Results "Ralf’s B-Day" Tournament in Mayence, Germany

Here are the results of the “Ralf’s B-Day” VtES Constructed tournament in Mayence, Germany which was played on July 30th, 2011 with 12 players attending. The final standings after 2 rounds and the final were as follows:

1. Rudolf G. (GER) — 1 GW 4.5 VP — 1.5 VP — Pre/Dom Tap&Bleed w/ Ashur Tech
2. Joscha D. (GER) — 1 GW 4.5 VP — 1.5 VP — Tremere Antitribu feat. Valerius Wallish Toolbox
2. Kristian W. (GER) — 1 GW 3 VP — 1 VP — Malkavian antitribu S&B
2. Anja P. (GER) — 1 GW 4 VP — 0 VP —Pro/Dom Bleed
2. Liam M. (CAN) — 0 GW 2.5 VP — 0 VP — Gangrel antitribu Anarch Vote

Congratulations to Rudolf for his victory in the tournament.

Did you know, that … (Part 70)

.. that if a vampire you control hits the opposing vampire just for one damage (e.g. by handstrike) and your vampire was hit by Theft of Vitae, the vampire you control can still play Disarm (which requires you inflict more damage than the opposing vampire).

This is because strikes stealing blood (like Theft of Vitae) are not considered a damage dealing strike, and therefore I though your vampire lost more blood than the opposing vampire, your vampire still inflicted more damage.

Props to CryWolf for the hint.

VtES History: White Wolf Announces V:TES 3rd Edition set

The Sabbat Return to Wreak Havoc in Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Third Edition

Vampires are far superior to mere mortals. So why hide within mortal society when all a mortal’s worth is as food? Vampires of the Sabbat refuse to lurk only in the shadows, and in doing so they stand against the Camarilla, so-called civilized vampires, who play games fit only for mortals. The Sabbat do not play games. Instead, they engage in an eternal struggle for their own freedom, even from one another.

The Sabbat return to wreak havoc in the next base set, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Third Edition.

The set includes:

• Over 100 new cards
• Reprints of necessary cards with new art!
• Starter decks for the Malkavian Antitribu, Brujah Antitribu, Tremere Antitribu, and Tzimisce.
• Added draft functionality on many of the cards.

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle celebrates its twelfth anniversary this year. Designed by Richard Garfield, designer of Magic: The Gathering®, VTES allows players to pit clans of vampires against one another in a mix of intrigue and action.

The launch of this third edition set is a great starting point for new players. If you have never experienced the fun and excitement of strategic collectible card games, now is the time to jump in.

VtES Trifles (Part 4)

The Nights of Reckoning expansion contained so-called rules cards. Each NoR booster also contained one rules cards (from a set of five rules cards) describing the new rules for the set. For added use in draft or sealed play, each rules card also doubled as a library card as indicated on the card when turned upside down.

Initially these cards were not allowed as part of decks in constructed tournaments. But after some discussion in the VtES Usenet Newsgroup, a month after the initial release of Nights of Reckoning (on May 10th, 2006), the rules cards became legal for all V:EKN tournaments, both constructed and limited.

Reference: Nights of Reckoning rules cards.

Memorable Quotes (Part 119)

“In the end the card [Pentex Subversion] costs hefty two pool, wants to be protected and is not a Trifle, which again increases the cost, one could even style this card as female, especially with the (given) effect, but I disgress.” — blueporky in discussion on Pentex Subversion in the German VtES Forum.

Announcement Finnish EC Qualifier 2011

The Finnish VtES EC Qualifier 2011 will take place in Espoo, Finland on July 29th, 2011. Here are the details for this constructed tournament (and other VtES events during RopeCon 2011).

Format:

• Standard Constructed. Detailed rules can be found on the VEKN tournament rules webpage.

Time:

• Friday, July 29th, 2011 — Qualifier Tournament
  • Registration: Starts around 16:00 h and ends 17:30 h
  • Start first round: 18:00 h
  • Expected end: in the wee hours of the morning
• Saturday, July 24th, 2010 — Draft Tournament
  • exact schedule TBD
• Sunday, July 25th, 2010 — Create-A-Clan Tournament
  • exact schedule TBD (Create-A-Clan rules)

Location:

• Ropecon 2011
  Dipoli Convention Center
  Espoo, Finland

Round system:

• 3 rounds, plus final (time limit: 2 h each)

Entrance fee:

• Free, but RopeCon entry fee is required.

