Asian Continental Championships 2013

So the ACC has been over for a week and I finally got time off from Real Life to talk about it.

First, a quick round up of the players, the decks and how they did:

Rank	Name - Deck	Prelim GWs	Prelim VPs	Final VPs
1	Bann - Mummify (Spell of Life ft. Halim Bey)	1	7	3
2	Stephen - Saulot Puppeteer (Spirit Marionette ft Saulot)	1	6.5	0
2	YY (Me) - Ladies & Gentlemen (G4/5 Ventrue Grinder)	1	4	1
2	Nomura-san - (G2/3 Thrown Junk Bruise Bleed)	1	4.5	1
2	Hidetoshi-san - (Stanislava et al)	2	8.5	0
6	Fadzuli - (G2/3 !Malk Vote)	1	4
7	Fay - The Scarlet Letter (G1/2 Toreador Aching Beauty)	1	4
8	Johann - Traditions of the Camarilla (Gangrel Vote)	1	3
9	Ayukata-san - Al-muntaqim, the Avenger with his Catiff friends that multi-rush (True Brujah Combat)	0	2
10	Troy - (Blood Brothers Torrance Circle Combat)	0	1.5
11	Jared - (Cock Robin Toolbox)	0	1.5
12	John Ferdie - (!Tremere Toolbox)	0	1
13	Arsenio - (G1/2 Toreador Vote)	0	1
14	Keith - Dirty Money (Giovanni Weenie Bloat & Bounce ft Acquired Ventrue Assets)	0	0.5
15	Aaron - (G2/3 Lasombra Vote)	0	0
16	Lucinio - (Euro Brujah)	0	0
17	Kristine - (Tremere/!Tremere Combat ft Muaziz)	0	0
17	John Worrall - Isouda de Blaise Multiact	0	0

I think I did pretty well this time around, with much less mistakes (at least major ones).

Round 1

Aaron -> Bann -> Fadzuli -> Me -> Kristine

It was unfortunate that Kristine's main deck combo did not work the way she expected it to (old card vs new text) and she was ousted fairly quickly by me. I think I had Mary Anne Blaire, Victor Donaldson, Mustafa the Heir and Graham Gottesman out by that point. Since I had the majority votes, Aaron and Fadzuli could not do much, so I just kept bleeding into Aaron and bouncing bleeds over. Unfortunately, I could not oust Bann before time ran out.

1GW + 2.5VP

Round 2

Me -> Hidetoshi-san -> Nomura-san -> Jared -> John Worrall

I got off to a shaky start for this game (note to self: take out Juniper from the deck. She has a cute ability, but the lack of votes hurts like crazy), drawing only 3 titled vampires and getting Victor Pelletier when I went fishing for more (another note to self: take out Victor P from the deck. He is the only vampire I cannot get for free with Govern) and starting off with no bounce and no wakes. Fortunately, John was not able to oust me before I finally drew into some bounces.

The game lasted for an hour and a half with no one being ousted. I was unable to bleed Hidetoshi-san for big amounts (dude packs way too many bounces) and he managed to stealth past Nomura-san's defenses before I could oust him. Then John lost all his minions to combat from both sides and he was ousted by Jared. I managed to convince Jared to send all of Hidetoshi-san's minions into torpor, but time ran out and I had to settle for 0.5VP.

Stephen commented that the amount of combat on my table was ridiculous and hoped he didn't have to sit down with us at any point during the event. Guess he reckoned without Murphy's Law.

1GW + 3VP

Round 3

Stephen -> Me -> Lucinio -> Fadzuli

I hate sitting downwind of a Spirit Marionette deck! Between that, Saulot, Neutral Guard and Heidelburg Castle, I spent the entire game hunting and bloating. Stephen got into a pretty comfortable position with Saulot getting a Heart of Cheating and Mylan Horseed untapping him for various shenanigans. I finally had enough of the old man and got Pentex to park a van outside his apartment.

Then came the longest pitch for a deal I have ever had to do in V:tES. For a good half an hour, Stephen and I spent our time between turns trying to convince Lucinio to do the right thing. Of course, for Stephen, this meant for him to help remove Pentex Subversion as it would mean a weaker predator for him once I go into full defense mode. I, however, was convinced that if Stephen and he were to go one-on-one, Lucinio would not be able to handle Saulot and he should leave the Pentex alone while Fadzuli weakens Stephen.

When I talked to Lucinio after the game, he told me that when we first started pitching, my plan did sound better. I guess when he finally decided to burn the Pentex, it was too late for him. I bled him down to one pool and agreed to help Fadzuli oust Stephen if he would oust Lucinio with his KRC.

In the end, I could not out vote Fadzuli's minions and a Powerbase: Madrid and was ousted immediately after Stephen.

1GW + 4VP

Final Table

I managed to edge past Fadzuli and Fay in tournament points to get into the final table.

Unfortunately, it is now the wee hours of the morning and I don't think I can coherently talk about one of the most exciting finals I have ever played in, so I will continue in the next post.

Stay tuned!

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!

Asian Continental Championships Preliminary Round 3

Right, so I disappeared to Sri Lanka or a while (hence the lag for Round 3).

Round 3:

Table 1 (Taka'aki bleeding Hayakawa bleeding B.K. bleeding Johann bleeding Le Fei)

Table 2 (John bleeding Gee Hwan bleeding Lucinio bleeding Karl bleeding Derek)

Table 3 (Stephen bleeding Keith bleeding Ben bleeding Danz bleeding Bann)

Hayakawa had the cutest card sleeves in the tournament.

