VTES 25th Anniversary Deck

Finally managed to get the funds together and buy into the new POD version of Vampire the Eternal Struggle and picked up the 25th Anniversary Deck they are offering. After watching the USPS play pong with the package via the tracking number it finally made it to me a few days later than expected.

The cardstock used isn't as high quality as what I'm used to with most other card games but it's pretty close. Just feels a slight more flimsy and slick than what most companies use today. But they are by no means the worst I've seen, not by a long shot.

The card backs have been changed from the older sets that I last played in with the 'Deckmaster' logo now being removed. Not sure if this happened before with the collectible version in their last expansions.  But coming from an era when a card back change would have killed a game it made me raise and eyebrow for a second. Although since everybody I know plays with sleeves now it really doesn't matter at all.

After looking at the actual deck itself I'm a little surprised, it's not one that I am used to seeing back in the day. It's a Gangrel and Gangrel Antitribu deck with the crypt being composed of a few really high blood capacity vampires. The library has a mix of political, combat cards to get out of combat and various ways to move your blood around. Interesting. I'll be giving this deck a try this coming weekend that's for sure.

Also the are twenty extra cards included. Some of them could easily be swapped into the included deck while some can't be. But they are a collection of some of the more in demand cards in the third party market. It was nice to have a copy of Talbot's Chainsaw again, I have such good memories of going buck wild on opponents with that, just wish it was the original Jyhad artwork.

So it looks good right now. Maybe I'll put up another report after I play that deck a few times.

You can see all the cards that are available via Print on Demand over on DrivethruCards at the Black Chantry Productions page.

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VTES Community cards page

If you look to right above this post you will see a pair of link tabs. One for Home and one for VTES Community Cards. So on the community cards page you will see the various cards that Team Mana Screwed has come up with. Only a couple right now but there will be more on the way in the near future.

VtES after all these years.

It's been literally over ten years, maybe even fifteen, years since I last played Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. Today a friend brought his old decks along and we sat down for a three person game at a local shop.  We're thinking about playing every other Sunday now. Just as fun as I remember it being.

Theros Beyond Death what I like

Cards I'm hoping to pull from the Theros Beyond Death expansion. These may not be the 'power' cards from the set but they are what I can use immediately in my casual Commander decks.


Nadir Kraken - Mainly for my 'Big Fish' commander deck. If I get this out early the deck has a fast card draw that could make this thing explode on my board.

Arasta of the Endless Web, Chainweb Aracnir - More fodder for my spider deck I'm slowly putting together.

Klothys God of Destiny - Thinking of using this as added distraction in my theft deck.

Nyx Lotus - Because why the hell not?

Field of Ruin - Because of it's non-basic land destruction.

Callaphe Beloved by the Sea - For my 'Big Fish' commander deck. Anything making it more costly to hit my stuff is good and with the land drop of that deck her power will soar.

Kiora Bests the Sea God - Again for 'Big Fish' because really how can it not be useful.

Thassa's Oracle - Not for 'Big Fish' but for my exploding artifact deck which sometimes can make me deck myself. Now I can win by running my library down really low.

Serpent of Yawning Depths - Now that is made for 'Big Fish' and can end the game for others really fast when they can't block my parade of deep sea monsters.

Terror of Mount Velus - Going into my Ur-Dragon deck if I pull it.

Alter of the Pantheon - Because it's a nice mana rock

Soul-Guide Lantern - Because I hate other peoples graveyards.

Brawl returns and I couldn't care less

So full fledged support of the Brawl format comes back with the Throne of Eldraine expansion. This includes preconstructed Brawl decks available as well. So what do I, a mainly casual Commander player, think of this?  It's just another format I won't be bother getting into and here is why.

It's Standard based. Which means you will have to keep investing a great deal into the new sets to not only stay competitive but to have cards that you can legally play. Even these brand spanking new Brawl decks won't be legal before very much longer.

Anybody who pays attention knows that it's Wizards of the Coasts wet dream for everyone to be playing standard and nothing else. That would be the ultimate goldmine of people having to keep paying in to keep playing as their older cards suddenly become nothing more than cardboard coasters for their drinks. The only reason they don't go full in on this is because they would lose a good chunk of their customer base.

Myself I love playing with those boxes of older cards that are ten, fifteen and twenty years old. Especially in Commander. To me that is what makes the format so appealing as you get to mix up some new stuff with cards people forgot about to create some interesting combos. Brawl does not have that and will not have it.

So in the end my investment will in buying a few singles from the format to use in my Commander decks. Like the spoiled cards below.

Other than that I won't be paying into the Standard scheme of constantly buying in over and over.

Often Forgotten - Vision Charm

This is an older instant card that was released in the Visions expansion, and only in that expansion. It seems that whenever I drop this on the table with players nowadays not a single person has seen this card before. So instead maybe I should call this 'almost entirely forgotten'.

One mana and you get a choice of three different effects, a rather cheap little Swiss army knife.  The second ability is the one most used to mill an opponent, the last is a fast acting silence shutting down one basic land type of your choice from an opponent for a turn. The first ability is a savior in a couple of ways that is often overlooked. Saving a key artifact of your own from a board wipe or targeted destruction is the obvious idea, but using it to vanish an artifact of another player that is problematic could wreck their day.

The most use for me is in a pauper mill deck. I throw four of these in almost every time. Since mill decks take a bit of time to vanquish somebody else's deck the ability to cancel out one of the basic lands types can buy you that time. Then if that isn't a problem you can still make them throw away four of their cards to the graveyard at instant speed. Wonderful against decks that put key cards back on the top to redrawn.

In Commander there it can be nice as well. Giving you that little multi-tool with instant speed to solve a problem that pops up.

This card, and it's other monocolored counterparts, are available on Ebay at some very cheap prices.

Hopefully a new generation of players can see some of the gold that lies hidden in the common cards of older sets a little bit more.

Modern Horizons - fave artifacts so far

I won't lie, I've always been a fan of artifacts in MtG. When I see new set spoilers one of the first things I look for are colorless fun toys that I can use. So far Modern Horizons has not let me down. Though only a few have been spoiled so far here are my top favorites at the moment.

The Altar of Dementia. Oh now this is going to be fun sack outlet that will be replacing Ashnod's Altar in a few of my decks. Instead of colorless Mana I may or may not use I get to mill an opponent down. So in anything that produces and obscene amount of token creatures, or a deck that steals everything, this can absolutely murder and opponent in one swoop. Toss a seventy goblin tokens to the Altar and watch the other player start putting their cards away.

Now onto the swords. These are the first two teased although I'm sure there will be a few more coming along just do to the protection color combinations. Currently their combat damage to a player abilities are very nice. Got a deck that specializes in making creatures unblockable? Then these should be a no brainer to add in. I mean a +2/+2, protection from two colors and a pretty hefty extra ability for 3 colorless to bring out and only 2 to equip? Sign me up!