VEKN Malkavian Newsletter, August 2001
This Month: Where the Rubber Meets the Road; Tournament Report
Table of Contents:
I. Tournament Report: Code of Boston Suspended
A. Introduction
B. Deck - Run and Hide
C. Round 1 - Lunatic Eruption
D. Round 2 - Forms of Corruption
E. Round 3 - Malkavians, Malkavians, Malkavians, Malkavians, Jake Washington
F. Final - Revelations
G. Post Game Show
I. Tournament Report: Code of Boston Suspended
A. Introduction
This month I thought I'd take a break from the usual format, and do a
kind of worms-eye tournament report my experiences, playing a
mostly-Malkavian deck, at recent tournament. Along the way, I'll try
and take at look at the issues of the meta-game, tournament dynamics,
game tactics, how the Malks fare in post-Final Nights environment, and
other topics in the fine VEKN newsletter tradition.
The tournament was Code of Boston Suspended, played on Sat. July 21st.
This was part of the monthly constructed tournament series that Ben
Peal, the Prince of Boston, has been hosting. Ben runs a good
tournament, and it promised to be well run and fun, with a lot of
interesting players and decks in attendance.
We were playing at Your Move Games is Somerville, which is also where
the regular, casual, games in Boston are played. Your Move Games is a
small, well-stocked games store, with a much bigger, attached game
room filled with tables. The store is open until midnight all week.
So, we're blessed with this free venue where big groups can gather an
play regularly, and tournaments can be held. This is where we
congregated Saturday morning.
There were 12 players in attendance, a number of familiar faces, a few
players from the nearby domain of Seekonk, Mass. and a few other
out-of-town wildcard players. Games would be played at 3 4-person
tables.
B. Deck - Run and Hide
I played a kind of toolboxy Obfuscate/Auspex deck, I named it Run and
Hide in honor of its focus on Swallowed by the Night. Here's the deck:
Crypt: 12
Watenda x2 Malk 3 cap obf *special
Zoe x2 Malk 3 cap obf AUS cel
Victoria Malk 5 cap obf AUS cel *special
Ozmo Malk 6 cap obf AUS dom +1 bleed
Zebulon Malk 6 cap OBF aus dom pro
Tansu Bekir Assamite 4 cap OBF cel
Quira x2 !Malk OBF AUS tha +1 bleed
Agrippina Nos OBF pot
Basil Pander obf
Master: 19
Blood Doll x4
Obfuscate x4
Asylumn Hunting Ground x2
Fragment of the Book of Nod
Guardian Angel
Powerbase Montreal x2
Dreams of the Sphinx
Jake Washington x2
The Barrens
The Rumor Mill
Minion: 71
Obfuscate: 30
Swallowed by the Night x12
Faceless Night x5
Cloak of the Gathering x6
Spying Mission x5
Behind You x2
Auspex: 13
Telepathic Misdirection x8
Pulse of Canaille x2
Revelations x3
Reaction: 10
Wake with Evening's Freshness x10
Equipment/Retainers: 11
Ivory Bow x2
Sawed-Off Shotgun
Sports Bike x2
JS Simmons Esq.
Tasha Morgan
Mr. Winthrop x2
Starshell Launcher
Sniper's Rifle
Action: 6
Computer Hacking x5
Arson
Allies: 1
Muddled Vampire Hunter
Playing the deck:
Its a Obfuscate/Auspex deck and wants to see both at superior. The
deck is all about flexibility. It has lots of dual-use cards
(Swallowed by Night, Dreams, Jake Washington, Telepathic Misdirection,
Starshell Launcher, Blood Doll, Spying Mission) and card cyclers to
get you to the hand you need at the moment. So, you can sneak and
bleed, bloat, intercept, fight, or bounce as needed.
Watenda is the key defender. Set him with permanent intercept, OBF,
and a weapon and he's the wall. Pump one or more of the AUS types up
to a permanent 3 bleed and put them to work on your prey.
The heavy reliance on permanents means it has some ramp-up time. But
its got good staying power once it gets set up. The use of
permananents also leads to the creation of a few, powerful, lynch-pin
minions. So, the deck can be very vulnerable to Corruption or
take-over decks.
