Daft Duffin Draft

Sometimes the wife and I like to play two-player games, and as I'm a CCG type of dude I've roped her into playing those. We occasionally play starter-deck VTES (relatively level playing field) two-player, and I even got her to draft Magic: The Gathering a few times with me. That's a lot fo fun.

I managed to get a box of 3rd edition boosters for $30 around these parts, and it's been sitting around for a few months gathering dust. The little lady asked if we could draft them somehow and I jumped at the chance to play some VTES with her. I suggested the Duffin Draft format, though we didn't follow it exactly. She hadn't played that way before, which took some explaining, but we got going eventually.

The variations we used were twofold: 1. Players have unlimited transfers to influence out vampires, and 2. We didn't actually draft. We just opened a pack and played it. Drafting with only two players is lame anyways, as both people know what everyone's playing after the first pass, so it removes some of the surprise inherent to draft.

We played three games, but the first was friggin' epic in scale, lasting the better part of an hour, which is insane for two-player Duffin Draft.

The packs:

Me: Paolo De Castille (4-cap Las pot ani dom), Luca Italicus (10-cap Las POT OBT NEC FOR DOM tha) Archbishop kung fu special, Klaus Konrecht (8-cap !Tor AUS CEL PRE pot for Cardinal), Chiropteran Maurader (draft = Fake Out), Decapitate, Pushing the Limit, Rafastio Ghoul, Instability, Leather Jacket, Corrupt Construction (useless in this context), Sibyl's Tongue (useless).

I thought that this was actually pretty hot. Not only did I have a Master Card, but as long as i didn't have the edge in a two-player game, I could play Instability to gain two pool and recycle it every turn. I also had two permanents in the Leather Jacket and Rafastio Ghoul. Having an extra bleeder might be nice, and protection while I'm trying to use the FIST cards I drew would be welcome.

My wife, unfortunately, got an amazing pack:

Jonathan Gursel (3-cap !Tor aus pre), Ulrike Rothbart (3-cap !Ven for dom), Mugur Sabau (9-cap !Gan PRO OBF NEC CEL vic Archbishop diablerie special), Stealth Ritus (strong in draft!), Stunt Cycle (useless), Templar (Relatively useless), Helicopter (amazing), Direct Intervention (christ), Restoration (draft: dom as for), Guard Dogs (draft: basic wake!), Art Scam (draft: burn the edge to gain 2 pool as a +1 stealth action)!

My master plan of pulling up Luca for his giant diamond FISTing skills and then getting a Leather Jacket as insurance and defending my pool while gaining via Instability was awesome. But the wife pulled up her two three caps, bled every turn with stealth so that she didn't have to fight Luca, and got a Helicopter on Ulrike. Every turn thereafter she'd take the extra Helicopter action to gain two pool with Art Scam.

So in a format known for the lack of pool gain, I was gaining a net of one per turn even with her bleeding (only one could sneak past Luca safely, and she correctly didn't take any chances), and since I couldn't bleed if I wanted to force her to play Stealth Ritus she was gaining a net of three pool per turn. I was losing the long game, and in Duffin Draft normally the guy with the long game (if he's lucky enough to have it) does pretty well. Worse, when I tried to even the odds by recruiting my Rafastio Ghoul, she'd DI it!

I made a play by getting Paolo out once I thought I had enough pool to outlast her. Then I was actually bleeding every turn as well, and he could play my fist cards at basic to bully her guys. Funny thing was, she thought that she needed animalism to play the draft version of Guard Dogs, so she never tried to block me. At this point I thought I'd have her, but then she also realized she could influence out another minion, and she had12 friggin' pool (three per turn is a lot since I was giving her the edge with Instability and then she'd burn it for Art Scam). So she got up Mugur with only 3 pool on the side.

I managed to get her down to one, but she was bouncing back every turn since she could outbleed me. I did finally punch someone for 3 with Luca (she DI'd the Pushing the Limit so I had to Decapitate him), but it was fresh Mugur so he didn't hit the bin.

I still was doing well until I told her she should check her down cards (she'd set her useless cards aside so they wouldn't distract her) now that she had another minion. She told me she couldn't play any of them. I reminded her to check the draft text. She asked if she needed animalism to play the drafty version of Guard Dogs. When I said she could my fate was sealed. Now she essentially had a two-minion advantage AND a Helicopter to keep her poolgain moving.

I didn't last much longer after that.

Hilarious game of Duffin Draft, though.