Great Lakes Qualifier Report

I played a version of the deck I played at this tournament last Origins.

Round 1: Paul (ishatarri ven Tap/bleed)-->> John K(? Muaziz does something)-->> Sean K( g6 Salubri Marionette)--> Me (Shadow Out of Time v5)

Things went pretty badly for John and myself early. The tourney was 16 players, so that meant 4 player tables. I find that this sort of thing makes for odd tourneys. Alas.

I had a slow start. John got up 4 Tremere (3 little ones and Muaziz). I got Nehemiah and Tyler. Tyler got Mind Numbed early, which hurt. Nehemiah still brought a Reckless into the house, but Sean was a consistent bleeder and I hadn't draw a Villein yet.

Paul was the winner for all this. His Mustafa and Ubende were hurting my votes a lot, and Shasa was bleeding hard with Legal Manip and Uncontrollable Impulse. Usually after some Mind Numb/Freak Drive action.

John stayed alive for awhile, but eventually succumbed. The table leveled a bit. I was gaining pool each turn at least, and Paul was hurting now as he'd gotten up Victor P and made him Prince of Paris. Worse for him, Sean had Serena the black, who is Greta Kirscher with a third eye bonus.

The game turned on a single play. Sean got a Pulse on Serena, and then bled with the Marionette. I had an Archon Investigation. I knew that burning her would help Paul immensely, but he was low on pool and I had the cards in hand I needed to oust him.

I played the Archon. Tyler bled for two at stealth, but Paul had the Scalpel Tongue he needed (and I didn't have the Hall of Hades Court) to cancel Nehemiah's votes during the KRC ousting referendum.

Paul then ousted us both in quick succession.

Paul: 4VP and GW

Game MVP: Mind Numb. Slow down your predator, oust your prey.

Round 2: Me--> Dave S (Alan Sovereign wall street wall)--> Devin (The Reg Driscoll show)--> Matt (!Sal bleedbox)

Matt was an effective predator. His deck actually had a lot of blood denial elements with burning touch, hide the heart, and Greg winter all making an appearance. He got out Langa, Nketchi, two Bros in Arms, and Greg early. That was a lot of minions coming my way.

I got Nehemiah and Giangaleazzo, but Gian got mugged early by Langa after an aggressive Villein. He never quite recovered. Nehemiah stole Greg, but Dave blocked pretty much everything for a while.

Dave got General Perfido, Alan merged, and Piotr. Alan got a gun and the general anima gathered him. Piotr got a lawyer for plus bleed.

Devin got a Soul Gem and a Presence skill on Reg. Then he played Little Mountain every turn and forgot to draw a Freak Drive for a bit.

I did not do well with a single minion and Alan blocking everything. Worse, Matt got Uriel with Bashee Ironwail. He bleed for 5 using all his guys.

I made a crazy deal to refill Nehemiah by voting for something that wouldn't hit Dave. I called a neonate breach and hit Devin for 1 and Matt for 4. Devin saw his chance and became a sudden predator, bleeding for 5 unblockable with Reg, burning him with Daring the Dawn, and then bleeding again with new Reg.

With Matt gone I managed to hit Dave for 3-4 pool per turn, but his portfolio was too deep for me to do lasting damage. I begged Devin not to oust me, but he did. Dave got him in the two player. No GW and no MVP.

Round 3: Ryan (HoS bleedbox)--> Me--> Kevin (Weenie vote with TEN Kaymakli Nightmares)--> Alayna (DoC vote)

I knew what Kevin was playing because he'd wrecked Robb earlier in the day. I'd also played against his deck on another occasion so it was known to me. So. . .when I had the opportunity to bring up Shawda Dorrit by turn two I took it. Her three votes turned his deck from a table nightmare at a four player to a weenie bleed nightmare for Alayna.

She got two DoC, but the weenie pressure was high and she could not afford more. Ryan got Byzar and Viuda Blanca.

I also got Nehemiah and Mylan up, but it took a long time. I actually didn't do much until Nehemiah showed up, though I did make Kevin put some damage on himself with KRCs, while he was bleeding the hell out of Alayna.

I didn't get any Dominate, so my Deflections were dead cards. Ryan did bleed me a bit with Trochomancy, and got a Pulse on Byzar later. His main contribution to predatorhood was milling two cards per turn with a Slaughterhouse.

The game fell into my lap from there. I waited until Kevin was going to oust Alayna on his next turn and ousted him before he had the chance. Alayna was on 3 pool by then. She lunged unsuccessfully at Ryan, passing a big nasty Reckeless that was unblockable, but her three bleed got blocked.

Ryan failed to oust me, but I actually did not draw another pool damaging vote with my 8 cards + Nehemiah goodness. Still, with Mylan I was able to bleed for three with my three guys. Ryan bled ms a couple times, but now Giangaleazzo had joined my ready region and I did draw some KRCs.

Me 4VP and GW.

Game MVP: Shawda Dorrit, for being cheap and votey and just what I needed to win this game.

I did not make the finals by a half VP ( I was actually 7th of 16 players with a single game sweep, behind Alayna's 4VP and GW on tournament points. David Wilson, who organized the event, posted a redaction of the finals on the Michigan VTES Facebook page.

I'm having trouble generating a link to a Facebook page for linkiness here. Perhaps David will mosey by and leave some info in the comments here. I'd quote him out of context but. . .

I played my Al Muntaquim Chainsaw deck in a pickup game during the finals, but the Lambach on my left wouldn't let me get a Magic Chainsaw, and the game devolved into mutual bullying. It broke when my predator decided to oust me, and then the Lambach player, in quick succession. My Caitiff had just finished munching on the last Tzimisce, too.

Ah well. It does what combat decks often do: it wrecks it's predator and then loses spectacularly.

-Merlin out

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allz

Location:Ypsilanti MI

Battle Report and VTES

Managed to play a game of WarMachine and one of VTES this weekend. I have been itching to play my Caine list again (well, one of them; I've got a few) and I just modified my African deck for the Qualifier next weekend.

