Gamex 2012, Los Angeles, Day 2 Tournament Reports

Small, but official, turnouts for the whole weekend (no more than 3 tables each) yet some very intense and well-played games. Great to play with some really good non-locals/regulars including John McGlynn, Mike Anderson and Adam Hulse. I'll get to some highlights of the first final right off:

Top Seed: Matt Wedge - obf/pre vote and bleed with Rising tech ->
Dennis Lien - Tremere Anarchs with Ponticulus/Talbot's ->
Adam Hulse - !Salubri Anarchs rush with Cry Wolf and light intercept ->
Robert Scythe - Nocturn/Shadow Twin ->
John McGlynn - Tremere tap and bleed

John brings up Selena full well knowing that Cry Wolf's will most likely be at the table (they never did) and maybe even Ossian. Matt goes forward hard but also has to deal with Ponticulus in front of him and an early Unmasking played. Dennis builds and bounces whilst Adam basically does the same equiping with a dagger in the process. I put a fame on Selena and bring up Ossian! The mixed blessing is that I do that with a Kiasyd (fucking cold iron!). After rushing her down everybody looks over this way. Matt offers to not bloodhunt burn John's other vamp if he wants to diablerize but Adam talks him out of it anyway, with the intention of rescuing Selena and taking Ossian out. I make a critical error of not leaving a Nocturn up to block, and lose both the Red Listed doggie and the Kiasyd, who takes a dirt nap. That's okay though because I bring up another Kiasyd , that's what I get for looking like BMOC. I am rather low on pool now and Matt delays putting out The Rising for one round. Unfortunately Dennis (his prey) wins the Ashur's race and I lose 2 of them, however I wasn't planning on gaining from them that round anyway yet still made use of Matt's delay. Adam spins a bit since he is not sure about Dennis and has to rescue a vamp after my retaliatory Shadow Twin smacks. John then goes forward full tilt and shows us what Dominate is for! Bam! It's a 4 player table! Dennis is forced to Talbot's rush backwards including knocking out John's only anarch (Adam had put into play a Revolt) and with that help I managed to remove John that round (though he admittedly overspent). Dennis then smacked down my anarch and Dr. Julius Sutphen Adv. with 2 Revolts on the table. Added to the contestation of the Heart of Cheating with Mr. Lien I began losing 3 pool a turn NOT counting Adam's bleeds. My only beacon of hope was that I managed to Far Mastery Ponticulus and Dennis was having to deal with The Chainsaw's backlash. Adam was looking good only having to deal with Nocturn speed bumps when Dennis hit forward so as not to do all of Adam's work for him. I lost a second Ashur's race (2 more down) and Adam was ousted. I recovered okay, still low on pool, but Muaziz and friends were nearly out of blood. Without they're sacred ally they eventually fell to the shadows. Even though this report doesn't give it justice this was the most incredibly fun game I played in all weekend!



Decapitate, Gamex 2012 Event #3
Los Angeles
May 27
12 Players
Robert Scythe

Deck Name: Valley of the Shadows of Death
Created by: Robert Scythe
Description: A rearrangement of my Nocturn/Shadow Twin no repeat crypt deck that always fared well. I decided to make Isanwayen more important and explore his special. Not as no-brainer obvious as the other 3 multi-master phase action vamps, I decided to try and exploit him anyway since I hadn't seen any decent non-straight up stealth bleed versions. Could use some tweaking but I only put it together a few days before the tournament.

Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=3 max=6 avg=4.92)
1x Andrew Emory 5 aus dom pot OBT Lasombra:4
1x Dame Hollerton 5 myt DOM OBT Kiasyd:4
1x Dr. Julius Sutphen ADV 5 dom obt POT Lasombra:3
1x Ermenegildo, The Rake 5 pot DOM OBT Lasombra:4
4x Isanwayen 6 DOM MYT OBT Kiasyd:4
1x Leila Monroe 4 dom obt pre Lasombra:4
1x Lucy Markowitz 3 dom obt Lasombra:4
1x Quincy, The Trapper 4 dom myt obt Kiasyd:3
1x Randel, The Coward 4 dom for obt !Ventrue:4

Library (90 cards)
Master (31)
9x Ashur Tablets
1x Direct Intervention
1x Elysian Fields
1x Fame
1x Great Symposium
1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
2x Lilith's Blessing
4x Liquidation
2x Parthenon, The
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Society of Leopold
5x Villein
2x Wider View

Event (2)
1x Anthelios, The Red Star
1x Unmasking, The

Action (21)
1x Far Mastery
6x Govern the Unaligned
1x Gremlins
13x Shadow Twin

Equipment (1)
1x Heart of Nizchetus

Ally (15)
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
1x Gregory Winter
1x Impundulu
10x Nocturn
1x Ossian
1x Young Bloods

Action Modifier (6)
2x Shadow Play
4x Shroud of Absence

Reaction (14)
5x Deflection
2x Eyes of the Night
7x On the Qui Vive



The second final had John's Sharks deck going in as top seed:


John McGlynn - !Brujah bloat rush/bleed
Aaron Clark - Torrie/Ventrue vote
Garret Charnaw - Tremere toolbox
Robert Scythe - Eze Like Sunday Morning
Fred Scott - Unnamed/Hordes Maleficia trickery

This was a weird table that had a lot of interesting dynamics. I took so long describing the first final that I need a break and will just post the end results. I'll try to elaborate later, maybe.