You can find the original information in the VtES Usenet Newsgroup. More information will appear at http://vtes.orava.org.

Results Spanish EC Qualifier (II) 2011

On July 17th, 2011 the Spanish VtES EC Qualifier was held in Badia del Vallès (Barcelona), Spain with 62 players attending the qualifier tournament. The final standings after 3 rounds and the final were as follows:

1. Genis Prats (ESP) — 2 GW 8.5 VP — 0.5 VP — Assamite Auspex
2. Noel Giménez (ESP) — 2 GW 8.5 VP — 0.5 VP — Black?
2. Alejandro Rodriguez (ESP) — 2 GW 8.5 VP — 0.5 VP — Aksinya/Nana/Cybele
2. Federico Gómez Cucchiararo (ESP) — 2 GW 8 VP — 0.5 VP — Weenie Animalism
2. David Martin (ESP) — 2 GW 8 VP — 0.5 VP — Tha/For/Aus/Dom

Congratulations to Genis for winning the second Spanish ECQ 2011. You can find the final standings as well as the tournament winning deck on the VEKN.net.

Results French EC Qualifier (South) 2011

On June 26th, 2011 the second VtES French EC Qualifier was held in Toulouse, France with 15 players attending the qualifier tournament. The final standings after 3 rounds and the final were as follows:

1. Jérôme Schwartz (FRA)– 2 VP — Weenie Dominate
2. Yohan Allouche (FRA)– 2 VP — Ravnos feat. Gabrin Wall
2. Roch Fruhling (FRA)– 1 VP — Malkavian antitribu S&B
2. Nicolas Lourmières (FRA)– 0 VP — Weenie Presence Vote
2. Julien Leborgne (FRA)– 0 VP — Weenie Protean Renegade Garou

Congratulations to Jérôme for winning the French ECQ (South) 2011.

VtES Rules: "Andre LeRoux" Q&A

Lately a number of questions came up in our playgroup regarding Andre LeRoux, so here’s a short “Questions and Answers summary for this crypt card. Most of the information is taken from the VtES Usenet Newsgroup “rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad“. The key for understanding most rulings is that Andre’s special ability is used when the bleed is successful, which is the same time windows Spying Mission is played/used.

Question: If another vampire is bleeding for one, can I use Andre’s special ability at all? In the end, if the bleed is reduced by one, the action was not successful in the first place.
Answer: Yes, you can. The bleed is considered successful, even though the bleed is later reduced to zero. But since the vampire didn’t remove any pool during the action, the Edge is not awarded for the bleed action.

Question: Can Andre LeRoux use his ability more than once per action, for example twice, when the bleed by the other vampire is for two?
Answer: No, Andre can’t. The special ability follows the “during X, do Y” template, which limits the use of the ability to once per bleed.

Question: Can Andre LeRoux use his special ability on himself, that is effectively bleeding for two?
Answer: Yes. There’s no indication in his card text which limits the use of the ability to other vampires.

Question: Can I use Andre’s special ability on a bleed for 4 of another vampire before the targeted player has an opportunity to play Archon Investigation?
Answer: No, you can’t prevent the other player playing Archon Investigation. Archon Investigation is played when an attempt to bleed for four or more is made, and Andre’s special can only be used when the bleed is successful (which is later in time, of course).

Question: If a vampire bleeds using Night Moves and increases the bleed for 1 (or more), and Andre uses his special ability to reduce the bleed by one, is the resulting bleed for zero or one?
Answer: The bleed is still for one. Night Moves does reduce the bleed per se, but limits the bleed to one.

Question: If Andre bleeds for three (e.g. by having his special ability earlier), can he use his special ability on himself to bleed for four while he’s safe from the targeted player playing Archon Investigation?
Answer: Yes, he’s save from the targeted player playing Archon Investigation, since when Andre is using his ability, the bleed is already successful and it’s too late This is the same argument why you can’t play Archon Investigation against a bleed which has been increased beyond three via Spying Mission.

