Fee Stake: Edmonton starts April 16

The walking corpse called Jack Drake pulled his RV over to the shoulder of Highway 2 North. Against the sky’s black backdrop, the illuminated letters of the Welcome to Edmonton sign cast a red glow across the dirty snow before it, suggesting rage… fire… conflict.

That seems about right, thought Jack, idly rolling a toothpick across his lips.

The Camarilla’s attention doesn’t drift much further north than the Ventrue corporate offices in Calgary. The Sabbat figured that out just in time to get tossed out on their asses by hunters. Then the hunters moved on, too, even further north, on the heels of Lupines trying to f*** with the tar sands. So this town’s up for grabs.

Jack had done his homework. Edmonton had enough industrial slums and transient population to keep his crew well hidden and well fed. For more than half the year, the nights were 14 hours long. And everybody was pale and had cold hands. The Anarchs could waltz right in, under the radar, and stay there until it was time to get noticed.

Jack took the toothpick out of his mouth, pincered it between his thumb and middle fingernail, and flicked it out the passenger side window. Propelled by Jack’s preternatural strength, the projectile sliced through the air like a tiny arrow. The E in the Edmonton sign got the point. A miniature spiderweb pattern of cracks spread out from where it had lodged itself, all but invisible from the highway, except to the enhanced senses of the undead.

Yeah, Jack thought. This’ll do.

---

FEE STAKE: EDMONTON
An Anarchs-themed Draft League

Part 1: Saturday, April 16th
Part 2: Sunday, May 1st
Part 3: Sunday, May 15th
Part 4: Sunday, May 29th
(Start time is 12 noon each date.)

Thunderground Comics and Collectables
#102, 31 Fairview Blvd., St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
780-459-9548
www.thundergroundcomics.com

Anarchy reigns in Edmonton!

We’ll start by drafting four boosters (two each of Anarchs and Twilight Rebellion), adding one more before each two-hour round (using the Recursion format) until we’ve drafted 12 packs total (more Anarchs and TR, plus a couple Keepers of Tradition to keep things interesting). The top five players will then battle it out in a final round (of 2.5 to 3 hours, depending on consensus) to determine who will rise from the flames of insurrection to claim the title of Baron!

The entry fee will consist of the cost of 12 boosters plus a little extra for the prize pool.

PRIZES:
* Promos, thanks to thelasombra.com, including:
Fee Stakes: Corte, Los Angeles, and Perth
Infamous Insurgent
Lilith’s Blessing
Lay Low
Gran Madre di Dio, Italy
Karsh (Adv)

* Three Anarch Barons Starter Decks, containing the other Fee Stake cards not already among the promos (so three players will walk away with at least one of each Fee Stake card!)

* More Boosters!

Players will receive the promos before the first round, for optional inclusion in their draft decks. Additionally, to help mitigate some of the “limitations” of the limited format -- namely, pool gain and untap -- players will also receive one copy each of Blood Doll and Wake with Evening’s Freshness prior to the first round to include in their decks at their option, and more copies in later rounds as deck sizes increase.

For more information or to register, contact

Jason Switner
Prince of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Yeah, Jack thought. This’ll do.

Best tournament announcement evah! We need more like this.

[Blush.] Thanks, extrala!

Anybody who feels like paying less than $5 or $9 apiece for Anarchs boosters (depending which reseller you frequent) is welcome to join us.

The weather in Edmonton is warming up, so the metre-high snow drifts are melting. So now the city's greyish-brown AND wet! Come one, come all!

js_vtes wrote:

We’ll start by drafting four boosters (two each of Anarchs and Twilight Rebellion), adding one more before each two-hour round (using the Recursion format) until we’ve drafted 12 packs total (more Anarchs and TR, plus a couple Keepers of Tradition to keep things interesting).

I would urge you not to draft more than 2-3 packs of TR, if at all possible. e.g. Make the draft a bit smaller and give away the extra packs to each player, for free, as non-draft prizes. Drafting more than 2-3 packs of a 60-card set in a 12-pack draft is really, really bad.


Kevin M., Prince of Las Vegas
"Know your enemy and know yourself; in one-thousand battles
you shall never be in peril." -- Sun Tzu, *The Art of War*
"Contentment...Complacency...Catastrophe!" -- Joseph Chevalier
Please visit VTESville daily! vtesville.myminicity.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/129744447064017

KevinM wrote:

Drafting more than 2-3 packs of a 60-card set in a 12-pack draft is really, really bad.

How so, specifically?

The plan right now is 5 Anarchs, 5 TR, 2 KoT for variety and surprises.

I understand that TR offers a small card pool, but it's plum full of great stuff for Anarchs, and we're drafting it to supplement what is essentially the Anarch base set.

I think a big part of the problem in drafting TR alone is that it features some amazing Baron-requiring cards that are reduced to chaff because the set includes no way to make Barons. But in this event, everybody has access to the Fee Stake promos, plus any they happen to draft, so that issue's taken care of.

If your drafted Crypt contains a wild mixed bag of disciplines, and, say, both your Animalism guy and your Dominate guy can make use of Steely Tenacity, what's wrong with having multiple copies?

Or if your Crypt is more homogeneous, then as minimum Crypt and Library sizes increase and Recursions go away, you'll want more consistent resources to draw from, including duplicates of your most effective vampires. I can think of one TR Crypt card in particular that is both strategically ideal for this particular event and highly sought after outside of it; I hope to scoop at least a couple Anarch Converts regardless of what the rest of my Crypt looks like.

The philosophy behind this event is -- since no new sets are on the horizon -- to generate new ideas from existing options; to fully explore the possibilities of the Anarch mechanic in an environment that encourages it; and to give the players the resources they need to put these ideas and mechanics into use after this event is over. But mostly, it'll just be fun.

If there's something I'm completely overlooking, though, I would appreciate your insight.