[VTESinLV] Tournament Archons and Winning Decks
Kevin M.
last Saturday:
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LV 2009 Mini-Qual
Las Vegas, NV (USA)
02-07-09
27 players
Final Player Prelim Prelim Final TPs
Rank Name GWs VPs VPs
1 Ruben Feldman 1 4 1.5 108
2 Dennis Lien 1 5 0.5 88
3 Matthew Heslin 1 4.5 0.5 96
4 David Litwin 1 4 0.5 96
5 Ian Lee 1 4 0 90
Final Round: Litwin => Ruben => Ian => Dennis => Heslin
6 David Tatu 1 4 84
7 Vladimir Sagdiev 1 4 78
8 Robyn Tatu 1 3 108
9 John Flournoy 1 3 84
10 Robert Scythe 1 3 78
10 Cameron Domer 1 3 78
12 Matthew Strehlow 0 2 96
13 James Messer 0 2 90
14 Mike Courtois 0 2 78
15 Oscar Garza 0 1.5 72
16 Brad Cashdollar 0 1 78
17 Jeff Thompson 0 0.5 66
18 Corey Brindley 0 0.5 60
19 Darby Keeney 0 0.5 54
20 Simeon Nagel 0 0 52
21 Mark Loughman 0 0 48
22 Ira Fay 0 0 46
22 Dave Buerger 0 0 46
22 Pete Oh 0 0 46
25 Fred Scott 0 0 42
25 Matt Morgan 0 0 42
27 Preston Poulter 0 0 40
Ruben Feldman's Winning Deck:
"Council of Doom" a.k.a. "Carlton's Council of Doooom"
Description:
Get out a fattie, tap'n'recycle via Anthelios, then vote, bloat, and bleed
your prey.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 36, Max: 44, Avg: 10.0)
----------------------------------------------
1 Leandro dom OBF 11, Malkavian Inner Circle
2 Etrius DOM OBF 11, Tremere Inner Circle
2 Arika DOM OBF 11, Ventrue Inner Circle
3 Huitzilopochtli DOM OBF 10, Baali
4 Maris Streck dom OBF 9, Malkavian Justicar
Library: (60 cards)
-------------------
Master (20 cards)
7 Minion Tap
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Golconda
2 Sudden Reversal
4 Information Highway
4 Zillah`s Valley
1 Jake Washington
Ally (2 cards)
1 Carlton Van Wyk
1 Muddled Vampire Hunter
Political Action (9 cards)
4 Banishment
2 Parity Shift
1 Ancient Influence
1 Political Stranglehold
1 Reins of Power
Action Modifier (13 cards)
7 Lost in Crowds
3 Faceless Night
1 Into Thin Air
1 Conditioning
1 Foreshadowing Destruction
Combo (5 cards)
5 Swallowed by the Night
Reaction (10 cards)
5 Obedience
1 On the Qui Vive
4 Deflection
Event (1 cards)
1 Anthelios
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
LV 2009 NAQ
Las Vegas, NV (USA)
02-07-09
26 players
Final Player Prelim Prelim Final TPs
Rank Name GWs VPs VPs
1 Matt Morgan 1 6 1.5 162
2 David Tatu 2 8 0.5 174
3 John Flournoy 2 5.5 0.5 138
4 Jeff Thompson 1 8 0.5 168
5 Ruben Feldman 2 6 0 138
Final Round: Morgan => Ruben => Tatu => John => Jeff
6 Vladimir Sagdiev 1 6 126
7 James Messer 1 5 150
8 Dave Litwin 1 5 132
9 Dennis Lien 1 4 126
10 Cameron Domer 1 3 112
11 Dave Buerger 1 3 96
11 Matt Heslin 1 3 96
13 Preston Poulter 0 3 120
14 Robert Goudie 0 2 118
15 Darby Keeney 0 2 114
16 Oscar Garza 0 2 108
17 Ian Lee 0 1 90
18 Mike Courtois 0 1 88
19 Brad Cashdollar 0 1 84
20 Mark Loughman 0 1 82
20 Matthew Strehlow 0 1 82
22 Robyn Tatu 0 0.5 72
23 Robert Scythe 0 0 64
24 Simeon Nagel 0 0 60
25 Fred Scott 0 0 54
25 Ira Fay 0 0 54
Matt Morgan's Winning Deck:
"Vapours Tossed" a.k.a. "Dual Cardinals of Doooom"
Description:
Get out Aksinya and whoever else you can. Dual them, Cardinal them and the
Duals, bleed a bit, vote to kill.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 26, Max: 37, Avg: 8.08)
----------------------------------------------
1 Hartmut Stover for PRO 10, !Gangrel Archbishop
1 Malabranca PRE PRO 9, !Toreador Archbishop
4 Aksinya Daclau ANI FOR PRE PRO 9, !Gangrel
1 Una ANI FOR PRE PRO 9, !Gangrel Archbishop
1 Doyle Fincher ANI for PRO 7, !Gangrel
1 Luke Fellows PRO 7, !Gangrel
1 Xendil Charmer PRO 7, !Gangrel Priscus
1 Janey Pickman ANI for PRO 6, !Gangrel
1 Ryszard pre pro 6, !Gangrel Bishop
Library: (70 cards)
-------------------
Master (24 cards)
1 Presence
