The Eternal Jyhad : Keeping the Play Group Alive

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 really tough to keep people in the game.

So what are some of the stuff that play groups are doing to keep Vtes alive? Or at least preparing for it's inevitable complete torpor, and await the arrival of the day when it is rescued by somebody?

1. Keep playing.

Easier said than done. With nothing new, nothing new coming, and nothing new ever to come, its easy to lose interest in the game. Of course, we can all talk about the vast supply of old cards available to put new decks together, but hey, that's stale at best, and not exactly economical. New players won't join the game resulting in the same environment with the same group of Methuselahs playing, eventually one will get tired and move on. And I assure you that this has a snowballing effect - when 1 goes, several will eventually go, and finally all will go torpor.

We can keep playing the game like a social boardgame, but I mean, how often do you play social boardgame for over a year? Over here at least, unless the playgroup meets very rarely, a game is rarely played more than a couple of times before something new comes along. In the case of Vtes, nothing new will come along to spice it up.

2. Creating new format of play

What G1 is doing is creating a "draft box" format similar to that of Magic. Not to sound pessimistic, but I think it will only add a little spice to the game and will not be instrumental in maintaining the interest. Perhaps the group will play a little more for a while, but everyone knows in their heart that the game is dead, and a new format isn't going to help much except creating a "let's draft for a Vtes game since we've nothing better to do" situation.

3. Go for other games

This is risky. If one can find a similar, or just a substitute game for Vtes, and get everyone interested, this may be able to keep the group together until Vtes leaves torpor. I have no doubt that if and when Vtes leaves torpor I'll probably jump in line to get the game back on its feet again, but if that's gonna take a couple of years (or Caine forbid, decades), then some other new games (like AGOT) might have captured my interest and commitment to the degree that I might not ever get back into Vtes again.

All in all there're no easy answer to keep Vtes alive. I'm shedding tears of blood here.

Darn you, CCP~

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad - a Living Card Game

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 about Vtes turning LCG. For the uninitiated, a LCG is a Living Card Game, defined by the fact that they are not in a collectible format - namely, their "boosters" are not random, but instead released with a fixed set of cards, giving their buyer prefect knowledge of what they're getting, not unlike buying miniatures for all those war games.

What this gives is a great value for those who wants to play the game. After a painful period of evolution, FFG (the key player in the LCG arena) has learnt to release their packs to contain a playset of 3 cards - meaning, a single pack will give you 3 of every new card that is released. (3, being the maximum that you can put in a deck). This makes buying multiple packs quite unnecessary unless you need to build multiple decks, and even so it's still easy to calculate exactly how many packs you need to buy.

Economically it makes excellent sense, and it is a great selling point to interest players otherwise reluctant to go into CCGs due to their random (and therefore often expensive) nature.

For Vtes, in the LCG format will be a brand new sight for me, if it leaves torpor because of it.

The LCG format will limit the no-card limit format of the current deck building limitations. Even if there are no card limit set in the new LCG, the very cost of getting all those cards will make that kind of deck building pretty prohabitive. There will be a lot less of Thrown Gate decks, TupDogs etc etc. Maybe there are ways to make it easier (and cheaper), but I think it would be challenging at best.

On the other hand, if card limit is imposed, then many previously under-used cards will see reemergence - like Blood Dolls. A whole new way of building decks will appear, so who knows?

FFG has proven that they do listen to fans about how to fine tune the format of LCG, and they have been doing ok with some of their games. Will they ever pick up Vtes in this format? I don't know. But I do welcome any potential in reviving this great game.

I'll cross my fingers and await the Antideluvian Awakening.

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad - The future of Vtes cards

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 around when Vtes had the previous resurrection, so I can't really comment on what had happened, and whether or not the same will happen again. I can but speculate.

Meanwhile, here's my thoughts on what will happen to Vtes cards in general.

We have a community pool of cards, numbering way into the thousands. Granted, most of these cards are either very commonly seen, very cheap, or plainly worthless. There are some gems in the pool, thrown in occasionally either by charitable Methuselahs, or by careless, or simply uninformed players. (I've found a Spirit Claws there before, and I heard that there was a Carlton Van Wyk) These cards usually have a spike in number whenever a new expansion is released, mostly from the Methuselahs who have bought too many cards, or see many of the commons unused and unnecessary to keep. In my case, I sometimes displace older, more numerous cards to make space for newer, fresher cards to go into my own collection.

The effect of this is a pool of usually very useful cards for beginning players, reducing their need to buy too many booster packs or singles that, during my time, was a painful process to get started. For example, I had to buy a whole lot of Blood Dolls and Eagle Sights when I started making decks, they're now a dime a dozen in the pool. There are also some pretty useful cards that many decks crave - say, Deflections, Telepathic Misdirection, Taste of Vitae and so on. These cards provide a haven for Methuselahs willing to dig through the (usually quite well organized) pool of cards to find them. And more importantly, the pool also claims a good selection of vampires of all clans, giving new players the option to use vampires from older expansion without needing to hunt down, say, Bloodlines booster packs. For the older players, I mean, seriously, how many Ian Forestals does one need to keep at home? I have 10, and that's after throwing another 10 in the pool. (Ya, all those !Tremere Black Hand starters helped)

But the main source of card supply is in danger. Without new expansions, chances of older players buying a good number of cards is rather small. Which means the influx of unused cards from players is severely limited. Of course, tournaments here will see players opening the promo packs for participating players and winners, but those are rare occasions. Without this consistent influx of new cards, the pool will eventually dry up into a puddle of mud - both in quantity, and quality. This will make attracting new players significantly more difficult, as well as making creation of newer decks challenging without spending unnecessary money.

