TempleCon NERQ Tournament Report w/TWD
mhi...@gmail.com
We had 20 players for the Northeast Regional Qualifier at TempleCon on
February 6th, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick, RI.
In general, there was a good mix of decks. Stealth/bleed and vote
decks were pretty common. We saw a number of "star vampire" decks
based on 11-caps that got punished by Pentex Subversion and, in at
least one case, Fear of Mekhet. In all 12 preliminary games, every
table resulted in a game win.
The final round saw Scott and Jesse ousted early as they didn't have
the right defense to deal with their predators. Tony lasted a little
while longer but once his vampires started going to torpor, he was
done. The game came down to a duel between John and Ben. They both
ran their libraries dry, and John managed to oust Ben with the last
Govern in his deck. This is John's second NERQ win in a row.
Big thanks to Grant and Ximon for running another great TempleCon!
Thanks to White Wolf and Oscar for prize support!
-Matt H.
Final Standings:
1. John Eno 1gw, 5.5vp, 4vp final
2. Ben Peal 2gw, 6.5vp, 1vp final
2. Scott Gomes 2gw, 7vp
2. Jesse Cross-Nickerson 1gw, 9vp
2. Tony Luneau 1gw, 5vp
Sonam Adinolf
Jen Goldberg
Ben Swainbank
Chris Robert
John Whelan
Jon Scherer
Kevin Mullen
Cory Seigel
Jason Scheiderman
Josh Feuerstein
Selen Turkay
Peter Kapsalis
Keith Bonneau
Peter Jehlen
Greg Williams
Finals seating:
Tony (Lutz vote)->
Ben (brujah breed/boon)->
Scott (!ventrue dom/for)->
John (g4/5 ventrue for)->
Jesse (nephandi !tremere D'Erlette)->
Qualified players from this event (top 5 of 20):
---------------------------------
John Eno
Ben Peal
Scott Gomes
Jesse Cross-Nickerson
Anthony Luneau
Matt Hirsch - Organizer
Photos are up here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35995525@N00/sets/72157623257155005/
(and also on Facebook, if you're into that sort of thing)
John's decklist and notes:
---------------------------------------------------------
Deck Name : Lawyers, Guns and Money
Author : John Eno
Description :
This is my attempt to make a Ventrue version of the !Ventrue
intercept/combat deck I've been playing, because the new law firm has
such an excellent crypt. Most of the card choices here seem pretty
obvious, but I'll attempt some Morganesque deck commentary for those
that might seem odd or should be changed.
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 10 average: 6.91667
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Mary Anne Blaire 10 AUS DOM FOR PRE ani pot justicar Ventrue:
5
--In theory, she's great for this deck. In practice, I think she's
probably too big and should be changed into another Graham and a
smaller vampire. Emily Carson would be a good choice.
3x Lodin (Olaf Holte) 8 DOM FOR PRE aus pro prince Ventrue:
5
2x Graham Gottesman 7 DOM FOR obf pre tha prince Ventrue:
5
2x Mustafa, The Heir 6 FOR PRE cel dom prince Ventrue:
4
1x Jephta Hester 5 DOM FOR aus !
Ventrue:4
1x Joao Bile 5 DOM FOR pre Ventrue:
4
1x Ulrike Rothbart 3 dom for !
Ventrue:4
Library [80 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Master [14]
2x Anarch Troublemaker
4x Blood Doll
1x Ephor
1x Island of Yiaros
--I really want his card to be good, and this would seem to be the
deck for it to shine. I don't think I've ever actually played it in
the year or so that I've been working on this deck, though, so that's
probably a pretty good sign that it could be usefully replaced.
1x KRCG News Radio
1x Papillon
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
1x Ventrue Headquarters
1x WMRH Talk Radio
--Absolutely no idea why there isn't a Giant's Blood in here,
particularly since I put that card into just about every deck I make.
The Island will definitely be changed out for one in the future.
Action [9]
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
5x Govern the Unaligned
3x Scouting Mission
--The idea here was that using Scouting Mission over more Governs
would save me blood. In practice, they should all be Governs.
Action Modifier [6]
1x Foreshadowing Destruction
4x Freak Drive
1x Threats
--This needs more bleed punch, and the free cards can probably be
safely changed into Conditioning without worrying about its blood
cost. During the tournament, I kept wondering why I was drawing so few
bleed modifiers. More evidence that you should be very familiar with a
deck before you play it in a rated event...
Ally [1]
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
Combat [25]
4x Hidden Strength
3x Indomitability
5x Resilience
4x Rolling with the Punches
2x Taste of Vitae
2x Unflinching Persistence
5x Weighted Walking Stick
--Too much damage prevention. During all four games of the tournament,
there were times when I found myself looking at three or four combat
cards and wishing that they were anything else. Matt Hirsch took a
great picture of my hand during round three, in which you see six
damage prevention cards and a Walking Stick. Ouch. Some of this will
be taken out for more bleed mods.
