Special report: Brussels 2021 and the man who knew too much.

 Brussels, one friday back in 2021.

A cold and twisting wind suddenly battered the street, lifting leaves and dust up in the air, only to let them fall again near the feet of a motionless figure standing at the corner. Imeroni turned up the collar of his coat. Not that he needed to cover himself from the chill, as the power of his blood was enough to keep him confortable without effort. But he had willingly kept doing those gestures through the long years of his existence, partly to blend with the life in the city, but also to retain some of his memories of mortality.

He looked up again, as he had been doing for the last hour. Nothing unusual seemed to be happening inside the building in front of him. But he knew that, if any of his enemies wanted to set a trap for him, they would probably settle it all so that everything seemed quiet and safe. He trusted his host as one of his scarce old friends, and knew he probably would be waiting calmly behind the illuminated window. But Emiliano had learned long ago to always plan carefully all his night moves.

He looked again to both sides. In the alley to his left, a young couple walked towards him, very close to one another. The girl was laughing noisily to some words whispered in her ears by the boy, who tried to hold her like if they were playing some game. When they passed beside him, she fixed her leather jacket and looked at Emiliano eye to eye with a curious gaze. The youngsters soon crossed the street and walked away, and when Imeroni could see no trace of them, he decided that the place was reasonablily safe. He moved towards the hallway, and got in. Even from the stairs, he could hear the first chords of a song he knew well, coming from his friend´s flat:

She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean
She was the best damn woman that I ever seen
She had the sightless eyes, telling me no lies
Knocking me out with those American thights...

Hello, visitor.

Welcome to the Thessalian scrolls. Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring.

At this point of time, I´m sure you think you know what you are reading. If not, please find what this is all about here. But even if you have visited this site before, you must be aware this is not what you can usually find in it.

Today, I will be fulfilling a very old desire, and offer you a new feature: Let me tell you the tale of one of the most recent and astonishing decks that have shown up in the environment. One that raised the political tactics of the kindred to the highest peak the last year and a half. A fast machine with the motor clean.

I am talking, of course, about the Infernal Princes of Anarchy.

I will delve on the composition of the deck, from the beginning in autum 2021, to the newest versions, seen among the tournament winning decks. Also, I will talk about the players that used it, and the events where it shined. This is quite a different issue of this blog, but I hope it is not the last of its kind.

Also, last week we were celebrating the anniversary of the publication of Dracula, the novel by Bram Stoker. To honor that deed, I will harness this chance to also call for a small contest I will explain at the end of this article. And I will decorate it with what I think are some interesting prizes.

But first, let´s continue the story...

- Hello, Emiliano. I´m glad you could come. You know you are always welcome to my place.

Van Stappen said the truth: his guest could be ruthless and dangerous, but they had always been in good relationship. Friendship among beings like them was, at best, a complicated thing, but as far as he knew, no harm should come from Imeroni. He waved his hand, inviting his guest to enter.

- Thank you for hosting me, Bram. Again.

As always, they could not avoid some formality in their greeting words, probably due to the fact that they first met in a time when politeness was far more relevant. 

- I can see you keep listening to some of the old songs.

Van Stappen smiled. He had not realized that the vinyl record was still playing:

Taking more than her share, had me fighting for air
She told me to come, but I was already there
Cause the walls started shaking, the Earth was quaking
My mind was aching, and we were making it...

- Oh, yes. This particular one is quite often in my mind, lately. They have inspired my last creation. The song, and the girl.

- Arishat.- answered Imeroni. 

- Precisely.

- You have been playing bait and switch with her for a while.

Imeroni could be talking about the actual woman or the tool inspired by her, but Van Stappen ignored the dual sense in his guest´s words. He answered without hesitation:

- Yes, but now I have designed something able to dismantle even the most organized resistance. This beauty can disarm even the hardest table.

- What´s that? Threats? - said Imeroni with a slight but friendly smile.

- Call it precognition - answered Van Stappen in a similar mood.

They both kept silent for a short while. Bram was the first to talk:

- And what did you bring?

