The Dead answer the call

The young necromancer had spent weeks searching for power. Around him lay the accumulated knowledge of countless nights: ancient manuscripts, forbidden rituals, carefully annotated notes and several deck boxes in varying states of disassembly. He had studied the methods of mad prophets, considered the teachings of blood sorcerers and even entertained the promises of aristocrats who assured him that everything would be fine as long as everyone respected the proper voting procedure. Each offered power. Each promised that, in the right hands, they could make him a force to be reckoned with. But the young necromancer wanted more than power. He wanted dominance.

There were whispers of a great gathering approaching, where ancient Methuselahs would emerge from their crypts and travel from across the land to test their schemes against one another. Elders would fall. Alliances would be made and immediately reconsidered. Blood pool would disappear in quantities that would make a neonate uncomfortable. Somewhere among them, one Methuselah would eventually stand above the rest. The necromancer knew he was not yet an elder. Perhaps he wasn't even particularly good at necromancy. There was, however, only one reliable way to find out. He closed the final book, extinguished the candles and looked towards the restless dead gathering around him. "Fine," he whispered. "We're going to Nationals."

Yes, dear reader, the decision has finally been made. The VTES UK National Championship is next weekend, and after weeks of indecision, deck building, practice games and repeatedly changing my mind, I finally know what I'm taking.

Hecata.

There were other candidates, of course. My Juliet Parr Malkavians were briefly very tempting: politics, stealth and Dominate sounded wonderful until my practice games demonstrated that sufficiently determined combat decks could turn my political leadership into a collection of torpor cards. Juliet will return, but perhaps somewhere with fewer Assault Rifles.

The Tremere were another possibility. They remain one of my favourite clans and have answers to almost everything, but I simply haven't played them enough recently to feel confident taking them to Nationals. Rebuilding the deck a week before the tournament also sounded like exactly the kind of overconfidence that gets a young apprentice turned into a gargoyle.

Finally, there were my Ventrue Princes, the safe and respectable choice. They already carried me to a final in Bedford, and I know how to pilot them reasonably well. But I've done that story already. Besides, relying on political actions without reliable stealth at a large tournament makes me slightly nervous. The Board considered the proposal and decided not to proceed at this time.

That left the dead.

The more I considered my options, the more I kept returning to the Hecata. I've played the deck enough now that I understand what it's trying to do. Family Gathering helps me develop my crypt surprisingly quickly, while my allies harass opposing vampires, drain their blood and gradually make life (or unlife) increasingly uncomfortable for my prey.

It isn't a particularly explosive deck. It is patient. It is sinister. And it occasionally solves problems by throwing a corpse at them. I like that. More importantly, I've tested the deck in friendly games and at the Scottish Nationals. I've seen what happens when things go well, and I've also experienced those wonderful moments when the carefully assembled undead machinery produces a strange noise, catches fire and requires immediate maintenance. I know the deck can struggle with certain match-ups, I know the allies don't always arrive as quickly as I'd like, and I've learned which parts of the deck I actually enjoy using rather than merely thinking I should use. So I've made some tweaks. The core remains intact and the dead will still be doing most of the heavy lifting, but some ratios have changed and a few cards have found themselves removed from active service. There is, however, one more significant change. The crypt has a new, secret star.

I'm not revealing who it is just yet. Let me keep at least one mystery until Nationals. This particular vampire has been waiting patiently in my collection for an opportunity, and after looking at the deck again, I think the time has finally come to give them a chance. Consider it a probation period. At the UK Nationals. Against some of the best players in the country. No pressure.

So that's it. No more opening deck boxes late at night and suddenly deciding that perhaps this completely different archetype is the answer. The Malkavians can stop whispering, the Tremere can return to the Chantry, and the Ventrue Board has officially adjourned. Do I expect to win? Absolutely not. This will be my first UK Nationals and I'll be sitting across from players with vastly more experience than me. My goals remain the same: play as well as I can, learn something, hopefully collect a few victory points and, above all, enjoy the games.

