This event was played on May 23. Report by Steve Harris and the winner himself. Ke Carltons words first:

With Simon’s help (cheers!), I distilled down which deck to play on the morning of the tournament. Settling on what was shiny and new for me — an efficient Tzimisce power bleed deck that avoids using Barons and focuses on the Govern chain. The main Anarch tech it uses is Crypt’s Sons and Club Illusion, reducing the likelihood of contesting.

The week before the tournament it was ousted twice, first very quickly (thanks Scott and Jason!), which resulted in going up to 8 bounces and 4 Villeins. This made the deck much more robust. Combat is always a consideration at ANZ events, so the 11 combat ends were also welcomed.

This was ANZ’s largest GP so far, with a perfect 25 players and a great vibe.

Round 1
Ministry Bleed (Riddles) > Banu Ashurs (Rich) > Nefertiti Dominate (Daniel) > Tzimisce Bleed (Ke) > Hecata Aggressive Corpse (Rathpex)

Got a solid 7-6-5-5 opening crypt. Rich’s Banu burned Riddles’ first Ministry vampire, and Daniel’s Nefertiti was drained after a bit of a fight. The lack of Nefertiti bleeds slowed down my ousting pace as she yo-yo’d in and out of torpor. Rathpex’s Hecata built steadily, though didn’t play many Corpses. Even with one minion, Riddles kept the pressure up on Rich. The game started to stall with Daniel pool sacking, so I decided to push forward. The penultimate bleed left both my prey and grandprey on 4 pool, with the final bleed ousting my grandprey — leaving my prey on 10 with a couple of corpses in play. This allowed me to cycle combat ends in order to draw into cards for ousting Rathpex shortly after Daniel’s Nefertiti was ousted. The head-to-head with Rich timed out, resulting in 1.5 VP and most of my vampires in torpor.

Round 2
Nosferatu Molly Wall (Abigail) > Lasombra Bleed G6 (Alan) > Tzimisce Bleed (Ke) > Tzimisce Barons (Dan) > Lasombra Vote G2 (Ezekiel)

This game was a bit of a blur. I took an early 5 bleed from Alan’s 3-cap Lasombra, but offset it with a Villein + Giant’s Blood. Ezekiel’s Lasombra vote deck was doing a great job of garnering votes and ousted Abigail’s Molly fairly quickly. My predator Alan did a good job of concealing just how filthy and focused his deck was — so after sniping 1 VP via Crypt’s Sons, I was ousted fairly quickly. Alan’s Lasombra Bleed took the game win in the head-to-head with Ezekiel.

Round 3
Ravnos G6 bleed + tech (Matt) > Tzimisce Bleed (Ke) > Fortitude + Celerity Barons (Mark) > Adana Vote (James) > Věnceslava Vote (Chris)

Game win required or no final. Thankfully Matt’s Ravnos deck wasn’t as aggressive as I thought and only took a few pool damage before getting out one of the 7-caps. James’s Adana had great acceleration, though failed to draw any Villeins, leaving it fairly vulnerable but still pressuring Chris’s Věnceslava and recovering with vote pool gain. Matt delayed James' Political Stranglehold kept beads off the table. A couple of bounced bleeds left my grandprey James on 3–4 pool and my prey Mark on 10. I was able to get past Mark twice for 10 total bleed, giving me a window to equip and unlock for the second oust (James) on the same turn. Chris ended his turn with two minions unlocked. When Matt’s Ravnos bled, we cycled Deflections against one another, with me soaking the bleeds heading into the head-to-head — well played by Chris. A first-turn Anarch Troublemaker, long since forgotten about, allowed me to lock both of Chris’s minions and bleed him out. In the head-to-head I just played it safe to ensure the sweep and maximise the chances of getting to the final.

Standings before the final:
Jason Ryan 2 GW, 6.5 VP
Alan Stevenson 2 GW, 6.5 VP
Ke Carlton 1 GW, 7.5 VP
Tim Clarkson 1 GW, 6.5 VP
Richard Aumann 1 GW, 4 VP

Final
Lasombra Bleed G6 (Alan, 2nd Seed) > Banu Ashurs (Rich) > Tzimisce War Ghoul G2 (Tim) > !Ventrue (Jason, Top Seed) > Tzimisce Bleed (Ke, 3rd Seed)

Footage from SuakuOZ: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0tE9Vj45JA

The sweep got me to 3rd seed, so minimal impact on seating but room for discussion. Thankfully, Jason (top seed) chose to be my predator, which meant that providing I didn’t die, I had a good degree of control if I could oust Alan (my prey, 2nd seed). I had a decent opening crypt with Ángel (7), Marialena (5), Whisper (5) and Prentis (4), with a first-turn British Museum. I just needed to manage Marialena’s blood since she was the only other minion with superior Protean. Before Neighbor John was in play, I managed to play both a Living Manse and a superior Govern. Alan succeeded with many superior Governs and soon had 3 minions in play, causing Rich’s Banu to back-rush and torporize Gnaeus. Tim’s War Ghoul deck could not get any War Ghouls into play, but managed to stop some of Jason’s Governs.

I put a little pressure on Alan — just a bleed of 2 which was bounced and taken by Rich. I knew Alan played more than a lot of Deflections, so I was hoping the rescue would leave him with just one unlocked minion. This was the case, and after some back and forth between Alan and Rich, Rich rushed forward and removed a good chunk of blood from Tim’s minions. Jason continued to build with Governs. My next turn was my window to do some pool damage. I Deep Song rushed Alan’s unlocked minion and unlocked with Earth Meld. A bleed of 3 landed, followed by a bleed of 4 with Foreshadowing played once all players had declined blocks. This left Alan on 4 pool with another action to spare and another Foreshadowing in hand. By this point it was clear that Jason had an Eagle Sight in hand. I probably had the stealth to push it through — but Alan ousted with more than 80 minutes in the game would have been the death of me, as Rich would have destroyed my minions. I passed the turn.

