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

Booking Your Time - Dead of Night

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" a line between various hungry vampires and villagers in panic, preferably with the same colored outfit (red vampires to red villagers and so on - the blue and purple are not very easy to distinguish), so that the vampires can mesmerize the villagers. After they're done the little dome below them will become bat-shape, and you can then draw a line for them to go the carriages at the bottom of the screen and they'll speed off to wherever it is that they want to go. (Again, preferably matching the colored pairs to the relevant colored carriage.)

While all the time you're trying to do that, heroic and bestial enemies will come out to bother your noble mission of matching demand and supply. At the start, were beasts will come out and loiter around your vampires - if you leave the beast alone, the vampire's life bar will drop and eventually he/she will turn into a bat and fly away. The vampires' complete inability to defend themselves forced you to also act as the local pest control sheriff. You can use your finger to fling the beasts away, pretty much like what you do in Knights Onrush.

Over time there will be more and more different colors of vampires and villagers (they differ in mesmerizing speed, health and so on, but you'll see that it really is just a color code), different kinds of distraction, such as a Sun Engine, Van Helsing and even Berserker Wolves and Berserker Vampires. The new enemies will introduce new ways to tackle them, and these mechanics make the game unmanageable if you want to play it on an iPad. (It didn't work for me, since I find shaking an iPad to get rid of a Shapechanging Werewolf is a very stupid thing to do in the public, or even at home for that matter). These new problems will require you to draw new lines for enemies to fight amongst themselves, shake to scare off the shapechangers, tap to remove wolves, drag to catch beasts, tilt to speed up the Sun Engine, tap repeatedly to kick Van Helsing's steampunk armor's a** and so on.

The game awards you soul energies for humans and beasts that you get rid off, requiring you to hit a target score before going to the next stage. The stages are only different in background, but the different mix of enemies does make the game lasts a little longer than I expected.

Overall, for $0.99, I guess it's alright. After all, not many vampire games that is not an MMO on the iPhone in the first place.

(o.o)

Skirmishes in the Dark : 27-07-2010

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, bleeding

My Beautiful Eyes, bleeding

LF's Flash deck, bleeding

Damien's Trujah.

I had a reasonably ok start, bringing out Le'Epusette and had the first bleed of the game, also realizing that LF will be playing Toreadors, giving Le'Epusette's random +1 Bleed ability the rare chance to come into play (not that it did me much good). Damien had a terrific draw. A first turn Zillah's Valley, coupled with being the fourth player, allowed him to bring out Al-Muntathir. He then Summoned History-ed a Bowl of Convergence and equipped a AK-47, all on second turn while both his prey and predator has no minions whatsoever to even attempt to block. He then brought out Lubomira to work with his Trujah. Malabranca was my 2nd vampire, while my prey brought out Anneke.

Anneke blocked Damien's attempt to get Clotho's gift and was promptly sent to torpor with the Domain of Evernight + Pocket out of time combo. I made the mistake of not blocking her attempt to leave torpor, and that decided my fate.

An ill fated attempt to recruit Homunculus was blocked by Anneke, who came out with a Concealed .44, Flashed Malabranca to death. After that my game was over. Despite having a .44 on Le'Epusette, I was no match for the Toreador's Flash attacks.

Meanwhile, Faz was quite successful in killing himself by bringing out 3 fat Assamites. Very little was done to me, and he was soon ousted by Damien. The game became a fight between Damien and LF since I have zero vampires to do anything by then. Le'Epusette was sent into torpor and diablerized to give LF another gun.

But the AK-47 proved too much for LF's vampires, especially since Al-Muntathir has FOR.

Final VP Count

Damien's, all Damien's

(o.o)

Skirmishes in the Dark : 24-07-2010

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, bleeding

Gerrent's Daughters, bleeding

Faiz playing G1's Malk'94, bleeding

G1's Saulot, bleeding

My Beautiful Eyes.

Bann's TupDog scared the hell out of everybody. This game is an example of everyone being very afraid of the TupDogs, and everybody was busy giving Bann what he needed. G1's defense against his predator was pretty alright, with many Glares and some Peacemakers protecting his pool aggressively, I was cursed with a whole lot of weenies instead of my needed vampires, and was forced to rely on Redbone Cary for the longest time before Ondine finally hit the table (not that it was going to do much for me). Meanwhile, Gerrent delayed bringing out vampires until he was ready to put forth a couple at one time.

Bann's TupDogs attack crippled Gerrent's votes repeatedly, although Gerrent did get close to killing off Faiz's Malk'94, leaving him with only 1 pool. Despite that, Bann was able to oust Gerrent with his multiple bleeding Nephandus and !Tremeres. I did try to help Gerrent as much as possible, blocking several of Bann's Hand of Conrad actions, but paid with my younger vampires in torpor. G1's bleeding attacks were easily thwarted since I can bounce the attacks to Bann. The Narrow Minds played by Bann was quite hurting though.

Eventually Bann managed to pretty much killed everybody, TupDogs dive first, and after that the pool was all his to slowly grind.

Final VP Count

All Bann's, ALL.

Randomized Seating for Game 2

Derek's THA bruise bleed, bleeding

My Bones & Tongues, bleeding

Patrick's Brujah Combat, bleeding

Ben Sum's Assamite votes

Derek was again in a pretty sad position. His Tremeres and !Tremeres didn't have the intercepts to tackle the Assamite, and didn't have the stealth or combat capabilities to go through my Tzimisces. Carna was his first vampire, and that should've given him some intercepts to deal with Ben Sum, but Derek wasted Carna against me as I quickly used Meshenka to send Carna (as well as Selena) into torpor to prevent his heavy DOM bleeds.

Meanwhile, the Brujahs, lead by Count Germaine, were having a great time sending Ben's vampires to torpor, which is why Derek was actually still putting pressure on me. A hit for 6 damage exhibited by the Brujah deterred my decisions to go forward, and I slowly wait for the combat cards to settle into my hands before I took my chances.