Deck History:
This is a deck I've been contemplating and tuning for a while, but
have played very infrequently. I hadn't played it since adding the
Final Nights cards, but they seemed fun, and to go well with what I
was trying to do.
Recently I'd pulled out the 5 Lost in Crowds and replaced then with
Faceless Night. I figured I'd have enough stealth, and tapping failed
blockers might be more interesting than boring ol' Lost in Crowds. But
the extra tapping didn't really do anything for me, and I was
sometimes stretching for more stealth. So, after playing it, the only
change I'd make is to pull the Faceless and put Lost back in.
C. Round 1 - Lunatic Eruption
In round 1 my prey was Stephanie Wexler who was playing an !Toreador
deck. Right out of the gate Greta "the bleed sponge" Kircher and the
Hungry Coyote hit the table, and I knew I had my work cut out for me.
Her prey was Rich Gentile, playing a Ravnos deck, whose main trick was
the Mass Reality/Zip Gun combo. During the game he produced a number
of Zip Guns, but no Mass Realities. So, the deck was rather less
intimidating than it might have been.
Rich's prey, my predator, was Daniel Frey, playing an !Malk deck that
is probably worthy of a newsletter in and of itself. Dan's deck
primary purpose was play a Vampiric Disease and Lunatic Eruption on
someone, forcing them to attack one of their prey's minions, and
spread the disease around the table. Dan even brought some rubber
cockroaches to use as disease counters. The deck was very amusing to
see in action, and had a big impact on the table dynamics in any game
where it was played. I was his first victim.
I brought out Tansu Bekir, and he was immediately hit with the
Disease/Eruption combo. Attempting to make the most of it, I sent him
after Greta and then the rest of Stephanie's minions, to spread the
love. The !Torries tried to Flash to long, but they couldn't
out-maneuver Tansu, and soon all Stephanie's minions had the disease.
Once Typhoid Tansu was empty, and the disease gone, I removed the
Lunatic Eruption, and Jake Washington was kind enough to stop by and
give him a quick refill. I had a few more bleeders out at this point,
and a few test bleeds indicated that Stephaine was packing more
Telepathic Counters than Misdirections. I got to work and pounded away
with as many bleeders as I could. Stephanie was hemorrhaging both
blood and pool, and even Greta couldn't staunch the flow. I ousted
her.
By the time Stephanie fell, she had bled Rich and his Ravnos to the
point where I could oust him in a turn. But Rich had Dan on the ropes.
Dan was tapped out with 5 pool. Rich had 4 Ravnos. A single bleed
modifier would get him the oust.
Rich bled. Then he tried to play Force of Will with the same minion.
When told he couldn't bleed twice with the same minion under NRA, he
had another Ravnos hunt to tap him. I had equipped Tansu with a Sports
Bike and the Ivory bow. Tansu blocked the hunt, and let fly with the
bowshot. But Rich was able to prevent the damage. Where is Watenda
when you need him? He got off his Force of Will and followed it up
with more bleeds to oust Dan.
Even the six extra pool didn't buy him much time, and I was able to
oust Rich on my next turn, to get a total of 3 vp for the round.
D. Round 2 - Forms of Corruption
After a break for lunch, and fortified with fried rice from Yee's
Village, we sat down for round 2. My prey was Grant Garvin, Prince of
Seekonk, MA, playing an !Gangrel deck. He was bleeding Stephanie and
her Toreador Antitribu. My predator was Lance Shope, playing Settites.
I wasn't happy to see the Settites on my right, and quickly my fears
were justified. I brought out Zebulon, Watenda, and then Quira.
Zebulon got hit with the Temptation, and worse, Form of Corruption
came out.
Meanwhile Grant was getting his deck rolling. He was playing a mostly
Gangrel Antitribu Obfuscate/Protean deck. It had weenies, embraces,
stealth, love from Pentex, Twisted Forest, and lots of computer hacks.
He brought out a Shadow Court Satyr, gave it Earth Meld, and started
up the weenie sneak n' bleed machine.
