Alastor: San Jose Regional Qualifier

After a lot of holiday-ing, it is finally time to sit down and write this post. Let's see what the holiday cheer has left of my memory.

Game 1:
Ian Thompson (Group 4/5 Giovanni Powerbleed)> Brett Schofield (AUS obf flamethrower wall)> Me (Tremere BBBB)> James Lin (POT PRE (ANI) Master deck feat Nana and Shemti)

I started out the game by apologizing to my predator for the beating I was about to give him ;) While it wasn't a very real threat, it was funny the way things turned out.

I first influenced out Carna just as James was influencing out Shemti. Since he went first, it took Ian a little longer to bring out his mid-high cap giovanni. Brett brought out Kite. James tried to take some action, which I blocked. He threw a gate, but the Tremere are too crafty for that; I stole two blood and sent him to bed after he did a little dance on fire. My shock and awe complete, I felt like I was off to a good start. Brett and James worked out a way to rescue Shemti and it was soon Carna's turn to go to torpor at the hands of a disguised flamethrower. She got rescued cross-table at least twice that game, just like I rescued/broke Pentex (?), etc. for Ian.

After beating down James's minions he played shenanigans like Giant's Blood, Villein, Golconda and The Eternals of Sirius. At one point he was back at about 30 pool. With some bounced bleeds and repeated bleeds of ~3, he was back within range. Brett had assembled some toys by this time like Powerbase: Montreal, Powerbase: Barranquilla and maybe The Rack. I knew that if this went on for long, Brett could build back up (his minions were very low on blood and he was low on pool) and go on to win. I told Ian that if he helped me oust James that I would wait for him to out Brett before going forward. With some reluctance, he agreed.

I went backwards to burn Powerbase: Barantaquilla and steal PB: Montreal asap. James fell and so it was just a matter of containing Brett so that Ian could powerbleed him out. It took a couple turns, but Ian and I were soon in a heads-up game. His bleeds were mostly not powerbleedy enough to get past me and my combat beat the occasional S:CE, so that was that. After the game (and sometimes in-game) he said that he should not have rescued me so much. I still think it was the right move because even though James wasn't a nasty predator, Brett all tooled up and with six extra pool would wreck him.

Me GW 3vp Ian T 1vp

Game 2:
Brad Nozik (Ventrue tap and bleed)> Ian Lee (!Nos with dom 4cl)> Me> Dennis Lien (Anarch Diversion Rush)> AJ Wiley (Fatty Tzim bleedy toolbox)

I don't remember a ton of details from this game, but I'll give a quick summary. Ian wrote about this here: http://iclee.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/qualifier-2011/

Between Ian and Dennis, I was taking a beating. I did manage to limit Dennis' pool somewhat before he proceeded to beat my guys down. Ian's Preternatural Strengthed Gustaphe rushed my dudes and scoffed at my silly maneuver + theft combat. AJ was getting trumped in combat and doing nothing to Brad because of bounce. Many a Fiendish Tongue bleed went over to Ian and his defense seemed limited. Brad soon had out a small army of Ventrue and things did not look good.

I somehow managed to oust Dennis (mirror walk?) and then AJ didn't have enough blood or minions to resist me. Brad cleaned up with many actions and lots of +bleed.

Brad GW 3vp Me 2vp

Finals:
Brad (above)> Ian Thompson (Gio powerbleed above)> Me> Jeff Kuta (The Unnamed Maleficia Enkil Cog bleed)> Mike Courtois (Arika and Friends sans Arika)

I had already played with Ian and Brad, so I knew what their decks did. I had enough bounce to not be afraid of Ian, but maybe not enough to not be afraid of Brad. I didn't know what Mike was playing, but I was comfortable enough facing Ian and confident in my deck's ousting power. Jeff chose to be my prey. I had heard that he was playing an Unnamed deck that ran away with a table earlier, but I didn't think that would hurt me too much because he would be the bleed sink.

The way the game actually turned out was heavily effected by the early appearance of Leandro. That douche probably cost me a fourth minion because it wasn't economical to decrypt anymore. Leandro also got the other players at the table to carefully consider where they would spend their pool. There was other hosage from Mike in the form of Matthias, who reduced every bleed against him from Jeff by one.

