The Osebo in the 2025 Nationals

Earlier this month, I wrote about the inclusion of the Laibon in the game, and of how niche it is to play a Laibon deck in official games. Still, that hasn't deterred me from trying, and in last year's Philippine Nationals, I tried out an Osebo deck that unfortunately, didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to.

The Osebo are the African equivalent of the Brujah, but instead of Presence as one of their clan Disciplines, they have Auspex. This means that in theory, the Osebo should be good in blocking, and with Celerity and Potence, they should be able to fight effectively. Since I enjoy playing with wall decks, I thought I'd try out an Osebo wall deck, and focus on using guns as the combat machine. 

Admittedly, using an experimental deck in a tournament such as the Nationals is always a risky venture, but there are times when I don't want to play safe and I would to see what happens when I try a rather janky deck in a tournament. 

The main vampire in the deck is the 6-cap Homa, who has all of the clan Disciplines at superior. I had Massassi in the crypt, but I was torn on whether to include her, since in today's meta, any vampire with a capacity greater than 8 can be hard to bring out. Still she had all clan Disciplines at superior, and her built-in rush action is always a plus in a combat deck. Abiku and Titi Camara had superior Auspex which I rely on more than Celerity, so I chose them to support the first two minions. 

The main mechanism of the deck was the 419 Operation, which is stackable and places pressure on the prey, as it moves one pool from the prey to the card, which can then be transferred to my pool. Since the Operation can only be burned by burning the Edge, the prey will be compelled to move forward in order to gain the Edge. 

Blocking would primarily be against bleeds, and for fighting, I used Concealed Weapons and guns. Just to see if it would work, I also put in Saturday Night Specials with Dragon's Breath Rounds for the extra danger of aggravated damage; I also put in some Rötschreck for insta-torpor. 

With janky decks, I just have to hope that I tuned the deck correctly, and the right cards would come out for me to work the table properly. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

The 419 Operation is a +1 stealth action, but that's all the stealth that the action has. The Osebo have little means of generating stealth, and so the Operation was consistently blocked, and wasn't really a factor in the games I played in the Nationals. 

Combat was a little more effective, since the guns came out consistently, and I was able to do some damage, just not enough to be a factor.

Hindsight being what it is, I probably should have not relied too much on the 419 Operation, and perhaps used other means to put pressure on my prey. The same goes for the Saturday Nights and Rounds, since there will always be situations where I won't have the necessary cards in hand. I probably would have been better off using all .44 Magnums with Pursuit and Target Vitals to cause damage. 

The experience at the Nationals hasn't put me off using the Osebo; instead, it's motivated me to see what I can do to make the deck better. Perhaps I'll be able to put together a more dangerous Osebo deck in the future. 

The deck list:

Deck Name: Osebo with Guns (Philippine Nat'l)
Author: Eric Tomas

Crypt (12 cards, min=19 max=30 avg=6.08)
========================================
2x Massassi        9 AUS CEL POT QUI obf      Osebo:4
4x Homa            6 AUS CEL POT                     Osebo:4
2x Abiku            6 AUS POT cel obt                 Osebo:4
3x Titi Camara   5 AUS CEL pot                      Osebo:5
1x Ismitta           4 aus cel pot                            Osebo:4

Library (90 cards)
==================
Master (16; 4 trifle)
----------------------
1x Archon Investigation
1x Base Hunting Ground
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
1x KRCG News Radio
1x Mbare Market, Harare
1x Millicent Smith, Puritan Vampire Hunter
2x Rötschreck
2x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
4x Vessel
1x WMRH Talk Radio

Action (10)
------------
8x 419 Operation
2x Legend of the Leopard

Ally (2)
---------
2x Procurer

Equipment (7)
--------------
3x .44 Magnum
1x Bowl of Convergence
3x Saturday-Night Special

Retainer (1)
-------------
1x Shaman

Reaction (26)
--------------
2x Eagle's Sight
7x Eyes of Argus
1x Forced Awakening
2x My Enemy's Enemy
6x On the Qui Vive
8x Telepathic Misdirection

Combat (28)
------------
6x Concealed Weapon
3x Dragon's Breath Rounds
5x Psyche!
8x Pursuit
6x Taste of Vitae
 

 

A Belated ACC 2025 Account

Today, veteran players from Metro Manila are descending upon Calamba, Laguna, to participate in a local tournament, Pangil sa Pangil. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend due to stuff needed to do in the house, so I will try to catch up on V:TES stuff.