3 Villein
2 Blood Doll
1 Perfectionist
1 Coven
1 Giant`s Blood
1 Jake Washington (Hunter)
1 Golconda: Inner Peace
1 Wash
1 Direct Intervention
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Information Highway
1 Fear of Mekhet
1 Archon Investigation
1 Powerbase: Madrid
1 Pentex Subversion
1 Anarch Troublemaker
1 Creepshow Casino
1 Twisted Forest
2 Parthenon
Action (8 cards)
5 Dual Form
2 Heart of the City
1 Eternal Vigilance
Equipment (1 cards)
1 Sargon Fragment
Action Modifier (11 cards)
3 Earth Control
2 Bewitching Oration
3 Voter Captivation
3 Freak Drive
Political Action (12 cards)
4 Cardinal Benediction
3 Kine Resources Contested
1 Ancilla Empowerment
1 Anarchist Uprising
1 Political Stranglehold
1 Neonate Breach
1 Domain Challenge
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/
Las Vegas NAQ 2009! http://members.cox.net/vtesinlv/
Kevin M.
> LV 2009 Mini-Qual
> Las Vegas, NV (USA)
> 02-07-09
> 27 players
>
> Final Player Prelim Prelim Final TPs
> Rank Name GWs VPs VPs
> 1 Ruben Feldman 1 4 1.5 108
Ruben won the Mini-Qual, so Ruben (and only Ruben) qualified.
> LV 2009 NAQ
> Las Vegas, NV (USA)
> 02-07-09
> 26 players
>
> Final Player Prelim Prelim Final TPs
> Rank Name GWs VPs VPs
> 1 Matt Morgan 1 6 1.5 162
> 2 David Tatu 2 8 0.5 174
> 3 John Flournoy 2 5.5 0.5 138
> 4 Jeff Thompson 1 8 0.5 168
> 5 Ruben Feldman 2 6 0 138
> Final Round: Morgan => Ruben => Tatu => John => Jeff
>
> 6 Vladimir Sagdiev 1 6 126
> 7 James Messer 1 5 150
26 players x 25% (rounded-up) = The above seven players qualified, along
with Kevin Mergen, since he ran the event.
Note that Ruben was already qualified due to the previous tournament, and
James was already qualified because he made the NAC08 final.
extrala
> ..
> Matt Morgan's Winning Deck:
> "Vapours Tossed" a.k.a. "Dual Cardinals of Doooom"
> Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 26, Max: 37, Avg: 8.08)
> Library: (70 cards)
> -------------------
> Master (24 cards)
> Equipment (1 cards)
> Action Modifier (11 cards)
> Political Action (12 cards)
The cheating phase never ends, thats 56 library cards total! No
reaction, no combat cards?
Regards, Ralf
==================
http://extrala.blogspot.com
Kevin M.
> The cheating phase never ends, thats 56 library cards total!
> No reaction, no combat cards?
Sorry. Still getting used to my new computer's keyboard, I guess. :P
Deck Name: Vapours Tossed
Created By: Matt Morgan
Description: Get out Aksinya and whoever else you can. Dual them,
Cardinal them and the Duals, bleed a bit, vote to kill.
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 26, Max: 37, Avg: 8.08)
----------------------------------------------
1 Hartmut Stover for PRO 10, !Gangrel Archbishop
1 Malabranca PRE PRO 9, !Toreador Archbishop
4 Aksinya Daclau ANI FOR PRE PRO 9, !Gangrel
1 Una ANI FOR PRE PRO 9, !Gangrel Archbishop
1 Doyle Fincher ANI for PRO 7, !Gangrel
1 Luke Fellows PRO 7, !Gangrel
1 Xendil Charmer PRO 7, !Gangrel Priscus
1 Janey Pickman ANI for PRO 6, !Gangrel
1 Ryszard pre pro 6, !Gangrel Bishop
Library: (70 cards)
-------------------
Master (24 cards)
Combat (7 cards)
2 Earth Meld
5 Form of Mist
Combo (2 cards)
2 Rapid Change
Reaction (3 cards)
3 Guard Dogs
Event (2 cards)
1 Anthelios
1 Scourge of the Enochians
The Lasombra
>> Matt Morgan's Winning Deck:
>> "Vapours Tossed" a.k.a. "Dual Cardinals of Doooom"
>> Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 26, Max: 37, Avg: 8.08)
>> Library: (70 cards)
>> -------------------
>> Master (24 cards)
>> Action (8 cards)
>> Equipment (1 cards)
>> Action Modifier (11 cards)
>> Political Action (12 cards)
>The cheating phase never ends, thats 56 library cards total! No
>reaction, no combat cards?
