Game Re-cap 06/26

We got a bit of a late start due to Andy's job poaching him at the last minute and Gerentt forgetting we were playing. We still got in three games, which was a feat for us.

Game 1:
Ian Lee (The Becoming ani aus cel pro for)> Jeff Yin (Etrius and Goratrix intercept combat)> Me (g1-2 Ventrue Lawfirm featuring !Ven)> Gerentt Chan (Tzimisce intercept combat)

I had intended to take notes and even brought a notepad, but I forgot until half way through this game. Even when I tried, I realized how hard it is to take notes while playing and decided to focus on playing.

I saw that there was some intercept combat around, so I waited to have both Sir Walter Nash and Emerson Bridges before taking any actions. My first govern down was blocked, so I majestied and Enchanted some kindred instead. The next action was a govern, so I paid four to bring out Vanessa. The following turn, I may have bled. I know I paid four more to bring out Timothy Crowley. I did leave dudes untapped to deflect, fearing the five bleed + DOM behind me. Gerentt tooled up with a Raven Spy and Dabbler on Meshenka, then he proceeded to play mind of the wilds and read the winds + vic stuff to gain some blood. Caliban and Dragos came out, so I made sure to have dudes to rescue and/or combat cards.

Ian was busy making multiple Becomings with a crapload of skill cards, throwing out some procurers, and bringing some guys out. Marcellus, Greger Anderson, and eventually Danielle Diron. Diron seemed especially good at making copies of The Becoming due to her ability. The becomings did some bleeding (deep song) and dodging with generic dodge. He also played botched move. We had a good laugh at his many discipline cards and mostly disciplineless combat. Goratrix and eventually Etrius were busy tooling up. Etrius got Rutors, Kevlar Vest, Ankara Citadel and maybe a flak jacket. Oh, and leather jacket. Goratrix got a blood doll. I was blocked several times, but was mainy unscathed. And then Charnas landed on Sir Walter Nash. Dun dun dun!

Nash was slowly beaten down, at least until he was torpored and I diablarized him. Meshenka was visited by Charnas next, leading him to tap to gain blood every turn. I managed to bounce some bleeds to Gerentt and then followed up with a few bleed cards. That was enough for 6 pool.

Ian had a ton of minions, but Jeff was keeping him busy by having 2-3 minions untapped to bounce or block. Etrius emptied himself in order to send someone to torpor. When a society of Leopold put Crowley into a hunt-loop and Goratrix blocked, I rolled with the punches to avoid torporage. I had one turn to keep the votes from his prince title. I also had Ventrue HQ AND Demonstration. My prey was at two and I was at three. I stole Ian's Caitlin with From Sinking Ship and called an ancilla empowerment in the hopes that Jeff would settle for a tie. The next card I drew was... seduction! I seduced the untapped Goratrix for good measure and ended the game with two vps. Had I known I would have top-decked the seduction, I would have called Neonate Breach instead. I was satisfied with a tie given that I had to diablarize my own prince and was about to have another burned.

Me 2vp Jeff 2vp

Game 2:
Ian (!Malks with potence) > Gerentt (Euro Brujah)> Jeff (Laibon aus for toolbox)> Me(ANI rush)

I had only played my deck once before and it was on a three player table, so I wanted a more legitimate example of how it would do. I started out with Stick and then Yuri because votes are good. Stick took the edge, which I held most of the game. Next turn, Stick got me an Underbridge Stray and Yuri rushed a freshly famed Alicia Borrows. I was expecting to do some crows/press/taste action, but my spider senses were tingling. I was a little surprised when Yuri received a Burning Wrath. Good thing that Sprinkles, the underbridge stray, was there to keep Yuri safe from nasty potential diablarists. Good dog!

Yuri was rescued by Stick paying 1/1 and went back for revenge. He was blocked by another malk with potence, who took a beating. My predator and x-table ally were trading blows, so it was an attrition game. I tried to advise Gerentt which actions his prey took that he should worry about, so Jeff wasn't able to buy his elephants. I eventually torpored Alicia with my ~7th rush of the game, rescued her, punked her again, and then bled for one. Ian died during his untap. Gerentt put fame on Yuri and he eventually went down, but not without a fight. I left him there to share the pain with my fellow players.

Gerentt managed to oust Jeff with a conditioning, so it was head to head. I bled the tapped-out Gerentt a couple times and then left a dude or two untapped. The next turn, I decided that my best way to oust was to rush, rush, rush! Gerentt couldn't maneuver enough to catch me, so he conceded with zero ready minions.

Me 3vp GW Gerentt 1vp

Game 3:
Ian (Despiral Ishtarri)> Me (DOM OBT bleed feat. the Rising)> Jeff (Sabbat dom obf bleed/vote)> Gerentt (Tzimisce from above)

We were down to about and 1 hour 40 minutes before store closing, so we decided to make it a quick game. It was a VERY quick game for Jeff. He brought out Sebastian Goulet, who was hopeless to stop the onslaught of bleeds from me and the ones I bounced from my predator. Jeff did get KRCG, so I had to be a little more tactical. My nocturns helped bleed and block. One even haxored Jeff for 2 early on. Before Jeff could take all of the pool out of his uncontrolled region, he was bled out.

I started bouncing bleeds to Gerentt and then following them up with some of my own. I managed to oust Gerentt with a Pentex and some good old govern'. Without bounce being worth a damn, I had to block some of Ian's stuff. I did have some S:CE, which kept me from getting the additional strikes I knew were coming. I saved my blocking for the 2-3 bleeds and let the small ones through. Ian reduced a lot of my bleeds by 2-3 with laibon/scobax tech. A turn or two before I ousted Ian, I actually got The Rising in play, then drew two more gehenna cards. Julius Sutphen Adv saved the day with a +1 stealth conditioning when Ian was at two pool. The Coven helped me a lot, especially in the two-player game. I had commented to Ian that The Coven usually doesn't work out well for me. In this game, that was not the case.

I'll give an honorable mention to Ian's massive amount of bleed. He had 2 despirals on one guy and 1 on a couple others for a total of like 10. His laibon dude made good use of the card recycling vote to get lots of forced marches and tool up.

Me 4vp GW