References:

• Basic questions.
• Andre Leroux’s special ability vs. Archon Investigation.
• Andre Leroux’s special ability vs. Night Moves.
• Andre using his ability on himself.

This Is Not A Spelling Bee Contest

After the latest incident during our bi-weekly VtES league games, one of our players came up with a daring proposal for a rules change, which I can only only wholeheartedly support:

If you can’t spell it, you can’t play it.

So let’s go, and never again be forced to play cards like Ohoyo Hopoksia (Bastet), Mayaparisatya, or Karavalanisha Vrana.

Did you know, that … (Part 69)

.. that you still have to pay the full blood/pool cost when recruiting an ally (or employing a retainer) using Piper by tappping an Anarch vampire with Charisma? The reason for this is that Charisma lowers the cost for a recruiting action, and using Piper is not considered an action as per card text of Piper.

Reference: VtES Usenet Newsgroup

VtES Trifles (Part 3)

Some basic (and mostly randomly collected) numbers on Vampire: the Eternal Struggle(VtES).

• A VtES card is approximately 63 x 88 mm in size (same as a Magic: the Gathering card).
• VtESconsists of the following types of editions (25 in total):
  • 6 base sets (VtES, Jyhad, Sabbat Wars, Camarilla, Third Edition, Keepers of Tradition)
  • 12 expansions
  • 4 mini-expansions (expansions with 60 cards)
  • 3 special editions (10th Anniversary, Players Kit, Blood Shadowed Courts)
• There are ..
  • 1370 different crypt cards in total (although it is debatable how Raven/Camille Devereux is counted).
  • 2136 different library cards in total.
  • 78 different promo cards.
• The “standard” booster contains 7 common, 3 uncommon/vampire and 1 rare cards.
• The “standard” starter contains 77 library cards and 12 crypt cards.
• The largest boosters are the Sabbat boosters with 28 cards, consisting of 16 Commons, 5 Vampires, 5 Uncommons, 2 Rares
• The base set/expansion with the highest number of new cards is the Jyhad with 437 cards.
• The base set/expansion with the highest number of reprinted cards is Vampire: the Eternal Struggle with 430 cards.
• The base set/expansion with the least number of new cards isVampire the Eternal Struggle with 6 cards.
• There are several expansions (including Jyhad, of course) with no reprinted cards.
• The longest time between release of any two editions is 4 years 3 days (Sabbat to Sabbat War).
• The shortest time between any two editions is 1 month 12 days (Blood Shadowed Court to Twilight Rebellion).

If you have any more (excluding those relating to card info (like number of clans, highest pool cost for a cards, etc.)) please let me know (using the Comment function below).

Memorable Quotes (Part 118)

“What do you want your average turn to look like?”
“Predator devastated, prey ousted. Or, two allies recruited, and a bleed or two. ” — Lasombra on how his deck is going to function ..

Reference: VtES Usenet Newsgroup.

8 Simple Rules For Playing VtES

There are some ground rules I want to lay down before you starting play a game of VtES wi.. against me:

1. Try to get the Edge from me and I’ll make sure you’ll lose it after.
2. You make me lose pool, I’ll make you lose pool.
3. Cross-table buddies are a myth. Anything you try against me will be hazardous to your pool or the health of your minions.
4. Break a deal, then there’s no next deal.
5. If you bleed me, you better expect to be bounced, because you’re sure not bleeding me for 8.
6. No complaining while you’re waiting during my turn. If you’re bored, count the cards in your hand.
7. If you flip your cards all over the table, I’ll gladly secure them with my staple gun.
8. Games must be played with four or five players. You want three players? Go play Dominion!

Did you know, that … (Part 68)

.. that the card text of Mind Rape changed in a significant way from the Sabbat War to the latest Keepers of Tradition version? The Keepers version has an added clause, “you still control the card“. In the past, while the Mind Rape was still on a targeted vampire, and the player who played the card was ousted, the card stayed in play. That meant, that this vampire would never untap (as normal) during the untap phase, since Mind Rape would not burn anymore during the game. With that new clause, the card leaves play as soon as the player (who played it originally) is ousted, since he still controls the card when is he about to be ousted.

