Tournament Report — New Blood Old Blood

We had a great tournament in London over the weekend. 14 Players, 3 rounds and a final — it was a great day with new and old faces. Below is a report written by Boris who had a storming day...

Inside the mind of Boris

Friday:

I hesitate between 3 decks: Imbued dance, Theo/Beast and Cordwood bleed. The imbued deck is broken down and I am too lazy to rebuild it. I know Norbert will play his Nosferatu deck, Ke tells me Fernando has built a Malkavian and himself has his Kiasyd. Between Obedience and Faerie Wards, things do not look too bright for rushers, so powerbleed it is.

Round 1:

Kieran (Torrance circle) -> Paul (Moncada/Tyler Baltimore Purge) -> Norbert (Nosfe Royalty Gr. 4-5 with DOM) -> me

On turn 3, Kieran plays an Oppugnant Night with his single Blood Brother "to cycle". That is the last rush he will draw this game. But I don't know that yet, so I just govern four minions out and equip with the Heart of Nizchetus and the Signet of King Saul in prevision of the end game. It works quite well: Kieran leaves me alone and has four minions but 10-ish pool. Paul influences Moncada, Norbert Petrodon then Dieudonne. The game accelerates when Paul plays a Baltimore Purge with Moncada and influences Tyler. On his turn Norbert banishes Tyler, I stay put as usual and Kieran keeps 2 vampires untapped: the one with the Sengir dagger and Mark, the bishop with +1 Intercept against bleed. The Purge sends Petrodon and Mark to torpor (as many votes as possible) and I manage to negotiate my smallest vampire to go in exchange for Cordwood's support on the blood hunt. Moncada leaves torpor, freak drives and diablerizes Petrodon. Tyler comes back. Norbert influences Gustaphe Brunelle to have another minion with dominate. I Pentex Kieran's last untapped vampire and bleed him out. Paul is 1 bleed too short to oust Norbert and he doesn't have another Purge to play. Norbert villeins Dieudonne for a lot and parity shifts Paul. I oust Paul and the duel is a bleed race that I win because Norbert has only one vampire with dominate.

Boris GW 4

Round 2:

Ruben (Nosferatu toolbox) -> Lorenzo (Khazar) -> me -> Mike (Ventrue Obfuscate)

I have a terrible starting hand: no Wash, no Magic of the Smith, no Govern. Ruben is a new player so I explain him what Lorenzo's deck does, and that he needs to pressure him early if he wants a chance of a vp, so he keeps bleeding and influences Harrod. Lorenzo gets vampires out, Mylan and an Embrace, and plays a Khazar every turn. Luckily I draw Grand Madre de Dio and I use Cordwood to block Lorenzo's actions, so he remains under control. Mike influences Lucinde, then Queen Anne, and villeins them both (I still haven't drawn a Wash). Lorenzo gets low on Pool and I delay Mike's Parity Shift, so he doesn't bloat too much either. Lorenzo bounces Harrod's bleed at me twice, I bounce it back twice. The second one ousts Lorenzo. In the same turn, I bleed Mike out. Then it's a bleed race again, but I finally have my Heart and draw enough bleed to finish Ruben with only 2 pool left.

Boris GW3, Ruben 1

Round 3:

Alex (weenie animalism computer hacking) -> Ke (Kiasyd bleed/Faerie ward) -> Kieran (Torrance circle) -> me

Alex's deck keeps pushing forward and cannot bounce, so I leave him alone early. Ke develops despite the pressure and I wash a lot of Kieran's masters. This time Kieran draws his rushes and I go to torpor a couple of times, but can still handle it. I think I have him under control when I pentex the vampire with the Sengir dagger and play Ponticulus, but he has Coordinate Attack so Ponticulus burns. In one turn Ke gets two vampires torporized, one by Kieran and one by Alex. Both Alex and I are down to less than 4 pool. Kieran plays an Oppugnant Night that Ke does not block. Luckily for me, he gets greedy and instead of rushing with everyone, he just torporizes my only untapped vampire and goes for the oust with Codex of Edenic Groundskeepers. On the Qui Vive, Deflection and Alex must spend his last wake, so I bleed him out on the next turn. But I didn't draw into another wake, so I am ousted quickly after and Kieran just needs to clear Ke's last vampire to win the table.

