It's all over except for the crying, and the New World has
a new champion:

    Congratulations to 2001 NA Champion Ben Peal of
Boston, MA.

    Ben and four other Methuselahs made it to the finals
after three grueling rounds.  Briefly, the final is described
as follows:

    [A note here about the finalists: sometimes players will
tie for VPs in the preliminary rounds and be forced to have
a tie-breaker of some sort to determine final placement.  Four
players tied for 3rd place in the Championship, which meant
one would not be able to play in the final.  Sincere condolences
to Ethan Burrow of Austin TX for his random selection as
the odd man out.  It's tough getting shafted by a roll of a die.]

    Jared Strait (missed his hometown), playing Brujah Prince
vote and combat, preyed on
    Robert Goudie of Los Angeles CA, playing weenie Potence
rush, preyed on
    Stephen Fazio (missed his hometown), playing Toreador
showcase, preyed on
    Ben Peal of Boston MA, playing mid-size Malkavian
Obf/Dom with much Change of Target, preyed on
    Trey Morita of Washington DC, playing Gangrel Superior
Protean something-or-other, preyed on Jared.

    The game opened up with Goudie, Peal, Fazio and Morita all
playing small vampires, though Fazio followed with Tatiana
Romanov.  After a few rounds of build-up, every player had a
stable of minions to choose from, and table talk became the order
of the day.  Morita played a London Evening Star that made every
+1 stealth action possibly blockable, and bartered with it.  Strait
played Theo Bell, but his prey's Potence weenies threatened to
respond to violence with violence.  Goudie and Strait spent a
great deal of time talking about how to best avoid destroying each
other.  Fazio's Toreador were the usual target of Goudie's rush
actions, and Tatiana went back and forth to torpor more times than
I could keep track of.  Strait performed a number of good deeds
for Fazio, Sudden Reversal'ing two Fames placed on Tatiana as
well as calling a 5th Tradition on her to help her stay afloat.
    The table seemed wary at all times for destabling actions, and
most players took actions or provided help to other players if
their situation looked grim.  Fazio called two Dramatic Upheavals,
the first failing due to Strait's two Princes, the second one passing
after Strait's Volker was beat into torpor.  Fazio chose to switch
places with Morita, making Peal his predator and Strait his prey.
Both Peal and Strait had helped him out in earlier rounds, and Peal
had not shown a tremendous amount of forward activity.  Again,
there was a large amount of talking done in this game -- at one
point, ten minutes passed with no action on the table, only deals
offered and table talk.
    With the new table seating, Morita found himself under new and
improved pressure from Goudie's weenies, who Computer Hacked
or Bum's Rushed.  Peal still put little pressure on his prey, who
tried to pass votes when his minions were out of torpor.  Morita,
using a minion with Mr. Winthrop and a Raven Spy, attempted to
block one of Peal's actions -- but used his last untapped minion to do
so.  When Goudie asked if Morita had any cards to cycle for combat,
Morita implied he couldn't get into combat with Goudie's minions,
i.e. he couldn't untap.  Goudie responded by bleeding for Morita's
last pool.  There were about 20-25 minutes remaining.
    Peal rescued Tatiana one last time and (that same turn) brought
out Gilbert Duane to support any votes Fazio could call.  Fazio tried
to put pressure on Strait, but the cards were not with him.  Strait and
Goudie appeared to be sizing up one another and the rest of the table
to determine who could get what VPs, when Peal unexpectedly bled
Fazio to death.  Presumably, Fazio knew he could not possibly score
a VP, and repaid Peal's earlier favors with 6 pool and a victory point.
    Ten minutes left.  Goudie takes most of this time tapping his
fingers and wondering out loud about what cards he's going to play.  : )
Most of Peal's minions are beaten into torpor.  Peal rushes through his
turn to give Strait a chance to try and do something -- which he ends
up calling a KRC but failing to oust Goudie.
    Time is called, and the final scores: Goudie 1.5, Peal 1.5, Strait .5;
Peal wins on tournament VPs.

    Due to the deep and intense amount of table talk in this game,
I can't claim that this is a comprehensive report.  If any of the players
or other spectators can follow up this report with more details, that'd
be swell.

    Congratulations to all Methuselahs on well-played games in the
face of intense competition, and thanks go out to L. Scott Johnson for
a smoothly-run tournament.  And of course to White Wolf, for all the
obvious reasons.

    Y'all come back to Milwaukee real soon now, y'hear?

--Matt Heslin,
resident and note-taker