-The End of the Summer of My Discontent
		-Lasombra


I started the beginning of this summer with a completion of working 
for others.  (I chose to retire.)  The next weekend, I hosted/judged 
Praxis Seizure: Dallas, and the summer began.

I then attended Praxis Seizure: Kansas City the next weekend.

At the end of June, first week of July, I attended DragonCon 2000 
in Atlanta, Georgia.

I then spent a couple of weeks surfing the web, trading cards, 
collecting new card ideas, and then I attended Origins 2000 in 
Columbus, Ohio.

I was hosted by Jay Kristoff, still probably the tallest VTES player 
in the US, and spent a very enjoyable weekend playing with the 
midwesterners.  On Thursday morning, I spent over 1 hour in the onsite 
registration line, and only moved 10 feet.  I ended up just going to 
play in the tournament and walking thru registration during the finals.
In the Thursday constructed event, I played the Lasombra voting deck 
that had taken me to the finals at DragonCon, but I was ousted by the 
evident abundance of weenie decks.  Keith Thompson (VEKN Prince of Las 
Vegas) was ready for the field that day with a Presence Weenie Bleed 
deck that took him to the finals, and won it for him.  Perhaps he will 
email it to me, and I will add it to my list of tournament winning decks.

That evening, I played in the Origins Newsgroup invitational, finally
getting to play against L. Scott Johnson, Peter Bakija, Noal McDonald,
James Hamblin, and many others whose posts I have been reading for years.
We didn't use any formal tournament system as most people were ready
to crash after a game or two, but it was one of the highlights of my
trip for sure.

There was a VTES sealed event on Friday, and it was one of the worst
starters I have ever opened.  It had one of each of the Master Discipline
cards, and what felt like 10 more Master cards, with not a single one
allowing the regaining of pool.  The cards I ended up with didn't appear
to match the vampires in the slightest, so I was unsurprised to find
I didn't play well or make much showing in that event.

On Saturday, we played a Sabbat draft, I drafted Jost as my first vampire,
and got no presence based cards at all.  I ended up playing a Lasombra
intercept decks as those were the cards I had the most consistently.  
I gave superior Protean to Angelica the Canonicus in every round, and
also brought out 1-2 Black Spiral Buddies each round, but didn't do 
well overall.

On Sunday, we had an almost disappointing turnout of 14 players, and
had to only play 2 rounds before the final because so many people were
flying out during the afternoon.  I played a Tremere / Tremere Antitribu 
bleed deck that burned vampires that got into combat with me 5 times out 
of 6.  Unfortunately, this was the tournament of Deflection/Telepathic 
Misdirection, and I was unable to oust any of my own prey.  In the finals, 
David Tatu played his powerful large Nosferatu deck, Keith Thompson played 
his Gangrel bleeders, Jay Kristoff played a large vampire blood gain 
Ancilla Empowerment deck, the guy with an English accent played a Ventrue
voting deck, and Nate "Dogg" Williams played a Ventrue-Antitribu bounce / 
deflection monster.

Nate did end up winning the tournament, because his prey (Keith) had to
leave at a specified time to catch his plane to Las Vegas (and then to 
China for a month).  Nate got the easy victory point there, then after
much wheeling and dealing got Jay Kristoff before David Tatu took him 
out.  (Nate-2 Jay-1 Tatu-2)  As Nate had the most victory points going
in, he won the tournament because of the tie in the finals.

(Special thanks to Jay for letting me sleep at his place 
 and save a ton of money!)


Almost a month later, I got to see the people I cared about from Origins
again at GenCon.

I only had to spend an hour and a half in line this time, with it moving 
constantly, to get registered for this convention. 

On Thursday, we had a tournament with 25 people in attendance.  I played 
my Lasombra Mind Rape / Banishment deck, and took three victory points in 
the first round.  I was shut out in the next two rounds due to poor seating,
and hand jam (or just lack of skill, who can say).  I got to meet and play 
against Adrian Sullivan (The Corruptor), who managed to sweep the finals
while I was off playing in some pick up games.  Josh Duffin managed to show
up about 20-25 minutes too late as L. Scott Johnson did wait 10-15 for me 
as it was known that I was in line and would be there shortly.

On Friday, the LA contingent arrived in Milwaukee very, very early in the 
morning.  Unfortunately, there were only 36 places for the Sabbat sealed
event, so at least NINE people ended up having to sit it out as only
the people who had purchased the actual event tickets ended up playing,
with the exception of Josh D, who was once again 20-25 minutes late.
Most of the people left out played in some constructed games, with my
Presence / Auspex deck doing extremely well in the hands of a young
lady who had not seen or played my deck before.  

