Robert Goudie#
ORCCON XX Tournaments - Report (long)
First off, I wan't to thank Matthew Burke, the VTES product Manager at
WotC for the support he gave us. It made a big difference.
We played four tournaments over this last weekend. I was the judge for
the first one but got to play in the rest. We had a great turnout again
with a 25% growth in new players. More and more of the players have
some contact with the newsgroup and are up on the rules. I talked to
WotC sales manager, Josh Fischer, who liked our display of posters and a
six-foot Vampire standee. He thanked me and said that I could contact
him personally if we ever needed anything. It'll nice to have another
friend on the inside!
CARD OF THE WEEKEND: Minion Tap
PLAYER OF THE WEEKEND: ME. Why the hell not? With Steve Bucy off
stalking a member of the opposite sex, I added a first place to my
ever-growing collection of second-place ribbons. I played in three
finals and placed in three finals.
GENERAL TRENDS AND SUPRISES:
1) Huge Vamps using Minion Taps/Golcondas and Soul Gems or 5th trad.
2) Weenie Vamps. Weenie Stealth Vote, Weenie Bleed. Weenie Vote Push
(did well but not degenerate).
3) NO DEGENERATE DECKS. No more looping Gangrels. The closest thing
would be those damn RTI's.
4) I was surpised by the lack of Thoughts Betrayed.
5) Little Sabbat until the fourth tournament.
6) The Malks are back again.
7) Very little Tremere.
8) Many new players!
9) Some of the old players were found playing Legend of the Five Rings.
10) We outnumber the Ice Age tournaments for the second Con in a row
despite their cash prize.
11) Game is still growing in LA.
SAT EARLY TOURNAMENT
I judged it but can't remember what happened. I'll check my notes and
report later. Conrad Mikaelson won with a Malk Stealth Bleed/Vote
deck. That's all I've got to say about that.
SAT EVE TOURNAMENT
I played Weenie Dom Bleeders & Deflections. Swept both preliminary
rounds and went to final with an unprecedented 10VP. The newsgroup's
own Darby Keeney played a nasty combat deck using the sabbat vamps that
enter combat with any minion and the one that auto sets range. Bo
played a Lg. Cap. Return to Innocence deck with Blood Gain. Paul
Johnson played a Ventrue deck of some sort. Mike Nilsen played a large
cap Stealth Bleed deck with RTIs, Golcondas, Soul Gem, with Minion Taps.
FINAL ROUND!
Round 4: Bo plays RTI for a bleed over ten to Darby.
Round 6: I oust Paul by Misdirecting his Ventrue Prince and bleeding
for another dozen.
Round 6: Darby's vamps enter combat with me and eliminate two of my
vamps.
Round 9: Bo is ousted by my remaining horde of dom bleeders.
Round 9 and on. Darby beats down my bleeders for a few turns. Every
time I bring out a new one he kills it.
Mike does some serious blood gain with Minion Taps and Golcondas with
the Soul Gem. He cycles fishing for his RTI's.
I begin to contest my own torpored vamps so that I will have a vamp that
can't be rushed and then on my turn I will have a bleeder. Darby is
very low on blood but is gaining slowly.
I get one bleed in and Darby and Mike start diablerizing my torpored
vamps.
I get low on blood and Darby lets me bring out 2 vamps to defend against
Mike.
I use my last wake to deflect a moderate bleed. My then ousts me with
the rest of his minions.
Darby's vamps are too low on blood to eliminate Mike all of Mike's
vamps. Mike ousts Darby and Wins with 3 VP. I took second with 2 VP,
and the rest of the table tied for third with 0 VP. (The DCI doesn't
have enough tie-breakers!)
SUNDAY EARLY TOURNAMENT
I played a Dawn Op/Drawing out the Beast/Earth Meld with Perm. Bleed
mods deck. The newsgroup's very own Chris Shorb played an IC Member deck
with Soul Gem/Minion Tap/Golconda and some Stealthy Bleeds and Votes.
Paul Johnson played a Ventrue Deflector and blood gain deck. Stuart
Smith played a Political Deck. Robert Weber played a Malk deck that uses
mostly permanent intercept. His favorite gimmick is the Madness Network
bleed which he then Major Boons. He also uses Guns and the Ivory Bow.
It is a rather varied deck.
Paul doesn't wish to block my permanent bleeds and just deflects them to
Stuart.
Stuart tries a last ditch Parity Shift to give himself blood, give me
blood (I need it) and give his predator blood (he has votes). Stuart's
Prey and Grandprey (Chris and Robert Weber) vote against it. There are
many votes at the table and this barely fails due mostly to Chris' IC
members.
I bleed Paul for 1 and he accepts it. Robert Weber plays a Major Boon.
Stuart gets ousted.
I get ousted.
Paul gains blood and bleeds Chris.
Robert intercepts Chris' votes and Chris is being bled hard.
Chris does an RTI on Robert who accepts the bleed and then burns his
major boon to oust Paul. Chris did this because of Paul's bleed threat
and because it still left him the chance to win by also getting 2
Victory points and win by having the most blood (1st tie-breaker.)
Robert outlasts Chris and soon bleeds him out.
Robert Weber: First Place
Paul Johnson: Second Place
The rest of us tie for third.
SUNDAY EVE TOURNAMENT
I played a Dawn Op/Weather Ctrl/Skin of Night deck that uses Muaziz to
Diablerize. Zach Mohr played lg. cap Stealth Bleed deck (We only saw
Etrius though). Seamus MacLeod used a small capacity bleed deck with
Comp. Hacks and some dom bleeds and bleeders. Bobby Somethingorother
played a balanced Lasombra deck. A guy whose name escapes me played an
interesting Rutor's Hand/Toreador/Progeny/Consanguineous Boon deck.
FINAL ROUND!
Seamus taps out and bleeds Zach bad.
Zach gets out Etrius and sees that he has but one option.
Bobby is already getting the Rutor's deck low because he influenced the
wrong vamp and that it's a slow building deck.
Seamus hits Zach hard again.
Zach Backbleeds Seamus with Etrius + Govern the Unaligned +
Conditioning.
Seamus hits Zach again.
Zach Backbleeds Seamus again with Etrius + Govern + Threats leaving
Seamus with one pool. Zach will fall to Seamus with a small bleed next
turn.
I make a deal with Zach (my predator) to Govern Bleed Seamus (My Grand
Predator) with Muaziz (Ability = +1 Stealth) to oust him. This in
exchange for a few turns of peace and safety. Zach agrees and Seamus is
ousted. This also give the Rutor's guy six blood and prevents my
Lasombra prey from earning a victory point.
My prey, Bobby, is getting Zach low and decides he will have to go
backwards around the table and win with 2 VP.
Zach backbleeds Bobby.
I bleed Bobby and oust him.
Zach and I bleed each other but I outlast Zach and Win with 2 VP.
This was one of the oddest matches I've ever played. The whole final
took 20 minutes.
There you have it. I'll update my web page info about the May
tournaments soon. If you are in the area, you've got to come out and
join in the insanity in May.
- Robert
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:The opinions expressed here are strictly my own delusional ramblings:
:and do not reflect the opinions of The Walt Disney Company. :
: :
:Robert Goudie robert...@studio.disney.com:
:LA Tourny Info -> http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~ezix/other/rg/vtourn_1.html:
:....................................................................:
:Da pony run, he jump he pitch. He t'row my master in da ditch. :
:He died and da jury wondered why. Da verdict was the blue tail fly.:
:....................................................................: