Results English ECQ 16/05/09
hugh.an...@gmail.com
Saturday 16th May 2009
Organiser & Head Judge Steve Read
No. players 24
Winner Mike Wilson
Finalists were in seating order:
Mike Wilson Ani/Dom Lasombra
Edd Phipps Pro/Dom !grangrel
Hugh !ventrue hitty For/Dom
Cos Ventrue breed Pre/Dom
Martin Randers Council of doom Obf/Dom
SO with this much dominate it was either going to be very quick or
very slow. It ended up being very slow possibly tempered by the fact
that Edd, Hugh & Martin may have had 1 or too many.
Mike managed to oust Edd with 5 mins to go and got a lovely chess set
for his troubles.
The other qualifiying players were Steve Read as Head Honco and Joel
Tate who had to leave pre-final who was playing Giovanni Pro/Dom.
This is completely in contrast to the prior year where only Mike
Wilson was using dom in the final - also more players - so you really
don't need dom (although it helps!).
Comments from Mike:
I wanted to run something aggressive that could cope with walls ok.
Previous aggressive dominate decks I've played have tended to stall at
strong walls. So I settled on using animalism to both provide
intercept and sufficient combat strength to worry wall decks.
Technically the deck contains an many !Nos as it does Lasombra, but I
influenced out Anton de Concepcion every game and twice that was in
preference to Julio or Servius.
As it happened, in the first two rounds I hardly got into a combat. I
had prey who wouldn't block me, but bounced my power bleeds and still
had the annoying habit of ousting their prey just before I could oust
them. I should have tied the first round 2-2 but for some reason that
now escapes me I declined to boost a bleed with Virginie's special
ability and that let Joel escape long enough to sweep. Second round I
got massacred by Setite stealth/bleed but even so I should have taken
at least 1VP if I'd bled first with Lisa Noble before my Dominate
heavies, like I'd done every turn before my last! Still, by the third
round I think I'd leaned how to play the deck properly.
In the final it was a case of finding enough bounce and intercept to
survive the huge bleeders coming after me long enough to lunge for the
oust. And Mouse won a fight with Leandro, which was nice.
Comments from Paul from the final:
The final was fun, partly because it's only the 3rd time I've made it
to the final table. There was some good banter, although tempers
seemed to fray briefly when people got tired of the speed of the game.
Hugh, how bad was the hangover? The game essentially for me was
defending and trying to draw into governs/bonding and seductions which
only happened 2 rounds before it timed out. I made a lunge to oust
martin and was defeated by one obedience because I didn't have any
more bleed cards for my two remaining untaped breedies to remove his 2
pool. Fortunately I had drawn a lot of defence for when hugh made his
lunge at me which i survived and then the game timed out when it got
to mike's turn.
Here's Mike's pretty awesome deck:
Deck Name : the incidental bishops
Author : Mike Wilson
Description :
I wanted to play an aggressive deck that could plough through walls. I
settled on an Animalism/Dominate combination, though I couldn't find a
crypt I was really happy with. The incidental titles and the amount of
Obtenebration amongst my crypt did keep people guessing at what I was
playing. I knew I might still have problems with walls if their combat
was all combat ends stuff since I opted not to pack grapples, but in
the final I ousted a deck that employed a lot of protean combat ends
since I had just enough lunge power and bounce to go through him. I'd
have taken at least two more VP in the rounds if I'd used Virginie's
built in bleed boost more often, so maybe she stays in even though she
has no animalism.
This deck really needs a few Deep Song adding once I get my hands on
some Keepers of Tradition! I probably ought to have included Abbot as
well.
