VEKN MALKAVIAN NEWSLETTER -- MARCH, 2002 -- NE QUALIFIER ISSUE This month I thought I'd share my fond remembrances the Northeast Qualifier tournament, at TotalCon in Andover, MA last weekend. And I'll talk about the deck I played which, as it turns out, featured Malkavians. This was a great event with many players arriving from around the country. An excellent tournament and a nice opportunity to put faces with so many names. But before I dive into the sights, sounds, thrills, and spills from the tournament, please join me while I take a little walk down memory lane. [queue shimmering flashback fade] It's February, 2001 and I'm at TotalCon. I've been playing this game since it came out, battling for supremacy against 3 good friends. The years went by without any new cards being printed but, for reasons beyond comprehension, the game had its hooks in us, and we kept on playing. About a year ago we decided to abandon the 3 card limit we'd played with all that time. The game still seems to play pretty well, and we get to try lots of new decks that were impossible under the old rules. Obligations, life, and job changes have scattered our old playgroup around New England, and beyond practical reach for our weekly game nights. I've become Prince of Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the quixotic hope of trying to find a few players so that I can continue to play the game. I haven't had much success generating local interest. But my efforts have recently brought me in contact with a group in Boston and they seem to be able to gather enough players for a table or two on a Thursday night. White Wolf has gotten control of the game again, which could be good. The tiny initial print run of Sabbat War sold out instantly, which was exciting for the game, but annoying for promoting it. But now the second print run has just arrived. For the first time a looong while there are actually V:TES cards on the game store shelves. Who knows, perhaps this antediluvian is awakening from its torporous sleep. I've been wanting to go to a tournament and give that a try. But there hasn't been anything in the area to go to. Until now. So, here I am. There are 12 players at the tournament, which is a really solid turnout. I'm packing a deck based on this crazy new concept. I'm combining Carrion Crows with Aid From Bats. Its a weenie Animalism fight deck! No one will ever suspect something so sinister. My first round of my first tournament and things are going exactly according to plan. My bats and crows have chewed though my predator and prey. Its just down to me an a guy playing Giovanni (How did he build a tournament deck out of the Giovanni?). He's got 2 minions, both tapped, and neither has any blood. I rush forward, bleeding with everyone. When I get to my last untapped minion I see he has 2 pool left. I can't oust him this turn so I... summon a War Ghoul! Oh yeah! Its the icing on the cake! As he untapps I look down at the 4 pool I have left. I have a sinking feeling. Blood Doll. Push 1. Govern. Bonding. Ousted. Doh! That stupid move will keep me out of the finals. Well, maybe things will be different next year... [queue shimmering fade back to present] What a difference a year makes. Since that fateful day we've had 2 excellent expansions to the game and can anticipate more to come. The player base in Massachusetts has exploded - making it this V:TES Mecca with multiple 20+ player groups. The anemic tournament scene has blossomed to the point that the number of weekends with a tournament outnumber those without one. Personally, I have seen my name listed on (and then tumble from) the Top 20 Players list, made an appearance at the European Championships, and had the opportunity to meet some of the world's most prominent players. At TotalCon this year we had 48 players, with people flying and driving in from around the country to take part the first Continental Championships Qualifier for 2002, and the convention seems to be dominated by V:TES players. I'm a year older and wiser. But, this year, the stakes are higher and the competition far fiercer... Before I get to my deck and the games, I want to be sure to give due credit to Ben Peal and Grant Garvin. Their promotion efforts and all the events they've run in the last year have really helped V:TES take off in this area. They ran a great event. And since they were organizing and judging, rather than playing in it, things were that much easier for the rest of us competing for those top 10 spots. My Deck To fully appreciate this deck requires yet another walk down memory lane. What I like about it is that it incorporates nearly ALL the elements and Malkavian tricks I've been writing about in this newsletter (Did you miss some? Don't worry. They are archived here: http://www.thelasombra.com/newsletter.htm). Sneak and bleed, bounce, intercept, combat, graverobbing, politics, Madness Network tricks, some Bloodlines influence, and even the postural theories I was going on about last month are integrated here. Its a tidy 80 card package that actually works and is fun to play. So here it is: Name: Pyros, Kleptos, and Maniacs crypt: 12 Gregor Anderseen x2 7 OBF AUS dom pro * Gilbert Duane x3 7 OBF AUS DOM * Ozmo x2 6 obf AUS dom * Zebulon x2 5 OBF aus dom pro Dee Dee Meyers 5 obf aus DOM cel Victoria 5 obf AUS cel * Raful al-Zarqa 6 obf AUS