Winter 2002 Storyline Boston Tournament Report

  Heya!  This past Saturday (2/9), 18 players from the Boston area 
  battled to stake their claim on the city of Baltimore:

  Jonathan Scherer - "Ran'oruin" - Tremere bruise 'n bleed
  Derek Guder - "Tiger in the Tank" - Ahrimanes bruise 'n bleed
  Jason Schneiderman - "Voodoo You" - Setite/Samedi stealth/bleed with NEC
  Ulysses Lateiner - "Signpost Assassins" - Brujah combat
  Anthony Shubert - "Serpentor Goes Postal" - Setite weapon bleed
  Jason Bilsky - "The Peeper" - Protean stealth/bleed/Garou craziness
  Jonathan Mason - "There's a party at the asylum and everyone's 
  invited" - !Malkavian stealth-bleed
  Tricia Hopkins - "Sneaky Snakes" - Setite stealth-bleed
  Ben Peal - "Wall of Doom" - Ravnos bruise 'n bleed
  Steve Marbit - "Question and Answer" - Malkavian stealth vote/bleed
  Tony Lee - "Proteolicious Pier 13" - see deck name
  Prescott Jenner - "I choose you, Gargachu!" - Gargoyle weenie rush
  Scott Gomes - "Hag me jacket" - Ravnos toolbox
  Rich Gentile - "With Friends Like These" - !Malkavian stealth-bleed
  Matt Hirsch - "The Jacket Deck" - Malkavian flamethrower/bleed
  Chris O'Brien - "Aching Target" - Aching Beauty/Change of Target
  Kevin Scribner - "What _is_ that smell?!" - Giovanni power bleed
  Steven Joyce - "Generic Ventrue" - uh...generic Ventrue

  Pier 13 didn't really factor into anything during the tournament.  Tony
  Lee tried to get it out once, but I blocked it.  Meddling of Semsith was
  played twice during the preliminary rounds, and didn't live up to the 
  hype.  The one shameful event of the tournament came in Round Two, when
  I was called for a ruling on Shackles of Enkidu.  I overcame the desire
  to commit suicide, and confirmed that you still control the card when
  you inflict it on an opposing minion.

  Three rounds later we had our finalists - Rich Gentile, Ben Peal, Derek
  Guder, Steven Joyce, and Jason Bilsky.  Alas, Rich had to miss the
  finals because he had to go to work, so Scott Gomes took the remaining
  spot.  Tough break for Rich, as he had the #1 position, with 2 game wins
  and 8.5 VP.  Steven Joyce was quite the surprise, as he showed up late
  and was only able to play the last two rounds - certainly taking
  advantage of the time he had.

  The seating order was:

  Jason Bilsky (Gangrel)
  Ben Peal (Ravnos)
  Steven Joyce (Ventrue)
  Derek Guder (Ahrimanes)
  Scott Gomes (Ravnos)

  Scott and I were caught without early intercept, and Jason managed to
  recruit a pair of Garou.  Seeing his opportunity, Steven called a couple
  of KRCs, damaging myself and Derek.  Derek took advantage of Scott's
  inability to draw combat cards, and pummeled away.  The werewolves made
  repeated attempts to smack down my vampires, but were driven back by
  Carrion Crows, and eventually met their doom when I finally drew into
  accompanying Aid From Bats.  Jason kept up the bleeding pressure on me
  in the meantime, only to get stuffed by the Wall of Doom.  

  Scott eventually recovered from his beating and got to work bleeding
  Jason w/Fata Morganas.  Steven ran out of luck when Derek finally drew
  into some intercept, and was held at bay.  Having fended off the Garou,
  I got to work bleeding Steven.  I eventually wore Steven down to the point 
  where I was able to finish him off with Week of Nightmares.  Derek then
  tapped out to try to oust Scott, but Scott just managed to draw into one
  untap card and one point of intercept on Derek's last bleed attempt.  
  Haveing stayed alive, Scott ousted Jason, who was at three, using Fata 
  Morgana and the benefit of my Week of Nightmares.  I tried ousting Derek
  before he could get Scott, but Derek managed to draw into enough untap to 
  stop me.  After ousting Scott, Derek and I settled into the endgame.  
  Unfortunately for Derek, his deck had been mostly depleted by the time he 
  ousted Scott, and I was able to run out the rest of it, and eventually 
  ousted Derek for the win.

  Results of the finals:

  1. Ben Peal - 3 VP
  2. Derek Guder - 1 VP
  3. Scott Gomes - 1 VP
  4. Jason Bilsky - 0 VP
  5. Steven Joyce - 0 VP

  I'll see about getting the deck list for Derek's "Tiger in the Tank"
  deck, as there's been a request on the newsgroup for lists for
  successful Ahrimanes decks.  Here's the winning deck:

  Deck: Wall of Doom

  Description: Animalism bruise with Dominate/permanent bleed, and heavy
  Animalism/Chimerstry defense supplemented by Deflections.

  CRYPT

  Spleen          2, ani, chi
  Vedel Esbreno   3, for, chi
  Salbatore       4, for, pro, CHI
  Khalil Ravana   5, for, ani, pri, CHI
  Joaquina Amaya  6, ANI, FOR, CHI
  Vaclav          6, for, pot, ANI, CHI
  2 x Sarisha     6, dom, chi, FOR, ANI
  Natalia         7, dom, for, chi, ANI
  2 x Gabrin      8, dom, for, ANI, CHI
  Konstantin      9, dom, cel, FOR, ANI, CHI


  LIBRARY

  1 x Park Hunting Ground
  1 x Fortune Teller Shop
  1 x The Path of Paradox
  1 x Week of Nightmares
  1 x Treasured Samadji

  1 x The Barrens
  1 x Powerbase: Montreal
  1 x Antediluvian Awakening
  3 x Blood Doll
  4 x Sudden Reversal

  5 x Wake With Evening's Freshness
  5 x Forced Awakening
  1 x Tasha Morgan
  1 x J.S. Simmons, Esq.
  1 x Mr. Winthrop
  3 x Sport Bike
  1 x Ivory Bow

  8 x Carrion Crows
  5 x Aid From Bats
  2 x Speak With Spirits
  6 x Cat's Guidance
  3 x Guard Dogs
  3 x Rat's Warning

  6 x Draba
  4 x Veiled Sight
  4 x Ingis Fatuus

  6 x Deflection
  3 x Conditioning

  5 x Superior Mettle
  3 x Kiss of Ra


  - Ben Peal, Prince of Boston
    fudjo@mindstorm.com