Obtenebration
6/29/2010 10:39:00 PM
Well I had always regretted previous years where I didn't take any
notes, since I could never remember who played what and what actually
happened in a game. So my own views and thoughts on Origins. I have
no plans on going to the NAC this year, so doing well and qualifying
was never in my thoughts. This actually led me to have more fun
playing untested(for me) decks and moving away from my usual comfort
zone in tournament deck style.
Any misspelled names/whatever are actually intentional to protect the
guilty. My bad grammar is due to being a victim of public education.
Wednesday:
Several of us picked up at the airport by Jay(thanks Jay) and
proceeded to hotel. After a quick checkin the group went to the usual
bar(ask the alcoholics the name) and had a nice pre-Origins gathering
of V:TES.
Wednesday night: Jay Kristoff Invitational
I usually choose to play an off the wall deck in this tournament. and
this year was no exception. My note taking was almost non-existant
this day so I don't have much.
Round 1: ?(Stealth Bleed) -> ?(Stealth Bleed) -> Me(Nizzam intercept
hand agg) -> Hugh (Shalmath)
I can't even remember who the other players were in this game since
Hugh and I seemed to be chatting more and watching the other players
kill each other. Shalmath got a Heroic Might and I did a few things
with Nizzam and friends. I had a few bleeds bounced into me which
hurt, but didn't make much difference in the end. S/B deck 1 ousted
2, Hugh then ousted S/B deck 1.
Final battle between Hugh and I was slowly leaning in my favor, when I
finally caught Shalmath and sent him down with 5-6 blood on him. I
wanted to leave him there so he couldn't influence up another being at
20 odd pool, but I had no way to prevent several rescue attempts a
turn. So I went and ate Shalmath and started whittling Hugh down. He
played a Dragonbound and i quickly dropped a Carver's Meat packing
which was huge in my oust attempt of Hugh with several small guys in
torpor.
Shalmath shows up again very late, and I have an oust my next turn.
Shalmath rushed my last vampire Nizzam with Domain of Evernight. An
outside the Hourglass before range forced me to tap both Corporal
Reservoirs, and my last card in my library was a Strike: Dodge that
could have let me win for 2VP. Believe Hugh got 3VP if memory served
right.
Round two:
Sat as the predator of a funny Imbued deck. He was playing all the
'bad'(if any are really bad) Imbued and used Glancing Blows and Dodge
for combat. Worst combat package I ever saw that shutdown a deck.
rather amusing. Nizzam wasn't much use against the Imbued, but having
the Target Vitals prevented repeatedly kept me from ever doing much.
Imbued ended up getting the GW.
Finals:
Left in shame of playing such a bad deck and went to aforementioned
bar to wallow in pity. General good times ensued and the first of
many late returns to the hotel room.
Thursday Morning V:TES: (24 players)
I decided to play a version of Edward Vignes deck here. I had always
wanted to see how that deck won since I didn't think it was all that
great.(The answer is Dominate.)
Round 1: John Eno(Kindred Spirits) -> Loughman(Ventrue PRE/DOM bleed) -
>Conner Bell (Kindred Spirits) -> Me(Vignes)
After seeing the first minions brought up I knew this was going to be
a short game. Minions bleeding left and right for a ton of pool
damage was the norm. Not much to really be said about this game,
except we should all try to banish those memories and move on.
Main things I remember was bouncing a few bleeds into John on turn
4-5? which dropped him down to 16 pool. Three actions later on my
turn and I had a VP. The rest of the table collapsed soon after that
to the fun of Vignes' friends(since he seemed to not want to play this
game). Game ended within 25 minutes.
1GW 4VP.
Round two:
Eric Chiang(Tremere AUS) ? Karl Schaefer (Vitel weenies) ? Dave
Pennington (Imbued) ? Me (Vignes) ? Stiltsen (Assamite something)
Not much note taking for this game, since it ended up timing out. I
ousted the Assamites fairly quick, and did some moderate damage to
Eric when I managed to get a bleed through and not bounced. I spent
the rest of the game fishing for a Daring the Dawn fully expecting it
to get bounced, but didn't have much choice with the little Tremere
wall I had to get through.