Meshenka was supported by Lambach, mainly due to an early Powerbase : Barranquilla and Powerbase : Montreal; plus 2 Vessels. Increasing my body counts with Horatio and Lolita, I didn't have much problem preventing Derek from threatening my pool, especially after the 2 older Tzimisces were fully set up and the Path of Metamorphosis was safely in place. Then come my mistake.

Patrick had slapped a Fame on an Assamite, and a Tension in the Ranks were in play. I accidentally sent one of Derek's vampire into torpor when he had only 1 pool left. The Tension killed him, giving Ben a windfall of 6 pool and a VP. I had no choice but to increase my speed in attacking Patrick's remaining 3 pool.

Since Patrick had no intercepts against my stealth, and the vast majority of Ben's vampires were in torpor, and I had 4 ready vampires with good intercepts, they decided to yield the game to me.

I should have gotten all 4 VPs, sigh.

Final VP Count

Ben Sum - 1 VP

Me - 3 VP plus GW

Randomized seating for game 3

Derek's !Nosferatu, bleeding

My Air Rock, bleeding

G1's Saulot, bleeding

Gerrent's DoC

Another sad game that Air Rock proved itself to be the deck to give me the highest number of "being ousted". I had an early Ferox (as usual), fully set up with Stone Dog, Preternatural Strength and Perfectionist. As when I though I would be ok, a block action against Derek turned out into a nightmare. Double Terror Frenzy, Carrion Crow and Aid from Bats did short work on Ferox, quickly sending him into torpor. I was lucky that Fidus was already out and managed to rescue Ferox immediately before he was eaten up by some sewer rats.

After that I pretty much reserved my actions to slowly build up my strength again. Lilith's Blessing helped my 2 Hatchlings to get Flight plus Potence, while Ferox went ahead to get his Armor of Terra. Derek by then was having a difficult time against the Daughter's votes, and was too busy to bother me. A lucky double Shattering Crescendoes ended the game for Derek, sending both his vampires into torpor, and the Daughters then had a great time munching on the !Nosferatu's pool.

I had no on-board intercept for the longest time, and had to rely on Stone Dog's attacks and Dive Bombs to handle the Daughters. I kind of over did it and send almost every Daughter into torpor until I realised that G1 was going to have his VP soon. By the time I stopped it was a little late, and G1 managed to cruise through the Daughters' almost non-existing Intercepts to get his VP. My resistance against the might Saulot was aggressive but inadequate. Eventually I was ousted due to a lack of Intercepts. (Not that it was going to do much help against Neutral Guards)

Final VP Count

Gerrent - 1 VP

G1 - 3 VPs plus GW

(o.o)

ps. Time to retire the Air Rock, it has proven what it can do, and it does it very well - torpor enemy vampires and send it's own player (that's me) out of the game. It shall go back to my deck box and await another day to face the world again, hopefully enhanced with new VIS or Gargoyle cards.

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)

Too many cards

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 and alphabetical order.

Going to prepare an inventory to get rid of some of them. Most will go to the community pool, some are posted on my facebook for trade and sale already, but too many of them are pretty pointless cards - like Rubicon and Rogue, plus many House of Sorrows. I do have a ridiculous number of Deflections and Blood Dolls.

Got to cut down on Vtes spendings.

But well, like I told my wife - I don't smoke, don't drink, don't buy branded stuff, don't go out at night except for Vtes nights, has no other women to pamper except my dearest wife-sama and not investing in any other games. Of course I spend on Vtes.

It's an eternal struggle.

(o.o)

At Your Disposal : Coma

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 attacking my Malkavian prey's minions with my combat monster simply because they have 3 blood on one of the vampires - an indicator of the potency of Coma.

Of course, Coma has a lot of problems - for a start, it costs 3 blood, and there are no Paths or easy means for Malkavians to reduce that blood cost. A very simple way to spot if the Methuselah is holding any Coma in hand would be to look at if any of his vampires have at least 3 blood on it. It's not fool-proof, but if there are no vampires with 3 blood or more, it is usually a good time to go spill some Malkavian vitae.

Other standard combat mechanics also trump Coma - Immortal Grapple and all other cards that restrict strikes, such as Death Seeker, Thoughts Betrayed etc., would also make Coma useless; however, this is irrelevant since decks that used these cards are generally able to handle most combat defense anyway, so it doesn't actually make Coma look any less useful than say, Majesty. Moreover, maneuvers are not necessarily difficult for Malkavians unless they're facing high movement decks such as CEL or Flight combat.

So that narrows the Coma to 2 major disadvantages, its cost, and the fact that it has absolutely no use against allies.

You see, though Coma will send any vampire to torpor directly, trumping most other combat mechanics against damage, it is a total blood sink for the user, and if dodged, or combat ended, would have equate to a strength 3 hit from the opposing vampire, not to mention any other damage that the opponent would be causing, contributing to the demise of the vampire. Even if Coma was successful, it is often a "let's go down together" last resort.

It is still, a fearsome deterrent.

The good thing is that, Malkavians are rarely the initiator of any combat (and almost never with Coma in mind), therefore, minus the deadly Deep Song, the Malkavian in combat would probably be the reacting vampire, giving him the option to choose what to do after the enemy decided on his strikes. This greatly increased the success rate of Coma.

But there are some exception to this - beware the CEL + DEM vampires - mostly Toreadors and Malkavians and their Sabbat counterparts. Once Coma is used with CEL additional strikes, it become almost like Entombment plus Arms of the Abyss combo. Moreover, if you can afford the blood, Shadow Feint will be an excellent card to work with Coma.

(o.o)

Lyrics of the Night : Methuselah Allies

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 your grand prey alive until your prey is dead. That reasoning is really really simple - if your grand prey dies, your prey gets 6 pool, making your life 6 pool more difficult, and more importantly, losing you that 1 VP. 6 pool you can get back by some other means, 1 VP however, cannot be retrieved. (Well, I guess there are ways, but definitely not by something you can do) So do whatever you can to make sure that doesn't happen.

