Heya! This past Saturday (2/9), 18 players from the Boston area battled to stake their claim on the city of Baltimore:
Jonathan Scherer - "Ran'oruin" - Tremere bruise 'n bleed Derek Guder - "Tiger in the Tank" - Ahrimanes bruise 'n bleed Jason Schneiderman - "Voodoo You" - Ravnos toolbox (I think) Ulysses Lateiner - "Signpost Assassins" - Brujah combat Anthony Shubert - "Serpentor Goes Postal" - Setite weapon bleed Jason Bilsky - "The Peeper" - Protean stealth/bleed/Garou craziness Jonathan Mason - "There's a party at the asylum and everyone's invited" - !Malkavian stealth-bleed Tricia Hopkins - "Sneaky Snakes" - Setite stealth-bleed Ben Peal - "Wall of Doom" - Ravnos bruise 'n bleed Steve Marbit - "Question and Answer" - Malkavian stealth vote/bleed Tony Lee - "Proteolicious Pier 13" - see deck name Prescott Jenner - "I choose you, Gargachu!" - Gargoyle weenie rush Scott Gomes - "Hag me jacket" - Ravnos toolbox Rich Gentile - "With Friends Like These" - !Malkavian stealth-bleed Matt Hirsch - "The Jacket Deck" - Malkavian flamethrower/bleed Chris O'Brien - "Aching Target" - Aching Beauty/Change of Target Kevin Scribner - "What _is_ that smell?!" - Giovanni power bleed Steven Joyce - "Generic Ventrue" - uh...generic Ventrue
Pier 13 didn't really factor into anything during the tournament. Tony Lee tried to get it out once, but I blocked it. Meddling of Semsith was played twice during the preliminary rounds, and didn't live up to the hype. The one shameful event of the tournament came in Round Two, when I was called for a ruling on Shackles of Enkidu. I overcame the desire to commit suicide, and confirmed that you still control the card when you inflict it on an opposing minion.
Three rounds later we had our finalists - Rich Gentile, Ben Peal, Derek Guder, Steven Joyce, and Jason Bilsky. Alas, Rich had to miss the finals because he had to go to work, so Scott Gomes took the remaining spot. Tough break for Rich, as he had the #1 position, with 2 game wins and 8.5 VP. Steven Joyce was quite the surprise, as he showed up late and was only able to play the last two rounds - certainly taking advantage of the time he had.
The seating order was:
Jason Bilsky (Gangrel) Ben Peal (Ravnos) Steven Joyce (Ventrue) Derek Guder (Ahrimanes) Scott Gomes (Ravnos)
Scott and I were caught without early intercept, and Jason managed to recruit a pair of Garou. Seeing his opportunity, Steven called a couple of KRCs, damaging myself and Derek. Derek took advantage of Scott's inability to draw combat cards, and pummeled away. The werewolves made repeated attempts to smack down my vampires, but were driven back by Carrion Crows, and eventually met their doom when I finally drew into accompanying Aid From Bats. Jason kept up the bleeding pressure on me in the meantime, only to get stuffed by the Wall of Doom.
Scott eventually recovered from his beating and got to work bleeding Jason w/Fata Morganas. Steven ran out of luck when Derek finally drew into some intercept, and was held at bay. Having fended off the Garou, I got to work bleeding Steven. I eventually wore Steven down to the point where I was able to finish him off with Week of Nightmares. Derek then tapped out to try to oust Scott, but Scott just managed to draw into one untap card and one point of intercept on Derek's last bleed attempt. Haveing stayed alive, Scott ousted Jason, who was at three, using Fata Morgana and the benefit of my Week of Nightmares. I tried ousting Derek before he could get Scott, but Derek managed to draw into enough untap to stop me. After ousting Scott, Derek and I settled into the endgame. Unfortunately for Derek, his deck had been mostly depleted by the time he ousted Scott, and I was able to run out the rest of it, and eventually ousted Derek for the win.
Results of the finals:
1. Ben Peal - 3 VP 2. Derek Guder - 1 VP 3. Scott Gomes - 1 VP 4. Jason Bilsky - 0 VP 5. Steven Joyce - 0 VP
I'll see about getting the deck list for Derek's "Tiger in the Tank" deck, as there's been a request on the newsgroup for lists for successful Ahrimanes decks. Here's the winning deck:
Deck: Wall of Doom
Description: Animalism bruise with Dominate/permanent bleed, and heavy Animalism/Chimerstry defense supplemented by Deflections.
