TWD Tension in the Ranks

Powerbase: Berkeley Tension in the Ranks August 9, 2014 Berkeley, CA, USA 13 players 2r + final Winner: David Corson-Knowles (after not playing for several years he came to take the tournament win!) Deck Name: "Perfect Victory" Created by: d from JOL Deck notes: Graverobbing was a mistaken inclusion, probably in the same card box from when Anson and a few different Malks were in a previous version of the deck. (I've been playing variations on this "quick Malks & friends" deck since Kalinda came out). Not realizing that there isn't a single level of Dominate in the crypt, I actually drew and held on to Graverobbing for a few turns in Round 2 and considered fishing for a vamp to use it (thankfully I didn't!). This deck used to have more Perfectionist, but I dropped them for 2x Giant's Blood, managing to play one in 2 out of 3 rounds (although one of those plays was for just 1 blood). Strategy: Get Victoria and a support vamp and hopefully a high capacity vamp. Try not to die until you win. Mix up actions, bleed, block and combat to keep the hand flowing. Didn't draw my titled vamp or either of my Political Cards during this tournament. Deck List: Crypt: (15) 3x Victoria(G2) 1x Antoinette DuChamp(G2) 1x Brazil(G1) 1x Cornelius Ottavio(G2) 1x Dancin' Dana(G1) 1x Dollface(G1) 1x Franciscus(G2) 1x François Villon(G2) 1x Kalinda(G2) 1x Sarah Brando(G2) 1x Smudge the Ignored(G1) 1x Volker, The Puppet Prince(G2) 1x Zöe(G2) Library: (91) Master: (22) 4x Blood Doll 2x Giant's Blood 2x Madness Network 1x Asylum Hunting Ground 1x Celerity 1x Effective Management 1x Fame 1x Golconda: Inner Peace 1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany 1x Humanitas 1x Information Highway 1x Life in the City 1x Minion Tap 1x Pentex(TM) Subversion 1x Perfectionist 1x Rötschreck 1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch Action: (3) 2x Bum's Rush 1x Graverobbing Action Modifier: (8) 2x Cloak the Gathering 2x Faceless Night 1x Elder Impersonation 1x Mask of a Thousand Faces 1x Spying Mission 1x Veil the Legions Action Modifier/Combat: (2) 2x Swallowed by the Night Ally: (3) 3x Muddled Vampire Hunter Combat: (21) 5x Disguised Weapon 3x Blur 3x Taste of Vitae 2x Acrobatics 2x Fast Hands 2x Psyche! 1x Lightning Reflexes 1x Pursuit 1x Sideslip 1x Zip Gun Equipment: (13) 5x .44 Magnum 2x Ivory Bow 2x Palatial Estate 1x Assault Rifle 1x Bowl of Convergence 1x Flash Grenade 1x Rowan Ring Political Action: (2) 1x Camarilla Exemplary 1x Malkavian Justicar Reaction: (15) 3x Forced Awakening 3x Spirit's Touch 3x Wake with Evening's Freshness 2x Telepathic Misdirection 1x Eagle's Sight 1x Lost in Translation 1x Precognition 1x Telepathic Counter Retainer: (2) 1x J. S. Simmons, Esq. 1x Tasha Morgan Highlights: There was one really interesting card play for me in each of the three rounds, that weighed heavily on the outcome and my survival. First round it was Eagle's Sight, second round it was Rotschrek and third round it was Pentex Subversion. Highlights the toolbox-y nature of this Master-heavy bleed/block/bloat/combat deck. Tournament play notes Round 1: 'Insanely' lucky play of Eagle's Sight let me keep my !Ventrue prey from bleeding out the last 1 pool of Jeff Kuta's Madness Network/Parity Shift deck Soon after, managed to oust prey and then Jeff for a 3-1 game (Jeff got the Daughter's deck, my predator). Very selective and occasional use of the Vampire Hunter contributed to the victory. Victoria, Sarah Brando and Franciscus were the only vamps who made it out of the crypt due to early damage from the Daughter's deck. Interestingly (to me) I managed to get Humanitas and Perfectionist on a support vamp, but only used it one time in a cross table rescue for Jeff. Round 2: Timed out against Infernal Unnamed prey in round 2. "Terrible" decision to use Rotschrek against my predator and not to block my prey's Unleash Hell's Fury left me stymied for several rounds. Infernal's burned 2 of my vamps and ousted the Daughter's deck while Alex's Immortal Grapple deck across the table ousted the Lasombra Arm's of the Abyss Entombment deck that was preying on me. Would have at least bled out my prey using Ottavio on the next turn if the last round hadn't taken so long to play through. Round 3: In the tournament final, Pentex Subversion saved me from going down to David's Daugher's deck with Shattering Crescendo after he Famed Franciscus at the beginning of the game, and apparently taking small bleeds and failing to block him kept his hand combat-jammed with ag damage cards. Despite pushing as much as I could against my !Ventrue prey again, he was able to oust the Infernal Unnamed, in part due to stopping the equip of Homonculus in a 5 intercept to 5 stealth showdown, followed by a satisfying play of Target Vitals, but not before the Unnamed and accompanying Horde did heavy damage to Brandon's Anson deck. Anson recovered (literally coming out of the crypt again) after the Toreadors outbled the Daughters. I finally pushed through the !Ventrue after that with some help from Fame and Muddled Vampire Hunter. Francois had J.S. Simmons support to throw bleeds of three, which helped with the race to tap out and bleed that we were all engaged in during the last few rounds. Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one. -Friedrich Nietzsche brandonsantacruz.blogspot.com/

