TWD - Jann Berger's "I" is for Indomitability, Los Angeles, CA, August 31, 2013

TWD Jann Berger's "I" is for Indomitability
Los Angeles, California
August 13, 2013
12 players (needs confirmation from organizer)
2R+final

Final table results:
Mark Jasper (Tzimisce wall/combat) 0
Robert Goudie (weenie Potence) 1.5
Robert Scythe (Velya & allies) 0
Aaron Clark (ANI/FOR combat) 2.5
Julien Guérand (Assamite vote & bleed) 0

Deck Name: Basilia Gives Aids
Created By: Aaron Clark
Description: Get out big vampires with ANI/FOR. Minion Tap 'em, refill 'em a bit. Do stuff, block stuff, fight stuff. Watch out for Basilia - she's got agg hands!

Crypt (12 cards, capacity min: 2, max: 10, average: 7.33)
3x Basilia 10 pot obf ANI FOR PRO Gangrel:1 primogen
2x Ingrid Rossler 9 dom ANI FOR PRO Gangrel:2 prince
1x Katarina 9 pot pro ANI FOR Gangrel:2 prince
1x Kostantin, Baro of the Caravan 9 cel dom ANI CHI FOR Ravnos:2
1x Haakon Mortensen 8 ANI FOR PRO !Gangrel:2
1x Bear Paw 5 for pre pro ANI Gangrel:1
1x Roman Alexander 4 ani for pro Gangrel:1
1x Leon 3 ani for !Gangrel:2
1x Vliam Andor 2 ani Gangrel:1

Library (88)
Master (10)
1x Giant's Blood
1x Information Highway
8x Minion Tap

Action (14)
2x Army of Rats
5x Bum's Rush
2x Force of Will
1x Rapid Healing
4x Restoration

Action Modifier (6)
6x Freak Drive

Combat (37)
12x Aid from Bats
2x Canine Hordes
8x Carrion Crows
1x Earth Meld
1x Immortal Grapple
3x Resilience
1x Superior Mettle
6x Taste of Vitae
3x Unflinching Persistence

Political Action (3)
1x Gangrel Justicar
1x Honor the Elders
1x Political Stranglehold

Reaction (14)
4x Cats' Guidance
1x Guard Dogs
2x Instinctive Reaction
7x Wake with Evening's Freshness

Retainer (4)
1x Dog Pack
3x Raven Spy

AaronC wrote:

TWD Jann Berger's "I" is for Indomitability
Los Angeles, California
August 13, 2013
12 players (needs confirmation from organizer)
2R+final

Final table results:
Mark Jasper (Tzimisce wall/combat) 0
Robert Goudie (weenie Potence) 1.5
Robert Scythe (Velya & allies) 0
Aaron Clark (ANI/FOR combat) 2.5
Julien Guérand (Assamite vote & bleed) 0

Good job Aaron!

AaronC wrote:

TWD Jann Berger's "I" is for Indomitability
Los Angeles, California
August 13, 2013
12 players (needs confirmation from organizer)
2R+final

This seems likely to have been on August 31, not 13.

www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/7280

Congratulations on the win!

Grats!

I'm undecided as to whether I wish I was there to see it, or glad I wasn't there to lose to ya again

Way to go Aaron! I'd love to read a tournament report for your two new tournament wins. Wish I could have been there. I did rush and diablerize the French as promised.

Dear Brandon, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find. Here is a tournament report for the first tournament, the other to come soon. Beware - it's long. I also hope to read about your VTES adventures in Europe on your blog in the near future.

Mark Jasper (4th) (g2/3 Tzimisce wall/combat) ->
Robert Goudie (2nd) (weenie Potence) ->
Robert Scythe (3rd) (Velya, War Ghouls & other allies) ->
Aaron Clark (1st) (g1/2 big-cap ANI/FOR combat featuring Basilia) ->
Julien Guerand (5th) (Assamite vote/bleed)
(Hope I got the seed rankings right.)

Robert Goudie’s weenie Potence deck was my grand-predator in each game of this tournament, twice by chance, once by choice. This was excellent for me since Robert is very aggressive towards his prey, which took a lot of pressure off me. I achieved two game wins in the preliminary rounds, and as first seed I chose my seat based on where he was and the fact that my combat had a reasonable chance against War Ghouls.

I don’t have a perfect recollection of the details of the final, but I’ll do my best. I first got out Ingrid, whom I Minion Tapped, Roman, and eventually Basilia (who was, of course, Minion Tapped, although for not as much out of fear of the War Ghouls). Julien got out Husamettin, Melek, Tansu Bekir, and was working on a Web of Knives recruit. Mark had out Meshenka and Stravinsky. Mr. Goudie had several potence Weenies led by Jimmy Dunn. Mr. Scythe brought out a few 1-caps, followed by Béatrice Tremblay and Velya and the usual preponderance of allies.

In my game against Julien, I bled a lot for one along with a couple of rounds of Army of Rats damage. The one time I was subjected to a Selective Silence/Taste of Death I had my Superior Mettle in hand. (The second time Selective Silence was played against Basilia, Julien had no Taste of Death, which was lucky for me because I didn’t have prevention in hand.) Melek’s dodge was excellent defense against Basilia. However, Julien was often either tapped out or didn’t attempt to block, and my combat and Mark’s started to wear him down.