I was in a quandary. Do I go after Grant, and lose someone to the
Form, or do I risk letting the weenie bleeders run rampant? I decided
not accelerate the Form just to plink Grant for 1 or 2. I hung back a
little and concentrated on building up my minions (hoping I could keep
them from getting swiped). I set Watenda up with the Bow, a Sport's
Bike, and a Guardian Angel. Quira got the Pulse of Canaille. This
pumped her base bleed up to 4, making her Archon Investigation bait.
And it reduced her blood to 3, making her Form bait. I needed to make
my bleeds count, and I'd have to roll the dice a bit to get anything
out of this game.
Grant's bleed machine was pounding away on Stephanie. Each time she
brought out a minion, we held our breath, waiting to see if it was
Greta. It never was. Grant outsted her and got to work on Lance.
When it came around to my turn, I put my cards down, and spend a few
seconds analyzing the situation. 1 or 2 more bleeds would cost me
Quira or Watenda. Meanwhile it was looking like Lance would fall in 2
or 3 turns, and Grant would be on to me, and on his way to a sweep.
I offered Lance a truce. If he would hole-up, play defense
exclusively, and not steal any of my minions, I would hit Grant with
everything I had. If I ousted Grant I would concede to Lance.
Normally, I like deals, but refrain from table-splitting, and find
giving up or giving away VP distasteful. But I'm willing to make an
exception to shut down a weenie-bleed deck. And I figured there was a
good chance Grant would get to Lance before I got to him. Then the
deal would buy me time, let me keep my minions, and cost me nothing.
Lance accepted the deal, and I went to work on Grant. Ozmo and Quira
punched through, slipping past Pack Tactics for substantial bleeds.
Whenever Grant attempted an undirected action, Watenda was waiting to
try and take down the minion. But Grant's City Gangrel kept up the
pressure. Soon, Grant was down to 6, but Lance was even lower, and
realized he wouldn't survive Grant's next turn. "Are you going to oust
him this turn?" Lance was contemplating ditching the deal, and there
were enough counters on the Form so he could take whomever he wanted.
If I could get through with all my minions I would oust Grant, but it
would all depend on how much stealth I would draw, and how many Pack
Tactics Grant would produce. I tried to reassure Lance, and suggested
he burn his Dreams of the Sphinx this turn, so I could play mine for
more card cycling. He held up on the deal and, burned his Dreams.
My turn. Grant let Ozmo and Wantenda through with 1 stealth each. Down
to 4 pool. Quira bled for 4 and the Pack Tactics appeared. I had 2
stealth cards in my hand and played them both. My first draw was a
Blood Doll. My second was Cloak of the Gathering.
I got the oust. I held up my end of the deal and conceded to Lance.
Grant got 1 vp. I got 1 vp. Lance got 2 vp.
Afterwards, I wondered if I should have played it differently. I could
have given up Wantenda (and kept Quira by feeding her with a Blood
Doll). Lance might have used him on defense to hold off Grant long
enough for me to oust him. Or I could have just shook my head sadly,
even as I drew into my stealth, and duked it out with Grant in the
endgame. But they both seemed like risky propositions, and I was happy
not to walk away from the round empty-handed.
E. Round 3 - Malkavians, Malkavians, Malkavians, Malkavians, Jake
Washington
In round 3 all 4 players at the table were playing Malkavain or !Malk
decks, giving the relevance of this newsletter a big boost.
My prey was Dan Frey with his !Malk Luantic Eruption Deck. His prey
was Nick Watkins playing an !Malk deck. My predator was Josh
Feuerstein playing a Malkavian big-bleed deck. Josh mentioned to me
that in the previous round he'd gotten Cornelius Ottavio up to an
intrinsic bleed of 7, but never actually got around to bleeding with
him. Hmmmm... Note to Self: hold onto a Telepathic Misdirection.
My first turn I played Jake Washington and had him play Computer
Hacking for a bleed of 1. Edge to me.
Dan's deck got going, and appropriately enough, Nick's anti-Malks were
soon erupting with lunacy and spreading the disease to Josh's minions.
Josh kept coming over and trying to spread the disease my way, but a
few maneuvers kept me out of sneezing range, and disease free.
