Praxis Seizure: New Jersey -- Tournament Results, Commentary, and The Winning Deck!
evilo...@my-deja.com
"Praxis Seizure: New Jersey", which took place this past Saturday,
9/11/99, in Cherry Hill, NJ, was a resounding success! Ten Methuselahs
from 3 states vied for the praxis of New Jersey... and in the end, the
Sabbat threat from both New York and Philadelphia was thwarted! The
Toreadors of New Jersey *voted* themselves into power in New Jersey! :)
Here are the official "Praxis Seizure: New Jersey" Tournament Results:
1: Eric Nawrotzki, South Bound Brook, NJ: 9 VPs (including 3 in the
final round)
2: Keith McCormick, North Brunswick, NJ: 7 VPs (including 2 in the final
round)
3: Jevon Green, Philadelphia, PA: 10 VPs! (all gained during the
preliminary rounds)
4: Michael Ahern, East Windsor, NJ: 4 VPs
5: Neil Daris, Philadelphia, PA: 2 VPs (beat #6 on TPs to get to final
round)
6: Chris Kemp, Kinnelon, NJ: 2 VPs
7: John B. Whelan, Fresh Meadows, NY: 0 VPs
8: Patrick Derr, Philadelphia, PA: 0 VPs
9: Marcy Morelli, Collegeville, PA: 0 VPs
10: Christian Alipounarian, New Milford, NJ: 0 VPs
Note: All of the ties above were decided on the basis of Tournament
Points (TPs), as per the Official DCI Tournament rules for VTES.
Congratulations to Eric Nawrotzki, the new New Jersey State Champion! I
am particularly proud that Eric has claimed the title, since he is one
of the founding members of our VTES gaming group, known as "The Jersey
Jyhad"... :)
I would like to thank each of the participating Methuselahs. Based on
the feedback that you gave me, it seems that everyone had a very good
time. I know that I had a great time judging the event, as well as
hosting the little get-together afterwards. As Jevon said, "It was so
nice to see that so many charming Vampires showed up for the
tournament." I couldn't have said it any better than that... :)
Now to discuss the tournament and the decks, as seen by the top 3
finishers:
Jevon Green, who placed third overall, but had an amazing 10 VPs in the
3 preliminary rounds, had this to say:
"My deck was a Misdirection/Presence bleed deck, one of three such decks
at the tournament. What made mine different was the fact that I had
vampires of capacities from 3 to 8. This meant that all of the vampires
had superior Presence; no need to use discipline cards. All of the them
could give me pool with Social Charm and Legal Manipulation, and all
could untap after combat by playing Majesty. It also meant I had some
Princes in my deck. This enabled me to use Minion Taps combined with
5th Traditions to gain extra pool. Anson, Prince of Seattle, really
helped the deck by enabling me to play a Minion Tap and a Misdirection
in the same turn. It also meant I had some defense against vote decks,
but not enough in the final round, unfortunately…"
Keith McCormick, who placed second overall with a true Weenie Presence
Tap & Bleed deck, and had a great 3rd round to get her into the finals,
had this to say:
"Mike Ahern and I noted that when you're playing a Tap and Bleed deck
and your predator is ALSO playing one, speed out of the gate really
matters. I was Mike's predator in round 3 and the final round, and in
both I knocked him out in just a few rounds. The reason is that his
bleed defense was offense, just like mine, and it just didn't work
against the fast heavy bleeding I did. It would have been interesting to
see what would have happened if our positions had been reversed. Mike
was using larger vampires, and it therefore took him a little more time
to get things rolling. This left him particularly vulnerable to me since
I was getting 3-4 vampires out in the first 2 rounds. However, if he had
been my predator, one wonders if my deck would have had time to plow
through a different prey before Mike's deck got fully up to speed. Maybe
we should test it out sometime.
"Jevon's deck had a really good mix of defense and heavy Tap and
Bleeding. I actually am looking forward to seeing how he did it because
it is very difficult to have an effective mixed focus like that. His
deck took longer than mine or Mike's to get going. In fact, in first
game we played together (which was the second round, and before I knew
he already had 5 victory points from the first round), I was wondering
when he was going to start bleeding. He did a lot of hunt and influence
actions in the early rounds, even when his vampires were close to
capacity. But when he did turn his attention to his prey, he went
through them like a bulldozer. In the final round, Jevon was my predator
and came very close to taking me out. However, his job was made much
harder by how quickly I got my first and second victory point and pool.