Last year, the Philippines hosted the Asian Continental Championships (ACC), and it was held in Whimsy Cafe last September 6, 2025. About 40 players, with three coming from Japan and one from Taiwan, participated, making it one of the largest numbers of players in the region. After three rounds and a finals table, local player Micon Garcia won it using a weenie-Computer Hacking deck, which basically blazed its way through to the finals.  

As luck would have it, there were a number of similarities between Micon's deck and the deck I used in the ACC, as both of us relied on weenies and Computer Hacking. However, in my case, I opted for a little more combat flavor, as well as a slight sprinkling of Dominate. 

I focused on using group 2-3 vampires with a capacity of 1-2. To bring them out, I had cards such as Effective Management, Powerbase Montreal and Information Highway to facilitate their coming into play. 

For the pool management, I included Tribute to the Master and Autarkis Persecution; the latter would always be a gamble, since I didn't have votes to push it, and instead relied on the need of the players' on the table for pool. 

For the forward movement, I added an Anarch aspect, with Anarch Revolt and Constant Revolution available to put some pressure on players. I also added Antedeluvian Awakening for the same purpose. Naturally, Computer Hackings were readily available, with some Camera Phones for the extra bleed push.  

Since I had a number of vampires with basic dominate, I also included some Deflections just in case an opportunity came to bounce a bleed. 

Of course, I added a combat module consisting of .44 Magnums and Wooden Stakes, with Concealed Weapons, Fake Outs and Lucky Blow all included to put some hurt, as well as the occasional torpor of an opposing vampire.  

When I look at the deck list, I realize what a toolboxy deck it was. It had some bleed, and some combat, and relied on sheer numbers to overwhelm the opposition. While it wasn't as single-minded as Micon's deck, which I believe focused solely on bleeding opponents out, the Ewoks deck was fun to play. (decklist below) 

The deck worked relatively well, especially when opposing players were not ready to deal with so many minions in play. I was fortunate that I didn't encounter Aranthebes, the Immortal, which would nerf the bleed of my minions, or had to face a referendum of Ancilla Empowerment/Anarchist Uprising, which would have knocked me out. In the end, I had a GW, and around 7-9 VPs, which landed me in 9th place. Not enough to make it to the finals, but respectable.

All in all, last year's ACC was fun, as I got to play against a lot of different players, which made me think hard and plan ahead on how to best use my deck. This year, the ACC will be in Japan, so I will likely participate in the local CACC (Cannot ACC) tournament. 

The ACC 2025 field. Image from the Philippine VTES Community feed. 

Deck Name: The Ewoks 1.1
Author: greyet

Crypt (22 cards, min=4 max=8 avg=1.73)
======================================
1x Almiro Suarez                     2 aus          Tre:3
1x Arnold Simpson                    2 pot          Bru:3
1x Boy Toy                           2 dem          !Mal:2
1x Carter                            2 cel          !Tor:2
1x Christine Boscacci                2 dom vic      Pan:2
1x Doris McMillon                    2 val          !Sal: 2
1x Jesús Alcalá                      2 cel          !Gan: 3
1x Kanya Akhtar                      2 cel          BanH:2
1x Krid                              2 obf          Nos:3
1x Marciana Giovanni, Investigator   2 dom          Gio:2
1x Mustafa Rahman                    2 dom          Tre:2
1x New Blood                         2 san          BBro:ANY
1x Ohanna                            2 dom          Mal:2
1x Samson                            2 dom          !Ven:2
1x Sasha Miklos                      2 chi          Rav:2
1x Zip                               2 ani          Rav:3
2x Anarch Convert                    1              Cai:ANY
1x Huang, Blood Cultist              1 pro          Pan:2
1x March Halcyon                     1 for          Pan:2
1x Royce                             1 dom          Pan:2
1x Sandra White                      1              Cai:3

Library (90 cards)
==================
Master (27)
------------
6x Anarch Revolt
1x Antediluvian Awakening
1x Archon Investigation
6x Effective Management
2x Information Highway
1x KRCG News Radio
2x Parthenon, The
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Seattle Committee
4x Tribute to the Master
2x Twilight Camp

Action (14)
------------
12x Computer Hacking
2x Constant Revolution

Political Action (4)
---------------------
4x Autarkis Persecution

Equipment (14)
---------------
5x .44 Magnum
4x Camera Phone
5x Wooden Stake

Reaction (6)
-------------
4x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics

Combat (25)
------------
10x Concealed Weapon
5x Fake Out
8x Lucky Blow
2x Target Vitals

 

 

Rising Out of Torpor 2026

I didn't realize it's been almost three years since my last post. So much has happened in the game since then. 

