That is how I lately feel about V:tes. No energy, very tired and very little inspiration. Even after news about POD, I find it hard to put as much effort to dive in V:tes as much as I did for last year or two. It is not like I do not have passion for games or TCGs for particular. Proof of that is my relatively large pledge on HEX project, which seems like a game with a great potential. I know, that this project and V:tes are not really related, but reading about it and thinking about what i like and do not like on games made me think about what is happening with V:tes and once again, about its future.
For me, things are moving as little as there were in standstill. We have some timeframe for reprints, but none whatsoever for new cards. Ok, maybe that is not true, but I just grew tired of trying to got through every topic on VEKN and try to find any little information hidden somewhere. I have stopped looking at card ideas long time ago, because ... well if there is no way for a loooooooooooooooong time for entire vekn to get some cards out, what the hell is a point to look at cards that, that will not be considered for even longer. I have built numerous new decks, deconstructed those that are not working or not fun to play, made new from last time I wrote and I have considered building even more. But in the end, I fear, there will be no more options. The day is still far away, but it is a sad thought.
I was trying to organize tournaments and league games and different formats, but I am less and less successfull. Each time I have to talk more to each player and remind them and each time there are more dropouts just before tournament. We have a new player, but we lost a lot more. Each time I see topic on vekn labeled "selling my collection" or "ebay sale," I know that we are not only ones with problems. I loved guys from Cause and Effect, but even their activity now is well.. Not to blame them. They have done a great work for community and I appreciate that.
Now don't get me wrong, I love V:tes and will keep playing for as long as there will be oponents. There is no better game to play in pub with a good beer in your hand. But one again it got me thinking about those things, that went wrong.
One thing V:tes really did not have is publicity. I did not know about that such a game existed. We only stumbled upon it because my friend was payed for work with some stuff from fantasy store and he got a starter, because he is the type to try everything. But even after playing for some time, there was really little to find on the web. Now we have vekn and a few GREAT blogs and as I have mentioned, Cause and Effect. But apart from that, there is a very little. Playgroups are very tight, but outside of them, no one knows what are they actually doing. I always thought, that this is just killing this game and well, it is really hard to be wrong here.
And the rules. So I have played some MTG for a little while and still knew rules more than V:tes after three years. Only after learning a lot and becoming judge and prince, I am confident, that I know basics. I know a lot of rulings and I am fairly good at this, but I could be still surprised by things like Increased strength and Heroic might. It is nearly impossible to contain it all. I am trying to keep up with vekn rules question and check them for updates. Although I know 99.5% answers, there are still surprises left hidden. Last time I tied to explain basics to a newbie, I got so tied up in specific situations, that I was nearly incapable of explaining most simple stuff.
Solve these two and V:tes can live. In time, there will be need for new cards, that is for sure. But building big playerbase and getting new and young players? I am getting more and more pessimistic by the minute.
I would like to get something with more substance and optimism, but this is all I have at this moment. I hope you are not getting tired with my rants, but at least writting this stuff down feels like i am doing something related to V:tes.
See you next time...
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Vtes - Future, Rumors, Facts ...
Hey guys!
After a long time, I am again thinking about future of our beloved game and I am not feeling really happy. Of all things, that I have at my disposal, facts about future of this game are one of most scarce resources. Only thing I know for sure is, that this game is dead. Everything else are speculations and rumors.
There was a lot of talk about Print on Demand and for a long time, I believed, that this will probably end up as solution. Not that I am really comfortable with it, but if there were some starter system for short period of time and after that chance of revival of ccg model, I would have loved it.
Lately I have read something about WoD LCG game from FFG, which should be successor of Vtes. Probably simplified and not compatible with old VTES. If it were the case, I wouldn't be glad at all. But again, I do not know anything for fact.
From the beginning, I was little unsure about PDF expansions from VEKN, but to do them to keep community alive and provide new tested cards for new potential publisher was looking like a good idea as time progressed.
But after that, there were some pretty hard quarrels within the team, that should have made and tested those cards. I will not take any side here, mainly because I do not have all the facts and it is not purpose of this post.
New cards are not going out and there is only so many decks, that you can build, when you have limited cardpool. I love deckbuilding, but I have missed some cards, when they got out and I am not in the mood to purchase them for a loooot of money. I would just like some new commons, that would refresh the game. There is no surprise, that some players do not like to play a dead ccg game.
