david....@gmail.com#
First off I'd like to thank Kevin Mergen for running a great weekend of
V:TES. We had more V:TES events this year at Origins than any other
year I can recall and Thursday in particular was an orgy of V:TES
unparalleled since the first Week of Nightmares in my opinion. Thanks
Kevin!
I attended all 4 days of the convention, plus Wednesday night's
tournament at the Guardtower. While I don't have notes on all the
events, I will attempt to reconstruct the weekend as best I can.
Hopefully this will be interesting reading for all those who could not
attend *cough* all the other V:TES players in Wisconsin */cough*. Also
I will have to rely on others to fill in the gaps in my notes and
memory. So grab a fresh cup of coffee, settle into your office chairs
and let me tell you about a little event called Origins 2005.
I arrived Wednesday night with Eric Chiang after an 8 hour long drive
from Milwaukee, wisconsin. The drive wasn't too bad, but I gotta say,
Indiana needs to put up billboards with comic strips or something.
That state is just so damn empty. Anyways, we arrived about 30 minutes
late for the local tournament at the Guardtower. Luckily for us, Kevin
Mergen and a few other luminaries were also running late so Jay
Kristoff graciously held off on starting until we could all arrive. I
should also thank Will Kristoff for picking us all up from the hotel as
trying to find the Guardtower would have easily added another half hour
to our drive.
So for Wednesday's tournament I grabbed my new "Thetmes/Web of Knives"
deck to take for a spin. I didn't write down notes, but I think it was
2 rounds and a final. I recall sitting prey to Peter Thumberg (a local
Columbus player with an infamous Computer Hack deck) in the first
round. I braced myself for the weenie swarm that actually didn't come.
Peter had a new deck. It was some sort of Tremere toolbox that I
guess Kevin had designed to be a give-away deck as it only used
relatively common cards. It worked pretty well and if not for a couple
of misplays by Peter, it probably would have gotten me. I don't recall
how the table ended up, but I had a great time even though I didn't
make the finals. Kudos to Columbus for having such a nice game shop
and for waiting for us slackers from out-of-state.
Thursday was the grand orgy of V:TES. Kevin had arranged for
back-to-back tournaments that were 2R+F. Basically, if you didn't make
the finals, another tournament started immediately after the 2nd round
was done. Also there was a track of tournaments to play host to the
winners after the final round was done. It was an ambitious schedule,
but I think Kevin pulled it off without a hitch. I played in the
10:00AM & 6:00PM tournaments, taking a short break in between to go
demo V:TES. I was surprised to see so many people who wanted to learn
V:TES and I wish I would have had more time to demo, but I came to
play!
The 10:00AM tournament I chose to play my new and improved "weenie CEL
guns". My only innovations were Supressive Fire and Flurry of Action.
They synergize well and allow you to bleed, untap, rush or clear your
hand in an emergency. First round was as follows: me (weenie CEL guns)
-> Connor Bell (Malk S&B) -> Peter Charnley (Mata Hari) -> Jens Thorup
Rasmussen (SER/PRO Renegade Garou) -> Nick Smith (ANI/AUS wall
w/Goratrix, etc). I had a great run of cards and managed to get Connor
down to 3 pool, but unfortunately he Secure Havens the vampire I Fame
and manages to pull off a tremendous run of stealth (4 different
stealth cards, 1 top decked after a draba reset him to zero stealth) to
oust Peter before I can stop him. Connor dies to my bleeds and damage
from Dragonbound next turn. Jens Thorup put up a good fight next by
constantly blowing up his minions with Khobar Towers so I can't dunk
them for Dragonbound damage. In a twist, I use Jens' Anthelios to pull
a Fame back from my ash heap and use it next turn on his newest minion.
The Fame damage + my bleeds oust him. Finally I face off with Nick
and he shows me why intercept decks should always get the last 2 VP. I
put up a good offense, but Nick's tooled up minions with Murder of
Crows and the occassion Carrion Crows dunk my weenies in the first
strike and I can't Blur for the damage I need to drop his guys. I
manage to put up a fight and pull off the occassional rescue to keep
the pressure on, but eventually the damage from my own Tension and
Dragonbound decide the day and I am ousted. 2VP me, 1 VP Connor, 2 vP
Nick.
