9th March, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum.
One week away from the newbie tournament that I'm organizing for all the new initiates into the world of Vtes. So this week we see many practice decks, and new Methuselahs-to-be are all trying out their latest incarnation of their decks to be used in the trying nights ahead. Yesterday we actually see more than 12 players in the store, forming multiple tables.
I managed to get 3 games yesterday.
Randomized seating for game 1 -
Bann's Shattering Daughters, bleeding
My Ghost in Ghost out, bleeding
Aaron's (Bann's deck) Lasombra Nocturn, bleeding
Ben Chia's Gargoyles, bleeding
Sherman's Ventrue vote.
Well, I was in a very bad position sitting downwind of a Daughters Shattering deck and above a Lasombra deck that is well trained to bounce bleeds. Fearing the shattering, I played a very low profile game and only influenced Ambrogino Giovanni and merged him. He was to be my only vampire in this game.
I was lucky in the sense that Bann was busy fighting off the offensive votes from Sherman's Ventrues. With only Yseult and Celeste, he wasn't really able to block anything, and Sherman send KRCs after KRCs at him, supplemented by occasional Governs. weakening Bann significantly and put him at a distinct disadvantage, I offered to take the 1 point of the KRC since Sherman was sitting below the Gargoyles with good intercepts. Bann also drawn a bad hand, he had actually only managed to shatter once or twice in the whole game, and all targetted at his predator, since I only have one single vampire, and wasn't blocking anything he's doing - including bleeding me multiple times with Public Trusts and/or Virtuosa.
Thus weakened, I couldn't really do a lot to my prey, only bleeding him with my in-built stealth and +1 bleed occasionally, with the majority being bounced around, sometimes even all the way to Sherman. (i actually managed to Conditioning him once for 5, just for revenge, in retrospect, I shouldn't).
After putting Rutor's Hand, Perfectionist, and filling Ambrogino to almost full blood, I activated his Ex-Nihilo. With that in place I'm no longer afraid of Shattering, and started acting more aggressively towards my opponents, including fighting with Weather Controls. Bann predicted that I have Deflections in hand and didn't bleed me for quite a while so I had to do the job myself.
Meanwhile Aaron was having a bad hand too, playing less stealth than I've ever seen with a Lasombra deck, with the majority of his bleeds going for 1 or 2, and only 2 Nocturns hitting the table. The Gargoyles then had a great time pounding the Lasombras into torpor. Ben had so many Hatchlings from Rocia that he actually had the highest pool on the table for a while. That allowed him to Dive Bomb here and there and was giving Sherman a difficult time.
Eventually Sherman KRC-ed Bann to death and reduce my pool to 2. His next 2 bleeds was bounced to Aaron, and he wasn't ready for it, opening the way for me to kill him off in that round with a timely Scouting Mission. With 6 extra pool I managed to survive until Sherman was ousted by Ben.
Ambrogino alone couldn't face off a horde of Gargoyles, but he did put up a good fight and torpored at least 2 Hatchlings before my pool was depleted. Alone against the flying tide~ :)
Final VP Count
Ben Chia - 3 VPs plus GW
Me - 1 VP
Sherman - 1 VP
Game 2 was more of a practice game in between looking for more players, and I tried out with Joseph his new deck. Since it was a started deck with minor tweaking, he was of course at a disadvantage.
Joseph's Brujah Combat starter, bleeding
Sherman's Ventrue Vote, bleeding
My Along came a Spider.
Joseph brought out Herbet Westin as his first vampire while Sherman Zillah's Valleyed big Ventrues. I focused my influence on the only magaji in my uncontrolled region - Uchenna. Soon all of us had 1 vampire on the table, and Joseph started bleeding aggressively with Public Trusts. Joseph played his deck very aggressively in this game, which is fantastic, but he did not yet have the necessary combat cards to deal with combat ends, and Sherman was able to deal with most of his combat. (so did I)
With a No Secrets on my Uchenna started blocking everything under the sun, and I have Hasani successfully equipped with a Reliquary : Akunanse Remains. Slapping a Tiers of Souls on Uchenna I bled Joseph every round, and upon successful blocking, caused a lot of damage with Devil Channel Hands while absorbing POT hit-backs with my FOR.
It was a reasonably easy game for me until my No Secrets dropped from a failed attempt to block Adana's rescue. But by then I was way ahead in the game and eventually ousted Joseph with repeated bleeds. Sherman conceded the game once I put on another No Secret on Uchenna, now riding on a Sports Bike.
Final VP Count
Mine, all mine. But it wasn't really a serious game, more to explain and try out the deck for Joseph.
Randomized seating for the last game
Joseph's Brujah starter, bleeding
My Angry Dragon, bleeding
Danz's Aching Beauty, bleeding
Jeff's Gargoyle Slaves.
Again, with Joseph as my predator I was in a reasonably good position. But Danz, however, is a tricky opponent (and he did way more damage to me than Joseph). The table was full of combat, with Joseph's Brujah POT, my Typhonic Beasts, and Jeff's Raking Talons. Expectedly, Danz would be hard pressed to fight on both ends.
With a third turn Path of Typhon, and a second turn Bupe Kuila, plus a 4th turn Mokole Blood, I was having a great time against my predator, sending his Herbet into torpor in our first exchange (but not before he successfully bled me for 3, told you Joseph is aggressive), and hurting Adana enough to deter her for a while. But then Danz slapped a Camarilla Segregation on the table and I started taking damage every round. Danz then had 3 Aching Beauty on Anson and supported him with Alexandra.
Meanwhile my ally the Gargoyles may had been suffering a little from bad crypt or strong pressure, as Jeff only had 1 Tremere and Cedric on table throughout. Even with that he was successfully hurting Joseph, including Raw Recruiting the Herbet that I've torpored, and deterring Danz. But with 3 Aching Beauties on him Anson was pretty much running around looking cool, as even I was pretty unwilling to block anything he had. A Parity Shift increased his pool to a safe margin and I wasn't able to kill him off quickly enough.
Eventually Jeff burned the Raw Recruit to remove Camarilla Segregation and I had some time and slack to bring out Nehemiah. An opening from Danz allowed me to Fame Anson and torpored both him and Alexandra in the same round, effectively removing him from the game. One round later I ousted him and started the battle against the Gargoyles.
Jeff's lone Gargoyle wasn't able to handle the Typhonic Beasts and I soon torpored all his vampires. He had to leave for an appointment so we called it a day, but with pretty much every other vampire on the table in torpor except mine, I was confident that I would've carried the day~ :)
Meanwhile, welcome to the Jyhad, Joseph!
(o.o)
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