This somehow pressured me, to get more serious about tournament scene, and some other players too. This may not be significant, but when some players shift to more serious play and more testing of powerful decks, it somehow shifts entire metas casual games. And of course some people do not like that.
And this is basicaly point of this post. Despair I am feeling is from this uncertainty is starting to get to me. Every day I see this game dying, because things we know, but more than anything, from thigs that we do not know. People would like to play this game for some more, but they would not like to end up with useless cards for a game, that no one plays, when they can sell them for big bucks on ebay. I can see those auctions every week. And even if this game survived, I do not really believe, that anyone of them would start playing again from scratch.
Its not like I have nothing to do. I build new decks regularly, try to organize tournaments in somewhat regular fashion, continue league games and every week, there are casual games. But I would just like to know, what the hell is going on and what to expect.
So once again, this post ended up with less substance and more ranting from my side. But that is just my frustration getting out.
See you next time...
After a long time, I am again thinking about future of our beloved game and I am not feeling really happy. Of all things, that I have at my disposal, facts about future of this game are one of most scarce resources. Only thing I know for sure is, that this game is dead. Everything else are speculations and rumors.
There was a lot of talk about Print on Demand and for a long time, I believed, that this will probably end up as solution. Not that I am really comfortable with it, but if there were some starter system for short period of time and after that chance of revival of ccg model, I would have loved it.
Lately I have read something about WoD LCG game from FFG, which should be successor of Vtes. Probably simplified and not compatible with old VTES. If it were the case, I wouldn't be glad at all. But again, I do not know anything for fact.
From the beginning, I was little unsure about PDF expansions from VEKN, but to do them to keep community alive and provide new tested cards for new potential publisher was looking like a good idea as time progressed.
But after that, there were some pretty hard quarrels within the team, that should have made and tested those cards. I will not take any side here, mainly because I do not have all the facts and it is not purpose of this post.
New cards are not going out and there is only so many decks, that you can build, when you have limited cardpool. I love deckbuilding, but I have missed some cards, when they got out and I am not in the mood to purchase them for a loooot of money. I would just like some new commons, that would refresh the game. There is no surprise, that some players do not like to play a dead ccg game.
This somehow pressured me, to get more serious about tournament scene, and some other players too. This may not be significant, but when some players shift to more serious play and more testing of powerful decks, it somehow shifts entire metas casual games. And of course some people do not like that.
And this is basicaly point of this post. Despair I am feeling is from this uncertainty is starting to get to me. Every day I see this game dying, because things we know, but more than anything, from thigs that we do not know. People would like to play this game for some more, but they would not like to end up with useless cards for a game, that no one plays, when they can sell them for big bucks on ebay. I can see those auctions every week. And even if this game survived, I do not really believe, that anyone of them would start playing again from scratch.
Its not like I have nothing to do. I build new decks regularly, try to organize tournaments in somewhat regular fashion, continue league games and every week, there are casual games. But I would just like to know, what the hell is going on and what to expect.
So once again, this post ended up with less substance and more ranting from my side. But that is just my frustration getting out.
See you next time...
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Thoughts about cards - 2) Pentex(TM) Subversion
So as our metagame scene grows stronger and stronger and as I attend tournaments, I have been encountering this card more and more. And there is no surprise - it is really strong.
1) One stars/high caps - I usually play star or at least high cap decks and this card is often enough to cripple this deck to a point, where it just waits to be ousted. Acting deck is usually shut down totally, since you need to multiact and your tool up actions are lost. Blockish are stripped of their main defense. Yes, you still can use bounce, but that may not be enough without proper cycling.
2) Midcaps - Although not as powerfull as with high caps, ability to shut down main blocker - like Carna for example, is very good. Often that one round, where that one minion cannot block you maybe enough. It may be that one intercept, ivory bow, or being a prince, that bothers you, but solution is universal. Same way, block deck can get rid of that one minion, which bothers them, or just again slow dow those initial tool up actions, like govern superior.
3) Lowcaps - even less effective, but eliminating one vampire for price of two pool can often save you much more.