- Nothing impressive, I´m afraid - answered his friend. -If their fame is true, I am sure our french guests will defeat me with ease. 

- I see.

Imeroni had a feeling on what Bram had told him. After a short pause, he made a proposal:

- What if I use your new creation? 

Stappen hesitated, but only for a second:

- Well, why not? The showdown is tomorrow, and I had no time for a field training. Try it tonight, and tell me what you think.

He looked towards the door as if he had heard the doorbell.

- Now, let´s get ready. Something tells me the french crew is about to come. 

If you are not careful here, you can be swallowed by the night

INFERNAL PRINCES OF ANARCHY

The above tale is my narration on the birth of the archetype, based on the story that was kindly related to me by the protagonists. The night before the Nationals, while they were hosting a group of french players in the pre-event testing rounds, Emiliano piloted the new deck with skill, and swept over a table full of good decks and hard players.

Realizing the power that he had in his hands, he asked Bram if he would lend him the deck for the Nationals, and Stappen agreed in a generous movement, even when he had thought on playing it himself. Imeroni went to the tournament with it, and then and there, began quite a succesful story.

The crypt.

The original version of the deck laid the foundation of the crypt composition for a long time. It consisted of three copies of Arishat, and nine copies of other different voting minions (barons and princes) featuring the main disciplines used: obfuscate and, if possible, presence (though at the time, this last one was not available in many of them).

The list included: Alice Chen (Ven,7), Benjamin Rose (Nos, 7), Graham Gottesman (Ven,7), Karen Suadela (Bru,7), Andi Liu (Mal, 6) Belinde (Nos,6), Benedito, a lanterna (Nos,6), Donny Kovalczik (Mal,6), and Jacques Rouge (Nos, 6). 

Average crypt capacity was 6,33.

This crypt featured 6 vampires with superior obfuscate and 6 with the inferior version. Let´s say 18 points of obf.

About presence, 4 vampires had it at superior level, and 4 at inferior. 12 points total.

With so many different voters, the crypt seems designed to keep on transfering influence for the whole game (or at least a good part of it), and bring more and more different vampires to play. And the library section includes some tools to keep the amount of pool at a safe range (apart from the 6 pool you win everytime you manage to defeat a prey).

The library.

The original composition of the deck can be checked here. It was Bram´s idea and implementation, and he called it the Infernal Princes of Anarchy. After a few adjunstments that night, it has remained mostly similar in the different versions that were played after, until quite recently. I will try to analyze the composition, and highlight some facts that caught my attention.

First of all, the total of cards was 62. Almost the minimum allowed. A thin deck enabling the staples to show up quite fast. 9 Ashur tablets provided an excellent card recursion and avoided the deck from running out of fuel. If you complete two cycles you will have been able to re-use 40% of the deck. If you manage to play all 9 tablets, the total will rise to more  than 60% of your cards being recycled. Apart from that, of course, they gave some extra pool and helped the ability to influence more and more minions.

But let´s go step by step. In the master section we have the following 23 cards:

9 x Ashur Tablets

1 x The Coven

1 x Creepshow Casino

3 x Dreams of the Sphinx

1 x Giant´s blood

4 x Information Highway

3 x The Parthenon

1 x Protected Resources

Master cards are more than one third of the deck, but the 3 x Partenon shine and are supposed to appear quickly in such a thin collection. 3 x Dreams of the Sphinx is also high on 62 cards, but the advantages it brings are too good in this deck (and in any other indeed):

- card drawing helps a lot in an aggressive strategy.

- there are several copies of unique cards to discard if you have already played one (Partenon, Information Highway, another Dreams of the Sphynx).

- crypt acceleration at the beginning of the show helps the deck to be the fast machine intended.

To this end, also, we find 4 x Information Highway, and a good chance to draw one quite soon. And even if it does not show on the first few turns, it will be useful in the mid-game, as you will probably want to keep influencing.