Nick brought out Anatole, and I was eager to see his 5-card-shuffle
skill in action. But Nick wasn't using it, so nothing to report there.
Meanwhile, I got Victoria and Quira both pumped up to an intrinsic
bleed of 3, and Watenda set up with a Guardian Angel, superior
obfuscate, and a Sport's Bike. Time to get to work
By this point Dan's deck had done a swell job of tying up the rest of
the table. Both Nick and Josh were busy with Malks running over to
flail on each other or hunting to feed their disease. I sent my big
bleeders after Dan, and Watenda sat around on wall duty. Pretty soon
Dan was running short on pool. On my next turn, a computer hack from
Zoe brought Dan down to 1. And Jake Washington was there with a
computer hack for a style point, the oust, and leaving me with my 2
big bleeders to go right to work on Nick.
In their diseased and decrepit state, neither Nick nor Josh could
stand up to my pounding very long, and they were ousted in quick
succession. 4 vp to me.
F. Final - Revelations
The finals began, as all VEKN tournament finals must, with the sacred
ritual of the choosing of seats. Ben Peal has a practice of not
announcing VP totals during the preliminary rounds and the players are
discouraged from discussing their totals. This is a nice policy, and I
highly recommend it. The general effect is that each game is played
in-and-of itself, and there's no temptation to adjust your tactics
based on the current standings (which is illegal anyhow, but its still
better to play without the temptation).
The other effect of this policy is that the list of who makes it to
the final round is something of a surprise. What was particularly
surprising was that Dan and his lunacy-inducing anti-malks had picked
up 3 vp in the second round, and had squeaked into the finals.
The other players in the final were Lance Shope and his Settites,
Grant Garvin and his City Gangrel swarm, Peter Jehlen with a big vamp
vote deck, and myself.
My 8 vp put me in first place after the preliminary rounds, and I got
my pick of seating. I put myself between Peter and Grant. With Peter's
deck at my back and Grant as my prey. The rest of the table was Grant
bleeding Lance, Lance and the Settites bleeding Dan, and Dan's !Malks
bleeding Peter.
I was happy with this seating order. I could keep up the pressure on
Grant and both his !Gangrel and Lance's Settites had a few people to
go through before they'd be hounding me. Peter, my predator, had the
only deck I hadn't played against. But Peter's decks tend to have big
vampires and emphasize bloat over firepower, creating a nice
blood-buffer. And I figured Dan would keep him busy.
In the early game, Grant produced and S:CE Satyr, warmed up his weenie
bleed machine and set it to work on Lance. Lance was bleeding and
corrupting Dan, but it became evident early that he was losing the
oust race to Grant.
Peter brought out Etrius and Dan immediately zapped him with a Lunatic
Eruption. Later Peter would bring out Sheldon, who would get exactly
the same treatment, totally crippling Peter's deck. I was pretty sure
Peter wouldn't be playing Thumaturgy combat with Etrius, and having
him run over to try and slap me for one was about the least dangerous
thing I could imagine him doing.
I brought out Watenda and gave him Tasha Morgan and a Sawed-off
Shotgun. This caused Ben Peal to note that this was the first Shotgun
he'd seen in a tournament final. But I was pleased with the combo.
Wantena bled each round, and after he dropped stealth to bypass the
Satyr, Grant had a choice of taking the bleed for 2 or playing a Pack
Tactics for the privilege of catching a torpor-inducing shotgun blast.
He took the bleeds.
Grant's deck was moving faster than mine, and even though I was
tossing him intercept with my Rumor Mill, Lance couldn't hold off
Grant's swarming minions. He was ousted. Dan's pool was in single
digits, and Peter was in pretty poor shape. Grant looked well
positioned for a sweep.
I played Revelations at superior, forcing Grant to play with an open
hand. Then we saw that he was jammed on the Elder Interventions he
hadn't been playing, and he was short on stealth, computer hacks, and
S:CE. Grant was vulnerable. Time for the squeeze. Dan started hitting
Grant with Lunatic Eruptions, forcing him to fight instead of bleed. I
kept bleeding and blocked and torporized Grant's minions at every
opportunity. Watching his hand, we could always prepare our response
knowing exactly how much stealth Grant had to play. Soon, Grant had
several minions in torpor, several more with Lunatic Eruptions, and
the Revelations still in effect. He tried to gain some traction and
even sent a minion to get the Lunatic Eruption off of Etrius, hoping
Peter would be able to apply some pressure on me.
By throwing everything I could at him, I finally ousted Grant and got
the weenie-bleed deck off the table. Now it was down to Dan, Peter,
and me.
With one Lunatic Eruption gone, Peter finally had a free minion, and
could begin to disentangle himself. I had played Jake Washington and
gave him a Starshell Launcher so he could lob around even more
intercept. But I was passing on any opportunities to block or weaken
Peter. I wanted him to bloat enough to outlast Dan, which he did,
passing a Political Stranglehold that got him some pool, and saved him
from being ousted. With Grant gone, I swept in and ousted Dan. And
then there were two.
A bleed from Etrius let me know that the slumber beast had awoken. In
the following turns Peter brought out Francois Villon, Minion Tapped
him, swiped the Rumor Mill with a Disputed Territory vote, played
Creepshow Casino, and then hit me with a KRC. What was supposed to be
a victory lap was turning into a fight for survival. Peter played an
Anarchist Uprising, with extra stealth from Creepshow. The vote would
do enough damage to oust me. With a starshell from Jake and a
Telepathic Misdirection I stopped it survived another turn.
I counter-attacked. I brought out the Muddled Vampire hunter and had
him stab Sheldon into torpor the following turn. I bled as much as I
could and tried to draw into my defense. At the end of my turn I had a
Sports Bike in my hand with two Wakes. I had 5 pool. If could make it
to my next turn, I should be able to shut down Peter's deck and finish
him off.
Peter played another Anarchist Uprising. With Jake and Muddles I had 7
minions. I was ousted.
G. Post Game Show
Ousting Grant and Dan gave me 2 vp in the finals. Grant got 1. Peter
2. Since I came into the round with the most vp, I got first in the
tournament. Still, Peter's come-from-nowhere performance was
impressive.
Thinking back, I came up with different plays that might have bought
me an extra turn, cycled an extra card, and possibly turned the tide
in the endgame. But my main strategic mistake was grossly
underestimating the firepower of a political deck, with obfuscate and
vote-lock, that came into the finals with 7 vp. It would have been
wiser for me to do what damage I could to shut down Peter's deck, let
Dan get the oust, and stick with the devil I knew.
So, sneaky Malkavian decks are still viable after Final Nights. No big
surprise there. The toolboxy nature of my deck and somewhat eclectic
crypt did give me a nice psychological advantage. I consistently
avoided getting pegged as "The Threat", and even after sweeping the
table, I'd get questions like "Umm... So, what does your deck do?".
The beauty of the tooolbox.
The tournament was notable for the almost total absence of combat
decks. I never had a vamp sent to torpor, and rarely saw anyone else
get knocked down, except by one of my defenders. And the only
political deck in around was Peter's.
Also, not many Final Nights cards made an appearance. I was
disappointed to never see my Sniper's Rifle during my build-up stage.
The most significant FN card at the tournament was definitely
Creepshow Casino. It used to be that a Sports Bike and a few wakes
would be all you needed to shut down a political deck. No longer. With
Creepshow and National Guard Support added to their arsenal, I'll
expect to see more, stronger political decks in the future.
Lastly, I want to make a plug for tournaments in general, and
specifically the fine Boston tournaments. I played the game for years
before I felt I was ready for "competition". I missed out on meeting a
lot of great people and having a lot of fun. If there are tournaments
in your area, then get out there and get in the game. If not, find the
nearest Prince and have him or her set one up. That's what they're
there for.
Even in more competitive play, please remember that ultimately this is
a card game about Vampires beating on each other. If there's not a
sense of fun that pervades the game and makes it worth playing, then
there's something terribly wrong. Enjoy, and don't take it too
seriously.
Enough pontificating. Thanks for reading. See you next month.
Ben Swainbank
Prince of Portsmouth, NH