Poll Results: "What's the card you see most often contested in a game of VtES?"

Here are the results of the latest poll what cards are seen most contested in VtES. 148 readers of this blog have voted in this poll:

• Dreams of the Sphinx -- 61 (41%)
• Pentex Subversion -- 44 (29%)
• Fame -- 13 (8%)
• Information Highway -- 12 (8%)
• Ivory Bow -- 4 (2%)
• Bowl of Convergence -- 3 (2%)
• Heart of Nizchetus -- 3 (2%)
• Ossian -- 2 (1%)
• The Barrens -- 2 (1%)
• Carlton van Wyk -- 2 (1%)
• Mylan Horseseed -- 1 (0%)
• The Rack -- 1 (0%)
• Jake Washington -- 0 (0%)

The poll could been also named "Name the most popular unique card in VtES". But on the other hand, Dreams of the Sphinx might contested more often than the others, since the card is only in play for a limited amount of time, and players are more willing to let it go, if, for example, there are already one or two counters on it. The second and third place in the poll are also quite obvious. Contesting Pentex is also something I see a lot, usually this is contesting to free up a vampire you control. And to be able to act (or block) again is usually worth a pool per round. Contesting Fame might save you some pool, especially if your predator (or prey) is threatening to torporize your fame'd vampire anytime soon ..

Popular excuses for losing a VTES game

Bad beat stories .. these are not only being told in Poker, but in VtES as well. And the excuses why we lost a game of VtES ... I think we heard them all. Here's a categorized list of the most popular ones ...

• The strange excuses:
  
  • My dog ate my deck list, so I couldn't play the deck based on my brilliant idea.
  • I forgot what deck I was playing.
  • I played a Nagaraja deck.
  • I didn't bring my lucky pool counters/edge/..
  • I had the sun in front and was dazzled by card sleeves' reflections.
• The technical excuses:
  
  • I didn't draw the right cards (my key cards) at the right time.
  • The table seating was not optimal.
  • My star vampire wasn't in the start crypt.
  • My star vampire was Pentex'ed.
  • My key card was DIed.
• The social excuses:
  
  • I was backousted.
  • My crosstable "buddies" were against me.
  • They split the table.
  • I was too tired to play well.
  • I didn't want to win ..
  • I wanted to try some new deck idea.

• .. and finally, the honest excuses:
  
  • I had no pool left.
  • The other played better than I did.
  • I suck at this game.

Anything more to add by you, dear readers? Feel free to comment and add yours!

Kindred Lore: The Promise of 1528

After Augustus Giovanni founded and established the Giovanni as a clan by diablerizing Cappadocius in 1444, he had his right hand, Claudius Giovanni, start negotiations with the Camarilla. While the Camarilla wanted to prevent another fire to flare up after the Anarch Revolt and the rise of the Sabbat, and keep the Kindred society from becoming even more factious, the Giovanni sought to establish a solid standing within the Kindred society and wanted essentially to be left alone.

In 1528, a treaty was signed in Venice by Rafael de Corazon (from clan Toreador) and Claudius Giovanni, which addressed two main issues. The Giovanni refrained from taking part in in all Kindred affairs (and especially Camarilla politics). At the same time, the Camarilla stopped taking any actions against the Giovanni, but required the Giovanni to be subject to a periodic audit by the Camarilla's leadership (to be undertaken every 13 years at Venice).

This treaty is now known as The Promise of 1528.

References:

• Giovanni Clanbook
• Camarilla Wiki Project

Announcement Dutch National VtES Championship 2012

The Dutch National VtES Championship 2012 will take place on May 26th, 2012 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Here are the details regarding the tournament named Funeral Fog:

• Date: Saturday, May 26th, 2012
• Place:
  

  Korenbeurs
  Croeselaan 91,
  3521BL Utrecht

• Time Table:
  
  • Registration: 10:00 AM
  • Start first round: 11:00 AM
  • Expected end: 08:00 PM
• Fee: TBD
• Format: Constructed (VEKN Tournament Rules)
• Pre-Registration: Please register in advance by sending me a PM to the organizer ("aschere") on VEKN.net or by replying in the relevant post in the Dutch VtES forum. Any questions you might have concerning the tournament can be asked in the same way.
• Remarks:
  • Since the location is a restaurant it is not allowed to bring your own food or drinks.
  • Parking space is available and day tickets for that can be bought at the bar for €6,00 EUR.

More information on the tournament can be found on vekn.net.

Cause & Effect: Episode 3.2

The second episode (of the third season) of the VTES webshow Cause and Effect has been broadcasted live this Sunday (April 22nd, 2012). Anders, Adam and Isak talk about some general strategy topics, that is dealing for victory point, back-ousting players and choosing seating in the final round of a VtES tournament.

Photo Gallery added to "vekn.net"

A photo gallery has been added to vekn.net. The photo gallery is intended for VtES players to uploaded VtES-related pictures. Currently there are three categories which can be used:

• Tournaments
• Players
• Fan-made products

The photo gallery is public, so anyone visiting the vekn.net website can view the pictures uploaded to the gallery. More information can be found in the official announcement on vekn.net.