V5 Expanded

When the 5th edition of the role-playing game (RPG), also known as V5, Black Chantry Productions (BCP), which publishes the card game made major changes to the cards. In particular, BCP tried to streamline the game to make it easier for new players to jump in. 

In doing this, clans such as the Ravnos, Tzimisce, Lasombra, the Followers of Set (now known as the Ministry), the Assamites (now known as the Banu Haqim) and the Salubri had their unique Disciplines (Chimerstry, Vicissitude, et al) removed and replaced with the more standard Disciplines (Click here for the summary of changes.). To keep the unique flavor of the affected clans, clan-specific Discipline cards, such as the Hunger of Marduk (specific to the Banu Haqim) were introduced. 

At the same time, the number of the clans' default sects were changed, with the introduction of more Anarchs. The Ravnos, the Tzimisce, and the Ministry all joined with the Brujah and Gangrel, while the Lasombra and the Banu Haqim joined the Camarilla, although a number of the Lasombra remain independent. Also, along with the Pander, the Caitiff are now considered a unique clan. 

Meanwhile, for the Lasombra and the Giovanni, along with those clans and bloodlines using Necromancy, a new Discipline, called Oblivion, was introduced. This replaces Obtenebration and Necromancy, and retains the flavor of both Disciplines. In addition, the Giovanni, along with related bloodlines such as the Nagaraja, the Samedi, and the Harbingers of Skulls, were reorganized under a new clan called the Hecata. 

One sect, though, remained undeveloped until recently. In V5, the Sabbat are largely absent, being involved in the Gehenna War that is ongoing in the Middle East. Recently, BCP released new Sabbat starter decks, and introduced a new mechanic, the Paths, which, in the game, are alternate moral guidelines to illustrate the inhumanity of the Sabbat vampires. So far, four Paths have been introduced: Caine, Cathari, Death and the Soul, and the Power and Inner Voice. Each Path has a specific focus; for example, the vampires of the Path of Caine are combat oriented. 

The Path decks also introduce two-way cards, wherein a vampire can use the card if it possesses either Discipline on the card. This is because the Path crypts are made up of vampires from different clans; the antitribu label will no longer be used in V5. However, one can still use antitribu decks alongside the Path, as a vampire can burn a blood during the influence phase in order to follow a Path. Given the potency of some of the Path cards, this is a welcome mechanism for those who are loath to give up their antitribu decks.  

BCP has released two types of sets for each of the clans: a starter deck, and a New Blood set that helps expand the starter; the Sabbat will receive its New Blood sets in the future. The starter decks, though, are playable right out of the box, so new players can jump right into a game with a minimum of expense.  

The release of new decks and cards has reinvigorated the local scene, with several play areas emerging from the darkness. From Laguna to Metro Manila to Iloilo, the game has proliferated and come alive. 

The Tournament Scene

With the release of V5, along with the end of the pandemic, the local tournament scene is lively and vibrant, with several set tournaments happening every month or year. 

For example,

V5 only - Introduced by the play group in Hobbies and Sheets Play Center in Makati, this is a monthly tournament wherein players bring decks composed of V5-legal cards only. This makes it easier for new players to get into the tournament scene as they don't need to know the long legacy of the card game in order to do well. I haven't played in these tournaments because my own knowledge of V5 is still a little shaky; I haven't played many V5-type decks, and I'm not sure if I can play cards from older sets that are V5-legal, for one. 

Basagan ng Bungo (BnB) - formerly known as the King of Combat tournament, the tournament is a celebration of the birthday of the Prince of Quezon City, Richard Barnett, the King of Combat. In addition to the regular victory conditions, BnB includes a new mechanism: players get points for torporing and burning vampire and minions. The player with the most kill points at the end of the bloodbath is crowned the King of Combat.

Philippine Nationals - This is the annual national tournament, where players from all over the country compete for the national crown. This year's national was held in June, but I was unable to attend because of personal reasons. This year, Dr. Roy Caamud won the national title with his Anarch Barons deck.  

