94: Game Report for 8/15

Game 1:
Me(Stanislava powerbleed)> Gerentt(New Salubri spirit marionette)> Eric(Imbued)> Ian(!Tremere)

This was not a great game for me, or anyone except Eric, really. I brought out Stanislava, who was Heidelberged for about half her blood(why half, I'm not sure). Thus began my camping out. I goverened out Caitlin who was, of course, Heidelberged immediately. Eric did his imbued dance, but we had to remind him to grab conviction and he kept taking the initial conviction from his hand or ash heap, which was not the best idea. Ian bled me for like 9, I bled myself(!) with Stanislava being Marionetted and bounced from Eric to Ian to Me(where the hell were my deflections?).

I did my best to not leave my guys untapped or bleed Gerentt when he left guys untapped, seeing as HE should be the one to oust his prey. Eric played Maria Fletcher, C.D.C., so I had to ask him of Caitlin's hunting was acceptable. Stanislava didn't care, allies can't block her. Ian was eventually overrun and, just when there was a glimmer of hope for me to break through Gerentt's Salubri wall and pool monster, I died. I'm satisfied that I achieved my maximum number of VPS given the circumstances.

Imbued sweep

Game 2:
Me(weenie ani bleed)> Eric(New Lawfirm)> Ian(aus/pot intercept combat)> Gerentt(group4-5 gangrel rush/Garou)

My first time playing old school weenie animalism. I drew a lot of Life in the City and Animalism master cards, making my guys real suave with animals. In a little while, I had +1 intercept on a couple dudes. Eric basically caved under the weight of lots of little bleeders. It was his first time playing a lawfirm deck, which isn't great against weenies anyway, so no matter. Gerentt made the fatal mistake of not using his Backways when trying to buy a werewolf, which he realized only when influencing. It happens, hopefully you remember next time. Dealing with this now means hopefully not dealing with it at a tournament(like my forgetting I had Elysium: Arboretum against Alex Con Hon's Euro Brujah).

Gerentt threw his minions at me after he had fame on someone. They eventually went to torpor, but it was a suicide attack with Tension. Somewhat crippled and now harassed by Ian's "I block you and show you Carnage," I made the mistake of not leaving enough guys untapped to keep me alive and deliver the killing blow. Ian had his eye on Navar for much of the game and kept saying he was gonna get him with some dude that has +1 intercept against tiny, weakling vampires. Navar won the battle by delivering a bleed for three, but that lost me the war.

Me 1vp Ian 3vp GW

Game 3:
Me(Malk/!Malk vote/bleed)> Gerentt(Salubri above)> Ian(Trujah wall)> Eric(old school Kiasyd)

I must be cursed to always get too few transfers to influence Lutz or not get him in the starting crypt when I play this deck because I was first seed. I knew from the card sleeves that Gerentt was playing his Salubri deck again, which told me that this game would be much more about voting than bleeding. Ian trotted out his !trujah deck, determined to see how much pool he could spend on a minion(the answer was 15). Eric played Kiasyd, which I've only rarely seen him play before. Based on this, I knew I'd get bled a lot. Not a big deal, right? My deck is defensive.

To my chagrin, it took me until I was about 1/3 of the way through the deck to draw any significant bounce or reduce. Had Eric learned to avoid undirected actions next to Ian's deck earlier, he would have had me. As it turned out, the Kiasyd couldn't get the stealth to get their Governs through, which was good for me. The Kiasyd took a light beating and Ian had to spend some resources, which helped me a bit later. Gerentt was having a hell of a time drawing cards, so I had relatively free reign until Eric decided to start seriously bleeding. I ousted Gerentt with the announcement, "gentlemen, the time for games is over." I played an ancilla empowerment, netting me three pool from the oust, courtesy of Forgotten Labyrinth. I was still low on pool and had to work really hard to both survive against Eric and find the stealth to get by Ian's Bowl of Convergence.

I thought my salvation was a Conceal(it was somewhat hard to decide between Ian's Heart of Cheating and the Bowl, but getting actions through was more important) with a Lost in Crowds + Elder Impersonation. Unfortunately for me, Ian had an Eyes of Argus for his 2nd minion to block at 2 intercept. What a great card. I tried to make a deal with Eric where he'd help me take out Ian, who looked unstoppable with his bowl/cheating setup, and then duke it out, but Eric wouldn't bite. I warned him that he couldn't hurt me and was just giving the game to Ian, but to no avail.

Eric lauched a Gremlins bleed at me, which I declined to block, he boosted to 5, and I bounced to Ian. Ian bounced it back to me and then Sudden Reversaled my Archon Investigation. Eric bled me again, but I woke again and reduced it, leaving me very low on pool. I tried to play Dreams, but Ian pointed out that I played AI, which had been Suddened. No card cycling mojo for me, but it left me at a whopping ~3 pool.In defending against me(and Eric) previously, Ian was very low on blood. He had Heidelberg out, which meant he could move his bowl around between his three trujah with aus/AUS. In defending against Eric, I drew into a Conservative Agitation and a KRC, plus I had a Majesty to bounce off Ian if I had to. Lutz and Alicia both had only one blood, meaning I had to either vote or bleed, but I couldn't to both. My earlier experience showed me that Ian packed a good amount of Eyes of Argus in his deck(great with aus), so I went the vote route.

I led with a Con Ag(Ian had to block, KRC was better to actually get through), which Ian blocked and we both majestied out of and left us empty. He declined to block her hunt, which meant pain for Eric if I ousted Ian. Ian moved the bowl over to untapped dude #2 with one blood, who failed to block my KRC + Lost in Crowds, securing me 2vps. Eric ran out of bleed and conceded to me the next turn. Whew!

Malk sweep!

What did I learn? I really don't like minions being borrowed/stolen and having their blood drained. Do I need anti-Heidelberg tech? Diamond Thunderbolt? Unnatural Disaster? Sudden Reversal x4? Ubercept? Damn crafty Germans and their castle, I'll have to find a way out of the "haha, your minion sucks because you influenced them out/left them untapped" trap. I really need to be stealing/burning more locations in general. Also, resist the temptation to let Navar pwn the table. He's a gloryhound.

Gerentt was having trouble with his Salubri deck and Ian and I offered some suggestions on how to make it less defensive. Salubri don't have to wall up, especially now that Serena the White is around.