But I am excited to see what happens. I've spent months building this deck, playing it, finding its weaknesses and gradually turning it into something that feels like my Hecata deck. Now it gets its biggest test yet. Next weekend, the rituals will be prepared, the Family Gatherings will commence, and the dead will leave their crypts for the UK National Championship. Whether they return triumphant or in several small cardboard boxes remains to be seen. Either way, there will be a story. And you can be certain I'll tell you all about it.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

Your counterargument has an Assault Rifle

With the VTES UK Nationals fast approaching, I travelled to Cambridge on Sunday to meet David and Manuel for some much-needed practice. At this point, I need every game I can get. If I am going to walk into a national tournament, I would at least like to pretend that my deck has been properly tested beforehand. As it turned out, this particular session was extremely useful because it helped me decide the fate of a deck I had been quietly experimenting with for some time.

You see, I love political decks. I enjoyed playing my Ventrue Princes, and Path of Power scratches that same wonderful itch of manipulating the table while pretending everything is happening through perfectly legitimate democratic processes. This time, however, I wanted something different. During previous tournaments I managed to acquire a few copies of Juliet Parr, so naturally I started wondering whether I could build a deck around her. Let the Malkavians enter politics. What could possibly go wrong?

On paper, everything looked beautiful. Titles would give me votes. Obfuscate would provide enough stealth to push political actions through. Dominate offered a fallback plan of good old-fashioned stealth bleed if democracy failed, while also providing Deflections for defence. It looked like a wonderfully flexible package: politics when politics worked, bleeding when politics didn't, and enough stealth to ensure that everyone had to sit there and listen to my proposals. There was just one small problem with the plan. And the lesson was painful.

David arrived with a Ventrue antitribu deck using Group 5 and 6 vampires following the Path of Cathari, while Manuel brought two combat-focused decks featuring Assamites. Since there were only three of us, we agreed on a simple format: the first Methuselah to oust another player would win. We randomised the seating and ended up with David (Ventrue antitribu) > Manuel (Assamites) > Myself (Malkavian vote/bleed).

This game may have been the quickest VTES game I have ever played.

Around turn four, Manuel equipped Antara with an Assault Rifle. This was apparently the moment diplomacy officially ended. Antara rushed David's vampires, then turned her attention towards mine, and within a single turn three vampires had been sent to torpor through additional strikes, presses and the inevitable Freak Drives. It was less a combat turn and more a workplace restructuring where the entire department was escorted from the building. With both his predator and prey thoroughly disabled, Manuel finished me off within another couple of turns. The whole game lasted roughly thirty minutes.

My beautiful political machine had encountered its first policy disagreement, and the disagreement had an Assault Rifle.

Fortunately, being annihilated so efficiently left us with plenty of time for another game. Manuel switched to his other combat deck, this time featuring Al-Ashrad. I had encountered him before and remembered the experience with approximately the same fondness one remembers stepping barefoot on Lego. The seating remained unchanged, although this time Manuel was the first player.

Game two was much more balanced. David brought out Elimelech the Twice-Damned and Coco Thorn, Manuel had Al-Ashrad and Blythe, while my lunatics were represented by Juliet and Andi Liu. David managed to keep the Assamites under pressure this time, which had the pleasant side effect of keeping them away from my vampires. Funny how much better political debate works when nobody is actively punching the politicians.

This finally gave Juliet room to demonstrate why I wanted to build around her in the first place. I managed to push through several political actions, and her ability to give me +2 hand size was fantastic. Those extra cards dramatically increased my options and made the deck feel much smoother. More importantly, I had little difficulty getting my political actions through. Three or four stealth was perfectly achievable, so anyone wanting to interrupt Malkavian democracy had to work for it.

The game remained surprisingly balanced until we approached the endgame. A successful Parity Shift created a net six-pool swing between David and me, giving me some much-needed breathing room. On my following turns, two Kine Resources Contested actions finished the job. After being brutally dismantled in about half an hour during the first game, the Malkavians had somehow returned from lunch and won the second.

Despite the victory, however, these two games revealed something important about the deck. Getting political actions through wasn't the problem. The stealth worked beautifully, Juliet was excellent, and Dominate gave me plenty of forward pressure. The problem was what happened when someone decided that instead of debating my political agenda, they would simply beat up the person proposing it. Against serious rush and combat decks, my Malkavians were falling like flies, and I had very few answers. Apparently "please respect the democratic process" is not a valid combat card.