As for your grand predator, your job is to make sure that he put enough pressure on your predator to distract your predator from committing all his efforts in distracting you. Every pool that your grand predator depleted from your predator, however, is one step nearer in making him your predator, and 6 pool stronger, not to mention the loss of 1 VP also. Therefore, you may want to make sure that your grand predator is not really that smooth in fighting your predator.

All these sounds very logical and easy, but in practice it is extremely difficult to judge and make all the necessary decisions to ensure that happens. Too many factors will come in to affect your decision in handling your allies.

But let's first look at what you can do to work with your enemies' enemies until they become your prey.

The most important issue is bleed responsibly. Bounce is a common defense, but can usually be quite easy to spot if you know what to look out for. Against DOM and AUS heavy decks you much always be ready for bounce (especially DOM). If your prey has a DOM weenie standing there untapped, you know it is highly likely that you will be facing a bounce defense. This shouldn't keep you from bleeding of course, but if you can afford it, or it you see that your grand prey is defenseless against bounces, do bleed with care - don't enhance your bleeds too heavily in case you damaged your grand prey instead. This is one of the most disastrous thing you can do to your grand prey, since you're not only creating anger in your ally, you're making your prey's life easier if you help him to bleed his prey. Of course, sometimes you don't have a choice, sometimes you'd want to take that risk (usually near ousting your prey), and sometimes you just don't care. There are of course certain cards that can help you do your bleeding responsibly - like the famous Spying Mission; cards that target preys specifically (like Tier of Souls) or simple do not add too much stealth so that the prey is able to block. A simple gesture to at least ask the grand prey whether or not he can handle a bounce could also mean a lot - it allows the grand prey to intimidate his predator for bounces, or simply beg you to stop, which you can then try to negotiate for a good deal for your immediate or future benefit (like supporting your votes for example)

The other way to help your grand prey is to bloat him, but that is not easily achieved unless you have the right deck(s). And to be honest, this doesn't usually work very well. Giving your grand prey Intercepts through perma-locations is a good idea if you think you can afford the pool and the grand prey has a good chance in blocking a deadly attack. Chances are, if the grand prey can, he will fight with his best ability to torpor or at least damage the infringing vampire, that would give you an edge over your prey later.

In extreme cases, if you have to sacrifice a Methuselah ally, never sacrifice your grand prey unless he is the deck that will and can trump yours (like dominating the vote scene). You should even help him get rid of his prey in order to deny your prey the 6 pool.

Boons and rescuing are also good stuffs that you can do to help out your allies - boons should be reserved for grand prey, and rescuing should be done more commonly for your grand predator. The logic is that you want your grand prey to be weaker when you're done with your prey, and you don't really want him to be strong, especially if it'll make you work extra hard to get your second VP. As long as your grand prey has enough minions to survive, leave him alone if he has some vampires in torpor, that's his problem. Rescuing his vampires isn't going to help you in the long run. Rescuing vampires for your grand predator, however, is usually a good move, as it will put pressure on your predator to reduce his ability to distract you.

But after all said and done, Vtes tables are dynamic and changes with actions and counter-actions. You really have to read the table properly to see who will be your biggest problem towards getting the Game Win. For those targets, show no mercy, ally or not.

(o.o)

Skirmishes in the Dark : 17-07-2010

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 before Derek and wife arrived, with VS. cards as their crypt. The vampire couple had to therefore borrow decks to play.

I got into 2 games that night, and was quite successful in both games.

Randomized seating for Game 1 -

Bann's Nephandus Mage, bleeding

Derek playing my Beautiful Eyes, bleeding

LF's Cemetry Samedi, bleeding

My Army of Shadows, bleeding

G1's Eat the Caitiff True Brujah, bleeding

LeeWen playing my Air Rock.

Bann was having a bad time sitting in between a wall deck and a combat deck with reasonable intercepts, so even though the Air Rock is very slow in killing prey he was having a difficult time getting anything to do what he wanted. That distracted him enough to make him commit several mistakes in the game.

G1 was the first one to bring out 2 Caitiffs, and initially I though it was a weenie deck of some sorts. I brought out Gratiano quickly, hoping to use Governed the Unaligned to bring out more vampires. LF's Samedi quickly come into play and I was soon under a lot of pressure from her consistent bleeds. Derek apparently had a bad draw, and since his prey did not block at all, his Earth Controls and combat cards weren't very useful, and he put the Bowl of Convergence on Donald Cargill instead of Ondine, and lost quite a few turns of using her effectively. AND HE DISCARDED PALLA GRANDE!!!!! Ahem, sorry.

Nevertheless, I soon had 2 Creation Rites, Ramiro and Hester Reed, with an early Lilith's Blessing one of my Creation Rites actually had superior Obtenebration. I had a reasonably ok hand and was preparing to go attack my prey but G1 brought out Al-Muntaquim and played several Vacticcination, removing the Entombment from my hand. LeeWen's Gargoyles was having quite a bad hand, with very little to do, and therefore didn't do much to her prey nor her predator.

Bann was devastated when Derek played an Entrancement, taking over one of his 4 Nephanduses. At that point I was down to 4 pool, and tried to use a Consanguinous Boon to push my pool back to 7, but Bann decided to Delaying Tactics my Boon, his purpose being to help LF killed me off so that his prey couldn't gain an extra 6 pool - a cunning and effective strategy. I was lucky to have 2 Deflections in hand then, and survived the ordeal while weakening my prey significantly.

My KRCs and bleeds then killed off G1 and my worse time in the game was over. By then I also had Antonio on table as well as 2 more Creation Rites (one of early ones was in torpor though) and had enough stealth and action to kill off the severely weakened Gargoyles. A Horseshoe sent Bann's Antonio d'Erlette into torpor, and with only 2 Nephandus he couldn't defend against my attacks.