Again, these thoughts are nothing new. Everyone has used it, or was killed by it and again, when moving closer and closer to tournament scene, I keep seeing this card more and more. Is it bad? I am not sure. I dislike its ability to shut down almost every one star deck. Would we see this card on the table more rarely, if its cost would be 3 pool? I doubt it. Even with 4 pool cost, I would play it in same decks. Of course, there would be times, when this card would be too much expensive, but most of the time, it would still be worth it. And I think that says a lot. Speaking with other players, some of them confirmed this opinion.
I have read some discussions, where people were advised, that his card should either restrict acting, or blocking, but not both. Another interesting idea was to give pentexed vampire ability to remove pentex.
Although all those ideas are interesting, I think that this card goes long way back and changing it this much would be too much. Although this card will be pain in my behind for a long time, since I tend to play high caps and probably will in the future, I would stick to increasing cost of this card by one pool. It isn't much, but I believe that it would help a little to balance this card. It would still remain pretty strong though.
I am not sure, what next article will be about, but I will try to continue writting about things I find interesting.
See you next time...
1) One stars/high caps - I usually play star or at least high cap decks and this card is often enough to cripple this deck to a point, where it just waits to be ousted. Acting deck is usually shut down totally, since you need to multiact and your tool up actions are lost. Blockish are stripped of their main defense. Yes, you still can use bounce, but that may not be enough without proper cycling.
2) Midcaps - Although not as powerfull as with high caps, ability to shut down main blocker - like Carna for example, is very good. Often that one round, where that one minion cannot block you maybe enough. It may be that one intercept, ivory bow, or being a prince, that bothers you, but solution is universal. Same way, block deck can get rid of that one minion, which bothers them, or just again slow dow those initial tool up actions, like govern superior.
3) Lowcaps - even less effective, but eliminating one vampire for price of two pool can often save you much more.
Again, these thoughts are nothing new. Everyone has used it, or was killed by it and again, when moving closer and closer to tournament scene, I keep seeing this card more and more. Is it bad? I am not sure. I dislike its ability to shut down almost every one star deck. Would we see this card on the table more rarely, if its cost would be 3 pool? I doubt it. Even with 4 pool cost, I would play it in same decks. Of course, there would be times, when this card would be too much expensive, but most of the time, it would still be worth it. And I think that says a lot. Speaking with other players, some of them confirmed this opinion.
I have read some discussions, where people were advised, that his card should either restrict acting, or blocking, but not both. Another interesting idea was to give pentexed vampire ability to remove pentex.
Although all those ideas are interesting, I think that this card goes long way back and changing it this much would be too much. Although this card will be pain in my behind for a long time, since I tend to play high caps and probably will in the future, I would stick to increasing cost of this card by one pool. It isn't much, but I believe that it would help a little to balance this card. It would still remain pretty strong though.
I am not sure, what next article will be about, but I will try to continue writting about things I find interesting.
See you next time...
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Open War - Ostrava
So three weeks ago, there was this tournament and I have finaly gathered enough strength and enthusiasm to write a short report mainly from my point of view.
In the end, I have chosen my Scout and Friends deck, which I have played on EC day2. There were a lot of reasons. I have played a lot of blockish decks lately and some of them could get really anoying when messing with predators game or even cross table players and I really was not into that. Secondly, I wanted to play something, that goes forward and just does stuff. And lastly, I did not want to play anything with dominate, since I really do not like that discipline lately.
We got a lot of last minute dropouts, so we ended up with only 16 players, so there were 4-player tables. It would make sense to switch deck right then and I had really good options with me, but I just did not feel like going for the advantage, since it would break all three reasons, I have stated before.
Game 1:
Me - Malgorzata & Friends - Gangrel allies - obf+aus toolbox
So naturally, there was no Dmitra in my starting crypt and with desperate need of justicar, I had to bring Mary Anne Blaire up, which was just retarded. Without ability to play stealth, all my early actions were blocked by my predator and I had to use most of my combat cards to save Mary from flamethrowers, yay. I finally got two parity shifts - one forward and one backwards, but it just ended up being bad. My predator had to play defensive, but I hurt him too much and my prey had started to be defensive too, so Gangrel allies had free reign. At one point, I almost got the game, but Direct intervention on Anarchist uprising ended my hopes. I was not able to oust even my prey after that and allies got 4 VP.
Game 2:
!Tor palla grande - different !Tor w/ palla grande - Me - !Salubri
I do not remember this game very clearly, but again, I had problems with my stealth cards to a point, where I got Monastery of Shadows into a game. After that it was a race between me an my cross-table "buddy," where we both ousted our preys, but in the end, luck was on my side and I was able to finish him with anarchist uprising and ancilla in the same turn. So 3VP for me.