Julien couldn’t deal with Mark’s deck since he didn’t have enough stealth to get past the big-eyed Tzimisce very often, he didn’t have superior combat, and the Tzimisce had many more votes. He also seemed to lack blood recursion. Julien may have sent a Tzimisce to torpor once with a “surprise” Taste of Death. Generally, he tried to act inoffensively to cycle what actions he could, such as a Con Boon, Khabar: Glory for nothing, or Web of Knives recruit, although Mark did send Tansu to torpor for good.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the game was the interaction between Mark and Mr. Goudie. After Mark Deep Song rushed a Potence weenie and got spanked a little, he got very timid about going forward. In my estimation Meshenka + multiple Horrid Forms + Vicissitude tricks > weenie Potence. I mean, Mr. Goudie couldn’t have three Increased Strengths and a Potence strike every time, could he? Well, he did a great job acting as though he had it, and Mark was vocal in his fear of the fist. Out loud, I diagnosed him with “Poto-phobia”.

Mr. Goudie was aggressive as usual towards his prey. Unblocked Computer Hacking bleeds were the order of the day early on with some rushes to come later. However, he also spent time going backwards, which made me a bit nervous.

Mr. Scythe got his “Beatrice bleeds for 2/monsters get -1 intercept” and “Velya bleeds for 2 or 3 at stealth and untaps and recruits an ally” routine off a few of times before Ingrid got a Raven Spy. He later opined he should have DI’ed the Raven Spy, and he was probably right. His ally army eventually included Asanbonsam Ghoul, Carlton, and a War Ghoul, and of course Béatrice.

Mark’s stealthy “plus” bleeds got Mr. Goudie very low on pool. Mark Famed and torporized one of Goudie’s minions who stayed in torpor for the rest of the game, which put pressure on the entire table. (The Fame would free up the final from the threat of a timeout, forcing me and everyone to play aggressively.) In return, Mr. Goudie torporized and ate Stravinsky (or Meshenka??), forcing Mark to spend pool on another minion.

Even though Mr. Goudie’s situation was not looking good, he did not relent on his prey. He burned Carlton and Asanbonsam when they blocked, damaged a rushing War Ghoul, and dunked a weenie or two, I think (I dunked one, too). Mr. Scythe’s pool was getting very low after the constant bleeds, paying for the War Ghoul, and Fame damage. I believe the Potence weenies eventually got Velya(?) (or at least got him to zero blood) although he did bounce some bleeds to me during which the Potence weenies and Gangrel played nice.

Mr. Scythe had gotten quite a bit of my pool, especially early on. I had to let the occasional weenie bleed, stealth bleed, or bounced bleed through since I had to focus on offense. Still, “Minion Tap -> Restoration/Taste of Vitae -> Minion Tap” helped keep me from being ousted, and the threat of Animalism combat and unblocked bleeds from the other side kept Mr. Scythe from blocking my undirected actions once he played The Unmasking. I have to say Cats’ Guidance was very useful to my defense throughout the tournament.

Towards the end of the two hours, everyone’s pool was very low. Mr. Goudie and Mr. Scythe both looked like they could get ousted in a turn. I was worried about how the table would fall, because I didn’t think I would have time to catch up with Mark if he got both Roberts. Julien was down to seven, and I continued my offense, rushing him whenever I could and at one point choosing to bleed with Ingrid even though it left me with inadequate defense. I finally had Julien at 4 pool, and he only had one ready minion, since either Mark or I had torpored Husamettin.

Mark got Mr. Goudie down to one pool the following turn, meaning it looked like Mr. Goudie was going to be ousted by Fame. Instead, Mr. Goudie surprised many, including me, by using a Vessel to save himself. He then bled Mr. Scythe and let Fame oust him on the next turn. This was excellent for me since it meant the Fame was still in play. On my turn Julien had one ready tapped minion, Melek, and I had three vampires. I bled for one with each, and he had no untap in hand (whew!). He was ousted by Fame.

In a turn or two, Mark had no ready vampires and little pool. There was little time left and I was the highest seed. Mr. Goudie started bleeding me, and Basilia sent any Potence weenies she blocked into torpor. On my turn I called Honor the Elders, further strengthening my position, and soon ousted Mark. Time ended before I could oust Mr. Goudie.

As I already mentioned, my seating position relative to Robert Goudie during the tournament was really what helped me the most. It was perfect for me since it gave me breathing room to go forward and because Robert had no answer to Basilia once we sat next to each other.

This deck was my second attempt to make a Basilia-centric deck. My first attempt focused on Immortal Grapple, Fortitude prevention, and Obfuscate weenie support (she has Obfuscate, after all), and it failed miserably. One big problem was blood management. Julien gave me the idea of using Carrion Crows/Taste of Vitae with Basilia to fill her up again. That led me to the idea of focusing on her Animalism, which has been much more successful.

By the way, this is the first TWD in TheLasombra’s archive since 2002 to include Basilia, and it has the most copies of Basilia of any TWD in the archive.