This tournament was played on October 17 at Guy On The Couch Cards & Gaming in Monroeville, Pittsburgh area, Pennsylvania. Reported by Karl Schaefer himself, the VEKN Prince of Pittsburgh and tournament winner:
We had 21 players show up to the final event for our Appalachian Assault GP series. The event was on Saturday with the finals on Sunday morning.
I picked a deck that I had tweaked to deal with the meta that I was expecting. I was very right and very wrong about the meta. In every prelim round, both my predator and prey had decks that could one-shot a Nephandus. This meant that I was spending a lot of my early game setup, just trying to survive instead of gaining the necessary mass to overwhelm the table. Millicent ended up being critical at keeping some of the aggressive predator combat at bay and my Nephandi are unaffected. Those turns allowed me to gain some mass and finally gain the upper hand when those decks started drawing dead. I had a lot of fat Nephandi running around as I burned vampires in torpor to reduce the ability for the other players to recover.
This eventually led to me being second seed at a finals table that I wanted nothing to do with.
Standings after round 3:
1. Will Matson 2 GW 8.5 VP
2. Karl Schaefer 2 GW 7.0 VP
3. Scott King 2 GW 6.5 VP
4. Erik Albenze 1 GW 6.0 VP
5. Brad Cashdollar 1 GW 5.0 VP
Will had seating choice after me, so I chose to sit away from Erik, both to avoid Shroud of Decay and Corpses with Walking Sticks. That still meant I had to deal with Hunger of Marduk, giving me yet another prey that could one-shot my Nephandi. The game moved slowly for me as I was reluctant to take many actions. I was trying to build some mass to be able to survive the Tzimisce pressure behind me. I dealt to put a no-forward Nephandus in play, which at least gave me an extra blocker, which is necessary against Form of Mist.
Erik was doing a great job keeping Brad in check with small bleeds and unbounceable Shroud of Decay. Eventually Brad falls. I finally have a decent amount of Nephandi and Erik starts bringing Corpses in play to deal with his new prey, Will. I manage to bounce two bleed to Scott, who blocks the first, but not the second. I attempt to move forward and make some progress. Finally getting a couple of bleeds in.
Scott and Erik get into it a bit and after another bounced bleed, I feel like Scott might be low on Second Tradition. I was wrong, but he was low on blood and Hunger, allowing me to empty one vamp and torp another. After another turn, I managed to get Scott. We had about 20 minutes left. I bounced a bleed that would have ousted me and dealt with Erik to ensure that he didn't bounce it back. That prevent me from going forward on my next turn, but I managed to pop a set of Tablets and play a Villein, giving me a cushion. However, that also meant Erik was unchecked. He torped two of Will's vampires. I rescued one, while putting pressure forward. With less than 5 minutes left, Will fires off a monster bleed that I bounce. I DI'd Erik's wake, but he had another and was able to block. On my turn, I work Erik down, but know I can't oust. I pass the turn and hope that Will can survive. At 4 pool, Will eats a Shroud of Decay. He attempts to block the next Shroud of Decay and as time expires is able to do so. I end up winning the tie-break.
Tournament winning deck: "Frosted Flakes" by Darby Keeney and Karl Schaefer
Description: My version of Darby's "Flakes." Darby's deck is great, but I made a few changes.
- Aranthebes has been critical in providing the addition "intercept" against my predator's actions and occasionally the -bleed effect is good too.
- Millicent stymied a lot of action and allow me to build unmolested at times. Was able to recycle it.
- Changed some ratios to keep the decks in the low 70s. The Harass have been in an out, but left them in today and used them twice over the course of the day to excellent effect.
- The double Secure Haven was key to getting it early and keeping Antonio safe.
- Tupdog is great because it allows Anotonio to act and can be brought into play with Dreams. The extra bleed made a difference in round two.
Really appreciate Sergio chatting with me to help me fiddle with the last 2-3 cards. Getting the second Secure Haven was critical.
Crypt (12 cards)
2x Isanwayen 6 DOM MYT OBT Kiasyd:4
5x Antonio d'Erlette 5 THA dom for pot Tremere antitribu:4
1x Mosfair 4 cel dom tha Tremere antitribu:4
1x Keith Moody 3 DOM Tremere antitribu:4
3x Tupdog 1 POT VIS Gargoyle:3
Library (73 cards)
Master (31; 1 trifle)
9x Ashur Tablets
1x Bleeding the Vine
1x Creepshow Casino
1x Direct Intervention
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Haven Uncovered
1x Information Highway
1x Jake Washington
4x Liquidation
1x Millicent Smith, Puritan Vampire Hunter
3x Parthenon, The
2x Secure Haven
2x Shard, London, The
1x Villein
Action (3)
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
2x Harass
Ally (10)
1x Carlton Van Wyk
9x Nephandus
Action Modifier (4)
2x Conditioning
2x Mirror Walk
Combat (9)
9x Target Vitals
Reaction (13)
7x Deflection
3x Delaying Tactics
3x On the Qui Vive
Event (3)
3x Unmasking, The
Congratulations Karl, and thanks for this report. Thanks to all volunteers, sponsors and participants!