Equipment [4]
1x Bowl of Convergence
--If Mary Anne doesn't appear in the crypt any more, this card
obviously needs to be changed into a Sport Bike.
1x Palatial Estate
--I still haven't figured out if Palatial Estate is ever worth the
action or card slot. I think math is against me on this one, but I'll
leave it here until I can decide definitively.
2x Sawed-Off Shotgun
--People will probably mock me for the Shotguns again, but they've
never done wrong by me.
Political Action [2]
2x Banishment
--Another "in theory this is great" card, particularly for lockdown
during the two-player game. Probably one or both should be more
straightforward offensive votes like Anarchist Uprising or KRC.
Reaction [18]
8x Deflection
2x On the Qui Vive
8x Second Tradition: Domain
--Enough wake tech to make Peal grumpy during the finals when he was
trying to oust me, so it must be just the right amount.
Retainer [1]
1x Mr. Winthrop
Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Sun Nov 29 22:20:55 2009]
Nikolaj "Lord of the Betrayers" Wendt
Cool deck. I remember destroying your pesky snake deck with my version
of this at the NAC.
MY VERSION HAS MAGMUMS INSTEAD OF SHOTGUNS. THEY ARE MUCH BETTER. YOU
SHOULD TRY THEM. TRY THEM.
There, mocking completed. :)
>
> John's decklist and notes:
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Deck Name : Lawyers, Guns and Money
> Author : John Eno
> Description :
> This is my attempt to make a Ventrue version of the !Ventrue
> intercept/combat deck I've been playing, because the new law firm has
> such an excellent crypt. Most of the card choices here seem pretty
> obvious, but I'll attempt some Morganesque deck commentary for those
> that might seem odd or should be changed.
>
> Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 10 average: 6.91667
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 2x Mary Anne Blaire 10 AUS DOM FOR PRE ani pot justicar Ventrue:
> 5
>
> --In theory, she's great for this deck. In practice, I think she's
> probably too big and should be changed into another Graham and a
> smaller vampire. Emily Carson would be a good choice.
I actually play 3 or 4 of her, and havent regretted it. With governs
and some freak drives, her special has paid off alot for me.
>
> 3x Lodin (Olaf Holte) 8 DOM FOR PRE aus pro prince Ventrue:
> 5
> 2x Graham Gottesman 7 DOM FOR obf pre tha prince Ventrue:
> 5
> 2x Mustafa, The Heir 6 FOR PRE cel dom prince Ventrue:
> 4
> 1x Jephta Hester 5 DOM FOR aus !
> Ventrue:4
> 1x Joao Bile 5 DOM FOR pre Ventrue:
> 4
> 1x Ulrike Rothbart 3 dom for !
> Ventrue:4
I dont have any non-princes I think, which means a more expensive
crypt but I dont think I have had a game with less than 3 minions
anyway,
>
> Library [80 cards]
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Master [14]
> 2x Anarch Troublemaker
> 4x Blood Doll
> 1x Ephor
> 1x Island of Yiaros
>
> --I really want his card to be good, and this would seem to be the
> deck for it to shine. I don't think I've ever actually played it in
> the year or so that I've been working on this deck, though, so that's
> probably a pretty good sign that it could be usefully replaced.
I have more governs in mine and generally try to bloat more, so I have
4 minion taps, 2 vessels and giants blood. Also the headquarter for
vote heavy tables or if I wouldnt be allowed to bloat and end up with
only 2 minions.
>
> 1x KRCG News Radio
> 1x Papillon
> 1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
> 1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
> 1x Ventrue Headquarters
> 1x WMRH Talk Radio
>
> --Absolutely no idea why there isn't a Giant's Blood in here,
> particularly since I put that card into just about every deck I make.
> The Island will definitely be changed out for one in the future.
I didnt have radios, but two DIs instead. No smiling jack, as I just
want to use the seconds for defense and for keeping prey/pred down a
bit. Not sure I would want to try and defend it. Did that work out for
you?
>
> Action [9]
> 1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
> 5x Govern the Unaligned
> 3x Scouting Mission
>
> --The idea here was that using Scouting Mission over more Governs
> would save me blood. In practice, they should all be Governs.
I have only 10 governs. Arenthebes is a good plan. I should have added
that.
>
> Action Modifier [6]
> 1x Foreshadowing Destruction
> 4x Freak Drive
> 1x Threats
I had 6 conditionings in there.
