Official results of Powerbase: Watford 24th June 2001
hamdamcwa
Thanks to everyone who came and made last Sunday's event such an
unmitigated success. It was great to have such a wonderful turnout,
and there were some genuinely interesting decks played throughout the
event.
22 people showed up (and we still had a few last minute drop outs) and
it was great to see Rob T show (if only for a bit) for the trading
extravaganza. A quick thanks also to our "special gust star" Sorrow -
you are welcome anytime (but next time no weenie filth, eh? More of
that later… ;) ).
Definitely an interesting event, since a lot of people took to heart
the "special prizes" for the "most controlled minions" and "first to
torporise someone with a meat cleaver" prizes. I have never seen so
many minions in one place before as I did on a couple of tables. Most
interestingly, there was a significant drop in the amount of combat
decks. Good news, I say, since this gave people a bit more confidence
to try some really innovative decks, several of which made an
appearance and (most importantly) won points. Variety really is the
spice of life, and since I haven't been able to play due to the number
of entrants (a good thing!) a chance to see some great ideas come to
light made the day worthwhile.
Let's look at the culprits:
Legbiter once again showed the world his love of obfuscation with a
fine Malkavian "Big Boys" deck. A fine performer, actually getting the
most points over the day, and packing the occasional ToGP to scare the
bejeezus out of any given table. Business as usual then! 10VP
Luke Gibson (0VP), Lamp (4VP), John Eagles (1VP), and Sorrow (9VP)
were all playing mega mini minions weenie bleed decks. Sorrow was by
far the most focussed player with this deck type, using a lot of Night
Moves and stealthy bleeds to eat away at his prey's pool. The others
were not so successful, but still scored quite well in their
respective games, proving that weenie bleeds are still a popular and
effective way to go.
Lee Singleton seemed to be playing a Protean / Dominate stealth bleed
deck. It didn't do that well, but to be fair he did borrow it off
someone just before we started! 0VP
Adam Payne (4VP), Adrian Deacon (2VP), Grant Flynn (0VP), and Matt
Green (5VP) all seemed (at first glance) to be playing the same deck -
Ventrue / !Ventrue decks with lots of bleeds (unblockable) and some
votes. In the second game, then, it was quite unfortunate that they
all appeared on the same table. After much contesting all round, Adam
Payne pulled that game off, sweeping. However, the war was won by Matt
Green, who had a more politically focussed deck than the others, and
scooped enough points in the other games to seat him in the final. The
others gave it a valiant go, but fell a little short.
Steve Lake once again favoured the Tzimisce, this time opting for a
more Dominate heavy offering. This performed very well, only just
coming short of the Final due to a prolonged duke out with Nicki Sehmi
in the third round - 3.5VP.
Nicki Sehmi produced a Potence / Celerity rush deck (mainly !Brujah
and Beast). A great all rounder, this was one of the few decks that
made an effort to beat things up! It did very well, breaking heads and
getting safely into the final - 7VP.
Another combat focussed deck of the day was Martin Cubberley's. A
great deck, it had a lot of Toreadors with a lot of Protean and
Celerity, and also featured Miller ("Miller, faster than lightning")
who often got Artfully Painful with folk. A surprisingly good deck,
despite some controversial actions in the Final. Martin scooped a
handful of points to get him into the last round easily - 5VP.
The last of the beats came from Scott Holland, who came in with what
looked like a Ventrue beats deck. Although a good deck, it didn't do
so well on the day (I suspect due to the large amounts of Fortitude,
and very little opposition to use it with!). It only got a ½ point on
the day.
Paul Sheppard once again played a hideous bleed Lasombra "Big Boys"
deck. Stealth and Bleed a gogo was the aim of this deck, and once
again Paul was very unlucky - kept out of the final only by a lack of
TPs (the same situation as when he was last down this way). Better
luck next time, Paul - 5VP
Anthony Lown played a !Malkavian stealth and bleed deck, and Tom Kasel
played it's Camerilla cousin in the form of a Malkavian stealth and
bleed deck.For some reason, neither were very successful - a surprise
to me, especially in the current environment. Nevertheless, both
scored a Norway - 0VP
Jackie Eves once again played a very Fortitude-friendly deck. I didn't
see all that it did, but it certainly had a lot of damage prevention.
Once again, it didn't perform to expectations - 0VP.
