Strange Day: Boston Tournament Report

Here's a brief report of the last tournament we had in Boston. (Sat. Dec.
17th at Your Move Games)

We had thirteen players and after 3 rounds of combat the following prelim
standings were revealed:

1. Ben Swainbank(me) (Demdemeh and friends) 9.5VP 2GW
2. Andy Kempton (!Tor and Tzi -Paella) 5VP 1GW
3. Peter Jehlen (Inner Circle) 5VP 1GW
4. Matt Hirsch (Assamites) 3VP 1GW
5. Matt Murphy (Mata Hari allies/vote) 3VP
6. Kevin Mullen (!Tor intercept fight) 2.5VP
7. John Eno (Sabastian Goulet + !Gangrel allies/bleed) 2VP
8. Steve Joyce (EuroBrujah) 1.5VP
9. Jonatha Scherer (Toreador Princes w/guns) 1.5VP
10. Ben Peal (Tremere perma-cept) 1.5VP
11. Matt Flint (Akunanse fight) 0VP
12. Greg Pettigrew (Menele + friends?) 0VP
13. Chris O'Brien (0VP)

Seating for the finals was:

Ben Swainbank(me) (Demdemeh and friends) bleeding...
Andy Kempton (!Tor and Tzi -Paella) bleeding...
Peter Jehlen (Inner Circle) bleeding...
Matt Hirsch (Assamites) bleeding...
Matt Murphy (Mata Hari allies/vote) bleeding... me

During the finals:

Peter brought out Leandro to the annoyance of everyone.

Matt Hirsh got off to a quick start. He put Fame on Mata Hari, marked her
with Red List and swarm-rushed to dunk her. With a Giant's Blood Matt Murphy
brought her back. But the Assamites marked and swarm-rushed her again for a
second Fame dunk that pretty much ended Matt Murphy's game.

Andy got an early War Ghoul but he was getting squeezed by Demdemeh, who got
his own War Ghoul, and catching vote splash from the vote powers of Peter
and Matt M. So, he agreed to leave Peter alone until Peter got Matt H. if
Peter stopped the upstream damage.

Peter put an PTO on the table. Demdemeh was rather tooled up and obvious PTO
bait. A long discussion ensued as to whether it made sense for Peter to PTO
Demdemeh cross-table -- especially since I had the obvious retaliatory
option of smashing Leandro with my War Ghoul. Peter blasted him anyhow.

A strange few turns followed where it seemed like nobody had functional
minions to work with except for (and because of) the two War Ghouls on the
table. Peter, Matt, and Andy were all quite low on pool. I had some pool but
only Rosemarie and a War Ghoul to work with.

Matt Hirsh had Reza Fatir get a Clandestine Contract on Leandro. Even when
Peter got him out of torpor, Matt just smacked him back down again.

Then Andy Entranced my War Ghoul with Jost Werner. That gave him more than
enough muscle to smack down the rest of the table for the win.

Note on timing: This was scheduled as a 2.5 hour finals - which I think
worked out well. It ended right around the 2 hour mark (probably just under,
but I'm not sure). But there was no frantic rushing, or attempts to stall it
out the end. It was obvious that the only way to win was to go for the GW.


Here is Andy's winning deck:

Deck name: "I ATE Andy Warhol"
Played by: Andy Kempton
Description: This deck starts out with !Toreador/Tzimisce weenie bleed. If
it gets in trouble it can use Enchant Kindred and Art Scams to bloat like a
tick. It will seem fairly standard but when the War Ghouls and Palla Grande
hit the table it can come from behind like a prison rapist.
Deck is a slighty modified version of the "Paella y Tortilla" style "Ghouls
just wanna have fun"


Crypt (12) [avg=4.83]:

Remilliard, Devout Crusader 4 (AUS, pre)
2 Creamy Jade 5 (PRE, cel, vis, aus)
Sheila Mezarin 6 (PRE, AUS, cel, for, +1 bleed)
Mercy, Knight Inquisitor 5 (AUS, pre,cel, dom)
2 Jost Werner 5 (AUS, PRE, ani, +1 stealth)
3 The Rose 5 (PRE, VIC, aus)
Horatio 2 (vic)
Lolita Houston 4 (VIC, aus)

Master (16):

4 Jake Washington (Hunter)
3 Palla Grande
1 The Barrens
2 Blood Doll
1 Archon Investigation
1 Vicissitude
1 Auspex
1 Memories of Mortality
2 Anarch troublemaker

Misc (23):

5 The Embrace
4 Art Scam
6 Change of Target
1 Fake Out
1 Delaying Tactics
4 Wake with Evening's freshness
2 Forced Awakening

Ally / Retainer (10):

5 War Ghoul
2 Marijava Ghoul
1 Tasha Morgan
1 J.S. Simons
1 Procurer

Presence (21):

9 Enchant Kindred
2 Entrancement
4 The Summoning
6 Majesty

Auspex (9):

4 Telepathic Misdirection
5 My enemy's enemy

Vicissitude (11):

6 Changeling
5 Plasmic Form

Total: 90

-Ben S.