The political section delivers the killing power of the deck, with the following cards selected:

1 x Ancilla Empowerment

3 x Kine Resources Contested

1 x Neonate Breach

8 x Parity Shift

4 x Reckless Agitation

1 x Rumors of Gehenna

The Parity Shifts are the stars in this deck (with permission of Ashur Tablets), as they also perform a double duty by reducing your enemies pool and keeping the crypt moving, and your minion count growing, Neonate breach was a las time adition that got into de deck after the first testing games, the night before the event, and is an excellent tool to enhance your capability to influence the whole table (which is already high in such a political deck). 

To allow those political actions to pass, the stealth package was also carefully tuned by Bram, and even slightly tinkered that gaming night:

1 x Creepshow Casino (master)

1 x Faceless Night

5 x Forgotten Labyrinth

2 x Lost in Crowds

2 x Perfect Paragon

Forgotten Labyrinth was a staple here, as the deck will not need to bleed except in very rare occasions. I did not mention it, but yes, you will be avoiding all those nasty redirections.

What we have seen so far is an efficient machine designed to kill. But the power the deck displays comes with a high cost in blood. Vampires run the risk to get rapidly depleted with cards like Forgotten Labyrinth, Reckless Agitation, Perfect Paragon or Majesty, and also by Arishat´s ability. In fact, as reported by Emiliano, the only game he could not win in the tournament was due to this issue, as he used the remaining blood in Arishat to play a Reckless Agitation, and unfortunately she was not able to cancel the votes of a circumspect Lutz. The deck included some tools to avoid this situations:

1 x The Coven (master)

1x Giant´s Blood (master)

2 x Voter Captivation

It may seem a little short, but I bet Voter Captivation is one of the cards you feel tempted to recover (even to your hand), when you get the third Ashur Tablets in play.

And on the defense side, the deck included some cards, not a lot of them, but very efficient:

1 x Protected Resources (master)

1 x Unleash Hell´s fury

2 x Second Tradition: Domain

The Unleash Hell´s Fury was suggested by Emiliano, again the night before the event, and has proved to be a very good idea. Not only its sheer effect, but also the psychological impact on the other methuselahs is awesome.

I did not list all the cards, but you can see the complete set in the link I provided. So, we find an extremely sharp deck with two main strategies: aggressive vote and pool gain. I would highlight the cards that are able to serve two different purposes, like Ashur Tablets, Dreams of the Sphynx, Perfect Paragon, Voter Captivation and Parity Shift. Along with them, there are some cards that are single-purpose, but are "the best in what they do", like Giant´s Blood, Information Highway, Bewitching Oration, Forgotten Labyrinth and Reckless Agitation.

The main weakness I can see is the lack of redirection ability and , in general, a slightly weak defense. This may cause problems when facing a stealthy and aggressive predator. Not that they will be able to kill the deck with ease, but a consistent bleeding can cause the flow of minions to be halted or slowed down, and in a heavy voting table, that issue may be a problem. 

HISTORY AND EVOLUTION.

From its first appearance in Brussels, many players have realized the power and energy of this archetype, and quite soon it began to appear in the records of various tournaments. The first successful versions showed little variance with the original composition, and even after the initial surprise effect had vanished, it kept being a reliable tool both in regular events and in highly populated tournaments. I will talk of the several variations I found of the archetype among the Twds listed in the Instagram of El Setita Loco, who makes a priceless work publishing decks. I hope he knows I am more thankful than I can write.

Like I told already, the first appearance was November the 6th, at the 2021 Belgian National Championship, and piloted by Emiliano Imeroni with the original composition. It got to win over 17 fierce and proficient players that day, earning three games out of four, including the second round (where he had the difficult task of defeating the very deck creator), and the final.

The next record I found of the deck was, suprisingly, in Finland. Only 15 days after the dèbut, Tommi Hakomaa was able to reach the finals in the Finnish National Championship in Espoo, where 53 participants attended the contest. Bram himself had generously provided him the list, when Tommy asked for advice. Hakomaa´s version reduced the number of Ashur Tablets to six, while increased some other tools like Protected Resurces, Forgotten Labyrinth or KRC. He also introduced Fragment of the Book of Nod, and Wider View. Tommy played the deck without testing, and in his own words, he enjoyed the good chances it bringed to cause damage quite soon in a game, and to influence the whole table. 