Round 2 I have less copious notes as I was ousted rather quickly. It
went: Brad Cashdollar (Baali S&B) -> me (CEL guns) -> Kurt Kopp
(Ventrue Vote) -> Dave Pennington (!Tor vote/embrace). I fall to heavy
bleeds at stealth, but do come within striking distance after Faming
Kurt's Melissa Barton and throwing down a Tension. After I am ousted
it looks like Dave Pennington will be joining me shortly, but he
manages a turnaround by playing a Foundation Exhibit and calling 2 Con
Boons for 10+ pool total as well as a couple of Crusades to gain vote
control. Kurt can't cut down the pool gain fast enough and dies to 2
Legal bleeds next turn as well as Contagion damage. I missed the last
bit of the round and I heard that Brad swept the table. 4VP, 1GW to
Brad Cashdollar.
As I said above, I took a short break now to go demo and eat. I caught
up with the action after the exhibit hall closed at 6PM. I played my
Slaughterhouse deck for a change of pace. My first round was: Karl
(ANI/SPI wall) -> Oscar (Louhi & Maris Streck) -> Jay Kristoff
(!Salubri bleed?) -> me (Slaughterhouse). I quickly lost this round
after losing Egotha to 3 rounds of Carrion Crows and Aid from Bats.
Interestingly the combat was a result of my bouncing a bleed from Jay
to Karl. Jay plays the S:CE that makes you go fight someone else and
lets Karl's blocker come get Egotha! Anyways, ANI combat beats FOR and
I kick myself for not playing NEC S:CE instead of FOR. Jay proceeds to
tool up his !Salubri with bleed retainers and bleeds forward with
Pentex Loves You! I'm out in relatively short order. The rest of the
table was more interesting. Oscar manages to play a Temptation of
Greater Power to put Kurt's Stanislava up for bid. Jay wins the
auction by bidding 14 pool for the Inner Circle and Kurt summarily
dumps the traitor IC into torpor the next turn. Somehow Oscar is
ousted (I stepped away from the table) and when I come back Karl is
trying to oust himself by spending blood on claws so that Karl is
obliged to hit him into torpor with the Aid from Bats he played.
However, Karl DI's the claws. I assume there was a deal going, but I'm
not certain as to the particulars there. Table timed out: Karl 1.5VP,
Jay 1.5VP, Kurt .5VP.
My next round was so painful I didn't document it. Suffice to say that
my predator stole my only Slaughterhouse and I didn't draw another one
for several turns. I survived for a long time, but never affected the
table other than burning the top card off my prey with Egotha and
skinning a few more cards later in the game when I got another
Slaughterhouse. I end up stopping the milling after my last minion is
torpored and I realize I'll never get the Brinksmanship off. A game
best forgotten...
I think there may have been another tournament I played in after that,
but I honestly have no memory of it. I recall the finals being nearly
finished at 3AM when Kevin and I retired for the evening so that we
could be semi-rested for the first Friday tournament that started at
~1PM? Friday's tournament was 3R+F so I broke out the good stuff. I
played my "Assamite Sorcerors" deck that I intended to play in the
qualifier on Saturday. I figured the benefits of a shakedown run
outweighed the harm in revealing my tech to a few tables. It's not
like I had anything revolutionary in the deck anyways. Because I would
play this deck for both Friday and Saturday and I'm looking for advice
yet, here's the decklist.