Crypt (12 vampires) Capacity min: 1 max: 10 average: 6.58333
------------------------------------------------------------
3x Anton de Concepcio 9 ANI DOM OBT POT aus archbishop Lasombra:4
2x Julio Martinez 9 ANI DOM OBF POT nec bishop !Nosferatu:3
1x Servius Marius Pus 10 ANI CHI DOM OBT POT obf !Nosferatu:4
1x Joseph Cambridge 6 POT ani dom obf bishop !Nosferatu:4
1x Otieno 6 OBT POT ani dom Lasombra:4
1x Virginie, Prodigy 6 DOM POT obt bishop Lasombra:4
1x Stick 3 ANI !Nosferatu:4
1x Mouse 2 ani Nosferatu:3
1x Lisa Noble 1 ani Caitiff:3
Library (90 cards)
------------------------------------------------------------
Action (12)
1x Army of Rats
7x Govern the Unaligned
1x Preternatural Strength
3x Scouting Mission
Action Modifier (13)
8x Bonding
5x Conditioning
Ally (1)
1x Mylan Horseed (Goblin)
Combat (23)
6x Aid from Bats
8x Carrion Crows
3x Taste of Vitae
3x Thrown Gate
3x Thrown Sewer Lid
Equipment (1)
1x Ivory Bow
Event (1)
1x Dragonbound
Master (12)
2x Blood Doll
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fear of Mekhet
1x Giant's Blood
1x KRCG News Radio
1x Vessel
1x Visit from the Capuchin
1x WMRH Talk Radio
1x Wall Street Night, Financial Newspaper
2x Wash
Reaction (22)
7x Cats' Guidance
7x Deflection
4x On the Qui Vive
2x Sense the Savage Way
2x Wake with Evening's Freshness
Retainer (5)
1x Mr. Winthrop
1x Owl Companion
3x Raven Spy
again many congrats to 007 (as the Euro's call him!)
Here are the standings:
note that Joel Tate only appears DQ to eliminate him from the final so
he could get his lift home - so no disrespect to his 2GW and solid
deck!
1 Mike Wilson 1 3 1.5 112
2 Hugh Angseesing 3 12 0.5 180
3 Martin Randers 1 4 0.5 114
4 Paul O'Connor 1 4 0.5 108
5 Edd Phipps 1 5.5 0 162
6 John Best 0 3 132
7 Graham Smith 0 3 114
8 Guy Wilson 0 2.5 132
9 Mike Nudd 0 2.5 126
10 Matthew Boon 0 2.5 102
11 Mikkel Petersen 0 2 114
12 Johnny Harden 0 1.5 112
13 Maciej Kozlowski 0 1.5 90
14 Paul Reid-Bowen 0 1 96
15 Matthew Baker 0 1 90
16 Phil Thompson 0 1 78
17 Frank Connell 0 0.5 88
17 Andy Brown 0 0.5 88
19 Jussi Hattara 0 0.5 78
20 Mat Cook 0 0.5 66
21 Brian White 0 0 78
22 Steve White 0 0 70
23 Lee Lawrence 0 0 58
DQ Joel Tate 2 10 168
Kevin M.
> English ECQ - Burton-on-Trent
> Saturday 16th May 2009
> Organiser & Head Judge Steve Read
> No. players 24
> Winner Mike Wilson
> DQ Joel Tate 2 10 168
This guy couldn't stay and kill y'all?
What was his deck?
Kevin M., Prince of Las Vegas
"Know your enemy and know yourself; in one-thousand battles
you shall never be in peril." -- Sun Tzu, *The Art of War*
"Contentment...Complacency...Catastrophe!" -- Joseph Chevalier
Please visit VTESville daily! http://vtesville.myminicity.com/
brandons...@yahoo.com
Yeah, the top seed having to leave early sucks. Priorities! ;P
Brandon
Orpheus
> Tate who had to leave pre-final who was playing Giovanni Pro/Dom.
> he could get his lift home - so no disrespect to his 2GW and solid
> deck!
Yeah, I definitely want to see the decklist too for a necro-report I'm
writing.
I did have a try at Dom/Pro gios and it was less than satisfying, so I'd
really be curious to see which angle he chose that was so succesful.
Orpheus
tbz_...@hotmail.com
Joel's Giovanni protean deckhad lots of mind rape and heidelberg.
my report follows:
Game 1.
Mike Nudd (Tzim fiendish wall) > Reidbowen (Deathstar redux) > Phil
Thompson (settite block fails bleed) > me (nos royalty)
I think I drew Niklaus, Cock Robin, Jara Drory and Sundown, I know
that in my opening hand I drew the (borrowed) Warsaw station which was
superb.