CRYPT
Spleen 2, ani, chi Vedel Esbreno 3, for, chi Salbatore 4, for, pro, CHI Khalil Ravana 5, for, ani, pri, CHI Joaquina Amaya 6, ANI, FOR, CHI Vaclav 6, for, pot, ANI, CHI 2 x Sarisha 6, dom, chi, FOR, ANI Natalia 7, dom, for, chi, ANI 2 x Gabrin 8, dom, for, ANI, CHI Konstantin 9, dom, cel, FOR, ANI, CHI
LIBRARY
1 x Park Hunting Ground 1 x Fortune Teller Shop 1 x The Path of Paradox 1 x Week of Nightmares 1 x Treasured Samadji
1 x The Barrens 1 x Powerbase: Montreal 1 x Antediluvian Awakening 3 x Blood Doll 4 x Sudden Reversal
5 x Wake With Evening's Freshness 5 x Forced Awakening 1 x Tasha Morgan 1 x J.S. Simmons, Esq. 1 x Mr. Winthrop 3 x Sport Bike 1 x Ivory Bow
8 x Carrion Crows 5 x Aid From Bats 2 x Speak With Spirits 6 x Cat's Guidance 3 x Guard Dogs 3 x Rat's Warning
But... but... Veiled Sight sucks! Why pay 2 blood when you can pay 1 for Draba? Is it because it works at inferior? But only 5 of your 12 vamps aren't CHI... or because you can play both Draba and Veiled on the same action with the same vampire? I dunno, I'd much rather have 8 Draba and 6 Ignis Fatuus or something. I guess it worked for you, huh? :-)
And congratulations on the storyline win. Apparently Ravnos really can win... as long as they don't rely only on their in-clan disciplines. :-)
Joshua Duffin wrote: > Ben Peal wrote: > > 6 x Draba > > 4 x Veiled Sight > > 4 x Ingis Fatuus
> But... but... Veiled Sight sucks! Why pay 2 blood when > you can pay 1 for Draba? Is it because it works at > inferior? But only 5 of your 12 vamps aren't CHI... or > because you can play both Draba and Veiled on the same > action with the same vampire? I dunno, I'd much rather > have 8 Draba and 6 Ignis Fatuus or something. I guess > it worked for you, huh? :-)
Because it works at inferior, because I can play both with the same vampire, because it sometimes only costs one (Gabrin, Path), because sometimes I can snag a blood back at superior, because sometimes I only get out one vampire with CHI (5 of 12 with inferior is a pretty substantial number)...It ended up working out just fine.
> And congratulations on the storyline win. Apparently > Ravnos really can win... as long as they don't rely only > on their in-clan disciplines. :-)
Hey, thanks! :) The Dominate definitely helps out a ton, as it's the safety net when the intercept fails, and it helps finish people off. Another key is that the deck centers around Animalism, so the cost of cards is minimized to an extent. I've got some more Chimerstry- based decks in the works, too...I'll post some when I'm done mucking around with them.
> Description: Animalism bruise with Dominate/permanent bleed, and heavy > Animalism/Chimerstry defense supplemented by Deflections.
Hey! This is almost identical to one of the deck I made for the storyline tourney here. Mostly because Ravnos are my favourite clan in the RPG, and I don't want them gone. As I haven't had a chance to play it (so no possibility to tweak it) I have a few Q's.
> CRYPT
> Spleen 2, ani, chi > Vedel Esbreno 3, for, chi > Salbatore 4, for, pro, CHI > Khalil Ravana 5, for, ani, pri, CHI > Joaquina Amaya 6, ANI, FOR, CHI > Vaclav 6, for, pot, ANI, CHI > 2 x Sarisha 6, dom, chi, FOR, ANI > Natalia 7, dom, for, chi, ANI > 2 x Gabrin 8, dom, for, ANI, CHI > Konstantin 9, dom, cel, FOR, ANI, CHI
100% identical, still in doubt about Konstantin, though.
> LIBRARY
> 1 x Park Hunting Ground > 1 x Fortune Teller Shop > 1 x The Path of Paradox > 1 x Week of Nightmares > 1 x Treasured Samadji
> 1 x The Barrens > 1 x Powerbase: Montreal > 1 x Antediluvian Awakening > 3 x Blood Doll > 4 x Sudden Reversal
Mostly identical, I have 4 blood dolls, 3 Suddens and a Smiling Jack instead of Anted. Awakening. Why is AA better?
And I tend to categorise Treasured Samadji with the rest of the equipment :-)
> 5 x Wake With Evening's Freshness > 5 x Forced Awakening > 1 x Tasha Morgan > 1 x J.S. Simmons, Esq. > 1 x Mr. Winthrop > 3 x Sport Bike > 1 x Ivory Bow
One question here, why Sport Bikes and not Raven Spies? Afraid of ranged damage?