The early part of the game wasn't very remarkable, other than the total lack of Villeins and Blood Dolls and the presence of both Vessels and Minion Tap. Mike must have farmed at least 20 pool from Leandro and other minions combined with MT + Renewed Vigor. Meanwhile, Ian neglected to bleed me at all and instead decided to block Brad. Lack of bounce? I don't know if it helped him, but it certainly didn't help me because I didn't get to cycle my bounce cards.

I dunked a Horde early with Theft + Walk of Flame. He stayed down because it was too costly in actions and pool to get him back out. The Unnamed, once equipped with the Enkil Cog, bled once in turn and once out of turn, but more importantly gained Jeff four pool per turn. When he managed to hold the edge (not often when I had anything to say about it) he gained a total of 5. Bruise bleed or no, it was hard to sustain that kind of pool damage against him without a fourth minion (Blythe, while a good weenie, had no dominate to contribute to the bleed party). I had to be careful because I was action poor and The Unnamed could decide to dunk my guys with his 2r agg strikes. Rego Motus saved me when it showed up, which wasn't often enough.

Ian fell to Brad's onslaught, but brad was low on pool. Mike ousted Brad with his freshly minted Queen Anne and friends, stealth and dominate. Jeff had out Unleash Hell's Fury, which was deterring me from announcing more than a bleed of one at a time (conditioning could sneak in after blocks). Mike had expressed an interest in ousting Jeff because of his crazy pool gain and I told him that with his help it could be done. I was down to just a few pool, one or so blood between my two guys, and would obviously not be too serious of a threat in the endgame.

Mike bled me for 7 at stealth, which I happily bounced over to Jeff. The Mirror Walk that I had been storing for that occasion came in handy when I needed to bleed Jeff for 6 at one stealth to finish the job. I pushed blood on Carna and her companion and landed the bleed, running me out of blood entirely. Mike made pretty quick work of me, but I gave him a scare when I started showing a fair amount of intercept at the very end of the game.

Mike Courtois GW 3vp, Me 1vp Brad 1vp

Congratulations to Mike Courtois for winning the Qualifier!

Here is his tournament winning deck:

Deck Name: Arika and Friends Tap & Bleed
Created By: Michael Courtois
Description: Big Girls bloat, taps, and bleeds BIG! Mind Rape bleed
with Heart of the City, add Conditioning and AI be damned, a bleed of
10 goes a long way! Be responable though! Sulubri Anti Fills them back
up then rinse and repeat.

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 26, Max: 44, Avg: 8.75)
----------------------------------------------
4 Arika aus cel DOM FOR OBF PRE11
Ventrue
2 Blanche Hill aus FOR OBE 6 Salubri
1 Carlotta Giovanni dom NEC obf POT7 Giovanni
1 Leandro AUS cel dom OBF PRE11Malkavian
3 Matthias AUS FOR nec OBE7 Salubri
1 Queen Anne aus DOM FOR obf PRE10 Ventrue

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (22 cards)
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Heidelberg Castle, Germany
15 Minion Tap
2 Parthenon, The
3 Secure Haven

Action (18 cards)
2 Heart of the City
4 Mind Rape
9 Renewed Vigor
3 Spirit Marionette

Action Modifier (40 cards)
6 Cloak the Gathering
7 Conditioning
4 Daring the Dawn
5 Elder Impersonation
1 Enkil Cog
7 Lost in Crowds
3 Repulsion
5 Spying Mission
2 Veil the Legions

Political Action (2 cards)
1 Anarchist Uprising
1 Reins of Power

Equipment (3 cards)
1 Changeling Skin Mask
1 Heart of Nizchetus
1 Sargon Fragment, The

Event (1 cards)
1 Narrow Minds

Combo (4 cards)
4 Swallowed by the Night

Here is my tournament losing deck, which I thought was worth mentioning. There is a German player who won with a Tremere triple B (Bruise, bleed, block) deck and this adds a fourth B, bounce.