Karl eventually got the Imbued abomination off the table, and the rest
of us timed out.
1.5 VP for me, 1.5 Karl, .5 Eric
Finals:
Today started the long trend of Hyatt Room 627 representation in the
finals. Two in this final.
I had no clue what any of the other players in the Finals was playing,
so I didn't have much intelligent choice in where to sit. I was
second going in, and chose to sit across from Matt Morgan (room 627
represent) for no other reason than I knew he was playing decks of
clans he never won with, and many of those are bashy. Hugh was first
going in and chose to sit as my predator.
David Baker (???) ? Matt Morgan (Euro Brujah) ? Evan Loyd (Khabar
Bleed) ? Hugh ? (Kindred Spirits) ? Me (Vignes)
This game looked like it wasn't going to take very long, and if I
recall the final was over in 40 some odd minutes. I started out with
the usual Govern down tricks with Gracis Nostinus since Edward chose
not to play again. I proceeded to quickly oust my first prey, and I
can;t even remember what he had. I believe it was a Setite bleed deck
but my memory fails me.
I was sitting fairly well with Hugh not drawing as much bleed as I had
expected, but things started to go downhill when he stopped two
Deflections in a row with Touch of Clarity. I did should have just
held onto the second Deflection in retrospect anticipating another
Touch of Clarity. Even with all the bleeds Evan had Hugh down low,
and needed one Khabar Glory two turns in a row to oust Hugh. I was
hoping for this assuming I had the rest of the table if Hugh was
removed from play.
This failed to materialize and I slowed down my bleeding of Matt
trying to play some bad defense and wait for an opening in the Brujah,
and not wanting to just give Hugh the sweep. My chance to lunge into
Matt never came about and I eventually fell to the Malks. This short
reprieve had allowed Matt to shore up and I even remarked to Hugh
before being ousted I think Matt was going to take the table and he
agreed.
Not sure what eventually happened to Matt but Hugh managed to get past
his defense and oust him, then quickly the Assamites.
1 VP for me, 4VP Hugh.
Thursday Afternoon: (29 players)
After making a Final I decided to really get into the exploratory
deck, and bought out a Cessewayo^ Aye block everything I care about
deck.
John Flourney (!Salubri unusual combat) ? Matt Morgan (Owain Evans) ?
Karl (Kiasyd Bruise/Bleed) ? Me (Cessewayo) ? Will Kristoff (Ishtarri
Vote/bleed?)
This game started out with John's unusual !Salubri combat package of
Loving Agony and Morphean Blow rushing into Will and sending several
vampires to torpor. The table kept choosing to rescue these thinking
Cessewayo was going to just go eat them, which I had no intention of
doing.
Matt was still on his Crusade: Columbus to knock off clans from his no
win list, and I gave him my !Ventrue deck with all the usual tricks
the previous night with him intending to play it in the afternoon
tourney. A deck I built in response to Rhelow's 'I hate the typical
Ventrue anti-tribu deck' fully hoping to play it against him.
Matt brought out a Powerbase: Montreal and John spent several turns
and roughly 10-15 cards trying to steal it to no avail. Finally he
did manage to get it once, which Matt promptly went and took back,
saying he will be dead before anyone else gets the Powerbase.
Karl and I kind of stared at each other, him not willing to rush or
bleed me for much, and an untooled Cessewayo not willing to risk an
Entombment if he can't get to long range, being willing to take Earth
Swords all day.
I did spend two turns Deflecting seven bleeds into Will which drew a
few muttering of meetings in the parking lot after the game. I got
will down to 3-5 pool, or rather Karl did. Will then managed to take
out John who seemed to run out of steam, and Matt the killed Karl.
I did steal the Powerbase from Matt and defended it the rest of the
game. It looked like a timeout was in our future as Matt fished for
one of the 2-3 Pentexs that deck played, as I desperately tried to get
mine to get it into play. He won the race and a Pentexed Cessewayo
rolled over and died. Last laugh for Cessewayo though was he
controlled PB Monty at the end of the game.
4VP Matt M. 1VP Will.