The push to kill off Derek before LF killed me was a challenge. But when he went out of wakes I quickly KRC-ed him to death. My last prey had about 22 pool, but so did I, and we decided to try if she could kill me off before I kill her. Massive DOM bleeds coupled with KRCs and a couple of timely Consanguinous Boons gave me the victory point at the end.

It was as successful as I could wish for.

Final VP Count -

All mine, mine!

Randomized Seating for game 2 -

YY's Nosferatu, bleeding

My Beautiful Eyes, bleeding

LF's Ventrue Vote, bleeding

Derek playing G1's Malk94

Again I was lucky in this game. Derek brought out Laurent de Valois and slapped a DOM Master Discipline card on him. His first bleed cost YY 6 pool before YY had any defense, that kept YY in the defensive mood for a reasonably long time. I brought out Redbone McCray and gave him superior PRO immediately while using Monique Kim as my Vessel. I brought out Ondine instead of Malabranca first as I thought I'd be needing her +1 Strength very soon.

Meanwhile, LF brought out Muktar Bey as her first vampire, and supplement her minion base rather quickly with 2 other Ventrue Princes (or maybe one Prince and a Primogen or something). With good intercepts and wake cards I was able to prevent her from calling a lot of her votes and she wasn't having much success taming her prey - whom was however, suffering quite badly against YY's new minions - Gustaphe Brunelle and Benjamin Rose. Gustaphe went in and sent Laurent and the new Mariel the Lady Thunder into torpor rather quickly, and Ozmo was being attacked consistently by Nosferatu Crows and Bats.

YY took some time off his predator and came after me, but was promptly sent into torpor pretty much everytime he blocked my actions (like my attempt to put a Homunculus on Ondine) and come my way since he has very little defense against my PRO attacks. Eventually he lost his vampires enough times (despite using 3 Warsaw Stations) while I rescued Ozmo from torpor to keep him busy that he couldn't really do much anymore.

LF fell to my PRE bleeds after she too lost a few vampires to my Claws of the Dead, and I was successful in ousting her. By then the Malk94 had only a single vampire with zero blood most of the time and couldn't defend himself against my minions. I casually swept away all opposition by then.

Final VP Count -

Mine, still mine!

It was a most successful night.

(o.o)

Lyrics of the Night : Prey-Predator Relationship

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 floating VP for you to go grab as soon as possible. You want him dead, ousted, removed, or at least not putting up any aggressive defense against what you want to do to him.

When dealing with your prey, there is only this couple of things you want to consider. First, if he is weak, or you think you can circumvent or defeat his defensive mechanics, then there is absolutely no need to negotiate or respond to any of his deals - just oust him and end his misery. Unfortunately, this magical situation is seldom straightforward, and rarely come early. So there is some window for a certain level of negotiation on most games.

Key number 1 is to make him look forward. Having a prey dedicating all his effort in defense is not a good thing. You want him to move some (preferably most) of his pool to influence minions where you can bypass or destroy, indirectly bleeding him; and you want him to weaken his prey as much as possible to open the way for you to get that VP after you got rid of him. In order to do that, you have to talk to your prey a little, reduce his anxiety about your offensive capability, and perhaps even make him a deal or 2 to entice him to take up some offensive actions against his prey. You should always remember that when your prey fights his prey, he has a chance of losing minions, blood and other precious resources (not to mention the ability to block you) that you otherwise have to take out yourself.

There is also another, albeit pretty sad situation, where you're in a position where you see very little chance of ousting your prey. Perhaps your predator is too strong, perhaps your prey hose your deck's primary and maybe even secondary path to victory, or perhaps you have a terrible draw, or luck dictates that you lose a critical minion early in the game. In such cases, it makes most sense to ask your prey for a deal. Let your prey has all his freedom in killing his prey and every other prey he has, except you - you want a deal whereby you help your prey kill everyone else, and then he let you have the final 2 VP by yielding to you at the last. This is a pretty good proposal to most preys, especially if you still have some punch in your deck, or your predator is truly fearsome. Sometimes, it can be the case where your prey simply requires you as a buffer for a couple of turns before he is ready. By getting this deal, you'll have had a chance to turn an otherwise zero VP game into a 2VP "second place", very favourable in a tournament. Not to forget that your prey might still become too weak along the way and you can then re-negotiate to let him yield prematurely since he can no longer get any VP. (Word your negotiations carefully)

Of course, don't do this the moment you see the prey bring out Enkidu, or be intimidated to do so. This should be a last resort where you have little to no chance of continuing the game the normal way.

It is easier to help your prey sweep then it is for anybody else, so this is one last weapon that you can use when all else have failed.

As for the predator, well, you're his VP and 6 pool, so most of the time his proposals to you will simply be variations of "Die, Scum!". Occasionally you might get something like the above, but that is rare. However, when your grand-predator is getting close to oust your predator, you can then start negotiations that is similar to the above by offering help when you can - intercept from your KRCG, some Consanguinous Boons, or even rushing your grand predator's minions. This is of course to prevent a stronger predator from coming into the picture - and during such cases you usually will get quite good deals from your predator. Don't just let him die like that unless he chooses to. Worst comes to worst, offer him the deal that was highlighted before to entice him to hang on. A pool buffer is the best defense one can ever have.

If your deck has the ability to intercept your prey's of predator's actions, then there usually is quite a bit of bargaining. The norm to remember is that, don't bother to block things that you think will hardly affect you - Camera Phones on your prey's minions, Ablative Skin or Armor of Terra where you use Coma in combat, your predator's minions' hunt when they need it to defend against his predator (when he's hunting he's not bleeding, you can then block his bleed) The same goes for combat - try not to reduce your predator's minion count to too low a level where he cannot defend against his predator, but you don't really have to consider too much where it comes to your prey, though sometimes you may want him to have some minions to go forward.