One week later, on November 27th, Bram himself traveled to Alicante, Spain, for the Spanish NC. In a hard working day in a tournament with 106 players, he managed to get into the final round. Three relevant tournaments with the deck in the finals in 21 days, showing what an efficient and accurate meta choice the deck was. At this point, a star was born. Again, variations were scarce, giving us an idea on how the deck was already close-fitting. But some variations that could be seen in Tommy´s deck, were adopted by Bram and have remained as a staple, even in the modern versions: KRCs where fixed at 4, Forgotten Labyrinth came to be 6, Unleash Hell´s Fury raised to 2 copies, and Bewitching Oration was left aside.

Not even a month had passed, and the archetype shined again. Oriol Pubill piloted it with skill, to the finals of the La Marató event in Barcelona, with 35 players, on 19/12/21. He introduced Last Stand as a novelty, gaining the option to make some impressive moves now and then. His version here.

Oriol himself achieved another success with the archetype a few months later (just one year ago). It was at the Spanish NC in Zaragoza in June the 4th 2022, with 136 players. This time, he had introduced some more variations, by lowering the count of Ashur Tablets to 6, making some other slight changes, and reducing the deck to 60 cards. It proved to be a good idea, as he managed to get into the final table. He was able to introduce also a significant variance in the Crypt with Elisha Tucker and Warmaksan in the place of Donny Kovalczik and Benedito, a Lanterna. 

Besides being a successful player, Oriol is the manager of BCN Crisis, a portal for tournament management and other useful stuff related to VTES. And he has recently begun a Youtube channel, introducing in his first video a very detailed and comprehensive guide, precisely to this very deck. I recommend watching it if you want to learn how to build it and, more important, how to play with it. You can find it here.

The deck crossed the Atlantic ocean, and it´s next appearance was in Santiago de Chile on the Rainy Winter event, held on July, the 16th. The name was not ironic, considering it was held way south. Gino Sepulveda was able to beat 12 rivals and got another win for the Infernal Princes of Anarchy. His crypt was a little less widespread, with two copies of some of the princes. He also introduced Atiena, and some library innovations like Cryptic Rider. Interesting.

A few months later, we can see the archetype winning again an event in America. This time (18/12/2022), the Festivo de fim de ano in Capina Grande, Brazil, with 10 participants. The staples of the deck are not changing, but there are some adjustments towards defense (3 x Unleash, 7 x Majesty). Joao Rogerio Barbosa da Silva chose a more widespread array of options, with 73 cards in the deck. 

A few months later, we can find a TWD that could be considered an offspring of the original archetype; It sounds like it, but introduces a very different approach. It´s Davide Antoni´s version, played on Genoa, Italy, on the 12th of March this year. He got to win the Italian Tour event with 25 participants. The deck he used had a different composition in the crypt, with only 3 companions for Arishat. And the library probably answers to the needs of a more complex political scene, that shows a lot more votes in many decks. It lets the Ashur Tablets aside, and the Parity Shifts too (the number of princes is quite shorter), and relies on other tools to gain pool (Vessel, Villein, more copies of Voter Captivation). Also, it reinforces the voting section with Condemnation: mute and more Bewitching Orations, and gains redirection ability with Bait and Switch. It´s a wider deck (90) that focuses on some of the staples of the original, but has quite a different playstyle.

David Tomasetti took his chance in the Spanish Nationals in 2023, against 146 participants. Yes, it seems like the finals in Spain NC are not the same without Arishat: three times in a row! This version was played in Sevilla, in March the 25th, and got to the final table. It featured a new partner for the infernalist lady, one that I presume we are going to see quite often in the future: Scout Youngwood. She allowed to incorporate Lily Prelude and forget about the princes part of the deck´s name. David probably had the accurate feeling that the deck needed more defense against bleed in such a large tournament, and so he packed 8 Protected Resources. He also included 12 voter captivation in a widespread list with 90 cards.

