Asian Continental Championships (or How I Failed at V:tES)

So my first ever foray into the international V:tES tournament scene is officially over and I am back home again. It was wonderful to see 25 players turn up for a tournament and it was definitely an interesting experience to see and feel the Filipino meta game.

Unfortunately, I crashed spectacularly and left with a paltry 0.5VP. I think I know now what went wrong, and I believe it started way before I even left Singapore (event report to follow).

Mistake Number 1:

After some playtesting with fellow Singaporean players, I decided to change the crypt to include a few Tupdogs to do some effective crypt cycling. Which was fine. What was NOT fine was that in a frenzy, I overdid the idea and ended up with almost half my crypt with crypt cycling cards. Not my brightest idea. While it never came up during my limited playtesting, I should have realised that it doesn't even work in theory.

Mistake Number 2:

So I came back early from work that day to grab the stuff we were going to need for the ACC and I took the opportunity to look through my deck once more and took out my one last copy of Second Tradition. On hindsight, I should have kept all 4. Got royally owned on the third round simply because I couldn't even generate that measly 1 intercept (see report for more). Also, what I failed to realise at that point was that removing the Second Traditions meant that I was losing 4 wake options as well, which, as expected, came back to bite me.

Mistake Number 3:

Going to bed at almost 2am the night before the tournament does not a better play make.

Mistake Number 4:

This was partially due to mistake number 1. See, what my deck was meant to do was spend lots of pool to bring out a big vampire, and just keep using superior Enchant Kindred to bring out the smaller vampires for cheap or for free. Which always meant that I ended up with way more pool than what I should have based on the minions I control. So because I included the Tupdogs, my first turn was suddenly much faster (even if ineffective). That changed my entire tempo and I suddenly wanted to keep being able to do stuff, so I brought out the smallest vampire, and screwed up the entire strategy.

Now, if you are still with me, the tournament report! Disclaimer: all events are reported purely from memory, so report may differ from actual events.

It was 9am on the morning of Sunday, 9th October 2011. We got a free ride from Luicinio, one of the local players and were at the Schizo Art Cafe before anyone else.

Schizo is this leettle art cafe tucked away at the end of Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City, Philippines. Located at the second floor of a two level shop house, it is a nice cozy spot to hang out with friends, and was a snug fit for 25 players.

We waited around while the other players appeared and Paul, the resident Prince of Manila got around to doing registrations.

For some strange reason, the Archon file that Kristine downloaded for use did not automatically do the round seating, so we ended up spending quite a bit of time simply trying to get the first round going. Kudos to the organisers for being able to quickly arrange and seat everyone the old fashioned way. Strangely enough, the both the copy I got for the Singapore qualifiers and the one I just grabbed off the VEKN website works fine. Might have been the macro settings on Kristine's notebook. Oh well.

Round 1

Ayukata-san (Princes with Dom/Obf) -> Me (Ishtarri Coalition Multiact) -> Jhun (Lasombra feat. Marcus Vitel) -> Khervin (Tzimisce Raptor) -> Faust (Kiasyd S&B)

I had 3 Tupdogs and Klaus Konrecht in my opening crypt.

"Worst crypt EVER!"

So I decided to bring out 2 Tupdogs, which gained me a collective gasp from the table. Then the Tupdogs called a single Neonate Breach (not a single KRC or CA came up in my first 15 or so cards, which became a trend the entire tourney), hitting everyone else on the table for 1.

After two turns or so, Jhun had Marcus Vitel, Khervin had Velya, Faust had Isanwayen and Dame Holllerton and Ayukata-san had Gilbert Duane and Cardano who had become a Legendary Vampire, which meant everyone had a comfortable start, except me. Remember how I talked about the pitfalls of using Tupdogs as a crypt cycling mechanic? Yeah, it bit me right then, and I was sitting on 15 pool with only Ubende in my ready region. Jhun then got out Lucita (merged), who got herself a .44 Magnum and then proceeded to bleed Khervin for a little. Khervin brought out John Paleologus and pinged away at Faust's pool (he later conceded that he never drew a single of the Raptors that his deck so relied on for intercept). Without much pressure from behind, Faust's Kiasyds happily bled into Ayukata-san with Governs and Bondings, which, of course, got bounced on to me. Ayukata-san quickly ousted me after that, but not before I convinced the table to remove Cardano's Legendary status.