Reidbowen was the first to get a minion out, a weenie assamite that
played a sneaky Haqim's Law to (presumably ) cycle and see him pay for
himself. Phil brought out Renenet, I got Niklaus and Meshenka came on
for Mike. I didn't know how wall-y Mike was, so I was scared of that,
and I knew my 2nd trads and sense the savage ways wouldn't stop a
settite bleed deck, so I was *very* worried that I would crumble
quickly. With Meshenka downstream I was also concerned I'd not get any
votes passed, so Niklaus started bringing out Cock for support.
Phil tooled up Renenet with Perfectionist and started some vicious
bleeds. Amenophobis came out thereafter. Mike brought out Caliban, and
cross table Reidbowen stacked up a mass of assamites and eventually
Amaravati.
Phil and Reidbowen pushed hard early. I co-operated with the
Assamite's reckless agitations, both to curry favour cross table, and
to try to get Phil to wall. Instead (obviously) Phil pushed harder,
but I'd drawn into an archon investigation, so Renenet's next 6 bleed
ended badly for her. Even so, I needed help, Amenophobis was easily
able to oust me singlehandedly at this point. Reidbowen through me a
con boon cross table for 3 pool (cock robin had formed a 3rd trad
babby)to keep me in it, on the understanding I'd vote for his next
poli action. When it dropped, it would have ousted Phil, so I had to
vote against (sorry!). Phil continued to push, but I just held on, a
timely parity shift seeing me right.
Mike had tooled his Tzim up with manses and was bleeding with fiendish/
changeling for 3, and the assamites started to look at risk. His
Vessel/rack combo was also keeping him alive, which helped me for
parity purposes, but wasn't letting me move forward.
Phil fell shortly after, giving Reidbowen enough to keep the tzim at
bay, and to make amaravati an anarch baron. This was bad news for me,
my votes were even less likely to pass, and my bleeds had ended with
torpor both times I'd attempted them. I was forced to backrush
amaravati into torpor to stop the vote pressure and wall up against
the loss bleeds. The game timed out thereafter.
VPs Reidbowen 1.5, Me 0.5, Mike 0.5, Phil 0
Not a great start, but played ok, and held on in the face of very hard
opposition
Game 2.
Matt Cooke (Nocturns) > Jussi (hardestadt rush) > Bacca (Akunanse no
secrets) > me (nos royalty) > Joel Tate (protean Giovanni mind rape)
I drew cock x 2, Calebros and Jara. Not a great selection, with casino
reed and niklaus making up 50% of my deck, I should have drawn one.
Joel and matt took up the early initiative, both bringing out cheap
vamps with dominate. The biggest initial push came from Matt, as he
spawned multiple Nocturns who ploughed into Jussi, who'd yet to bring
someone out. Bacca brought out Uchenna, I got my Cock out (hehehe) and
Joel got a 2nd Giovanni. At this point, I had vote lock. With Jussi
already looking like he was in danger of being ousted I parity shifted
Joel for an early 5, handing 3 to Jussi. In response, an angry Joel
pentexed Cock. Uchenna picked up a camera phone, then freaked, and
bled me. With no older cam vamps, I quickly bought out Calebros.
Joel was having a bad game, his crypt draw had been bad, and even
though I'd got him with the parity, the table wasn't outraged or
looking to lock me down, because Matt had pushed so hard, and I sold
it as trying to keep Jussi alive.
Jussi finally brought out Hardestadt, and totally focussed upstream.
The inner circle member ploughed in, beating Lasombra and nocturne
alike into paste. This saved him, but gave Bacca free reign. Uchenna,
Nkule and Amaravti tooled up with No Secrets and bled me for 5 odd
between them a turn, which I was terrified of stopping. Jussi voted
for my con boon to keep myself in the game, and then a backwards
parity (again taking some of the pool). Jussi continued his backrush,
obliterating Matt's minions. I called another con boon, but with only
5 pool myself was torn between keeping my grandprey in the game (and
denying my prey 6 pool and a VP) and potentially not being in the
game. In the end, caution won out and I gave myself the pool. Matt
duly perished, and I had another 6 pool to chew through. I managed it,
Jussi continuting to help by backrushing, then co-operating on a vote
(I think realising that I was less of a threat to him than Joel). This
was made an easier decision for him since Bacca had burned Calebros
trying to stop him getting a no secrets (which was stupid, I had
enough stealth to laugh at him, but I didn't know how much intercept
he had at the time). So I couldn't touch his votes.