dom nec * Library: 80 Masters: 15 Madness Network x3 Rotschrech x4 Blood Doll x3 Metro Underground Dreams of the Sphinx Rumor Mill Jake Washington Powerbase Montreal Minion: 65 Dominate: 15 Govern the Unaligned x4 Bonding x3 Deflection x2 Conditioning x3 Graverobbing x3 Auspex: 7 Telepathic Misdirection x4 Aura Reading x3 Obfuscate: 18 Swallowed by Night x10 Lost In Crowds x4 Elder Impersonation x4 Protean: 4 Homunculous x2 Claws of the Dead x2 Reaction: 8 2nd Tradition x8 Action: 3 5th Tradition x3 Equipment/Retainers: 6 Ivory Bow x2 Improvised Flamethrower x3 Tasha Morgan Allies: 1 Muddled Vampire Hunter Political: 3 Parity Shift x2 Domain Challenge The deck doesn't come out of the gate too quickly and has enough surprises to keep people guessing. It is designed to get more table wins than table sweeps. When the time is right, quickly take down your prey. Exert enough influence on the table that it comes down to you and someone you can beat in the endgame showdown. I agree with Peter Bajika on the viability of this strategy under Table Wins. Before the NE Qualifier I had played a version of this deck in a tournament. Afterwards I changed my Faceless Nights over to the Elder Impersonations, which work much better in a high intercept environment. And I made room for Muddles and the 3 Political cards. The Politics seemed a little out of place in the deck, but turned out to be a huge asset, as was Muddles. The Games I'll spare you the blow-by-blow. But I would like to share a few nice moments from the highlight footage from the games I was in. The event was such a rogues gallery of players that I'll try and include peoples names. But I apologize in advance to everyone I that I fail to give the recognition they deserve. Game 1 In this game my predator was Bernie Bresnahan who came at me hard and fast with his superior Protean deck. His predator was Robyn Tatu playing Bats and Crows and War Ghouls. My prey was Ben Spaulding playing bleedy anti-malks and his prey was Ulysses Latiner - bashing with Bruja and Assamites. This was a tense game. Ulysses was crushing my prey in an attempt to hold him off. But I was getting a lot of pressure from Bernie's bleeders and Robyn was gaining strength and moving forward. I had Parity Shift in hand with my prey at 4 pool and I was at 3. But I needed the edge to pass the vote. I bled, but realized if the bleed was actually successful I could no longer call the Shift. Fortunately, Ben bounced to Ulysses who ate the 1 and gave me the Edge. I called the vote with Gregor which ousted my prey to put me up 10 pool. Muddles dropped Ulysses' Donnal O'Connor allowing me to get through the bleeds to oust him. Robyn brought down Bernie and was coming on strong with a War Ghoul and animal horde. The seconds ticked away as Robyn and I battled for the finish. Fortunately I was able to out-maneuver the War Ghoul when he came calling. We were both on the edge of being ousted when time was called, giving me a narrow table win. Game 2 In my opening hand I found a Metro Underground, 2 Ivory Bows, a Homunculous, and 3 2nd Traditions. I was still scratching my head when I realized my predator, Scott Gomes, was playing a weenie presence deck, and his predator, Jay Kristoff, was playing yet another weenie presence deck. Across the table was Aaron Steele playing an nice !Tremere intercept deck(1). I brought out the 2 Malk princes and, with the Homunculous and Metro, I was able to act and then untap both of them every turn. Between Aaron and I we were able to shut down both the presence bleeders and control the Tzimsce deck played by my prey. When both the weenie bleeders were out of steam, and down to 1 pool each, I blasted the table with a Domain Challenge. This gave Aaron 1 vp, but not both. I was able to oust my prey with a big bleed as my next action. In the endgame, Aaron's offence still had to contend with an untapped Gilbert's Ivory Bow. And he was scrambling for the intercept as my bleeders moved forward. He burned his last pool to cancel my stealth with DI, rather than face the final bleed. I got my second table win. Game 3 My prey was Josh Wexler playing a slick !Ventrue with Thaumaturgy deck (2). He was packing deflections, intercept, fortitude. He also had a Priscus that gave him vote lock, and a nasty Burst of Sunlight/Rotschrech combo. Coming into the game's third act he was sitting on about 20 pool and I had no idea how to proceed forward. At this point, my predator had become a savage Bruja-who-throw-stuff-at-you deck(3) that had just obliterated his predator and his initial prey and was now on to me. Standing around while he bled me didn't seem to be getting the job done. So, I tried blocking with Ozmo, who had an Improvised Flamethrower. Ozmo played 2 maneuvers to try and keep to close. But that wasn't enough. Ozmo went out in a blaze of glory when the Thrown Gate pierced his gas tank. Grasping at straws, I had Gilbert call a Parity Shift to draw 3 pool from my predator. Josh played along and then ousted him. And then there were 2. Gilbert blocked one of Josh's minions and Aura Reading informed me he had no combat in his hand. Twang goes the Ivory Bow. Then I had a nice run of 2nd Trads whenever Josh tried to rescue, bleed, whatever. Twang! Twang! Twang! Soon all of Josh's minions were in torpor and my Malks swept in to eat them. With all his minions