So will the overall trading pool in the community. Less and less cards will be in the market for trading as players either lose, or wanted to keep those precious cards that are necessary in their decks. Take for example, Villein. There are only so many Villein in play, being a relatively new card, and being such a great card to have in almost every deck that can use it. Unlike Vessels, Villein has yet to have the quantity to make it that available, and therefore, will be getting harder and harder to get as time goes by. This applies to pretty much every card, as we now see supply dwindling.

This is create a dangerous situation whereby newer decks start to degrade in quality. It might take a while for this to happen, but it will eventually happen - less Dreams, less Villeins, less everything for newer decks unless one disband older decks. As players retire (but not disband) decks, and older players going into torpor, the supply of cards will further be reduced, until a point whereby any significantly competitive decks with those "power" cards, which is at the moment absolutely common, will be viable only if older players disband old decks to make them. The side effect is deterring newer players from coming in the game, I mean, how intimidating it is if you know that a Dreams of the Sphinx will cost you US$20 each, and a single Villein US$10. A lot of deck ideas will become simply too expensive for the common people.

That said, let's speculate on the chances of Vtes revived by CCP ort WW in the near, or not-so-near future. We all know CCP has a VtM online games planned for sometime next year or maybe 2012. When the online game is released, there can only be 2 outcomes - fail or succeed.

It the game fails, the WW department from CCP will probably be released, or expunge - given the way that CCP is dealing with the WW Intellectual Properties, I'll not be surprised to see CCP boot WW out the moment WoD is proven non-so-profitable. This might take a while, since WW has many other interesting world background for CCP to ponder, but if it fails, it fails.

When that happens, Vtes might be revived as WW renegotiate (or whoever interested to co-invest) to restart Vtes, since apparently Vtes has a great community, and it has been proven that Vtes players do come back to support the game when it leaves torpor.

If the game succeeds, it only makes sense for CCP to capitalize on its success. Look at Eve - you have CCG, RPG and the lot, and you'll see that there is no reason for CCP to "recreate" a new CCG if their game is a success.

Of course, these are my thoughts only, too many business considerations are involved when a business unit needs to be re-booted. It is possible for Vtes to remain in torpor, and eventually suffers a final death. It might take 2-3 years for our community, hopefully longer, but I think it will happen, especially when the current younger groups of Vtes players eventually marry their counterparts and start their Creation Rites. Embracing new Methuselahs is more challenging, and it will get more and more difficult to get stores to support the game.

As for now, I'll just continue to tune decks and play Vtes. Afterall, I plan to go to heaven, and play Vtes like hell.

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad : I Remember

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 that very day.

I remember bleeding very hard, and very well - myself included.

I remember the rush to find cards in eBay. I remember literally bleeding my wallet dry getting my first Entombment.

I remember pondering over all those Bloodlines, and my everlasting relationship with the Gargoyles.

I remember my Air Rock deck winning me my first tournament.

I remember sending many vampires to torpor, and seeing many of mine joining them.

I remember new Prince, new Players, new Havens, and most importantly, new cards.

I remember old Princes, Old Friends, Old places, and most importantly, old games.

I remember the first time I play my Succubus Club. I remember the first time Danz Social Ladder me as an ally.

I remember cursing Brainwash, I remember praising Consanguinous Boons. I remember contesting Carlton, and I remember yielding Powerbase Montreal.

I remember the happiness I get for opening tons and tons of booster packs. I remember painstakingly sorting my cards into alphabetical order, in my room, and in the pool.

I remember hiding Diabolic Lure from my wife, and giving Ascendences to my sons. I remember throwing demo games, and I remember sitting in them.

I remember reading the Player's Guide and highlighting important concepts. I remember writing blogs and editing lines. I remember copying deck lists, and downloading ARDB.

And I remember Bann's absurd ability to recall almost every card in Vtes. And my own ability to misread most of them - though it's handy at times.

I remember bleeding the preys (or even allies) I don't like, and I remember bloating allies (and sometimes prey) whom I like. I remember wowing Keith's 100million NEC decks, and teasing Ryans's answer to all problems - combat.

I remember BK's ever-bloating deck, and I remember the Magaji who didn't even let me look into my fridge for a snack.

I remember much of the laughter. I remember much of the fun.

I also remember that I'm still a Vtes player.

Eternally, perhaps not. But for a darn darn long time I'm sure.

(o.o)o

The Eternal Jyhad : Vtes is gone.

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)

The Eternal Jyhad : The Singapore Chantry Update

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. Derek

8. Lee Wen (Derek's Eternal Partner)

9. John (The Malkavian John)

10. Ben Chia

11. Ben Sum

12. Jeff (the rare Big one)

13. Jeff (messy hair one, going to Tokyo soon I heard)

14. Danz (ex-Prince of Manila, and Ally-mie of Singapore)

15. Dzaki (rare at the moment)

16. WeiYuan

17. Penny

18. YeQi (the Cockroach)

19. YiPeng (in Hong Kong, but occasionally can smell his blood around here)

20. Gerrentt (in US, but comes back to bleed during holidays)

21. Donkey (Owner of the Elysium PI)

22. BK (Owner of Games Garage)

23. Patrick

24. Ryan (the combat Ryan, out-of-print ultra rare)

25. Nash (awaiting his schools days to end so he can rejoin the Jyhad)

26. Darren (in Australia, with many people after his blood over here, literally)

27. Robin (First Prince of Singapore)

28. Damien

29. Richard (ultra-rare now, going out of print, where are you Richard?)

30. Aaron (rare)

31. Jeff (the small one, out-of-print for very long since marriage)

32. Fad

33. Ken (the Vendetta Ken, now out-of-print)

34. Paul & Sheena (congrats on the engagement, apparently both out-of-print forever)

35. QiXian (completely out-of-production)

36. Sherman

37. Alvin (where've you been? Becoming ultra-rare)

38. Kenneth (rare)

39. Joshua (rare)

40. Khris (uncommon)

41. Faiz (uncommon)

That's a lot of vampires for a city of 4 million kine.