Round Two:
Cameron Domer (Anarch Lucita rush) ? Loughman (Nocturne) ? Me
(Cessewayo) ? Jeff Thompson (Qawiyya el-Ghaduba death) ? Hugh (Ravnos
ANI)
This game couldn't have gone any worse for me. I had an incredibly
slow start and never got Cessewayo going, even having more than enough
turns to do so.
I took very few actions at Jeff and didn't even threaten to block any
of his actions(+2 strength stealth does that), so he generally left me
alone and I was content to do the same to him at that point with
Lasombra Nocturnes showing up. I normally would have been more than
happy for that predator, since I should have been able to trump it
fairly easy. However I saw very few Aye(1 I believe), never got to
tool up and never drew a single Deflection for the big bleeds. I did
have an Anarch Convert in play and Lucita played a Flames of
Insurrection, but sadly the Nocturnes kept Shadow Twinning the Convert
and I never got a chance to benefit from the Insurrection.
I eventually fell to the Nocturnes with a rather leaky wall defense.
I had went off to do other things at this point being rather annoyed
with my deck, so I didn't see much more of the game. Hugh ended up
getting the rest of the table which led to him making the Finals and
winning it all, making him2 for 2 so far. Seems only volcanic ash
could stop us from the embarrassment of having an English US Champion.
Final table did include 2 room 627 members in Matt and Pete Oh. That
makes for 4 of 10 players so far in finals.
Thursday post V:TES:
At this point I noticed LSJ and friends playing a game of Battlestar
Galactica, and jumped at the chance to get in on the next game. Scott
had a fairly nice travel version(in stores never) that had everything
needed yet fit into a small box.
After taking a short time to explain the rules (for the first time of
many this Origins) we started play. One of our players quickly fell
out, but David Tatu jumped in so we could continue the game. Not much
else I remember about the game since I was spending more time trying
to remember rules than anything, but I do remember us finally agreeing
that Scott was a Cylon and Darby going to push the airlock button,
with full sound effects added for humorous effect.
Scratch one Cylon body, but sadly the series ended earlier than
expected and the toasters celebrate.
Early Thursday:
having had so much fun playing BSG, I showed up early to get in on the
9am scheduled game before the 1PM V:TES start time.
Having had a full game under my belt, I started to look more at the
strategy of the game and characters. After asking a few questions, to
which I got the reply from Scott, “I'm never a Cylon” it almost
sounded convincing aside from knowledge of last night. After also
being told Sharon is the Assamites of BSG (she tries hard and does
some cool things but in the end sucks), I vowed to get a win with her
before Origins ended.
I ended up choosing Baltar though this game to try out the presidency,
and was having a blast doing that. Scott tried some convoluted method
to ensure the right number of Cylons to humans showed up, but a
mistake led to it being in favor of the humans 4-1.
The game was going rather smoothly without much interference, until a
Crisis showed up withat involved a medium level of failure. After I
said we can fail this, who cares and not throwing any cards I drew
suspicion. After trying to defend my comments that I only meant we
could fail to reach the top level of the card and only needed the
middle, everyone insisted I needed to get killed. After a table
consensus that brigging was better, Hugh sitting as my prey took the
action to Brig me. The table went around with few people throwing
cards, so it seemed it was likely to pass, but remain below the 10
needed to just execute me. I chose not to throw any cards I had since
they were fairly good and could have made a huge difference for the
humans.
Hugh paused for a minute at this point, and chose to throw four cards
into the vote against my vehement denials of being a Cylon. The fleet
mourned their Human president and swore in Tom Zarek as the new
president.
Rest of the game went easy with only one Cylon(Scott) and the human
won. I did have the enjoyment of reminding Hugh every time thereafter
of the mistake and the impact on future actions that had.
Thursday US National Championship: (38 players)
I was torn between playing an Imbued deck, Una, or a Cybele beast
deck. I an very glad I chose not to play Cybele, since I would have
contested in games two and three, being many Cybele and Baali in
general decks at Origins this year.