Basically, the whole idea of prey-predator relationship is very similar to the common distribution of a KRC's damage points - 3 to your prey, 1 to your predator. For those who still don't get it - 3 to your prey because you want him dead as soon as possible, 1 to your predator to reduce his resources and force him to adopt a defensive stance rather than spending those resources on ousting you.

Happy hunting.

(o.o)

Lyrics of the Night : Weenies

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 intercept totally. Of course, they come with their own set of problems as well.

By themselves, the weenie decks rely usually on speed and quantity to oust their preys, generally using only a few kinds of cards to achieve their purpose. But that similarity pretty much ends there. There are many different kinds of weenie decks in existence, and brilliant Vtes players had found almost every mean to use the weenies with their respective disciplines and abilities, and therefore you do see a myriad selection of all kinds of weenie decks.

The effectiveness of a weenies deck is based on several key points.

First, they are fast and cheap to influence. On a good turn, you might even see 4 weenies being slapped on the table in turn 1, especially if the Methuselah is the fourth player, and had Information Highway in play. That translate to a staggering 4 bleed in the next round, if you are not ready to defend against it. (And that's not easy by turn 2) Even without such beautiful alignment of the crypt and cards, most weenie decks can bring out at least 1, if not more vampires onto the table per turn, or at least one every 2 turns.

This speed of influence allows the Methuselah with the weenie deck, to take many actions every round, and every action potentially advances his position on the table, be it a bleed action, a bloat action, some referendums or even equip actions to prepare for the coming battle. Every round, the weenie deck is going to out-action you, and if not curb in time, will soon leave you far behind in the action-efficiency of the game.

This is sometimes compounded by the fact that these vampires are cheap to call out, allowing the weenie Methuselah to retain much pool. These savings can then be either used to call out other pool-costing resources (like allies or weapons), or simply use to defend against the predator's attacks. The low cost of the weenies also allow the Methuselah to shake off the losses incurred when one or even several of his weenies are sent to torpor. Most of the time, losing a couple of weenies will not impede the Methuselah's effort too much, definitely not in the range of what it will mean to other decks with mid or even fat vampires.

Secondly, weenie decks are usually efficient in what they do. True, most of them have few disciplines and mostly only at the inferior level. Because of that, almost every weenie decks play with a good number of Master Discipline cards to enhance the weenies, and/or play with cards that either do not require disciplines, or work pretty well even with the inferior effect of the discipline in question. Most weenie decks also compensate the loss of efficiency of the card actions with the vast number of actions that the deck can do - a DOM weenie might not Condition for 3 every time, but enough of the Conditioning you for 2 is not going to be something you can take for long.

Lastly, the cheap nature of the weenie decks, allows the Methuselahs to make more mistakes than most other kinds of decks. Losing a couple of minions, and/or failing in some of the actions is not a big deal to the weenie Methuselah, afterall, many more can try again. This psychological advantage is a double-edged sword though, leading to reckless behaviours sometimes.

The weenies do have their issues too.

They are small, and therefore lacking in capability to both power up actions that require blood, or endure punishment dished out by the opponents. Minus some dedicated combat weenies, many weenie decks cannot handle combat very well. If a predator/prey has the ability to get into combat with the weenies with any reasonable ability to fight, the weenie deck can lose vampires so quickly that the main advantage of multi-actions is neutralized by the losses.

With inferior discipline (and the lack of multi-disciplines), many weenies are not really effective in what they do until they learn the superior version of the discipline. Until then they're sitting ducks, or at least an inefficient minion in the deck. And not to forget that many low-cap weenies have random disadvantages, making them vulnerable to random effects here and there.

There are also many cards that can hurt or shut down weenies. Neonate Breach, Domain Challenge are all deadly to weenie Methuselahs.

There are several cards that are almost always linked to weenies - Information Highway, Effective Management, Tribute to the Master and so on. These cards are almost essential in weenie decks, to the degree that the moment somebody see you play one, they'll almost instantly assume that you're playing a weenie deck. This also means that countering those cards can be a problem for you.

Weenies are also effective as a supplement to no-weenie decks. They add actions, and most importantly, serve as insurance to help your other more precious vampires to survive or succeed. How many times have you yearned for a weenie to be around for rescue mission when your Enkidu was sent to torpor by a Rotschreck? The weenies can also go for the kill when your bigger vampire are done removing the defense of your prey, or jump in front of your star vampire when your predator Bum's Rush him. Even using a weenie as nothing more than a hunting pool recovery machine can be invaluable at the right time.

There are many weenie deck genre - for example, Nosferatu weenie votes rely on their stealth to call forth many Praxis Seizures and Justicars, and then vote your pool out - so many of them are acting that you can't expect to block all; DOM weenies are extremely deadly, as a single weenie can bleed you with Governed the Unaligned with Conditioning by turn 2, removing 5 pool from you straight away; combat weenies can go in repeatedly, and the attrition that they can afford will eventually kill off your minions (not to mention CEL gun weenies); AUS weenies are always there blocking, and so many of them are there that you can forget about doing anything during your turn; the famous Pander votes with Legacy of Panders is a prime example of how deadly a deck can be, even without coherent discipline spread.

Weenies are a pain, and they're pretty prominent especially in tournament play. Don't leave home without one in your deck. (unless you're playing Inner Circle Votes)

(o.o)

Skirmishes in the Dark : 13-07-2010

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, bleeding

YY's Flash deck, bleeding

Gerentt's Brujah Vote, bleeding

My Air Rock, bleeding

LF's Samedi, bleeding

G1's Nosferatu.

This is my 6th adventure with my Air Rock, and my objective was simply to not be the first player to be ousted again, as with the 5 previous times. This game I was to have much more success with the deck than I ever had.