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad : Future?

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

The Eternal Jyhad : Living Card Game

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 pack. You can think of it as buying constructed starters.

I myself is not too keen on Vtes becoming a LCG.

The business aspect of it aside, that is a consideration that only White Wolf can make, we can only speculate. In theory, a good CCG should always sell more than LCG - since people are going to buy more just to get the right number of cards that they need. LCG, in a way, deters people from buying multiple copies - it's not that we don't need the cards, psychologically it just doesn't help if I'm told that I'll need to buy 2-3 copies of the SAME THING just to get SOME of the cards that I need in numbers. This is compounded by the fact that the prices of rares and other valuables will be quite contained within the prices of the packs in the short to medium run.

But that's that, and there are ways to circumvent that.

I'm more concerned about the culture of Vtes and a LCG will limit or even destroy.

One of the beauty of Vtes is the ability to use any card at any number to create a deck of your choice. LCGs, in the short to medium run, lacks this ability, and in a way will reward rich players who are willing or able to buy many copies of the SAME THING to get power cards to make a deck more efficient or competitive. No one will ever build a Thrown Gate deck if a pack of Brujah LCG deck comes with only 4 copies. Very few can ever build a Soul Gem deck either if you need to buy 10 decks of Samedi just to have enough Possession. The vast possibility of Vtes deck building will be severely limited by a LCG format.

The other LCGs in the market mostly deal with a much more simplified game play mechanics. The number of cards already available in Vtes, and the superior options and styles that afford so many of the players, and therefore is a key element in attracting players in Vtes will be gone in a LCG format, at least it is very unlikely that a LCG can continue to serve the existing player base very well in the short run. How many decks are they going to release, and how fast?

Imagine Vtes with only starters and no boosters. That's the nearest thing to LCG that we have at the moment. Well, you'll have lots of decks with the same concept, same cards, same vampires, and same play style. I think LCG is for like, small groups of friends to play at home or gatherings instead of for large competitive environment like Vtes communities.

Aquarian Age practice a semi-LCG format ever since their conception like 10 years ago. They released fixed boosters (or very small expansion) every month or so in addition to their standard CCG expansion sets, with like maybe, 6-12 cards in a set. These players can collect a full legion of them by buying a couple of packs. The downside of this is the mess it'll create due to the lack of proper play-testing (but who cares when the art is so darn good) and the constant influx of new mechanics and cards. On the other hand, it spice up the interest like, every month.

So, LCG for Vtes, perhaps as a stand-alone introductory set, like what Aquarian Age did with their Southern Cross expansion (an expansion for new players only, the cards are simplified, mechanics are simplified, and not compatible with the main set), may be a good direction to look at.

For it to replace the current format. I for one, wouldn't like it.

For hey, it's for Caine to say, who am I to complain?

But one thing's for sure. Vtes players should never support a "Living" Card Game. Drain it dry!

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad : Vtes Demo SporeCon 5th, 6th June 2010.

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.

Well, that aside, the response we got for the demo is encouraging, we had hopes of attracting hopefully 5-8 players, like last year, and will be looking forward to meeting all interested party this coming Tuesday and every other following Tuesday and Saturday in PI, where the current Jyhad continues.

Here are some pictures from the first day.

SporeCon begins, and our table is in the way of the aircon.

Superior FOR required for demonstrators to survive.

The demo decks created by our Elders.

The table cloth is the last remnant of my endless purchases.

We have 2 tables for introducing this magnificent game to all enthusiasts.

Introduction in process.

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad : Community Card Sorting Event - 22-05-2010

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 are mainly unneeded cards from the Methuselahs so one can't really expect to get high-end rares there - but, hey, there used to be Carton Van Wyks in the pool~ even today, I believed that there are cards that're useful for everyone (especially new players) to seek out if they have some cards that they need.

However, the pool is in a terrible mess due to players constantly "swimming" in it, and therefore the Prince dictate that there should be a community effort to re-sort the cards into a clear and friendly format for anyone who wants to find anything.

7 of us turned up for the card sorting, a little too few for comfort. We blame it on the Sporecon near the corner that motivated many Vtes players to dedicate their time to paint and prepare their tournament army to take part in Warhammer and Warmachine tournaments.

Nevertheless, we did what we could, but was limited by the number of card boxes that were available in the store. At the end of the day, the pool is a lot better, but still require more sorting.

I look forward to the next sorting event.

We started working on the cards with quite limited space.

With only 4 of these Super Shoe Boxes we were hard pressed to sort the cards into various categories.

Yours Truly did quite a lot of labeling~

We have more vampires than we'll ever need.

Throwing away lots of old boxes and pretty much

all of the Jyhad edition cards.

After the sorting event, we had some fun creating 4 demo decks meant for the recruitment event in Sporecon. I look forward to taste new blood.

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad : An Eternal Melody

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 were released (and to a lesser extent - Wider View).

Because of that I think it is not practical for me to maintain so many decks - in theory (and it feels good man!) I'll never get to play with all of them in any form that resembles "tuned" since I have to split my collections among all of them and will never have enough time to try out and complete all of their changes before another change in card directions shakes the metagame.

But tearing all these decks apart is easier said than done...

Oh well~

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad : Heirs to the Blood : The Good, The Bad, and the mmm?

Now that I've finally separated the cards from the wrappers and put them nicely into my (now very full) card boxes, I got off some free time this morning to look over the cards very quickly. Here are some of my thoughts about the cards.

