Interview with Matt Morgan

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	INTERVIEW WITH MATT MORGAN (May 3rd, 2007) >Matt Morgan is one of the most successful tounament players in VTES, he is consistently in the the top ranked players for limited and unlimted and is currently number seven in Lasombra's VTES Hall of Fame.

THE PLAYER
Ash Heap:	What makes you a successful tournament player?

Matt Morgan:	Certainly the number one reason I've been highly-ranked for the last few years is I play in as many major tournaments as I can. For better or for worse, our ranking system rewards those who play more. Of course, you also have to do well from time to time. I think the secret of my success in that regard is that I really enjoy playing and try to make the game enjoyable for everyone at the table. A player who is having fun is at ease and will never see the knife until I'm already twisting it in his gut. No seriously, vtes is a game and those who regard it as such are going to excel. Those who want to reduce it to a boring formula are going to aggravate other players and will often find themselves on the bad end of table hate. Always let people play their games. Then they don't mind being ousted so much.

AH:	How much of an impact do you think Sword of Caine will have on the tournament scene?

MM:	Well, obviously it's a bit early to say for sure, but I think vtes players have a lot of ingenuity and will soon find new ways to torment their opponents with the new set. Certainly the Black Hand got a big boost in this set and are a lot more playable now (too bad the g5 Seraphs are so expensive). I think Black Hand decks will become more frequent on the tournament scene. Also, Veil the Legions will be all over the place. Hand Contract is huge. What concerns me most about Sword of Caine are the cards that punish players for doing stuff, like Tribunal Judgment and Touch of Pain. These are cards that could be used to slaughter one's predator without really contributing to any plan to win. Remember kids: prey is to the left.

AH:	What is your favorite way to play? (Constructed, Draft, Internal Recursion, etc.)

MM:	There are probably a lot of folks who would place bets that I'd say draft. I've actually kind of been shifting my focus to constructed play lately. I do enjoy draft a lot, but with the advent of "draftferiors" draft has sort of become too good for my taste. I miss the days of really crappy drafts like Final Nights and KMW. You could win games with decks that were just laughably stupid and cards would get played that never see play in constructed. That's a little less true with the new draft formats and effects. That's not to say I don't appreciate the advances in draft. The good part is more players are interested in draft and that's probably what's most important. All that being said, I've played one draft game so far with SoC and it seems like quite a good draft set. Lots of offense is great! My favorite environments are those like Origins (shout to Kevin Mergen) or Week of Nightmares (shout to Jeff Thompson, Oscar and the LA crew before them). I like it when the vtes play is so saturated that any crazy thing can happen. If I just had a respectable showing in a tournament and there's another one first thing tomorrow, I have no fear of trying something experimental or goofy. Experience has shown that others share that view.

AH:	How much do you think about the current meta-game in your area before building a deck? Does it affect your decision on what you play?

MM:	Oh sure. The main thing I think about when I design a deck is "will I get this thing out of the gate?" If everybody's playing intercept, I'm not going to build a deck that relies on +1 stealth actions. The current level of combat and rush in my playgroup is also a major factor. We're a fairly diverse group when it comes to decks, but there are periods in which you're going to need some strong combat defense (or offense) and periods in which you won't. Likewise intercept/stealth, etc. When it comes to guessing what a tournament scene will be like, I think I'm pretty good at that, but it's not too hard. There will always be DEM bleed, fatty vote, etc. These things are constants.

AH:	What style of deck (i.e. Bleed, Vote, Combat Rush, etc.) do you think has the strongest grip on the game right now?

MM:	Vote for sure. One vote can have a massive swing in the game. There's no Deflection for voting (you won't accidentally oust your grandprey). Voting is at +1 stealth. All the advantages are there. I played vote decks in both days of the NAC last year and got 1st place on day one and 4th place on day two.

AH:	How do you build your decks? Crypt-first or Library-first?

MM:	Concept first. Then I find the right crypt for it. Then I build the library.

AH:	Other than Blood Doll's, are there any cards that seem to find themselves in nearly all of your decks?

MM:	Dreams of the Sphinx is pretty good. I find myself using Fame quite a bit. Pretty much any toolboxy deck will have KRCG News Radio. I tend to play a moderate to high number of master cards, as I feel they are the most powerful cards in the game and I want to use every master phase action I have.

