This tournament was played on September 5 with 16 Methuselahs. Words from the winner Nick Miller, conveyed by Steve Harris, VEKN National Coordinator of Australia:

I was playing the new Lasombra vote with Dominica + Saulot’s Guiding Wisdom. I had expected there to be some combat/direct action decks, so I added in an extra Secure Haven and Shadow Cloak. With the Ferry as well, I thought I would have a chance of surviving. The environment did turn out to have some combat decks and a Shattering Crescendo deck. A few vote decks, some bleed decks, only 1 ally deck and no anarchs. 16 players, so all 4-player tables, only 1 table out of the 12 went to time.

Round 1: Bert, my prey, was playing Shalmath multi-rush (Outside the Hourglass/Majesty/Disarm). And my predator was playing Shattering Crescendo. I was lucky to get a Secure Haven down early and played a Shadow Cloak with my other vampire whenever possible. My predator went backwards with Shattering early until going forwards. I was able to deal with my cross table (Ke) and he ousted my predator, and I ended up getting the rest.

Round 2: My prey played The Unmasking turn 1 and proceeded to bring out Bone Shamblers. They were trimmed down a bit by my crosstable Ben, playing Hecata guns. But I didn’t have enough stealth to go forwards. Justin, my predator playing Path of Power, had the votes and stealth to get my vp and the game win. Justin would go on to get a game win at each table.

Round 3: My prey was playing another Path of Power deck. But I was able to keep his votes in check with Power Structure + Dominica’s Saulot’s Guiding Wisdom and help from my crosstable playing Cailean Path of Cathari bleed. My predator, playing Salubri, wasn’t drawing into much bleed (and fortunately I escaped Kiss of Ra thanks to my vampires having Fortitude). I was able to go forwards and vote + Shroud of Decay to a vp, and then a second vp. In heads-up my prey ended up with enough bleed to get my vp, resulting in a 2-2 draw.

Standings before the final:
Justin Evans 3 gw, 9 VP
Bert Perry 2 gw, 6 vp
Nick Miller 1 gw, 5 vp
Ben Szymkow 1 gw, 5 vp
Ke Carlton 1 gw, 4 vp

Final: As third seed, I didn’t have much say on seating. I ended up with Shalmath as my prey (again), Justin as my predator (again), and Ben and Ke crosstable (again!). I had a Secure Haven in hand ready to play on my first influenced vampire, Yewon, to save me from backrushing. But Ke got a quick start with Unmada out early and played his own Secure Haven down. Ke did some early big bleeds. 

Ben was on the backfoot from the start, brought out Lenelle (who has basic Auspex, so cannot misdirect bleeds) and was not able to recover. 

Justin, with no predator, made some deals early to get vote support from Ke to pass some Cold War and other damaging votes on me. There was much discussion on burning Secure Haven with Cold War, but it did not eventuate. 

Bert had multiple permanent rushes on Shalmath and I made deals each turn that I would not go forward if he did not backrush. But as I got lower on pool from Justin’s votes and bleeds, I stopped the deals, weathered a rush (with a Direct Intervention on the Outside the Hourglass to survive the combo) and managed to oust with a vote followed by a Shroud of Decay. 

Ke got his vp. Justin was close to ousting me when I was on 5 pool with a Cold War vote followed by a few bleeds, but I was lucky to have a Delaying Tactics to cancel the vote. I went down to 2 pool from bleeds and the game timed out a few minutes later.

Final result: Nick Miller won with 1.5 VP. Ke got 1.5 VP and Justin got 0.5 VP.

Tournament winning deck: “New Lasombra vote with Dominica”

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Gnaeus Aemilius Augustinus  9  tha DOM OBL POT PRO  Lasombra:6
1x Dafina Hanganu  8  for DOM OBL POT  Lasombra:6
2x Yewon Ong    8  for DOM OBL POT  Lasombra:6
2x María del Toro  7  DOM OBL POT  Lasombra:6
1x Rinaldo Albizzi  7  pre DOM OBL POT  Lasombra:6
1x Kamaluddin   6  for pot DOM OBL  Lasombra:6
3x Dominica    3  aus for   Salubri:7

Library (75 cards)
Master (14)
1x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Elysian Fields
1x Giant's Blood
1x Papillon
1x Power Structure
1x Saulot's Guiding Wisdom
2x Secure Haven
3x Villein
1x Visit from the Capuchin

Action (11)
7x Govern the Unaligned
4x Shroud of Decay

Ally (1)
1x Carlton Van Wyk

Equipment (1)
1x Zaire River Ferry

Political Action (13)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment
4x Camarilla's Iron Fist
5x Kine Resources Contested
2x Parity Shift

Action Modifier (20)
2x Amici Noctis
3x Closed Session
3x Freak Drive
1x Seduction
2x Shadow Cast
3x Shadow Cloak
3x Stygian Shroud
3x Where the Veil Thins

Combat (3)
3x Pass Through Shadow

Reaction (11)
6x Deflection
1x Delaying Tactics
1x On the Qui Vive
2x Second Tradition: Domain
1x Shadow Sentinel

Event (1)
1x Scourge of the Enochians

Thanks for the report (even though it could have more pics), and thanks to all organisers, sponsors and players!