To underline the point, Jussi backrushed me, but cock robin went to
long, and lived.
The two fortitude decks tore into each other, with little effect. The
game timed out.
VPs Me 1.5, Joel 1, Jussi 0.5, Bacca 0.5, Matt 0
Good stuff, I was motoring now (maybe) lunch, then
Game 3.
Johnny (malgorzata farm bleed) > Hugh (!ven) > Majiec (apologies for
spelling, akunanse no secrets) > me (nos royalty) > Cos (ventrue
lawfirm)
My predator was almost a carbon copy of my previous pred. Same vamps,
same actions, poss less forward in favour of more back. I didn't know
how to feel about my prey. With magaji upstream, and princes down, it
would be hard to pass any votes. I was fortunate in that I had a non
bouncing pred , otherwise I was worried I would be the game's bleed
sink, and with no chance of gaining back from parity, I could have
been stuffed.
I drew Niklaus, Casino, Cock and...I forget the last.
Cos brought out Mustafa the Heir, Johnny influenced Carna, Hugh had an
interesting crypt draw, but managed to get PB Montreal early and
Jefferson Foster . Majiec brought out Uchenna and Niklaus came out for
me. Everyone had at least 1 vote, and the biggest concentration was
either side of me. Great. Due to the heavy concentration of voting, I
opted to start bringing out Cock. Cos brought out Victor Pelletier,
making him Justicar, and put down creepshow casino. Johnny brought out
another trem mid-cap, and managed to equip with the heart of cheating.
I think Hugh brought out Neighbour John, and Maciej brought out Nkule.
They had a couple of minor skirmishes over some no secrets equip
actions, carrion crows pushing them slightly in Majiec's favour.
I think Cos came to a similar conclusion to me, passing poli would be
hard, and with me able to throw down 2nd trads to stop anything he
called (even with creepshow) he focussed more on bleed. Getting
intercepted repeatedly forced him to majesty often, meaning that his
vamps hosed blood. I used this to my advantage, rushing with deep
song, so he had to majesty out, then bleeding so he couldn't afford to
bounce my subsequent bleeds. Realising this, Cos brought out Johannes,
leaving himself on 3 pool. I'd managed to finagle a combo that (I
thought) guaranteed a successful KRC. Punching Victor into torpor, I
tipped the votes in my favour. In creating my combo, I'd left myself
really low, and well within akunanse oust range. I called the KRC and
pushed it to 13 for (including the edge) Hugh abstained, not wanting
to see me ousted then his prey gain 2 vps in short order. With 12
votes against, I ousted Cos, but only just. Majiec held on for another
turn or two, but with Hugh sprouting more and more minions, he was
eventually overwhelmed.
Johnny was now on 3 or 4 pool, but with 3 healthy minions. He'd not
really been able to hurt Hugh, and was struggling to make headway with
only 1 of his vamps having sup DOM. He tried some big bleeds anyway,
and got bounced to me. I archoned Carna, which should have been enough
to oust him. I had more minions, more votes and more stealth.
Even with the delaying I'd seen Hugh draw (please play me at poker!) I
should have been able to oust. Instead, I drew into nothing but
stealth. To illustrate just how bad it was, I came in to steal Hugh's
powerbase (thinking it'd either give me more pool, or allow me to
cycle stealth or both) before getting into an arms race with Hugh. I
eventually stole it at 6 stealth. With my cycling letting me down, I
ended up with a couple of bleeds for 1, which were soaked / bounced,
before Hugh came in for a mass of dom bleeds and ousted me, the vital
krc just 3 cards down. From there it was just a matter of numbers,
Hugh had more minions, and more pool
VPs Hugh 4, Me 1, Cos 0, Johnny 0, Majiec 0
I came 7th overall, just outside the qualification spot.
Orpheus
> On May 19, 8:23 am, "Orpheus" <orpheus.TAKEOU...@free.fr> wrote:
>>> The other qualifiying players were Steve Read as Head Honco and Joel
>>> Tate who had to leave pre-final who was playing Giovanni Pro/Dom.