AH:	In your opinion, what (is/are) the biggest mistake(s) made by new players?

MM:	Not having started to play vtes sooner, obviously! Seriously, there's clearly a point at which a new player doesn't really understand the game or all the rules and the mistakes he or she will make are pretty obvious and easy to correct. I'd be more interested in talking about the mistakes weaker players make. I think the mistake I see the most are not playing to the table. I'm not talking about table-talking to death. I'm just talking about basic awareness of what's going on in the game. Bleeding your prey for 4 while he's defenseless on turn 2 is not a good idea if he's just going to wall up and never attack his prey. In a perfect world, your prey comes close to ousting your grandprey. Now is the time to strike. Take them both. The game is now yours. Like I mentioned above, your prey will have a much better time in this scenario ("darn, I almost got him!") and will have done most of your work for you. Similarly, many players will overspend their pool if you let them. Hitting hard and fast teaches your prey to be careful with her pool. Giving your prey a wide berth will make her careless. Another common mistake I see is attempting to stop anyone from ever being ousted. While it's less than ideal for someone who is not your prey to be ousted, it is often necessary for the game to complete in less than two hours. Attempting to stop cross-table ousting at the expense of one's own offense is not a winning strategy. It's the difference between playing for 3 VPs and playing for a half. The last common mistake I'd like to mention is a failure to effectively manage resources. I see it all the time. A player will blow a handfull of stealth pushing bleeds for 1 through, then get blocked on an important action. Or a player will Deflect a bleed for 1, then immediately take 4. When that happens, you are not a victim of bad luck. You are a victim of bad playing.

AH:	What VTES artwork would you love to have a print of?

MM:	I'm not really that into getting prints or original art. Doesn't go with my decor. That being said, I like cards with funny art like Call the Lamprey.

AH:	Favorite expansion to date? Least favorite expansion to date?

MM:	My favorite is certainly Legacies of Blood. I really like the Akunanse clan and options the magaji title gives you, as well as the fact that Samedi got really playable. There are many decks that LoB offers that have yet to be built. I look forward to exploring the set more. My favorite card from that set is No Secrets From the Magaji because of the way it hoses boring weenie decks. You have to build creatively or risk getting completely shut down by one card. I feel that both the Anarchs and Black Hand sets were a little underwhelming. Neither set was really that bad, but nor did they offer enough benefit to being an anarch or Black Hand vampire. I think the design team has gotten a lot stronger since then.

AH:	Are you typically an offensive or defensive player?

MM:	It depends on the situation. I can certainly wall up with the best of them and ride the storm to better days, but I also always want to have a decent payload so I can gain VPs. I think the philosophy here has been discussed above.

AH:	What are your thoughts on deal breaking?

MM:	Don't make dumb deals and you don't have to worry about it.

THE PERSON
AH:	What's your favorite saying on a T-shirt you own?

MM:	It says "GRR" on my Ossian shirt.

AH:	Greatest music band/artist of all time?

MM:	I'd triple the length of this interview answering this question in full. I like a lot of music and listen to different things constantly. It could never choose a single greatest band. If you want a few recommendations, I can tell you what I'm listening to now.

AH:	What's your porn star name? (i.e. First pet's name + first street you lived on) -or- (first pet's name + mother's maiden name).

MM:	If I were a porn star, I'd go by Igo the Hungry.

AH:	Favorite TV Show(s)?

MM:	I've gotten caught up on Lost and Heroes by watching them on the Internet. I don't really watch a lot of TV, but I catch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report once in a while.

AH:	Playstation or Xbox?

MM:	Shouldn't this be updated to 360 or wii? I have an xbox and find it to be a pretty good game system.

AH:	Favorite Alcoholic beverage?

MM:	I'm not really a big drinker outside of WoN excess. I usually go for microbrews and stuff like that.

AH:	Favorite curse word?

MM:	Gentlemen don't use such things!

AH:	Any Last Comments?

MM:	Sheesh. I thought I sent this like three weeks ago, and here it is in my Drafts box. Guess I shouldn't think so long and hard about last comments. [Interviewers Note: Tournabout is fairplay... it took me 2 months to post the article.]

	END OF INTERVIEW