Crypt:
3x Ur-Shulgi
3x Al-Ashrad
2x Qadir ul-Ghani
2x Parnassus
2x Zahir
Library (90 cards)
Masters (20 cards)
2x Alamut
2x Auspex
2x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Haqim's Law: Judgment
7x Minion Tap
1x Pentex Subversion
1x Tension in the Ranks
2x Thaumaturgy
Actions (14 cards)
7x Clandestine Contract
1x Khabar: Glory
4x Rutor's Hand
2x Songs of Distant Vitae
Allies (4 cards)
1x Deviki
1x Ghouls of Plaza Moreria
1x Gregory Winter
1x Myland Horseed
Combat (41 cards)
8x Blur
1x Fast Hands
10x Selective Silence
7x Taste of Death
15x Theft of Vitae
Equipment (1 card)
1x Sargon Fragment
Reactions (6 cards)
6x Telepathic Misdirection
Retainer (1 card)
1x Robert Carter
Combo (3 cards)
3x Provision of the Silsila
Just to note the deck was slightly different between Friday and
Saturday. On Friday the deck had more Songs of Distant Vitae and
Khabar: Glory for bleed power, but I stripped them out on Saturday
morning for the Telepathic Misdirections and Auspex Masters because I
was worried about bleed decks that might Sudden Reversal my Minion
Taps.
Anyways, Friday - Round 1 was as follows:
Ken Turner (!Nos vote) -> Kevin Aldrich (Ur-Shulgi PowerBleed) -> Dan
Decker (!Nos) -> me (Assamite Sorcerors) -> Peter B. (ANI wall). Dan's
deck fell quickly to big bleeds backed by Seduction and Deed the
Heart's Desire. I drew no rushes early, but did manage to burn Peter's
Calebros when he blocked a bleed from Al-Ashrad to test me. Lesson
learned: Don't test the Assamites with your best vampire, use the chump
blocker. I had some breathing room because Dan was getting hammered
and I cycle like mad but can't find a rush action until the turn before
I'm ousted. I would note for the record that at one point I had 3
Khabar: Glory in my hand and couldn't play them because Kevin already
had one in play. I back rush in my final turn and take down Mariel,
but I can't kill Ur-Shulgi as he dances away from me with Wind Dance.
Peter lays the bleed on and somehow manages to take down Ur-Shulgi. I
think I might stand a chance to survive as I'm holding a DI and Kevin
only has one bleeder (Badr?), but after I DI the Govern bleed, Kevin
tools up with a Khabar: Glory (legal move?) and ousts me with a stealth
bleed for 2. Peter finally swarms Kevin under with weenies w/ANI and
diablerizes Ur-Shulgi. Kevin transfers Mariel back into the game, but
it's too late and Peter ousts Kevin with his swarm of bleeds for 1 and
an Army of Rats. Peter 3vp 1gw, Kevin 2vp.
Round 2: Connor Bell (FoS? S&B) -> Brian Hess (Vote/bleed) -> me ->
Wayne (DOM Gangrel) -> Matt Morgan (Scalpel Tongue Tor weenies).
Connor demonstrates great responsibility in his bleeds after Brian
bounces several into me by laying down Spying Missions. (Pretty good
play for a 7 year old!) It was a slow grinding table and I was able to
MT to stay ahead of the casual DOM bleed that Brian was playing. Matt
gets out a swarm of Toreador weenies and proceeds to chip away at
Connor. Connor was slowed temporarily after one of his minions was
AI'd, but he manages to get the oust shortly thereafter. The 6 pool
keep him afloat for another turn or two, but Matt's swarm runs him
down. I manage to bleed through Wayne while using my allies to slow
Matt down. With just Matt and I left, it turns into a sluggiing match
and my MT's keep me ahead of the swarm while I use my allies to tie
down weenies so I can burn them with Taste of Death. After a close
battle, I manage to oust Matt. Connor 1vp, me 3vp 1gw, Matt 1vp.
Round 3: me -> Xian (DOM/NEC bleed) -> Paul Bowles (Tremere w/allies)
-> John Bell (pot rush) -> Jay Kristoff (iron glare guys). Another
poor game for me. I draw zero blurs for the first 25 cards or so of my
deck and am clogged on strikes. I rush Xian's Le Dihn Tho every turn
through a Clandestine Contract and have the same result each time,
S:CE. I wish I had put Psyche! into the deck, but there's just no
room. Jay bleeds me for 11 in a single turn and I'm just barely alive,
sure I'll be ousted next turn. However, Xian hasn't had a good game
either and when I rush Le Dihn Tho for the 5th time he doesn't have a
S:CE and I burn Le Dihn Tho with a Taste of Death. I play a Provision
to fill up Al-Ashrad and pray that Jay somehow doesn't oust me so that
I can MT it all back in my next turn. But in a stunning move, Xian
ousts himself by playing a DI on my Provision. I get 6 more pool and a
VP, but I must say that was the most bitter VP I've ever gotten as I
really wanted that Provision! Well with 7 pool and 3 nearly empty
minions, I die in my next turn and Paul gets John with a swarm of
allies (10 total minions, 6 allies). I missed the ending, but I heard
that Paul got Jay in the end. me 1vp, Paul 3vp, Jay 1vp.