Round One:
Eric Chiang (Tupdog) ? Mindy Bell (Stanislava) ? Craig Hartman (Zip
gun Target Vitals) ? Me (Vigilance Imbued Chainsaw) ? Matt Morgan
(Reanimated Zombies)
This game couldn't have started any better for me, getting quick
Imbued out with powers, and some decent equipment. After blocking the
first bleed at me and seeing the Zip Gun/TV action I waited til I got
a Flak Jacket the next turn and all but shut down Craig's deck.
Eric quickly rushed Stanislava with a Tupdog and she was not long for
this world with zero actions before seeing the ash heap. Mindy did
what she could with a few other B-Team minions but didn't have much
fight left. She tried to oust Craig but was never able to get him.
Matt's Reanimated hordes were giving Eric problems, so the Tupdogs
started going to the right for the next several turns. This helped me
get Matt down to 1-3 a few times, but I couldn't keep up with the
Little Mountain Cemeteries. A stolen Gregory Winter was also stopping
me from ousting him three turns in a row, since Second Sight was not
going to work for the last bleed.
All this time allowed Eric to get Mindy and then Craig, and the table
ended up timing out. I felt I had the other two players with Matt
still low and Eric running out of Tupdog steam, but likely would have
needed another half hour to to that.
Eric 2.5VP, Matt .5, Me .5.
Round Two:
Kopp (Garou Parity Shift) ? Merlin (Weenie Ventrue) ? Cashdollar
(Nergal/Cybele) ? David Tatu (TZI Block/Bleed) ? Me
I wasn't in too bad of a spot, with David Tatu being unable to block
my early Power actions having only an Eyes of Argus. This allowed me
to tool up fast before he could do much to stop it, so I was sitting
in an average position.
The Gangrel tried to get a Prince title, and I stopped it to prevent
Second Traditions from stopping all my actions, but it seems they were
for Parity Shift instead, but a great block regardless. Only one
Garou managed to make it into play, and he was generally sent to the
left with fear of Jack Harmon's maneuver.
David whittled me down over a few turns with bigger bleeds than I
liked from Tzimisce, so I took a shot and lunged into the Gangrel for
an oust. Merlin took out Brad and Nergal soon after that, and then he
ousted David about three seconds before Kevin called time. Another
game if I had had 5 more minutes I could have had the game win. This
game it was a bit annoying with some more than necessary slow play and
discussion over things that had no business being discussed and
wasting time.
Merlin 2.5 VP; Me 1.5 VP
Round three:
Me ? Ethan (Cybele Tend Flock/Bleed) ? David Buerger (Jacko Bleed/
Bruise) ? James Messer (Malk vote that turned into Lutz late)
James started the game out with some weenies, and got a few votes off
fast before I could even try to block them. This put a fast damper on
my game, and my very bad draw didn't help.
I was drawing slow on Convictions and Powers, spending actions and
turns just getting once piece of equipment which is not conducive to
victory for Imbued.
Ethan was fairly slow to do anything, bringing up Cybele and taking a
few actions, but seemingly just sitting there not doing much but
trying to cycle into useful cards. Dave's bringing up Jacko first was
the last minion I wanted to see before Lutz showed up, since I
expected a bit more combat/rush. Jacko ended up doing more bleeding
and nearly ousted James.
At this point James had been suing his KRCG to give Ethan intercept to
block me getting Discerns and anything to try and survive. I did end
up yelling at Ethan and threatened to transfer out( I did apologize
afterward and still refuse to ever transfer out) since he wanted me
gone so bad, even though his deck had almost no worry about mine in
the current game state.
Ethan then bleeds Dave for a metric crapton and ousted him. James
quickly got me afterward and a Pentex on Cybele shut that down.
James 3VP Ethan 1VP.
I wasn't anywhere near the finals, 19th to be exact and rather upset
since I felt I could have had 2GW but due to others slow play. The
Imbued player with 20 permanents only taking a minute per turn isn't
to fault with this. Still bothers me as you can see.
Finals ended up being Jay Kristoff (Cock Robin and friends) ? James
Messer (Lutz) ? Hugh (Euro Brujah?) ? David Tatu (tzi Block/Bleed) ?