Battle Report: Cygnar v Blindwater

I played a pretty basic PCaine list, with a few modules that I wanted to try out. For instance, I wanted to use the much-maligned Gun Mage Captain Adept to shore up Caine's terrible Command check. I also wanted to try The Dude Marshaling a Charger, with Arlan backing them up for bonus focus.

All that went fine. I still played pretty badly and my dice weren't helping out. I gave the Gatormen a run for their money, but on the turn that counted I tried to do something cute instead of winning outright, and it cost me the game. Matt played well, for sure, keeping his anti-range stuff up to stop me from mugging his caster.

Issues I had:

Occultation is a cool spell that prevents my ranged attacks from hitting a model/unit. Matt kept it on key units all game, and his warlock at the end.

Thunder Strike is cool and all, but not very reliable as a striking engine. Go with 4 pistol blasts where possible.

Terrain is a bitch.

Then we played a quick game of VTES.

Devin(Huitzi Baali Tend)--> Ray (John Woo Garou) --> Matt (g2 Gio Zombies)--> Me (Are you an African or an African't?)

This was an odd game. Devin brought out Huitzi and that's it for a while. Ray got Ramona and Guiliano, and merged Ramona fast.

Matt got out Gloria and Lia Milliner.

I got out Kenyatta and Urenna early, with Fish right behind them. I computer hacked and predator's mastery'd Devin for a three bleed early. I also managed a KRC to get my Ishtarri a Kholo title within the first few turns.

Ray did some weirdness. He got out TWO Renegade Garou (Ramona had two vessel on her) and gave one a .44. He then assumed he could bully the table at his leisure. He did NOT rush matt early, and when he did he deliberately did not knock Gloria into torpor.

I was a little bent about this. All while be was doing so he kept looking over at my ready region. I told him that he really shouldn't worry about me this early, but he wanted Matt to keep the pressure on me.

I ran out of forward steam with Matt rushing and bleed with all his guys each turn. I had to leave a healthy guy up to block the inevitable Zombie rush. All the while I was complaining to Ray.

Devin was lower on pool, but he got an Unleash Hell's Fury in play, which slowed me down considerably. He also began to bleed Ray for 5-6 with Huitzi every turn. Ray, who'd spent down to 10 to get his setup going, began to go full backwards. Devin had two Majesty for the two werewolves.

Ray pool cycled into 7 pool again so he had at least one more turn. Matt mugged me some more and summoned a fresh Horde after I killed the first finally (I was deliberately not killing it for a while).

I sacrificed my Kholo to Daring the Dawn bleed Devin down to 3 pool, but I did not draw the two stealth I needed (or the Strange Day) to oust him.

Devin bled Ray for 6 again.

Ray pool cycled back to 5 pool and rushed backward twice again. Again Devin had two Majesty. Ray was exasperated.

Matt mugged me some more. He Graverobbed my Kholo as well. Go Matt.

I bled Devin and lost another minion to Unleash Hell's Fury. Still no result. Devin bled Ray for 5 to oust him.

All the while I was telling Ray that if he'd kept on Matt early the table might have broken the other way. It was, after all, a four-player game.

Matt got Devin in the two-player after the table broke, the wrong way. ;)

Matt: 3VP and GW, Devin 1VP

MVP: Graverobbing. That hurt my game a lot and helped Matt's all at once.

-Merlin out

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allz

Location:Flint MI

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.

Quick VTES rundown

We played three VTES games yesterday. Things went south from the start rather quickly.

Game 1:

Matt (G2 Gios w Zombies)>>> Me (are you an African or an African't?)>>> Ray (Lucretia Trophy)>>> Robb (Nergal is a pretty good minion)>>> Sean (G4-5 Malks)

My deck has three weenies from each of the Laibon clans and 10 Abombwe skills. I use the stealth and bleed from Abombwe to weenie bleed a bit, and eventually I get a couple Kholo titles and call votes.

My crypt draw was not so good. It often isn't, and i'm considering modifying the deck to remove one of the four clans now that KotEK has increased my small-cap selections. I got two each of the Osebo and Guruhi.

This was a pain because it meant the Akunanse Kholo in my hand was dead and needed to go. I guess having a confident discard is good?

Anyway. Ray got Dimple early, Robb got a bad crypt draw and had to influence up Eurayle and use an Anarch Convert to dig for Nergal, Sean got Keller Thiel and Bloody Mary, and Matt got Ambrogino.

I got Ismita and Urenna Bunu, and eventually Lumumba and Kamaria. I beat up Dimple and bled Ray for quite a few with my weenie bleed tech.

I had an early Consevative Agitation, but without Kholos to go with it the table conspired to fail it.

Ray was on the ropes, but he managed to get up Lucretia and Tusk. Robb got Nergal. Sean got Morel, and Matt got Andrea Gio.

I did what I usually do when playing against Shambling Hordes decks with my Laibon, which is luckily draw one of the two Legend of the Leopard early and then use it to steal my foe's first zombie minion. Matt was pissed. He summoned another Horde the next turn, but as usual I find that hordes decks don't do well with their first horde heisted.

Ray got some crosstable con boon love from Sean unnecessarily, which I felt was not in Sean's best interest, as Ray was not predating efficiently upon Robb. In fact, Ray Red Listed my stolen Zombie, but then I got it killed by rushing Matt's second horde with it.

Then Ray Red Listed Urenna and did the Red List mark, Carrion Crows and diablerie. The table again voted for Lucretia's life. He got a lot of crosstable help for being a shitty speed bump. All the while, Robb was bleeding for 3-6 with Nergal each turn, and he eventually got an Enkil Cog to go with his Rutor's Hand.

So i thought it was weird that Ray was getting all that love when I could be bleeding the hell outta Robb, but alas, my voice of reason involved me getting a VP, so my opinion was discarded as biassed.

Which isn't a terrible assessment, really.