It struck me that, on the very same day, another version, introducing again Condemnation: Mute, and Bait and Switch, reached the final victory over 15 methuselahs in Vidor, USA, in the hands of Karl Schaefer. It featured 73 cards, and was a proof of the ability of the archetype to adapt to different meta situations, when brilliant minds get to work on it.

Finally, the last report of a TWD with this archetype I could find, was in Ciudad de Mexico, on April 16th, where Edgar David Caudillo got to defeat all his 12 rivals, and seize victory whith his version. He focused on enhancing his voting ability and reduced the number of cards comparing with the latest versions, down to 67. 

Those are the records I have for twds and tfds. But I am sure there are more versions and new additions explored in other decks that are successful, but did not reach the public scrutiny. In my play area, Metropolitan Madrid, the great (in the game and out f it) Jorge Martín achieved beautiful results with his own version of the deck, reaching 13th out of 136 in NC 2022, and 7th out of 146 in NC 2023. And even that is not the most important  part, but the fact that (in his own words), he enjoys like a child would, when playing the deck. In game, he loves the ability to hurt your rivals pretty soon, and to influence the whole table attacking anywhere, anytime. His version is deeply linked to the origins of the archetype, and includes interesting personal aditions like Contagion and Meddling of Semsith.

I am sure there are many other players that have felt satisfied with the flow of this deck, and have a lot to say about it. I could not talk to all of them, but I would be glad to receive any news or stories. 

THE CONTEST

As I said before, and probably you already knew, last week (May 26th) we enjoyed the anniversary of the first release of Dracula by Bram Stoker. To celebrate, I will now call for a small contest, and anyone who is reading this can join in.

In my tales in this very issue, I have included several VTES card names. Probably you noticed some. But did you find all of them?

Tell me which ones you found. They must be cards from any VTES publication, that are included in this entry with the matching name, and are written in cursive.

Remember: only cursive words are involved. As I was talking about a particular deck, I have introduced many other card names, but they are not part of the contest. Only the cursive ones. 

I will be happy to offer two prices, and agree a way to deliver to the winners at no cost. The two prizes will be: 

- One, for the person who writes me with the largest list of cards included. In case of a tie, the first one to arrive will win.

- And a second prize that will be randomly raffled among all participants.

These two people will be able to choose among the following prizes:

- Two copies of Kuyen promo card.

- One copy of Kalinda (crypt 6, spanish version), signed by artist Maria Loren.

- One copy of Jacques Rouge (english version), signed by artist Carmen Cornet.

- One copy of Charisma (english version) promo card.

- 15 sleeves featuring Theo Bell.

The person who wins the first prize will choose first, and then the winner of the raffle will choose among the remaining prizes.

You can send your answers to pritoosthethessalian@gmail.com. I will be happy to send photos of the prizes before you get to choose.

Final date for receiving emails will be Sunday the 25th of June, which happens to be my birthday. 

That´s it. Let this be my clumsy attempt to honor this archetype and the good players who used it. I hope we will see more of these decks in the future. In my opinion, the archetype is as consolidated as can be, and will be with us for a long time. I am eager to hear about the next chapter of this story, that does not seem to end here...

Some underbridge stray was howling somewhere in the docks near Schaarbeek. A desperate hunger could be felt through that pitiful sound. A hunger quite like the one he was beginning to harbour himself, under the skin.

No, I am not so desperate yet -he said to himself while he walked round the streets without a clear destination-. I will quench my thirst and then I will be ready.

Ready for what?

His inner talk continued and, as usual, he was not indulgent with himself. He tried to give an answer to that question, but all he could think was trivial, short-term achievements.

He then remembered the last news he had heard from his most trusted procurer, who told him about Mexico. He smiled when he recalled all the deeds that had been attained with the tool he had designed: USA, Brazil, Spain, Chile, Italy, Finland... 

Ready for what?

The question was still hanging in the shroud of night. But after many months of winding thoughts, Van Stappen finally had found an answer:

Ready for the Jyhad.