The game started with YY's very bad draw. I saw him discarding Concealed Weapon after Concealed Weapon. He soon had several little weenies on the table, with no guns. John took the opportunity to start bleeding him with his Malkavians and slapped an Escaped Mental Patient on table. Meanwhile, Gerentt had his first Prince - Karen Suedala on table, and I was seriously intimidated by the Preternatural Strength that she had. LF brought Morlock on table and recruited Mylan Horseed to aid in her efforts. G1 had a buck load of Nosferatus which were too ugly for me to identify. (except Baron Dieudonne)

Things started to go badly for Gerentt after Karen used Second Tradition to block YY's many actions until YY cycled into his first Desert Eagle with Dragon's Breath Rounds. With no other vampires to help her, she was promptly diablerized by YY's weenie, in which G1 promptly burnt him with superior vote. With the breathing space given to me, and a first turn Powerbase Montreal, I had Fidus and Ferox onto the table and started doing my thing pretty much freely. Fidus, with a Vessel and a Perfectionist on him, recruited several Hatchlings, Ferox got an Armor of Terra, a Preternatural Strength, a Guardian Angel and eventually a Razor Bat. A just-in-time Channel 10 made Gerentt's life doubly hard with Tara as his only vampire, forcing him to pretty much negotiate with me for almost everything he wanted to do.

A successful Dive Bomb with Raking Talons sent LF's Morlock into torpor, while Gerentt's Parity Shift targeted her instead of me, bringing me much nearer to victory. Gerentt got back into the game after he used these 6 pool gain to bring out Dmitra Iyanova and made her an Alastor with an Assault Rifle. Her first attempt to attack Ferox was intercepted by a Hatchling who went straight to her death. After that, John had finally manage to oust YY and the Alastor was otherwise occupied. (I did further encourage Gerentt to look elsewhere by sending Tara into torpor)

I admire LF for her patience as she is practically out of the game after I sent Morlock away. But my deck had very little forward momentum with no vampires in the prey's controlled region. I bled consistently with my 2 remaining Hatchlings and Erinyi, occasionally with Ferox, but it took a long time before I finally got rid of the Samedi (like, 10 turns, despite absolutely no defense from her, and the 6 pool damage that my predator helped me to inflict, I really need to work on the ousting ability of this deck)

John's Kindred Spirit with a Eye of Chaos ousted Gerentt, and my vampires were suddenly free of the Assault Rifle threat. Needless to say I soon send every single Malkavian into torpor. G1 then made a deal with me to let me win if I allowed him to get his 1 VP.

No reason for me not to agree.

Final VP Count

Me - 3 VPs plus GW

John - 2 VPs

G1 - 1 VP

Looking forward to more Jyhad on Saturday night.

(o.o)

Skirmishes in the Dark : 10-07-2010

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 at PI; but I think it will become quite a permanent haven for a Saturday night gathering.

Anyway, due to the productive atmosphere and ample space, we had about 10 Methuselahs (come and go) for the night, and I actually managed to get 4 games! And actually because of that, I lose track of pretty much what had gone on, and therefore couldn't recall enough to write about the games. I'll proceed to make notes for the next night.

What was interesting that night was mainly my Along came a Spider Deck dedicating Hasani in rescuing my ally's (Derek's wife Lee Wen) vampires from torpor, while she tried really really hard in attacking my predator (Bann) whom was having quite a lot of success sending her vampires back into sleep. It was a pretty sad game for Bann, since his aggravated damage can deal very little problem for my Akunanse, and Rotschreck has little chance to work on me.

Another game I had was with my Angry Dragon deck, where my Bupe Kuila managed to torpor many vampires with Typhonic Beast and won the table in the end. The other two games with my Air Rock ended up the way it normally does - the first to be ousted. Nevertheless, Ferox was still very successful in sending opposing vampires into torpor - I can finally appreciate how Ryan feels about combat.

Overall, a great night for Vtes, and I think there would be more to come in the coming nights.

Vivela Vtes.

(o.o)

Lyrics of the Night : Defensive Measures

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.

Of course, the Fog of War works against the opponents as well, since they will have very little idea what you have up your sleeves as well as your defensive capability, until you kind of show them what you can do. On the other hand, if your deck is so predictable that there is absolutely no question about what you're going to do, and what you can do, then I feel that it is a miracle you remain a Methuselah after these many centuries. (That said, if the opponent can't do a thing despite knowing exactly what you can do, well, that works too)

Your defensive capability is therefore important to both deny, and better still, deter, your opponent from taking aggressive actions against you. Most of these defensive measures concern themselves with the predators, since the prey will be the one that you'll be using all your offensive options against most of the time. There are exceptions of course, Danz being the prime example.

I think there are 3 kinds of broad category of defenses that one uses in Vtes, active defense deals with incapacitating your predator enough that he/she will stop bothering you - this almost always involves combat, but there are certain cards that can achieve that as well, such as Cryptic Mission, and more recently, Shattering Crescendo. Reactive defense is the most common defense that people use, mainly due to their efficiency. Wake cards, Deflections and bleed-reducing cards are the prime examples, supplementing the Intercept cards that forms the bulk of defenses for most reactive decks. Passive defenses are most commonly expressed in pool-gains, or deterrents such as high on-board Intercepts or blocking capabilities - it is sometimes combined with active defenses by using the famous scare tactic.