Matt had trouble doing anything. He did bleed me for 5 with Ambrogino once. Then Sean Kindred Spirits'd the hell out of him. Every turn.

Matt was first out, and then I got Ray. Sean went next, bled for 9 by Nergal in a single go-round, 6 on Robb's turn and 3 on Sean's.

By the time the game had got this far Robb had 15 pool and I had 10, and I lost the attrition war, though I did put a hurt on him in the end.

Robb 3VP and GW, me 1VP Sean 1VP

Game MVP: probably Enkil Cog. Which is insane on a +2 bleeder.

Game 2:

Robba had to leave, because he had to go make porn.

Ray(Big Gay Al's Aggravated Fisting Assault)>>> Me (She Smote on the lyfte honde and on the rigght hande)>>> Matt(!Brujah badass voters)>>> Sean(Nahkthorheb villainy)

My deck is a silly White Lily multirush monstrosity. Ray's deck is an Al Muntaquim Domain-for-Aggs and then punch for LOTs deck. Matt's deck seemed to be a modified !Brujah starter. Sean's seemed to be a modified FoS starter.

Ray didn't pay much for doodz, Al and a few Caitiff don't cost shit. I was worried he'd come wreck White Lily despite her Ak-47. I also got Banjoko, so I paid 18 pool to get started.

Matt got Hektor and Armin Brenner. Sean got Nahkthorheb and Abdelaobek.

Ray basically rushed right every turn in an attempt to stay alive. Nahkthorheb got a Heart of the City early, and with that and a few Enticement he was a 6-pool bleeding machine most turns.

My deck has some card flow issues, and I did not get any of the 4x Freak Drive, 4x Forced March, or 4x Tattoo Signal in the deck. This severely limited my capacity to wage war. The fact that I didn't want to hurt Ray or Matt because they were both going at Sean also limited my actions.

Sean eventually got Ray, at which point Matt and I tried to conspire against Sean. I only backrushed and I managed to enable a Vendetta via Deflection so that Matt could crush Nahkthorheb. I would then contest Fame with Matt and bleed him for the oust, and rush Matt into oblivion.

But it turns out Nahkthorheb is a resilient bastard. Despite our two-front assault Sean's last minion rescued Famous Nahkthorheb from torpor, who then hunted with a Perfectionist and bled me for 5 with a Legal Manipulations. I had 5 pool. My blocker didn't have the intercept to stop him.
Sean managed to oust Matt shortly thereafter, as Nahkthorheb drew a couple Majesty and Matt didn't have a lot of Grapples in his deck.

Sean 4VP and GW.

Game MVP: Nahkthorheb easily.

I will never speak of what happened in Game 3, and any comments pertaining to the details of said game may be censored from the record.

It was a stupid game.

-Merlin out

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allz

Saturday Night Games

Ray asked to demo Devin and Robb at WarMachine and get in a game of VTES as well. I said that sounded good. Problem is, Ray spends most of his game store time chatting instead of actually playing games. I must just be too focussed on getting the games in.

Eventually we started a 5 player game of VTES, though Robb had to leave.

Me(new school nos royalty)>> Adam(Thucimia swarm bleed)>> Devin(Mission Impossible Anarchs)>> Ray (Petaniqua wall) >> Matt (Nergal wall).

Two blocky Baali decks at the table. Both of them were built by Ray as well. My Nos Royalty deck ignores 2nd tradition in favor of breeding and booning. I got Ben rose and petrodon, and both of them made a third trad early.

Adam, who never has good card luck, didn't get Thucimia in his draw. He got Bertrand, Alu, Sukainah, and Mike Dicarlo instead. He bled without stealth many times per turn.

Devin got Maris Streck, Maldavis, and an Anarch Convert in play. Maldavis was an anarch. She also Pulsed early for +2 bleed.

Ray got Petaniqua and Yvette, who is Hopeless. Yvette proved herself useful by getting a Heart of Cheating on turn two. Ray merged Petie early with an Epiphany.

Matt got Nergal. Then he contested Alu, but yielded the next turn (Adam was on the other side of the table and Matt didn't realize he was already in play). Then he got Lubomira.

The game played strangely. After I Parity Shifted Adam for 5 and got out my 5th minion I was identified as "the table threat", at least by Ray. To be fair, I'd stolen his Rack cross table to keep him honest. When I got up my 5th Nos (Slag), Petaniqua blocked his bleed cross table and made him Infernal and dead (Diabolical Lure and Petaniqua).

Matt then bled me for 5 every turn with Nergal. Nerg got a Bowl of Converging awesome early, but I Concealed it. Then Devin blocked Petaniqua getting the Bowl with Maldavis, which cost Devin his Maldavis. Devin got Maldavis out again, because Ray diablerized with a Rebirth. The Anarch convert had been knocked into torpor as well.

It was a confusing whirlwind of blocking and hitting.
While all of this was going on Adam was busy bleeding for one with all his guys and keeping enough pool to keep me honest. Devin was brought down to like 2 pool, but he Failsafe'd himself back into a reasonable amount.

Ray got Harzomatuili and put himself down to 2.

Nergal kept on me.

I realized that my Nos deck needs more oust. It tends to be Swarm-y, but it lacks lunge power. I drew an Anarchist Uprising and the Minion Tap I needed to survive calling an anarchist uprising, but when I went for it the newly-minted Kamaria hanging out with Nergal played Delaying Tactics.

I bled a bunch and Adam's new Sadjid al Musbah played a lot of Nest of Eagles to make me feel sad about things.

Devin had gotten Thaumatergy on his second Maldavis and now he was reducing bleeds as well with Detect Authority and Telepathic Counter. He actually had quite a racket going with his single anarch. He used the Anarch Museum to pull an Undue Influence or Power of One each turn, play them, and then pull the pool from Undue back to pay for next turn's Museum fish. Then he'd use PB:LA to untap Maldavis and reduce bleeds. It was not bad at all.

