How to start my V:tES adventure ?

The first question for every new VTES player is : “Which type of deck (clan) should I choose at the very beginning ?”.  Let’s assume, that all starters (beginning from Black Hand) are available, and you can choose from quite a nice variety of  clans.

1. What style of play do you prefer ?

Aggressive – You like when people fear you. You like to put constant pressure on other players.

S&B decks and combat seems to be the best decision.

Clans : Brujah, !Brujah, Malkavian, !Malkavian, Lasombra, Kiasyd S&B, Gargoyle (Tupdogs – yeah !!)

Defensive – You like the process of building up ( and surviving as long as possible) – constantly expanding your resources  putting more and more pressure on your prey.

A wall would be the best choice. You can also play a bloating deck.

Clans : Tremere, !Tremere, !Ventreu, Toreador, !Toreador, Tzimisce

Talkative (manipulator) – You love to talk a lot. You like intrigues, making deals with other players etc.

You should choose a deck that gives you opportunity to interact with the whole table. Political deck would fit you best.

Clans : Ventrue, Lasombra, Toreador, Brujah,

Challenging – You don’t like to play typical decks. The more difficult deck to play, the more satisfaction you take playing it.

Clans : All Bloodlines (maybe except Baali and Ahrimanes), Gangrel

Don’t know yet – Try to borrow different decks from your mates (or local leader/prince), and decide which type fits you the most.

2. How much money can you spend on VTES?

It’s one of the biggest problems for all new players. Do I have enough money to design an efficient deck ? Do I need to spend 6 month on ebay to collect cards I need in order to build my deck ?” – these are the most common concerns.

“I don’t want to spend much, just 50 Euros or so” – Choose a deck that is based on common cards. You don’t want to spend money on 10 Mind Rapes,10 War Ghouls or so. Try to choose some newer editions. Buying Lasombra g2 (Sabbat ed.) will be much more expensive than g4 (3ed).

“I will spend as much, as I have to in order to build a strong deck” – Choose wisely, if you plan to build more expensive deck make sure you will be satisfied playing it. Borrow a similar deck from someone else, or play with proxy cards. You playgroup should understand your concerns, and should not have anything against you playing proxies. Buying 10 War Ghouls, 5 Pipers, 5 Jake’s and discovering that you’re not satisfied playing ally deck, is something you’d like to avoid.

“I don’t give a damn –  I have unlimited founds” – lucky you, choose whatever you want. You can even afford to buy a Lasombra SW starter or so, and throw it away if you don’t find it interesting J.

3. What’s your local metagame like?

Surprised? Well, You shouldn’t be. It’s not a good idea to buy KoT Brujah starter, design a deck and discover that three other people are playing with the same crypt… Try to make an investigation first. How many people are playing the clan you would like to play with ? It’s fine if there is one person – it may be easier to collect cards you need ! If there are more people playing the same clan, try to choose something else.

If you’re not planning to travel across the country and take part in 10 tournaments a year, try to concentrate on building a deck that would work in your local environment. If there are several S&B decks in your playgroup – build a deck that will defend against them (in that example put lots of bouncing cards into your deck).  Preparing for local games/meta will teach you how to build decks for bigger tournaments based on the information you have. So if there are lots of combat decks in your meta don’t play Malk S&B as the whole table will rush your vampires and after playing (and probably loosing) several games you will have enough of VTES J.

After several weeks/months/years your card collection will be big enough to build several decks and surprise your colleagues. Till that time, you have to learn the basics including mechanics, rules, various strategies and try to work on you own style.

One more advice – always analyze which cards and how many you need for your deck. Sometimes a card looks great but is unplayable at all. Do not buy dozens of “great cards” as you will probably be using 2-3 pieces in your deck. If you’re a new player, use cheaper replacements instead of expensive cards (i.ex. redirection instead of deflection, shadow play instead of shroud of absence J) – it will be also easier to get them.

That’s all for today,

warGrim