Left For Dead
Gamex 2012 Los Angeles, Event #4
13 Players
Robert Scythe


Deck Name: Eze Like Sunday Morning
Created by: Matt Wedge and Robert Scythe played by Robert Scythe
Description: This was the first time I have played this deck since Matt ressurected it. Damn fun deck!

Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=7 max=11 avg=9.33)
1x Aren, Priest of Eshu 7 ani obf POT PRE Guruhi:4
4x Eze, The Demon Prince 11 aus ANI NEC POT PRE THA Guruhi:3
1x Iniko, The Black Lion 9 cel ANI OBT POT PRE Guruhi:4
2x Nana Buruku 8 ANI POT PRE Guruhi:4
2x Sobayifa 8 aus pot pro spi ANI PRE Guruhi:3
2x Ugadja 10 dom for ABO ANI POT PRE Guruhi:4

Library (90 cards)
Master (27)
1x Ancestor Spirit
15x Aye
1x Mbare Market, Harare
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Sense Vibrations
1x Vessel
6x Villein
1x Wider View

Action (5)
4x Founders of the Ebony Kingdom
1x No Secrets From the Magaji

Political Action (19)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
1x Banishment
1x Disputed Territory
7x Kine Resources Contested
1x My Kin Against the World
1x Neonate Breach
1x Political Stranglehold
2x Reinforcements
1x Reins of Power
1x Secret Must Be Kept, The

Equipment (3)
1x Deer Rifle
1x Kduva's Mask
1x Heart of Nizchetus

Ally (1)
1x Mylan Horseed (Goblin)

Retainer (2)
1x Raven Spy
1x Shaman

Action Modifier (24)
8x High Aye
6x Iron Glare
2x Perfect Paragon
1x Strange Day
7x Voter Captivation

Combat (8)
8x Majesty

Combo (1)
1x Guruhi Kholo

In this version of Eze Like Sunday Morning Edge of the World is replaced by Heart of N'Cheat'Us.

Robert wrote:

I'll try to elaborate later, maybe.

Please do, if you're feeling up to it.

Allow me!

Seating:
Robert Scythe (Eze)
Fred Scott (unnamed)
John McGlynn ( The Sharks )
Aaron Clark (PRE vote w/Anson and investments)
Garret Charnaw (Tremere toolbox)

Crazy game. Fred could lock down my deck with Barrenness, so I announce that I'll be backousting him immediately. But Aaron and Robert decide it's best to prop Fred up for a while and use him to keep me too busy to build up an army of 7 Brujah antitribu and oust everyone. Well, it worked. Here is how the first few turns went:

Fred burns Barrenness on the first turn. I know I have to go backwards.

I influence Miguel Santo Domingo into play, who is promptly targeted by Pentex Subversion. Aaron doesn't want me to send his minions to torpor, and ignores my protests that I'll be rushing Fred and only Fred.

Aaron convinces Garret not to burn Pentex Subversion. I have some unkind words for Garret, which I regret later, mostly for out-of-game reasons.

The unnamed comes out, but I'm still covered by Pentex Subversion.

Aaron influences out Violet Prentiss.

Garret burns Pentex Subversion.

Scythe plays with his cards trying not to oust Fred.

The unnamed puts Unleash Hell's Fury into play. The Horde is influenced out.

Haven Uncovered on the unnamed, Sela faces hell's fury and goes to torpor, Miguel smashes through 10 blood to send the unnamed to torpor. Sir Ralph Hamilton.

Aaron does nothing but gain pool from investments from now until Fred is ousted.

Garret bleeds for 1. I forgot to ask him to rescue Sela! Not that Garret was predisposed to give me any more help at that point...

Scythe tries a little too hard not to look like he's keeping Fred alive.

The unnamed hunts, Horde puts Unleash Hell's Fury into play.

Fame on the unnamed, Sir Ralph Hamilton goes to torpor, Miguel... well for the first time all weekend I'm out of combat cards to play. The unnamed survives with Fred at only 6 pool.

Somehow Scythe can't oust Fred this turn. Hm.

Fred gets his feet back under him on the next turn. Secure Haven protects the unnamed, and he's able to tool up with Enkil Cog and Homunculus. For the rest of the game he is bleeding for 2-4 each turn, while I use Enchant Kindred at superior to gain 2 pool. Sela burns to Barrenness + Scourge of the Enochians. Sir Ralph Hamilton is diablerized, leaving me with just Miguel. Aaron continues to sit with 1 minion, giving Garret all the leash he needs to oust Scythe, but Garret can't cycle into his dominate cards fast enough.

As soon as Scythe gets 4 minions up, Aaron starts influencing princes so he can counter votes. Horde is rushed to torpor and Scythe finally goes for the VP, gets Eze NSFTM, and ousts me and Garret with votes. Aaron has plenty of pool gain and table votes, but No Secrets From The Magaji and a timely Voter Captivation ensure that Scythe is invincible until time runs out.

Don't know what happened there but I'll edit in Matt's correction. Edge of the World should be a Heart.

If you were in first place going into the finals, why on earth did you choose to sit in front of The Unnamed/Horde deck which you knew you'd have to backoust?