But Ray had the Ruins of Evil and PB:M in play, as well as a Vessel to go with his reacquired Rack. Devin bled a bit and Ray staved him off. It was a bit of a stalemate. Ray never bled Nergal at all. Probably because he built both decks.

I called my Anarchist Uprising the next turn without much resistance, and managed to oust Adam and piss off the table some more. Devin lunged at Ray for like the fifth turn running and didn't get the oust. Ray finally bled, and Nergal predictably misdirected the bleed at me, but I played Two Wrongs to cancel the bounce.

Nerg bled for 3. I tried to oust Devin but he Detected Authority and Telepathic Countered my chipping assault. He then left himself untapped after bleeding Ray for a couple. With Two Wrongs and bleed reduction flying, we decided that Robb was here in spirit. Represent.

Ray sat there, but played Smiling Jack. Nergal bled for 3. I ousted Devin with a bleed from Petrodon. Then, not having a lot of stealth, I discarded and ended my turn.

Ray played wall and did nothing. Matt bled for 3.

I decided that if I was gonna do anything, I should just start taking actions with action cards to move them so I could maybe draw stealth. I did have a couple +1 stealth cards, buy Ray was sitting on KRCG and Harzomatuili at this point. I decided to essentially sacrifice my third traditions (named after former drummers of Pearl Jam by Devin's request) by taking actions.

I tapped "Dave Krusen" and declared a Parity Shift. Ray tapped KRCG and announced a block with Harzo, i played a Faceless Night, but Ray backed down after he realized he had less pool than I did. Harzomatuili was now tapped at least. I stole 3 pool from Matt. I had actually drawn a Cloak and an Elder Impersonation now. I tapped Ben Rose and announced another third Tradition ("Jack Irons"). There was no resistance. I tapped "Dave Abburzezze" and announced a Con Boon. Ray tried to block but I cloaked it. I gained six pool. I then had Petrodon call another Con Boon. I used some of my 15 pool to influence Zelios (I'd started last turn) into play.

Matt looked frustrated. Ray said we should play on and that he "had this", but I had a KRC at this point and Ray was down to only a few pool. I probably would have ousted him in the next turn or two.

I say probably because Ray called the game after his untap phase. Devin wanted to see some WarMachine and it was pushing 11 pm at this point, and the store closes at 12.

Ray showed me the 2 Forced Awakening and 2 Eyes of Argus in his hand, so he would have stopped D actions, but my votes were all getting to referendum, and they were all passing as well.

Called due to time, me 2.5 VP, Ray .5 VP, Matt .5 VP. MVP: Benjamin Rose. When I ran out of vote actions he called votes to get my hand size larger. That's some good shit there.

I demoed WarMachine using the Cygnar Battlebox for Devin's battlegroup and an identical 'jack lineup with a different 'caster for me.

He was playing Stryker and I was a dude named Alister Caine. Good name at least. Caine will get a more in-depth entry later, but suffice to say he's a two-gun wieldin', flapping trenchcoat wearin', hard drinkin' warcaster straight out of a John Woo movie.









I explained the basic rules and Devin and I went back and forth a bit. Caine managed to completely mangle Devin's Charger with only a couple shots from his pistols. I was impressed.

Devin went for a spell assassination with Stryker, and as Stryker has weak spells he fell a bit short. Caine finished him off with a couple gunshots to the face, but Devin was playing well. He used Stryker's Blur upkeep spell on the Douche himself, making him defense 19 against ranged attacks. Caine's a damn good shot at RAT 8, but he still needed 11s to hit! I had to boost all Caine's attacks to hit, but I did every time (lucky; average roll on 3d6 is 10.5) and managed to kill Stryker. Devin was looking at a different faction (Protectorate of Menoth) but as he's an artist he might paint some good looking' models.


-Merlin out

Edit: my decklist per Brandonsantacruz' request.

Crypt 12 doodz:

4 x Petrodon (+1 bleed is good w Warsaw Station in play)
2 x Baron Dieudonne (more untap, Prince)
2 x Ben Rose (Prince, good votey special for hand jam)
1 x Zelios
1 x Slag
1 x Jeremy Wyx (+1 bleed is still good)
1 x Ruxandra

The crypt is good; I nearly always get a Prince, Alonso, and a support weasel (or Zelios). If the game is going well I might want to dig for more guys.

Regarding the library, there are a lot of ways to make a good Nos Royalty deck. I decided to go breed and boon and didn't add any Second Traditions, because then I could try to avoid combat cards altogether. Cock Robin an his punchiness are better for the second trads IMO.

Master cards (21 but I probably won't play the skills):
4 Obf skills (third trads are better with basic black)
3 minion tap
1 blood doll
2 Two Wrongs
1 Direct Intervention (it's never bad, I don't play competitively without them anymore, and I've been testing this one for tourneys)
Parity Shift enablers:
Slum hunting ground
2 Warsaw Station
Monastery of Shadows
Labyrinth
Papillon
Bleeding the Vine
Accelerators:
2 Zillah's Valley
Info Highway

Votes:
I told the guys during the game that I "wasn't playing a Parity Shift deck". Clearly this was a lie, but since I hadn't looked at the deck in 6 months I'd forgotten what a filthy bastard I am. Helpful.

3 random praxis seizure
1 Nos justicar (for Alonso to use to enable cryptic rider or for a title if I don't get him
2 cryptic rider
6 con boon (should be more)
1 can't take it with you (I'm playing around w this and shift)
1 kindred segregation (prayer tech)
1 ancient influence
1 anarchist uprising
3 Krc
4 Parity Shift (all my jyhad-backed copies)

Prolly needs another 2 Ps and another 2 con boon. Could use a Reins of Power.

