Ascendance: 1 -- Results & Winning Deck from this 22 Player V:TES/Jyhad Tournament: The Toreadors reign supreme in NJ!
The Evil One
never posted to this newsgroups, though I know that I sent it here (I
have a copy of the email!). Therefore, this post is not timely... but I
wanted to give credit to the tournament winner and show his winning
deck! ]
"Ascendance: 1", which took place on Saturday, December 18, 1999, in
West Windsor, NJ, was a huge success! Twenty-two Methuselahs from all
over the East Coast of the USA struggled to make their Ascendance…
… but once again the Toreadors, repelling invading hordes of Anarchs,
squashed the neonate and ancillae contenders. Methuselah Brian
Wellington ascended to victory in the first Ascendance tournament!
Here are the official "Ascendance: 1" Tournament Results:
1. Brian Wellington, Ellicott City, MD: 8.5 VPs (3 from final round)
2. Chris Praskac, Swathmore, PA: 5.5 VPs (1 from final round)
3. Neil Davis, Philadelphia, PA: 5.5 VPs (1 from final round)
4. Chris Kemp, Kinnelon, NJ: 6 VPs
5. Joshua Duffin, Washington, DC: 4.5 VPs
6. Pat Derr, Philadelphia, PA: 4 VPs
7. John B. Whelan, Flushing, NY: 4 VPs
8. Jevon Green, Philadelphia, PA: 4 VPs
9. Will Bishop, Philadelphia, PA: 4 VPs
10. Jon Sushinsky, Silver Spring, MD: 3.5 VPs
11. Gwen Morse, Mastic Beach, NY: 3 VPs
12. Marco Balaguer, New York City, NY: 3VPs
13. Jon Evers, Baltimore, MD: 2.5 VPs
14. Keith McCormick, N. Brunswick, NY: 2.5 VPs
15. Andrew Ahern, East Windsor, NJ: 1 VP
16. Christian Alipounarian, New Milford, NJ: 1 VP
17. Nick Fofonoff, New York City, NY: 1 VP
18. Russell Love, Philadelphia, PA: 0.5 VPs
18. Nick Watkins, New York City, NY: 0.5 VPs
20. Eric Nawrotzki, S. Bound Brook, NJ: 0.5 VPs
21. Michael Ahern, East Windsor, NJ: 0 VPs
22. Gary Weiner, Mastic Beach, NY: 0 VPs
A *big* congratulations to Methuselah Brian Wellington! This was
Brian's first participation in a New Jersey V:TES sanctioned tournament.
He traveled all the way from Ellicott City, MD to achieve victory in
"Ascendance: 1"!
I would like to thank each of the participating Methuselahs. In total,
4 states plus the District of Columbia were represented at the
tournament. Based on the feedback that was given to me, it seems that
everyone had a very good time. I know that I had a great time
coordinating and judging the event. I would also like to thank Rob
Placer, owner of The Gamer's Realm, the premiere game store in central
NJ. Rob's "Christmas Madness" event, at which "Ascendance: 1" was held,
was simply wonderful! The free pizza and continuous gaming was just
great! Thanks, Rob!
The tournament decks were of a very interesting mix. Most notably,
there were *no* Weenie Tap and Bleed decks and *no* pure Stealth and
Bleed decks at this tournament. There was a preponderance of Combat
Decks, which differed dramatically from the previous 2 tournaments, but
a combat deck did not ultimately win the tournament.
Here is the winning deck for "Ascendance: 1", with comments from the
winner. It's a very interesting combination deck using Pool Gain,
Votes, Intercept, and Bounce:
Name: Big Toreador Deck
By: Brian Wellington
"I usually call this the 'big Toreador deck'. It's based around large
Toreadors with useful special abilities. Most of them have votes, and
most have +bleed. The deck mostly tries to gain pool (5th Tradition,
Voter Cap, Minion Tap, Blood Doll, etc). There are votes to call, and
the natural bleeds. There's enough intercept to block a non-stealth
bleed deck, and a bit of bleed bounce. There are a lot of untaps -
Wake, 2nd Tradition, and Alexandra and Masika's abilities. Combat
defense is based around presence S:CE, celerity dodge and prevent, and
the Elysium.
"The deck mostly worked as planned in the tournament, with a few
surprises. I torpored 6 vampires in the final round with Catatonic Fear
and celerity cards, which has never happened before. Very few votes
succeeded (I never used a Voter Cap), but bleeding worked fairly well.
I also never saw a duplicate vampire in a game, which is often a problem
with this crypt, and it also helped that I didn't see any other Toreador
decks."
Crypt:
2 Felicia Mostrom
2 Anson
2 Masika
2 Francois Villon
2 Anneke
2 Alexandra
Library:
3 Aching Beauty
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
2 Art Museum
2 Society Hunting Ground
3 Blood Doll
1 Elysium: The Arboretum
4 Minion Tap
1 The Rack
1 Tomb of Rameses III
1 Toreador Grand Ball
3 Information Highway
1 Giant's Blood
4 Telepathic Counter
3 Enhanced Senses
4 Telepathic Misdirection
2 Eagle's Sight
1 Precognition
5 Majesty
2 Entrancement
3 Catatonic Fear
4 Voter Captivation
3 Bewitching Oration
5 Sideslip
2 Side Strike
3 Acrobatics
2 Alacrity
4 The Second Tradition: Domain
3 The Fifth Tradition: Hospitality
5 Wake with Evening's Freshness
1 Consanguineous Boon
1 Scorn of Adonis
4 Kine Resources Contested
1 Protect Thine Own
1 Banishment
2 Disputed Territory
1 Ancient Influence
1 Parity Shift
Coordinator's final comments:
With 22 players, this was the most successful tournament that I have
thrown in New Jersey to date. Players from many neighboring states were
present. Many of the locals didn't show up as expected, so we could
have easily had 30 players if they had.
The participants were good sports, the environment was great, and the
tournament ran very smoothly (helped by "The Archon", my Excel-based
tournament tracking system that I created for this purpose). There was
a lot of camaraderie, and not a lot of cutthroat competitiveness.
Participants came from far and wide to play in the tournament, which
certainly makes me feel great!
[NEW ITEM ADDED FROM ORIGINAL POST:]
For those interested in coming to New Jersey, I will be holding the
first ever DCI-sanctioned SABBAT SEALED DECK TOURNAMENT on Saturday,
January 29, 2000... called "BLOOD FEAST". This tournament will
be held in New Jersey, USA, and also in Portsmouth, UK, by the
famous LEGBITER! Come join us on either side of "the pond"... :)
Advanced registration is required. See my other post for details.
Any comments may be posted or sent to me privately (sbuo...@lehman.com)
All the best,
Stephen "The Evil One" Buonocore
V:EKN Prince of New Jersey
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
James Coupe
deja.com> writes
>Very few votes
>succeeded (I never used a Voter Cap), but bleeding worked fairly well.
Looking at the *very* high average cost of vampires (as it says, the
'big toreador' deck), I'm surprised that no copies of Awe were in the
deck, to go along with the Bewitching Oration if cards could be spared,
or instead of them if not - with vampires this size, the blood cost
could probably be afforded no problem.
A Lyndhurst Estate would be an option, but probably a little too
expensive.
--
James Coupe (Prince of Mercia, England)
Vampire: Elder Kindred Network
http://madnessnetwork.hexagon.net http://www.obeah.demon.co.uk