Action Cards

The Good

I think Vaticination is the most Amazing Action card in this set. Of course, it requires a True Brujah to use it, and it is not going to be commonly seen, but think of the power that it provides to any deck that it is in (Mata Hari is so going to love this). A +3 Stealth Action allowing you to see EVERYBODY's hand AND discard 1 card of your choice. This card alone gives you incredible Intelligence in the game, allowing you to eliminate key threat cards from your prey or predator, either as a preemptive measure or as the prelude to your impending attacks. Archon Investigation, Deflections, Immortal Grapples, Sense Deps, Pentex Subversion...all these deadly cards can be eliminated if you so deem. It also gives you incredible bargaining power on the table - afterall, you can choose to disclose whatever information you want to, to anyone of your choice, AND help or cripple them as needed. This is one hell of a card.

The Bad

Threading the Path of Oepheus. And that is that. No contest. And it is a rare. And I have 5 of them. I will sell them to anyone who wants them.

The mmm?

Minor Curse. Explain to me the use of this card at basic. Example - I Minor Curse you at basic, you don't replace cards until the end of the action - which is Minor Curse...so if you're not blocking...absolutely nothing happened for this action. It is of course marginally more useful at superior if you intend to card-drain the opponent so that he can't do much against your attacks, but that's only assuming that you can out-action his hand...

Combat Cards

The Good

There are many good combat options for so many of the Bloodlines this time, I think combat will become a lot more deadly. There are many cards who cancelled strikes, or cancel other combat cards, and they are powerful. But IMHO, they paled when compared to another of the mighty Temporis card - Outside the Hourglass. This deadly card can torpor an opposing minion without ever getting to the range step. Most allies with 2 life or less will just die from fighting this True Brujah without ever fighting back.

The Bad

The Black Beast is hands down the worst card in combat. !Salubri already had a great number of good combat options, enhanced by the incredible power-ups they get this time. The Black Beast is a situational card that can already be duplicated by !Salubri cards that are both better and deeply entrenched in most !Salubri combat decks. There is absolutely no reason for this card to exist in any !Salubri decks at all.

The mmm?

Lead Fist? What's the point? Gargoyles can use POT strikes in the first place, and they have no lack of presses from FOR cards. Why burn blood for it? Even younger Hatchlings can use Pounce instead of Lead Fist...but I guess if you really really want to play VIS-only decks...

Action Modifiers

The Good

I don't think I am Legion is such a big deal, since it is just another stealth card thrown in with pool gain. I prefer the more basic card of As the Crow. Now it may appears that it gives only the Gargoyles the ability to untap for free, which is pretty much just a Freak Drive clone, but that would be underestimating the flexibility it now gives to the whole lot of Flight-able little Hatchlings. In the past the Hatchlings, after burning 1 blood to gain Flight, has to hunt, keeping them out of action for 1 turn. With As the Crow they're much more efficient. Besides that, this card actually makes Flight much more useable in other decks. I shudder at the prospect of facing a Herald deck with this card, and I think the Patagia Limited Flight card may now make some sense to the Nosferatu. I think we shouldn't underestimate the power of this card.

The Bad

I don't like Knotted Cord, not at all. Old Baali mostly have superior PRE already, and if they're concerned over other voters this card isn't going to help much. A single Bewitching is probably going to do more than this card ever will.

Equipment

The Good

Journal of Hrosh is an interesting equipment, giving the Salubri another option to bloat (not that they are the ones who needed it...) The Equipment section in this expansion isn't that exciting, and most of them aren't that fantastic, which is why the Journal will actually shine.

The Bad

Come on! Foldable Machine Gun? Why not a .44 instead? There is absolutely no reason to use a Foldable Machine Gun in any deck except a Mass Reality deck, and even so it is questionable.

The mmm?

Amulet of Temporal Perception is kind of weird in a constructed environment. A Spontaneous Power would serve better. Given that both of them are unique, there is very little reason to use the Amulet instead of the Power, or even just another Sanguine Instruction. I guess the only good thing this one has is for THA-decks to summon it with magic and start using Summon History to do random things.

Referendum

What can I say? The Daughters Sing!!! Everything is good, really good.

Reaction

The Good

Diabolic Lure. Just for the art I'd have to be seduced and put it right here. Not many decks can handle Infernalism if they're not ready for it, and this card can give it to them. With Eagle Sight you can easily shut down your prey with this card, and it makes your predator think twice about random raids against your pool. This is a very powerful deterrent card. And it has boobs.

(Hide the Heart is powerful too, but I prefer the boobs)

The Bad

The Reactive ability of Gift of Sleep is quite pointless, but that wouldn't stop Slaubris from using this card anyway.

The mmm?

Again, the Reactive ability of Treat the Sick Mind is challenging to use, I guess I'll have to really sit down and think about how to create a DEM Salubri deck.

Master

The Good

No contest here - Wider View. Enough was discussed about this card that I'm sure everyone will agree with me that this is the most influencial card in thie expansion.

The Bad

Blessed Resilience is a very limited card of use, reminds me of the Turbo Baron deck. But besides that it's not going to see much use.

The mmm?

Ravager. Unblockable hunts for Kiasyds. Well...I changed my mind. Research and Development is kinda difficult to pull off at the moment, taking too many card space to do too little things. I guess as more R&D tech are disclosed in future expansion it will shed more light to it.

Overall I quite like this expansion. It has offered many options for the Bloodlines, I think the meta game will change quite a lot very soon.

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad : Heirs to the Blood : First Impression

Finally, the HttB is in the store and of course, I make haste and played Flurry of Action to rush to the store, get my hands on all those shiny (and to be honest, smelly) new HttB booster boxes and starters. (Actually, I did finish 2 games of Race of the Galaxy with my high school friends before going down to the store...)

