Keith Lim is the 2024 champion of Australia/New Zealand!

Reported by Steve Harris, VEKN National Coordinator of Australia, with a special comment extra feature by Rathpex:

On Saturday, 26th October, 36 Methuselahs, both young and old, met in Sydney to do battle to claim the Australian New Zealand 2024 VTES Continental Championship. While we have come close to that number over the years, this is the first time we have matched the record for number of attendees at this event – previously set in 2002 in Canberra.

With travelers coming from as far away as Townsville, New Zealand, Perth and even Mexico, it was a great turnout and a fantastic event. The biggest regional representations were from Melbourne and Brisbane. One player from Brisbane drove 1,000 km to play in this event and he’s only been playing the game for a few months!

Prize support was in abundance and the mood was positive overall. Danae, our Mexican traveler, made many friends while here and also ousted the first prey of the day.

Top players after the preliminary rounds:
Keith 2 GW 7 VP
Ben 2 GW 6.5 VP
Jay 1 GW 7 VP
Erin 1 GW 5.5 VP
Hugh 1 GW 5 VP

 

This final can be watch at the SuakuOZ channel:

Erin and Keith were playing virtually the same deck, new Tzimisce Anarchs with Living Manses, yet were able to avoid contesting. The Imbued were under heavy pressure from the get-go and barely held on. Keith (top seed) avoided going forward too hard as he was happy for Stani to weaken or potentially even oust the Imbued. Heart of Nizchetus was equipped by the Imbued, then contested by Erin, then yielded by the Imbued only to be destroyed by a Conceal played by Ben, and then later equipped by Keith.

Ben had troubles getting started on the finals due to seeing no Zillah’s Valley or Villeins, no Info Highway or Dreams. A slow start and cautious play meant Keith had little pressure.

Eventually, with time running short, Keith managed to oust his prey, and then the Imbued soon after. Erin ousted Ben and before long the table timed out. 2.5 vp to Keith, 1.5 vp to Erin.
Congratulations to Keith for winning the Championships 2 years in a row!

The tournament winning deck: “Fiend Nights at the Museum”

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Adrino Manauara 8 pot ANI DOM PRO Tzimisce:6
2x angel Guerrero 7 ANI DOM PRO Tzimisce:6
2x Branimira 6 dom pre pro ANI Tzimisce:6
1x Clara Hjortshøj 5 ani aus dom PRO Tzimisce:6
1x Marialena 5 ani DOM PRO Tzimisce:6
2x Neserian 6 cel pro ANI DOM Tzimisce:6
1x Prentis Derby 4 ani dom pro Tzimisce:6
1x Whisper 5 pro ANI DOM Tzimisce:6

Library: 80 cards
Master (16 cards)
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
2x Two Wrongs
3x Villein
1x Wider View
5x British Museum, London, The
1x Carfax Abbey
2x Dreams of the Sphinx

Event (1 cards)
1x NRA PAC

Action (8 cards)
8x Govern the Unaligned

Political Action (2 cards)
2x Eat the Rich

Retainer (2 cards)
1x J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1x Tasha Morgan

Equipment (12 cards)
2x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Incriminating Videotape
7x Living Manse
1x Signet of King Saul, The
1x Blood Tears of Kephran

Action Modifier (7 cards)
1x Foreshadowing Destruction
2x Conditioning
4x Earth Control

Action Modifier/Combat (2 cards)
2x Obedient Flesh

Action Modifier/Reaction (4 cards)
4x Form of the Bat

Combat (8 cards)
4x Form of Mist
4x Earth Meld

Reaction (18 cards)
4x Guard Dogs
4x Deep Ecology
4x Bait and Switch
6x Deflection

EXTRA FEATURE: Rulings of the tournament

First Ruling asked...
Scenario: Player 1 has Vamp X bleed Player 2. Player 2 uses Deflection and targets to Player 3. Player 3 uses Two Wrongs which means Vamp X is bleeding Player 1s prey (by card text). Is there a new block window opened for Player 2.
Ruling: Because Two Wrongs does not cancel the Deflection and requires you to be the target of a bleed, Two Wrongs will open a new block attempt window for the player now being bled (e.g. Player 2).