Active defenses is usually part of the offensive strategy. A combat deck example, also relies on their ability to enter combat with their predator's minions to remove the ability of the predator to damage him. In essence this is also the deck's main strategy of getting rid of the prey. Although pool damage is rarely applied to the predator (such as Fame), supporting damage will sometime still go through (such as Tension in the Ranks). The problem with this style of defense is that it normally weakens the predator significantly, paving the way for your grand-predator to surf through his prey and get started on you. As a side effect it also slow down your work against your prey, wasting precious actions of your minions and the even more precious cards that you spent to take out the predator. The skill to know when to start and when to stop targeting the predator is important in this kind of defenses. There are of course exceptions, such as certain Daughter's deck that use votes to kill but Crescendo to defend, seconding the Crescendo against the prey when it is convenient. But most of the time, every action that one spent to fight the predator is one that is not going towards the acquisition of a victory point. Therefore, active defense should always try to couple with intimidation tactics. (and therefore becoming a passive defense)

Reactive defense, unless it is a wall deck, is usually a part of the deck that is packed strictly for the predator - take Telepathic Counter for example - this is an excellent defensive card, but completely useless against your prey. Reactive defensive cards that specialized in bouncing will use those bleeds taken by the predator against the prey as well, and that will supplement the offensive campaign against the prey. However, this still doesn't hide the fact that these cards are circumstantial - IF the predator does not bleed, or bleed only occasionally and for very little amount, then all the bounce cards are not going to be very efficient, and at worse may jam up your hand, preventing you from getting the cards that is necessary in ousting your prey. Reactive defenses are therefore efficient in action-cost (your vampires "reacts", and is free to "act" during your turn, not losing any action options during your turn) but low in card efficiency (you need wake cards, reaction cards and so on, diluting your offensive package)

A very specific kind of reactive defense deals with blocking, which will then involve combat and sometimes intercept cards. Such wall decks are also often card intensive, and can be denied of their effectiveness if their opponents fight better than them. Dedicated Wall decks, normally, are the ultimate in defenses, and are usually quite hard to crack, but consequently their ousting power are usually sacrificed to enable a large combat/block package in the deck.

Passive defenses are defenses that increases the pool, and just "defend with your pool"; or a better option will be the creation of a strong intimidating package on-board or through playing cards, and thereby deterring your predator from being too aggressive against you. Bloat decks will increase their pool faster than what their predator can deplete, thereby creating a defense through what they are made to do in the first place - such decks usually have a swarm bleed or vote option to oust the prey in the later game, and requires patience to play. These decks are also often reasonably slower and require longer setup time, during which they have little defense against aggressive predators.

Intimidation defense is probably a subset of the passive defense, and should be the one that every kind of defensive package can achieve if they do their talking right. (Of course it has to be backed up by actual defensive capability, unless you're really good with karate or an excellent speaker. On the other hand, you can bribe your predator.) A frightened predator is a preferred predator - if your predator is afraid to take actions against you, and wait until he has the "perfect hand" to deal with you, it will almost always give you a relatively easier time which you can dedicate to deal with your prey or continue your preparation to the ultimate victory.

There are multiple ways to do this, of course. Ferox with +3 Intercept and Preternatural Strength is a very good trump card to show to your predator, and it will give you a lot of mileage when you discuss the potential medical insurance that your predator has to pay for his minions when he cannot stealth through your defenses. If the "negotiation" is successful, you can limit the damage to your pool to a minimal. Such negotiations, however, normally only come by after you show your predator what they can expect if they fail in their actions - meaning, you have to have a show of force before the intimidation factor can kick in.

There is one last defensive measure.

You can beg.

(o.o)

Skirmishes in the Dark : 06-07-2010

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 Malkavian Bleed, bleeding

My Air Rock, bleeding

LF's !Malkavian Stealth Bleed, bleeding

Bann's Nephandus

This was my first game with the re-tuned "Ryan-style" Air Rock, which was rebuilt to celebrate the beauty of Vtes combat, and therefore I wasn't expecting to survive too long, and my sole objective in this game was to send as many vampires to torpor as possible. This is now a "feel good" deck.

Nevertheless, sitting below a Malkavian Bleed is never a good thing, and by turn 2, John had brought out Persia, followed closely by Adelaide Davis and a third vampire whom I can't remember. Without a defender at turn 2, I took a bleed of 2 (only 2!) from Persia before I influenced Ferox onto the table as my first defender.

Meanwhile my prey had Hagar Stone, Persephone and eventually Bloody Mary, and started putting much pressure on my ally. Bann's first vampire was Pentex-ed, but an early Jake Washington burnt the Pentex immediately and he started putting Nephandus onto the table, supported by the FBI.

At turn 3, I put a Guardian Angel on Ferox, recruited a Razor Bat, and merged Ferox. With that, I have a +3 Intercept against John's bleed actions, that put the whole game in a new perspective, and definitely given John a serious headache. I took the first bleed from John as I was afraid of Coma since I don't have a Roll nor an Immortal Grapple on me. With a Skin of the Chameleon in my hand I was willing to take a risk and blocked the second attempt to bleed me. The battle with Persia went well, and a Raking Talon-ed Pounce sent Persia into torpor.

I then put Perfectionist onto Ferox, slapped an Armor of Terra on him, and then put Preternatural Strength on Ferox, making him a deadly on-board combat monster. I then influenced Fidus onto the table.

Ferox successfully blocked another bleed from John, and Disarmed the vampire, sending the second vampire into torpor. By then the Nephandus are giving John quite a bit of problem, and he wasn't attacking me that aggressively anymore. That brief period of breathing space allowed me to let Fidus get an Ivory Bow and a Heart of Nizchetus. Meanwhile, Ferox started to test LF's defense with small bleeds and an occasional Dive Bomb when he managed to draw an Immortal Grapple - sure enough, everytime I sent my Ferox into battle, the opponent went into torpor.

However, my Fame on Hagar Stone did not came into effect, and Bann was quickly bled to death by LF, and she started to work on John's pool. A moment later John was ousted. I managed to send 3 of LF's 4 vampires into torpor, but she eventually sneaked pass my defenses and ousted me. Curses!

Well, but I did sent many vampires into torpor. Really felt good~

Final VP Count -

LF - Everything! Plus GW.

(o.o)

At Your Disposal : Kyoko Shinsegawa

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, despite her only having the inferior level at a capacity of 5.

Kyoko is a very interesting vampire due to her special ability, and quoting Bann, she is most weirdly priced because of that. At 5 cap, she has only 4 inferior discipline, and without her in-clan THA. But her special ability makes her a formidable vampire in the right deck.