The second lesson was about table optics. A deck capable of political actions, high bleeds and considerable stealth can very quickly become the problem. Even if you aren't currently winning, everyone can see what the deck might do if left alone. Suddenly your harmless little Malkavian politician is attracting cross-table attention, deals are being made about you rather than with you, and somebody starts casually asking whether anyone has a rush card. Being powerful is useful. Looking powerful can be considerably less so.

Still, that is exactly why I wanted these practice games. The Malkavian experiment was fun and winning the second game showed me that the basic concept absolutely works. Juliet in particular impressed me, and I would happily return to the deck for friendly games and further tinkering. For the UK Nationals, though, I am not convinced. Walking into a large tournament with a deck that practically wears a sign saying "dangerous but surprisingly punchable" feels like a questionable decision.

So one candidate has probably removed itself from consideration. The search continues. And somewhere on my shelf, several other deck boxes have started whispering again.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

Hit me baby, one more deck

The VTES UK National Championship is happening at the end of this month and, after some careful planning, calendar negotiations and presumably a successful political action at home, I managed to register. I have attended a few smaller tournaments by now, but this will be my first properly large event. Last year's championship had 27 players, many of them elders who have probably forgotten more about VTES than I have learned so far. Obviously I am extremely excited. I am also experiencing the healthy amount of terror expected from a neonate voluntarily walking into a room full of Methuselahs.

There is, however, one important matter that needs resolving before then: what on earth am I going to play?

At this point I have several candidates, and every time I think I have made a decision, another deck whispers seductively from the shelf. The whole situation is starting to remind me of a Britney Spears song, you know, the one where you make a questionable decision and then somehow do it again. One evening I'm committed to the Hecata, the next I'm polishing the Ventrue, and by Wednesday I'm staring lovingly at my Tremere cards again. Oops.

The Hecata: The patient candidate

The obvious choice is my Hecata deck. I've played it several times now and genuinely enjoy how it operates. Recruiting allies and slowly building an undead workforce is tremendously satisfying. There is something wonderfully reassuring about looking across the table and realising that your domain now employs several corpses. The zombies are particularly good at draining blood from opposing vampires, although serious combat decks can dismantle them rather efficiently and Strike: Combat Ends remains the undead equivalent of someone simply closing the door in your face. Family Gathering, meanwhile, has become one of my favourite cards in the deck. Accelerating out additional vampires means that by the late game I can sometimes have one or two more bodies available than I otherwise would, and those little vampires can make a surprisingly large difference.

The problem is speed.

Hecata don't generally produce enormous bleeds. The deck needs time to establish itself, recruit allies and fill the table with enough unpleasant things that my prey begins reconsidering their life choices. Shroud of Decay can be fantastic, but its superior effect also requires my prey to have enough cards in their ash heap. In other words, death cannot be rushed. Apparently there is paperwork.

According to my VDB research, Hecata won twelve tournaments last year and six so far this year. Clearly they can win, but piloting them often feels like preparing an elaborate funeral: everything needs to be arranged properly before the guest of honour (let's call them prey) can finally die.

The Ventrue: Previous management experience

Then we have the Ventrue Princes.

This is the deck I took to Bedford, where, somewhat unexpectedly, it carried this neonate all the way to the final table. Naturally, this means the Ventrue department has included "proven tournament performance" prominently on its application. My reasoning at Bedford was fairly simple. The environment seemed full of combat-heavy decks, and combat-heavy crypts often meant fewer titled vampires. If my Ventrue could survive the violence (and Fortitude is rather useful when someone attempts hostile corporate restructuring with a Torn Signpost) I hoped my Princes could dominate the political game.

Surprisingly, the calculation worked.

Once referendums actually happened, votes were rarely my problem. Getting the political actions through was another matter. Ventrue have many wonderful qualities, but quietly sneaking through the back door isn't traditionally one of them. If the table decides that your political action must not happen, reliable stealth would be rather useful.

The bigger question is whether the Bedford strategy scales to a much larger tournament. Four Ventrue tournament wins this year according to VDB doesn't exactly suggest that the aristocracy is currently enjoying a golden age. Still, Ventrue have survived far worse things than an unfavourable meta. They would probably describe it as a temporary market correction.