If Eric (who ultimately won) hadn't focused several political actions
(KRC's and Domain Challenges) to weaken me, I might have rolled through
Eric and been bleeding Jevon before he damaged me enough. But that's
what makes the game great - the complex relationships on the table.
"John's deck, an intercept combat deck, was amazingly effective at
interfering with any vampire and/or action on the table and he used this
ability well. In my opinion, the weakness of his deck was that he had no
bleed boosters. They would have allowed him to damage his prey more
directly (he only bled for one when he did bleed). Having them might
have allowed him to oust his prey instead of just crippling them. He did
a great job holding off his predator, though."
Eric Nawrotzki, the "Praxis Seizure: New Jersey" tournament winner,
amazed us all with the effectiveness of his deck. Not only was it a
Vote deck, but it was a deck based mainly on the Toreador, who have been
much maligned in the postings of the recent months. Here is what Eric
had to say about the construction of his winning deck:
"This a Toreador Vote deck in which I tried to set up a fair degree of
defense. It has Domain Challenges, Forced Awakenings and Sudden
Reversals to slow down the weenie tap and bleed decks. The Archon
Investigations, Protected Resources, and the Telepathics deal with the
big bleeders. 18 cards involve pool gain in some fashion. The weakest
part is combat defense, the Elysium and Majestys."
Eric did have a difficult time in the first round, being the first one
ousted by John Whelan's Intercept Combat. However, with more favorable
table positioning, Eric was able to pick up 6 VPs in the next 2 rounds,
and of course 3 additional VPs in the final round, winning the
tournament!
Here is Eric Nawrotzki's "Praxis Seizure: New Jersey" Tournament Winning
Deck, to which he affixed a very appropriate name... :)
Deck Name: Toreadors can't win, huh?
By: Eric Nawrotzki
Crypt - 12
Dieter Kleist -Tor 2 aus
Delilah Easton - Tor 2 pre
Isabel de Leon -Tor 3 AUS
Gideon Fontaine - Ven 3 PRE
Demetrious Slater - Tor 4 aus pre cel
Dorian Strack - Tor 4 AUS cel
Marian Gilbert - Tor 4 PRE cel
Felicia Mostrom - Tor 5 AUS pre CEL
Rake - Bru 6 PRE aus cel pot
Jost Werner - Tor anti 6 AUS PRE ani
Tatiana Romanova - Tor 7 AUS pre cel
Anson - Tor 8 - PRE aus CEL dom
Master - 20
Blood Doll x 4
Minion Tap x 2
Art Museum
Society Hunting Ground x 2
Toreador Grand Ball
Aching Beauty x 2
Elysium: the Arboretum
Sudden Reversal x 3
Protected Resources
Archon Investigation x 3
Reactions - 18
Enhanced Senses x 2
Forced Awakenings x 5
Telepathic Misdirections x 6
Telepathic Counters x 5
Combat - 9
Majesty x 9
Political Actions - 26
Banishment
Kindred Restructure
Ancient Influence
Toreador Justicar
Praxis Seizure: Monaco
Praxis Seizure: Paris
Disputed Territory
Praxis: Solomon
Parity Shift
Consanguineous Boon x 3
Domain Challenge x 4
Kine Resources Contested x 10
Action Modifiers - 17
Aire of Elation x 4
Bewitching Oration x 5
Scorn of Adonis x 4
Voter Captivation x 4
Comments on the winning deck design are welcome, as per the author.
Final comments:
It really was a great experience hosting this tournament. There was a
lot of camaraderie, not a lot of cutthroat competitiveness. Of course,
at any tournament everyone must strive to be competitive, or there would
be no reason to have tournaments. However, the behavior of the players
and the respect that they showed each other during the tournament and at
the party afterwards was simply great!
I'm counting on my new buddy, Pat Derr, The Prince of Philadelphia, to
host the next tournament, so that we can have this great experience
again soon, *and* so that I can get a chance to play too! Pat has
indicated that he may be running his first tournament in November, so
stay tuned... :)
Thanks for your time. Any comments may be posted or sent to me
privately (sbuo...@lehman.com)
All the best,
Stephen "The Evil One"
V:EKN Prince of New Jersey
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