OFFICIAL VEKN CLAN VENTRUE NEWSLETTER Vol.II No.10 June.2001
INTRODUCTION
LET'S ALL POKE FUN AT THE NEW BOY - Jan Peiterzoon
AGITATION NATION - Fun vs. Win
DECK OF THE MONTH - Matt Green's tourney Ventrue / !Ventrue
FINAL NIGHTS - Just what the doctor ordered.
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INTRODUCTION
Ever get the feeling that you are part of something really big ?
I am amazed how much easier it is to get a game and how many more tourneys
are springing up. I hear on the grapevine that the Portsmouth tourneys are
starting up again sometime soon, this is good news indeed. I wouldn't be
surprised to see 40 - 50 players at the Euro qualifier at Watford in July
and looking back, a 40 player tourney would just never have happened.
We are fast approaching the stage in the UK where most weekends have a
fixture. Having to 'not' go to a tourney in the interests of one's real
life, marriage, children, sleeping in the bath, damn good slapping (oh, that
one's not that bad) etc. etc. is a necessary but bloody difficult choice to
make (or be made for you).
As most people know, I'm buggering off to Australia, New Zealand, Bali and
Hong Kong with my good lady wife in September and I've already lined up a
couple of games and a tourney !!! This blows me away, it's what I have
always wanted the game to be about.
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LET'S ALL POKE FUN AT THE NEW BOY....
'Spose I should harp on a bit this month about the newest addition to my
purple friends..Jan the man, who seems like he could draw quite a bit of
fire from his 'everyone reduce your hand size' ability.
Jan Peiterzoon
7 cap
FOR DOM pre pot
+ 1 bleed
One of the signature vampires from the clan novel series, Jan (if I recall)
always had his manicured fingers in most Camarilla affairs which is shown in
part by his bazaar special ability that reduces the hand size of all
methuselahs by one whilst he is ready. He also has +1 Bleed, which coupled
with DOM and FOR can spell a VERY quick end for an unprepared prey.
I'm not sure about Jan's ability I think it might draw quite a bit of flak
from round the table. I'll have to think about it a bit more but first
impressions are that it could hurt you as much as the other players. Then
again if you make provision for the special ability with Dreams of the
Sphinx, Elder Library, Barrens etc. etc. it quickly becomes a solid
advantage over your fellow players. I think his ability should be likened to
such cards as Anarch Revolt and Anti. Awakening - annoyance for all round
the table. Hmm. Not really something the Ventrue want to be doing !!
He fits nicely into most stock Ventrue decks with the all-important FOR, DOM
and pre and lends himself very well to Ventrue bruise and bleed variants
with Potence for those poetic 'prevent-Disarm' moments.
No title but let's face it, he doesn't really need or deserve one :o) For me
he falls into the category of amazingly useful quasi-disposable power
bleeders. By this I don't mean he is a 7 point throwaway...OH NO far, far
from it, I mean he is the ideal Kiss of Ra / Force of Will, Daring the Dawn
power bleeder. A useful frontman for a Ventrue steamroller, to be topped up
by the Princely back room boys showing their equestrian steeds some
brutality.
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AGITATION NATION - Fun vs. Win
Though I would write a belated response to Peter's excellent question on
player motivation for this month's Aaaaaaaagitation Nation and try and bring
in a few other closely related issues.
I believe the original question was >>
>...)--the idea
>of "cut-throat" vs "fun" decks, and "playing for fun" vs "playing to win",
and
>I'm kind of interested in seeing other folks views on this.
The dull but honest answer from my point of view would have to be both. In a
tourney environment I play to win, no questions and will always go for the
VP's. I possibly have a slightly more 'flexible' moral code <> than a lot of players but 95% of the time the deals that I make or
offer are pretty fair for both parties. If someone offers me a stupidly good
deal that improves my position I'm not about to get all benevolent and tell
them no, what can I say !
One of the initial considerations I ALWAYS give to a new deck is how I'm
going to oust my (key word) preys.. not prey. Also, I cannot stand making
mistakes, nothing makes me madder with myself than losing from making a dum
mistake. Then again that's pretty much how you learn so maybe it's not such
a bad thing ??
I was very concerned by the recent thread on VP's and cross table
tomfoolery. After a discussion with James McClellan and then Sorrow (Chris
Boget) at the 24th Watford tourney (which I visited but couldn't play in) I
came to the conclusion that 'bad judges' (possibly being bad players as well
?) are the only real cause for concern. Seemingly random cross table rushes
/ votes etc. are very, very rarely random IME, they usually have either
table stabilisation / manipulation or revenge as a motive. I do agree with
James's related post on combat decks cutting the competition down to 2 and
then 'restarting' in a much more combat manageable 3 player situation.