gone, it was just a matter of time before I was able to lap up all that pool. Josh attempted to mount a recovery, but wasn't able to stop the feeding frenzy, and conceded the game. Josh and I tied with 2 vp each. But I was quite happy with the result. The Finals: My 2 Table Wins and 7.5 VP put me in 3rd got me a seat on the finals table. Now, to the casual observer of this game it may have appeared that I sat around, didn't do a damn thing, and got ousted. Meanwhile, my prey ran rampant over the table. Since I have this little soapbox, I can at least explain that I did have a plan. Even if I thoroughly failed to implement it. But first lets look at the table: My prey was Peter Bajika playing his trademark Weenie Potence rush deck. His prey was Kevin Scribner playing a weenie Dominate and Computer Hack bleed deck. Kevin was bleeding Shaun McIsaac Big OBF/DOM Bleed and Bloat(?) And my predator was Nick Watkins OBF/PRE Sneak and Bleed(?) Considering my table position, what I DID NOT want was to be bled by Sneak and Bleed, and then bled by Weenie Tap N' Bleed, all the while taking the occasional beating from my Potent prey. This way leads to madness. I also thought that the race between Kevin trying to chew up the table, and Peter trying to chew up Kevin's minions, would be a close one. I wanted Peter to win, but I wanted him to work for it. I thought I'd have a better chance against Peter in the end. So, I didn't want to distract him from the noble goal of killing off Kevin, by giving him a good reason to come kill me. My plan was to hang back, conserve my resources, set up the combat portion of my deck, and then pounce forward once Kevin was ousted. Play the wimpy Malk deck until I had a weapon (and Muddles!... Oh, brother where art thou?) and try to out bleed, out vote, out maneuver, and out fight(?) Peter in the endgame. Not such a bad plan eh? It didn't work. And..well... mistakes were made. Mistake #1: One effect of playing in a large event like this was that none of the finalists had played against each other or knew what to expect from each others decks. It quickly became obvious what Peter and Kevin where up to, and it looked likely that, whatever Shaun's deck did, Kevin wasn't going to give him time to do it. But I badly misread my predator's deck, and from this mistake others did flow. Nick brought out Lena Rowe and Greta Kircher. With all that presence and auspex showing I assumed he was packing some defense, and facing no pressure in the early game, he was going to choke on it. He didn't. Nick bled forward aggressively, and never failed to find a presence bleed action and a stealth card to go with it. He was even able to leap past my 2nd trads. So, with my meager cycling, my defense wasn't able to keep pace with his offence and I was quickly in trouble, and eventually ousted. Mistake #2: Remember last month when I said that one problem with weenie bleed decks is that they can't do anything cross table? It turns out that this is not entirely true. Kevin was annoyed by my lack of forward pressure, and my obvious willingness to see him ousted. He was further annoyed when I bounced a pair of bleeds over my prey and on to him. My attitude was: Well, what is your big-bad-computer-hacking-self going to do about it? What he did was Deflect a bleed back to me and then use cross-table Misdirection to tap Gilbert when I had a Telepathic Misdirection and no 2nd Trad in my hand. That meant taking several bleeds I couldn't afford to eat. Those bounce bleeds should have gone to my prey. Mistake #3: I drew my Powerbase Montreal but decided that with all the weenie decks at the table, I didn't really want to be defending it. So, I discarded it. But everyone else was busy enough ousting their prey that they probably would have left it. I needed the pool gain and could have easily swiped it back. I should have played it. Would've. Should've. Could've. Anyhow, congratulations to the winner, Peter Bajika for his tight, aggressive play. He taught us New Englanders a overdue lesson on the importance of combat defense. And it was fun to witness the well-oiled potence machine in the hands of a master. As for me, it was a little disappointing to have such strong games all day, only to get rolled in the finals. Well, maybe things will be different next year... -Ben Swainbank Footnotes: (1) In Aaron's !Tremere deck he was using Eagle Site and Sins of Cauchemar(!?!) as his main intercept sources BECAUSE they are trivial to cycle in a low stealth environment. The effect was pretty slick and got me thinking about intercept decks again. (2) Josh's Magical Yellow Ventrue deck would show up again in the Storyline finals on Sunday. In a bizarre twist of fate he was seated next to Ben Spaulding who was playing a Tremere with Fortitude deck that used the same Burst and Prevent combo. So, the two of them had several Showdown at High Noon combats where they both played a Burst of Sunlight and then started dropping Fortitude prevent cards to see who would be left standing. It was very amusing. I would have found it even more amusing if my Samedi and I weren't busy getting crushed at the time. (3) At one point the Bruja Fast-Pitch deck played a Lightening Reflexes at long range and then proceeded to throw 4 gates at his opponent. Lightening Reflexes with Taste of Vitae can actually be an effective combo.