The problem with buying too many of these is that it takes a whole lot of time just to get the cards out from the wrappers and categorize them properly. Without that done I cannot go about looking at these new cards and ponder how much impact they would have on my existing decks, the meta game, and how many new packs of sleeves I need to get for all the new decks that I'd undoubtedly build.

So here I was, for the past 2 nights, burning midnight oil until I have successfully (for the time being), taken out the cards from all my starters, and 2 boxes of boosters, categorized and sorted them out in alphabetical orders and put them nicely into my card boxes, AND weeded out all those extra pieces of cardboard and stuck them into a paper bag ready to throw them into the communal pool on Tuesday.

Here's my first impression of the set.

Without a doubt this set will change the meta game and many of the way we play our decks very much. Already G1's !Salubri deck had been dominating any table he's on for a while, and this set will improve the efficiency of its deadliness. The Bloodlines decks in our environment had been lacking most of the time, with the exception of the Kiasyds, we don't normally see many of them on the table. HttB, will definitely change that.

The first thing about this set is that the starters are not meant for beginners, and to be honest, is quite beginner unfriendly. Unlike the KOT starters, HttB utilizes 2 clans in each starter, giving the Sabbat 2 starters, and the Camarilla 2. The starters themselves are pretty toolbox, with path of ousting that are not as clear cut as those of the KOT. So for new players who aren't familiar with the intricacies of Vtes, HttB is definitely not the right set to start with.

The starters gave us an array of new arts on some old cards, most of them are refreshing and I immediately went about switching out some of them - primarily the 3rd Edition cards (Gone with the Wind these are). The Sport Bikes, Antidiluvian Awakening, The Hunting Grounds, Guardian Angels, The Barrens, and even the Wake with Evening Freshness are all very nicely done. (I like Lost in Crowds too) There are some of those new art that I didn't like too, such as Governed the Unaligned, Depravity, and to a certain degree, the Neo Deflections. Fae Contortion's card backing is now the correct one.

The value of the starters are good, with Villein championing the value of the starters, and the standard package of Vessels, making most of the starters well worth the cost of it. Many cards that were previously difficult or expensive to get are included in the starters as well, consistent with White Wolf's policy. Most notably are the Target Vitals, Dreams of the Sphinx, Blanket of Night and some of the older Bloodline cards (Blissful Agony, Hag's Wrinkles, Hatchlings,). If you look closely you can see though that the starters are excellent for pre-con starter seal. The decks are all quite consistent in theme and playstyle, though a little on the complex side, it is an absolute dream for more experienced players.

The booster packs are, well, glossy and shiny. Not exactly my kind of packs, but hey, who cares about the packs anyway! The card distribution is still under analysis since I have quite a few more boxes to open before I get a better picture, but after 2 boxes I find that the rares are, quite rare, and I hardly have 2 copies of any one rare. The more sorted after rare cards are definitely not going to be easy to get - Summon History, Harmony, Hungry Moon, The Rising, and a myriad assortment of other cards are pretty difficult to get. (I did get 2 Bliss...)

The cards have a kind of smell that I have not encountered in the earlier editions, I hope they go away after a while.

The Bloodlines are getting quite a boost from this expansion, most of the Bloodlines do get new toys to work with, many of the them had enhancement to their current strength, and some developed new tricks to perform. Almost all of them are viable working clans now.

First, despite all the fear and speculations, we did get quite a couple of Group 4 and 5 Bloodline vampires to add to the crypt of the existing Group 4s. There are Group 6s in this set, but I haven't yet sit down to look at them properly to figure out their viability, but the Group 4s and 5s have added IMHO enough depth to many of the clans (notably Kiasyds and the Daughters) to make their crypt selection on par with their Group 2 counterparts.

Many new cards for the Bloodlines disciplines are quite deadly, and opens up new routes and new plans, and therefore new decks. Take the Daughters for example, their Choir strategy is now boosted with added block denial cards (Siren's Lure is not longer the only way!) and the mighty Harmony.

The Baali, new Infernal Sub-Disciplines, and the Research Area tech will need more time to see if they actually works.

All in all a great expansion that will definitely has much more to offer as we all look deeply into the cards and spend all our hard-earned disposable income on the shiny packs.

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad : Looking Back at 2009, Looking forward to 2010.

2009 is an interesting year for us Singapore Methuselahs. It was an exciting year, a year of growth, of expansion, a year bountiful for Vtes in general.

Community

Our community has grown quite a bit in 2009, especially after SPORECON that was held by PI. We attribute it to the free Black Hand starters that were given as door gift for every attendee. The Black Hand starters story started with me requesting help from PI to contact White Wolf for some promotional materials for an event. I needed a hundred starters or so for the door gifts in this event, and I was hoping that this will more or less attract some of these people to visit PI and become Vtes players. For that one, it was pretty much a complete write-off since as far as I know, none of those who received the starters in that event had turned up in PI.

However, White Wolf sent us quite a few extra starters - enough to use it again as door gift in the SPORECON (PI's own game con) during June. Many thanks to all the volunteers to demo the game during the 2 SPORECON days and many thanks to the prince for organizing the demo. We net a few players during this event, and some of them are now active Methuselahs in the community. Regardless, the reputation of Vtes has definitely increased after this event.

We now also have a monthly (more or less) sortie to buy singles on the internet. This mission is usually organized by G1.

I will try to list the names of the Methuselahs that are currently active in the Vtes community (in PI) in Singapore, let me know if I miss out anybody~ for those who do not generally jyhad at PI, please let me know if there is anyway to include you guys in the blood pool. Please consider making time to visit PI on Tuesday nights from 7pm onwards, we play pretty much every week.