Obfuscate: Now you see him...

Now you don't!

I think Danz knows something we don't. He didn't share...

Results from Round 3:

• Table 1 saw Le Fei ousting sweeping the table for 5VPs.
• Table 2. I know Gee Hwan got a game win, but I can't remember exactly what happened. Will update after I find my Archon file.
• Table 3. Ben ousted Danz (who promptly went to take a nap... I guess it was a long day) for 1VP. Keith ousted Ben and timed out for 1.5VPs. Bann and Stephen both stuck around for an additional 0.5VPs.

Asian Continental Championships Preliminary Round 2

Prizes, promos and the round timer

Round 2:

Table 1 (Ben bleeding John bleeding Danz bleeding B.K. bleeding Hayakawa)

Table 2 (Johann bleeding Bann bleeding Le Fei bleeding Lucinio bleeding Gee Hwan) 

Table 3 (Karl bleeding Taka'aki bleeding Derek bleeding Keith bleeding Stephen)

Danz and Karl share a light-hearted moment

Murphy's Law hits some players

John's Alastor deck
sans minions that can play Alastor

Ben's Amaravati Death Star
sans Amaravati

Carlak goes crazy, no thanks to Danz

but John quickly takes his revenge!

Results from Round 2:

• Table 1 timed out AGAIN!!!. 0.5VPs all round (double boring).
• Table 2. Johann ousted Bann and Le Fei for 2.5VPs. Le Fei ousted Lucinio for 1VP. Gee Hwan sticks around long enough for 0.5VPs.
• Table 3. Stephen ousted Karl and Derek for 2.5VPs. Karl ousted Taka'aki for 1VPs. Keith sits tight till time for 0.5VPs.

Asian Continental Championships Preliminary Round 1

My apologies for the late posting. Real life has been quite hectic for the past month.
Anyway, good things come to those who wait, so here's a look at what happened on the 21st day of November of the year 2010.

Quick breakdown of the players and their decks:
(in no particular order)
John Robert Worrall playing G4-5 Alastor
Yeo Le Fei playing Cannon in D (G5-6 Daughters Stealth Vote)
Benjamin Sum playing Amaravati Death Star
Law Gee Hwan playing Ravnos Breed Boon featuring Tsunda
Keith Lee playing Turbo Khazar's Diary
Bann Lum playing Weenie Obf Stealth Vote
Derek Yang playing Tremere Bruise Bleed
Johann Ong playing Tzimisce Raptor Wall
Stephen Sing playing Magical History
Eng Boon Khim playing Ghaduba!
Ayukata Taka'aki playing Anarch Wall
Danz Holandez playing Madness Network with Deranged
Karl Ian Uy Cheng Chua playing Black Hand Guns
Hidetoshi Hayakawa playing Giovanni with Protean
Lucinio de Guzman Jr. playing Eurobrujah featuring Theo Bell

Round 1:

Table 1 (John bleeding Le Fei bleeding Ben bleeding Gee Hwan bleeding Keith)

John eye's Le Fei's cards...

...but fails to distract her from the camera

Ben plots his next move...

... as Gee Hwan looks on

Keith slyly observes the table

Table 2 (Bann bleeding Derek bleeding Johann bleeding Stephen bleeding B.K.)

Bann: "Really?"

Derek utterly enjoying himself

Big smiles from Johann

Stephen puts on his game face

B.K. settles in for the Eternal Struggle

Table 3 (Taka'aki bleeding Danz bleeding Karl bleeding Hayakawa bleeding Lucinio)

Taka'aki and his
awesome blood counters

Danz does a magic trick

Karl watches on

Lucinio plots his next action

Hayakawa plays it cool

Results from Round 1:

• Table 1 timed out. 0.5VPs all round (booooooooooring)
• Table 2. Stephen ousted B.K., Bann and Johann for 4VPs. Bann ousted Derek for 1VP.
• Table 3. Danz ousted Karl for 1.5VPs. Hayakawa ousted Lucinio and Taka'aki for 2.5VPs.

Eden's Legacy: Aftermath

 

The aftermath for Eden's Legacy has been revealed:

http://www.vtesstorylines.com/PDFs/Storyline_Eden_Aftermath.pdf

Excerpts from the aftermath

Theo snorted. "The Imperator and I have kind of an unspoken understanding. He doesn't give me
orders. I'll try not to shove another stake through his chest and toss him off another pier. Or didn't you
hear about the Sao Paulo incident? Your warlord is in thick with slavers and demon worshipers. Of
course, seeing as he's all loyal to the Camarilla and its fine founders... maybe Karsh was just following
orders...."

* * * * *

She felt a presence beside her and turned. She was startled by the massive form of the Magaji. The
serpents of gold and silver wrapped around his powerful form glinted in the flickering light. Eze, the
Demon Prince, turned towards her. She had never been so close to one so great. She dared not speak.
It was not her place to address him.

* * * * *

When she awoke, Dmitra Ilyanova was disappointed to find that the rest of the bed was empty. She
looked up and saw Helena, who had pulled back the heavy curtain and stood by the window. Dmitra
climbed out of the vast bed. She went over to Helena and put one hand on the white curve of her hip.
Dmitra touched her lips to Helena's perfect shoulder and neck. The two of them looked out at the
orange and purple sky illuminated by the setting sun behind the Carpathian mountains.

Looks like the Brujah, Ishtarri and Guruhi are joint winners.