Richard Zopf#
To All,
Here is the "Post Mortem" (heh, heh) on our "Matt Heslin Memorial"
tournament here in Charlotte, NC. No, he didn't die... but that's close,
he moved to Dallas, TX (a fate worse than death? ;-) As we were losing one
of a dwindling number here in Charlotte, it seemed fitting to see him off
with a larger than average event...
So it wasn't DCI sanctioned, it was a bit small, but it was glorious,
bloody fun!!! Charlotte's "biggest little tournament" had eight players,
who played a DCI style tournament (three rounds plus a finals), plus a draft
game (the draft method for which was set up on the fly).
I wasn't expecting to play, but with the turnout of seven, I hopped in
to make two tables of four players each. If rules questions came up, I
would humbly submit my case to a triumvirate consisting of LSJ, Conor Key,
and Josh Duffin. Fortunately, the experience level with this group of elite
players was high, and no rules disputes arose over the course of the entire
day.
After three rounds of preliminary play, the following people made it to
the finals:
1st: L. Scott Johnson (Toreador vote deck) 6 V.P. (148 tourney
points)...who said Toreador suck?
2nd: Conor S. Key (Toreador vote deck) 6 V.P. (142 tourney points)...
see above:-)
3rd: R. David Zopf (Malk/!Nos "Using the Advantage" blood gain deck
<grin>) 5 V.P. (142 )
4th: Josh Duffin (Potence Rush deck) 4 VP
5th: Joe Churchill (Bruise and Bleed deck) 2VP
6th: Matt Heslin (Vampires with Innate +1 Hand Damage deck) 1VP (Matt's
been hanging around me too long... :-)
Conor was unable to stay for the finals, so Matt squeaked in.
Seating for the finals was as follows (with seat one getting one
transfer, determined randomly):
1: Josh Duffin
2: Matt Heslin
3: Joe Churchill
4: R. David Zopf
5: L. Scott Johnson
Sensing his impending doom early on from LSJ's voting Toreador, Josh
Duffin Rushed backwards often to knock out voters. This worked to my favor,
as it meant my slow-to-bleed blood gain deck merely had to avoid being
bludgeoned by the other combat monsters. I persevered, as Joe Churchill
seemed to run out of GtU/Conditioned bleeds _and_ Rush actions before I ran
out of pool and minions (but it was close). I ousted LSJ, followed by Josh
in rapid succession. (LSJ had done a hammer job with votes on Josh before I
ever got there.) At this point, I made what could have been a grevious
error. With five minions and four pool left, I pulled a Disguised Weapon/
White Phosphorous Grenade Combo on Matt H's last standing minion, along with
torporizing one of my own. I thought it would be great, but then realized
that I only had one minion standing to block Joe C's two dominate bleeders.
With Matt minionless, I could rely on Joe tapping out to bleed me. To
pre-empt this, I used my last minion (Zebulon) to Night Moves Joe (my
predator) who had only one remaining pool left. This gave Matt a V.P. (a
parting gift from mymself ;-), but no minions. Then it was merely a matter
of bleeding out Matt H. (after diablerizing all his torpored minions, of
course)
Final standings: R. David Zopf 4 VP
Matt Heslin: 1 VP
All comments about the organizer winning the tourney may be directed to
that brick wall over there ;-)
Our draft was quick (1 hour 10 minutes to draft and construct) and
interesting. We had 5 packs each of Jyhad, and two packs each of Ancient
Hearts. The Jyhad packs were opened, and the four vampire cards were
seperated from the library cards (vamp rarity votes/goodies went with the
vampires). The same was done for AH. Library cards were stacked, in order.
We then each flipped over the top two vampires on the vamp stack, making
a pool in the center of the table. Selection started with the first person
choosing one vampire, went clockwise along, with that last person selecting
two vamps, and then selection reversed direction. The next person clockwise
began selection on the next flip of two vampires, etc. until all vampires
were distributed.
Library cards were taken 25 at a time, and drafted in a typical "take
one and pass to the left" style. AH cards were drafted in a separate round.
Things moved very smoothly, and most people were able to tune their decks in
about 15 minutes after drafting. Only one round was played, which was a
bummer, but just about everyone had to travel that night (except for myself,
Matt, and Jose' LaFuente... we headed for Tyber Creek Pub =). This type of
draft (open on the vampires, closed on the library) had some interesting
elements, as you could see what clans everyone was intending to use, but you
couldn't see the library card that they intended to use them with. You
could "denial draft" cards away (I soaked up any IG's I saw, due to being a
Prescence deck with quite a few Majesties), but the temptation is limited by
the fact that the exact strategy of the other player isn't fully known (it
could be that Brujah player was going for Pre bleeds, also, and my IG draft
was for naught...)
I'll post my Malk/!Nos deck this evening, when I have the deck
in front of me....
Thanks for reading, if you got this far =)
--
Regards,
R. David Zopf
Atom Weaver (& V:EKN Prince of Charlotte, NC)