VtES History: Nights of Reckoning

Posted on the White Wolf website on January 11th, 2006:

Nights of Reckoning — Coming April 2006

Those Who Hunt the Hunters. Vampires rule the night, but now Mortals imbued with the power to strike back enter the fray… Nights of Reckoning is a booster-only set of 60 cards, themed on the mortal monster-hunters which includes 20 Hunter crypt cards, that can be used to build all-mortal decks or alongside vampires in standard decks.

Sasabonsam

When I was evaluating the usefulness of the Asanbosam Ghoul in a VtES deck, I wanted to know about the mythological background of this creature. And from Wikipedia I got this information, I wanted to share:

Asanbosam

The Sasabonsam is a vampire-like folkloric being from West Africa. It belongs to the folklore of the Ashanti of southern Ghana, as well as Côte d’Ivoire and Togo. It is said to have iron teeth and iron hooks for feet and to live in trees, attacking from above.

In mythology, it is usually portrayed as an archetypical ogre: according to “A Dictionary of World Mythology“,

…the hairy Sasabonsam has large blood-shot eyes, long legs, and feet pointing both ways. Its favourite trick is to sit on the high branches of a tree and dangle its legs so as to entangle the unwary hunter.

Both Ogre and Vampire version have iron teeth.

Memorable Quotes (Part 117)

“If you have ever played with or against a goblin deck, you know that enough stupid beings put together can be a force to be reckoned with.” — Oni Kadaki (MtG player)

Reference: MtG Salvation forum.

Bochum VtES League 2011: July 1st

Here are the decks of the Bochum VtES League 2011 from the meeting on July 1st, 2011 (the next prey is from top to bottom).

Didi (without picture of his play area) played a variant of the Order 66 (I think) deck. As a start player he was stuck to one transfer, and therefore decided to bring up Dmitra first, and quite some time later Mistress Fanchon as well. But without any means of retrieving the blood (read: Villein), he was ousted more (or less) easily by Michael. His final downfall was a Deflection that was canceled by Veil of Darkness. If he had managed to stay in the game (that round 6), he would have had quite a good chance of ousting his prey himself.

Left: Sascha played his Assamite Black Hand Contract deck. Sascha’s first impact on the game was a DeflectionTension in the Ranks, which affected the whole table for a long time, but mostly his prey and grandprey. Like Didi, he also had a slow start, and initially couldn’t decided to give the first Hand Contract to either his prey or predator. The Hand Contract landed on Dmitra, which still was allowed to bleed to for one with Flurry of Action, and she even helped Sascha when she used a Neonate Breach on his prey (Hardy). Slow, but constant pressure pressure (and also a little help from Ralf by killing some of Hardy’s minions), gave Sascha eventually his first VP. Most interestingly Hardy was also ousted by bleed that failed to be bounced due Veil of Darkness‘s effect. But then he was stopped by the Unmasking and the Asanbonsam Ghouls even though Ralf (his next prey) was quite low on pool, since Sascha’s deck is not running that much stealth.

Left: Hardy resorted to play his Giovanni Khazars Diary again, which is well known in our playgroup and much feared as well. Initially it didn’t look too bad for Hardy, he brought out three Giovanni in quick succession and recruited a few allies, but when he was near of completing the Diary, he ran out of stealth to bypass Ralf’s allies. Thinks become worse when one of Ralf’s War Ghoul trapped Carlton van Wyk and Ralf himself recruited the traitorous Carlton. In addition he was constantly losing pool due the Tension in the Ranks and by some random bleeds from Sascha. So in turn 9, he was ousted by Sascha, and wasn’t able to put single wraith into play during the whole game, even though he’d finally managed to put the seventh counter on Khazar’s Diary two or three rounds before.

Left: Ralf played the same Anarch Piper War Ghoul deck he played a week ago in Gelsenkirchen as well. Ralf had a reasonable start and could put an Asanbonsam Ghoul and a War Ghoul in play very soon, but applied almost no pressure on his prey for a good part of the game, because he wanted to keep the necromancers behind him in check. So only very late in the game, when had his predator under control and when a second War Ghoul came into play he was able to hit his prey hard (torporizing Francois Villon and depriving one of the Daughters of her blood), but it was too late a score a full VP.

Left: For another time a non-standard was used by Michael. He used one of Lasombra’s deck (intented for use during Origins) as template for his own variation. The deck is rather toolboxy deck with some votes, some block (via 2nd Tradition) and some forward momentum using the votes and Shattering Crescendo. Initially Michael could make Yseult pass a Kine Resource Contested (or something like that) before Dimitra showed up (for which Yseult was promptly banished). Even though that slowed Michael somewhat ,he was slowly nibbling at Didi’s pool with Francois Villon and a newly influenced Yseult and since didn’t draw any Villein, he was ousted very soon (turn 6). Even though he still felt not pressure from his predator, he couldn’t apply the pressure in his prey to oust him, and after Sascha ousted Hardy the window of opportunity had closed forever.

Result: Michael 1.5 VP, Sascha 1.5 VP and Ralf 0.5 VP.

Most Valuable Cards: Tension in the Ranks and Veil of Darkness.

Madness? This is the Internet!

Once again, the internet shows an interesting formation of price for a VtES product:

Top Ten Viewed TWDs on Secret Library

This is the list of the most viewed tournament winning decks on Secret Library as of July 5th, 2011:

Pos.	Deck	Creator	Created	Views
1.	EC 2010 Day 2: 17 Wakes	Brian Moritz	Oct 31, 2010	1004
2.	And the Gehenna, when it gonna be?: Burst of Rotschreck	Alberto Muñoz (Shinji)	Feb 23, 2008	671
3.	Drink New Blood: Vidal the Trickster	Jörg Alten	Oct 23, 2010	467
4.	And So It Begins… Blood Vacuum	Rob Thompson	Sep 25, 2005	464
5.	Abyssal Hunter: Atlanta: Tremere Group 3/4 Bruise and bleed	John Newquist (Witness1)	Jan 15, 2006	453
6.	Australian 2010 Continental Championship: The Beautiful People 2.0	Jason Ryan	Jun 13, 2010	430
7.	US National Championship 2010: Father to be	Jay Kristoff	Jun 25, 2010	425
8.	Reliquary: Akunanse Remains: Ravnos Sensory Nightmare	Michael Streatfield	Feb 27, 2007	424
9.	Blood of Sandman: Greyskull	Felipe Fiuza	Jan 23, 2010	407
10.	Michigan GLQ 2010: Ivan’s Shilmulo Tarot	David Wilson	Aug 22, 2010	394

Music for the .. Clans (Part I)

Some people (including myself) have a certain image (literally and figurative) in their head when thing of the specific vampire clan. So here’s some music, I find quite fitting for the respective Camarilla clan ..

• “Paint in Black” by Rolling Stones — Brujah

• “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf — Gangrel

• “Satan gave me a Taco”” by Beck— Malkavian

• “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” by Edith Piaf — Nosferatu

• “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zepplin — Toreador

• “Lift me up” by Moby — Tremere

• “Requiem” (Offertium) by Mozart — Ventrue

More to come for the Sabbat clans ..

VEKN Announces New Rules Director

Official V:TES Players’ Organization Selects New Rules Director

Paris, France — July 6, 2011 — Vampire: Elder Kindred Network has selected Pascal Bertrand as its new Rules Director. Pascal began playing Vampire: The Eternal Struggle eight years ago with the Paris playgroup and some of its legendary players. Most recently, Pascal has been serving the player community through his role as the National Coordinator for France, answering rules questions on a regional level and by judging large tournaments including the 172-player Last Chance Qualifier at the 2010 European Championship. You can find Pascal on the www.vekn.net website where his rulings will be the one and only official source for V:TES rulings.

Pascal succeeds the venerable L. Scott Johnson who first began his V:TES service by collecting official rulings made on mailing lists and Usenet. Scott went on to become the game’s official rules guru for Wizards of the Coast® and then added Game Designer to his credits when White Wolf selected him to design 19 expansion sets beginning with 2001’s Sabbat War. These days, Scott can be found frequenting the Boardgamegeek.com website including its V:TES forums.

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About Vampire: Elder Kindred Network
Founded in 1997, the Vampire: Elder Kindred Network is the official Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Players’ Organization dedicated to the continued health of V:TES. The V:EKN endeavors to help the game grow in popularity through the embracing of new players as well as through the support of the existing fans.