Second Ruling: Procedural matter. Nothing of significance.

Third (significant) Ruling:
Scenario: Player 1 has Vampire X bleed Player 2. Player 2 redirects the bleed. The redirection is cancelled. Player 1 plays a bleed modifier. Player 4 declares an attempt to block. Is the block attempt legal?
Ruling: Yes. Impulse had returned P1 after the other cards were played, and they used it to play a card. Impulse then cycles around the table, Player 2 has declared no block attempts, Player 3 declines, and Player 4 announces an attempt. [Editor´s note: Incorrect ruling! All block attempts needs to be done before the redirect card is played, no more block attempts can be made after the redirect card is cancelled.]

Fourth Ruling:
Scenario: Player 1 has Dark Influences in play when they are ousted. Does Dark Influences remain in play?
Ruling: No, it is controlled by Player 1 so it is removed from play when Player 1 is ousted.

EXTRA FEATURE: Player report by Rathpex

Deck Name: ”OCC Cockroaches”

Crypt (12 cards)
1x Massimiliano 7 ANI FOR pro baron Gangrel:6
2x André the Manipulator 6 FOR PRO Gangrel:5
2x Casey Snyder 6 PRO ani cel for baron Gangrel:6
2x Kuyén 6 ANI PRO baron Gangrel:6
1x Martina Srnankova 6 FOR PRO ani Gangrel:6
1x Kamile Paukstys 5 PRO ani for Gangrel:6
1x Nathan Turner 4 PRO ani Gangrel:6
1x Indira 3 PRO Gangrel:6
1x Joaquín de Cádiz 3 for pro Gangrel:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (21; 7 trifle)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Anarch Railroad
2x Carfax Abbey
2x Club Illusion
2x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Giant's Blood
4x Sudden Reversal
5x Villein
2x Wash
1x Zoo Hunting Ground

Action (17)
1x Constant Revolution
2x Rewilding
2x Status Perfectus, The
12x Thing

Equipment (5)
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Ivory Bow
2x Sniper Rifle
1x Sport Bike

Retainer (4)
1x Mr. Winthrop
3x Raven Spy

Action Modifier (11)
7x Earth Control
4x Monkey Wrench

Combat (18)
11x Earth Meld
4x Form of Mist
3x Donnybrook

Reaction (14)
6x Bait and Switch
8x Organized Resistance

Game 1
The first game saw me bleeding into Jay, a fellow player from Melbourne. Jay and I have been playing together for over 20 years. He holds 5 OCC championships and I hold none, I have never even made it to the final before. We have been practicing heaps against each other in the weeks leading up to the event. At breakfast this morning, he still wasn’t sure what he was going to run, it was either Imbued or Malgorzata.

I draw seat 3 and I have Casey in my opening crypt and Andre. I feel pretty good about where this could go.

I put some counters on Casey as I want to get out a Baron to help with Organised Resistances and Bait and Switch.

It gets to Jasons turn, he discards a Conviction, great, he is playing imbued. 3 out of his 5 championship titles are with this same imbued deck. That’s okay, I know which actions to stop.
His prey drops a zillah’s and tops up with 4 more transfers to get out Malgorzata. Jason and I laugh that it would have been pretty bad had he have been contesting in game 1. My predator announces that he too is playing Malgorzata. We have a bit of a discussion about contesting and how its part of the game, and our various opinions on it.

What a great start, next to no pressure, I get out Casey and then Andre. I’m bleeding into Jay. I get a few through and we exchange some combat but nothing too scary. My cross table who managed to get Malgorzata out first is bleeding heavily into his prey, my predator.

