"The Best is Not Always Better!"
Life has jumped in the way of my VTES playing for the last week (aside from JOL) so I have no new insights on decks at the moment. Instead I want to talk about a topic dear to my heart. Looking for alternative ideas/cards for deck design.
There is a not-famous sequence of lines from "Searching for Bobby Fischer" that always resonated with me. I didn't remember the exact lines so I had to look up the transcript. But I always thought it applied well to VTES. The scene is where Josh is with his teacher and Josh is presented with a chess problem.
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"So what's your best move?"
"Rook to d ."
"What about taking on e ?"
"What about it?"
"You didn't consider it. You're still not considering it."
"Sit up."
"I'm right. Rook to d is the best move."
"You didn't study the board."
"You're moving before I know the answers."
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"You didn't consider it. You're still not considering it." I think that this is most common thing that all experienced VTES players do. While VTES is not as complex as Chess or Go, it still has over 1350 vampires and over 2150 library cards. That is complex enough I think for this discussion.
Why is the best move not always the better move? Seems counter-intuitive. I am a strong believer of the following statements.
1) There is a place for every card.
2) Every deck can be changed due to metagame for the better.
[There are other statements that I thought of under this genre, but in editing this blog, these two are really the core I believe.]
Explanation:
1) There is a place for every card ----
Yeah yeah yeah... Eyes of the Dead. But really, the trick is to determine if the odds that card being used outweighs the card slot that you are putting it in. If you are considering all the possible decks out there, then yes, a lot of times certain cards give the highest value. But there are other factors that should be considered for adding cards.
Examples:
- The Sleeping Mind costs a blood compared to Seduction but how much 2nd trad and Animalism untap do you see?
- Dreams of the Sphinx is good, but everyone plays it. Do you want to play the contesting game? If you are just using it to set up hand as opposed to acceleration, consider Fragment Book of Nod.
- Don't own enough Deep Songs? Remember that you can't rush allies with it. Consider Harass for Carrion Crow goodness.
2) Every deck can be changed due to metagame for the better ----
What is your metagame like? What do your players play? Are they combat junkies? Star vampire favorites? This type of knowledge can let you play 'edge' cards to greater effect. And I'm not talk about about hoser cards mind you, but cards and ratios that make your deck that much more effective.
Examples:
A lot of allies out there? Consider Mental Maze as opposed to Obedience.
Close range combat? More Swallowed by the Night for that desprate maneuver.
Villein/Voter Cap running around? More Delaying Tactics or perhaps The Rising?
Multiact decks? Consider Direct Intervention as opposed to Sudden Reversal for that pesky freak drive.
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You have to understand, most of the time, the best card IS the best move. BUT THINK ABOUT IT. Consider the options.
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Below is one of my favorite decks. It is a somewhat standard Weenie Auspex deck, where my thought process went through the following below. It has gone through many iterations where the version (step 7) below is untested. But it is the thoughts behind it that apply to this blog post. I took a less aggressive version of it the finals at the Boston Qualifer two years ago, but due to a bad misplay on my part I was ousted. But it did very well.
1) Want a weenie Auspex deck with guns.
2) A 90 card deck can be made better with 80 cards.
3) What to do with those extra 10 cards? Ah - 'hoser' cards can wreck a game. That's funny but can be quite good when it hits.
4) But what hoser cards? Obviously only the ones that I can defend.
5) But I don't want it to clog my hand - so need the cycle cards to get them out as well as cycle for intercept or conceal-gun combo.
6) One of the cycle cards is Powerbase: Los Angeles. Can I add an anarch angle for more forward push?
7) Someone just gave me the idea that Spike thrower with IR googles is very strong.
etc etc
Deck Name: Weenie Hosers!
Created By: Adam Hulse
Description: A weenie auspex deck with hoser cards! I picked the ones I can defend and two other real good ones. They are:
Oath of Loyalty
Children of Osiris
Cultivated Blood Shortage
Malkavian Derangement: Paranoia
Detection
Vicissitude Poisoning
Mistaken Identity
Break the Code
Malkavian Seven Miseries, (for voters)
Cycling is very strong due to the cycle cards and the theme of the deck (i.e. wall). So even the high number of masters seems to be fine.
One of the fun things of this deck is the fact you can change it in many ways and still have fun. I've done adding monkey wrench (to go with lilth's Blessing), or Target Vitals with Taste.
Depends on what you want to do! Just keep the master card package somewhat intact! Also, could remove Anarch tech if so choose.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 4, Max: 18, Avg: 2.666)
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1 Aleph AUS dom 4 Malkavian
1 Victoria AUS cel obf 5 Malkavian
1 Zoe AUS cel obf 3 Malkavian
1 Idalia AUS dem 4 Malkavian Antitribu
1 Miriam Benyona AUS for obe 5 Salubri
1 Dorian Strack AUS cel 4 Toreador
1 Dieter Kleist aus 2 Toreador
5 Anarch Convert none 1 Caitiff
Library: (90 cards)
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Master (25 cards)
1 Barrens, The
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Fragment of the Book of Nod
1 Powerbase: Los Angeles
1 Oath of Loyalty
1 Children of Osiris
1 Cultivated Blood Shortage
1 Malkavian Derangement: Paranoia
1 Malkavian Seven Miseries, The
1 Detection
1 Vicissitude Poisoning
1 Pentex Subversion
1 Club Illusion
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Guardian Angel
1 Twilight Camp
1 Smiling Jack, The Anarch
1 Asylum Hunting Ground
1 Society Hunting Ground
4 Vessel
1 Powerbase: Montreal
1 Lilith's Blessing
Action (5 cards)
1 Aranthebes, The Immortal
1 Nose of the Hound
3 Constant Revolution
Reaction (36 cards)
1 Mistaken Identity
4 Eyes of Argus
4 On the Qui Vive
4 Forced Awakening
4 Spirit`s Touch
4 Enhanced Senses
4 Eagle`s Sight
3 Precognition
5 Telepathic Misdirection
2 My Enemy`s Enemy
1 Final Loosening
Combat (11 cards)
7 Concealed Weapon
4 Groundfighting
Equipment (11 cards)
1 Sniper Rifle
6 .44 Magnum
1 Ivory Bow
1 Bowl of Convergence
1 Spike-Thrower
1 IR Goggles
Event (2 cards)
1 Break the Code
1 Anthelios, the Red Star
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So the deck may not be your cup of tea. But it should give an example of what I'm trying to talk about here. Could this weenie auspex be "better" without the clan hosers? SURE! But I adjusted the deck to make them viable, and when the card hits it definitely gives the target something he didn't expect.
There are always versions of your decks to play. Don't be nailed down to one version and just think "oh I lost because of XYZ". Think. Determine. Improve.
Just consider it.