>>> note that Joel Tate only appears DQ to eliminate him from the final
>>> so he could get his lift home - so no disrespect to his 2GW and
>>> solid deck!
>>
>> Yeah, I definitely want to see the decklist too for a necro-report
>> I'm writing.
>>
>> I did have a try at Dom/Pro gios and it was less than satisfying, so
>> I'd really be curious to see which angle he chose that was so
>> succesful.
>>
>> Orpheus
>
> Joel's Giovanni protean deckhad lots of mind rape and heidelberg.
I want the deckliiiiiiiiiiiiiiist !!!
That was the call of the deck-hungry dead (Orpheus)
Psi
>
> - Show quoted text -
Really, would this be of assistance then?
Deck Name: Giovanni Mind Rape Recursion v1.3
Created By: Joel Tate
Description: PRO-DOM-NEC Giovanni with Sudario to recur the cards you
need at the time. The trick is that you use one Sudario to refract
another Sudario and 2 other cards of your choice ready to carry out
mischief & then refract again and again and again etc... It works
fairly well, although it is pricy in terms of blood however Giant's
Blood, Heidelberg, Mind Rape & del Georgio's special tend to help a
lot. The other 2 non-bleed Dominate actions are there for opportunist
stealing (I once got the Monastery of Shadows that way). The other
cards are fairly self explanatory, although in hindsight I probably
would ditch the 2 Homunculus and replace with 2 Abombwe masters in
order to get the Mind Rape on higher cap vampires. Claws are combat
threat with either sees use or the ash heap depending on the table
(and whether you want to psych out opponents). Governs and Scouts are
amazingly useful early on, so maybe a bit of tweaking is required here
too. Having both Carmine and del Georgio out is the key to this deck,
although you can win with just one.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 14, Max: 40, Avg: 6.83)
----------------------------------------------
1 Almodo Giovanni dom pot 3 Giovanni
4 Carmine Giovanni ani pre DOM NEC POT PRO10
Giovanni
3 Giovanni del Georgio DOM NEC POT PRO 8 Giovanni
2 Kay Polerno dom nec pro 4 Giovanni
1 Nunzio Giovanni nec pot 3 Giovanni
1 Primo Giovanni dom nec pot 4 Giovanni
Library: (84 cards)
-------------------
Master (13 cards)
1 Direct Intervention
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Golconda: Inner Peace
2 Heidelberg Castle, Germany
3 Minion Tap
1 Morgue Hunting Ground
1 Pentex Subversion
1 Secure Haven
2 Vessel
Action (13 cards)
1 Dominate Kine
1 Far Mastery
2 Govern the Unaligned
3 Mind Rape
3 Scouting Mission
3 Sudario Refraction
Action Modifier (23 cards)
3 Bonding
6 Call of the Hungry Dead
3 Conditioning
5 Earth Control
6 Seduction
Reaction (12 cards)
7 Deflection
2 On the Qui Vive
3 Wake with Evening`s Freshness
Combat (8 cards)
2 Claws of the Dead
6 Form of Mist
Ally (1 cards)
1 Mylan Horseed (Goblin)
Retainer (2 cards)
2 Homunculus
Event (1 cards)
1 Uncoiling, The
Combo (11 cards)
4 Rapid Change
5 Spectral Divination
2 Murmur of the False Will
JH
That table was so dealt against me from the beginning. One of worst
possible predators (fast and heavy bleeder with stealth), one of worst
possible preys (animalism combat with prevent). I was really out of
options from the beginning and just tried to get the .5 I knew was my
maximum without some heavy outside intervention, which wasn't anywhere
to be seen. Fortunately the only other deck with heavy votes was you
sitting as my grand-prey, probably the least likely position on the
table to be rushed by Hardestadt. Without getting that Alastor vote
through early on I would've been reduced to nothing but a swiftly
diminishing pool buffer.
Orpheus
>>>> I'm writing.
>
It is, thank you !