As I said, one of my main concerns is the whole 'bad judge' thing, at this
point I must say that in all the tourneys I have ever played in (which is
one or two :o) I have never come across a bad judge. Anyway, I have heard
all sorts of horror stories of very bad decisions, incorrect Prince!!
enforced tourney rules etc. etc. and a ruling such as the 'must maximise VP'
s' one is extremely difficult to enforce. Who is to say what is going on
inside a players head ? there may be a perfectly rational and non-random
explanation for a cross table rush/vote etc. that is interpreted as crappy
destabilising play. I'm sure the ruling (if there has been one) is sound and
that it was done for a reason but I guess what I'm trying to say is that we
should take care when potentially changing the mechanics of a game that is
played on a knife edge balance.
"clunk"
Right I'm off the universal soapbox now..
I do enjoy seeing a great combo played and I'm fascinated (and always will
be) by the way the cards all interact differently with each other. Also,
despite popular belief I do appreciate the artwork and the RPG aspect of the
game it's just not as important to me as what the cards actually do.
In answer to the second part of Peter's question, our weekly friendly games
try to push the combat envelope as far as it will go, so I suppose you could
say we play for 'fun' in these games. We test out various new decks against
some of the best combat we can muster. As I have mentioned before, I'm
privileged enough to have a superb playgroup who are all outstanding players
in their own right so our weekly's are always brutal but fun games that
test. We will however, often let rescue attempts go or help out when we
would usually not in the interest of a decent game that puts all the decks
on the table through their paces. However, even when playing for fun we
always have the caveat that winning the game is a good thing.
'Sleaze' in it's many evil forms :o) is generally frowned (or stamped) upon
in our weekly's but we all use it to test our latest non-combat against
REALLY mean combat decks. If a S/B deck (or it's player) can survive *and*
win against that much offence it must be OK. Heh heh.
As a final side note, I believe the game has a place for both types of
player AND the differing styles of decks that both types usually play. One
of the things that I love about the game is that ANY player can win a game
by making a few solid choices and playing their deck well. In the dynamic
sphere of metagames, a deck can sweep one day and be the first to turn into
a grease spot the next. Deck choices are at any given time a cross section
of ideas, opinion, metagames and playstyles - I don't think we should be
rubbishing any decks that people choose to play in a competitive or
non-competitive arena. Yes, goddamnit that's right, sleaze has a place.
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DECK OF THE MONTH
Matt's Ventrue / !Ventrue deck from the June 24th Watford tourney. I went
for a few hours and did some heavy trading and metagame observation but had
to leave after the second round. What I did see seemed like a quality
tourney, great to meet Sorrow from the US (how goes it Chris?) and discuss
intercontinental differences. An excellent spread of decks with some focus,
toolbox, combat, votes and a smattering of S+B as well as a bunch of oddball
decks too (mono Cailean anyone ?) making for some really tight games. Not a
lot of deal-making going on I noticed, possibly due to the absence of the
Southampton massif :o) Speaking to Chris before the tourney he was pondering
what to play in the UK environment, he chose well with a prey dedicated 99%
focus deck (the 1% is for AI Chris).
Anyway, enough shit from me, here is Matt's 2nd place 65 card !! deck.
Deck name: 'The Sandy Pole'
Created by: Matt Green
Crypt: (12 cards)
1 Courtland Leighton (Ventrue, 4, do fo pr)
1 Dominique (Ventrue Antitribu, 7, an AU do FO vi)
1 Ingrid Russo (Ventrue Antitribu, 4, DO fo)
3 Quentin (Ventrue Antitribu, 9, AU ce DO FO ot,
Bis)
1 Ranjan Rishi (Ventrue, 5, DO fo PR)
1 Roland Louissarian (Ventrue, 3, fo pr)
1 Rufina Soledad (Ventrue, 2, fo)
2 Sir Walter Nash (Ventrue, 7, DO FO PR, Prince)
1 Timothy Crowley (Ventrue, 7, an do FO PR, Prince)
Library: (65 cards)
Masters 12
1 Demonstration
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Elysium: The Arboretum
1 Giant's Blood
1 KRCG News Radio
3 Minion Tap
1 Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper, The
1 Ventrue Headquarters
1 Powerbase : Madrid
Minion 53
2 Ancilla Empowerment
2 Cardinal Benediction
1 Cryptic Rider
4 Day Operation
6 Deflection
2 Disputed Territory
2 Dramatic Upheaval
1 Elder Kindred Network
1 Elder Library
2 Fifth Tradition: Hospitality, The
5 Kine Resources Contested
2 Kindred Manipulation
2 Kiss of Ra, The
5 Obedience
2 Parity Shift
1 Praxis Seizure: Miami
3 Resilience
3 Second Tradition: Domain
3 Skin of Steel
2 Ventrue Justicar
2 Wake with Evening's Freshness
Can't resist a few comments.
