11 1-caps beats 1 11-cap

Stockholm player Marcus B did a couple of interviews at EC 2012 in Budapest, first published in the swedish Facebook coverage of the event. By kind permission, here is one of them republished to reach a broader audience. It was made on Thursday October 25. //Ashur

Hey everybody. Me and a couple of my fellow Swedish methuselahs arrived at this years EC a bit early, and today, the day befor the Last Chance Qualifier I had the opportunity to run into Enrico De Stefano, the 2011 #1 underdog.
    At the EC last year, Enrico made the finals both day 1 and day 2, and on the day 2 he even was top seed. Victory clear in sight, he held on to the title for the better part of two hours – up until when there was only about 10 minutes left and Otso Saariluoma  managed to oust Izaak Havelaar in an incredibly grueling and exciting game. (You can see the whole transcript of the game at the VEKN forum)
    Enrico is not on VEKN, neither is he on Facebook – a true underdog as last years EC was his first, even! Today we’ll get to know a little bit more about this charming individual who seems to always have a smile on his face, and always has a deal to offer (personal experience from last year Enrico can sometimes be seen walking around with a t-shirt saying ’Before you bleed, let me make you an offer you can’t refuse’ – a phrase that sticks!)

M: Hi Enrico, and welcome to Budapest! Please introduce yourself: What’s your full name, how old are you and where are you from?I know that you’re not on VEKN, but are you on Facebook or any other online forums out there?
E: My name is Enrico De Stefano, I’m 30 years old and I’m from Milan, Italy. I’m not on Facebook, but I’m on the italian Vtes forums www.italybynight.org where my nickname is Embraced.

M: For how long have you been playing Vtes? How did you get into the game?
E: I’ve been playing for five years now. I got introduced to the game by a friend of mine when I was having a downtime from Magic: The Gathering. I’d been playing that game for 2-3 years but was slowly starting to get uninterested in it because it had started feeling like it was not the most skilled player that won games and tournaments, but the player with the biggest wallet and the most up to date card collection. I gave Vtes a shot and here I sit today!

M: Last year you managed to play your way to the finals both day 1 and day 2, and incredble feat. What are you expectations for this year? How have you been preparing to take down the tournament this time?
E: My expectations are not so high, actually. During the last year many players have been quitting the game in Milan because the state of the game, and so it’s getting harder and harder to get a playgroup together for a game. Right now I think that we’re five active players in the city, and we’re lucky if we manage to get four of us together for a game. It happens about twice a month, which is not enough if you want to get in shape for a tournament such as this. No, this year I have no expectations. I’m here to get a change of environment and to have a good time!

M: No need for spoilers on what you’re going to play this year at the EC, but on a more general note: What types do you typically prefer playing and why?
E: In Italy I’ve got quite the renown for playing different types of breed decks. Embrace really is a favorite card of mine and I really love including at least 8 of them in basically every deck I build. I played a Ravnos Week of Nightmares breed deck during the last EC, and in February earlier this year I won a tournament with a Giovanni breed deck that used Khazar’s Diary, Embrace, Liquidation and Sudario Refraction to get a whole armada of small vampires acting on +1 stealth.
    I like The Embrace and I think that eleven 1-cap minions is so much more versatile than one big 11-cap minion. Sure, their actions aren’t that strong, but you got eleven actions when that IC member has one, and that’s really powerful.
    I really like breed decks in general because there really isn’t any particular anti-decks to the a good breed deck. Sure, there are anti-cards like Scourge of the Enochians and Ancilla Empowerment, but you can include answers to those cards in your own deck. Breed decks, in my opinion, are much less sensitive to the ’death by seating’ syndrome that seems to be taking it’s toll on so many decks nowadays. So, by playing a breed deck I don’t have to worrys so much about my seating – I’m confident that I can overrun wall decks and pool gaining strategies, and most traditional bleed defense doesn’t work because bleed bounce really isn’t all that effective as I only bleed for 1 or 2.
    Apart from the Embrace, I really like Ashur Tablets and Liquidation. When those cards were released, there was a major shift in the VTES meta and a whole lot of new game strategies were formed. Sure, Ashur Tablets would have been good if you hadn’t gained pool from it, and I understand that people are complaining about their availability, but it can’t be denied that they enable decks that no other cards do, and as of that I really appreciate what those cards are doing for the game as a whole.

M: So, last question: Do you have any particular plans for Budapest, apart from Vtes?
E: Sure, me and the other Italians are planning for some sightseeing today. Haven’t really decided for what yet, though, I guess we’ll decide that over lunch.

M: Alright! Thanks you so much for the interview Enrico, and good luck in the tournaments this weekend!