97: Baali Don't Need Stealth(or Pool)

I'll have to try and make this quick, time is short these days. We had three games at D&J's and the nearby Roundtable Pizza.

Game 1:
Me(DOM POT thrown gate w/ani)> Gerentt(New Salubri)> Jeff(?)> Michael(Nos/!Nos toolbox)> Ian(Baali Don't Need Stealth(or Pool))

My memory of this table arrangement is pretty fuzzy. I don't remember what Jeff was playing this game. I was locked down early by Ian's intercept. He blocked all of my early governs down, which was very important because of my lack of any pool management other than governing down. He tooled up with a Guardian Angel, Striga, and made his Baali Anarch, so I knew I was in for trouble! Due to Giotto's special, he got the cards he needed to supply that annoying 1 intercept. I managed to block a Contagion with Cat's Guidance and beat up Gerentt's Serena the White some, but couldn't stabilize my pool enough to go forward too much. Ian dueled with Michael's Nos some and won with his prevent + agg damage. I don't remember exactly how it ended other than Gerentt had trouble ousting Jeff and Spirit Marionnetted my untapped Gustaphe, sealing my fate against Ian. I hate that card, especially when it's played poorly(to oust their predator(me)). Ian ended up winning, maybe sweeping. I was so traumatized by the striga-toting, intercept-y, prevent-y Baali that I lost track. I might have had a chance if I used my KRCG/Cat's Guidance/OtQV better in my last turn, but I was pretty much shut down. I do remember that Ian sat on like 5 or less pool for several turns until he ousted me, intimidating Michael into submission. This and his tricky use of Failsafe + infernalism made the deck "not need pool."


Here's Ian's Decklist, for posterity(from http://iclee.wordpress.com/):

Deck Name: 100829 Baali Don’t Stealth
Created By: Dylan

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 4, Max: 27, Avg: 3.83)
———————————————
5 Anarch Convert none 1 Caitiff
2 Dylan (ADV) aus cel dai dom pro FOR6 Ventrue Antitribu
2 Giotto Verducci DAI for OBF pot pre7 Baali
1 Mary the Black cel DAI obf pot PRE7 Baali
1 Midget obf pre DEM 3 Malkavian Antitribu
1 Sargon cel dai obf pre5 Baali

Library: (90 cards)
——————-
Master (27 cards)
1 Anarch Free Press, The
3 Failsafe
1 Fortitude
1 Giant`s Blood
3 Guardian Angel
4 Path of Evil Revelations
1 Lilith’s Blessing
1 Rack, The
8 Striga
4 Tend the Flock

Action (4 cards)
1 Constant Revolution
1 Contagion
2 Unleash Hell’s Fury

Reaction (24 cards)
2 Car Bomb
2 Diabolic Lure
1 Final Loosening
3 Forced Awakening
4 On the Qui Vive
4 Scobax
4 Strix
4 Wake with Evening`s Freshness

Combat (24 cards)
4 Diversion
2 Flames of the Netherworld
1 Fractura
4 Hexe
3 Ignore the Searing Flames
4 Soak
4 Taste of Vitae
2 Weighted Walking Stick

Ally (3 cards)
1 Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
1 Infernal Servitor
1 Veneficti (Mage)

Retainer (2 cards)
1 Crypt’s Sons
1 Mr. Winthrop

Equipment (2 cards)
1 .44 Magnum
1 Ivory Bow

Combo (4 cards)
4 Sense the Sin

Game 2:
Me(New Torries Torrent)> Jeff(Dem/dom coma+graverobbing)> Ian(Sixteen Daggers)> Michael(Weenie hax)> Gerentt(old school Torries)

Any time Michael's weenie hax deck hits the table he is the target of much hate. Sunday was no exception. Ian threw down Haven Uncovereds against the dorks and started rushing/daggering them a bunch. On turn 1 he played Specialization, key to his deck. I told Gerentt early that I would be handing him a bunch of pool after I had played Montecalme on turn 2 with Zillah's Valley + 2nd seed. Who came into my pred's ready region the next turn? Anneke. Naturally, I resented this as much as a sharp stick in the eye, especially since he said that he wouldn't relent her title. I contested the Toreador Justicar title and Golconda'd Anneke, giving him that pool he desperately needed >:)

I took the opportunity to block my prey's goofy something or other action and was coma'd by Uncle George. Wonderful. I brought out Epikasta, who helped me get Montecalme out of torpor(I think he got blocked trying to dig himself out after I told Jeff I was 'appealing to his rational self-interest.' Jeff didn't diablarize and Epikasta finally rescued him.)

