Fade From View: Boston Tournament Report

So at the end of May, we had a 12-player, 2-round tournament at
Danger Planet in Waltham, MA.  Standard constructed deck deal.
After the 2 rounds, the finals consisted of the following:

Ben Swainbank - !Toreador bruise 'n bleed
Rich Gentile - !Malkavian stealth-bleed
Alex Skrabut - ani/pot rush combat
Jonathan Mason - weenie Animalism combat
Scott Gomes - Lazverinus stands alone

Long story made short - Swainbank's !Toreador made a slow death march
around the table, eventually sweeping.

Final standings:

1. Ben Swainbank - 2 GW, 6 VP, 5 VP in finals
2. Rich Gentile - 1 GW, 5 VP, 0 VP in finals
3. Alex Skrabut - 1 GW, 4 VP, 0 VP in finals
4. Jonathan Mason - 0 GW, 2 VP, 0 VP in finals
5. Scott Gomes - 0 GW, 2 VP, 0 VP in finals
6. Tricia Hopkins - 0 GW, 1.5 VP
7. Ben Peal - 0 GW, 1 VP  (stupid untested decks...grr...)
7. Kevin Scribner - 0 GW, 1 VP
9. Chris O'Brien - 0 GW, 0.5 VP
10. Dan Pichette - 0 GW, 0 VP, 52 TP
11. Peter Jehlen - 0 GW, 0 VP, 50 TP
11. Kevin Mullen - 0 GW, 0 VP, 50 TP

Here's Swainbank's deck, with comments from the man of the day himself:

	Deck: Monster's Ball

	Crypt: 12

	Miller Delmardigan x2 !Toreador 8 CEL aus PRE pro + 1 Stength *
	Greta Kirsher  x2 !Toreador 7 CEL AUS PRE obf *
	Parnassus Assamite 7 CEL aus QUI +1 Strength
	Ian Wallingford 6 !Toreador CEL aus PRE
	Victor Revell 5 !Toreador CEL aus pre
	Felicia Mostrom 5 Toreador CEL AUS pre
	Remillard 4 !Toreador AUS pre
	Parimenides 4 Assamite CEL qui +1 Strength
	Zoe 3 Malkavian cel AUS obf
	Carter 2 !Toreador cel


	Masters: 16

	Palla Grande x2
	Art of Pain
	Depravity
	Fetish Club HG
	Auspex x2
	Blood Doll x3
	Fame
	Society of Leopold
	Powerbase Montreal
	Fragment of the Book of Nod
	Giants Blood
	Rumor Mill


	Minion: 74

	Presence: 2

	Aire of Elation x2


	Celerity: 31

	Pursuit x8
	Psyche: x6
	Blur: x7
	Sideslip: x8
	Side Strike: x2


	Auspex: 22

	Aura Reading x2
	Eagle Sight x5
	Sins of Cauchemar x3
	Precognition x2
	Enhanced Senses x4
	Telepathic Misdirection x4
	My Enemy's Enemy x2


	Reaction: 8

	Wake With Evening's Freshness x3
	Forced Awakening x5


	Combat: 6

	Pulled Fangs x2
	Taste of Vitae x4


	Other: 5

	The Embrace x2
	Sniper Rifle
	Ivory Bow
	Art Scam


	Deck Notes:

	I've had a very good record with this deck in casual games, and now in a 
	tournament. Its fairly straightforward, but a good bit of R&D went into 
	testing and tuning it. Intercept combat. A nice layered defense of solid 
	intercept (with an option to KO), light bounce, and Greta, mostly keeps you 
	out of trouble.

	The Palla Grandes, with maybe help from Fame, give you a kicker to swoop in 
	on your prey, and oust (maybe with Aire as the closer). The deck has enough 
	juice to do this twice, but kind of runs out of ousting power after that. 
	But, typically, its just enough to win the table.

	I started thinking about this deck after having my sneaky decks shut down by 
	intercept monsters in a few tournaments. Kind of -- If you can't beat them, 
	join them. Then give them a beating.

	This deck takes me back to my early Kung-Fu Fightin' days when most all my 
	decks were about beating people up with Bianca. For the update, I drew 
	inspiration from a variety of sources. So, I'll send a shot out to:

	Ulysses Lateiner - for the reminder of the joys of celerity combat, and the 
	mechanics of the 4 card CEL fight module.

	Aaron Steel - for the extra-cyclin' Auspex intercept module.

	Ben Peal - for demonstrating that all your minions suddenly gaining +1 bleed 
	(and +1 strength is nice too) over multiple turns is enough to give a lot of 
	offensive punch to a otherwise defensive deck.


There ya have it!  Keep on bleedin'...


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