Kyoko cannot hunt normally, but she can hunt by stealing a blood from ANY ready vampire, at a +1 stealth. This makes her a Cryptic Mission machine. Given the fact that she has inferior FOR, she can be a one-girl Cryptic Mission machine, limited only by the number of Freak Drives you have in your hand, and the ability of the opponent in blocking. Robin's deck had used Kyoko as an offensive Cryptic Hunter against YY a couple of nights ago, and with Aaron's Feeding Razor on her she actually gets filled up pretty quickly. Against an opponent that couldn't handle that 1 stealth, this attack can be quite devastating after a while.

The problem she has is a lack of ability to generate stealth, limiting her hunting to a +1 stealth most of the time. Of course, her basic CEL allows for the expensive and inefficient Alacrity, but that's about it. Throwing in Sunset Strip will give her another stealth (and a single tap gives her a +1 stealth for the entire round, on ALL her hunts), and if you make her an anarch, Anarch Railroad provides another stealth.

Speaking of Anarchs, Kyoko makes an excellent Anarch. Her discipline spread makes her an excellent candidate for many Anarch possibility - Diversion for example. She has enough disciplines for her cost and her ability by itself works well with the extra hunting and stealth possibility given by the Anarch options.

Though I've yet to see a Kyoko deck, I've seen Kyoko appeared in many decks, especially those which favors the DOM disicipline. I'm sure she has way more potential than that, and I look forward to see a deck dedicated to Kyoko.

Perhaps I'll re-tune my Cryptic Mission deck to make her a star. Oh, she doesn't have THA.

Darn.

(o.o)

Lyrics of the Night : Deck Size

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 to how many vampires you can include in your crypt, the tournament standard is of a minimum of 12 vampires, and that is the normal number that you'll see in the vast majority of decks. Only weenie decks and certain themed decks (such as some Soul Gem Turbo decks, or Goodnight My Sweet Prince decks) will play with more vampires than 12. Even that, the crypt will generally revolve around maybe 18 vampires at most. In most cases, if you're able to bring out all 18 vampires onto the table, then you must be doing something right, or all your opponents are doing everything wrong. Of course there is that one famous deck with ALL the vampires in the crypt, but it is a legendary concept that I've yet to see on the field.

The library is a totally different animal, with a size range from 60-90, technically depending on the number of players on the table, but rarely do we actually care about that. Therefore, one pretty much has the option to build a library of 60 cards to 90 cards, depending on his style and needs.

In theory, since Vtes allows the replacement of spent cards almost immediately, the cards in your hand is a valuable asset, and therefore the library is a big warehouse for you to keep your resources - the reason why anyone would play with less than 90 cards (the maximum number of assets that you can have) is mainly about how quickly or efficiently you can find the right cards in your warehouse, exactly when you need them. The more cards you have, well, the less chance you'll get the one card you need unless you throw in a lot more copies of that than other cards, who will then affect your ability to get other cards that you need. Of course, the right ratio will mathematically means you'll draw the same card in a 60-card deck or 90-card deck by statistics. But since you'll probably be spending your cards in different ways in different games, this mathematical concept doesn't seem too reliable. (There must be some mathematical concept behind it but that's beyond me)

Having a larger library has its benefits. For certain kind of decks, it becomes a necessity. Imagine a POT combat deck. Let's say you rely on combat to deal with most of your problems, and you use POT as the key discipline for it. Assuming you'd need to enter combat with 2 minions of each of your prey before rendering them ineffective, and assuming you'd want to kill off 4 preys.

Now let's say you use exclusively Ambush to enter combat, a Torn Signpost with Undead Strength damage package coupled with Immortal Grapple for the combat end answer as well as a second round to secure a kill. That's 4 cards per combat. Multiply that by 2 minions and 4 preys, and you'll need to fight 8 times, and that will require you to have 32 cards just to achieve that. Now assuming that you throw in 4 Taste of Vitae to replenish your vampires' blood, 4 maneuver cards in case your vampires' Ambush is blocked and you need extra movement to get in touch, 4 Sideslips to get out of jail and a Disarm for fun and laughter. This combat package will need a commitment of 45 cards. In this example, if you use a 60-card deck, that will only give you 15 more cards to insert, including Master cards, reaction, and most importantly your means to kill off your prey - namely Bleed cards and/or pool-damage cards like Dragonbound and Fame. In this case, a 60-card deck might not be a very good idea. This is of course an over-simplification of a combat deck, but it illustrates the basics of it.

The same idea goes towards many other deck types, which is why you see so many 90-card decks around the place. Malkavian Stealth Bleed for example, need to combo Kindred Spirit with at least 1 stealth card, preferably 2, more if the environment is Auspex heavy, and more multi-purpose cards like Swallowed by the Night if combat is an issue, and then there is the need of bleed enhancer. So for every Kindred Spirits you'll probably be looking at a 3-5 cards package. And you'll need to bleed an average of 10-15 times in order to secure a table win (at least), that would be a staggering 45-60 cards requirement before looking at anything else like defense and Master cards. So if you have a stealth bleeder that uses a 60-card deck it'll likely to lose out on a 5-player table.

Of course, if you have a deck built with 3 players in mind then everything needs to be re-calibrated. But I see few players who does that at all.

The case for 60-cards or decks with less than 90 are usually decks who goes for the throat, with very efficient and fast combo that requires either a particular few cards to pull off, or requires a very quick consecutive card-chain to get it up to speed. Many theme decks are like this. A Spell of Life deck, for example, do not require a lot of cards once the Spell is pulled off, so a lesser deck that secures a more consistent draw might be crucial. I believe that this is the key reason for using libraries that are less than maximum.

Not to forget, one of the key issue in using smaller libraries is the ultimate financial reason. In order to keep to an efficient ratio of key cards, one may be forced to play a smaller library simply because he doesn't own the necessary number of cards in that combo chain. Face it, there is only so many Sensory Deprivation (Boo!) that one has, then one cannot play a Sense-Dep deck with 90-card library - you might never draw the 1 of 3 that you have.

(o.o)