During the tournament, I drafted a Tremere Antitribu / Lasombra deck,
with 7 Lasombra and 5 Tremere Antitribu, so the deck was fairly cohesive.
In each game though, one card got me my victory points.  Anarchist Uprising.
I had vote lock in each of the three preliminary games, and was able to call
and pass the Anarchist Uprising to oust my prey each time.  I had six victory
points going into the final, after getting two, one, and three victory points.
I ended up using the vote to once again oust my prey, and got one victory point
in the final in spite of not being able to bring out Gratiano as my grand prey
had him out before I did, and I will not contest across table.  The winning deck
of that tournament also had the Lasombra featured with Ian Forestal, and its
votes decided the final round.  (I don't know his name, perhaps LSJ will be
able to add that info later.)  I took third.

After the Sabbat tournament, many of those participating went upstairs to 
compete in the events run by Bernie Bresnahan, one of the NJL founding members.
They played some sort of team event, with heavy restrictions on deck building
that kept many people out of the event.  The rest of us played with the
LA players, and LSJ and I ran demos for some people returning to the game,
who each bought boxes of VTES/Jyhad boosters the next day and built decks 
and played again the next night.

Also Friday night, there was a "Duel" event, with 6 players.  It was played
one-on-one, with sixty card decks.  It was enjoyed by the players, and
they played round robin instead of the single elimination it was advertised
to be.

On Friday and Saturday, Steve Wieck brought down 3 industry big-wigs to 
come down and play a demo game using the VTES Playmat that Robert Goudie
originally designed, with extensive revisions by LSJ, and layout / production
by R. Brian Smith (VEKN Prince of Bloomington, Indiana).

Steve has a very good grasp of the game, and demo'ed it very well in my opinion.
I don't know what the others thought, but it looked to be very favorable reactions.


On Saturday, we had the US National Championships, with 39 people competing.  
The LA players and Josh Duffin all got to play this time, with only James
Hamblin doing other things keeping us from 40.  I played my Lasombra voting
deck, with the addition of Dramatic Upheavals.  In three rounds, I did not
see a single Minion Tap, but the Dramatic Upheaval did manage to let me
steal a victory point from last years winner, and let me have some extra 
turns when I was being prey'ed on by Robert Goudie.

In the finals, we had five very good players.

Mike Courtois (JediMike) playing a Minion Tap Fifth Tradition deck that 
gained huge amounts of pool, then bled with Mind Rapes and lots of stealth 
to oust his prey.  (6vp going in, I think.)  Mike got two victory points in 
the final, one for ousting his prey, the other for being last standing to
come in second place.

Steve Bucy sat as Mike's prey, playing a large Gangrel Brujah Minion Tap 
Fifth Tradition deck that bled consistenly throughout the game, but I didn't
see any big bleeds from the deck myself.  Steve got one victory point for
ousting his prey, but couldn't defend against Mike's big bleeds in the end.

Christian King sat as Steve's prey, playing a Lasombra stealth bleed deck
that seemed to have an endless supply of Deflection during the final, at
least while I was watching his hand.  Christian got two victory points 
for ousting the two presence bleed decks at the table, and he had more
victory points going into the final, so he won the tournament.
(Perhaps Christian will email me his deck also so that it can join 
  the list of tournament winning decks.)

Two players dropped out of the finals to play in Bernie Bresnahans Jyhad 
Michigan Sealed Trading thing that was going on upstairs.  

The LA players, David Tatu and Joe Churchill went out to dinner at 
"the pizza place" and were supposed to meet L. Scott Johnson and 
myself there for food and drinks before going back and playing some 
pick up games.  Unfortunately, the pizza place Tatu, Churchill and 
I had gone to on Thursday was different than the one the group went 
to on Saturday, so LSJ and I got back to the convention earlier than 
the other group.  We, LSJ & I, went upstairs, and played a pickup 
game with Christian King and Bernie, with some of the extra cards 
left over from his sealed/trading thing, and we used the same rules 
that his tournament did.  Bernie and LSJ contested two vampires until 
I ousted Bernie, then LSJ was able to use the two extra vampires to 
roll over Christian and then finally to demolish me using a Sawed-off 
Shotgun in all the right places.

I spent that weekend with David Tatu and Joe Churchill, 
thanks for the hotel space guys!

On Sunday, there was another "Duel" event scheduled, and most of
the LA players were going to play with Tatu and Churchill, but I
started my long trek home, eventually spending 36 hours in my 
vehicle.

Overall, I prefered the DragonCon events to the other two, just because
of the number of people I knew from the newsgroup and whom I had already
played to the other two events, but I may see all three events again 
next year, who knows.

I will be ending my summer tournament tour, next Saturday in New Orleans.
I will be playing in Tradition Upheld, on the 26th of August.

Hope to bleed some of you then.  Remember to post your winning decks,
and tournament results on the newsgroup to help keep every one informed,
and interested in the game.  


Carpe Noctem.

Lasombra