TWD Conditioning: Silicon Valley Qualifier

Congratulations to Jeff Kuta for winning the Silicon Valley Qualifier!

Conditioning: Silicon Valley Qualifier
12/29/12
San Jose, California
Winner: Jeff Kuta
2r + f
21 Players
Organizer: Andrew Haas

Finalists:
Jeff Kuta
Matt Wedge
Chris Shorb
Dennis Lien
Mike Courtois

Also qualifying: David Anderson

Deck Name: Speed Kills
Author: Jeff Kuta
Description:
G1/2 Nosferatu Royalty
Inspired by Cosa Nostra by Jakub Marek.
www.secretlibrary.info/index.php?deck=view&id=6365


Crypt (13 cards; Capacity min=2 max=9 avg=7.38)
===============================================
1x Agrippina 4 pot OBF Nosferatu:1
1x Dimple 2 obf Nosferatu:1
1x Murat 7 ser OBF POT Nosferatu:2
2x Nikolaus Vermeulen 7 ani for obf POT Nosferatu:2
3x Selma the Repugnant 8 ani for OBF POT Nosferatu:1
3x Sheldon, Lord of the Clog 9 for ANI AUS OBF POT Nosferatu:1
2x Suhailah 9 pot ser FOR OBF Ventrue:2

Library (66 cards)
==================
Master (22)
1x Archon Investigation
1x Bleeding the Vine
1x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Information Highway
1x Labyrinth, The
6x Legendary Vampire
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Warsaw Station
1x Wider View
6x Zillah's Valley

Action (1)
1x SchreckNET

Political Action (21)
2x Conservative Agitation
2x Domain Challenge
5x Kine Resources Contested
1x Neonate Breach
9x Parity Shift
2x Reinforcements

Action Modifier (16)
1x Cloak the Gathering
2x Elder Impersonation
2x Faceless Night
2x Forgotten Labyrinth
4x Freak Drive
4x Lost in Crowds
1x Spying Mission

Reaction (4)
2x Lost in Translation
2x Second Tradition: Domain

Combo (2)
2x Swallowed by the Night

Created with Secret Library v0.9.4a. (Dec 31, 2012 21:52:02)

Thanks to Brandon Haas for organizing the event and Andrew Haas for opening his house to us yet again.

Here's my Nosferatu Royalty deck: Speed Kills

www.secretlibrary.info/index.php?deck=view&id=11174

brandonsantacruz wrote:

Conditioning: Silicon Valley Qualifier
12/29/12
San Jose, California

Organizer: Andrew Haas
Finalists:
Jeff Kuta
Matt Wedge
Chris Shorb
Dennis Lien
Mike Courtois

David Anderson was edged out of the finals by a coin flip. Are there enough participants for non-finalists to be qualified? If so, how many?

Qualifying wrote:

The top 25% of players in constructed Continental Qualifying events qualify.

www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/10-news-and-announcements/36278

21 * 0.25 = 5.25

Since .25 of a player is a player, 6 qualify.

TOURNAMENT REPORT:
21 players. 1x 5-player and 4x 4-player tables.
I probably have the number of transfers wrong, but the seat orders at the tables are right.

ROUND 1:
James Lin (FoS politics) >
Me (G1/2 Nosferatu Royalty) >
Chris Shorb (Tzimisce bleed/bounce w/Horrid Form) >
Ian Lee (Assamite Obf/Qui bleed) >
??? (totally blanking, sorry!)

I had 3 Zillah's Valleys, a Legendary Vampire, Parity Shift and Lost in Crowds in my opening hand. I got Sheldon and Selma out quickly and went to town. Chris had a strong deck, but he got no titled vampires into play. James had to fish for Shemti but by then it was too late.
RESULT: GW, 5 VPs

ROUND 2:
Brent ?? (Blood Brothers toolbox, Chicago Circle) >
Eric Schultheis (Cock Robin superstar with ANI support) >
Me (G1/2 Nosferatu Royalty) >
Aaron Clark (G1/2 Gangrel aggro-poke rush)