The closeness of the oust caused Alan to switch into a defensive mode, and Rich left him alone to torporize both of Tim’s minions. Neither Jason nor I wanted Rich to have free rein, so Jason rescued Little Taylor and I rescued Caliban. Ángel was able to recruit Crypt’s Sons at 4 stealth and I influenced out my 4th minion, Marialena. Alan gained some pool and left two minions unlocked… I would likely need to wait some time now to get another window for a VP. Rich now had a Bowl of Convergence in play, and Tim recovered well with Jake and Vessels and was able to bring out a 3rd minion, Meshenka — still no War Ghouls, but the deck had moved into bleed and bounce mode (Plan A disguised as Plan B). Some light bleeds and Deflections played out. Jason was now looking fairly scary with 4 Dominate minions and Anarch Troublemaker in play.

With 40 minutes to go and a possible window to oust, I lunged. The first 3 minions managed to get Alan to 3 pool after a bounce and an Eagle Sight block. My final bleed of 4 was perfectly timed with a Life Boon by Jason, leaving him on 3 pool with 0.5 VP in the bank (should the game timeout) and Alan on 1(?) pool, with all my minions locked.

Alan started his turn with 3 Dominate minions with blood and his prey Rich on 11 pool. After some discussion he took the chance and got Archon Investigated before switching back into defensive mode. Rich bled forward and passed the turn. It was Tim’s turn to lunge with 3 minions. His first bleed of 1 landed, leaving Jason on 2 pool. Jason smartly sent the second bleed to Rich so I couldn’t bounce it on. Jason also attempted to deflect the final bleed to Rich, which I DI'd, and after some cycling and failing to draw another bounce, Jason was ousted.

Now that Neighbor John was gone, I was able to equip with the Heart and two Living Manses. Alan was on one pool. Ángel with Crypt’s Sons bled for 1 and was Deflected after a Form of Mist block. Ángel was fairly healthy on 3 blood and I had The Coven in hand, so I was greedy and didn’t use the Crypt’s Sons — I got off very lucky and ended the combat empty and ready after forgetting that superior Form of Mist is once per action, though the dodge kept him ready… My last minion’s bleed landed for the VP and top seed with 10 minutes remaining.

Rich’s turn started with an Ashur Tablet, which he resolved quickly, and bled before passing the turn. Tim bled with all his minions; I deflected what I could and just took the rest. My last turn consisted of my Heart of Cheating phase: The Coven, Dreams, card draw, a bleed of 3 with Crypt’s Sons (blocked after equipping), Triple Infernal Pursuit in combat sending someone to torpor, Mylan, pass turn… and timeout for the win.

Final result:
Ke 1.5 VP Game Win
Tim Clarkson 1.5 VP
Rich Aumann 0.5 VP
Jason Ryan 0 VP
Alan Stevenson 0 VP

It was a tight final and a worthy end to a great day of Vampire.

The tournament winning deck: "Cultural Appropriation" by Ke Carlton
"Mid to low cap tap and power bleed deck. Abombwe allows 7 caps to govern to 7 caps. Solid govern chain and quick to get minions out. Deep Song rush + Earth Meld to help the bleeds land. Would consider swapping 1x Wider View for NRA Pac."

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Maddji, Mistress of Szlachtas 7 for ANI DOM PRO  Tzimisce:6
2x Saankalaxt    7 aus ANI DOM PRO  Tzimisce:6
2x Angel Guerrero   7 ANI DOM PRO   Tzimisce:6
1x Neserian    6 cel pro ANI DOM  Tzimisce:6
1x Clara Hjortshøj   5 ani aus dom PRO  Tzimisce:6
1x Marialena    5 ani DOM PRO   Tzimisce:6
1x Whisper    5 pro ANI DOM   Tzimisce:6
1x Prentis Derby   4 ani dom pro   Tzimisce:6
1x Susie Kano    3 ani dom   Tzimisce:6

Library: 82 cards
Master (22 cards)
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Giant's Blood
3x Abombwe
4x Villein
2x Wider View
5x British Museum, London, The
1x Club Illusion
1x Coven, The
2x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx

Action (15 cards)
12x Govern the Unaligned
3x Deep Song

Ally (1 cards)
1x Mylan Horseed

Retainer (1 cards)
1x Crypt's Sons

Equipment (9 cards)
1x Heart of Nizchetus
6x Living Manse
1x Ritual Goblet
1x Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers

Action Modifier (5 cards)
2x Foreshadowing Destruction
1x Conditioning
2x Earth Control

Action Modifier/Combat (5 cards)
2x Rapid Change
3x Form of the Cobra

Action Modifier/Reaction (2 cards)
2x Form of the Bat

Combat (9 cards)
5x Form of Mist
4x Earth Meld

Reaction (13 cards)
2x On the Qui Vive
1x Redirection
2x Deep Ecology
7x Deflection
1x Delaying Tactics

Thanks to Rich and Rathpex for hosting another successful GP weekend.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Brisbane for the next GP event in July!

The event was sponsored by Black Chantry Productions, Australia’s Online VTES store, and MotS Imports. Thanks to them, and to all organisers and players!