Skirmishes in the Dark : 25-11-2008

The night of 25th November 2008, Paradigm Infinitum.

This night is the continuation of the draft game last week. I didn't report on last week's game as it was rather confusing. But this week we only did 1 game, and it was much more memorable, so I'd attempt to record the battle (including some fading memories from last week).

Before I start I just want to state that historically I have ridiculous luck in draft games - not necessarily on the victory part, but almost always on the cards that I end up bringing home. Take this draft game for instance - now that all 8 packs had been drafted - these are the more monetarily valuable cards that I'm bringing home - Unmasking; Twilight Camp; Shadow Court Satyr; Awe and Gestalt. These will more than pay for the S$30 that I spent on the game, not to mention all the hilarious fun that was involved in the usual drafting.

Neverthelsss, just some updates on what has gone before.

The week before about 7 of us gathered and decided to do another Anarch and Alastor style draft, since we still have a kit available. But we didn't want to commit that much time (or so we thought), and will therefore play it in only 3 rounds. The bidding system was tweaked to fit into this playstyle - we will have 2 rounds of bidding for every round of game, and our pool will start at 34 instead of 32. Everything else is exactly the same as the Anarch and Alastor storyline tournament. We will be drafting 8 packs in total, 6 for the first round, and adding 1 pack every subsequent round.

I had this crazy idea of using 1 of everything, and wanted to see what will happen if I do that. So I chose 1 each of the following expansion - 3rd Edition, Black Hand, Legacies of Blood, Twilight Rebellion, KMW, Lords of the Night. We were split into 2 tables of 3 & 4 respectively. I happened to sit in the table of 3, with Dan and Donkey; while the other table of 4 consist of Bann, GeeHuan, Voice Behind the Counter and Paul. By the end of the draft I was pretty sure that I've absolutely screwed up my table with a random assortment of cards~ :)

I didn't do much better - my deck was completely out of focus, doing some Black Hand thing here, some Anarch thing there, and a little combat with absolutely no idea how to oust. That's what you get for drafting with so many different expansions. (It's not all my fault, Dan and Donkey wasn't that focused either, as compared to the 2 x 6 LoBs and 6 x TR on the other table, we do see a lot of difference in the quality of the drafted deck later~)

Last week's game for me was a complete stalemate for everybody. All 3 of us ended with 0.5 VP, after 2 hours of random challenges. (Dan's combo of Mind of a Killer + Frenzy was refreshing)

This week I decided to stick to my original experiment in order to see how it will turn out. I chose a pack of Sword of Cain for my 2nd round of draft. Well, the pack truly sucked. The only thing I got out of it was the Cadet. The drafting was quite inconsequential as by now, my deck is a random Black Hand Anarch combat deck that uses CELERITY and POTENCE where only 3 out of my 7 Vampires can use. Quite screwed if you ask me.

The game started with me as player 2 on a table of 4, bleeding TVC, bled by Bann, and my ally was Donkey. I spent 5 pool bidding for the Anarch Railroad as I was holding a Twilight Camp in hand, and 2 smaller Vampire in the crypt. I then bid 1 and got the Mole for the second round of bidding.

A first turn Twilight Camp and a second turn Selena got me started, and I sorta kept the Edge for a round or 2, especially after I placed a Dominion on Selena. Count Germaine joined in the fun as my second Vampire. I Grambled for a Cadet to make Randel a Black Hand Anarch, and I worked with these 3 for the rest of the game.

Bann was very distracted by the presence of Donkey's Jaroslav with a Bundi, and the +1 Stealth threat presented by Stephen Bateson. My Vampire bled TVC for 1 or 2 every round with the help of the Anarch Railroad and the Dominion. TVC's Harbinger and Samedi wasn't too happy about it, but could do very little to block my actions - also, given the fact that I bled very little it wasn't really a big problem for him after he slapped a Vessel on Babalawo Alafin. Even though Bann obviously hold the strongest position on the table, with Nizzam al-Latif, Ossian, Joe Boot Hill, a Hermana and a Web of Knives Recruit, mostly Anarchs, his attention was constantly fixed on his predator, and rounds after rounds we see heated combat (ok, not really that exciting, more like Donkey's Vampires being owned one way or another, as Bann's deck is a lot more focused in combat), while TVC and me trying our best to stay out of the limelight, and occasionally do something to help Donkey to be more of a pain to Bann, such as rescuing Pascek and stuff like that. Come to think about it, Pascek called an Anathema referendum on Nizzam, which was a major problem for Bann, since it meant a potential loss of an important Vampire for him. Eventually Shaggydog was torpored and Bann sacrificed the Hermana to diablerized him, that pretty much brought the battle to a conclusion. TVC took the opportunity to oust Donkey with his Reanimated Corpse and had a shiny new 6 pool to bring out another Vampire. He pressured Bann quite a bit and left himself open, I managed to bled for 4 with all my Vamps and got my 1st VP. Afterthat was a flurry of my Vampires being Steely Tenacitied and Ossian-ed to death. And before I know it, I was gone. But it was a good game, I even managed to get 1 VP~ :) Given the current standing, those whom sat with me in the 1st round - Dan, Donkey and myself, occupied the last 3 positions, but I had more VPs than the 2 of them~ sounds like a strategy! We then completed the last round of drafting, where I drafted a pack of Gehenna, and got myself an Unmasking. (Who cares about the other cards!) Here's my deck in it's final incarnation, ready for the last round next week. Crypt Count Germaine [ADV] Randel, the Coward Selena Ondine "Boudicca" Sindair Jack Drake Giovanni Del Georgio Ermenegildo, the Rake Rashid Stockton Library Master Twilight Camp Dominion Remover Anarch Railroad Trophy : Hunting Ground Blindspot Cadet Combat Sanguinary Wind Acrobatics Pushing the Limits Earthshock Mercury's Arrow Ahrimane's Demesne Rolling with Punches Walk of Flame Action Undue Influence Dream World Gramble Haven Hunting Red List Public Trust Action Modifiers Power of One Faw Contortion Awe Tenebrous Form Night Shades Forced March Referendum Exclusion Principle Reaction Darksight x 2 Telepathic Misdirection Truth in Ink x 2 Watch Commander The Mole Murmur of the False Will Obedience Quicken Sight Ally Nocturn Can't remember a card or 2, but that's basically it. We'll see how this thing perform next week then~ Will keep you guys posted. (o.o)y