48: Tournament Report for Sixth Tradition: Destruction

Once again, combat lost. Maybe less surprisingly, Ira won. Back to that in a minute....

Table 1 Round 1
Ian(nutpunchers)> Me(Malk fatty vote)> Ira(No Secrets toolbox)> Brandyn(Mary Anne Blaire & Co.)> Eric(Malk '01)

I started out screwed for transfers(I needed 3 for either Lutz or Stavros, 4 for Sean or Bloody Mary), so I made due with someone other than Lutz in the beginning. It is often a big advantage being Ian's prey, being that he doesn't start out aggressively and generally doesn't get in the way of tool-ups at stealth. Brandyn got out Mary Anne Blaire, hosing Lutz' +2 bleed. I hadn't transferred to him yet, but I did anyway because I thought I would need the votes. Before long, I'm down to not a ton of pool and have to start back-transferring from Lutz with only Sean and Stavros in the game.

At one point there were 24 votes on the table. Trying to get a vote passed was like pulling teeth. Eric ousted Ian after having some trouble, then me not to long after. I decided before even Ian was ousted "this isn't my table," and let it slide. Ira cleaned up and took the GW.

Game 1 Table 2
Alex Con Hon(Euro-Brujah)> Ian James Thompson(Gargoyles?)> Andy Haas(Assamite No Secrets + Anima Gathering)> Jeff Yin(Had enough Gehenna yet?)> Eric Schultheis(?)

This table reportedly timed out with Con Hon receiving 1 1/2 VPs and everyone other than Ian 1/2. There was much groaning due to the fact that Jeff was playing a metric ton of Gehenna events and screwing the table.

Game 2 Table 1
Jeff Yin>Me>Eric Haas>Andy Haas> Alex Con Hon
Jeff got things started with Inconnu Tutelage so that he could dig for his annoying cards. Before long, Thirst, IT, Anthelios, Blood Weakens, and a few other things were in play, making Jeff the target of massive table hate. I knew that I couldn't get more than 1 or 2 vps with him at the table because my minions would be stuck hunting and other nonsense, so I did what I could to turn everyone against him(like I even had to try).

By the time I finally got the hang of what Inconnu Tutelage does, I didn't have much time. Either Jeff would be ousted before I could take advantage of this card searching thingy, or I would be in a position where I couldn't even act. Earlier, I had got off a Reins of Power to gain some pool(and cost Jeff and others), so it was between grabbing Giant's Blood to keep my minions up or Ancient Influence. I grabbed Ancient Influence to make sure I could seal the deal against Jeff, but a couple things happened that I didn't expect.

Andy got cocky and tried to block Eric's hunt with his Anima Gathering/No Secrets toting Olugbenga, which Eric promptly stealthed through. With two bleeders left and Andy with no one untapped, Eric sailed to his VP. On ACH's turn, he managed to get three bleeds of two in against Jeff, ousting him. Now that my minions could do things(and Lutz regained his votes from Fall of the Camarilla), I vote/bled Eric out. In the end game, ACH had bleeders who I didn't care to block except when I could use Elysium: Arboretum and Deflections which weren't as good as my bleed reducers.

The Finals:
Me> Ira(top seed)> Eric Haas> Brandyn> ACH

There was some awkwardness early on with votes spread over the table, combined with my bad roll for transfers, which led me to be less than entirely aggressive against Ira. I bounced a bleed, which Ira threatened and did in fact cancel with Laibon monkey business. Threats make me smile :)

Meanwhile, Brandyn was struggling to have enough bounce to deal with Eric's bleeds and at least twice made the mistake of bouncing before he let Eric boost it(or rather, showing that he would bounce, then Eric did not boost, leading to an ineffectual defense). ACH did some bloating and eventually some bleeding, which I defended against well enough. I played a Political Flux to reduce the prize to 1 pool for the next oust, which probably wasn't a good idea. That card does like to get me in trouble.

Eric, virtually unmolested by Ira for 3/4 of his time in the game, tapped out twice bleeding Brandyn and ACH. Ira had his No Secrets + intercept location + Mr. Winthrop defense going, which took me a while to get the right cards to counter. With Eric tapping out, Ira saw his opportunity to bleed for 1-2 a lot(he had about 5 minions by this time), and ousted Eric after he got Brandyn.