91 cards in library makes this deck illegal for tournament play. 6.2. Constructed Deck Size Limits Standard Constructed decks must contain a minimum of sixty cards and a maximum of ninety cards. The crypt must contain a minimum of twelve cards. Marko, Prince of Helsinki

Wow you are right. I even asked him if the deck was 90 or fewer cards before he started. I will double check with him to see if there is a mistake in the deck list. Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one. -Friedrich Nietzsche brandonsantacruz.blogspot.com/

What does it mean for the results of a tournament if the winner is disqualified? Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one. -Friedrich Nietzsche brandonsantacruz.blogspot.com/

> brandonsantacruz wrote: > Wow you are right. I even asked him if the deck was 90 or fewer cards before he started. I will double check with him to see if there is a mistake in the deck list. > It's probably that Graverobbing that wasn't supposed to be in deck in first place. But that should have been handled during tournament by removing it from deck and giving player a warning about it and then continue playing like normal. Problem is that he noticed that he had card in his deck that shouldn't be there and did nothing about it during the tournament, like notifying a judge about it. Deck is illegal, but that one extra card can't be used by any vampire in the deck, so it only makes deck worse and doesn't give any advantage to player. Judges call I suppose. To DQ or not to DQ, that's the question. Marko, Prince of Helsinki

This was already mentioned in the original post > brandonsantacruz wrote: > Deck notes: Graverobbing was a mistaken inclusion, probably in the same card box from when Anson and a few different Malks were in a previous version of the deck. (I've been playing variations on this "quick Malks & friends" deck since Kalinda came out). Not realizing that there isn't a single level of Dominate in the crypt, I actually drew and held on to Graverobbing for a few turns in Round 2 and considered fishing for a vamp to use it (thankfully I didn't!). > Finnish Politics!

Pascal, would it be OK for this player to drop this useless graverobbing from his deck to avoid a disqualification? Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one. -Friedrich Nietzsche brandonsantacruz.blogspot.com/

That's how I would've ruled it if it had been in my tournament. Or, if I was in a nasty mood, made him keep the Graverobbing and forced him to drop another card. Put most likely not. Finnish Politics!

I was the head judge. We did not require deck registration as per 6.3 Constructed Deck Registration. David Corson-Knowles clearly did not play with any intent to gain advantage by having a 91 card deck. It was merely an oversight on his part not having tuned his deck because he hadn't played in years. The tournament ended without this being known. It was only through David's honesty that he reported the 91 card list for the TWDA. He even mentioned the error in his write-up. I would not recommend any sanction against him for his mistake. When you are anvil, be patient; when a hammer, strike. pckvtes.wordpress.com @pckvtes

> brandonsantacruz wrote: > Pascal, would it be OK for this player to drop this useless graverobbing from his deck to avoid a disqualification? > I don't know about that - you'll have to check with Vincent, he's in charge of logging decks in the TWDA. Regarding this event, Ginés and I decided not to disqualify David. I, however, highly recommend calling the judge if something is wrong in your deck.

> Pascal wrote: > I, however, highly recommend calling the judge if something is wrong in your deck. > Apparently this was noticed only AFTER the tournament: > > Jeff wrote: > The tournament ended without this being known. It was only through David's honesty that he reported the 91 card list for the TWDA. He even mentioned the error in his write-up. > The card came up in the tournament but I gather it didn't ring any bells at that time: > > brandonsantacruz wrote: > Deck notes: Graverobbing was a mistaken inclusion, probably in the same card box from when Anson and a few different Malks were in a previous version of the deck. (I've been playing variations on this "quick Malks & friends" deck since Kalinda came out). Not realizing that there isn't a single level of Dominate in the crypt, I actually drew and held on to Graverobbing for a few turns in Round 2 and considered fishing for a vamp to use it (thankfully I didn't!). > Often during a tournament I tend to count the cards in my deck while shuffling between the rounds. And before the 1st round. Just to see if the numbers don't match... Finnish Politics!

> Pascal wrote: > I don't know about that - you'll have to check with Vincent, he's in charge of logging decks in the TWDA. > I feel sorry for David, but the deck won't be included in the TWDA as it's not a legal deck. I can't include the 90-cards version of the deck neither, because it wasn't the deck that was played. Prince of Paris, France Ratings Coordinator, Rules Director