Aramis#
First off a big thanks to everyone who I played in this tournament. I
had a wonderful time at Friday's tournament and the rest of the
convention. I think the VTES playing community will keep me in this
game longer than any cardset or game mechanic ever will. But now on
to the tournament report...
I'm not sure about numbers for the tournament, but it was a sizable
crowd that kept tourney judge/organizer Kevin Mergen jumping with
questions and requests for rulings. I was playing my Assamite
Sorcerors (v 2.0) deck on Friday and here's how the day looked to me.
First round the table was:
Assamites (me) --> Baali S&B (Noal) --> Setite S&B --> Lasombra (Xian)
--> True Brujah (Brandy?)
Being preyed on by a relatively inexperienced player really gave me an
edge in this game. I got Ur-Shulgi out on turn 3, but had his Rutor's
Hand blocked by Synesios of the Trujah player. Next turn however, I
would try again and got it through by convincing my predator not to
block for Synesios' sake. Meanwhile, Noal was tooling up and
demonstrated his hit-back capacity against his prey in combat (who was
using Majesty and manuvers for combat defense). I got Al-Ashrad out
on turn 6 and with a Rutor's Hand in the 7th turn, I started to go to
town. I backed into the Trujah player with Shulgi and beat up
Synesios good. Xian would take advantage of this by placing Fame on
Synesios and popping him in and out of torpor for the oust. Next
turn, I took out Mary the Black with a concentrated assault by
Al-Ashrad, who was summarily knocked into torpor by the
conflaguration. Having already dealed for this eventuality with my
Setite grand-prey, Sarrasine took the rescue action to bring Al-Ashrad
back into the game before Xian's weenie Lasombra could eat him.
Overall, there were a few deals made with my Succubus Club. I think
I made a non-aggression deal with Xian for 2 pool (I'd pay him 2 pool
to stay off me for 2 turns). After ousting my Baali prey who was
lacking for defense after losing his Conflaguration threat via Mary
the Black, I continued to oust my new prey in short order. Having 2
vps secured, I reluctantly faced Xian's weenie horde of Shadow Twins.
Ur-Shulgi was down to 4 blood if I remember correctly and I knew that
Xian could Con Boon (w/ Power Structure), so I negotiated a withdrawl
deal, giving me the table (3-2 split with Xian). In retrospect, I
probably should have tried to oust him, but at the time I was just
happy to have a table win.
Round Two was seated like this:
me -->!Nos Combat -->Malk S&B --> Stealth Bleed/Vote? --> Fortitude
Horde
This was a bad round for me. The fortitude horde bled for lots as
weenies and even more when they hunted and Force of Will'd. I did
very little in the game aside from trying to Jedi Mind Trick my fellow
Meths into keeping me around to beat up people. Down to 4 pool with
only Al-Ashrad out, I made a deal with John(?) Bell the !Nos player to
let me withdraw if it came down to just us two left. Jared (the
Stealth bleed/vote deck?) thought it was too early for me to make a
non-GW deal. After much debate, we continued with play only to have
Jared call Kevin (the tourney judge over) two turns later to rule on
the legitimacy of the deal. In those two turns, I had turned my game
around by MT/Provisioning Al-Ashrad twice for nearly 15 pool. I was
influencing up Qadir ul-Ghani at that point and it looked grim for
Jared 3-4 minions between Bell's !Nos rushes and my contracts. After
hearing all the facts, Kevin ruled the deal was legit because I was
maximizing VP's. Jared scooped up and left. (1 VP for me via
withdrawl).
The third round I saw the best decks of the day in my opinion.
me --> Great Beast deck (Josh) --> Giovanni & friends (Dave) -->
Gangrel Vote (Jay) --> Toreador deck.
I got Parnassus out quickly this game and blackmailed, er... sold my
protective services to the Toreador for 2 pool/turn. This didn't last
long, as Jay would oust the Toreador via votes in short order.
Al-Ashrad comes out with a Hand and it got ugly from there. I rushed
backwards nearly all game and was fed pool by both Josh and Dave to
keep me pushing on Jay's deck which just wouldn't die. Bloating off
massive Con Boons and roaring forward with several KRC's I was ousted
and went to dinner early.
I would come back just in time to take notes on the Final Round. It
was:
Gangrel untitled vote (Jay) -->
Ventrue Bleed & Vote (Jared) -->
Lasombra Presence Vote (Jeff) -->
!Malk Bleed? (Bernie) -->
Pre bleed (Robert?)
Jay's early votes pounded Jared's relatively large cap Ventrue into
submission. Lasombra and Jay's voters would form a voting alliance
where both Jared and Bernie would receive 2 points of damage from each
KRC called. But in a sudden move with his prey down to only 4 pool,
Jay jumps with a Dramatic Upheaval to steal Lasombra's VP with a
subsequent Domain Challenge. Jay then attempted to Dramatic back to
his original position, but is DI'd by the Lasombra. Their alliance of
convient seating position broken, Jared offers to deal with Jay's
voters in exchange for 0 VP's (being 2nd seed he'd still get 2nd if
Jay swept). Kevin pulls Jared aside for a moment of private
discussion and is subsequently returned to the table with nothing said
by either about what was discussed, but I'm assuming it was about the
deal he offered Jay. Anyways, Jay and Jared align against Lasombra
and Robert doing 3-1 damage with KRC's respectively. Jay goes for the
kill with another Domain challenge and Lasombra makes a deal that if
he goes to stop the vote, Jared will bleed him with his first action
next turn, deal is accepted? but Jared doesn't follow through on his
turn, citing "he needs to survive first". The 3-1 votes continue.
Then in Robert's turn, he uses Revelations at inferior to burn a MT
from Lasombra's hand! Later that turn, the shit would hit the fan
when Jay offered to buddy up with Lasombra again to oust the others,
saying that when it comes down to the two of them, they will duke it
out. Jarrett threatens to spoil Jay's deal by Hostile Takeover'ing
Jay's Justicar, but Jay wasn't swayed. Following through on his
threat, Jarett tries to HT the Justicar, but is SR'd. Jay then
promises Lasombra he won't come after him until Jarett is dead. Jay
then ousts Robert with Lasombra's support citing that he can't trust
Jarett anymore because he broke an earlier deal (the one where he
promised to bleed). Being the only player left besides Jay and Jeff
(who had dealed to be the last two standing), Jarett scoops his cards.
Lasombra then concedes to Jay.
Jay 4 VPS
Lasombra 1 VPS
An interesting final round. It seems like deals were the highlight of
the day, playing a critical role in the finals. I think Kevin did a
great job officiating over these deals and making his best judgement
in each case (since these deals could be ruled either way in most
cases).
Thanks again to all who showed up for Origins! I look forward to
seeing you all again at GenCon!!!
Aramis