My predator eventually gets out Gerald Windham.

Jay is under a bit of pressure and Malgorzata is running away. BAM – Gerald starts flicking some serious bleeds from Malgorzata at me and then followed it up with some of his own.
I have to defend and I haven’t drawn into any Organised Resistances or Bait and Switch. I do have a Raven Spy on Casey and I also get out Joaquin, but the lack of superior protein is a bit of a pain.

My stagnation allows Jay to slowly build up his Imbued wall. We discover that Malgorzata hasn’t actually played against Imbued before… Me and Gerald are giving him tips on which actions he needs to stop.

Malgorzata now has Lord Tremere out as well and the bleed fest continues into Gerald. There is no flick, this time, but my pool is low and I’m starting to get a little worried. Malgorzata bins Gerald with a chiroptean marauder. I broker a deal whereby Lord T can eat Gerald in return for 2 turns of amnesty. The blood hunt happens and I keep my word. I figure that I would rather have a couple of turns to let my deck build up and consolidate to try and get Jay then Malgorzata.

The next turn Malgorzata bleeds out Gerald. All the while it is Jay’s imbued who are consolidating – at a much greater pace than me and Malgorzata combined.

The turn after, Casey goes down and Jay convinces Malgorzata to eat her. I explain that its ‘our’ only chance to let me live so I can stop the imbued. But Malgorzata gobbles up my baron and im ousted a turn later.

Zero VP’s. The table ends in a 2-2 split Imbued and Malgorzata.

 

Game 2
Well when the table is called, 4 out of the 5 players are all from Melbourne. No Jay this time but 3 of the 4 were all in the finals with me at the Victorian Championships.

Me bleeding into Erin (a very regular opponent and one of the aforementioned finalists running her New Tzimische ) into Chris (Tupdog) into Stu (Shambling Hordes) into Nathaniel (the other finalist this time he is running an Aksinya + friends deck which votes and bloats).

I’ve got a stellar start, Kuyen, Martina Nathan and Indira in my opening crypt. I’m so glad I’m not sitting next to Chris. His Tupdogs would eat through my Earth Melds.

I know Erins deck very well and I sudden her British museum straight up. She does get out an NRA PAC though – I can’t get rid of that!

Chris doesn’t do too much with his Tupdogs early on but does get some dominate bleeds into Stu. Stu also gets some bleeds into Nathaniel.

I set up really well, getting out my 4 opening crypt + Massimiliano. To top it off, I have Garibaldi and I and getting bait and switch back every turn. I get Erin down to not much pool and she almost has Chris. Chris got a poor draw and basically only got his immortal grapples and nothing to punch it home with. Chris has put some pressure on Stu but Nathaniel is down to not a lot of pool.

We are all still alive and there is 24 minutes to go, Stu bleeds into Nathaniel and the discussion commences! Where will the flick go? I tell him that if he flicks it to me, I will flick it back. If the bleed lands, he will be ousted. I tell him to flick it to Erin – which he doesn’t want to do as it will mean I’ll be able to oust Erin in my next turn. If he flicks it to Chris, it will oust Chris, who is also threatening to send it back.

In the end he flicks it to Chris, Nathaniel has made the choice to call his bluff – bad move. Flick comes out and it goes back. 6 minutes for that action and discussion! 18 Minutes to go and Stu gets the first oust.

The turn passes to me. All my guys are full on blood and I’m holding a hand of stealth. Erin has no flicks, as we figured out in the previous discussion. I drop a Club illusion and BAM – I oust both Erin and Chris in the same go.

I don’t bother trying to get out any more vamps, I just want the pool to act as a buffer to stop Stu from bleeding me dry.

The clock ticks down and I get Stu with about 3 minutes to go – this was a really hard fought game and I get 1GW and 4vps from it.