Game 3:
Me - Eurayle + Friends bleed - Salubri impersonations - Gerald Windham and Friends
So I got early Dmitra, my prey Eurayle, my cross-table buddy matthew for 10 pool (yay scarce!) and my predator Gerald. As I have said, this deck was chosen mainly for its ability to go forward, but I was scared as hell. Gerald can bleed and deflect, both of which would have killed me in time... very short time. So I have villeined dmitra for 8 and played Temptation of Greater power and got Gerald for something more than 10 pool. That is the point, where I should have won this game. Well, I did not. Little bad luck with card draw, little distraction (boy I hate, when someone talks to me during a game) and looooot of realy stupid choices on my side. My prey have ended up with getting 4 VPs and it was all my fault. I have ended up softening during a game, doing one point of KRC to myself instead of someone else, and I was killed by exact ammount of bleed, but that is just one of many mistakes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have ended sixth, which will probably be my favourite place with this deck, but I have confirmed a few things.
1) This deck is good, I mean really good. Of course, it has its problems, but every deck has those.
2) I am still not able to play it to its fullest potential, no matter how much I have trained with it.
3) I am still unable to make very hard choices under pressure and I offten tend to underestimate some minor issues and doing mistakes in the end.
4) I think, that my deckbuilding skills have improved a lot during past year, but I am getting more and more annoyed by lucky draws. Since I have optimized some of my decks, they have started to work against odds. 11 governs and 7 deflections in 70 card deck - first game, I got first deflection after 30-35 cards, second game, first govern shows after 20 cards - and it really starts to freak me out, because it happens so often, that it is against all odds. And the feeling to go and hang myself returns after every player, who has 1 in 90 chance to draw silver bullet and he just does. Well, you should se me roll some dice during RPG session.
Enough ranting for today. I will be maybe writting something about finals later, but I will certainly publish another "Thoughts about cards" article soon.
See you next time....
In the end, I have chosen my Scout and Friends deck, which I have played on EC day2. There were a lot of reasons. I have played a lot of blockish decks lately and some of them could get really anoying when messing with predators game or even cross table players and I really was not into that. Secondly, I wanted to play something, that goes forward and just does stuff. And lastly, I did not want to play anything with dominate, since I really do not like that discipline lately.
We got a lot of last minute dropouts, so we ended up with only 16 players, so there were 4-player tables. It would make sense to switch deck right then and I had really good options with me, but I just did not feel like going for the advantage, since it would break all three reasons, I have stated before.
Game 1:
Me - Malgorzata & Friends - Gangrel allies - obf+aus toolbox
So naturally, there was no Dmitra in my starting crypt and with desperate need of justicar, I had to bring Mary Anne Blaire up, which was just retarded. Without ability to play stealth, all my early actions were blocked by my predator and I had to use most of my combat cards to save Mary from flamethrowers, yay. I finally got two parity shifts - one forward and one backwards, but it just ended up being bad. My predator had to play defensive, but I hurt him too much and my prey had started to be defensive too, so Gangrel allies had free reign. At one point, I almost got the game, but Direct intervention on Anarchist uprising ended my hopes. I was not able to oust even my prey after that and allies got 4 VP.
Game 2:
!Tor palla grande - different !Tor w/ palla grande - Me - !Salubri
I do not remember this game very clearly, but again, I had problems with my stealth cards to a point, where I got Monastery of Shadows into a game. After that it was a race between me an my cross-table "buddy," where we both ousted our preys, but in the end, luck was on my side and I was able to finish him with anarchist uprising and ancilla in the same turn. So 3VP for me.
Game 3:
Me - Eurayle + Friends bleed - Salubri impersonations - Gerald Windham and Friends
So I got early Dmitra, my prey Eurayle, my cross-table buddy matthew for 10 pool (yay scarce!) and my predator Gerald. As I have said, this deck was chosen mainly for its ability to go forward, but I was scared as hell. Gerald can bleed and deflect, both of which would have killed me in time... very short time. So I have villeined dmitra for 8 and played Temptation of Greater power and got Gerald for something more than 10 pool. That is the point, where I should have won this game. Well, I did not. Little bad luck with card draw, little distraction (boy I hate, when someone talks to me during a game) and looooot of realy stupid choices on my side. My prey have ended up with getting 4 VPs and it was all my fault. I have ended up softening during a game, doing one point of KRC to myself instead of someone else, and I was killed by exact ammount of bleed, but that is just one of many mistakes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have ended sixth, which will probably be my favourite place with this deck, but I have confirmed a few things.