In the three player end game, I blew up Ira's No Secrets twice, but failed to get through to ACH that if he didn't let me damage Ira with votes(there were three princes and a Magaji between ACH and Ira plus the mask of +1 bleed +2 votes), ACH could not win. Higher seed + 1 VP, lots of minions and pool > you with 1 VP, janky deck, and not enough time to win. Alex got a few bleeds in before time ran out, but as I pleaded, begged, argued, told him, he could not win with Ira in that strong of a position.

The fortune cookie I got at the Chinese place next door to the game shop was insightful, but not all-knowing. Stick to your plan, it said, and you will be successful. It was right that I should not have fallen back on my Ravnos deck, but even fortune cookies can't control a VTES table like Ira.

47: Yazid adv does not suck

On the news group, Raziel had made the argument that Yazid adv, the Assamites' reward for winning the Anarchs and Alastors storyline, is a really bad crypt card.

"8 cap, black hand, inferior dominate, inferior obfuscate +1 stealth on
D actions. Anarchy is often disadvantage.

Superior Celerity and Superior Quietus are both weak disciplines.
Inferior animalism on 8 cap does not strike me as awersome discipline.
Merge is crap.

He is not good, he sucks"

"It's not better to play only basic/only adv Yazid, if you plan to use
so much anarch tech ? Otherwise, you end up with unreliable Epiphany,
or crap crypt (if you want to merge in old-fashioned way) ?

Retain the Quick Blood require action, and this vampire is not known
for his awersome multi-acting capabilities."

Here's his text:

Yazid Tamari Advanced

Assamite

8 Capacity, CEL QUI ani dom obf Sabbat Black Hand +1 stealth on D actions Merged: Anarch

Here's the Base version:

Yazid Tamari

Assamite

8 Capacity CEL QUI ani dom obf Sabbat Black Hand Seraph +1 bleed not blood cursed.

The base version in and of itself is pretty good. Seraphs get some nice toys. +1 bleed is always good. If all you were looking for was those traits, by all means stop there.

The advanced version is great for stealth bleeding, obviously. Inherant 1 stealth and dominate means you will blow by chump blockers and often only need that conditioning. On the other hand, you can stealth rush, among other things.

Now, lets make a deck and show Raziel he is not so bad ;)

(As you can tell, this entry has some formatting issues. Bear with me.)

4x Yazid Tamari

1x Yazid Tamari Adv

2x Reza Fatir, Dark Angel 6 CEL QUI obf pro Black Hand

2x Joe Boot Hill 7 CEL QUI for obf Black Hand +1 str

3x Anarch Convert

Master: 20 (1 trifle)

1x Anarch Free Press

2x Perfectionist

1x Market Square

5x Blood Doll

1x Flames of Insurrection

2x Dreams of the Sphinx

1x Wash

1x Powerbase: LA

1x Barrens

2x Anarch Revolt

2x Fame

1x Watchtower: Fourth Ride Fourth

Action: 10

2x Epiphany

2x Tattoo Signal

2x Haven Hunting

4x Retain the Quick Blood

Combo: 14

4x Steely Tenacity

8x Resist the Earth's Grasp

2x Blood Awakening

Action Modifiers: 12

6x Crimethink

4x Forgotten Labyrinth

2x Monkey Wrench

Combat: 14

4x Hell-for-Leather

4x Acrobatics

1x Taste of Death

2x WWS

3x Disguised Weapon

Equipment: 4

2x .44

2x Ivory Bow

Reactions: 16

3x On the Qui Vive

1x Black Sunrise

3x The Mole

5x Ministry

4x Deflection

Since you can stealth rush, go for squishy targets. This is a real toolbox deck. The key is to use all of the card cycling tech to draw into the permanents you need. There are 14 cards to help you untap, 4 of which are permanents. I ignored the fact that many of these cards require blood because of Retain the Quick Blood. Don't worry about having a fair number of duplicates, just discard what you don't need. This is obviously not Tier 1, but with some further tweeking I think it could win some games.

46: Game Session + Deck

On Sunday we played 3 constructed games + 1 sealed booster game. Here's a quick run-down.

