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:

Rubén Vidaña Ramos
1977
Logistics
Warlord, Rage, Lord of The Rings
ca. 5,000
14
Barcelona (Spain)

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 was a Magic: The Gathering player right before Jyhad was released in Spain. I was also playing Vampire: The Masquerade with a group of friends from Badalona, and one day the owner of the store where we used to buy the RPG books told us that a new game about vampires was being released. We purchased our first Jyhad starters, and my addiction to this game began. I will never forget my first games with Brujah, being unmercifully bled by Malkavians. Hence my natural dislike to that clan. In those times, my way of playing was very primitive, and a year later my friends gave up playing. I liked V:TES a lot and, although I did not know anyone else to play with, I started to collect V:TES cards, and to buy cards from other expansions (Dark Sovereigns, Ancient Hearts, ...)

Then I met Ginés Quiñonero (Damnans), and that was my inflection point. I met a new playgroup and Ginés introduced me to the complexities of politics, to the decks with resources and to competitively play to win tournaments. I learnt a lot from him. I would have never played and won tournaments without those years Ginés spent in Barcelona, and the lot of things he taught me.

Thanks Ginés, I would have never succeeded without you.

Q2: Which of the Sets and Expansions to VTES is your favorite, and why is it your top choice?
Sabbat, definitely. New clans, new cards. Combat and politics were boosted with cards such as Awe, Disarm, Decapitate, and above all others, Immortal Grapple, which became uncommon instead of rare. This made the difference. It was also fantastic to be able to play my beloved Lasombra and the dreadful Tzimisce. Yes, Sabbat was actually a great expansion.

Q3: What is your favorite deck to play, and why?
I have several decks I like very much, and it’s difficult for me to choose just one, but if I have to choose one, this one should be The DECK, a classical group 1-2 Ventrue vote deck with lots of resources, without Obfuscate (which can be found here http://www.almadrava.net/damnans/wdpspm01.htm). It was a very solid deck at that time, which won me many tournaments. A deck always fun to play. It could respond to any situation, and it was not so hostile to other players as the more recent Obfuscate Ventrue decks based on Arika & Co., which are so effective that they are very easy to play.

Q4: If you could add something to the game, what would it be?
Many things I would have added to this game have already been recently added with the release of the last expansions. Thank God, you now can build different type of decks with a given clan. It is not like before, when some clans always did the same because of lack of variety within the cards they had available. Since the release of Bloodlines, this has fortunately changed.

Combat has been boosted (being combat this kind of play I most like). I would like to buy a drink for the designer of the Dragonbound card ;-)

Q5: What do you do to help promote the game / why are you in this list of people?
When Ginés went back to Palma de Mallorca, many players stopped playing V:TES in Barcelona. This is a very frequent fact in my city. People play on and off, and need some incentives to play. I continued to play V:TES and was visiting each club of role-players in Barcelona, acting as a coordinator to keep this game alive. We organized our own tournaments and, with the help of the former V:EKN Prince of Barcelona, Xavier Abad, we kept the little flame of V:TES lit in those dark years (the pre-White Wolf times), when the game was sent into oblivion and everyone thought it was dead. I kept on building decks (I had more than 50 decks assembled by then), and was still in touch with Ginés. I went to tournaments abroad, and was absorbing every piece of knowledge that could be useful for me to improve both my play style and my deck-building skills. I went to Logroño and made strong bonds of friendship with that player community (best wishes to all of you, guys), and visited other Spanish cities. Then, when people started to organize themselves better, and stores begun to sell singles and to organize tournaments, the V:TES community increased and, I gradually gave up my activities as an event organizer, and I just played and enjoyed the game until today.

Q6: What is your favorite deck style for casual play / tournament play?
Combat is what I most like about the game (I love it, and it is really fun), followed by politics. But what I really hate is bleed and stealth decks. They are monotonous and boring, in my opinion, and do not contribute much to a good game. In tournaments, I have played any type of decks, but Malkavian ones, and I have won with almost any kind of deck (combat, wall, vote decks).

Q7: Is there a difference between your casual play and tournament play?
Not much. I use to play for fun, and I obviously play to win. Both things are not incompatible. I like the fair play, and I may have too romantic an idea of the game, which makes me come into conflict with the ideas of other players, who think that everything goes in V:TES. This has cost me tournaments, but it is more important for me to have fun by playing to win than to win without having fun.