1. Me

2. Bann. Prince of Singapore.

3. Ben Chia

4. YY

5. Damien

6. Ben Sum (The New Ben)

7. Danz (Ex-Prince of Manila)

8. BK

9. Patrick

10. Nash (let me know if I got your name right)

11. Alvin

12. Joshua (once in a while)

13. QX

14. Cockroach

15. Dzaki

16. Richard

17. Donkey

18. G1

19. Keith aka Zombieboy

20. Kenneth (once in a while)

We lose a few older players, mostly because they have to leave town for work on projects, studies or even semi-permanent appointments. I hope they return soon and add to our blood pool. We also lost a few players to job requirements, or to changes to their priorities in life. (To all those newly-wed, or to-be wed Methuselahs, congratulations, but please remember that Vtes should not necessarily be excluded in married life - I am a prime example of that. (Though I have met total disaster in my attempts to interest my wife in playing Vtes, my sons, however, had great fun tearing up the cards))

We are still short on female players in the Vtes community over here. Cockroach being the only girl who plays with us. Don't worry, we do not give preferential treatment to ladies and we do not stereotype the girls who play CCG, especially Vtes, so please feel free to join us for the game and/or introduce your other half to this magnificent game. (A note to Cockroach - you're a great addition to our community. Also, your current hair style is...stunning...)

Card Name : Cockroach Hairstyle 2009 December

Action

+2 Stealth

Put this card in play. All other Methuselahs take 2 pool damage every turn this card is in play. The owner of this card can take a -1 Stealth action to burn this card to gain 30 pool. Only 1 Cockroach Hairstyle 2009 December can be played in a year.

I'm not too sure about the communal pool status, but the pool is now limited to members only. The cost of joining the membership (hey guys, we should think of a cool name for this and give some good membership benefits to entice more people, not that there are still anyone who isn't a member...) is S$10 for a year. (Technically, it's unlikely that you need to renew the membership if the pool is the concern, you'd probably have more than enough cards in a year's time.) We need to organize a time for pool-sorting again since the pool is in a total mess. A charity drive to secure more cards for the pool should be organized too.

Tournament

I think we held 2 tournaments this year. The latest one was the Eden storyline. The turn out for the tournaments are usually good, ranging from 8-12 players most of the time. I hope we will have more tournaments this coming year since we technically have more active players now.

I think we also should start to train our new players in drafting, since the draft environment is probably one of the most interesting and unique aspect of Vtes. Draft is more expensive though, so maybe we need to start thinking about some alternative ways of financing that.

Expansions

There is only one expansion this year. Ebony Kingdom focus on Laibons, and it is not exactly a most ground-breaking set since there are very few changes to the mechanics (if any) and no major earth-shaking cards or combos to excite the environment. It did give a breather to the wallet of the Methuselahs over here after the great expenses associated with the re-emergence of the Camarilla in KOT. It also made 2009 a good year to consolidate, and allow newer players to catch up with ease.

We should've had Heirs to the Blood as a 2009 expansion too, but it was delayed to 2010 Feb. Let's hope that there are no more delays, I'm kinda keen to lay my hands on Bloodline cards.

Environment

We're still playing in PI, located at Orchard Road, the center of Singapore's shopping district. It is still very easy to get there. There was quite a bit of renovation in the building this year so we did suffer a little from frequent escalator break down, elevator breakdown, air-con breakdown, air-con repairs. There is now a new Indonesian food place on B1, and it is pretty nice. Quite a number of the new shopping centers are now ready, giving us a lot of options for food and other entertainment if we want. (Orchard Central, Somerset 313, ION and Mandarin Gallery are now all ready for use)

Our deck environment had been enriched. The new players seemed to have moved on from the stealth bleeds and we're beginning to see themed, tuned and effective decks being played. Older players are also keen to explore new deck types, I see powerful combo decks, funny no-point decks, among other things. We can now no longer easily associate players with decks, as most of our older players now boast at least 3 decks to play with, if not more.

Player of Note

ZombieBoy. He's the only person I know, whom when he put down a Giovanni deck, nobody will know what kinda Giovanni it is. He has Giovanni Khazar Diary, Giovanni Shambling Hordes, Giovanni Anarchs, Giovanni bleeds, Giovanni Laibons...you get the point. His decks are all Giovanni, and his themes are always consistent. I don't think I've seen any other player that is as loyal as he is to a single clan.

In 2010

Definitely another door gift and demo session for SPORECON in June. I heard secretive talks of a grand tournament finals to be held there, stay tuned for more details as I gain access to them.

Personally, I now have access to efficient and cost-effective means to manufacture a good range of merchandise products after my research project in China, GuangZhou. So in theory I can manufacture low quantity of selected items at an affordable price for our local community, including stuff like T-shirts, Mugs, Posters, Pillow/Bolster cases (^.^), so I'm actually thinking about the possibility of acquiring artwork license from White Wolf for Vtes and producing a little to test the viability of such promotional merchandise. Will explore more of this in 2010.

I think 2010 will be an exciting and fruitful year for Vtes in Singapore.

For me, I'll strive to keep this blog alive. 2010 is a consolidation year for me, both for the family as well as my career, so I'm not expecting major changes in my lifestyle. All these are auspicious portent for Vtes in my life.

Happy New Year to everyone! May Gehenna never comes!

(o.o)Happy New Year!

The Eternal Jyhad : Heirs to the Blood : Preview

It may be a little too early to speculate about this expansion, but one thing is for sure - I've been waiting for a Bloodlines expansion for ages! My favorite clans are the Gargoyles, the Ahrimanes and the Daughters - hey, all Bloodlines! So, needless to say I was really excited yesternight when YY told me that the previews for the Heirs were up.

When I reached home, after tugging the kids to sleep (and explaining to XX that a Kraken is really just an over-sized Octopus, probably taste the same too) and finished up a little work, I followed the link in Extrala to the Heirs Preview page and of course, greedily took in all the information.