Game 1
Me(Masika discovers hes a malkavian)>Ian(Assamite weenies)>Andy(Abomination Rush)

It took me a while to build up. I did my best to lay low while I equipped a .44, got out Victoria, Bazil and an Anarch Convert. Andy bled me some and I bounced/blocked/took some of it. I bled Ian for 2 and then a lot more once Masika clan impersonated Malkavians and the Madness Network was in play. Masika did take a trip to torpor after a Taste of Death and hunted twice out of turn, but the constant pressure took down Ian. It was close battling Andy since Lorrie is so good at combat. Once Masika got Perfectionist, Andy conceded.
Me 3vp

Game 2
Me(Malkavians with pre vote)> Andy(Assamites blocky toolbox)> Ian(Tzimisce Illusions of the Kindred)> Jeff(borrowed OBF PRE bleed)

I had a very hard time in this game. I got Lutz out, but was facing a lot of intercept from my prey. Olubega got No Secrets, making my votes somewhat difficult to get through, let alone pass. Ian had votes, Andy had votes, Jeff often had the edge, so I couldn't voter cap well on the votes that did actually pass. Andy went for Anima gathering (3+ intercept and unlimited blocks? No thanks!), so I tried to block it with the only bounce I drew all game(lots of reduction). I failed to block and Jeff ousted me by one. Jeff ousted Andy, then blew up Ian's Eye of Hazimel with a well-placed Conceal, but I'm not sure how the end game turned out.
Results?

Game 3
Me(Malk vote above)> Jeff (Samedi vote)> Ian (Kiasid bleed)> Andy (Assamite Toolbox above)

Having trouble remembering this one. Andy and Jeff were pretty slow-going this game, so I took my time. I got out Lutz, Alicia, Sean, and Aleister over not too long a period of time. Ian made at least one vote fail through Covincraft and my margins were not very big on votes, but I managed to get enough oomf to oust Jeff. Ian got Andy and Ian conceded in the end game.
Me 3vp, Ian 1vp

Bonus game: 4 sealed KoT boosters + draft of 1 SoC booster each
Me>Ian>Jeff>Andy
I had a cheap prince, a Brujah Justicar card, and some other dorks. Jeff spent a lot of pool bringing guys out, an Assault Rifle, a Biothaumaturgic Experiment, and a Bomb and was then ousted by Ian's Nocturns + Empowering the Puppet King. I made the mistake of discarding my Brujah Justicar vote because I didn't have my Brujah in my starting crypt. By the time I had things set up right, Andy had the Nos Justicar. I took the edge, called the vote, and Ian and Andy both tossed a vote card I think, tying the vote at 5. Frustrated and pinned in a corner, I made a deal with Andy to oust Ian and myself with a Neonate Breach, getting myself at least the 1 vp.
Andy 2vp, Ian 1vp, Me 1vp

Here's what I can remember from my Masika deck:

4x Masika 10 AUS CEL PRE primogen +1 bleed, untaps between untap phases
2x Victoria 5 AUS cel obf During your master phase, you may burn the Edge to gain 2 pool if Victoria is ready.
1x Dancin' Dana 6 AUS cel obf +1 str
1x Zoe 3 AUS obf cel hunts at zero stealth
1x Brazil 2 aus
1x Anarch convert 1
1x Dollface 3 aus obf
1x Aleph 4 AUS dom

Master: 15
4x Madness Network
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
5x Blood Doll
1x Giant's Blood
1x Perfectionist
1x Barrens
1x Powerbase: Montreal

Actions: 6
6x Clan Impersonation

Action Modifiers: 1
1x Approximation of Loyalty

Combo: 7
7x Resist the Earth's Grasp

Combat: 19
7x Concealed Weapon
4x Aura Reading
2x Sideslip
4x Pursuit
2x Taste of Vitae

Reactions: 23
5x Eyes of Argus
2x On the Qui Vive
4x WWEF
5x Telepathic Misdirection
2x My Enemy's Enemy
1x Enhanced Senses
1x Quicken Sight
1x Eagle's Sight
1x Precognition
1x Spirit's Touch

There are as many as 9 cards missing here, but you get the idea. Masika and friends block/bounce for defense and mainly Masika bleeds for offense. If you have the edge and Victoria at the beginning of your turn, don't forget to use Victoria's special. I pulled it off 2-3 times in that one game. I like that the deck works fine without either Madness Network or Clan Impersonation, it just gets better with them in plan.

