Tuesday morning was this weeks Vampire Wednesday morning!
It threw out my usual weekly routine of doing the weekly shop on a Tuesday morning. But sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. And that greater good was I needed a break. Especially after having to miss the club night last Friday.
This weeks Rivals game would be a three player game.
Our third player was a friend of Diego’s Peet. He had never played the game before. But had done his homework and watched some of the how to play videos on YouTube.
This is how the clans broke down for the game:
- Brujah – Peet (rival me)
- Ventrue – me (rival Diego)
- Malkavian – Diego (rival Peet)
As you can see from the fact I played Ventrue, that I continued to work my way through the core set clans. I just need to try Malkavian (so Diego won’t be playing them again next session). After that I’d like to try some deck construction using the core set, before trying the two clans in the Blood & Alchemy expansion.
Diego wanted to try the Malkavians in multiplayer to see if they worked better than in a two player game. And Peet got Brujah because they are a easier deck to pilot for a first game.
The Victor 
I think one of the hurdles for new players to a card game like Rivals, and this is so true in something like Android Netrunner is learning the terminology.
In Rivals it’s things like Haven, Torpor and Coterie. Netrunner it was such terms as clicks, runs, and ice.
Unlike Diego who has played in the World of Darkness in years gone past. Rivals is my first time experiencing this world. I have no allegiance to a particular clan. At the moment my decision process is based on do they look cool, and mechanically/tactically do they fit with play styles I like?
At the start of our game Peet warned us that he’s a competitive player. Sadly he didn’t play the Brujah deck aggressively enough. Which allowed Diego and myself to get our slower decks going.
Agenda wise I was in the lead. I had two titles attached to two vampires. Boosted my havens secrecy to 2. Had a vagrant attached to my leader. I was ready for the appearance of an S.A.D. Agents in the street.
Peet finally started to attack my leader. Which I was more than able to handle. However he left one of his vampires open to attack from Diego. Which was enough of an opening for Diego to drain Peet’s remaining prestige whilst attacking that vulnerable vampire. And that gave Diego the win.
It was a fun game. I need to look at the Ventrue deck and see what cards are there, and the synergies. I would like to have hit more titles and have more ways to gain extra prestige. Which it might have and I just didn’t draw into them.