Recovered Resources

Greetings Methuselahs,

When I put together my New Players’ Corner, I ended up doing a lot of research on what resources had been created for VTES.  I linked to many of them, but I also found a number that simply were not available except through the use of the magical Way Back Machine.  Rather than let these quality articles linger in the limbo of internet backup, I decided to copy, reformat, and host them so that they can continue to be read and utilized by the community.  If you are the author of any of these articles, and you would like me to stop hosting the article, please email me or post a comment below.  The articles below either come from The Lasombra’s page (which was previously one of the three major pillars of the VTES online community), or from The Ash Heap.  If you know of other resources that are languishing in some forgotten corner of the internet, let me know and I’ll add them to the list!

I hope that you enjoy these excellent articles!

 

From The Lasombra’s site:

• Wall Decks by Derek Ray: This is a fantastic article about how to play and win with Intercept decks.  Given that I think this is the trickiest type of deck to play, I think this should be required reading material for VTES players.
• Combat Discussion by Darby Keeney: Combat is an extremely tricky thing to do right in the game, and most combat decks (including mine!) are forced to sit and watch their grand prey sweep the table.  This article discusses the goal of combat in VTES and when it should be employed.
• To beat Imbued, you have to play a little differently by Matthew T. Morgan and Darby Keeney: Personally I don’t have many problems with the Imbued because my local play group hates them so, but if you find yourself squaring off against them, you might want to check out this pair of posts on their capabilities and how to beat them.
• Crocodile’s Tongue by Dasein: A great article on how to get the most out of the closest thing Auspex has to stealth!
• Descent into Darkness by Pallando: Descent into Darkness is a very tricky card to use, and this article goes into a lot of the possibilities and potential decks.  If you are looking for an excuse to use under-utilized cards (gosh that sounds familiar!), then you’ll want to check out this article!

 

From The Ash Heap: (which is currently being hosted here)

• Defending Without Bounce by Ben Peal: A fantastic (and very long!) article that should be considered essential reading for anybody looking to play a deck without Dominate or Auspex.  Plus it’s written by our own head VEKN designer!
• Burn Option! by Ben Peal: Another excellent article from Ben, this one talks about how to make tiny decks using Burn Option cards.  This is (I believe) where the Econo War Ghoul deck idea was first put forth.
• Organic Deck Growth by Preston Poulter: This is a great article on deck building from the creator of the Barbed Wire Project decks.  Well worth checking out.

 

From Rustwurk:

• To the Cardcycle, Batman! by Shaun McIssac: Card cycling is an incredibly important aspect of this game that is (as far as I know) unique to VTES.  That means that your experience with other card games can’t help you here, and so this article tries to provide you the information you need to get the right cards in your had at the right time.
• Why the Barrens? by Ben Peal: A short article also on card cycling and why The Barrens is underplayed.
• 5 Tips to be a Better Player by Gregory Williams: This article covers some of the classic mistakes made by VTES players and how to correct them.  It also includes Latin, so it must be good!
• Vampire Etiquette by Kate Souza: VTES is a social game, and this is a great article about how to master this tricky aspect of the game.

Join me next week when I discuss the two tournaments I attended over the weekend!  Until next time, may your bleeds never be bounced, and all your referendums pass!

Brett