1) This deck is good, I mean really good. Of course, it has its problems, but every deck has those.
2) I am still not able to play it to its fullest potential, no matter how much I have trained with it.
3) I am still unable to make very hard choices under pressure and I offten tend to underestimate some minor issues and doing mistakes in the end.
4) I think, that my deckbuilding skills have improved a lot during past year, but I am getting more and more annoyed by lucky draws. Since I have optimized some of my decks, they have started to work against odds. 11 governs and 7 deflections in 70 card deck - first game, I got first deflection after 30-35 cards, second game, first govern shows after 20 cards - and it really starts to freak me out, because it happens so often, that it is against all odds. And the feeling to go and hang myself returns after every player, who has 1 in 90 chance to draw silver bullet and he just does. Well, you should se me roll some dice during RPG session.
Enough ranting for today. I will be maybe writting something about finals later, but I will certainly publish another "Thoughts about cards" article soon.
See you next time....
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
2.2.2013: Open War - Ostrava - Tournament nearing
New year is here and I am trying once again to do something for V:tes scene in Czech Republic. Since I did not get Prince title only to brag about it on internet, I am organizing tournament once again. There are few things that I just have to get out of my mind and on paper.
1) Skills
Since the EC, my game skills pretty much went south. My game analysis is often off, performance lacking consistency and results are basically none. Not sure what the reasons are, but I will try to work on that. Maybe I am too serious and should concentrate more on having fun.
2) Judging
It looks like there are going to be more players than usual and some visitors and although I am pretty confident in my knowledge level of rules, I am still little shaky when restoring game to its rightfull state and rollbacks.
3) Deckbuilding
I have been pretty much stuck at 0 new decks and ideas from EC. I am finally getting some inspiration again and not the sort, when you start with Govern+Conditioning+Deflection combo and hope it will work somehow - it will, but that is almost not a deckbuilding anymore.
4) Decks
Although three previous problems are much more important and long term, this one is urgent - what the hell am I going to play? My friend has done this at his new blog - Thoughts Betrayed. I will follow his example and write down decks, that are viable, since it helped him with decision making - at least to some point. My options are:
a) Tremere politics v 1.00
Obvious choice. I have secured my only two TWDA entries with it and latest version of it seems very stable and tournament worthy. Still, I would like to perform well even with different decks. Although it seems that this one has ended as my staple deck. It is not likely, that I will play it, but stranger things have happened. (5%)
b) Gotsdam Wall
One mistake and less than five minutes away from winning tournament, I feel that I owe this deck second chance. Often stable as hell, but as all wall deck, slowish and kind of boring. Still I am kind of favor of this deck, becaus I just loooove Gotsdam:) (25%)
c) Al-Muntathir, God's Witness
Revised version of this deck. I am trying to balance it out for some time now, with very mixed results. I would rather play something more proactive in this tournament and I have at least some experience with this. (15%)
d) Serenna + Santa
Another one which is tempting, because it is very active and speedy deck. I have also played a lot of games with it. Still, I feel that this deck is not really tournament material. I have tried it even once in previous tournaments. I do not really see it happening though. (10%)
e) Count Germaine beatdown
Reconstructed after a long time with a few new twists, few old twists. I have not played real combat for some time and it shows. My perceptions are off and I am somewhat hesitant to proceed with sometimes needed backrushes. If I had more time, it would be pretty viable option. Now it is very risky, although I can see itt happening. (10%)
f) Edward Vignes Rip-off
Classic Vignes deck. Easy way out. Since I do no like playing archetypes, not really choice I would prefer. But it is pretty strong and I will consider it. (10%)
g) Scout and Friends
This deck is definitely forward going, but I am still unsure how I feel about it after EC. It performed pretty well, however it seems that I have problems with decision making in this one. Still, this seems like a good training and I should probably consider trying. (15%)
h) Something else
There are few more options, but I do not have any concrete candidate at this point. Still, I may change my mind and go through them. There are many decks, that I play from time to time, but they are not on my current list - such as Giovanni bleed or kyasid SB. (10%)
Looking on this list, that is quite a few options I have and there should be no trouble when choosing, but since lately my games are not going so well, there is more to it than usual. In the end, I will probably end up chosing the deck night before tournament and doing some minor changes to it as usual.