I didn't see the final for Friday's tournament, but I think that Friday
was the day I heard that John Bell broke the curse by ousting his son
Connor. Rather biblical, isn't it? =) Great to see a family playing
V:TES together though.
Saturday was the qualifier and while there were a good number of
players, I think only 24 were not qualified already, so only 6 people
would qualify from this tournament. Those that were already qualified
were obvious by the decks they were playing (I saw several anarch decks
from qualified players) as well as the more casual attitude they had
during the tournament, although people weren't nearly as serious and
ornery as the Last Chance qualifiers I've seen in the past. Those
tourneys are brutal...
Anyways, I played my Assamite Sorcerors again, but made the
aforementioned changes to protect against bleed decks on Saturday
morning. In retrospect, I probably would have been better off with the
enhanced bleeds, but I'm still debating that change.
Round 1: me -> Eric Chiang (!Malk bleed) -> Jay Kristoff (anarchs) ->
Karl (anarchs w/THA) -> Dave Setty (Ventrue w/weenie PRE). Early PRE
bleeds put me on the defensive. I MT early and often to stay ahead,
but Dave gets out Democritus and 2nd tradition blocks my Rutors and
DI's Mylan Horseed. Without action multipliers, I'm forced to spend
all my actions going backwards to stay alive. I Provision off a combat
with Angela, but I don't draw a MT and have to spend an extra turn
fishing one out of my ash heap with Anthelios. I leave up one blocker
(Zahir). I use up Zahir catching a deflected bleed for 4 and die to
Dave's bleeds. Eric was down to 6 pool when I was ousted, but it
should be noted I never took a single forward action, so he must have
spent all 24 pool. Still, Eric falls short of ousting Jay and Dave
gets him as well shortly after I fall. Jay fights down Dave's minions,
but Dave still manages to bleed for 5 with 2 minions in his turn to
kill Jay. Dave has the table at that point and sees that the combats
with Jay have seriously hampered his ability to push the offensive
through Karl, so he concedes and takes a 3-2 split.
Round 2 was pretty messy and I didn't keep good notes on this one. It
was: Xian -> me -> Gangrel -> Anson/IC -> new guy with !Tre. I was
hitting the Gangrel player pretty hard and just as I ran out of combat,
he ran out of combat defense so he offers me a deal: "no more combats
with his minions and he'll give me 2vps". I don't have the combat or
bleed to oust him anytime soon, so I take the deal thinking that the
Anson deck is the threat anyways. The Toreador player put up a good
fight, but with me feigning a lack of rushes and the Gangrel player
bouncing my bleeds, he falls before he can get the new guy. The new
guy plays well, but isn't really in a good position as he's playing a
blocky deck against Anson Aching Beauty/Change of Target. Xian also
seems to be short on offense and keeps encouraging me to kill my prey.
Apparently Xian and the new guy didn't hear the deal I made with the
Gangrel player and they were just walling up. The Gangrel player takes
the new guy down and just barely gets Xian at the 3 min mark. In what
looks like a deal-break, the Gangrel player tries to PTO Al-Ashrad, but
I quickly add up my Alamut counters (I had forgot to add them from the
last set of bleeds I did) and he quickly recants and concedes. Scared
me for a second though as I had a deal broken by John Flournoy in the
Great Lakes qualifier last year that nearly cost me my qualifying spot.
Anyways, the Gangrel player gets 3vps 1gw, I get 2vps. Sorry Xian.