My first thought was...Group 6... Oh well, it means I'm not gonna get a better crypt for my older Bloodlines decks. For those who didn't know, the Bloodlines had their majority of Vampires in Group 2 and 4, with I think just 1 (at most 2, sometimes zero) Group 3s. There are as far as I know, no Group 5 Bloodlines except the notorious Nergal (which is so gonna make Baali the clan to look at in this expansion - more on this later).

This is consistent with the rarity of Bloodline Vampires in the "real world" (though I beg to differ for the Blood Brothers - you can always make more!). Looking at the preview Crypt, every bloodline is only going to get an average of 5 Vampires, some only 4, and only the Samedi gets 6. We will probably have to recreate entirely new crypt for our Bloodlines decks, and they will continue to be plagued by a thin crypt selection. (5 Vampires simply means that at least 1, maybe 2, will have to have more than 2 copies in the crypt, indicating a crypt that is going to be dependent on some or even one of the vampires). We can of course, mix crypt with the other Group 5 Vampires that at least fit into some of the lesser disciplines of the Bloodlines - this is not a major issue with some Bloodlines but will continue to be a problem for some.

For example, I think the Harbingers can easily get a lot of help from the Giovanni, and the Salubri-Antitribu form lots of FOR-abled clans; the Ahrimanes can get help from the Gangrel Antitribus and the Gargoyles probably can work a bit on the slave thing with their master clans. Another possibility is the inclusion of Embracing-styled cards similar to the Brothers-in-arms of the Salubri-Antitribus or the Ahrimane's Feral Spirit. But if we get the means to change Vampires into Bloodlines we will be looking at quite a bit of possibilities, especially for older Bloodlines crypts.

The Research and Development seems interesting, but there is not enough info at the moment to make this mechanics anything more than a deck-thinning strategy that is not much of a point - but they look incredibly useful in a draft. If this mechanics is actually being explored in this expansion, then we might see Research Vampires that play with abilities that targets or exploit this mechanics - such as playing a Research card for free, or replace Research cards. (making it something like a Shilmulo Tarot) But until later this is all speculation - it might be a case of nothing at all besides the 2 master cards and is awaiting a future research-based expansion.

The two quasi-disciplines are clearly for Infernal Vampires and I think it's about time for Vtes to really make an Infernal Vampire worth the effort. At the moment, Infernals are only used in thematic decks or combo decks, they're usually hardly worth their disadvantages to bring into play - I mean, 1 pool per untap? Looking at the new Baali Unnamed I can imagine the Infernals getting a big boost in this expansion. The DAI discipline will receive some boost of course, and with the 2 new quasi-disciplines the Infernals will probably become a whole new school of its own. (The thought of a Capitalist Unnamed bleeding with Legal Manipulations and stealth with I am Legion is chilling). Time to buy up those Path of Evil Revelations.

The cards that were previewed are interesting enough to spur some thoughts. The Harmony is obviously there to inspire the re-emergence of Choir decks (3 pool per Choir card? You really don't want to mess with the Daughters when they dare to sing to the Dawn) Cheat the Fates is a little too expensive I think, but with PRE and all those untap tech a True Brujah with Heart of the City can really cause a lot of damage. The appearance of the Paths is interesting, but at least for the Ahrimanes it's not going to be too big a deal, but it does present a deadly stealth bleed option for the Ahrimanes now. (Squirrel Balance with PRE bleed? Plus Chameleon's Colors when blocked?)

As for the other cards with name only, we can only guess and hope. I'm pretty sure Dive Bomb is going to be a Flight card and I so look forward to make my Hatchlings dive bomb the s of everyone who ever looked down on the stone babies. ^.^

The card I most want to know about is Summon History.

Can't wait for the expansion to reach my hands.

(o.o)

The Eternal Jyhad : Keepers of Tradition : Second Opinion

Now that I've gone through 8 boosters boxes, sorted through all the many many starters and completed my inventory updates on the new cards; I can sit down and have a quiet thought of the impact and quality of the Keepers of Tradition base set. I must still say that it is a reasoanably good base set, but it's impact to gaming, in terms of the new cards, are not huge. Given the fact that it is supposed to be a base set, meaning that it must be newbie friendly and should encompass a large selection of reprints, I guess it has pretty much done a good job. Reprints

White Wolf's selection of the reprints in this base set is reasonably sound. Many previously obscure and therefore very expensive cards, are now reprinted, either as rares of uncommons in the boosters or included as fixed cards in the pre-con starters.

Many of the most expensive cards' prices have gone down (in ebay) because of this. The most notable example is perhaps Powerbase : Montreal and Sniper Rifle. Even staple cards that used to be in short supply is now quite easy to get around my areas, such as Immortal Grapple and Majesty. The reprinted cards, especially the rares, reintroduced some of the old cards that at least around my area, had almost no presence before - cards like Charisma and Jake Washington now started to appear in the decks around here.

Many of these rares are power cards that are either very flexible, or pivotal in decks that can benefit from it. The most ridiculously difficult card for me is The Embrace. After 8 booster boxes I've got like, ONE! ONE Embrace! And given the fact that ONE Embrace isn't going to do much good in a deck, I can imagine that the price of this card isn't going to be affected much.

Here's a breakdown of the more valuable cards that I've got after 8 boxes of boosters. Heart of Nizchetus - 3 Heart of the City - 3 The Embrace - 1 Charisma - 2 Jake Washington - 2 The Unmasking - 2 Enkil Cog - 3 Magazine - 3 Magic of the Smith - 3 Mind Rape - 2 Ossian - 1 Psychi Veil - 2 Touch of Clarity - 3 I did get a ridiculous 9 pieces of Liberty Club Intrigue though... New Cards

The new cards, especially the uncommon, are just not common enough, given the power of some of the cards. For example, Eyes of Argus. Even some of the commons are lacking a little, like Ashur Tablets - I only got about 14 after 8 boxes, for a common it isn't that exciting, and I don't even have 8 pieces of Charismatic Aura.