27 Stealth cards (whichever you like?)

1 Conceal
2 Old Friends

6 Third Tradition (may be all that I own)
3 Fourth trad (in case I have extra actions or need speed, might be able to drop)
1 Shreknet

That's it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Flint, MI

Torpid Blood Report

I played in a 17 player tourney hosted by David Wilson yesterday. It was a decent turnout and there were good games to be had. The Flint crew that I came with did exceptionally well for us, and Devin and Robb made the finals. Even more shocking, Robb won. He gives me some credit for his victory. Apparently by not making the finals I had no opportunity to backoust him during the same.

That's fair.

I played a silly War Ghoul deck I've been kicking around lately. Originally it was a Terrifisto superstar deck. Since Mr. T is the Archbishop of Detroit I titled it "Represent!" However, since the printing of Agent of Power T is obsolete in the deck. Horatio can do the whole trick on turn 2 most of the time.

Represent!

Crypt: 12 dudes
2 x Horatio 2-cap Sabbat Tzimisce vic
2 x Terrence (and Phillip) 4-cap Sabbat Tzimisce vic aus ani
2 x Lolita Houston 4-cap Sabbat Tzimisce aus VIC
2 x Devin Bisley (D-Biz) 5-cap Sabbat Tzimisce AUS ANI vic
The Rose 5-cap Sabbat Tzimisce PRE VIC aus
Elizabeth Westcott 5-cap Sabbat Tzimisce AUS vic ani cel
Piotr Andreikov 2-cap Sabbat Tzimisce Black Hand aus
Wendy Wade 3-cap Sabbat Tzimisce aus ani

Library (71 cards):

Master Cards (18, 10 trifle):

6 x Agent of Power
1 x Dreams of the Sphinx
1 x Giant's Blood
2 x Fame
2 x Obtenebration
2 x Vessel
2 x Wash
2 x Charisma

Action cards (24):
8 x War Ghoul
8 x Nocturn
1 x Carlton Van Wyk
1 x Vagabond Mystic
1 x Gregory Winter
4 x Asanbonsam (Cosby) Ghoul
1 x Unlicensed Taxicab

Action Mods (7):
2 x Lobotomy
2 x Shroud of Night
3 x Changeling

Combat (9):
2 x Chiropteran Marauder
2 x Meld w the Land
5 x Trap

Combo (3):
3 x Plasmic Form

Event (3):
1 x Dragonbound
2 x The Unmaskening

Reaction (7):
3 x On the Qui Vive
3 x Telepathic Misdirection
1 x WWEF

It's a cute little deck, but with a bad draw it can be painful. Absolutely no one has Obtenebration, and if I don't get AoP or the skills early, my game is hosed.

Round one:






Matt (kyasid toolbox) -> Me (Represent!) -> Kevin (Petaniqua Garou Storm) -> Sam (Maris and Presence Malks)

I got everything I needed early. On turn two Piotr had no resistance when he summoned a Nocturn, Nocturn bled for the Edge, and the Piotr made the shadow demon into a flesh beast. Good stuff. Kevin got a wild look in his eye at this point. On turn 3 Lolita did the same thing while Piotr bled. Marconius popped up behind me and Quentin King III was in Sam's ready region.

I got up my entire uncontrolled region out: Lolita, Piotr, Horatio, and Wendy. Also got 3 WGs, Greg, and 2 Cosby Ghouls in play.

Kevin still brought out Petaniqua ADV. I considered NOT crushing her into oblivion, but when I realized she had AUS and the potential to kill a WG without red cards when merged I scrapped the idea of a normal game. I knocked her into torpor.

Matt bled me a bit with Dominate, but I had the Unmasking and two Cosby Ghouls in play, and his deck was more bruise and bleed than S + B. He killed my two blocky Ghouls and Julia Prima bled me for 4 with a Govern, but after that I murdered his ready region.

Kevin brought up Eurayle to support his werewolf engine, but I beat her up in short order as well. He did manage to Resurrect a Cosby Ghoul from my ash heap and recruit Carlton, but it was futility at this point. All the crosstable rescues in the world didn't stop me ousting him. Dragonbound sealed his fate and Matt's as well.

In the one on one Sam's Malks couldn't bleed and vote my pool away before my 3 War Ghouls killed his minions. He conceded shortly afterward.

Me 3 VP and GW, Sam 1 VP

Game MVP: asanbonsam ghoul. Thang kept me alive through the Kyasid lunges so that I could win.

Game 2:

Me (Represent!)-> Jimmy (malk wall)-> Eric (Akunanse toolbox)-> Phil (toreador grand ball)-> Ryan (Toreador. . .?)






This game had such potential. My opening crypt draw was Piotr, Lolita, Horatio, and Terrence. Nice. My opening hand was Agent, Fame, Obtenebration skill, Nocturn, War Ghoul, Chiropteran Marauder, and Trap. Fuck yes.

But I went first.

I put a blood on Lolita and proceeded. Jimmy put two on Dolphin Black. Everyone else went for big caps, but when I got Lolita up Jimmy got Dolphin. He blocked every action I took for the first 4 or 5 turns.

When the dust settled, Jimmy had Dolphin and Anatole. I had my whole crypt draw. Eric had Kamiri Wa Itherero and Amavi, Phil had Alexandra and Tatiana Romanova, and Ryan had Eugene and Katherine (c? 7-cap tor g5?).

Eventually everyone but me and Ryan got another minion. Jimmy got Kite, Eric got Sanjo (maybe. Don't recall), and Phil got Vicky Ash.

I told Jimmy that if he was gonna block all my actions I'd just bleed him with my 4 guys every turn until Ryan ousted me. Anatole got a .44 and put Horatio and Piotr into torpor. Then Jimmy said "you can play your game."

I felt this was odd. I got a War Ghoul and crushed Anatole. Jimmy wasn't expecting my Trap. He played like 4 Aura Reading for cards, never looking at my hand. Oh well. Anatole never escaped torpor either.

And there we sat for like an hour and a quarter. Jimmy couldn't draw the stealth to get past Eric's animalism intercept with KS. Phil couldn't draw votes to oust. Ryan bled me every turn but wasn't drawing bleed cards.

