Decks What I Lost With At Origins 2010 #1

So I like to get to Origins every year, even if I don't go to the NAC. It's close enough that it's reasonably priced, the timeline is generally good for my work schedule, and I can wrangle a few friends to carpool with me.

I quite enjoy Origins.

However, I lose a lot of VTES games there. Here's the first of several posts detailing my experiences this year.

Day 1, Friday, U.S. Championships of VTES. 3 Rounds + a Final that I didn't get to.

My deck was approximately thus, although there are some changes to in since that day:


Deck Name:
Bored of Directors
Created by:
Merlin
Description:
A breed/boon deck based around Joao's special and Ventrue Directorate Assembly.
Crypt [12 vampires, average capacity: 4.25]
1x Catherine du Bois DOM for obf pre 5 Ventrue:3
4x Joao Bile DOM FOR pre 5 Ventrue:4
1x Louis Fortier aus dom for obf pre 5 Ventrue:4
1x Victor Pelletier PRE cel dom for 5 Ventrue:4
1x Elena Gutierrez aus dom pre 4 Ventrue:3
1x Robin Withers dom obf pre 4 Ventrue:4
1x Diana Vick dom pre 3 Ventrue:3
1x Lana Butcher dom for 3 Ventrue:3
1x Jackson Asher dom 2 Ventrue:4

Library [83 cards]
Master [25]
1x Giant's Blood
1x Hostile Takeover
5x Life in the City (there were 6 in at Origins)
1x Not to Be
6x Obfuscate
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Perfectionist
1x Sunset Strip, Hollywood
1x Unnatural Disaster
3x Ventrue Directorate Assembly (2 at Origins)
3x Ventrue Headquarters

Action [12]
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
3x Becoming, The
8x Embrace, The

Action Modifier [14]
1x Awe
4x Bewitching Oration
2x Cloak the Gathering
2x Cryptic Rider
1x Faceless Night
2x Forgotten Labyrinth
2x Lost in Crowds

Action Modifier/Combat [1]
1x Swallowed by the Night

Event [1]
1x Uncoiling, The

Political Action [24]
9x Consanguineous Boon
2x Conservative Agitation (only 1 at Origins)
1x Domain Challenge
6x Kine Resources Contested (only 5 at Origins)
1x Neonate Breach
1x Praxis Seizure: Berlin
1x Praxis Seizure: Cairo
1x Praxis Seizure: Miami
2x Ventrue Justicar (there were 3 of these at Origins, and another Praxis)

Reaction [6]
3x Deflection
1x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive

Crafted with: Anarch Revolt Deck Builder [Sun Jul 25 14:27:13 2010]

There were also 2 Majesty and a Tribute to the Master at Origins, but I removed those, as they were actually not awesome when I drew them.

Round 1:

This one is hazy for me. I remember preying on a deck with votes, which wasn't so good for me. My grandprey was playing Daughters breed/DoC-boon/vote, my grandpred was playing Kyasid bleediness, and my predator was playing !Ventrue Teflon Block/Bounce a lot/Prevent/Cancel Votes.

When my predator got out the Demonstration in the late game it hurt. After my prey ousted the Daughters, those !Ventrue had an asspile of Dominate, and after Delaying a turn of Con Boons they had me. My predator also contested Joao in the late game, which was all kinds of bad for me.

Edit: I remembered that I was bleeding into a Maris voter, and that it sucked for me a lot.

0VP

Game MVP: My prey's Maris Streck.

Round 2:

This went better for me, but it was a tough battle. W (G1 Renegade Garou) --> Me --> X (Cybeletron)--> Y (Lambach hooge Tzimmies) --> Z (I don't recall. something i wasn't very concerned about, so it must not have been votey).

My deck functioned well, although I did not draw very many breed cards, and I was stuck playing my opening draw, which did not have Joao in it. That was okay. I managed to Directorate Assembly a bunch of titles on my guys before there was a lot of table votes. On top of that, my predator, Player W, was playing a Renegade Garou deck that paid for Garou by calling early Praxis Seizures and Parity Shifting. This went incredibly badly for him after I dropped the Headquarters on turn 2 (I had Jackson down).

He still managed to get a Garou, and though my deck did okay I wasn't drawing oust votes. Cybele, as it turns out, gains a lot of pool via master cards. I'd whittle her down, and then she'd Villein/Great Beast or Golconda or whatever. Then another giant Baali would come out. Player X of the Cybele deck did _not_ get his Soul Gem, so as good as it was, it wasn't quite good enough.

He still mugged player Y's Lambach deck. Y was forced into a defensive stance early, and that allowed Z to drive into W a bit.

My deck was functioning well enough by midgame that the table all hated me. Lambach wasn't into me passing votes, the Renegade Garou and Great Beast were dropping two of my titled guys per turn, and player W managed to get a Prince title. He went for the Parity Shift the next turn and I Delayed it. Then I backousted him with a Neonate Breach. I finally managed to oust Cybele by drawing into several KRC this same turn.

The endgame went surprisingly quickly. We were running out of time for the round and player Y decided he needed another Tzimisce to seal the deal. He got out Caliban but dropped himself to three pool in to process. I drew the right emount of stealth to get past Lambach and push a vote, and then ousted player Z as well with scant minutes to spare.

4Vp and 1 GW

Game MVP: Neonate Breach. Backoust for the win!

Round 3:

VTES is full of learning experiences. I learned something this game. Had I applied this knowledge as soon as I'd gotten it, I feel I might have won this game. Alas, I did not.

Me-->Player A (weenie hack)-->Player B(BH Dom Tools)-->Player C (antoher Cybeletron)

The learning experience: I called an early get-a-title vote, not realizing that my prey had already bled and therefore should have the edge (he had not taken it from the center of the table). Player B, immediately recognizing that the game state was not correct, handed my prey the edge.

At this point I should have picked up the vote card and said, "Well, then. I don't want to call this at the moment." Instead, I decided that since I had played the card, I must stand by that play. I lost that title, and I'm pretty sure it cost me the game. I was not able to pass a vote the rest of the game. I managed to get 4 crypt Ventrue and 4 Embraces in play, but after Cybele popped up Annazir, who has 2 votes, I couldn't pass a Con Boon before Cybele ate me up.

Cybele swept. The weenie hacks had mugged player B, but couldn't oust him in time for the Baali train. Player B didn't get much of chance to do anything other than be bled.

0 VP.

Game MVP: My predator's Cybele. She's awesome.

5 VP and a GW isn't enough to get into the finals at a U.S. Championship, so I packed up my cards and left.

I talked to Player B after the game about my mistake. He said, "Oh yeah, you should have pulled that vote back if you would not have called it. I didn't mean to mess up your game or anything, I was merely correcting the game state." I assured him I didn't blame him for my own poor play.

It was still a good time.

Next time: Baali!

-Merlin out