Who's Who in the V:TES Community

Vital Statistics:

Name:
Year of Birth:
Occupation:
Other Games Played:

Number of Cards owned:

Number of Decks ready to play:

Play in:

Ian Lee AKA Curevei
1970
Writer
Currently, the only other CCG I'm playing is Magic (Type P). I'm in a Vampire RPG campaign. At cons, I'll try to play a variety of RPGs. I'll occasionally play a boardgame, beer and pretzel game, or whatever as almost all of my friends are gamers. I kill time at the computer with solitaire and FreeCell. In the past I played additional RPGs and CCGs, the two types of gaming I rank most important, and other games like computer games. When Scrye had a top 50 CCGs of all time article, I had played 33 of them to the point of having some sort of opinion. My favorite CCG didn't make the list. Then, there's collectible dice games and collectible miniatures.
Last I remember approximating, it was around 25,000. I don't remember if that included recent sets. I'd guess approaching 30,000.
There are times I'll break down all of my decks. But, most often, it's been around 15. I get bored easily, so I break down decks as often as I build them.
Northern California, primarily the Bay Area.

Q1: How (and when) did you begin your career as a VTES-player? Who introduced you to the game? Where did you play originally?
I got into CCGs in the Summer of '95. I was playing another CCG with Andrew Hart when he demoed Jyhad to me Fall '95; I was familiar with the background having picked up the RPG shortly after it got a good review in Dragon Magazine. I started playing with his group in Spring '96. James Geraci was the host in Menlo Park, CA. Curt Adams was part of that group.

Q2: Which of the Sets and Expansions to VTES is your favorite, and why is it your top choice?
Sabbat. I should mention that James's group was Jyhad only, a backlash against the card back change. So, I avoided DS and AH when they were new, filling them in after Sabbat. But, I was willing to try Sabbat both because of backstory interest and because I would go to cons where I could play anything. The freshness and variety sold me on it: ten clans versus seven, cards that I didn't see all the time in my regular group, etc. I even liked the look of the cards better (love the red background on combat cards). Produced the unusual situation of playing Jyhad only regularly and Sabbat only at cons for a while.

Q3: What is your favorite deck to play, and why?
I don't know that I have a favorite deck. I'm big on variety. However, I often end up playing stealth bleed with bounce and casual intercept. And, I do champion a Tzimisce stealth bleed archetype. One version was posted to the newsgroup in 2001 under the title Living Lolita Loco, though I agree with one of the people who responded in the thread that it should be Loca. As for why I play the decks I play, a lot of it has to do with not being interested in building other people's decks, some of it has to do with enjoying the cat and mouse of working around bleed bounce while playing stealth bleed, some of it has to do with making a point about how good or bad something may be, and so forth.

Q4: If you could add something to the game, what would it be?
I'm not sure what's meant by "add". There are numerous things I'd consider changing or getting rid of, which I won't bother to go into. I'd add more vampires to certain clans/bloodlines. I'd add more clan specific cards, especially for the Pander. I'd add more Celerity and Potence (and maybe other disciplines) cards that did something different. I'd add more sanctioned, constructed formats. I'd add a meaningful ranking system, but only because people seem to think that some sort of ranking system should exist. I'd consider new mechanics, though I'm extremely leery of new victory conditions.

Q5: What do you do to help promote the game / why are you in this list of people?
I assume I'm on this list because I've come to post fairly often on the newsgroup. I manage our local Yahoogroup, where I'm also the most prolific author of strategy and game information posts. I occasionally organize and/or run tournaments. I help as I can local Princes, Primogen, and play groups when they need something. I contribute more than anyone else to our V:TES web site as underdeveloped as it is. I've written articles for Scrye. I've sent material at times to newsletter editors and sites that were looking for material.

Q6: What is your favorite deck style for casual play / tournament play?
Mostly it comes down to playing a deck that surprises the other players without dipping into the realm of the obnoxious. The difference with casual play being that ousting ability isn't as important.