Pete Oh (unknown)
Yet two more room 627 members, with Hugh being a member the night
before. 6 of 15 finalists. Jay won.
So after walking around to settle down and remember I only cared about
having fun this year I stopped caring, and did the next best thing to
making a final, playing more BSG.
Friday night BSG:
Not too much I remember about this, I believe we got one or two games
in. The latter game was probably one of the worst collapses I'll ever
see in a game of BSG. The humans had cruised until the final jump,
having huge stores of resources to lose.
After the third retrograde on the jump track everyone started to get
concerned, and the cylons who had been showing little interest were
jumping on everything. Humans eventually lost what was looking to be
an easy victory. Boomer robbed of a win.
Saturday NAC Qualifier: (35 players)
With what has become sort of a tradition, I broke out the only deck I
had played more than once or twice before Origins. My Nossy breed/
boon deck that had made the finals the previous two years.
Game one:
Merlin(Baali) ? Strehlow (Temptation) ? Me (G1/2 Nossy breed/boon) ?
Ethan Langley (ANI weenie) ? Chris Stitzlein (Anarch vote)
This game didn't start well as soon as I saw the first ANI weenie.
Right before the tourney started I was considering some last minute
deck changes, having zero combat defense in this deck and having seen
a moderate amount of rush the last two years at Origins. I decided
against it and went with my all or nothing philosophy I tend to use in
deck design.
Well a few No Traces/Thrown Gates would have gone a long way. My
first minion was Nikolaus and I commented I wasn't worried about the
ANI combat when someone asked and my Grapples would take care of that.
The next few turns Ethan bled his prey and left me along. After
whipping out 9 KRC damage he decided to test my grapple defense, which
was not existent. I soon had most vampires in torpor or eaten and
didn't do too much the rest of the game. Strehlow playing good cards
Delaying Tactics three con boons in a row and that all but spelled my
doom. Ethan then ousted his prey and the evil Merlin for the last
three 3VPs. The game was interesting since Merlin was my prey in the
Qualifier finals the previous year and recognized the deck instantly
which brought back nice discussions of that game.
Round two:
J. Bell (AUS wall) ? Devin Crane (Nakthoreb Bleed/Reckless Agitation)
? Mindy Bell (Ravnos) – Me (Nossy) ? Matt Green (Setite Mind rape/
Temptation)
This game turned out to be rather bad as an example of how V:TES
should be played and was near the top of the list of annoying games
for many reasons.
Early on my game started off great, getting out a few nossy princes
who quickly turned into 6-8 minions. Matt had probably the worst
predator he could have as his temptations and Mind Rapes did little
more than slow me down, and weren't all that annoying on my part as
they should have been to a more standard deck with 2-3 minions.
I was in cruise control until Mindy plays two Edged Illusions in a
row, sending 9 Nossies to torpor that turn. I spent the next few
turns rebuilding my army. Devin tried to oust Mindy but was stopped
by not having a majesty to untap after getting blocked for the kill.
I ended up getting Matt Green who had come fairly close to ousting
John, having benefited hugely from the double Edged Illusions as he
was dead on my next turn.
A badly directed(in my opinion) Edged Illusion keeps me from putting
pressure on John, so he takes out Devin without much pressure again
for a few turns. Since time was short I knew I didn't have much of a
chance to oust John, so I spent a few actions to keep Mindy in the
game to stop John from getting six more pool, but ran out of time
before I could get a shot at him. Had we another half an hour it
would have been a good battle between the two of us.
Me 1.5 VP; John 1.5VP; Mindy .5VP
This table turned out to have something happen I never saw before. A
stealthed bleed was blocked at -1 Intercept.
Round three:
Cashdollar (Laibon Ravnos) ? Connor Bell (DOM powerbleed) ? Bob Joseph
( Kindred Spirits) ? Karl Shaefer (Black hand Bleed) – Me
This table setup wasn't conducive to a long life for me, being “Where
the Bounce Stops”. I got a few minions out and took a few minor
actions at Brad. He influenced up a few minions and called a few
votes. Connor and Bob did what they did and bled for a ton, a few
which ended up being at me, thanks Karl.