Cannot ACC (CACC) - Another innovation by Prince Barnett, the CACC is organized for those players who are unable to go abroad to compete in the Asian Continental Championship (ACC). Last year, there was no CACC, because the Philippines was the host of the ACC, so a lot of local players managed to compete. This year, the ACC will be held in Tokyo, so there will definitely be a CACC this year. 

And that should cover the last three years in a nutshell. Moving forward, I hope to write a regular post at least twice a month; my desired schedule would be once a week. 

Also, please note that I am not an expert in the game, only an enthusiast, so if I post deck concepts and other musings here that aren't quite kosher, let me know so I can correct myself and improve. 

Here's to the game that I have enjoyed and loved for more than two decades. Let the bleeding begin once more. :D 

 

 

 

 

Methuselahs Rising: Barnett's Birthday Basagan ng Bungo (tournament)

 

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (V:TES) players once more converged at 89 Panay for two purposes: one was to celebrate the birthday of veteran V:TES player Richard "Carding" Barnett, and to participate in the first official post-pandemic V:TES tournament. A total of 17 players came together for a day of V:TES.   

While the tournament was an officially sanctioned tournament, there was an additional mechanic added, in honor of Carding's love for combat decks. Thus, points would be awarded for torporing or burning minions, with the one garnering the most point being named the King of Combat. Hence, the tournament was named "Barnett's Basagan ng Bungo" (Barnett's Skull Smashing), as it was likely that there would be a lot of downed or burned minions at the end of it.

In an official V:TES tournament, the players may use only one deck throughout, with no sideboarding or revising of the deck. Players get a victory point (VP) for ousting their prey, and a game win (GW) for getting the most VPs in a round. There are other ways of gaining VPs, but these are the basics (since this is my regular blog, I won't bore you with the gory details. If you wish, you can visit my V:TES blog for those.).

For this tournament, I decided to use my City Gangrel deck, which focuses on stealth and aggravated damage to get things done. Given the likely combat-heavy metagame, I felt that this strategy would help me gain both VPs and kills. In addition, the City Gangrel have the card Gangrel Conspiracy, which protects the minion from the blood hunt that results from diablerie, that action of burning a vampire in torpor (knocked out; once more, I'll try to keep this relatively understandable). 

I eschewed using a Fortitude-based deck, which would have provided more protection against combat decks, but needed a lot of cards to really get going. I have a number of decks that use FOR, but I wasn't too confident of their current builds, as they relied on the bigger vamps, which could take time for me to set up. With the relative smaller sizes of the City Gangrel, I felt that they would be able to get out and do damage more quickly. 

In the first round, I got stymied by my prey, as Paul Tio, who eventually took our first round table, had built a relatively standard Gangrel deck out of the newer 5th edition starter deck and the accompanying New Blood pack .The Gangrel do have FOR built in, which meant Paul's minions could shrug off my City Gangrel's damage. I couldn't get through, and the Gangrel blazed through the table to give Paul the table win.

In the second round, it seemed like the same, as my prey, Faust, had brought out the Gangrel antitribu Enkidu, the Noah, one of the biggest combat monsters ever. However, since the Noah only had basic FOR, Faust had to rely on using the damage prevention provided by the Noah's main Discipline, Protean (PRO), and found himself immediately torpored, courtesy of his prey Jason's use of the Ivory Bow . Enkidu was then destroyed by one of Jason's Nephandi, which pretty much crippled Faust for the rest of the round. 

On my side of the table, my predator, Haig, had brought out his ever-reliable Potence (POT) weenies, which hit for a lot. However, since Haig's deck was completely focused on bashing the heck out of his opponent's minions, there was no damage prevention, which allowed my City Gangrel to send a number of his minions into torpor, and burn them via diablerie. 

Jason's deck appeared to be a mix of the Rise of the Nephandi starter deck and the Fall of London set, and he had brought out a number of allies, which made it difficult to get through. Eventually, however, after I had ousted Faust, I simply concentrated on using stealth to get my bleeds through, instead of trying to destroy Jason's minions. Unfortunately for me, it left me with only Ellen Fence, my main vampire standing, which allowed Haig to oust me as the round time was running out. That gave both me and Haig 2 VPs.

I was not able to stay for the finals table, but it was interesting for the fact that one of the finalists, Mara Narciso, using a Nosferatu combat deck made it to her first Finals table, courtesy of her first table win ever. The tournament organizer Joscar Malacaman, won the tournament using a Banu Haqim deck that apparently relied on stealing blood from opposing minions and Anathema, a vote card that caused a target vampire to burn once they were out of blood. Haig, predictably, had the most kills in the tournament, and retained his title of King of Combat.