Kieran GW3, me 1

Final:

1. me 2 GW 8
2. Fernando (Malkav royalty gr 1-2) 2 GW 6.5
3. Maciej (CEL dom princes with guns) 1 GW 5.5
4. Norbert 1 GW 3
5. Kieran 1 GW 3

Kieran -> Norbert
Kieran -> Maciej -> Norbert
Fernando - > Kieran -> Maciej -> Norbert
me -> Fernando - > Kieran -> Maciej -> Norbert

Nothing complicated with the seating: I just cowered as far away from the meat grinders as possible. I am starting and have a Magic of the Smith in hand, so I go for Erich Weiss turn 2 and a Heart turn 3. Fernando does not have any crypt acceleration and I wash Norbert's Dreams, so Petrodon and Lucian will not hit the table until I have my Heart. I then influence Cordwood and start Governing down. Meanwhile Maciej has Donal O'Connor with a gun and Kieran gets 3 Blood Brothers out. Norbert villeins Petrodon for 6, plays a Secure Haven to avoid Maciej's rushes, and plays a Parity Shift while he has the most pool at the table…

The table accelerates when Fernando contests the Heart of Nizchetus. Maciej's bleed for 3 is bounced all way back to Kieran, tapping his last blocker. Norbert calls an Anarchist Uprising that would do 4 damage to me and 3 to Kieran, I delay it. Since Fernando has just played a Deflection, I take my chances and try to lower his pool to force him to give up the contest, but he has another one and I end up bleeding Kieran for 6 (he told me later he doesn't play any wakes), leaving him 6 pool. The other 2 bleeds go through and leave Fernando on 5 pool. He can oust Kieran with a Parity Shift but Maciej has 4 princes and together with Cordwood, we force Norbert to discard his Anarchist Uprising to make it pass. So Fernando has a vp, but still only 11 pool, Norbert has discarded his Anarchist Uprising and there is one less combat deck at the table. All in all, not too bad.

Maciej is sitting strong with 4 princes, 3 blood dolls and more than 15 pool. He keeps bleeding Norbert for 1, which works well because Petrodon is low on blood and Dieudonne does not have dominate. Without the Heart, I jam on reactions so I keep bleeding for 1 as well and wait for Norbert to move forward, until I finally draw a Dreams to get some bleed cards. Petrodon bleeds me for 2, it goes all the way to Maciej who bounces back at me after Petrodon added 3 stealth because Fernando is already low on pool. On the Qui Vive and second deflection to Fernando, who takes it this time. Then Norbert wants to call a Parity Shift and give pool back to Fernando, but I delay it. On my turn, I draw some more bleed with the Dreams and go for Fernando. Cordwood's bleed for 4 at 1 stealth is deflected to Maciej, who takes it (note for later: Maciej is low on defence). But that was Fernando's last defence too, and the next 2 stealth bleeds oust him.

Well deserved win! Congrats Boris — Ke

On his turn, Maciej does not backrush me, but he still has 13 pool and bleeds Norbert down to 4 pool. Norbert calls his Parity Shift backwards because he desperately needs the pool and needs Cordwood's vote to pass Maciej's 4 princes. He then bleeds with Petrodon, I deflect to Maciej and Norbert stealthes the bleed through because he doesn't want to get pummelled in combat. So on my turn, Maciej has only 8 pool left, he seems to be out of defence cards and I finally get my Heart back to draw a perfect stealth/bleed hand. It turns out 3 bleeds for 3 at 1 stealth are enough. With the tournament win secured, I concede to Norbert because it's late and time for a beer.

me 2 TW, Norbert 2, Fernando 1.

A great tournament with a rather aggressive meta, perfect for my deck's 8 bounces and 4 Delaying. Cheers to Ke for organising and providing the great prize support.

Click here for the TWD