Faust then managed to bring out Pherydima and ousted Ayukata-san, but ran out of blood on his vampires and could not generate enough stealth to get past Jhun's Lasombra. Jhun took the opportunity to go forwards and cleared his way to victory with a well timed Entombment on Khervin's Eternally Vigilant Guardian Angel, Velya. Without Velya's support, Khervin succumbed to Jhun's bleeds and Faust, who had been severely weaken by then, fell soon after.

Result: Me 0VP, Jhun 1GW 3VP, Khervin 0VP, Faust 1VP, Ayukata-san 1VP

Round 2

Kristine (Presence S&B) -> Edmund (Matthias et al) -> Karl (Trujah Powerbleed) -> Me -> Troy (Ivan Krenyenko Equipment)

I spent the enitre game alternating between pushing for Karl to be ousted and rooting for him. I actually had a fair shot at a GW this game, but made too many mistakes and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Once again, I made the mistake of bringing out a small vampire, this time being Victor Pelletier. Fortunately for me, while it did hamper me some, it was not a grave mistake this time. On my third turn, I attempted a Parity Shift against my minionless prey, and Karl expertly used Quicksilver Contemplation to force Victor to abstain, making it my one vote against Lydia's one. Edmund could throw his edge (which he had obviously no way of keeping) to help his grand prey move further away from his prey's ousting capabilities, but flatly refused, even though I offered to grant him pool on my next vote.

The table then began to grind, with each player taking increasingly repetitive actions:

• Troy used Ivan Krenyenko's ability to fish for equipments and equiped them, then used Freak Drive to untap and bleed Kristine for some. At some point, he slapped an Enkil Cog on Ivan to bleed some more.
• Kristine bled Edmund with Public Trusts and Social Charms, sprinkled with the occasional Aire of Elation for extra flavour.
• Edmund used Matthias to Spirit Marionette whoever was available and then bled Karl with the Marionetted vampire and his many Dominate weenies
• Karl grabbed the Ankara Citadel with Summon History and proceeded to Vaticinate, untap with Freak Drive, and bleed with Cheat the Fates and Quicksilver Contemplation.

Interetingly, my deck, which has up to that point always allowed be to take a number of repeated actions near rivaling God Himself, decided that I needed to see how Voter Captivations worked, and happily fed me 3 copies without a single political action card. Needless to say, I didn't do much.

I finally drew into a copy of Disputed Territory, after contesting Karl's Dreams of the Sphinx, and promptly stole the Ankara Citadel for myself. The resultant Voter Cap gave me just enough pool to not be ousted that turn. I managed to keep my pool up with Villeins, an Ancient Influence and more Voter Caps long enough to see Karl fall to Edmund's bleeds.

Then I made an awesome mistake. I Pentex'd Ivan Krenyenko and had a field day bleeding and voting, but forgot to keep Ayo untapped to block the burn attempt, which led to Kristine's oust by Troy and the table timed out soon after.

Results: Me 0.5VP, Troy 1GW 2.5VP, Kristine 0VP, Edmund 1VP, Karl 0VP

Round 3

Me -> Stephen (Ahrimane Toolbox) -> Paul (Tumnimos Eldest are Kholo) -> Mark (Ventrue Combat feat. Lucinde) -> Nomura-san (Brujah Antitribu Urban Reconstruction)

Once again, the changed tempo killed the deck. Mark also did not help, since he spent almost the enitre game doing nothing to his prey, which meant Nomura-san kept all of his Sport Bike riding minions to block my actions. The only interesting things that happened this game was that Mark did not bring out Lucinde because he did not want to contest the Ventrue Justicar title with Victor Pellitier (I specifically asked if he would prefer if I went for the Prince of Paris title instead, but he said nevermind. On hindsight, I should have been clearer in my offer and not assume that he knew what Victor does. Later on, he confessed he had no idea.), and that Paul was nice enough to keep rescuing Victor from torpor.

I made the mistake of over counter-offering what was already a fantastic deal, and got ousted by Nomura-san fairly quickly. An unpressured predator is an unnecessarily strong predator. Not a fun game, this one.

Results: Me 0VP, Stephen 1GW 4VP, Paul 0VP, Mark 0VP, Nomura-san 1VP


All in all, it was a good experience to meet up with other players and see the Philippines meta game. Stephen won the final table, successfully defending his title (read all about his road to victory on Singing V:tES). Next year, I should put out a bounty for anyone who ousts or helps oust Stephen. Muahahahaha! Until next year then!