Round 3: Paul B (intercept deck) -> Will Kristoff (Ahrimanes) -> me ->
Mark (Ventrue/Toreador) -> Aaron S. (Toreador). A softer, gentler
table than the last few I'd been at. I beat on Mark's squishy Ventrue
and Toreador, but despite good combat cycling, I can't draw a MT. Will
is apparently jammed up on something and doesn't hit me very hard.
Despite my best efforts however, Mark gets Aaron with Paul's help.
Apparently there was a deal made that I didn't hear (damn karma biting
me in the ass). As a note for future events, if we could have V:TES in
a side ballroom or something, it might really help because it was too
damn loud in that hangar of a CCG hall. Anyways, the deal was
apparently between Paul and Mark. If Paul helped Mark oust Aaron, Mark
would be Paul's bitch to the end. Will dies before unjamming his hand
and ever seeing a single untap card (truely poor odds on that one!). I
rush into Paul trying to encourage Mark to break his deal and hope I
can make a deal with someone if their alliance breaks, but Mark stays
true and Paul lets him withdraw after I'm ousted. Paul 3vp 1gw, Mark
2vp.
I do have the notes from the final, but to do this in chronological
order we next heard who qualified. I have photos of all the
qualifiers, but I didn't write down names. I assume someone has or
will post those soon enough. I believe the cut-off mark was 1gw, 5vps.
Final table: Dave Barasch (Great Beast deck) -> Chris Berg (Gangrel) ->
Mark (Ventrue) -> Dave Setty (Pre bleed Ventrue) -> Xian. The finals
were noted play-by-play so forgive the stream of consciousness
narrative here.
Setty starts out strong by bringing out Deliah Easton and playing
Anthelios. Also in the first round of minions Raven came out and
called Gangrel Justicar on herself. I'm not sure how it passed since
Mark had Mustafa the Heir at that point. Maybe there was a deal I
didn't hear (again?). Anyways, Mark brings up Michael Luther and
perhaps that was his plan all along for letting the Justicar vote pass
since Luther can change those votes. Setty gets a Bowl of Convergence
next which I assume is to contest since he's not really an intercept
deck, but I could be wrong, he does play 2nd traditions. Xian is up to
2 minions (Kurt S. & Sarah Cobbler). Dave B. finally gets a minion
(Cybele). Mark gets Boss Callahan. Xian gets Aisling. Dave B's
Cybele Magic of the Smith's for a Soul Gem (aha! now I understand what
the deck does). Chris gets Stanislava. Setty gets Democritus. Mark
gets Victorine. Dave gives Cybele FOR, here it comes, Calls the Great
Beast (PRE OBF FOR) and blows up triggering the Soul Gem for another
Cybele. Cybele and the Great Beast both bleed, but get bounced. Chris
tries to PTO Cybele (not 11 cap again, yet) but Dave DI's the PTO.
Chris plays a second copy of PTO and Cybele burns leaving Dave with
just the Great Beast in play. 30 min into the game. Setty makes his
first progeny with Democritus. Xian deflects and bleeds some into Dave
and then brings out Hannigan. Dave's Great Beast bleeds but again gets
bounced all the way around to Setty who blocks and obediences the Great
Beast! The Great Beast freak drives and rushes Stanislava to trade
blows for no significant effect. Chris bleeds forward and Mark loses
Victorine when he blocks with her and Chris whips out the Bone Spurs.
Chris negotiates with Setty for the votes to diablerize successfully
and Victorine is diablerized by Chandler, who dies in the blood hunt?
I'm guessing the negotiations were unsuccessful, but again I couldn't
hear the table talk that well. Setty makes another progeny on his turn
and recruits a Political Ally. Deliah also gets J.S. Simmons. Dave
MT's the Great Beast on his turn bringing him up from 5-6 pool to over
10 pool and then he transfers up another Cybele. Setty uses his Anarch
Troublemaker to tap 2 of Xian's 3 minions and lets loose with bleeds.
Xian bounces the first two bleeds, blocks and kills the 3rd (political
ally) and then takes the 4th and 5th bleeds for 9 pool total leaving
Xian at 3 pool, but Xian DI's the last Foreshadowing Destruction
leaving him at 6 pool (did he pay for DI?). Somehow the Great Beast
died when I wasn't looking??? Chris calls Banishment, but it fails as
Xian pitches the Edge (must have bled when Dave had no blockers).