45: The Flail

Bum's rush cross-table
Aggression does not matter
Zero VPs now

44: Playing from a Lost Position

There has been a long discussion on the newsgroup about what is allowable or reasonable to do once a player is in a position where they are highly unlikely to be able to win any VPs, let alone a GW. Various well known VTES players have weighed-in, including Ruben, Matt Morgan, Kevin Mergen, Ian, Eric Chiang, Robert Goudie, Peter Bakija, and people who go by various handles. LSJ posted a few times on the subject, in this thread and out.

As far as I can tell, there are a couple schools of thought about what you can do in tournament play.

On self-ousting, the more restrictive idea is that you may not do it unless it gives you a better result for that particular game. For example, if you get 2 vps and want no other player to get more vps than you, you could oust yourself right before your predator is ousted in a three player game, hopefully giving him only one VP and your grand predator 2 (a tie).

There are other considerations that could be made, such as how one's standing in the tournament(and others') might be effected by a self-oust, spite self-ousts(they screwed me, I'll screw with them), or that you just don't want to be in the game anymore(hungry, bored, etc).

Considerations not related to the particular game you are in and that don't conform to the play to win rule may not be made in a tournament. That said, there is debate over whether the size of your chance at any vps helps determine how strictly you must adhere to "play to win."

I used an example of being at 1 pool with one Tupdog in play. If you have a decent predator and a decent prey, you stand virtually no chance of surviving for that half vp, let alone ousting other players. Are you free to oust yourself? Ruben would argue that you must not oust yourself because there is a chance you could still get some number of VPs. On the other hand, as the probability of gaining vps approaches zero, many other choices become as reasonable as not ousting yourself in your approach to vps. Maybe you will be Life Booned, maybe you will find the Extremis Boon you forgot was in your deck, maybe you will so startle your prey that he drops dead of a heart attack, giving you a VP because he is unable to continue. With the bar so low, how can you go wrong?

One illuminating part of the tournament rules is about playing to win:

4.8. Play to Win
One aspect of sportsmanlike conduct is that players must not play toward goals that conflict with the goal of the game as stated in the V:TES rulebook (e.g., attacking certain players on the basis of their V:EKN ratings or overall tournament standing, etc.). For tournaments, playing to win means playing to get a Game Win if it is reasonably possible, and when a Game Win is not reasonably possible, then playing to get as many Victory Points as possible.

Note the absence of a line stating "when a Victory Point is not reasonably possible, go nuts!"

The two basic arguments:
-The most vps I can get is zero, so I'll get those zero points in the best way possible (vs "but what if....")
-By removing yourself from the game, you eliminate your chances of scoring vps (again, "what if..."

What is missing here is some basis for which to judge the likelihood of getting a vp by various means. Without that, I'd say you're pretty free to approach that VP. What I really would not want to see is severe rules lawyering, where judges have to look at someones cards to determine if they are playing to win.

If you're simply playing from a lost position without trying to oust yourself, as I believe you should do in almost all cases, there are a few things you can do. Here are some, but not all of your options

1) Try to make a deal to get yourself out of the hole.
2) Shift the table against the one(s) who hosed you, painting them as the threat.
3) Rush/obstruct those who are the biggest threat to you (directly or indirectly).
4) Sit there and wait, getting the right cards for your inevitable come-back.
5) Sit there and wait, hoping someone will kill you.

A lot of tables are horribly unbalanced in VTES. What's more, many decks don't have a good way of interacting with other players. Expect that not all players can see a table threat and know what to do. If you see the problem, try to convince others. If they don't listen, chalk it up to experience(or whatever keeps you interested in playing the game). This is the way of losing at VTES.

***Update*** LSJ made things even more clear with the following posts to the NG:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad/msg/a835653d85b13c67

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad/msg/f489dc379084a7d4

Daneel helped clarify with this:

"It is *reasonable* to expect players to do everyhing *reasonable* to
improve their score. It is *unreasonable* to expect players to do
anything *unreasonable* to improve their score (e.g. following a
course of action that does not *reasonably* improve one's score
as that score is already *reasonably* maximized)."

In conclusion, may your path to zero vps, should that be your only reasonable option, be unfettered by the judgment of others.