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 was a Magic: The Gathering player right before Jyhad was released in Spain. I was also playing Vampire: The Masquerade with a group of friends from Badalona, and one day the owner of the store where we used to buy the RPG books told us that a new game about vampires was being released. We purchased our first Jyhad starters, and my addiction to this game began. I will never forget my first games with Brujah, being unmercifully bled by Malkavians. Hence my natural dislike to that clan. In those times, my way of playing was very primitive, and a year later my friends gave up playing. I liked V:TES a lot and, although I did not know anyone else to play with, I started to collect V:TES cards, and to buy cards from other expansions (Dark Sovereigns, Ancient Hearts, ...) Then I met Ginés Quiñonero (Damnans), and that was my inflection point. I met a new playgroup and Ginés introduced me to the complexities of politics, to the decks with resources and to competitively play to win tournaments. I learnt a lot from him. I would have never played and won tournaments without those years Ginés spent in Barcelona, and the lot of things he taught me. Thanks Ginés, I would have never succeeded without you.	Q2: Which of the Sets and Expansions to VTES is your favorite, and why is it your top choice? Sabbat, definitely. New clans, new cards. Combat and politics were boosted with cards such as Awe, Disarm, Decapitate, and above all others, Immortal Grapple, which became uncommon instead of rare. This made the difference. It was also fantastic to be able to play my beloved Lasombra and the dreadful Tzimisce. Yes, Sabbat was actually a great expansion.
Q3: What is your favorite deck to play, and why? I have several decks I like very much, and it’s difficult for me to choose just one, but if I have to choose one, this one should be The DECK, a classical group 1-2 Ventrue vote deck with lots of resources, without Obfuscate (which can be found here http://www.almadrava.net/damnans/wdpspm01.htm). It was a very solid deck at that time, which won me many tournaments. A deck always fun to play. It could respond to any situation, and it was not so hostile to other players as the more recent Obfuscate Ventrue decks based on Arika & Co., which are so effective that they are very easy to play.	Q4: If you could add something to the game, what would it be? Many things I would have added to this game have already been recently added with the release of the last expansions. Thank God, you now can build different type of decks with a given clan. It is not like before, when some clans always did the same because of lack of variety within the cards they had available. Since the release of Bloodlines, this has fortunately changed. Combat has been boosted (being combat this kind of play I most like). I would like to buy a drink for the designer of the Dragonbound card ;-)
Q5: What do you do to help promote the game / why are you in this list of people? When Ginés went back to Palma de Mallorca, many players stopped playing V:TES in Barcelona. This is a very frequent fact in my city. People play on and off, and need some incentives to play. I continued to play V:TES and was visiting each club of role-players in Barcelona, acting as a coordinator to keep this game alive. We organized our own tournaments and, with the help of the former V:EKN Prince of Barcelona, Xavier Abad, we kept the little flame of V:TES lit in those dark years (the pre-White Wolf times), when the game was sent into oblivion and everyone thought it was dead. I kept on building decks (I had more than 50 decks assembled by then), and was still in touch with Ginés. I went to tournaments abroad, and was absorbing every piece of knowledge that could be useful for me to improve both my play style and my deck-building skills. I went to Logroño and made strong bonds of friendship with that player community (best wishes to all of you, guys), and visited other Spanish cities. Then, when people started to organize themselves better, and stores begun to sell singles and to organize tournaments, the V:TES community increased and, I gradually gave up my activities as an event organizer, and I just played and enjoyed the game until today.	Q6: What is your favorite deck style for casual play / tournament play? Combat is what I most like about the game (I love it, and it is really fun), followed by politics. But what I really hate is bleed and stealth decks. They are monotonous and boring, in my opinion, and do not contribute much to a good game. In tournaments, I have played any type of decks, but Malkavian ones, and I have won with almost any kind of deck (combat, wall, vote decks).
Q7: Is there a difference between your casual play and tournament play? Not much. I use to play for fun, and I obviously play to win. Both things are not incompatible. I like the fair play, and I may have too romantic an idea of the game, which makes me come into conflict with the ideas of other players, who think that everything goes in V:TES. This has cost me tournaments, but it is more important for me to have fun by playing to win than to win without having fun.