The Vampires, however, are very clear cut. I have almost exactly 16 of every Vampire after 8 boxes, meaning that I get about 2 per box. None of my new booster Vampires number less than 2, I have a couple of 3s and that's about it. So if you need 4 of a particular Vampire, buying 2 booster boxes should guarantee you that.

Starters

The starters are good, most of them are extremely good in terms of value. You can get stuff like Freak Drives, Golconda, Giant's Blood, Immortal Grapples and so on in the starters. Many newbie-friendly cards are included to help new players to get their deck to work, or even to reach a certain basic power level to challenge the old-timers.

Cards of Impact I think the card that will have the most impact in the game is Villien. Value for Money

I think at this point, the booster pack of choice, unless you're seeking a particular card, should be KOT. It has a good mix of valuable and useful cards, useable for most clans. There are very few clan or sect specific cards (Liberty Club Intrigue!!!!!), and the boosters are packed with many good staple commons that will see actions very often, such as Kindred Spirits, Aid from Bats, Perfectionist and so on. So if you're just buying something as an impulse purchase, go for KOT boosters.

(o.o)y

The Eternal Jyhad : Keepers Of Tradition : First Impression

I've finally got my hands on the shipment of Keepers of Tradition, and like a Fledgling I immediately forked out everything I have to get as many boxes as I could carry back to my den. In total me and my immediate play group brought home 4 retail display kits - meaning I have at home now a staggering 8 starter boxes and 8 booster boxes, plus all the attached promo cards and the carrying bags. (And all the wrappers and holders and empty starter boxes) - gee, my room now looked like a storeroom for Vtes.

Well, here's my first impression of the set. Please note that by now I've only sorted out the cards for the Malkavian starters and opened up 2 boxes of boosters. Still a long way to go.

First of all, the pre-constructed starters' packaging is beautiful. It is an upgraded version of the previous Blood Shadow Court, with a semi-transparent plastic outer cover for a plain generic paper box like all the others. I think for future starters White Wolf might follow this format and save cost with 1 generic paper box, and have various plastic outer covers. I'm gonna tell you that the new packaging looks really cool. And with so many Malkavian starters opened, I recycled the plastic covers by cutting out the gorgeous Gem and use it now as a divider for my card shoeboxes of Vtes cards. All is good.

The carrying bag that came with the retail kit is functional and cool. It fits 2 starter boxes perfectly with space for something more. It has a small little pouch that is probably meant for beads or blood counters, a big enough central holding area for maybe 6-8 deck boxes (depending on what you use to carry your decks), and another 2 zip sections for anything else that you might need to use it for. Oh, you mean it can be used for something besides Vtes? Sorry, didn't occur to me, but I think it is perfectly capable of doing that, in a really cool way. It does look durable and functional enough to bring out.

The packaging for the boosters is a little gloomy. Didn't really catch my eyes, but hey, this is the World of Darkness afterall, and it does look eerie and dark and undeady.

The card mix of the starters are probably done with a conviction to reduce the price of some "chase" cards. For example, 3 Freak Drives and a Powerbase Montreal in the Ventrue starter? That would definitely drive down the price of these cards. Cards of value that might drop in price due to the ease of now getting them for sure in starters are - Powerbase Montreal, Giant's Blood, Sniper Rifle, Mark V, Immortal Grapple, Freak Drive, On the Qui Vive, Vessel, Second Tradition, Torn Signpost etc etc. For new players, this is a good place to start. This movement will also reduce the powers of some of these unique cards - Powerbase Montreal comes to mind.

The annoying thing about this is hence the addition of some of these cards in the boosters taking up the rare slot. I mean, everyone wants to rip a booster apart to find a card that they want, and failing that, a card that can return his investment of the pack price. The fact that you can get another Ivory Bow in the pack is no longer that exciting since buying a Toreador Starter will 100% yield one, and there are so many other great rares to get. Ok, granted, there are many who will not buy a starter just to get a particular card, but really, getting a card that is now a fix card in a starter isn't a great way to make me wanna buy more boosters. The risk isn't worth it, I might as well buy those cards through ebay.

But that aside, the many great (and expensive) cards that are printed in KoT might not be as accessible as I thought. I opened up 2 boxes of boosters and I've got only 1 Heart of Nizchetus, 1 Heroic Might, 1 Unmasking and 1 Charisma. I'm considered a lucky one as I've seen friends who opened up 2 boxes with only 1 Heroic Might and 1 Heart of Nizchetus, and ended up with some other rares that duplicate their starters or are less "chaseable". So, monetary wise, the boosters aren't that exciting yet.

There are several flaws that I heard about. Wrong artwork, Vampires who didn't make it to the set and multi-slots for certain cards, misprinted rulebook... I don't think they've done any major damage to the set. On the other hand, the card themselves did seem a little "cut off". Lacking another way to describe it, I think if you take a look at the upper left hand corner of the cards you'll get what I mean.

There are some new art for the cards. Some I agree with, some I don't. But by and large this is a marvellous set. I've not yet got into full gear of appreciating the card powers (especially the Vampires) but I think at the moment the Inner Circles are not as impressive as I hoped they'd be, but the fact that there are now 3 sets of Justicars really made life very interesting.

The promos are, well, lacking a better way to put it, imaginative. Though I'll have to bite on it a little more. At the moment I'm forming a deck idea with Gather and the House of Sorrow... but I think it's not really a big deal.

Well, time to go open up another few boxes, and I think it's time to look deeper into the Malkavian starters.

(o.o)y