All in all, it was a fun day, as there were games galore, both official and friendly, and of course, the delicious food provided by 89 Panay. While I didn't make it to the Finals, I did have fun with the City Gangrel deck, which probably means I'll be tweaking it for future use. 

First round action. Image courtesy of Richard Barnett

Musings on Stealh Bleed

The Asian Continental Championship (ACC) ended with the Philippines' Johann Ong winning his second ACC title by using a stealth bleed deck (deck list below).

Stealth bleed has been a key strategy ever since V:TES was created, since bleeding is the main way to oust one's prey. Generally speaking, the concept uses Disciplines which naturally provide bleed modifiers, such as Dominate (DOM), Presence (PRE), or Dementation (DEM), and these (sometimes) huge bleeds get through because of either stealth, of which Obfuscate (OBF) is the main Discipline, or block failure, using either DOM or Necromancy (NEC). However, as pointed out to me by a co-player, the latter method of getting bleeds through, by preventing blocks, is classified as power bleeding, which I will (probably; hopefully?) tackle in another post.  Between the two strategies, though, I've seen more stealth bleed decks, since the number of vampires with NEC is more limited.

Having a stealth bleeder as one's predator, in a word, sucks. A well-thought out stealth bleed deck will generally set up quickly, by getting small to midcap vampires out and putting them to work, e.g. bleed. During the 2011 ACC, I had the good luck to make it to the finals table, but had the bad luck to be on the receiving end of a stealth bleeder. The only reason I wasn't ousted was that my prey and grand prey decided to gang up on the stealth bleed deck, after which it became easy for its predator to oust him, and me.

The most common archetypes of the stealth bleed deck are the Malkavian '94 and the Kindred Spirits decks; in the recent ACC, Johann used the Kindred Spirits to win. Both deck archetypes are solid and efficient, and are often the entry-type deck for new players, since the decks are relatively simple to master.

That being said, I don't really have much experience with playing stealth bleed decks, since our local metagame (heavy combat) is inimical to it. Generally speaking, once a deck is identified as a stealth bleeder, players will ignore the predator-prey mechanic, and focus on beating the crap out of the stealth bleeder, since it's an obvious table threat.

One of the weaknesses of the deck concept is its single-mindedness on bleeding; oftentimes, there will be no space for combat defense. At the same time, when one has the entire table going after him/her, resource management becomes well nigh impossible. 

Aside from the table ganging up on the deck, other defenses against the stealth bleeder is to bounce the bleed via either DOM, with Deflections, or Auspex (AUS), with Telepathic Misdirections. Of course, a combat deck, whether pro-active (rush cards) or reactive (block and fight), will have a good chance of taking out the stealth bleeder's minions, although it will still depend on where one sits in relation to the stealth bleeder. A stealth bleed deck will go to town if there is a lack of any of these defense strategies. 

Below is Johann's winning deck list. As mentioned above, it's a Kindred Spirits-based deck, which relies solely on DEM. Based on a winning deck by Everton Biell, Johann tweaked it, and reduced it to a 75-card deck. Relying on small and midcap vampires, the deck looks like it will move swiftly, and, unless someone on the table acts against it aggressively, it will probably sweep a good number of tables.




Deck Name:   Johann's 2019 ACC DEM Bleeder
Created By: Johann Ong 

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 6, Max: 18, Avg: 3)
------------------------------------------
  1  Apache Jones                       aus for obf DEM          5  Malkavian Antitribu        G4 
  1  Persia                                        aus obf DEM           5  Malkavian                       G3 
  1  Uncle George                       aus dom obf DEM       5  Malkavian Antitribu        G3 
  2  Jackie                                                       DEM        3  Malkavian Antitribu        G4 
  1  Marta                                                  aus dem         3  Malkavian Antitribu        G4 
  2  Midget                                        obf pre DEM         3  Malkavian Antitribu        G3 
  2  Cassandra Langely                                 dem            2  Malkavian                       G4 
  2  Eddie Gaines                                     dem pot            1  Caitiff                             G3 

Library: (75 cards)
-------------------
Master (13 cards)
  1  Archon Investigation
  4  Dementation
  2  Effective Management
  4  Misdirection
  1  Pentex(TM) Subversion
  1  Sudden Reversal

Action (21 cards)
  21 Kindred Spirits

Action Modifier (29 cards)
  12 Confusion
  11 Eyes of Chaos
  6  Mind Tricks

Combat (1 cards)
  1  Coma

Ally (1 cards)
  1  Ossian

Combo (10 cards)
  10 Deny


  

My ACC 2014 Report

Methuselahs from Manila, Japan, and Taiwan escaped the fury of rains brought on by typhoon "Mario", and descended on Iloilo last weekend for the 2014 Asian Continental VtES Championship (ACC). Held at the Iloilo Midtown Hotel, the ACC brought together 22 players to vie for the championship title.