I have absolutely NO idea what Graham Ford was playing, but it used
obfuscate, celerity, and Thaumaturgy. A curious deck, that did score,
but Graham was forced to leave early. 2VP
James Coupe played a splendid looking Lasombra toolbox affair. He
scored 2 points with it, and I can't help feeling he would have scored
a lot more, but there seemed to be a lot tight competition on the
tables he played. Better luck next time, James. - 2VP
Finally, I cannot heap enough praise and admiration for the balls of
steel that was Simon Croome's Colin the Vampire deck. Using only 1
vampire in the crypt (Calean), Simon managed to perform admirably,
calling votes and sneaking bleeds, yet untapping until he was blue in
the face with Eternal Vigilence. This proves that Calean is one of the
best vamps in the game, and certainly the best sneak bleeder. Only 1
point for Simon, but a brilliantly silly, yet almost tournament
standard deck.
The winners of the "special prizes" were:
Jackie Eves for the first to torporise with a meat cleaver. She one a
LARP latex Meat Cleaver and is now the envy of all her friends (and
Simon, her other half, now wants to torporise ME for letter her have
such a dangerous implement). The meat cleaver was kindly donated by
Chris Fairrie in Newcastle. Chris also produces a fine range of latex
weapons at reasonable prices. Mail me for details…
The "Most Minions" prize was won only just by Lamp, who managed 14 in
one game. Although Sorrow also managed 14, all of Lamps were
controlled at one, whereas Sorrow had a few in the ash heap. Lamp won
a bag of Haribo "Vampire" jelly sweets (little sweets in the shape of
bats). Cute, I thought.
Both Jackie and Lamp also one a Clan Novel, kindly donated by White
Wolf.
The final was a tense affair, and the newsgroup has already thrown up
loads of heated discussion regarding a couple of plays. However, I was
never called upon to deliberate over any particular issue, so I
consider the end result to be a fair testament to all the finalists
skill, judgement, and sense of sportsmanship.
Seating was as follows;
Nicki Sehmi - 0VP
Martin Cubberley -2VP
Matt Green - 2VP
James McCLellan (Legbiter) - 1VP
Chris Boget (Sorrow) - 0VP
Martin was the last in, and so won the event. He won a splendid
Assamite T-Shirt and there was cards for everybody!
Thanks to all our sponsors, and to everyone for showing up. For your
diaries, please note the 28th July as the next Watford event - the
European Tour Qualifier (where the top players will be offered the
chance to play in the European finals in Paris later this year). I
hope to see you all there!
Best regards
David Hammond
VEKN Prince of Watford
legbiter
>
> Anthony Lown played a !Malkavian stealth and bleed deck, and Tom Kasel
> played it's Camerilla cousin in the form of a Malkavian stealth and
> bleed deck.For some reason, neither were very successful - a surprise
> to me, especially in the current environment. Nevertheless, both
> scored a Norway - 0VP
In fairness to Tom, i believe he was actually playing a
protean/Rotshreck deck. But i don't know if the trick came off for
him.
>
> Jackie Eves once again played a very Fortitude-friendly deck. I didn't
> see all that it did, but it certainly had a lot of damage prevention.
> Once again, it didn't perform to expectations - 0VP.
But she got the Big Chopper. When the going gets tough, the tough go
chopping.
>
<snip>
>
> Finally, I cannot heap enough praise and admiration for the balls of
> steel that was Simon Croome's Colin the Vampire deck. Using only 1
> vampire in the crypt (Calean), Simon managed to perform admirably,
> calling votes and sneaking bleeds, yet untapping until he was blue in
> the face with Eternal Vigilence. This proves that Calean is one of the
> best vamps in the game, and certainly the best sneak bleeder. Only 1
> point for Simon, but a brilliantly silly, yet almost tournament
> standard deck.
THAT was his name. Nice guy, and nice deck. Good job!
Nice report, Dave, and thanks again for the tourney!
Tom Kassel
><snip>
>>
>> Anthony Lown played a !Malkavian stealth and bleed deck, and Tom Kasel
>> played it's Camerilla cousin in the form of a Malkavian stealth and
>> bleed deck.For some reason, neither were very successful - a surprise
>> to me, especially in the current environment. Nevertheless, both
>> scored a Norway - 0VP
>
>In fairness to Tom, i believe he was actually playing a
>protean/Rotshreck deck. But i don't know if the trick came off for
>him.
>>
Popping Lazverinus was amusing, but that was the only high point
sadly. It was a few Roetshreck and Madness Networks short for
tournament quality, but I thought I'd give the Brujah a rest for a
bit.