Well this post has ended up more as help for me to decide, than something useful for community. Still I prefer to put my thoughts on "paper" and see how it ends up. I will try to bring tournament report and hopefuly, there will be some pictures as well. I will try to continue with Thoughts about cards "series" as well.
See you next time...
1) Skills
Since the EC, my game skills pretty much went south. My game analysis is often off, performance lacking consistency and results are basically none. Not sure what the reasons are, but I will try to work on that. Maybe I am too serious and should concentrate more on having fun.
2) Judging
It looks like there are going to be more players than usual and some visitors and although I am pretty confident in my knowledge level of rules, I am still little shaky when restoring game to its rightfull state and rollbacks.
3) Deckbuilding
I have been pretty much stuck at 0 new decks and ideas from EC. I am finally getting some inspiration again and not the sort, when you start with Govern+Conditioning+Deflection combo and hope it will work somehow - it will, but that is almost not a deckbuilding anymore.
4) Decks
Although three previous problems are much more important and long term, this one is urgent - what the hell am I going to play? My friend has done this at his new blog - Thoughts Betrayed. I will follow his example and write down decks, that are viable, since it helped him with decision making - at least to some point. My options are:
a) Tremere politics v 1.00
Obvious choice. I have secured my only two TWDA entries with it and latest version of it seems very stable and tournament worthy. Still, I would like to perform well even with different decks. Although it seems that this one has ended as my staple deck. It is not likely, that I will play it, but stranger things have happened. (5%)
b) Gotsdam Wall
One mistake and less than five minutes away from winning tournament, I feel that I owe this deck second chance. Often stable as hell, but as all wall deck, slowish and kind of boring. Still I am kind of favor of this deck, becaus I just loooove Gotsdam:) (25%)
c) Al-Muntathir, God's Witness
Revised version of this deck. I am trying to balance it out for some time now, with very mixed results. I would rather play something more proactive in this tournament and I have at least some experience with this. (15%)
d) Serenna + Santa
Another one which is tempting, because it is very active and speedy deck. I have also played a lot of games with it. Still, I feel that this deck is not really tournament material. I have tried it even once in previous tournaments. I do not really see it happening though. (10%)
e) Count Germaine beatdown
Reconstructed after a long time with a few new twists, few old twists. I have not played real combat for some time and it shows. My perceptions are off and I am somewhat hesitant to proceed with sometimes needed backrushes. If I had more time, it would be pretty viable option. Now it is very risky, although I can see itt happening. (10%)
f) Edward Vignes Rip-off
Classic Vignes deck. Easy way out. Since I do no like playing archetypes, not really choice I would prefer. But it is pretty strong and I will consider it. (10%)
g) Scout and Friends
This deck is definitely forward going, but I am still unsure how I feel about it after EC. It performed pretty well, however it seems that I have problems with decision making in this one. Still, this seems like a good training and I should probably consider trying. (15%)
h) Something else
There are few more options, but I do not have any concrete candidate at this point. Still, I may change my mind and go through them. There are many decks, that I play from time to time, but they are not on my current list - such as Giovanni bleed or kyasid SB. (10%)
Looking on this list, that is quite a few options I have and there should be no trouble when choosing, but since lately my games are not going so well, there is more to it than usual. In the end, I will probably end up chosing the deck night before tournament and doing some minor changes to it as usual.
Well this post has ended up more as help for me to decide, than something useful for community. Still I prefer to put my thoughts on "paper" and see how it ends up. I will try to bring tournament report and hopefuly, there will be some pictures as well. I will try to continue with Thoughts about cards "series" as well.
See you next time...
Friday, January 18, 2013
Thoughts about cards - 1) Giant's Blood
I have currently two unfinished posts and huge writters block, so I will try to start a series of short posts with my thoughts of some cards. They should be short, simple and from my personal point of view. I hope I will be able to finish at least these.
I was usualy against including this card when it came to deckbuilding. My reasoning was, that this is very unreliable card - you cannot play lots of it, you will never have it when you need it and it will often end up as a dead card. I ended up with 0 coppies in all of my decks, including those, that would really used this card.