Jimmy brought himself low with an Assault Rifle on Kite (which killed my Dub-G). Eric got another minion, dropping to two pool. Phil started bleeding like crazy. Ryan kept up the pressure.

I tried to sucker Jimmy into blocking Lolita with Dolphin Black (who I'd made famous) most of the end game. I still had a Chiropteran Marauder, and I still could have gotten a vp at least. He never took the bait.

Ryan got me as the first oust of the game, and Jimmy got Eric, and then Phil got Ryan. This all happened with like 10 minutes to go. The table then timed out.

Jimmy 1.5 vp, Phil 1.5 vp, Ryan 1 vp.

No MVP.

Somebody let Dudock win the finals. I blame David Wilson. We'll see what Robb has to say.

-Merlin out

Location:Ypsilanti MI

Not Dead Yet

It’s been nearly two weeks since the tourney, so I guess I should really get this down. I’ve got a bad WarMachine habit these days. Maybe I should blog about that too. But, on with the VTES. . .

Not Dead Yet

26 Players

I decided to bring a “fun” (well, “annoying”) deck to the tourney, as I can’t make Origins and the NAC this year anyways due to the due date of my daughter. While I didn’t want to be super-competitive, I did want to try out a weird deck to see if it could hang. I also wanted to bring a deck that had Toy in it, because my friend Tom did the artwork, and he was going to be playing in the tournament as well. Represent.

My deck is called “MacBeth was a Bitch”, and it’s a Lorrie Dunsirn superstar deck, with !Malks on the side to help poolgain/Lorrie cost with Kindred Spirits. Lorrie clears a bleed lane and then the Malks step into the breach and regain some of the pool lost by taking actions with Lorrie. To me, it’s strictly inferior to a straight weenie kindred spirits bleeder, and it also has the bonus complication of falling prey to a lot of the common foibles of superstar decks: actually beating up the superstar, well-defended Pentex Subversion, super-aggressive predation, poor initial crypt draw, etc.

Strangely, it did pretty well, and much better than I expected. I really don’t expect to get GWs with this thing. It leans a little too far left, and I tend to wreck and/or oust my first prey and then fizzle out. At least, it does this in most games I play. The tournament was a little different.

Crypt: 12 dudes

4 Lorrie Dunsirn 4 cap POT for nec Abomination Indy can’t play reaction cards, have equipment or retainers, maneuver to long, press to end. Has an additional strike once per round and a press every combat (not optional). Non-hunt actions cost her a _pool_. +1 strength. Scarce & Sterile.

1 Toy 2-cap Samedi POT DEM THN obf for Sabbat Malk Anti Slave. Can’t act or block.

1 Bela 3-cap Malk DEM obf ani pro Indy Can’t attempt poliactions. -1 stealth.

1 Cassandra Langely, the Waif 2-cap Malk dem Camarilla.

1 Keller Thiel 4-cap Malk dem aus Camarilla while ready and untapped, any minion who successfully bleeds me burns 1 blood or life.

1 Sean Rycek 4-cap Malk dem aus Camarilla once each referendum he may tap or burn a blood for 2 votes. He can burn a boon in play as a +1 stealth D action.

1 Apache Jones 5-cap !Malk DEM obf aus for Sabbat.

1 Marta 3-cap !Malk dem aus Sabbat when she diablerizes an older vampire she gains a blood before receiving a skill.

1 Jackie 3-cap !Malk DEM Sabbat.

Looking at the crypt again Toy seems less awesome (I modified it by adding G5 Malks when KoT came out; used to have 2X Jackie and more !malks), but he can still assist Lorrie in getting intercept, and I really dig for the minions with DEM (2 of which are !Malks) because they add a lot to the deck.

Library (89 cards)

Masters (16)

1 Coroner’s Contract (can go; not really that useful)

1 Centralized Background Check (I feared guns, and rightly so)

1 Sudden Reversal (counters always seem useful to me)

1 Dementation skill

2 Agent of Power

2 Blood Doll (mainly to push back to Lorrie when necessary)

2 Special Report (she _can_ block!)

2 Fame

2 Perfectionist (blood management on the Tasmanian devil is a bitch, too)

2 Wider View

Actions (19)

2 Blessing of Chaos (not sure it’s worth it; earned me style points in the finals; it’s prayer tech)

8 Kindred Spirits (my only real bloat to pay for Lorrie’s expensive habits)

2 Big Game

3 Bum’s Rush

2 Harass

2 Ambush

Action Mods (13)

5 Freak Drive (if rushing is good, multirushing is better)

1 Eyes of Chaos

5 Confusion

2 Mind Tricks

Action Mods/Combat (2 cards)

2 Deny (love this one)

Combat (24)

4 Taste of Vitae

4 Thrown Sewer Lid

4 Skin of Steel

12 Immortal Grapple

Reactions (15)

2 WWEF

4 On the Qui Vive

2 Delaying Tactics (I fear the vote)

7 Babble (untap Lorrie or give her intercept; with Special Report I’ve gotten her to +4 intercept against a bleed deck. That’s not going to happen often, but the bleeder certainly didn’t make it after I caught them)

Round 1: Woody (EuroBrujah+Beast)>>>John (Flurry of Activity)>>>Me(MacBeth was a Bitch)>>>Sean M(Kiasyd bleedbox)>>>Sean S(Tremere Blockbox)

Things were looking punchy at the outset. I got out Jackie (who is superimporantawesome for my deck) and Lorrie, while Jimmy Dunn popped up on my right, and Volker showed up behind him. On my left Isanwayan was the first blueskin to show its face, and across the way Sean S got Carmen. That first turn little of note happened, but then Volker rushed and beat the hell out of Jimmy Dunn. When I see Jimmy I always wonder just how much Kung Fu he’s packing. He’s got the potential to be an absolute animal with FIST BOLT rock. Volker’s signpost/grapple/slam beat all the blood off of Jimmy before John could Blur with him, but he’s a new player and tried to Blur anyway. We explained that he couldn’t do that, but it was a significant misplay.