Watching Matt at 'work' on the day, he was making really good use of his
cards. Only 6 prevention and 5 Obedience meant he had to be careful who he
pissed off :o) This sort of deck does not forgive mistakes easily, he was
playing the deck exactly as it should be played - build power, seem
innocuous, make allies, bide time, swoop. Just the right amount of card
cycling aids (2 Dreams, 1 Elder Lib.) for those sticky moments, I wonder
whether the deck would benefit from a few Reinforcements added in post FN ?
What do you think Green ?
Interesting absence of Sudden Reversal, possibly the Disputed Territories in
to make up for this ?
65 cards was spot on for the environment and the level of cycling. The games
I saw had him finish on very few cards after getting 2/3 VP's (possibly the
way to go in today's ubercompetitive environment ???)
Overall a good, tight deck that demanded strategic, thoughtful play. Nice
one Matt.
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FINAL NIGHTS
It's been out for a couple of weeks and aside from a few niggles, I think it
is one of the best sets to date. I've seen all the new cards and haven't
come across any *obviously* unbalanced problem cards yet, but maybe I just
need to look harder :o)
There's a LOT of new toys for the four independent clans as well as some
useful (and sometimes unnecessary :o) boosts for existing clans and
disciplines. All four independent clans will IMO become viable and effective
tournament choices. They all have some great new Vampires and library cards
to work with and some great cross clan possibilities (Setites with Nec
etc.). If you ask me the Ravnos are still the weakest of the bunch but do
have some useful new cards - Red Herring, Change of Target, Force of Will,
Freak Drive, combo till your eyes bleed :o) is quite nasty.
I love some of the new locations. Creepshow Casino and The Khobar Towers are
a real breath of fresh air. So many of the new cards really encourage you to
look at the various strategies from a different perspective. Also there is
enough new Vamps and cards for existing disciplines to present a few new
deck ideas for the older clans as well.
The bazaar blank space at the bottom of some cards continues to puzzle me
but I'm sure there's a good reason and as I say, it's only a minor thing.
So, what have the existing clans got to fear from the new supercharged
independents ?? Quite a bit if the truth be told.
The Assamites now have access to a different sort of combat, I think Thin
Blood on it's own provides a much needed 'Carrion Crows' type boost to
Quietus and they now have MUCH more versatile crypt possibilities with
Auspex, Presence and Fortitude as solid secondary disciplines. An Assamite
S+B deck using Thin Bloods, Catatonic Fears and Psyches gives me cause for
concern !!
The Followers of Set are now looking a lot better at doing what they do
best - stealing other players stuff. They have some good Mummies, Vampires
and Edge messing cards as well as the Khobar Towers, a superb '3rd' line of
defence and if you ask me, almost reason enough to play Setites on it's own
!
The Ravnos have, as I said IMO benefited least from the set but typically I
shall probably be ousted by a Ravnos deck in the final of the next tourney
for saying that. For my table they are weak in so many 'essential' aspects
of tourney play and do not perform one task 'so well' that they can
essentially ignore these shortfalls. Great new cards though, Reality, Red
Herring, Draba - all future classics.
The Giovanni become the bruise bleeders they always should have been and
have a whole host of cool new Allies and Retainers to Compel back from the
bin. Also, let's just take a quiet moment to reflect on The Sargon
Fragment..... what a great piece of equipment. Daemonic Possession gives
them a really good incentive to wade in with Burning Wraths or hang back and
nick other players piles of ashes for their own brand of pasta fueled,
necrophiliac revenge.
Soooo all beware the Final Nights are abroad and it's gonna get ugly.
All in all though, a top expansion. Bring on Bloodlines !! (in a while when
my wallet has recovered).
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That's me for this month, I'm off to make up nasty decks with all the new FN
toys.
Mail at the usual address Rob.Treasure@btinternet.com if you have any
submissions, abuse etc.