3x Carna 7 AUS DOM THA Primogen +1 intercept
1x Ladislas Toth, The Torch 7 AUS DOM THA for Archbishop
1x Selena 6 AUS DOM THA
1x Eugenio Estevez 6 AUS THA dom for
2x Aisling Sturbridge 5 AUS THA dom younger trem can't block her
1x Hannigan 5 AUS THA dom
1x Blythe Candeleria 3 THA aus -1 str vs malks
1x Brooke 3 dom tha
1x Erich Weiss 3 dom tha

Library: 90 cards
Master: 12
5x Blood Doll
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Sudden Reversal
1x Pentex Subversion
1x Direct Intervention
1x Metro Underground

Actions: 8
7x Govern the Unaligned
1x Slaughtering the Herd

Action Modifiers: 10
6x Conditioning
4x Mirror Walk

Equipment: 3
1x Ivory Bow
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Heart of Cheating

Combat: 31
12x Theft of Vitae
10x Apportation
4x Rego Motus
2x Telepathic Tracking
2x Walk of Flame
1x Weighted Walking Stick

Reactions: 25
5x Deflection
4x Eyes of Argus
4x On the Qui Vive
4x Telepathic Misdirection
2x Delaying Tactics
2x Eagle's Sight
2x My Enemy's Enemy
2x Wake with Evening's Freshness

Events: 1
1x Scourge of the Enochians

Thoughts on the deck:
-Never used Delaying Tactics because no vote decks showed up.
-Scourge of the Enochians wasn't useful in any of the games and would have hurt in the final if I had played it (barrenness)
-I had a hard time deciding before the tournament if the Slaughtering the Herd should be another Govern, but I thought that it probably wouldn't hurt me and could really help if it meant I could lock down my predator after stealing their blood.

Code of Milan Suspended

Well, it appears I have more to write about tonight. This post will be about the first tournament from Saturday the 17th, Code of Milan Suspended.

We kicked off the weekend with a record 24 player attendance.

Game 1:
Mike Courtois> Dennis Lien (Anu and Anarch Pals)> Cassie Kahel (Kiasyd Bleed)> Mike Zajac (!Ventrue vote/bleed)> me (Lasombra stealth vote/bleed)

I really don't remember what Mike Courtois was playing this game, maybe it will come to me later. I started out with a good crypt and soon had Giant's Blood + Villein in hand. I got out Moncada and Villeined him for 9, fearful of shenanigans, then played Giant's Blood to refill. Pretty cool, eh? Before I had a chance to do that, Mike Zajac nailed me with a Conservative Agitation for 4 from Ingrid Russo. Mike and I had a close battle for votes this game because he brought out Quentin, who cancels votes, and eventually Kyle Strathcona. Dennis had out Anu and boosted bleeds against decks he didn't want to play against, like Mike C.. I picked up a VP and brought out Gratiano and a midcap Lasombra.

Mike Z had three dom dudes behind me, which added to my fear of being archoned by Dennis to make me very careful about how much I bled for. I stepped away from the table and when I came back, Cassie was dead. Maybe a lack of Deflections? I was trying to coach her on responsible bleeding, but ended up receiving at least one strong stealth bleed from her before she went out.

Dennis kept me on my toes, but I eventually was able to Banish Ingrid Russo and pick up another VP, putting me in a strong position. With minion advantage, I was able to take out Mike Z for a solid win.

Game 2:
James Lin (Brujah vote?)> Me> Jeff Kuta (Thucimia bleed)> Joel Efferson (Beast, Theo Bell, Eurobrujah rush/2nd tradition/bleed)> AJ Wiley (FoS corruption bleed)

James brought out Dmitra, which gave me a target for the Golconda I drew early. Right after I played it, I had second thoughts. What if James is playing Parity Shift? Fortunately, he wasn't, so I was safe. I brought out Moncada again and he recruited Francisco Palonia. AJ was bleeding James heavily with Nakhthorheb from the get-go, so I had little pressure for a few turns. Jeff got Blessing of Chaos on Thucimia, which slowed down my bleeds a bit.

Early in the game, Jeff gained at least three pool from Alu bleeding and keeping the edge, then playing Haquim's Law: Leadership. I chipped away with Francisco's ability for a while until the opportunity arose to do a bit more. AJ brought out Sundervere and bled out James in short order. Joel rushed Nakthorheb and ate him with Theo, then rushed backwards. Sensing a serious threat, Jeff bled for 4 or 5 with Thucimia and was AI'd. At this point, I knew I could oust Jeff, but I wasn't quite sure how badly I would get beaten down in a fight against Joel. I ousted Jeff and I left enough blood on my guys to do hands for 1 a few times and S:CE against Joel before he ran out of blood. I ousted him, banished Sundervere and ousted AJ.