But yesterday, in a process of modifying one of my more retarded decks, I discovered, that I have ran out of them and I am using them more and more. I have started to think about, what has led to a such huge change in my deckbuilding.
Only thing I have came up is, that this is just another aftershock from introducing villein to the game. And yes I know, that it happened a long time ago, but since the ceaseproduction of this game, developments of new decks and strategies are slowing down and Villein has become permanent part of Vtes tournament scene. And if you are playing mid to high caps, why don't just throw one in. If you are able to villein same minion twice for almost all of his blood, it can be a gamechanger. And that is of course most extreme case.
When constructing deck, which has need for some blood gain these days, I just put Giant's there, because I just cannot let others benefit from this huge advantage. I have few deck, where I can benefit a lot from playing this card, but on the other hand, there are decks, that will just benefit more. I often end up playing it early for not much benefit, but just denying playing others is often enough. This has led me to adding this card to more and more decks and this trend will probably last.
In the end, I really do not like this card. Its effect on each game is much more based on luck, than it should be. I would be satisfied with changing "Only one Giant's Blood can be played in a game." to "Each player can play only one Giant's Blood in a game." or even ban this card altogether.
I know there are lot of people, that they are satisfied with the way it is, and I am not surprised. To issue errata or ban cards in dead game is further complicating things, but with this card, I belive that is just not right to let a card, that has this much luck/strength potential in the game.
Once again, this post is a lot longer, than intended from start and I will end it here. I will be back with some more cards soon an probably some other topics.
See you next time...
I was usualy against including this card when it came to deckbuilding. My reasoning was, that this is very unreliable card - you cannot play lots of it, you will never have it when you need it and it will often end up as a dead card. I ended up with 0 coppies in all of my decks, including those, that would really used this card.
But yesterday, in a process of modifying one of my more retarded decks, I discovered, that I have ran out of them and I am using them more and more. I have started to think about, what has led to a such huge change in my deckbuilding.
Only thing I have came up is, that this is just another aftershock from introducing villein to the game. And yes I know, that it happened a long time ago, but since the ceaseproduction of this game, developments of new decks and strategies are slowing down and Villein has become permanent part of Vtes tournament scene. And if you are playing mid to high caps, why don't just throw one in. If you are able to villein same minion twice for almost all of his blood, it can be a gamechanger. And that is of course most extreme case.
When constructing deck, which has need for some blood gain these days, I just put Giant's there, because I just cannot let others benefit from this huge advantage. I have few deck, where I can benefit a lot from playing this card, but on the other hand, there are decks, that will just benefit more. I often end up playing it early for not much benefit, but just denying playing others is often enough. This has led me to adding this card to more and more decks and this trend will probably last.
In the end, I really do not like this card. Its effect on each game is much more based on luck, than it should be. I would be satisfied with changing "Only one Giant's Blood can be played in a game." to "Each player can play only one Giant's Blood in a game." or even ban this card altogether.
I know there are lot of people, that they are satisfied with the way it is, and I am not surprised. To issue errata or ban cards in dead game is further complicating things, but with this card, I belive that is just not right to let a card, that has this much luck/strength potential in the game.
Once again, this post is a lot longer, than intended from start and I will end it here. I will be back with some more cards soon an probably some other topics.
See you next time...
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Back from the EC report 4/4 - Everything else
I realy wanted to write extensive report with everything else, that was going on when we were attending EC, but I realized, that I have stretched this report already into four parts and well who has been there, already knows and who has not... well the details just will not be so important. So lets do this:
1) Hotel - I realy liked the place. From the first time I entered lobby with man in tuxedo playing piano, I knew I will buy myself beer and have a moment sitting there and listening to him (which i did). I enjoyed the stay alot and although the staff might not be always in understanding of such convention such as EC, I think it was pretty cost/effective stay and had great premises for this tournament.
2) Organizers - Willing. Helpful. Competent. Wow. What else could you wish for?
3) Oganization - I must say, that it was near perfect. Minimum delays because first rounds were not starting as early as usual. More time to find food and eat without rush. This all resolved in much less delays than last year, but finals were ending soooo late. Well, you cannot have everything. But this setting was much more comfortable for me. More time to sleep off hangovers and eating in peace works for me really good.