>
> --This needs more bleed punch, and the free cards can probably be
> safely changed into Conditioning without worrying about its blood
> cost. During the tournament, I kept wondering why I was drawing so few
> bleed modifiers. More evidence that you should be very familiar with a
> deck before you play it in a rated event...
>
> Ally [1]
> 1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
>
> Combat [25]
> 4x Hidden Strength
> 3x Indomitability
> 5x Resilience
> 4x Rolling with the Punches
> 2x Taste of Vitae
> 2x Unflinching Persistence
> 5x Weighted Walking Stick
>
> --Too much damage prevention. During all four games of the tournament,
> there were times when I found myself looking at three or four combat
> cards and wishing that they were anything else. Matt Hirsch took a
> great picture of my hand during round three, in which you see six
> damage prevention cards and a Walking Stick. Ouch. Some of this will
> be taken out for more bleed mods.
I have less prevention, but about 8-9 that give presses. Rest rolling
wth the punches. I have no stealth and have to convince people that
blocking the 1 stealth actions can cost more than a shot for 2.
Oh, and I have MAGNUMS, they have a maneuver. Comes handy as a kind of
damage prevention... :)
Oh and concealed weapon to get the magnums. I don't want to equip with
actions.
>
> Equipment [4]
> 1x Bowl of Convergence
>
> --If Mary Anne doesn't appear in the crypt any more, this card
> obviously needs to be changed into a Sport Bike.
>
> 1x Palatial Estate
>
> --I still haven't figured out if Palatial Estate is ever worth the
> action or card slot. I think math is against me on this one, but I'll
> leave it here until I can decide definitively.
I didnt have any equipment in my version. And for palatial, I usually
dont include it unless I have a way to go through library for
equipment in some way.
>
> 2x Sawed-Off Shotgun
>
> --People will probably mock me for the Shotguns again, but they've
> never done wrong by me.
Why would anyone mock you because of this?
>
> Political Action [2]
> 2x Banishment
NO PARITY SHIFTS?!?11 INFIDEL!!
>
> --Another "in theory this is great" card, particularly for lockdown
> during the two-player game. Probably one or both should be more
> straightforward offensive votes like Anarchist Uprising or KRC.
>
> Reaction [18]
> 8x Deflection
> 2x On the Qui Vive
> 8x Second Tradition: Domain
I had two more traditions than you and two fewer deflections. Also two
on the qui vive. I was speed bled out of two games at the NAC, so your
ratio seems like a better idea.
>
> --Enough wake tech to make Peal grumpy during the finals when he was
> trying to oust me, so it must be just the right amount.
>
> Retainer [1]
> 1x Mr. Winthrop
>
> Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Sun Nov 29 22:20:55 2009]
A lot of similarities, but unlike me, you actually won with this
deck. :)
No, its not because of the shotguns...
Rhavas
Well run event Matt, thanks.
It wasn't torpor that knocked me out, it was a couple of bad
decisions. Unnecessarily pumping a bleed by Lutz to 4 with a
Confusion, allowing Ben to blow him up with Archon Investigation was
the key one. Having one bleed for 3 and one bleed for 2 is usually
better than one bleed of 4. Later, calling an Autarkis Persecution
not realizing it would just give Ben the tourney win by ousting him
and John, thus wasting an action and tapping a guy. Finally, after
building up a nice pool buffer, transferring 5 pool while only having
two blockers and my predator having an Anarch Troublemaker in play and
me with no untap in hand. Who knew dominate could bleed for so
much?
Considering Ben and John were out of cards, and I still had plenty, I
feel like I would have had a good shot if I hadn't gotten Lutz blown
up. I would have had thre minions, two with + bleed and plenty of
stealth cards. If I had ousted Ben I would have had John in votes,
which means all my KRCs are for 4 pool. I got sloppy after 4 rounds
of VTES and it showed in my play. Thats what I get for not playing in
more tourneys.
In the end, John played it well and deserved the win. Congrats John!
cthulukitty
> The final round saw Scott and Jesse ousted early as they didn't have
> the right defense to deal with their predators.
Actually, I had plenty of defense for dealing with John in the form of
bounce. Most of the pool damage I took over the course of the game,
including the ousting action, came from Ben Peal's cross table votes.
Ben was convinced, probably correctly, that he would be unable to win
if he ended up sitting next to me, since I had out The Unmasking and
multiple Nephandi, and his deck seldom got past 1 stealth. As it
turned out, he ousted me cross table and was still unable to win, most
likely because he gave his second prey 6 free pool.