> Deck Name: Giovanni Mind Rape Recursion v1.3
> Created By: Joel Tate
> Description: PRO-DOM-NEC Giovanni with Sudario to recur the cards you
> need at the time. The trick is that you use one Sudario to refract
> another Sudario and 2 other cards of your choice ready to carry out
> mischief & then refract again and again and again etc... It works
> fairly well, although it is pricy in terms of blood however Giant's
> Blood, Heidelberg, Mind Rape & del Georgio's special tend to help a
> lot. The other 2 non-bleed Dominate actions are there for opportunist
> stealing (I once got the Monastery of Shadows that way). The other
> cards are fairly self explanatory, although in hindsight I probably
> would ditch the 2 Homunculus and replace with 2 Abombwe masters in
> order to get the Mind Rape on higher cap vampires. Claws are combat
> threat with either sees use or the ash heap depending on the table
> (and whether you want to psych out opponents). Governs and Scouts are
> amazingly useful early on, so maybe a bit of tweaking is required here
> too. Having both Carmine and del Georgio out is the key to this deck,
> although you can win with just one.
I must say I'm pretty surprised by the orientation of the deck.
I imagined more either a bruise'n'bleed (unpreventable aggravs with Dead
Hand + claws under IG) or a rush deck with some graverobs and deflections
for defense.
Let's see below...
>
> Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 14, Max: 40, Avg: 6.83)
> ----------------------------------------------
> 1 Almodo Giovanni dom pot 3 Giovanni
> 4 Carmine Giovanni ani pre DOM NEC POT PRO10
> Giovanni
> 3 Giovanni del Georgio DOM NEC POT PRO 8 Giovanni
> 2 Kay Polerno dom nec pro 4 Giovanni
> 1 Nunzio Giovanni nec pot 3 Giovanni
> 1 Primo Giovanni dom nec pot 4 Giovanni
Not the crypt I'd have thought about, but of course the Mind Rape part asks
for higher minions.
No Paolo Sardenzo because he is too costly for both inferior Dom and Pro ?
> Library: (84 cards)
> -------------------
> Master (13 cards)
> 1 Direct Intervention
> 1 Giant`s Blood
> 1 Golconda: Inner Peace
> 2 Heidelberg Castle, Germany
Are 2 enough ? In "borrow minions" decks I usually gor for at least 3...
> 3 Minion Tap
> 1 Morgue Hunting Ground
> 1 Pentex Subversion
> 1 Secure Haven
> 2 Vessel
>
> Action (13 cards)
> 1 Dominate Kine
> 1 Far Mastery
> 2 Govern the Unaligned
> 3 Mind Rape
So there are chances that MR will come out late in the game ? And you have
only 2 Govern for pooling... I'm surprised because both your offense and
pool defense seem light.
> 3 Scouting Mission
> 3 Sudario Refraction
I think this is the real key card, although some would put 4 here.
> Action Modifier (23 cards)
> 3 Bonding
> 6 Call of the Hungry Dead
> 3 Conditioning
> 5 Earth Control
> 6 Seduction
Ok, so we basically have some Nec + Pro stealth. Nice, although very costly
as you pointed out already.
> Reaction (12 cards)
> 7 Deflection
> 2 On the Qui Vive
> 3 Wake with Evening`s Freshness
Ok, except of course no vote defense. How did you fare against aggressive
voters ?
> Combat (8 cards)
> 2 Claws of the Dead
> 6 Form of Mist
Ok.
> Ally (1 cards)
> 1 Mylan Horseed (Goblin)
>
> Retainer (2 cards)
> 2 Homunculus
So, not as good as it seemed ?
>
> Event (1 cards)
> 1 Uncoiling, The
>
> Combo (11 cards)
> 4 Rapid Change
Nice card (well, one more costly card, but...).
> 5 Spectral Divination
Did you need that much total stealth ? For such a high price ?
> 2 Murmur of the False Will
I hate this card. Granted, you play a high-cap, but still.
Overall, I'm astonished at the proportion of action modifiers compared to
the number of actions.
I want to know too : was Pro really useful ? I mean, could you have done
roughly the same just with Nec, or was the amount of stealth worth it
despite the cost ? And on the opposite, was Nec useful or isn't it just a
lesser (less frightening ?) Stanislava Mid Rape deck ?
(I suspect that Sudario is they key card here)
Thanks,
Orpheus