This game was moving quickly at this point when I refused to talk
deals on votes and had no interest in drawing out the game. Do what
you want and see if it passes. Karl started bleeding heavily into me
with his stealth module of Watchtower: The Wolves Feed. I got down
pretty low fast and was content with being a pool sack and not
weakening the table for an easy sweep.
I managed to pass a Con Boon with no interference, and used that pool
to bring up another vampire, since I had no chance to get an oust
without the votes. Next turn Brad tries to call a Reckless Agitation,
and not even throwing any of the damage on me as his predator I voted
against it not willing to let him just walk without me trying to stop
him. I fully expected an Eldest are Kholo to push the votes through
anyway and tossed a vote card to tie to votes. He failed to push the
vote so I started looking at pool, and saw that if I got another turn
I had at least one VP.
I make it to my turn with 1-2 pool and four minions. Brad had 11 pool
and 4 tapped minions. I had two KRCs and a Domain Challenge, fully
expecting to oust myself on the last vote for a VP.
Calebros bleeds for one to get the edge, and to put him in kill
range. If the first vote failed I was okay with ending my turn and
calling it game. My first vote happens and passes. I call the second
KRC and top deck a Conservative Agitation, which I go on to use for
the oust and survive another day.
Now I had Connor as a prey who was still fairly low on pool with me
being unable to stop all of Brad's votes from before. I test the
waters and try to get another oust, but eventually fall to Bob as he
managed to get past Karl after a few turns of getting every bleed
blocked with no stealth. Bob then kills Connor.
Bob 4VP; Me 1VP
This game ended in about 40 minutes so we decided to do a pickup game.
Bob (Mikael TV combat) ? Karl (Black Hand something else) ? Connor
(Khazars Diary/Bleed) – Me (Cybele Great Beast/bleed)
I had the best draw I could ever hope for in this deck, getting Cybele
out on turn two, Soul Gem on turn 3 with Great Beast and having bled
Bob down to about 8 pool. At this point it was fairly evident to all
I already had a table sweep, so Bob offered to not rush me if I
didn't bleed next turn so we could actually make a game out of it.
I ended up not doing much of anything for three turns as they all
consolidated their position, and a well played Direct Intervention by
Connor against me allowed him to oust me.
I had 1VP, I believe Connor got the others but unsure.
NAC Qualifier Finals:
Final table involved Connor Bell (DOM powerbleed) ? Bob Joseph (KS
bleed) ? Karl Schaefer (BH bleed) ? Rodd Closson(unknown) ? John
Eno(unknown)
Second game in a row Karl sat as Bob's prey, and the first one didn't
go too well. This one looks to have gone better as Karl got Rodd.
Not sure how the rest went in what order but Connor and John Eno both
ended up with 2Vp. John was the higher seed going in and won the
final.
An O-fer this time for room 627. 6 of 20 finalists.
Post V:TES Saturday:
Choosing not to play in the draft, not being a fan of it I did what I
hope becomes a tradition after V:TES ends, we do some BSG. Again few
notes in these games, but with my vow to win with Boomer quickly
running out of time I tried it twice more.
Having all experienced players this time and Scott NOT needing to
explain the rules like before, we decided to try to go to New Caprica.
The first game was rather bad and we didn't even get near new Caprica.
Second game was a bit more enjoyable, with I believe everyone starting
off as Human with a Cylon leader who has sympathetic to human victory.
Sleeper phase hit and I was dealt a Cylon card, as was Karl as the
president I believe. We stayed hidden for a bit, and Karl revealed
right before they reached New Caprica. I was waiting for it to get
around to me, and kept hoping for an XO card to get myself out of the
brig, but the fleet quickly jumped to New Caprica which worked.
Either the first or second Crisis card on new Caprica was a rather bad
one, and everyone started looking at poor neglected Boomer to autopass
it. After a bit of deliberation I said yes I would use my special,
and you need a new Admiral. The best part was my goal of paying Hugh
back with an execution happened, AND I got to use the 'worst'
character's special to do it, a double win for me.
With some of us being rather inexperienced with the New Caprica board,
we expected an easy human victory that turned into an excellent win
for the toasters. Boomer with the win.