 
Game 3
We are told that no one is on 2 game wins and that there is a plethora of people on 1GW and 4 VPS. Maybe I can make my first final, I know my deck well and it suits my playstyle well.
My final table is a 4 player game. I have only met one of the people online before and don’t know the other 2. My crypt is good once again. I was really lucky to always get a baron in my opening crypt.

Me bleeding into Inside Dirt into Unnamed into Stanislava.

Okay, this could go well I think. The inside dirt player is going full throttle out of the box into the unnamed player. However, today is the first time he’s played the deck and none of us are familiar with it either. He is using Inside Dirt to do pool damage and after the game I find out he could have been burning blood from the Unnamed…

Unnamed has all the tools, including enkil cog and is bleeding for lots with legal manips and gaining 5-6 pool a turn. Inside dirt is basically keeping the unnamed neutral.

Stani is unable to get out a 2nd vampire. There was a mistake made early on to banish my Casey (on 5 blood!) instead of going backwards… Stanny was never able to recover from this loss of momentum.

I am able to get out 5 vamps, including all 3 barons and a status perfectus, garibaldi, and an anarch free press + club illusion! Time is ticking down… Stanny was able to do some reigns of power and bloat for ages to stay in the game.

I take down the inside dirt player but unnamed finally gets Stanny and is sitting on about 25 pool.

I have been holding onto my Donnybrook almost all game. I know I will get 1 chance. Ive also built up 3 organised resistances and I have a sports bike and a raven spy on two different minions, there is no way The Unnamed will get away from me – I have him!

I pass the impulse, without taking an action. He bleeds with The Unnamed. I block, he block fails. I block with a different minion this isn’t getting away from me. I have to play all 3 of my organised resistances and tap the free press but I end up in combat with the unnamed. I know he will be playing a form of mist, I don’t care ?.

His strike: Form of mist at superior, me: wave. He goes to continue combat, but I explain how status perfectus works and show him my ‘slam dunk’ with Nathan Turner’s Donnybrook. Unnamed goes to torpor. I have the impulse back – Gobble time!!! I eat the unnamed. I have 6 votes to say I live. He has zero votes.

There is about 10 minutes left to go on the clock. He is almost out of library but he does have some weeny vamps with superior auspex and he has a hand full of telepathic counters…. He defends his 25ish pool very well.

And he brings out another unnamed. I garibaldi back the right cards and end up in combat with The Unnamed again. This time he announces his strike as 2r Agg at close range. I take it but agg hands him with donnybrook. It gets to my turn. I have him down to about 8 pool. I don’t want to make a mistake. My vamps are nearly dry. Im having to hunt and I have a guy in torpor from my unnamed block.

I plan my whole turn out, do random actions including rescuing and hunting unnecessarily. I have hand of stealth. I will get him next turn. I pass turn and realise I forgot to diablerise the unnamed… I was sitting on earth controls and everything. My action would have succeeded.

My first and only mistake of the tournament. What a let down. He gets up. I start to try and sandbag by blocking the rescues. My second mistake. Now I’m out of wakes and I’ve used intercept. He gets unnamed out, bleeds with +1 from something and plays an elder impersonation, draws the last card in his deck – a sense the sin – he gets my 4 pool and Im ousted. Game ends in a 1vp 3vp split. 6 minutes on the clock.

I was pretty crushed with myself. What a rollercoaster of a game! I finish the tourney on 1 GW and 5 VP’s.

The final results are called and 1 GW 5.5 VP’s is all that is needed to get into the final. Hahah oh well. Lots of what ifs going through my mind. The final table was pretty brutal and honestly the thought of another 2 hour game would have almost made my head explode.

Had I not gaffed I would have got the GW I would have been top seed. I don’t know how I would have gone. I was mentally spent so I went to the pub with the NZ crew and made some new friends ?. We lamented together over our respective misplays and what could have been. None of us really pay too much attention to the stream of the final :P

The official championship token.

 

Thanks for this very nice report, and to all organisers, sponsors and players!