Results Belgian National Championship 2012

On April 22nd, 2012 the VtES Belgian National Championship 2012 was held in Brussels, Belgium with 26 players attending the tournament. The final standings after 3 rounds and the finals were as follows:

1. Emiliano Imeroni (ITA) -- 2 GW 8.5 VP -- 4 VP -- Mari Streck War Ghouls
2. Pierre Tran-Van (FRA) -- 2 GW 7 VP -- 1 VP -- Tremere G2/3 Wall
2. Jerome van de Plasse (FRA) -- 1 GW 6 VP -- 0 VP -- Euro Brujah
2. Ralf Lammert (GER) -- 1 GW 4.5 VP -- 0 VP -- Brujah Debate w/ Events
2. Dennis Devriendt (BEL) -- 1 GW 3 VP -- 0 VP -- Lutz & Friends Anarch Revolt

Congratulations to Emilano for his win of the Belgian Nationals 2012. Players from six nations, namely from Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy and Spain participated in the tournament.

As a side note, despite having 4 four-player tables each turn, there were very gamewins; only 7 out of 18 games. The final was very short, only 48 minutes thanks to three early Anarch Revolts and a Smiling Jack in turn 2, which got removed only after it got 5 counters. (The game was over before the parallel 8 player LotN-Duffin Draft was finished).

Memorable Quotes (Part 139)

"Eyes on the Prey, not the Horizon" -- Farkas in Skyrim

Did you know, that ... (Part 90)

.. that an untapped vampire playing Familial Bond is tapped before the end of the action, the combat bound happen because Familial Bond will not take place?

Imagine the following situation: A vampire, with superior Obfuscate, let's say Evan Klein (with a Blithe Acceptance) is attempting to bleed. On the other hand a Laibon vampire, let's say Amavi, is trying to block the action, using the +1 intercept to match the +1 stealth of the bleed action. Then Evan Klein uses Faceless Night (at superior) to give the action an additional stealth. Amavi fails to block, and Evan Klein decides to let the action be successful (he needs to make that decision at this point because of Familial Bond). Evan Klein then bleeds successfully, but no combat occurs with Amavi after the resolution of the bleed.

But why is there no combat? There are two things which makes this transparent: At first it is the sequencing within the action. During resolution of the action the second effect of Faceless Night is applied, i.e. tapping the minions who attempted to block. After resolution of the action, the combat due to the effect of Familial Bond would occur. And here the second thing for understanding is that the cards require the reacting Laibon needs to tap in order to enter combat with the acting minion. But since he's already tapped by Faceless Night, he doesn't fulfill the necessary requirement for initiating the combat.

New VtES Tournament Kit

The webshop vtes.de offers (since April 3rd, 2012) a new VtES tournament kit for the tournament season 2012 named Black Hand Emissary. The set is similar to the Nergal's Blessing tournament kit (which is available since October 2011). Contents of this tournament prize support kit include:

• 10x Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers
• 10x Yazid Tamari (Advanced)
• 10x Subdued by the Blood
• 10x Relinquary Shango Remains
• 10x Marakesh Codex
• 10x Selena
• 5x Black Hand Booster
• 5x Sword of Caine Booster
• 1x Discipline metal pin

In addition there's a variation of this kit, which also contains the 2012 VtES Continental Championship Qualifier t-shirt.

German ECQ 2012 Tournament Report

Here's the tournament report (or more precisely a report of the final round), by the winner of the German ECQ 2012, Martin Weinmayer. This VtES tournament was played on April 14th, 2012 in Darmstadt, Germany with 23 players participating. The prize support for the tournament was simply amazing. Each of the participants at least got a booster and a bunch of promos, the finalists got more boosters and copy of Rising Kings (by fellow VtES players and game designer Nikolaj Wendt) and the winner got an print of the unpublished Toreador (from Keepers of Tradition) and a factory set of rare cards from Sabbat War as well.

"The seating (in the final round) was as follows:
Manuel D. (Eze Demon Prinz Vote & Bleed)
-> Erol H. (Anson Gun & Master)
-> Martin W. (Stanislava Bleed & Vote )
-> Arnold R. (Inner Circle Vote & Bleed)
-> Johannes W. (!Nos Immortal Grapple & Carrion Crows)

I had a pretty slow start, being second with no crypt acceleration in hand. Stanislava had to wait till turn number 4 to finally hit the table. On a side note, I think I won more tables having a bad start, than having a really awesome one. In a game like Magic this wouldn't be the case, but in vampire this can be different.

Anyways, back to the game ... Johannes on the other hand had a fast start, torporizing his predator's Lutz von Hohenzollern the moment he came into play, and on the same turn torporizing one of his prey's vampires. I guess this was when the whole table silently agreed he would need to be stopped. Johannes had a hard time, while the three of us non-combat players rescued the vampires, even filling them up with Voter Cap.

Kindred Lore: Khazar's Diary

For a long time, the Giovanni supported the idea that if they could return to the nights when the spirit could easily affect the world, their power would grow. Since the Giovanni are the only Kindred to practice the Black Art, and if the subjects of that art could universally increase their power, so would the Giovanni's power increase by extension. The desire to tear down the sudario is known as the search for the Endless Night, whereby the dead and the living would share the same plane of existence..

The text of the Khazar's Diary is rumored to contain a ritual that will allow the boundaries of the physical world and the underworld erased. Toward the end of the 17th century, Claudius Giovanni, then right hand of Augustus Giovanni, had uncovered amongst Cappadocian documents hints where to find Khazar's Diary in a Cappadocian temple named Erciyes in Turkey. Leading a group of Giovanni, he went off to secure the document, but to date it is still discussed among scholars whether the operation in this regard was successful or not.

The ritual, according to those with knowledge, requires the soul of 100,000,000 deceased individuals to enact. The Giovanni have different plans to gather these souls required for the ritual. Necromancy is the most functional, but the Venitans also have the ability to plan in the long term ..

Sources: Giovanni Clanbook