The above are twenty-three of the competitors who took place in the Continental Championship qualifying tournament in Columbus, Ohio on July 7th, 2001.
The above 5 are the finalists, from left to right:
Bernie Bresnahan, Robyn Merrill, Mark Loughman, David Tatu, and John Bell.
Bernie Bresnahan walked away with the victory. He is a founding member of the Michigan Jyhad League.
The results of the seventh Continental Qualifying Championship are in. The place, Origins Game Convention, Columbus, Ohio. The day, July 7th, 2001. The judge, Kevin Mergen, VEKN Prince of Madison, WI. The competitors, twenty eight. The predominant deck type, none that I could identify. The winning deck type, Deflection / Major Boon / Dominate Bleed. Tourney Winner: Midwest National Qualifier 2001 (Origins) Deck Name: Favors Remembered Creator: Bernie Bresnahan Type: Dominate / Major Boon CRYPT: 12 Vampires (4.75 average) 1x Emerson Bridges (8) DOM FOR PRE pot Prince of Washington, DC 1x Sir Walter Nash (7) DOM FOR PRE Prince of Chicago 1x Vanessa (6) DOM FOR pre aus 1x Stefano Giovanni (6) DOM nec pre pot burn 1 blood for a vote 1x Lucia Pacciola (6) DOM for pre +1 Strength 1x Ranjan Rishi (5) DOM for PRE +1 Bleed vs. Brujah 1x Peter Blaine (4) dom for aus +1 Bleed vs. Ventrue 1x Ingrid Russo (4) DOM for 1x Gloria Giovanni (4) DOM nec 1x Courtland Leighton (4) dom for pre 1x Samson (2) dom 1x Royce (1) dom LIBRARY: 80 Cards MASTER CARDS: 13 Cards 1x Ventrue HQ 1x Demonstration 1x Giants Blood 2x Sudden Reversal 2x Tribute to the Master 6x Major Boon DOMINATE: 41 Cards 10x Deflection 6x Redirection 6x Scouting Mission 5x Bonding 4x Seduction 3x Pulling Strings 2x Kindred Coercion 1x Thanks for the Donation 1x The Sleeping Mind 1x Mind Rape 2x Far Mastery FORTITUDE: 6 Cards 6x Superiour Mettle OTHER: 20 Cards 4x Kine Resources Contested 2x Palatial Estate 6x Leather Jacket 2x Ivory Bow 6x Wake with Evening Freshness NOTES: Favor's Remembered was put together in design per my perception of the metagame at Origins 2001. At the time Final Nights was not yet tourney legal, and was probably the last time that I can predict that 50-80% of the decks being played will produce consistent bleeds of impunity (Three or more bleed). At GenCon the Independent Clans are a new realm of possibilities, which will alter how many of the previous archetypes evolve in future tournaments. The sheer amount of (D) actions hitting future tables will probably make this deck obsolete. Then again, maybe not. That being said, here's a breakdown of why this deck works and how it functions. During construction I decided to focus it on one primary discipline (Dominate) with the concept of deflecting a small bleed from my predator over to my prey. Often, the bleed will continue for one (pay especial attention to the Acting mininon's disciplines). At which point you take your prey's bleed for one and place a Major Boon into play (or as I like to say "YOU OWE ME!". This forces your Predator to reconsider bleeding you for tons as that bleed will certainly be called on from my prey. Once you have a boon on your prey, over the next turn or two you need to try and take a bleed for your predator. Having a Boon on your predator will also make them think twice before deflecting a bleed your way. In essence, you become a big safety zone. The rest of the deck breaks down to the basics.. Scouting Mission / Bonding for Bleed Kindred Coercion / Pulling Strings for Vote Defence Superiour Mettle / Leather Jacket for Rush Combat Defence Palatial Estate keeps your deflectors with blood Note that not only does the Leather Jacket save your butt from Rush Combat, but leaves a Vampire up as a Deflector. Sleeping Mind is in there for the killing blow. The deck really shines brightest when your predator is a major bleed deck. They often don't have much they can do against this deck except to stall. One highlight from the final round is when Dave Tatu attempted a Kindred Restructure, which would have altered the table dynamic where he would have been in position to take the majority of VP's (looked like anyhow). David (who really is "The Kingmaker") had convinced all the other methuselah's that shaking up the table was a fine idea, and had gained all the princes votes on the table in favor of the vote passing. Emerson Bridges, who had a Pentex Subversion on him denied this from happening by changing most of the Votes at the table against David using Kindred Coercion. It was at this point where the table seemed pretty locked down, and continued to pound Marc then finally David. Robyn and I made a deal earlier where I would allow her to withdraw taking her VP with her on condition that her Princes stay out of any further votes hitting the table. The last thing I would like to add is how much fun it was to compete with such skilled players, and do not look forward to their attempts of revenge at The North American Nationals: GenCon 2001. Primary deck weeknesses: Solid Rush Combat. Solid Vote Pain. The following 10 people qualified to play at the Continental Championship at GenCon in Milwaukee, WI on August 4th, 2001. Rank Name City, State Total VPs TPs 1 Bernard Bresnahan Grand Ledge, MI 10(4) 142 2 Robyn Merrill Los Angeles, CA 7(1) 150 3 John Bell Cincinnati, OH 8(0) 138 4 David Tatu Atlanta, GA 7(0) 156 5 Mark Loughman Heath, OH 6(0) 144 6 Nathan Williams Newark, OH 6 130 7 Jay Kristoff Columbus, OH 4.5 138 8 Joe Churchill Columbia, SC 4 132 8 Madman Fisher Chicago, IL 4 132 10 Aaron Steele Madison Heights, MI 4 124
Kevin Mergen's comments.
(Remember, he was the judge.)
Aaron Steele took quite a few pictures.
If you were there, and would like to add something to this report, email me.