12 that I was expecting. In fact,

xysinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14385653151284102235noreply@blogger.com0