Setty contests the Anarch Troublemaker. Xian brings out the Arcane
Library and walls up. Dave MT's Cybele. Stanislava bleeds, Mark
blocks with Boss Calahan, Stani Form of Mist's, Mark uses the Ericyces
Fragment to grab a Majesty, plays it, untaps and grabs a deflection
with the Ericyces and uses it to bounce to his prey. (nice move
Mark!!!) Mark screws with Setty's progeny and then brings out Barth.
Setty sends in the new Anarch Troublemaker and then contests with Xian
again. He bleeds with a minion, forgetting to push blood onto
Democritus through the blood doll. Dave is forced to hunt with
Democritus who is blocked by a 2nd tradition from Mark's Mustafa.
Democritus is torped. Setty bleeds on despite his mistake and gets
Xian with his final bleed for 2. 46 minutes left in the game. Dave
calls the Great Beast again to replace an empty Cybele. Chris gets
Ecoterrorists and saves Democritus with Raven. Mark bleeds 4 times (4,
3, 1, 1) and ousts Setty. 39 minutes left in the game. Deal talk
between Mark and Dave: Dave gets 1vp and then agrees to roll over for
Mark. Dave bleeds heavily into Chris who bounces to Mark who bounces
back to Chris. Chris is hit for 5, bringing him down to 7 pool. Chris
manages to get Mark in his next turn. The final setup is this: Dave
has Cybele and the Great Beast and 6 pool, Chris has Badger,
Stanislava, Raven and 9 pool. Dave Golcanda's Cybele who was Mind
Raped anyways. Chris PTO's the Great Beast. Dave Concedes. Chris
3vp, Mark 1vp, Setty 1vp.
Saturday night there was a Sabbat War vs. Camarilla draft. There were
22 players which made for a perfect 11 per side so that you'd never see
the same booster twice. Kevin let people with a preference for one set
or the other have their preference and then divided up the rest to
balance out the teams. Everyone agreed to that and we drafted. It was
hard choosing just one card from each pack. Usually in a draft you'll
see a pack twice or maybe even three times so you have a chance to
draft a vampire you like and possible a library card. Not so here.
There were groans all over the table as people had to make the hard
choices knowing that they would not get a second pick later.
I drafted an Annabelle Triabell out of my first pack hoping to go for
Toreador bleed, but it was not meant to be. I drafted a total of 3
Toreador the whole draft and ended up with a Brujah pre/pot
bruise/bleed deck. I managed to draft 3 Menele and he became the new
all-star for my deck. Two Hunting Grounds and Menele is pretty good
pool gain for a draft. I also got a ton of clan-specific allies and
Clan Impersonations. I don't have the round-by-round notes, but I
think I made the finals and died horribly there. Despite predictions
that Cam decks would beat Sabbat War decks, I think both sides did well
and I think the final was a pretty even split.
Finally, late Saturday night after a fine dinner at an Irish pub across
the street with the Atlanta gang and Aaron, Kevin, and the Bell family
we returned to the CCG hall for even more V:TES with Oscar and another
of the White Wolf crew (Conrad?). None of us had decks, so we all
played Oscar's decks and I greatly enjoyed trying to piece together the
combos while being half-asleep. Saturday was a great day despite not
qualifying.
Sunday I skipped out on the tournament to do more demo'ing and do some
last minute shopping for friends and family. White Wolf kindly hooked
me up with some Sabbat War for my time teaching people V:TES and I even
got a chance to play a few demos of new games (Anachronsim from the
History Channel actually is pretty fun). Eric and I left at around 4pm
on Sunday and made the long drive back to Chicago and were treated to
at least a few fireworks shows on the drive back which I miraculously
survived despite a lack of sleep and Chicago's notoriously dangerous
drivers.
All told, a wonderful trip and I thank everyone who came out to Origins
for such a lovely time! Hope to see you all at Gencon!!!
David Buerger