It was significant because John’s next minion was Parnassus, and Parnassus + Blur is a serious slap however it goes down. Woody didn’t take many forward actions after Parnassus hit the table, and he started influencing another vampire to go with Volker and newly minted Donal O’Conner.

I got a couple more Malks (Sean Rycek and Marta), and I bled a little every turn. Sean M took most of those bleeds and didn’t do much to stop me. I had a rush but I decided to not nuke Sean’s minions immediately. I wanted there to be some left-ish dynamic. Sean M summoned a Nocturn and bled with it like every turn, and got Ermengildo and Omme Enberbenight, reducing his pool to dangerous amounts with me bleeding a little each turn. He was playing enough Deflection, Covencraft, and Faerie Wards to slow me down though.

Sean S got Ash Harrison to go with Carmen, and he tried to tool up a lot, and got blocked by Brujah Princes a lot. Volker had run out of signposts (or was saving them), so the violence wasn’t nearly as extreme as it had been against Jimmy Dunn, but the !Tremere were having a tough time setting up.

And there we sat for a number of turns. John got up Taco Bell ADV, which seemed to perturb Woody a bit, as he then moved a lot of blood off of the next minion he wanted to influence out and started looking for someone else. Taco Bell and Parnassus did a lot of tooling up, getting Leather Jackets, Deer Rifles, etc.

I didn’t have a predator, so despite Sean M’s willingness to play mean reaction cards like Faerie Wards I just kept leaning into him. He never Warded Lorrie, however, and that might have been his undoing. Eventually I got him on a push, and then Sean S was really concerned about my kung fu and got up Gerald Windham.

So with some oust pool, the table then looked like this: Me with 10ish pool, Lorrie, Marta, Sean, and Jackie. Sean S had Gerald, Ash, and Carmen, with 3 or 4 pool left. Carmen had two intercept with a Bike and Winthrop, so she had to go if I wanted to sneak past his warlocks. Volker and Donal eventually found a Leatherface of Detroit. Parnassus had a Leather Jacket, Theo had a Deer Rifle and a Sport Bike. Parnassus was also Famous, which was a thorn in my side, as Fame is a significant component of my offensive capacity.

Parnassus and Taco Bell had been bleeding for one here and there, and from this point onward they each bled with Flurry of Action every turn. I let them. I basically was working on a clock to get the next oust, and I had 4-5 turns to do it. Sean S turtled up (he hadn’t been able to do much to the Brujah all game anyway) and played defensively. Beast decided that Famous Parnassus needed to get punched hard. Unfortunately Parnassus had a jacket for that punch and a Blur to hit back. Beast hit the bin instead and the Flurries continued.

I essentially lunged at Sean every turn for three turns. I made a huge mistake in allowing a 2 blood Lorrie to get in a fight with a 2 blood Carmen when I didn’t have a Grapple, and since Sean had played like 5 Theft of Vitae I should have been thinking about that. Carmen stole two blood from Lorrie to survive the first round, and when Lorrie was forced to press empty we both hit the bin. That really slowed me down. Still, I tried to oust Sean with just my Malks several times as well, and he always had one more Wake than I needed him to have to win.

When I was down to two pool I knew I might get ousted, but I did try to save myself by pushing a wee Malk in front of Parnassus. Then Parnassus played Crocodile’s Tongue on my empty, On the Qui Vive’d blocker! Snap! Flurry gets the oust.

I’m not sure who took that table, actually. I don’t think the Flurry deck did, and I’m pretty certain Sean S was in bad shape when I got ousted. It might have timed out, or perhaps Volker and Donal managed to call some 3-player Parity Shifts? Woody had discarded several during the course of the game. I’m pretty sure nobody got 3VP and a GW out of the deal, because then they probably would have been in the finals. . .?

Me: 1 VP John: 1 VP

Round 2:

Mindy (Stanslavia has DOM!)>>>Linc(Harbingers + Matthias)>>>Robb(Imbued Don’t Need Travis; Travis is for Pussies)>>>Me(MacBeth was a Bitch)

This game collapsed quickly. Mindy got up Stani, Linc got Agaitas and Matthias, Robb got 4 Imbued, including Shophet, Nurse, and Potter, as well as Moise and the Vagabond Mystic. I got Lorrie, Jackie, Keller Thiel (ha!), and Marta.

Mindy got up Illiana and bled like crazy with Stanislava. Linc did what usually is done and bounced it, but Robb DI’d the bounce. Snap! Linc put himself into ousting range of huge Gangrel by getting Gisela. Robb tooled up like the tool he is with bleed retainers and powers. I put Fame on Stanislava, and since Linc was on the ropes I rushed and beat the tar out of her. She hit the bin easy. I bled for 4 with my other minions to add insult to injury.

Mindy was in a tough spot. She put a Blood Doll on Stani, rescued, and bled for 3 again, but Linc again had bounce. Imbued don’t have much to say about Stanislava bleeding from two to the left. Determine isn’t going to work, and allies can’t block her. Linc bled at Robb with a Pulsed up Agaitas, but Robb had the untappy that he needed to survive. I ousted Mindy next turn, and Linc bled at Robb a bit, Robb bled at me.

Mindy started talking about how I’m going to get a sweep, and I told her that I didn’t think I could handle Robb in a one-on-one confrontation. Then I realized that I’m playing a rush+Kindred Spirits deck and that most of my D actions can go anywhere. Robb began to bleed me in earnest for 4-6 per turn with Second Sight and bleed retainers on his guys. After he completed his turn I decided to Rush Potter, even though he’s just going to tap her and Forsee or Abjure combat. It still forced him to overextend as she was his only untapped imbued. Then I bled him for 3 with Jackie using Kindred Spirits and Confusion.

Robb gave me that look that says having two predators sucks. I realized that I talk about backousting Robb a lot on this blog, and that it can be a totally valid path to victory. I might rename this blog “Backoust Robb Dudock if you want to win” and give some helpful statistics on how often that it has worked for me.

