Midcap Play

For the longest time, the deck type I've most often played were weenie decks. Weenie, of course, means the crypt contains vampires of capacity 4 or less. I've always appreciated the speed with which the decks operated; getting 2-3 vampires ahead of your prey and predator means that, if I'm lucky, I can do some damage before my opponents are up and runni,ng.

However, there is a downside to playing weenies. Unless they were incredibly unlucky, veteran players would remain unfazed by sheer numbers, and had contingencies to deal with them. Usually, this meant some means of unlocking the vampires, whether by waking cards such as Forced Awakening or On the Qui Vive, or unlocking after combat, provided by such cards as Majesty and Earth Meld.

 Also, since vets tended to play with larger vampires, there was, more often than not, a wider range of options that they had at hand. In my case, I would have to hope that my combat cards were enough to either do damage or get away from the bigger minion. However, such was not always the case, and I often wound up with a field of torpored minions.

With new cards coming into play, and new decks becoming available, I've taken another look at my single Discipline decks, and have decided to use vamps that had the superior version of the Discipline. Generally speaking, this meant that I would be using vampires with capacities from 4-5, which would slow down getting minions out, but not by much. It would still be relatively faster than using the big vamps, which would allow me to set up more quickly, and do some damage before I get blocked.

Having vamps with the superior Discipline meant that I wouldn't have to pack Discipline Masters in my deck, which was the case with the weenie deck. This would streamline my deck designs by a little bit; normally, I packed 2-3 Discipline Master cards in the weenie decks. It also meant that I would have the full range provided by the superior Discipline. For example, this meant that I could bounce bleeds using Telepathic Misdirection, instead of using just +1 intercept.

So far, I've built the following single Discipline midcap decks (deck lists to be posted soon):

• Obfuscate (OBF, group 4-5) - Using a combo of Night Moves and Spying Mission, the deck has done relatively well so far;
• Presence (PRE, group 3-4) - This is a vote and bleed deck. It's still experimental, but getting a number of Princes made the voting more difficult to counter;
• Celerity (CEL, group 2-3) - This is my version of the Celerity gun deck, but it had difficulty getting going in the one game I played it. It still needs a little tweaking.  
• Auspex (AUS, group 2-3) - Bounce the bleed, and defend the Jack. That's pretty much it.

Of course, the fact that the decks rely on one Discipline means that I have to move fairly quickly, because going up against larger vamps is still a challenge. It also means that the decks are limited by what the discipline can do. For example, the OBF deck is primarily a stealth deck, with little intercept to protect myself from my predator.

At any rate, how the deck will do will depend on who is at the table, and what deck each player has brought. This means that the deck will do well at times, and crash and burn on other occasions. In my case, hopefully, the extra speed provided by the smaller vampires will make winning easier.

Resource Management

Well, rising from torpor apparently takes some time. Even my enthusiasm for V:TES cannot stop necessary things such as work and home priorities from existing. While I'd like to write more regularly than I'd like, realities doesn't make it possible, so, for now, I will be posting on Saturdays, once a week. However, if time permits, I may write more than one post on any particular Saturday, so do visit regularly.

The blog is a bit of a mess at the moment, but, with the summer vacations coming up, I'm hoping to get up to speed, and update, and maybe upgrade. As I mentioned in my previous post, now is an exciting time to be playing, so I'd like to be able to get into the thick of things. For now, though, the blog will have to stay the way it is; I may tweak it here and there, but the general look will stay the same.

With so many expansions, and no dialing out of sets a la Magic: the Gathering, there are so many cards to play with. Based on the Fragment of Elder Library Deck Builder app, there are 1519 crypt cards and 2212 library cards, which can make for a staggering array of decks one may build.

Fortunately, there are a number of apps, and resource sites, which can aid you in finding your way around the game. Below are some of the more useful ones I've found:

SITES

Vampire Elder Kindred Network (VEKN) - The home of the game's governing body, VEKN is the main resource site for players. Aside from the online rulebook, along with accompanying rulings and such, it also lists tournament schedules and new product announcements.

VTES One - One of the enduring sites. Combining news, deck tips, and commentaries, the site is an excellent resource for players.

VTES Information Network - I actually just discovered this site as of this writing. At initial glance, it contains articles on deckbuilding, as well as deck lists and commentaries on the game.


APPS

Fragment of Elder Library Deck Builder (FELDB) - This seems to be the key PC/laptop app, although I'm not too keen on its layout. Still, if you want to manage your collection, do research on cards, or build decks and save the decklists, this is a pretty handy application. (Download here.)

Anarch Revolt Deck Builder (ARDB) - This is my personal favorite app. It does pretty much the same functions as FELDB, but I like the UI better. My only complaint is, for some reason, there's a glitch that doesn't display sect when I'm searching for cards. It also isn't currently updated for the new Sabbat preconstructed decks, so that's a bummer. (Download here, although only updated to the Danse Macabre set. I think it's possible to update the database once the app is downloaded.)

Amaranth - Amaranth is an online site, and an Android app (download link is on the site). What distinguishes it from the other apps is that it contains decklists for sample decks one can use as demo decks for new players. One of my co-players actually printed out all of the decks, sleeved them with VTES cards, and has them ready for demonstration play. My co-teacher was one of the beneficiaries of these demo decks; he currently has the Euro Brujah demo.

This is just a sampling of what's out there. There are even apps which allow for online play, such as Jyhad Online (JOL) and Lackey CCG, but I have extremely limited experience with either. Perhaps, time permitting, I'll try them out and write about them in the future.

Hopefully, this list will be of help for those who are getting back into play, or those who are looking for ways to streamline their deckbuilding.