Finals:
I was top seed, a rare treat.

I noticed that Robert was playing FoS, who are generally bad at surviving, so I chose to be his pred. James might have beat me down with back-rushing (I never really got to see what his deck did in round 2), so Robert was a suitable bleed sink for me. Little did I know that Dennis wouldn't bleed me hardly at all until the very end of the game.

Dennis> me> Robert Scythe (FoS breed/temptation/vote)> James> Joel Marbella (Ravnos)

Moncada came out and I Villein + Giant's Blooded him yet again for the 2nd or 3rd game in a row. Robert showed no bounce, as I expected, so I was able to land little bleeds here and there. Moncada appeared with Angelica and my two five-caps in my uncontrolled region, so I brought the small ones out with him and hoped for the best.

James and I had most of the votes on the table for a lot of the time, leaving Robert to breed and con boon, begging for James' help to stay alive. He got it, but the table was collapsing quickly. Dennis leant James +1 bleed several times to oust Joel, but a bleed for 4 was archoned, leaving James without Jann Berger. James' Victor Pelletier was temptationed early on and Robert cashed the counters in on eventually to get a VP and position himself against Dennis.

Robert Temptationed my Julius Sutphen and called a FSR, but I don't think that he ever got to steal him because I hunted every turn. Anu leant me +1 bleed against Robert several times and I ousted him. In my second to last action, I exploited the fact that Dennis wanted Robert out of the game to call an Ancient Influence on my second to last action, netting my 11 pool that turn.

Anu and Co. couldn't bleed me enough to beat me, even though they put up a great effort. I ousted Dennis in about 2 turns.

Here it is, my first standard constructed tournament winning deck:
Deck name: Shadowplay
Deck description: For a long time I had written off Murmur of the False Will as being inferior to Deflection. In this deck it really shines, especially when you are down to the endgame or aren't being bled. It is very important to be able to be able to oust by bleeding if you can't pass votes and this deck is built for that purpose.

Crypt:
2x Angelica, the Canonicus 10 DOM OBT Cardinal, intercept for master cards
2x Ambrosio Luis Moncada 10 DOM OBT Cardinal, untaps Lasombra, can't block
1x Francisco Domingo de Polonia 9 DOM OBT Archbishop burn 1 blood for +1 bleed
1x Antonio Delgado 9 DOM OBT Archbishop he untaps after successful political action
1x Alvaro, The Scion of Angelica 9 OBT dom Archbishop, +2 blood for abstaining from referendum of political action. +1 bleed.
3x Gratiano 8 DOM OBT Priscus, +1 vote in sub-referendum, +1 bleed
1x Dr. Julius Sutphen 5 dom obt Bishop, younger vamps burn 1 blood to attempt to block
1x Guido Lucciano 5 OBT dom

Library: 73 cards

Master: 14 (6 trifles)
5x Villein
1x Giant's Blood
1x Golconda
1x Power Structure
1x Information Highway
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Elysian Fields
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x The Barrens
1x The Coven

Actions: 6
6x Govern the Unaligned

Political Actions: 10
3x Kine Resources Contested
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Ancient Influence
1x Banishment
1x Neonate Breach
1x Conservative Agitation
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment

Action Modifiers: 18
5x Shadow Play
3x Shroud of Night
3x Tenebrous Form
2x Seduction
1x Blanket of Night
1x Shroud of Absence
1x Private Audience
2x Foreshadowing Destruction

Combat: 3
3x Shadow Body

Combo: 5
5x Murmur of the False Will

Reactions: 17
5x On the Qui Vive
3x Wake with Evening's Freshness
7x Deflection
2x Obedience

A few additional notes on the construction of this deck for my readers:
After I chose the group 2-3 Lasombra for the deck, I wanted to be able to survive long enough to get out a few of them. Villein + Giant's Blood and Villein + Golconda are so strong you just have to include them in the deck. In general, you want to leave about five blood on your guys after Villein (Except Alvaro because of his special). The +1 bleed from 5 of my crypt cards helped carry me to victory. Foreshadowing Destruction and Murmur of the False Will helped for the occasional +bleed to close the gap and let me win. As I mentioned in my VEKN post, bleeding has to be a viable path to victory when voting fails and that, with a little luck, is exactly what carried me to victory.