Q7: Is there a difference between your casual play and tournament play?
Definitely. Winning, in and of itself, means nothing to me. So, my natural inclination is to build goofy decks, looking for unusual card interaction. But, two things led to my playing tournaments seriously. First, at some point, it hit home while I was playing another multiplayer CCG how much playing badly (building stupid decks, not playing to win) cheated the other players of a quality experience. Second, I played good decks in tournaments for most of 2001 and had success. This led to trying to maintain success - ranking, scoring prizes, etc. - to establish a standard of play locally. Winning became a responsibility, one of several reasons I've lost the desire to play in tournaments. I don't worry about what I play or how I play to nearly the same extent when playing casually.

Back to the index of Who's Who in V:TES.

Q1: How (and when) did you begin your career as a VTES-player? Who introduced you to the game? Where did you play originally? I got into CCGs in the Summer of '95. I was playing another CCG with Andrew Hart when he demoed Jyhad to me Fall '95; I was familiar with the background having picked up the RPG shortly after it got a good review in Dragon Magazine. I started playing with his group in Spring '96. James Geraci was the host in Menlo Park, CA. Curt Adams was part of that group.	Q2: Which of the Sets and Expansions to VTES is your favorite, and why is it your top choice? Sabbat. I should mention that James's group was Jyhad only, a backlash against the card back change. So, I avoided DS and AH when they were new, filling them in after Sabbat. But, I was willing to try Sabbat both because of backstory interest and because I would go to cons where I could play anything. The freshness and variety sold me on it: ten clans versus seven, cards that I didn't see all the time in my regular group, etc. I even liked the look of the cards better (love the red background on combat cards). Produced the unusual situation of playing Jyhad only regularly and Sabbat only at cons for a while.
Q3: What is your favorite deck to play, and why? I don't know that I have a favorite deck. I'm big on variety. However, I often end up playing stealth bleed with bounce and casual intercept. And, I do champion a Tzimisce stealth bleed archetype. One version was posted to the newsgroup in 2001 under the title Living Lolita Loco, though I agree with one of the people who responded in the thread that it should be Loca. As for why I play the decks I play, a lot of it has to do with not being interested in building other people's decks, some of it has to do with enjoying the cat and mouse of working around bleed bounce while playing stealth bleed, some of it has to do with making a point about how good or bad something may be, and so forth.	Q4: If you could add something to the game, what would it be? I'm not sure what's meant by "add". There are numerous things I'd consider changing or getting rid of, which I won't bother to go into. I'd add more vampires to certain clans/bloodlines. I'd add more clan specific cards, especially for the Pander. I'd add more Celerity and Potence (and maybe other disciplines) cards that did something different. I'd add more sanctioned, constructed formats. I'd add a meaningful ranking system, but only because people seem to think that some sort of ranking system should exist. I'd consider new mechanics, though I'm extremely leery of new victory conditions.
Q5: What do you do to help promote the game / why are you in this list of people? I assume I'm on this list because I've come to post fairly often on the newsgroup. I manage our local Yahoogroup, where I'm also the most prolific author of strategy and game information posts. I occasionally organize and/or run tournaments. I help as I can local Princes, Primogen, and play groups when they need something. I contribute more than anyone else to our V:TES web site as underdeveloped as it is. I've written articles for Scrye. I've sent material at times to newsletter editors and sites that were looking for material.	Q6: What is your favorite deck style for casual play / tournament play? Mostly it comes down to playing a deck that surprises the other players without dipping into the realm of the obnoxious. The difference with casual play being that ousting ability isn't as important.
Q7: Is there a difference between your casual play and tournament play? Definitely. Winning, in and of itself, means nothing to me. So, my natural inclination is to build goofy decks, looking for unusual card interaction. But, two things led to my playing tournaments seriously. First, at some point, it hit home while I was playing another multiplayer CCG how much playing badly (building stupid decks, not playing to win) cheated the other players of a quality experience. Second, I played good decks in tournaments for most of 2001 and had success. This led to trying to maintain success - ranking, scoring prizes, etc. - to establish a standard of play locally. Winning became a responsibility, one of several reasons I've lost the desire to play in tournaments. I don't worry about what I play or how I play to nearly the same extent when playing casually.