> > Spleen 2, ani, chi > > Vedel Esbreno 3, for, chi > > Salbatore 4, for, pro, CHI > > Khalil Ravana 5, for, ani, pri, CHI > > Joaquina Amaya 6, ANI, FOR, CHI > > Vaclav 6, for, pot, ANI, CHI > > 2 x Sarisha 6, dom, chi, FOR, ANI > > Natalia 7, dom, for, chi, ANI > > 2 x Gabrin 8, dom, for, ANI, CHI > > Konstantin 9, dom, cel, FOR, ANI, CHI
> 100% identical, still in doubt about Konstantin, though.
Wow. That's creepy. :)
I used to not have Konstantin in the deck (I forget who I had in his place...maybe a 3rd Gabri), but after the Boston storyline tournament, and a couple other games played with him, I'm no longer in doubt about him.
> > 1 x The Barrens > > 1 x Powerbase: Montreal > > 1 x Antediluvian Awakening > > 3 x Blood Doll > > 4 x Sudden Reversal
> Mostly identical, I have 4 blood dolls, 3 Suddens and a Smiling Jack instead > of Anted. Awakening. Why is AA better?
I wouldn't say it's necessarily better. I just prefer Antediluvian Awakening. The reasons:
- Hard to get rid of it...players are loathe to burn their vampire, so AA tends to last a long time.
- Doesn't make you as much into the "bad guy" at the table as Smiling Jack does...appearance is very important.
- Doesn't tax your defensive resources, as you don't have to spend untap and intercept trying to defend it.
- Directly attacks their pool.
If you're going to use Smiling Jack, I recommend playing it in an endgame situation - when there are only 1 or 2 opponents left.
> And I tend to categorise Treasured Samadji with the rest of the equipment > :-)
For no reason other than habit, I group the cards in my deck lists into "clan-specific", "non-clan-specific masters", and then by discipline. Though grouping by discipline does help you adjust based on the disciplines provided by your crypt. *shrug*
> > 5 x Wake With Evening's Freshness > > 5 x Forced Awakening > > 1 x Tasha Morgan > > 1 x J.S. Simmons, Esq. > > 1 x Mr. Winthrop > > 3 x Sport Bike > > 1 x Ivory Bow
> One question here, why Sport Bikes and not Raven Spies? Afraid of ranged > damage?
No, it's about blood management - keeping the cost from the vampires low, due to the cost of the Chimerstry cards and damage from lots of blocking.
> No Fata Morgana?
None at all. The theory I'm working with is that +1 stealth isn't enough, and that I shouldn't try to get toolboxy. I've seen too many Ravnos decks play a toolbox style, and they don't seem to have quite enough of either bruise or stealth to get the job done when they need to. I chose to focus on bruise. Focussing on stealth would involve lots of blood-costly Chimerstry cards, and a bunch of Paths of Paradox...which is an angle I'll try in another deck.
> > > Spleen 2, ani, chi > > > Vedel Esbreno 3, for, chi > > > Salbatore 4, for, pro, CHI > > > Khalil Ravana 5, for, ani, pri, CHI > > > Joaquina Amaya 6, ANI, FOR, CHI > > > Vaclav 6, for, pot, ANI, CHI > > > 2 x Sarisha 6, dom, chi, FOR, ANI > > > Natalia 7, dom, for, chi, ANI > > > 2 x Gabrin 8, dom, for, ANI, CHI > > > Konstantin 9, dom, cel, FOR, ANI, CHI
> > 100% identical, still in doubt about Konstantin, though.
> Wow. That's creepy. :)
> I used to not have Konstantin in the deck (I forget who I had in his > place...maybe a 3rd Gabri), but after the Boston storyline tournament, > and a couple other games played with him, I'm no longer in doubt about > him.
I've only played my deck once and he didn't show up. But I think I'm gonna take your word on it.
> > > 1 x The Barrens > > > 1 x Powerbase: Montreal > > > 1 x Antediluvian Awakening > > > 3 x Blood Doll > > > 4 x Sudden Reversal
> > Mostly identical, I have 4 blood dolls, 3 Suddens and a Smiling Jack instead > > of Anted. Awakening. Why is AA better?
> I wouldn't say it's necessarily better. I just prefer Antediluvian > Awakening. The reasons:
> - Hard to get rid of it...players are loathe to burn their vampire, so > AA tends to last a long time.
> - Doesn't make you as much into the "bad guy" at the table as Smiling > Jack does...appearance is very important.
> - Doesn't tax your defensive resources, as you don't have to spend untap > and intercept trying to defend it.