Robb had an Angel of Berlin, but combined efforts of bounced Stanislava, Harbinger bleeds, and my bleeds had hurt him enough that he was low on pool and by forcing him to defend against me as well his fate was sealed. Linc ate the morsel I’d handed to him (and gladly), ousting Robb. In the head’s-up I drew enough rush+grapple to outlast Linc’s Spiritual Intervention and prevent cards. After I beat up his last minion he conceded. Robb glared at me for a bit. He’s totally justified in doing that, but man backousting that dude is a blast.

Me: 3VP and 1 GW, Linc 1 VP

Game MVP: Probably Lorrie, but Kindred Spirits is also a key component of the deck’s ability to work a table, and that bleed of three put a serious hurt on Robb. Might have to say KS.

Finals:

Somehow I’d managed to get third seed with a Game Win and four Victory Points. I was a little pissed that the 25 other players had allowed me into the finals, but I decided that if I was gonna be there I was gonna try to win it. Sean M had also made it, as well as three other decks I hadn’t seen yet. Sean was a lower seed than me, so I got to side after him, and I chose to bleed him. This might have been a mistake, but it had worked for me alright earlier, and I thought it was worth the chance.

Finals Matt(FoS bleeds w/ DOM for bounce)>>>Eddie (HoS Slaughterhouse Brinksmanship)>>>Me (MacBeth was a Bitch)>>>Sean (Kiasyd don’t get into fights at all)>>>Brad (Toreador Princes w/ guns)

Things started out nicely enough, and I had again decided to slow play a bit in an attempt to keep things going smoothly. Everyone knew I had a tactical nuclear device when Lorrie hit the table on turn 2 to join Jackie, and I thought that we could all look past it. This was not the case.

Sean got up The Arcadian and Roderick Phillips March. Brad got Marcellus and Dorian Strack. Matt pulled Black Lotus and Amenophobis, and Eddit influenced Zoe and Agaitas, with Eggotha joining them soon thereafter. After turn two I got Toy and Sean Rycsek.

Sean was defensive from the start because I’d ousted him earlier, and it turned out I was the table bleed sink. I had to deal with two bleeds from Marcellus “Does he look like a bitch?!” that had been bounced from Matt to Eddie to me fairly early on, and after playing nice once Brad told me he intended to shoot my minions if I blocked. I did get some style points from Brad by playing Agent of Power on Lorrie to give her Dementation and then having her get a Blessing of Chaos. It was, as it often is, a pointless move. Might drop that little module.

Matt also bled irresponsibly, and Eddie was packing enough Telepathic Misdirections to keep firing them down the lane at me. I was feeling like I had three or four predators early. When the table decides you’re the threat, and you don’t feel like just wrecking everyone’s game (because that doesn’t earn many VPs), you oust your prey. I finally rushed at Sean and murdered most of his guys with Lorrie, bleeding with the backup dancers a bit.

Sean had gotten Isanwayan up by this point, and was summoning Nocturns with the blessing of the blocky Toreador in front of him to chump block my rushes. Francois Villon joined the poseurs in Brad’s controlled region, and Marcellus had a .44 and knew how to fire it.

Matt bled every turn, and eventually got up Anhk-Sen Sutehk to go with his other midcaps.

Eddie milled my deck. He played a couple Slaughterhouse. He burned stuff with Eggotha. He drew from my deck with Agaitas. He didn’t bleed me much himself. I largely ignored him. He did burn a Sewer Lid that would have met a Toreador face later from the top of my library, so that wasn’t cool. The table wouldn’t pass his Brinksmanship, however. So that plan went down the toilet.

I eventually ousted Sean with bleeds after the Nocturns blocked Lorrie.

Things got pretty ugly then. Brad had whittled Matt’s pool down with consistent bleeds, and he ousted him soon after. In the three-way Brad basically told Eddie they should mug me and then sort things out. I started to argue, but it’s tough when the main components of the counter argument are “hey, I’m just asking the guy to osut his prey”. Being a fan of standard left-facing VTES, I just poured full bore into the Toreador. Brad was low on pool due to getting guns on all of his 22 pool worth of Toreador, so I dropped Fame on Dorian Strack and influenced out Apache Jones.

Then when Francois came to get blood from Jackie I blocked with Lorrie, but I ran out of prevent and Taste while throwing multiple Sewer Lids at Francois. My non-optional press on Lorrie sealed her fate, and she hit the bin while Francois got away pretty easy. Marcellus bled, leaving just Dorian up. Eddie didn’t do much but mill my library.

I did what I often do with this deck when Lorrie hits the bin: I rush Famous minions with my Malkavians. I had a Deny and a Skin of Steel, and several Maneuvers or Presses attached to Bum’s Rush and Harass, so maybe Apache and Sean could seal the deal. Knocking Dorian into torpor wouldn’t have ousted Brad outright, but it

might have bought me an extra turn to lunge later.

Turns out Brad’s deck has a lot of untap, intercept, and combat cards to go with his guns. He told me he didn’t want to wreck my game, but of course I was relentless and so he gunned down my dudes. If he’d left anyone ready I’d have rushed or bled the next turn.

That’s just how I roll.

Eddie ousted me soon thereafter with Trochomancy bleeds. Brad made easy work of Eddie after that, as Eddie didn’t seem to do much other than mill cards. Alas.

Robb asked me why other people’s Toreador gun decks are so much better than mine, and I told him it’s because they have room for lots of combat cards. Brad dropped a lot of Blur, Pursuit, Sideslip, Side Strike, and so forth. Those cards would be great in my Masika deck, but I’m so busy paying for my ridiculously large crypt I don’t seem to have the cards. James Messer’s Masika/Cog gun deck is better than mine as well, because he’s not using Villon and Anneke as backup minions. But hey, I like to live on the edge with 3 ten-caps in my ready region.

-Merlin out