I played a Political Stranglehold for six pool(I had told Gerentt to invest in a big minion earlier) and had been holding onto it and a Parity Shift, which I discarded when I was chock full of pool. Unfortunately for Gerentt, the biggest minion he could summon while he was on the brink of self-ousting was Tatiana Romanov, despite his Info Highway. Jeff blocked my Reins of Power that would have given Gerentt five pool and cost him five.

Due to the constant harassment that he was taking, Michael went down and Gerentt shortly after due to Ian's computer hacking + conditioning(how about a govern or at least scouting mission?). I wasted a Majesty bouncing off of Jeff's Ivory Bow w/+1 intercept Anatole, then realized I couldn't get my bleeds through anyway. With a double-KRC combo and a Pentex on Anatole, I ousted him the next turn and got Monastery of Shadows into play. With my extra card and Dreams, I managed to dig for two more votes, an Enchant Kindred, and I already had an Aire of Elation. Vasily and Epikasta called votes(I think she capped) and Montecalme went in with a bleed for five at one stealth, just barely ousting Ian. I tried to jam Ian on anything other than bleed the turn before and he was at like 6 or 7 master cards when I ousted him.

Game 3:
Me(Ariadne Abactor w/Garous)> Ian(!Trem with Obt)> Gerentt(Salubri)> Jeff(Gangrel Body Flare and never die)> Michael(Nos/!Nos deck above)

Michael and I talked for a while about his deck earlier, so I had a good idea of what was in it. My Garou were at risk from guys with ANI because of Crows + Bats and he was going to block me with some intercept and bleed for 1-2 at a time. Not that scary, but persistent.

I started with less than four transfers, so I brought out Gunnar and put some extra counters on someone else before getting Ariadne. Most importantly, I needed some dorks to block little bleeds. Gunnar bought me a Garou to help block and torporize little dudes sent over by Michael, but he seemed to almost always have the stealth to get by(good card cycling?). Ian brought out two tupdogs, which also influenced my decision to wait on Ariadne and go for a Garou early, plus Kij. Kij got a Jar of the Skin Eaters and a tupdog added the necessary counter to make it go BOOM. Now I had the unspoken threat from Ian to blow up a Garou with three agg damage out of combat(or in combat). Time to look weak....

I spent a fair amount of pool on stuff, leaving me with around nine and a stealthy pred. I think I hung around with the Garou to block and did some Villein/Abactor/Vessel stuff. Unlicensed Taxicab and Form of Mist kept Ariadne away from Michael's intercept(raven, intercept location) while she was hunting, allowing me to gain pool to stay alive and buy Garou. When I had the necessary cards and baited Ian to block a bleed with Ian Forestal, my Garou rushed Kij and smacked her with a punch + Target: Vitals + Punch combo. Kij blew up the Jar of Skin Eaters, but I used two Glancing Blows to keep my Garou alive(two just to be safe). Threat averted... for the moment.

Ian did a Blood of the Sandman action to burn my Garou, making me sad. I bought another to assuage my grief, as dog owners tend to do. Gerentt and Jeff had been duking it out with Jeff blocking/Body Flaring and Gerentt doing some bounce/bleed stuff. Jeff and Michael were also fighting, leading Michael to have minions drop into torpor, only to be rescued shortly afterwords. Jeff's minions got really low on blood, but he played Restoration a couple times to prop them up. In the hope that Michael would either have to be extra defensive or run out of blood on his minions, I played Dragonbound. Now dorks couldn't sit in torpor without costing Michael. The trap was set.

Things were plotting along for quite a while with everyone at low pool and time was short. Gerentt was determined to oust Jeff, but didn't have much in the way of bleed actions or stealth. Jeff blocked all attempts and went down to two pool on a .44. I was down to maybe three or five, but started back pedaling by blowing up my Wider View and I bought a KRCG for some blocky-goodness. My Garou blocked some action done by a guy with basic animalism and was out-maneuvered by a Swallowed by the Night + something and I DI'd the SbtN to land 4 damage on him. I was stuck defending and taking the occasional swipe at Ian, but time ran out. Even in overtime, Gerentt couldn't get past Jeff's two guys with three blood between them.

What I feel like I learned from this last game was that the Ariadne + Abactor w/Garou deck doesn't go forward enough. Buying werewolves is nice, but it doesn't oust people. I need to re-think this deck design to make it more ousty. The Abactor + Villein trick is worth including in any deck featuring her, just like Giant's Blood + Villein is in any mid-high cap deck. The Toreador deck really never got to do it's Torrent trick because I didn't draw enough and was too busy propping up my predator. It seems strong enough to keep, maybe with a couple tweaks. The DOM/POT gate deck could still work without Blood Dolls. It's not often you have a predator who can block all of your governs and survive to tell about it.