Indeed. There were Form of Mists, and some Guard Dogs.
Perhaps Matt or Kevin will repost the deck.
Peter D Bakija
Really? I mean, looks totally viable in terms of running and doing
it's thing, but not a single, like, Ivory Bow anywhere? Or combat
deck? Or Claws of the Dead? Or anything? Like, this is a deck that not
only has exactly zero combat defense, but when you torp one of the
Dual Form vampires (that starts with, like, 2 blood max...), the other
one explodes.
I mean, I know Matt is a cagey guy and an extremely good player. But
really? No one had a Sniper Rifle?
-Peter
Peter D Bakija
> Combat (7 cards)
> 2 Earth Meld
> 5 Form of Mist
>
> Combo (2 cards)
> 2 Rapid Change
Oh, heh. That makes *much* more sense. Ignore my previous post :-)
-Peter
The Lasombra
>Really? I mean, looks totally viable in terms of running and doing
>it's thing, but not a single, like, Ivory Bow anywhere? Or combat
>deck? Or Claws of the Dead? Or anything? Like, this is a deck that not
>only has exactly zero combat defense, but when you torp one of the
>Dual Form vampires (that starts with, like, 2 blood max...), the other
>one explodes.
He played zero Dual Forms in the finals.
All but one of his vampires was in torpor when time was called.
Peter D Bakija
> He played zero Dual Forms in the finals.
> All but one of his vampires was in torpor when time was called.
Interesting. But keep in mind that my comments that you were
responding to were based on the version of the deck that had, like, 20
cards missing. Of which all were the S:CE cards :-)
-Peter
librarian
> LV 2009 Mini-Qual
> Las Vegas, NV (USA)
> 02-07-09
> 27 players
>
> 25 Matt Morgan 0 0 42
>
>
> LV 2009 NAQ
> Las Vegas, NV (USA)
> 02-07-09
> 26 players
>
> Final Player Prelim Prelim Final TPs
> Rank Name GWs VPs VPs
> 1 Matt Morgan 1 6 1.5 162
>
If I didn't know better, I'd say Matt was trying to hustle everyone...
best -
chris
Kevin M.
You should hear Matt talk about how BAD his winning deck is! Ask him about
it! LOLL:)
ira...@gmail.com
> LV 2009 Mini-Qual
> Las Vegas, NV (USA)
> 02-07-09
> 27 players
>
I know something is wrong with this decklist, because Ruben played a
Elder Impersonation to get by Enkidu with 5 Raptors. Also, I'm almost
certain he played a Pentex Subversion on me, too, but perhaps it was
Robert S.
Ira
ira...@gmail.com
I don't understand how this deck has enough ousting power or
survivability. How does this deck win?
Ira
Kevin M.
Matt Morgan mind tricks. They have to be seen to be believed.
Or, as Lasombra said, most of his vampires were in torpor when time was
called. But how he even got to the finals is a good question.
Even Matt thinks this is a bad deck! Just ask him! =)
Kevin M.
This is the decklist he sent to me, as I didn't get it while he was there,
but he was very tired and may have made an error, I don't know.
Brum
>
> - Mostrar texto citado -
Altough I never had the pleasure of playing with any of you, I see the
reports of tournaments, the TWD's and the rankings.
The people atending this tournament are good, experienced players.
What happened? That deck seems to have many weak spots.
Maybe the environment in Portugal is very violent... but... didn't you
have other decks that were competitive?
Or was this just one of those times were context made it so that the
strogest lose?
Anyway, once I've seen a guy stop a table with a deck made out of 2 of
those demo decks (the one with Gemini). We all had "normal" decks, but
had to gang up on that guy. That day I thought, "boy, this a great
game".
This is another example of why this game is great.
Cheers,
Tiago
PS we have a chelange that is "Win a tournament with a Storyline-legal
Nagaraja deck".
