Gen Con and the Finals Report
Ben Swainbank
I thought I'd write up my own take on the Championship Finals, and
other Gen Con memories and observations.
Since its probably of the most interesting, I'll jump right to how the
finals game looked from my corner of the table...
The table went:
Jared Strait -- Nossie Princes vote and 2nd Trads bleeding...
Christian Chenard -- !Toreador massive breed and art scam bleeding...
Trey Morita -- Tzimisce War Ghouls bleeding...
Ben Swainbank (me) -- !Toreador intercept and beatdown bleeding...
Szilan Fodor -- Cardano Freaks Out at Ankara Citadel bleeding Jared.
I'd faced (and beaten) Jared in the first round, but didn't know what
the others were playing as we sat down. But once things got going, I
liked the look of the table.
Trey was my predator. Its always nice to see Tzimisce at your back,
and the War Ghouls angle sounded good to me as well. I suspected I'd
have more intercept than he'd have stealth. And with all my maneuvers,
dodges, and smackdown I didn't think a Ghoul or two would be more than
I could handle.
I got my worst crypt draw of the day. Both the Gretta's and none of
the +1 Strength types (Miller, Parnassus, or Parimenides) that the
deck needs. Eventually, I found Parnassus in the 5th spot. But it
meant my deck was kind of slow to get going.
At first I didn't know what Szilan was up to. But apparently it
involved Jing Wei and Cardano. So how bad could it be? Early on,
Szilan whipped out the Magic of the Smith, I had the 3 intercept and
contemplated blocking, but Szilan convinced me it "wasn't a weapon or
anything". This would have been a good time for anyone who'd seen the
deck to say "For the love of God, Man! Block it if you can!" But they
didn't, and I opted to save my intercept for the next Ghoul attempt.
Bad choice. Once he got Citadel, Cardano was playing Govern (for
free), Freak Drive (for free), Deflection (for free), Hidden Strength
and Skin of Steel (free), and one very nasty Kiss of Ra (for 1)... and
there's another Freak Drive (free).
Even with Cardano coming for him, Jared was in good shape from the get
go. Early vote lock with few other titles on the table. Very little
intercept to the left or right to stop his votes. He was going to be a
force to be reckoned with. But he was also cross-table from me...
Christian had a mass of Embraces with ton of Art Scams for bloat. He'd
gotten some attention by building up to 18 minions in one the prelim
rounds. Nasty, but everyone saw it coming at the finals table. Stuck
between Trey's intercept Tzimisce, and an early, and seemingly
endless, run of 2nd Trads by Jared, it never got going. Christian soon
saw his first two vamps go to torpor and got jammed on Embraces. Even
a cross-table rescue from Szilan and a wave a Art Scams only prolonged
the inevitable.
So, that was the fundamental table dynamic through much of the game.
Trey and Christian contested the Hungry Coyote. I let Trey get an
early War Ghoul, to help fend off the incoming !Torrie swarm -- on the
promise that the Ghoul never attacked me (an agreement Trey ditched
after I blocked his next attempt to get a Ghoul). Christian got shut
down early and Jared got to picking away at his pool.
I was busy digging up Parnassus to get my offence going. Once he was
up I started picking away at Szilan. Cardano had Magic'd up a Sengir
Dagger at this point. I was eager to drop him and cripple Szilan's
deck, so I kept looking for a Sideslip-Blur combo for Parnassus. Twice
I drew into the combo and got the fight, but both times Szilan played
Hidden Strength (free) on the first strike and Skin of Steel (free) on
the Blur. Grrrr.... But I felt I had my predator under control. I was
making some forward progress and he couldn't get lucky forever.
So, a little, but not a ton of table talk and deal-making. Everyone
seemed to have a sense of their lot in life, and was playing their
game.
Jared ousted Christian and had Major Boons on me and Szilan.
At the end of, what would turn out to be, my last turn I had a Palla
Grand out and was making my push to finish Szilan. I figured I might
be able to finish him off on my next turn, and could almost certainly
get him in 2. Trey was in trouble. After a few, failed, somewhat
last-ditch attempts by the War Ghoul to smack down my Famous Gretta,
Trey was finally, and effectively, sending the Ghoul after Jared.
Jared was still strong, but he didn't have a huge pool reserve. I
thought I could out-punch him in an endgame showdown (again)
--especially if the War Ghoul softened him up for me. I had 7 pool.
Life was good.
Then Jared got hit with a Govern Bleed and cashed in my boon. 3 pool
loss to me. He then played Domain Challenge. I loose another 2, but so
does my prey. Trey and I are both down to 2 and Jared plays the KRC.
We're both ousted.
Immediately, and someone anti-climactically, Jared offered Szilan the
oust so he can take the table-tie, get the tournament win, and go
catch his plane.