> - Directly attacks their pool.
> If you're going to use Smiling Jack, I recommend playing it in an endgame > situation - when there are only 1 or 2 opponents left.
That was the idea, but in the one game I played it (and a couple of 'test-draws') Jack showed up 7/10 times in my opening hand. I'll have to think about it.
> > > 5 x Wake With Evening's Freshness > > > 5 x Forced Awakening > > > 1 x Tasha Morgan > > > 1 x J.S. Simmons, Esq. > > > 1 x Mr. Winthrop > > > 3 x Sport Bike > > > 1 x Ivory Bow
> > One question here, why Sport Bikes and not Raven Spies? Afraid of ranged > > damage?
> No, it's about blood management - keeping the cost from the vampires > low, due to the cost of the Chimerstry cards and damage from lots of > blocking.
Didn't think about it like this. That's what you get when your head is stuck in mantras like 'paying blood is better than paying pool.' They are generally true, but not always.
> > No Fata Morgana?
> None at all. The theory I'm working with is that +1 stealth isn't > enough, and that I shouldn't try to get toolboxy. I've seen too > many Ravnos decks play a toolbox style, and they don't seem to have > quite enough of either bruise or stealth to get the job done when > they need to. I chose to focus on bruise. Focussing on stealth > would involve lots of blood-costly Chimerstry cards, and a bunch of > Paths of Paradox...which is an angle I'll try in another deck.
Agreed. But the "+1 stealth is not enough" is not true for every metagame.
jeroen wrote: > > One question here, why Sport Bikes and not Raven Spies? Afraid of ranged > > damage?
> No, it's about blood management - keeping the cost from the vampires > low, due to the cost of the Chimerstry cards and damage from lots of > blocking.
Hmm. Well, you're at 15 masters, but if you went with a couple of Ravnos Carnival, they might make the Raven Spies cheaper...but you've probably thought about this already adn figured you like your 15 masters.
In message <bf72a12e.0202142013.5bf95...@posting.google.com>, Ben Peal
<fu...@optical.mindstorm.com> writes: >> One question here, why Sport Bikes and not Raven Spies? Afraid of ranged >> damage?
> No, it's about blood management - keeping the cost from the vampires > low, due to the cost of the Chimerstry cards and damage from lots of > blocking.
Any reason for not playing Ravnos Carnival?
-- James Coupe but I lust after the raw pow0r of c. PGP 0x5D623D5D together with the humping great EBD690ECD7A1FB457CA2 elephant arse of gnome. 13D7E668C3695D623D5D - Vashti
Xian wrote... >Hmm. Well, you're at 15 masters, but if you went with a couple of Ravnos >Carnival, they might make the Raven Spies cheaper...but you've probably >thought about this already adn figured you like your 15 masters.
...and James Coupe asks:
> Any reason for not playing Ravnos Carnival?
There are only three Sport Bikes in the deck, and I've found that getting just one in play is sufficient for this deck. Sure, getting out a second one can be nice, but it's just gravy. Other decks can get more mileage out of two Raven Spies on the same minion, but Draba really only needs to have one point of supporting intercept.
Another issue is that it adds another moving part to the deck. One Ravnos Carnival for the sake of three Raven Spies (or one Ravnos Cache for the sake of a couple of Sport Bikes) doesn't seem worth it. It'll likely be the case that I draw a Raven Spy or Sport Bike without having a Ravnos Cache or Carnival in play. I'm certainly not going to wait to draw a Cache/Carnival before attempting to employ/equip, and since I'll likely be paying the cost of the Raven Spy/Bike anyway, I'd rather take the cost out of my pool than off the minion with this deck. Other decks would much rather take the cost off of the minion, however. I'm also not about to add in extra copies of Cache or Carnival in the hopes of drawing one earlier, as that'd be adding extra moving parts for the sake of only 3 non-mission-critical cards. There are master cards that would be better for me to play with this deck.
Also, consider that Ravnos Carnival costs one pool. That's the cost of one Sport Bike. If I was concerned about the cost of the three Sport Bikes, I'd add a Short Term Investment before I'd add Ravnos Carnival.
This isn't to say that Cache and Carnival aren't useful cards. They are definitely very useful, just not in this deck. That's something of which I've found you have to be very mindful. The Ravnos have a wide assortment of cards that can be very useful, and as such, it's easy to fall into the trap of getting too toolboxy with them, to the point of having too many moving parts. I think that with the Ravnos you have to take extra care when considering the cards you include in your deck, and to stay as focussed as you can with them. You can be toolboxy with them, but make sure you pick the right tools for the job.