Matthew T. Morgan
Yeah, that would be pretty bizarre to play Dual Forms in a deck with no
combat defense whatsoever (although there's Janey in theory). I actually
only played them in the first round, when I drew four of them early (one
was discarded). Jeff was my prey in that round and I couldn't stop other
people from grabbing quick VPs. Eventually I was in a 3-way with no hope
of the win (my predator on one pool, prey showing a crapload of bounce),
so I blew up the table with an Ancilla Empowerment to split it 2-2-1 with
Jeff and Mark Loughman. None of my vampires left the ready region,
although I'm not sure how useful the Dual Forms really were. I had easy
vote lock and most of my bleeds were bounced.
My second round was the preliminary round I won. I didn't see the first
Dual Form until I was totally seconds away from winning, so playing it
would've just been kind of gratuitous.
My third round had a Moncada Baltimore Purge deck at the table. Playing a
Dual Form would've been insanely stupid.
In the final, I didn't see any Dual Forms early. I might've tried one on
the theory that that's what my deck is supposed to do, but I don't know
that it would've been a good idea. I think I eventually drew one, but by
that time I already had a vampire in torpor and was really pressed between
two intercept decks. I didn't draw a lot of s:ce in the final.
I really like the idea of Dual Form, it being a non-weenie breed card that
carries considerable risk and reward. It's quite possible my deck
would've been better without it though.
Matt Morgan
Matthew T. Morgan
No, it's just my love of terrible decks. I played Brujah antitribu anarch
Hell-for-Leather rush in the first tournament. My card flow was really
bad and it's a bad deck besides.
Matt Morgan
Matthew T. Morgan
> I don't understand how this deck has enough ousting power or
> survivability. How does this deck win?
Surviving isn't really a problem. There are plenty of master cards for
Aksinya to fire bleeds around with. The ousting power isn't that bad. In
70 cards there are 2 Hearts of the City, 4 KRCs, 1 Neonate Breach (this
card is awesome), 1 Ancilla Empowerment, 1 Anarchist Uprising and 1 Domain
Challenge. Also, Doyle has +1 bleed and I got him out in most of the
rounds. In at least one round, I recycled Neonate Breach with the Sargon
Fragment. It's a small deck with a mess of masters, so there's no way to
squeeze in the 18 damaging votes you might see in other decks.
Matt Morgan
Peter D Bakija
> Yeah, that would be pretty bizarre to play Dual Forms in a deck with no
> combat defense whatsoever (although there's Janey in theory).
Heh. I was completely baffled. And then I saw the deck reposted with
another 20 cards added on :-)
> I actually
> only played them in the first round, when I drew four of them early (one
> was discarded). Jeff was my prey in that round and I couldn't stop other
> people from grabbing quick VPs. Eventually I was in a 3-way with no hope
> of the win (my predator on one pool, prey showing a crapload of bounce),
> so I blew up the table with an Ancilla Empowerment to split it 2-2-1 with
> Jeff and Mark Loughman. None of my vampires left the ready region,
> although I'm not sure how useful the Dual Forms really were. I had easy
> vote lock and most of my bleeds were bounced.
So in reality, the deck is mostly just big vampires with Protean
(allowing for stealth and combat defense) that can become Cardinals
and then Aksina for bounce. Check. That makes sense.
> In the final, I didn't see any Dual Forms early. I might've tried one on
> the theory that that's what my deck is supposed to do, but I don't know
> that it would've been a good idea. I think I eventually drew one, but by
> that time I already had a vampire in torpor and was really pressed between
> two intercept decks. I didn't draw a lot of s:ce in the final.
So in the final, IIRC, you got a quick VP off your first prey, and
then the table timed out? So it wasn't like the deck, like, swept the
final round or anything. Ok. It all makes much more sense now.
Especially with the 9 S:CE cards in it :-)
-Peter
Matthew T. Morgan
> So in the final, IIRC, you got a quick VP off your first prey, and
> then the table timed out? So it wasn't like the deck, like, swept the
> final round or anything. Ok. It all makes much more sense now.
> Especially with the 9 S:CE cards in it :-)
Yeah, that's right. I think the deck certainly can do better than 1.5
VPs on the right table. I had to discard Heart of the City and was never
able to make use of the Sargon Fragment due to the fact that I was between
two intercept decks after I ousted Ruben. There can be a lot of offense
there, but all that intercept slows things down and takes its toll. I
bled David a few times and KRC'd him once, but never really got very close
to depleting his pool.
Matt Morgan
Peter D Bakija
"Matthew T. Morgan" <far...@io.com> wrote:
> Yeah, that's right. I think the deck certainly can do better than 1.5
> VPs on the right table.
Oh, sure--it seems perfectly reasonable (stealth, S:CE, Cardinals, vote
damage, Aksina for bounce). That you hardly ever actually used the Dual
Form angle seems like a good idea, really :-)
-Peter
Peter D Bakija
pd...@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html
"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"
-Gaff