Sunday morning V:TES: (28 players)
With the last tournament in front of me, I had a few decks in mind.
One was Cybele since I wanted to retry it after playing it in Vegas
and making some changes to fix a few weaknesses it showed there. I
ended up deciding on using Kevin's version of Unariffic for the hell
of it. The deck turned out to be the most boring thing I've ever done
in a CCG since M:TG draw/go 15 years ago.
Round one:
Jen Closson (Dom Bleed) ? Me (Unariffic) ? Darby (AUS Flash Grenade) ?
Cashdollar (Dmitra Alastor)
This game started okay for me, but having a weenie AUS prey with Flash
Grenades is not easy if Una doesn't get going. Darby guessed what I
was playing the third turn when the Blade of Enoch showed up early.
I managed to get tooled up fairly well and started rushing Darby's
minions. I managed to get all three into torpor, but an Owl Companion
told me a Pentex was in my future.
I had to hope his fourth uncontrolled minion was a 5 cap or greater so
I had another turn, but it wasn't. So he had the defense to stop a
Pentex removal and no one else really had any interest to get rid of
it. So I sat there for a few turns unable to do anything. By this
time there had been way more table talk than was really necessary.
Yes Una is a threat so kill her or stop the discussion back and forth
on what to do. Eventually Brad decided against calling a Parity Shift
backwards to steal Darby's pool which seemed to be the right play and
opted to make Dmitra an Alastor with an Assault Rifle.
At this point it looked bleak for me and Darby, so he makes a deal.
If he lets Pentex go, I rush Brad and don't end Darby's game before he
gets Brad and Jen and we take a 2-2 split. Since we were both doomed
and I knew I was getting none, I agreed and went after the Brujah.
They both ended up in torpor and I was able to work back against Jen a
bit and send a few of the Ventrue there down. My Owl companion again
told me I was doomed, since I had 3 pool and she had a Govern and a
Daring the Dawn. Fortunately I had an Underbridge Stray in play who
stayed untapped to jump in front of the early morning Govern.
Dmitra comes up and down a few times which I was okay with, since my
deal only involved rushing Dmitra not killing her. This allowed Brad
to survive a few more turns as no threat to me, and to send a few of
the weenie AUS guys to torpor.
By this time though all the table talk had taken its toll, and Darby
ousts Brad and would have gotten Jen and probably me 10 minutes later.
Darby 1.5VP, Jen and I .5VP
Round two:
Merlin (Nehemiah vote) ? Karl (Undue Influence) ? Me ? Robyn (AAA I
assume) ? Matt Morgan (Ravnos something or other)
I started out fairly slow this game, not getting going for a bit. A
lucky break let me get Robyn's Anson into torpor before he could block
a Blessing of Chaos. Karl did some bleeding and him and Merlin played
their own game for a while, with Matt watching to a point.
My turn ended several times due to the lack of a Freak Drive, but
eventually I got the Ivory Bow. At this point everyone had no chance
for a VP, so decided to try and rob poor old Una of VPs. Robyn was
down to 5 after having kept pulling pool off of Anneke and Alexandra
I'd guess who had been waiting in hopes Una died before coming into
play.
Little March Halcyon bled for one and bled with a Deep Song and Heart
of the City. Matt got a VP from Merlin then Una ate Matt. Robyn
never got an action that game, rather lame I must say.
Me 3VP Matt 1VP Merlin 1VP
Finals:
1GW 3.5Vp sent me tied for fourth into the finals with Strehlow. We
had to roll for a tiebreaker for standings at that point since we were
still 3-4 then. It took til the 5th die roll for him to pull out the
victory on the die. It was all moot since we ended up 4-5 in the
final standings.
Me (Unariffic) ? Bob Joseph (self assured bad Setite deck) ? Merlin
(Nehemiah) ? Strehlow (Cessewayo) ? John Eno (Public Trust)
Merlin chose to sit across from Una, I think to hope it took me awhile
o get over there. John Eno chose to sat as my predator, likely
knowing it doesn't matter where Una sits as you are a target. Knowing
your prey has no pool gain makes that an easy choice for a Public
Trust deck.