> Final Standings:
> 1. John Eno 1gw, 5.5vp, 4vp final
> 2. Ben Peal 2gw, 6.5vp, 1vp final
> 2. Scott Gomes 2gw, 7vp
> 2. Jesse Cross-Nickerson 1gw, 9vp
There was some commentary about this rather bizarre score. I swept my
first table, and then got 2 VPs each in the other rounds before losing
the duel against Scott Gomes and Ben Peal, respectively. Ironically, I
have actually managed to get 3 game wins with fewer VPs than this.
Jesse
Kushiel
<nikolajwe...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Nikolaj!
> I actually play 3 or 4 of her, and havent regretted it. With governs
> and some freak drives, her special has paid off alot for me.
Yeah, I seem to recall you having her take her action just about
every turn, in which case she's really good. With lots of Freaks,
she's a brick house; not sure if I will have room to add more once I
figure out what a better amount of damage prevention is. I'm a bit
loathe to take her out of the deck, because then I lose not only the
Bowl but also Ephor, but on the other hand I almost never actually get
her into play.
> I dont have any non-princes I think, which means a more expensive
> crypt but I dont think I have had a game with less than 3 minions
> anyway,
I tend to try to go for four.
> I didnt have radios, but two DIs instead. No smiling jack, as I just
> want to use the seconds for defense and for keeping prey/pred down a
> bit. Not sure I would want to try and defend it. Did that work out for
> you?
Sometimes it's just an MPA cycle to get someone at the table to waste
an action burning it, and other times it's a great endgame motivator/
kill card. It's certainly far from foolproof.
> I have only 10 governs. Arenthebes is a good plan. I should have added
> that.
Yeah, Aranthebes goes in every deck that plans to block. It saved me
from weenie bleeds all day long during the tournament.
> I had 6 conditionings in there.
I'm wimpy and you're aggressive. I can live with that.
> Oh and concealed weapon to get the magnums. I don't want to equip with
> actions.
Yeah, I generally don't have much luck with working the Concealed/
weapon angle unless I've built the whole deck around it. I think that
has to do with my playstyle, which often involves holding on to cards
in my hand for a long time, which can make it difficult to get a
particular two-card combo if there aren't a lot of both cards in the
deck.
> I didnt have any equipment in my version.
Liar. You shot up my poor innocent snakes with guns. Mercilessly. Over
and over again.
But it's kind of crazy to me that you don't have any other equipment.
If anything, I feel like I don't have enough permanents in here.
> And for palatial, I usually
> dont include it unless I have a way to go through library for
> equipment in some way.
Yeah. It's always nice to have a guy with the Estate and a Blood Doll
gaining you a pool every turn, but like I said, I think it's probably
a waste of an action and deck slot. I'll just have to keep playing it
and see.
> Why would anyone mock you because of this?
1) Unlike Magnums, Shotguns don't give you a maneuver (to which Jeff
Haar apparently once replied, correctly, "Mine does three").
2) The Right Honorable Mr. Hugh Angseesing once gave me a right proper
slapping, chasing me about the room and calling me all manner of
unrepeatable epithets. Once I'd managed to talk him down out of his
methamphetamine frenzy, I asked him what had occasioned this most
recent abuse of my person, and he explained that he'd seen me playing
Shotguns in my !Ventrue deck, and that no respectable colonial should
be caught being seen to do so, etc.
It's Hugh, so he probably knows what he's talking about.
> NO PARITY SHIFTS?!?11 INFIDEL!!
All of my very few Shifts which don't say "Jyhad" on the back are in
my Brujah princes deck. Those guys need the help a lot more than the
guys with Dominate. :)
> I had two more traditions than you and two fewer deflections. Also two
> on the qui vive. I was speed bled out of two games at the NAC, so your
> ratio seems like a better idea.
I'm a big fan of applying the principles of wu wei to VTES.
John Eno
Ivan .
sorry for asking, but seeing Ben's deck scoring better in preliminary
rounds and wanting to build a successful variant of that deck , I
couldn't not wonder what was in it? was it third trad or embrace and
how many? , combat or S:CE?, if combat, potence or cel and alastor? if
potence, regular or heroic might&preternatural (I hope not, because I
can't afford these)?
Nikolaj "Lord of the Betrayers" Wendt
Guns aren't equipment. They are merely a logical extension of your arm.
Kushiel
> sorry for asking, but seeing Ben's deck scoring better in preliminary
> rounds and wanting to build a successful variant of that deck , I
> couldn't not wonder what was in it? was it third trad or embrace and
> how many? , combat or S:CE?, if combat, potence or cel and alastor? if
> potence, regular or heroic might&preternatural (I hope not, because I
> can't afford these)?
Group 1/2 weenie Brujah, Brachah, Volker and Rake. Praxis Seizures and
Brujah Justicars. Embraces. No offensive combat (Majesty only). Season
to taste.
John Eno