And so it ended.
-----------------------------
It was a good and well-played game. A fine finalle to great
convention. A few other highlights for me:
The Meat Grinder:
I'm feeling a little guilty that these people still trying to qualify
will have to be at a table with an already-qualified-vtes-dynamo like
myself. I feel a little more guilty when the orgainizers have trouble
finding seats for everyone to play. I feel even more guilty which I
consider the killer deck I'm playing: "Devil's Advocate" -- Giotto
Verducci joins up the the Ventrue Law Firm for some super-cycling,
power bleeding, sneaky Parity Shift action.
After 3 round of tight, inspired play I wind up with 0 VP for the day.
Nuff said.
The Championship Round 1.
The table goes me -> Noal McDonald -> Robert Goudie -> Jared Strait ->
Matt Hirsh in a wild game. Noal puts Malk Paranoia on one of Matt's
!Malks. Matt puts Lunatic Eruption on my Miller Delmardigan. Goudie
bleeds Jared with obscene bleeds at obscene stealth. I tap out to go
for the kill againt Noal. Jared does a Dramatic Upheaval with me. And
Goudie rips me for double-digit pool loss, dropping me to 1 by my next
untap. Matt puts a Pentex on Robert in exchange for me laying off him
for 2 rounds. My Embrace generates 1 intercept to punch out the last
of Goudie's Malks. And I bounce back and beat down everyone with the
ever-rushing Miller for the win. Very wild.
The Championship Round 2.
I'm cross-table from Ben Peal at a 4 player table. Despite playing Gen
Con conditioning games with him before the con, I haven't seen his
deck before, a Ravnos-Gangrel deck. He, on the other hand, has played
against, and studied my deck extensively. He saves his Suddens for
both my Palla Grands. In the mid game he picks up my ash heap, sorts
it, and then gives me the break down of the cards left in my library.
Thaaaanks.
Still, I get out my combat dream team. Miller, Parnassus, Parimenides,
and Gretta with the Ivory Bow. I end up punching out every minion on
the table and eventually I grind down Ben's minions and pool, several
turns after I've exhausted my own library, for the win.
The Championship Round 3.
Back at a 5 player table. The other 4 players all flip someone Purple.
4 vote decks and me. Great. I sit around for 100 minutes of bartering
and horse trading, during which I'm mostly a spectator. My favorite
exchange:
Me: Whaaat?! Why would you vote FOR him gaining 5 pool? He's your
prey!
Stephan Fazio: Old boys network.
I beat up my predator and build up. Near the end I played my Palla
Grande and started my run at my prey. Then we had a Dramatic Upheaval
and Kindred Restructured a few times until I had no clue who my
predator and prey were. But it didn't really matter, before it got
around to my next turn someone (my new Grand-prey, I think...) voted
me off the table.
Still, fun stuff all around. And the best part was hanging out at the
Hotel, drinking a few beers, playing some games, and finally putting
some faces with so many names.
Thanks everyone for the games and the good time.
-Ben Swainbank
The Lasombra
>The table went:
>
>Jared Strait -- Nossie Princes vote and 2nd Trads bleeding...
>Christian Chenard -- !Toreador massive breed and art scam bleeding...
>Trey Morita -- Tzimisce War Ghouls bleeding...
>Ben Swainbank (me) -- !Toreador intercept and beatdown bleeding...
>Szilan Fodor -- Cardano Freaks Out at Ankara Citadel bleeding Jared.
And here is Jared's winning deck.
---------------------
Here is my decklist, for those of you who requested it:
Crypt (12):
Rake x2
Volker x2
Raziya Samater
Kendrick
Murat
Nikolaus Vermeulen x2 (Never drew him in any round)
Calebros x2
Sammy
Library (74):
Blood Doll x3
Creepshow Casino
Direct Intervention x2 (Never used in any round)
Dreams of the Sphinx x2
Information Highway
The Labyrinth
Major Boon x4
Potence x2
The Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper
The Second Tradition: Domain x10
The Third Tradition: Progeny x2
The Fourth Tradition: The Accounting x6
The Fifth Tradition: Hospitality x2
Domain Challenge x2
Kindred Restructure x2
Kine Resources Contested x7
Parity Shift x3
Pushing the Limit x4
Sacrament of Carnage x4
Army of Rats x2
Carrion Crows x4
Elder Impersonation x2
Forgotten Labyrinth x4
Lost in Crowds x2
Marked Path
Needs a small amount of adjustment, but in general played well for
being constructed at 1am the morning of the finals.
Jared
berni...@attbi.comholdlespam
wrote:
Interesting that he's using Major Boon's without any bounce.
Wonder if Pogeny really proved useful in this deck? Were they there so
chumpy could be the vote caller?
Hmmmm,
BernieTime
Lansing, Michigan