I was afraid I was going to miss it, since my family's flight the day before was cancelled due to the storm. We were able to re-book an early morning flight, and we arrived in Iloilo at close to seven in the morning on the day of the tournament. After a quick refresher at my wife's family home, I was on my way to the hotel, and the ACC.

The ACC had three rounds and a final. Here are my recollections about the three tables I was on. I left the first two tables after being ousted, so I'm not too sure of the final results in each of them.

1st Round

Me (Auspex Weenies) -bleeding- Ferdie Paredes (Malgorzata) -bleeding- Hidetoshi Hayakawa (Stanlislava) -bleeding- Taka'aki Ayukata (Al-Muntaquim) -bleeding- Aurelio Icasiano (Lasombra)

While I was able to bring out about four vamps, including Michael Luther, it was, as Aurelio observed, a rather strange table. One of the early highlights was Al-Muntaquim torporing Moncada. Then, Taki sent in Nedal the Careless to diablerize Moncada; Nedal immediately burned afterwards, with both Hayakawa and Aurelio throwing out vote cards to make it happen. Aurelio then brought out Polonia to compensate, but, with Stanislava out, he found it difficult to maneuver politically. Taki was the first one out, courtesy of a big bleed by Hayakawa. I followed soon after, as I lacked the intercept to block a 3-stealth KRC from Aurelio; I realized too late that Eyes of Argus is only used for (D) actions.

2nd Round

Me - Raf (stealth bleeder) - Don (Imbued) - Johann (Gerald Windham toolbox)

I had gotten an Anarch Revolt out, which was bad news for Don, whose Imbued could not neither go anarch to escape the pings nor could they call off the revolt, since they were not vampires. Hammered by Raf's big bleeds and pinged by the Revolt, Don was quickly off the table. Johann, who, as he has pointed out, did not bleed me at all, took me out by bouncing all of Raf's bleeds to me. My intercept was not coming out as consistently as I liked, and I soon followed Don off the table. Looking at the results, I guess Johann eventually managed to oust Raf for the table win.

3rd Round

Me - Ace (!Ventrue grinder) - Zandro (!Gangrel) - Haig (potence weenie with Beast and Theo)

It was a lucky thing for me Haig decided to pound on Zandro, since that left me to set up. Zandro was caught in a hammer-and-anvil of Ace's bleeds and Haig's pounding, and was soon off the table. Ace then manged to oust Haig, although the effort left Ace's minions either low on blood or torpored. By then, my minions were armed and ready. While Ace blocked, I was able to maneuver and shoot, sending his minions into torpor. I managed to be the last man standing, and gained two victory points.

The finals table was a veterans' table, with only Ace as the new player. The other players were Johann, Charlie, Faust, and Carding, who had just come out of torpor this year. I had to leave after playing one more friendly game (although I learned that it is not proper form to play From a Sinking Ship), and learned over the social media that Carding, using a classic EuroBrujah deck, had managed to win the championship. Congratulations to Richard Barnett, the new ACC champ!

All in all, it was an enjoyable day of VtES, and the ACC demonstrated that, while the game is technically out-of-print, the players remain passionate and dedicated enough to keep it going.

ACC 2014 Deck List: Auspex Weenies

Here's the deck I decided to use in last weekend's Asian Continental Championship (ACC).