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About Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
Vampire: The Eternal Struggleis a Deckmaster™ trading card game set in White Wolf’s popular World of Darkness. Created in 1994 by Richard Garfield as the follow-up to his groundbreaking Magic: The Gathering trading card game, V:TES is one of the most enduring games in the genre with fans and organized play events in countries across the globe.

© Vampire: Elder Kindred Network 2011. All rights reserved.
12:12 AM

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Contact:
Robert Goudie
Director of Marketing
Vampire: Elder Kindred Network
Marketing (/at/) VampireTheEternalStruggle (/dot/) com

Results Brazilian National VtES Championship 2011

On June 24th, 2011 the Brazilian National VtES Championship 2011 was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with 26 players attending the tournament. The final standings after 3 rounds and the final were as follows:

1. Fernanda Nunes (BRA) — 2 GW 7 VP — 3 VP — Weenie Presence Vote
2. Filipe Iorio (BRA) — 1 GW 5 VP — 2 VP —
2. Fernando Grossi (BRA) — 2 GW 5.5 VP — 0 VP —
2. Kleber Bertazzo (BRA) — 1 GW 5 VP — 0 VP —
2. Danilo Fernandes (BRA) — 1 GW 5.5 VP — 0 VP —

Congratulations to Fernanda for her win of the Brazilian Nationals 2011. The final standings and the tournament winning deck have been posted in the VEKN.net and photos of the event can found in the Picasa Brazilian Championship 2011 Album.

Deck of the Month: June 2011: Victory in Anarchy

This month’s deck is the “Victory in Anarchy” deck played by Norman S. Brown. during the North American Championship 2011 tournament. Although the deck didn’t win the NAC tournament, it proved its strength by gaining 2 GW 6 VP in the three preliminary rounds. And to quote the NAC winner: “.., Norm had to go because he is too dangerous“.

The deck is a toolbox character, with an emphasis on political actions and combat. The combat part is based disciplineless cards or cards requiring Anarchs, and with Steely Tenacity as perma-rush (or -bleed) action. The vote power derives from the mid-cap princes as well as the Fee Stakes. As the political actions it uses mainly two of the most powerful votes, Parity Shift and Reckless Agitation.

Deck Name: NAC 2011 Day 2 (2nd Place): Victory in Anarchy
Author: Norman S. Brown
Description:
NAC2011 (Day 2)
Columbus, Ohio
June 25th, 2011
3R+F
25 players

Crypt (Capacity min=1 max=6 avg=3.54; 13 cards)
==================================================
5x Anarch Convert 1 -none- Caitiff:ANY
2x Janni 5 cel for obf qui Assamite:4
1x Mustafa, The Heir 6 cel dom FOR PRE Ventrue:4
2x Neighbor John 5 dom for AUS !Ventrue:4
3x Victor Pelletier 5 cel dom for PRE Ventrue:4

Library (90 cards)
=====================
Master (16 cards)
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Anarch Revolt
1x Demonstration
1x Dominate
1x Hostile Takeover
1x Inceptor
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
3x Perfectionist
1x Sudden Reversal
1x Ventrue Headquarters
4x Vessel

Action (5 cards)
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
1x Fee Stake: Boston
1x Fee Stake: Corte
1x Fee Stake: Los Angeles
1x Fee Stake: New York

Political Action (15 cards)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment
1x Banishment
3x Kine Resources Contested
4x Parity Shift
5x Reckless Agitation

Equipment (3 cards)
1x Ivory Bow
2x Light Intensifying Goggles

Ally (3 cards)
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
1x Mylan Horseed (Goblin)
1x Ossian

Action Modifier (12 cards)
4x Conditioning
4x Forced March
4x Freak Drive

Reaction (14 cards)
10x Deflection
2x On the Qui Vive
2x Wake with Evening’s Freshness

Combat (20 cards)
9x Diversion
4x Target Head
3x Target Vitals
2x Taste of Vitae
2x Zip Gun

Combo (2 cards)
2x Steely Tenacity

Created with Secret Library v0.9.3. (Jul 3, 2011 21:00:05)