This game instead of three Una and March Halcyon in my opening crypt,
I had one Una and three one caps. Una come sup first since it seems
most knew I had her. Strehlow Pentexes Nehemiah on turn two, which
makes me start feeling better. I bring up Una and then Bob who knew I
had her anyways goes and burns Pentex on his prey's vampire. Next
time around John as my predator Pentexes Uuna and all but ends my
game. He starts bleeding like he should.
My next turn ends fast with no actions, and I bring up all three 1
caps. I start to try and make an attempt to get rid of Pentex, but
repeated Mind Numbs and Jake Washington standing there watching me
stops that from happening for two turns. I finally manage to get rid
of Pentex with one pool left, which all but means I can't win. I get
a Wolf Companion and Murder of Crows, and decide to try and see what
comes up. I get a few of John's vamps down and am in a position to
block a few bleeds. All he needed was a Life in the City to oust me
but it didn't show. I start bleeding Bob with the little guys for a
small amount since he also hasn't gained any pool. Bob is down to 8
pool on my turn with four actions. I have the Heart of the City in
hand so I can bleed for six, but I played Deep Song already so I know
I have no way to bleed for 7 or 8 in a turn. So I send in two little
guys to get him down to six, and don't play the Heart so I don't show
6 bleed. If I can just oust Bob I can go on being Una, get the Ivory
Bow and Blessing of Chaos with Bob's threatened Di being gone.
Bob is down to six and I have one little vampire and an Underbridge
Stray in play. Bob decides Una must die and tries to steal the stray,
forcing me to use it to untap Una. John has an Anarch Troublemaker in
play so my game is likely over unless someone contests it. No one
does and Una dies.
John then ousts Bob and has 2VP. Cessewayo sat there and played his
own game, and got a Smiling Jack into play that was getting big. John
Eno was top seed so just needs Merlin to oust Strehlow and all is
good, but John forgot to try and remove Jack and by that time
Cessewayo was such a monster he didn't have much to worry about.
That was probably the most enjoyable game I had where I've been
Pentexed the whole game and had zero chance, playing with good folks.
Strehlow 3VP, Eno 2VP.
Final count for room 627, 7 in 25 members in finals.
Post Origins events at Bob's house:
There was probably 10-15 of us at Bob's for some grill and general
hanging out. Many discussions ensued about various topics, from the
state of CCP and V:TES to deck strategy and eventually politics. All
in all it was a fitting end to Origins 2010 and I hope I can make it
to the post convention festivities again in following years.
Observations.
General chatter over the convention involved many things.
- Deflection being broken. The general assumption that a card that
has an untap or remain untapped effect has an added blood cost in
addition to the card's cost. My point of returning Deflection to the
original Jyhad version, where it seemed to cost a pool based on the
misprinted pool symbol. Imagine Deflection does cost a pool, and it
is still the strongest bounce card in the game.
- Slow play was a topic brought up by several different people. I saw
a few instances of it that certainly led to a timeout.
- The deck design ideas involving Carver's Meat Packing Plant and/or
My Kin Against the World.
- Battlestar Galactica for a great post V:TES cool down. Fans of the
show should certainly look for a game of it where they can, and non
fans will likely still enjoy the social aspect of the game that is
very similar to V:TES.
- The smartest in game decision I saw during Origins was by Jay
Kristoff during the US Nationals. Matt Morgan controlled Powerbase:
Montreal and Jay played Conceal on it. Removing that abomination from
the game is second only to removing Jack from the table.
Have to give out some thanks:
Jay for picking us up and giving us rides to the airport and hosting
the annual Wednesday tourney.
Scott for showing up with BSG and introducing me to a game I already
ordered a copy of.
Kevin for running the V:TES tournaments, and providing enjoyment when
you mention M:TG players near the unused V:TES tables.
Bob for hosting the post Origins gathering that was an all over good
unwind social gathering.
CCP for not shipping the card boxes correctly or not in time so I
didn't have to pack them in my suitcase as they already beat me to
Vegas.
If I forgot anything or got something wrong tough, these are my
memories and you can get your own.
-David