4) English - last year I had few situations on the table, where not everyone was able to properly understand basic table talk and those who had most problems actually chose decks, that relied heavily on table talk. This year it was much better. Even more. I have met so many people, that left me speechless. I am not a beginner, but wow, there were so many guys, that were speaking so briliantly, that I was actually ashamed of my english.
5) Funny games - Compared to last year, there were a lot more of people, which were joking around, willing to have some fun during a game even on Day 2. Maybe I was lucky this year, but wow, even when the games were pretty serious until the absolute end of time limit, they were enjoyable and I was very pleased with that.
6) Tournament support - I just loved the T-shirts, mugs and all the other stuff, that you could get there. And of course it was cool that people at LCQ received Lilith's Blessing, because this card is just getting anoying to purchase for a lot of people and it just should not. Playing Nations Cup, I did not receive one, but you can't have it all:)
----------------------------------------------------------
7) Archon randomization - I have ranted about this for some time now, but at the EC, this "program" showed its worst. Day one I was at five player table, when there were 3 czech players and met a czech player at second and third table as well. (there were 12 czech players at day1) And those czech players also met on other tables, since Archon splits players into little subgroups and rotates players within them. Personaly, I am fed up with that and I hope with my friend we will devise something better, while still retaining basic rules for player seating.
The last one is probably only thing, that I did not like. I know, that this is not fault of organizers, but after all that great stuff, it bugged me a lot.
For some time now, I did not have enough time to write longer posts and I have been doing them in stretched periodsm oart after part and I think I am now somewhat lacking consistency between and sometimes even within them. I will try to shorten my posts and fill them with more concetrated content.
So one last shoutout - to orgaizers, for doing great job with this event, to winners for proving, that they are very good players, to everyone who attended, because without you, this game would not be as great as it is. I hope we all will meet next year in Stockholm.
See you next time...
1) Hotel - I realy liked the place. From the first time I entered lobby with man in tuxedo playing piano, I knew I will buy myself beer and have a moment sitting there and listening to him (which i did). I enjoyed the stay alot and although the staff might not be always in understanding of such convention such as EC, I think it was pretty cost/effective stay and had great premises for this tournament.
2) Organizers - Willing. Helpful. Competent. Wow. What else could you wish for?
3) Oganization - I must say, that it was near perfect. Minimum delays because first rounds were not starting as early as usual. More time to find food and eat without rush. This all resolved in much less delays than last year, but finals were ending soooo late. Well, you cannot have everything. But this setting was much more comfortable for me. More time to sleep off hangovers and eating in peace works for me really good.
4) English - last year I had few situations on the table, where not everyone was able to properly understand basic table talk and those who had most problems actually chose decks, that relied heavily on table talk. This year it was much better. Even more. I have met so many people, that left me speechless. I am not a beginner, but wow, there were so many guys, that were speaking so briliantly, that I was actually ashamed of my english.
5) Funny games - Compared to last year, there were a lot more of people, which were joking around, willing to have some fun during a game even on Day 2. Maybe I was lucky this year, but wow, even when the games were pretty serious until the absolute end of time limit, they were enjoyable and I was very pleased with that.
6) Tournament support - I just loved the T-shirts, mugs and all the other stuff, that you could get there. And of course it was cool that people at LCQ received Lilith's Blessing, because this card is just getting anoying to purchase for a lot of people and it just should not. Playing Nations Cup, I did not receive one, but you can't have it all:)
----------------------------------------------------------
7) Archon randomization - I have ranted about this for some time now, but at the EC, this "program" showed its worst. Day one I was at five player table, when there were 3 czech players and met a czech player at second and third table as well. (there were 12 czech players at day1) And those czech players also met on other tables, since Archon splits players into little subgroups and rotates players within them. Personaly, I am fed up with that and I hope with my friend we will devise something better, while still retaining basic rules for player seating.
The last one is probably only thing, that I did not like. I know, that this is not fault of organizers, but after all that great stuff, it bugged me a lot.
For some time now, I did not have enough time to write longer posts and I have been doing them in stretched periodsm oart after part and I think I am now somewhat lacking consistency between and sometimes even within them. I will try to shorten my posts and fill them with more concetrated content.
So one last shoutout - to orgaizers, for doing great job with this event, to winners for proving, that they are very good players, to everyone who attended, because without you, this game would not be as great as it is. I hope we all will meet next year in Stockholm.
See you next time...
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