I had a strong start this game as well with 2 ZVs and 1 LV in hand. I cycled into my first Parity Shift in time for my first action. Aaron immediately read the table and backrushed me every turn. I got a crosstable rescue to keep me from being diablerized by weenie ANI vamps. I tried to make a "rescue me for a VP" deal with the BB in case of more bad combats, but they didn't want to. Aaron fought on valiantly. I made a one turn deal with him after the BBs denied my deal attempt. I Parity Shifted 4 from his prey to me in return for forward pressure that entire turn. That bought me enough space to use Nikolaus' special to get a weenie blocker to keep Sheldon safe. Afterwards, Eric revealed that he chose to keep Cock Robin uncontrolled whole game once Sheldon came into play on turn 2. We all debated this decision and the merits of contesting the Justicar title afterward, in particular access to Second Tradition.
RESULT: GW, 4 VPs

I was top seed (2 GW, 9 VPs!) going into the final! I was quite relieved to learn that Matt Wedge only managed 4 VPs at his 5-player table and ended up second seed with 2 GW, 8 VPs. I was most concerned about Deep Song rush of all the finalists since I was only packing 2 (!!) combat cards. As it turned out, I got to pick my seat and put the ANI deck cross table. I didn't know what Dennis was playing when I decided, but it turned out his slow-build wall was a good predator.

FINAL:
Chris Shorb (Tzimisce) >
Matt Wedge (ANI Deep Song) >
Mike Curtois (Ravnos Tumnimos/WoN) >
Dennis Lien (Sylvie Hegnon superstar wall w/Caitiff) >
Me (G1/2 Nosferatu Royalty)

I had my worst crypt draw (no Sheldon), but had Selma, Murat and one weenie. I got a turn 2 Selma with turn 3 LV and proceeded to Parity Shift then bleed for 3 after Freaking. Chris knew he had to either outrace me or get crosstable help--based on cards in hand, he chose to race. He bled into Matt and cycled a lot in their first combat, torporing Lord Ashton and creating combat tension between them. Matt bled for 1 many times but saved his Deep Songs for later potential rushes against me. Mike got Gabrin and started making some babies. Dennis tooled up Sylvie, though I DI'd her attempt at getting an Ivory Bow.

After the initial Parity Shift and heavy bleed, I let Chris have some space to go forward and stole 5 pool from my predator instead. At some point, I put Bleeding the Vine into play. When everyone's pool was sufficiently withered away, I played a Neonate Breach which could hit everyone. I made a deal with my predator not to block if I didn't hit him with the Breach. The rest of the table loudly argued against such a move because it would mean I could oust Chris and possibly Matt. Dennis held firm in spite of that heated discussion. I left Dennis off the terms, so the Breach was unblocked. I had sufficient stealth to sneak past Matt for an ousting bleed of 3 on the same turn. It would have been very bad to let Matt have the chance to backrush me when I was his predator. After the double-oust, Dennis related that he didn't have 3 intercept available, so he just tried to get something out of the deal so he wouldn't take 4 pool damage himself. Everyone understood.

Sylvie had an Owl Companion, so we had seen a Week of Nightmares in Mike's hand after she backrushed and burned a Gypsy. I was a bit worried about Dennis' intercept, so I made a deal with Mike that I wouldn't Bleed his WoN if he promised to go forward, oust Dennis, and then we'd go heads-up for the table. Mike took the deal, played WoN, and his six Ravnos got Dennis down to 2 pool. Dennis was sufficiently crippled that he gave me no pressure and transferred out, taking the last remaining perma-cept (Raven Spy/Abbot) off the table. The next turn I dropped two KRCs and bled for 3 to do the last 9 pool damage (after the oust) to Mike to take the table 4-1.

As luck would have it, I made just about a perfect metagame choice. I hadn't played this type of deck is many, many months, but I knew its dynamics well. I only saw one other titled vampire (Shemti) all day. I only had 1 vote delayed all day. I never saw SchreckNET *in my hand* all day, despite nearly exhausting my small library in each of the three games.

Thanks again to Brandon Haas for doing the legwork to make the event happen, to Andrew Haas for opening his house to us and running the qualifier, and to Alex Orzulak for lending me the last minute SchreckNET and Second Traditions to complete the deck.

My fault for not running Confusion of the Eye. I didn't realize two thirds of my crypt had OBF.

YAY! I'm a quarter of a person! Math doesn't lie!