Deck Name : Auspex Weenies, ACC 2014 ed
Author : Frederick Tomas
Description :



Crypt [13 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 4 average: 2.84615
------------------------------------------------------------

1x Idalia, Prophet of      4  AUS dem       !Malkavian:2
1x Maldavis                   4  AUS for pre   Caitiff:3
1x Michael Luther         4  aus pre       Toreador:3
1x Remilliard, Devout   4  AUS pre       !Toreador:2
1x Richard Tauber, Ay  4  AUS tha       !Tremere:2
1x Isabel de Leon           3  AUS           Toreador:2
1x Martin Franckel        3  AUS tha       Tremere:3
1x Zöe                           3  AUS cel obf   Malkavian:2
1x Almiro Suarez          2  aus           Tremere:3
1x Nicholas Chang        2  aus           !Toreador:3
1x Piotr Andreikov        2  aus           Tzimisce:3
1x Feo Ramos                1  aus           Pander:3
1x Franciscus                 1  aus           Caitiff:2


Library [80 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [1]
  1x Constant Revolution

Combat [4]
  4x Concealed Weapon

Equipment [17]
  3x .44 Magnum
  1x Bowl of Convergence
  2x Cooler
  3x Leather Jacket
  5x Saturday-Night Special
  1x Sniper Rifle
  2x Sport Bike

Master [23]
  2x Anarch Revolt
  1x Archon Investigation
  2x Auspex
  1x Direct Intervention
  1x Golconda: Inner Peace
  1x KRCG News Radio
  1x Millicent Smith, Puritan Vampire Hunter
  1x Parthenon, The
  1x Powerbase: Montreal
  1x Rack, The
  2x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
  1x Sudden Reversal
  1x Vast Wealth
  5x Vessel
  1x WMRH Talk Radio
  1x Wash

Reaction [34]
  2x Eagle's Sight
  4x Eyes of Argus
  8x Forced Awakening
  2x My Enemy's Enemy
  2x On the Qui Vive
  4x Precognition
  4x Spirit's Touch
  8x Telepathic Misdirection

Retainer [1]
  1x Mr. Winthrop

Assessment: While the deck did well as a blocker, the cards I needed for forward movement (Jack, Revolt, Constant Revolution) did not consistently come out, and, when they did, they were immediately blocked or Reversed.

The next time I'm in a tournament, I'll probably consider a more pro-active deck rather than a reactive one.

2011 ACC

I didn't realize it's been three years since I've written anything in this blog. I didn't even write anything about White Wolf ending production on the game last year.

At any rate, the game itself remains alive, as dedicated players continue to gather and play.

Last Sunday, for instance, I managed to play in the Asian Continental Championships (ACC), held at Schizo Cafe along Katipunan Ave. in Quezon City.

Since I knew that parking in that area was a premium, I decided to go early, only to find out that the cafe was still closed; it would open near 9 am.

When it opened, the players arrived in trickles, and, soon, it was time to game.

I used a version of the deck I played in the qualifier tournament, a intercepting deck with Cock Robin the Nosferatu justicar as the central vampire.

In the first round, I managed to get a game win (GW) and 3 victory points (VP), even though Cock Robin didn't come out. In that table, I managed to hold the line with Teresita, Nikolaus Vermeulen, Calebros the Martyr, and Sundown, as my Smiling Jack did the work.

In the second round, I got two more VPs, and was the last man standing, as Singaporean Le Fei took out the other three Meths using her Samedi deck.

The third round went pretty quickly, as Gee Hwan (did I get the spelling right?) brought a stealth dom bleeder, and took out the table early enough for us to rest up for the finals. I managed to bring out the Smiling Jack, but it wasn't able to put a dent into the speed of the bleeding Gee brought to the table.

My GW and 5 VPs got me onto the table, along with Karl, Troy, Gee Hwan, and defending champion Stephen. As luck would have it, the seating placed squarely in front of Gee Hwan, which basically ended any chance for me to get started. Sure enough, while I got Teresita out, Gee had gotten me down to 5 pool in 5 minutes.

Unfortunately for him, the sheer brutality of the bleed spurred the other Meths to act, as both Stephen and Troy attacked Gee's minions after what happened to me. It was enough to weaken Gee for Karl's bleeding, making Gee the first player off the table. Since I was too weakened to do anything, Gee's exit was quickly followed by mine. Stephen managed to hold off Karl in the end game in order to defend his title.

All in all, it was a good day for playing V:TES. My deck worked fairly well, and I got a whole load of prizes for making it to the finals table. I also made a number of new friends among the Singaporeans and Japanese who came over, which is, for me, one of the key reasons for playing.

The Ateneo was well-represented in the ACC finals, since all of the Filipinos in the finals (Karl, a college history professor, myself, a teacher, and Troy, an alumnus) were connected one way or the other to the school.

Even though V:TES is no longer being produced, I'm hoping that the ACC helped revitalize the game here in the Philippines, at least among those of us who do play. I'm looking forward to the next tournament.