The Tremere: The emotional favourite

Then there are the Tremere.

I took my Tremere toolbox to my first tournament and, while the results weren't spectacular, I loved playing it. The deck has answers to almost everything. Auspex provides intercept. Dominate gives me powerful bleeds and Deflections. Thaumaturgy provides a respectable combat package. It feels like carrying a large toolbox into someone's house: I may not know exactly what is broken, but I'm reasonably confident I brought something that can fix it. Or set it on fire...

I also simply love the clan. Their lore, their aesthetics, their cards, if tournament performance didn't matter at all, I'd happily bring the Usurpers again. Unfortunately, the current numbers are not particularly encouraging. According to VDB, Tremere haven't recorded a tournament win this year so far. Somewhere, an entire Chantry is pretending this statistic doesn't exist.

Part of me would love to be the neonate who changes that number from zero to one. The more rational part of my brain has calculated the probability of this happening and quietly returned to the library. Hopefully future releases give my favourite blood sorcerers a little assistance. Until then, the Pyramid remains under review.

The Malkavians: The dangerous consultant

Recently, I've also been looking more seriously at Malkavians.

My wife loves them. More importantly, she seems to particularly enjoy using them to remove my pool, so I've had plenty of practical demonstrations of what they can do. And annoyingly, they can be very good. They can stealth bleed. They can power bleed. They have access to politics. Auspex gives them defensive options and intercept. Dominate gives them excellent forward pressure. Obfuscate makes stopping that pressure considerably more difficult. It's an impressively complete package wrapped inside a clan whose members probably shouldn't be trusted with scissors.

I suspect I could build something interesting here. Whether I can do so without slowly losing my own mind during the process remains to be seen.

The Other Applicants

The Salubri power bleed deck has proven itself remarkably effective in Aaron's hands, although taking his usual deck to Nationals feels slightly like borrowing someone else's favourite sword before going to war. Diana and the Toreadors remain tempting because I enjoy political decks immensely, and the Path of Power continues whispering promises of Sabbat Cardinals, political manipulation and entirely reasonable amounts of backstabbing. So yes, there are options. Far too many options.

There are, however, several clans that have already been politely informed that their applications were unsuccessful.

Definitely Not Gangrel

Let's be honest: Gangrel are doing perfectly fine without me. They already have 21 tournament wins this year and counting. Clearly the wilderness department has met its quarterly targets.

I'm not suggesting that my participation would somehow upset the competitive ecosystem (I have a healthy understanding of my own abilities) but Gangrel hardly need another volunteer. I'm also fairly confident I'll encounter them across the table anyway. Probably while they're rushing something I care about.

Definitely Not Tzimisce

You know my position. The Tzimisce know my position. Everyone is comfortable with this arrangement. I sincerely wish their players the very best of luck. Preferably at another table.

Probably Not Lasombra

This one actually hurts because I love Lasombra. They have Dominate. They have excellent combat. They can play politics. They have shadows. They have style. They approach negotiations with the reassuring energy of someone who has already arranged your disappearance. Unfortunately, other people also seem to have noticed that Lasombra are good. And that creates one terrifying word: contesting.

I dislike contesting. Nothing destroys the fantasy of being an ancient supernatural mastermind quite like discovering that another ancient supernatural mastermind has brought exactly the same vampire and now both of you are standing there awkwardly arguing over custody.

So Lasombra will probably remain safely at home.

The board will reach a decision

And that's where I currently stand. Hecata offer familiarity and an army of dead employees. Ventrue have previous tournament experience and an excellent management structure. Tremere have my heart and an alarming absence from this year's winners list. Malkavians are standing in the corner smiling suspiciously (someone should probably check the fire extinguishers before asking what they're up to). Meanwhile several other decks continue submitting unsolicited applications.

I have a few weeks left to make the final decision, tweak the library and hopefully squeeze in some practice games. I'm not expecting to walk into the UK Nationals and suddenly become an elder. My ambitions are considerably more realistic: play some good games, secure a few victory points if possible, learn something from much more experienced players and avoid doing anything spectacularly embarrassing. And if everything goes horribly wrong? At least I'll meet more VTES players, come home with another story for the blog, and have several hours on the drive back to explain to myself why I definitely chose the correct deck.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave