Summer Rumble II (Online), Report and TWD

www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/9636
Summer Rumble II (Online)
25 July 2020, 11:30 – 21:00
Standard Constructed
2 Rounds + Finals
10 Players

Winner: Nikica Novakovic

Results after 2 Rounds:
Nikica Novakovic 1 5,5 0 114, Weenie Makavian g12 Madness Wall
Rudolf Scholz 0 3 0 114, Presence g12 Lock and Bleed feat. Anson
Jordi Blanch 0 1,5 0 72, The Dracon Wall
Jens Niemann 0 1,5 0 72, Lasombra g45 Bruise and Bleed
Bill Troxel 0 1 0 54, Dominate Vicissitue g23 Bruise and Bleed

Nikolaj Wendt 0 0,5 60
Alejandro Nava Ramirez 0 0,5 60
Karl Schaefer 0 0,5 54
Jay Kristoff 0 0 36
WD James Salt 0 1,5 84


Seating Dance:
Bill > Jens
Bill > Jens > Jordi
Bill > Jens > Rudolf > Jordi
Bill > Jens > Nikica > Rudolf > Jordi

Rudolf has asked me to write a short report so here it comes.

Bit about my deck (more at the end):
It's a Malk Maddness Network wall with bit of anarch tech, mainly Dust Up, and Improvised Flame Throwers.

Dust Up
Cardtype:
Requires an anarch.
Strike: hand strike at +1 damage. This strike cannot be dodged.
Strike: dodge, with 1 additional strike (limited).
Strike: hand strike at +2 damage

1st round:
Dracon wall -> Malk wall -> Vic/Dom aggropoke/graverob-> Aus/Necro toolbox -> Lasombra bruise bleed ->

Sitting between two was scary. Vic/Dom managed to grave rob Sennadurek so Aus/Necro spends whole game on the defense. In turn Lasombra is free to roam and confidently punch Dracon when he has Immortal grapple and Dark Steel once in a while.
I had no pressure from pred who is playing first and getting out 11 cap.
Vic/Dom runs out of juice as Dmitiri Borodin's special shuts down the aggro poke. Occasional dodge and 2 agg from me keep them in check too. Muddled vampire hunter plays important role as they have to keep one vampire with 4 blood forever untapped or risk getting rushed.
Dracon ends up in torpor by backrushing Lasombras without enough Horrid Forms for prevent and gets graverobbed cross table because everyone likes to have Kevlar Vest and Femur of Toomler. Smiling jack and bleeds for 1 kill Vic/Dom and bleeds kill Dracon.
We are 3 with Smiling Jack on 3 counters when it times as Lasombras managed to call Political Stranglehold to keep Aus/Nec and themselves alive.
1.5 for me. 1.5 Lasombra 0.5 Aus/Nec

2nd round
Big cap Aus -> Aus/Nec -> New Lawfirm with sticks -> Malk wall -> Ludmijla and friends
Between me and Aus/Nec Ventrue did not make a single action and slowly withered away by Mercy for Seth and my Anarch Revolt. friends were few in numbers because of Scourge played by big cap Aus and I'm not letting them get any Murder of Crows out. Everybody is playing on their back foot. Ventrue have Island of Yiaros, sticks and prevents so I'm reluctant to block. Sennadurek is twice punched to torp (and rescued by me) because of said combo. Ludmijla has no tools to make damage or numbers to go forward. Aus big caps sit there playing master cards and bouncing with Aksinya (+Saulot and Radu Bistri).
Ventrues do a last ditch bleed for 6 and bounces all the way to his pred but lands on the Ludmijla. Sennadurek did not bounce to pred as he would die but bounced to grand pred. (I'll wait til you read the above chart ) Ludmijla goes to torp so now my pray has 4 poll and 1 minion.
State on the board before it crumbles:
Big cap Aus | 4 vampires, 2 in torp, 1 blood on them, 3 pool
Aus/Nec | 3 vampires, contested Rack, ~6 pool
Lawfirm | 2 empty vampires in torp, 6 pool
Malk wall | 4 vamps, 10 pool, 3 counters on Smiling
Ludmijla | 2 empty vamps, one in torp 3 pool

Sennadurek kills Lawfirm I add 4th counter on Jack and my 2 preys die.
Now it's easy to defend the Jack, not that anyone tired to remove it the whole game.
Not letting predator breathe gave me space to be aggressive with bleeds and Ground fighting on Terror frenzy set the tone for future combats with my prey.
Malk wall 4, Aus/Nec 1

Finals.
I chose to sit away from and let my prey try to kick down Dracon wall while I scoop up the remains. I would have Lasombra's bleeds to bounce and hope he spends his combat on Vic/Dom behind him.
Luck has it that Dracon plays first, which is so fun for 11 cap and no acceleration, and as soon as he gets out it's Pantex time. I took Govern bleed from from Keith Moody and DI-ed the Conditioning. I was saving that for Immortal Grapple :/ Aggro-pokers don't want new pred so try to remove Pantex and graverob cross table Ranjan Rishi. Keith Moody is also graverobbed and so is new Lasombra priscus.
Yay! I have no predator again. Strangely, that does not make it easy as Dracon Bounces bleeds on me (3 times total) and Aggro pokers rush me cross table. 2 rushes and 2 Dust ups get them back to torpor for a bit of breathing room. 2 turns later there is 6 of them behind me. I can not dig out my wakes so no bleeds despite Madness Network. Early bleed and 4 pool loss and bringing out Victoria and Dana with Improvised Flamethrower and .44 keep me on low pool as I can't get Rack or Vessel or Montreal ...or those bleeds for Victoria's special. Dracon keeps blocking and backrushing thanks to Ercies fragments. Aggro-pokers are significantly slowed down by Aranthebes but they mange to steal Dancing Dana. A long discussion between Dracon and presence bleeders ensues about back rush that will kill them due to blood lost and Jack counters, but anarch Dracon can not trust anyone behind him while on 1 pool. I bring out last vamp going down to 2 pool and hope to defend for one turn till my prey dies.
Start of Aggro-pokers' turn:


Aggro-pokers rescue and graverob and hunt and I defend successfully. My prey dies. 2 counters on Jack and 3 players left. Dracon tries to remove the Jack and gets Rotschreck.
I have one more turn of defending and then Dracon goes away, too. Aggro-pokers do their turn trying to remove Jack and concede.
Table state at the end. Yeah, 10 vampires in torpor.


(Guys on the right are burned vampires)

The deck.

It has always annoyed me how unable I'm to go forward with decks. If you're not Tzimisce and threatening torpor no one cares. Similar goes if you have Sniper rifles. Good defense - no offense. Improvised Flamethrowers solve both. The very obvious downside is it explodes if you take damage on long range. Dust Up helps there. (Crows + Bats will still get you) but can't have it all. Dust up also saves you blood even when you don't have burninators. Small downside is Dust Up does not work nicely with .44 as you commit to strike when you maneuver. Math is quite different when usual 2 blood loss from .44/Sniper Rifle changes to lost action to get out of torpor and 3 blood lost so actions go through and you are attacked less frequently

One discard is not enough if you get stuck with bounces and no one bleeds or you get your 3 weapons and need to get rid of Discuised Weapon and ... weapons.
I was thinking of +2 Powerbase LA and replace Spirit's touch for Guardian Vigil
also lose Revolt. That's bit too much master phases but 13 anarch cards are can be used to unlock your ladies.

I'm also thinking ditching Aleph for Isabel de Leon. It's extremely rare he will have a weapon to get though on or off turn.

Deck Name: Improvised madness revolt
Author: Nikica Novaković
Description: Dust Up your Improvised Flamethrower and Revolt with a Smile

Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=1 max=6 avg=3.8)
==================
4x Anarch Convert 1 -none- Caitiff:ANY
3x Victoria 5 cel obf AUS Malkavian:2
2x Zoe 3 cel obf AUS Malkavian:2
1x Aleph 4 dom AUS Malkavian:1 / never goes anarch
2x Dancin' Dana (ADV) 6 dom obf AUS CEL Malkavian:1

Library: 76 cards

Master (14 cards)
==================
3x Anarch Revolt
3x Madness Network
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
1x Rötschreck
2x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
2x Vessel
1x Direct Intervention

Action (3 cards)
==================
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
2x Nose of the Hound / dunk that anarch your prey has

Combat (16 cards)
==================
2x Groundfighting / cancel IG or Terror Frenzy
6x Disguised Weapon
8x Dust Up / all about this one; avoid damage

Ally (2 cards)
==================
1x Muddled Vampire Hunter
1x Carlton Van Wyk

Retainer (1 cards)
==================
1x Mr. Winthrop

Equipment (7 cards)
==================
2x .44 Magnum
3x Improvised Flamethrower
1x Ivory Bow
1x Bowl of Convergence

Reaction (33 cards)
==================
7x Eyes of Argus
3x Forced Awakening
4x My Enemy's Enemy
3x On the Qui Vive
3x Spirit's Touch
6x Telepathic Misdirection
2x Delaying Tactics
5x Eagle's Sight

amaranth.vtes.co.nz/#deck/f49f266f-53d9-414c-aa2b-cbb69b276a37

ResurrectioN wrote:

I was thinking of +2 Powerbase LA and replace Spirit's touch for Guardian Vigil

Guardian Vigil is better for this deck in almost every way. The only vampire that loses out is Aleph, but you gain the ability to cycle intercept when you don't need it and help your hand flow into something better.

ResurrectioN wrote:

I'm also thinking ditching Aleph for Isabel de Leon. It's extremely rare he will have a weapon to get though on or off turn.

Dorian Strack is probably a better choice. If you can't get the main Malks (bad crypt draw) and need a backup, he has Celerity and with your Dust Up and lack of Dominate, he seems like a better backup minion (though no Madness Network, but you can't have everything). And if you can get the main Malks out his lack of Malkiness for the MN won't be missed.

kschaefer wrote:

ResurrectioN wrote:

I was thinking of +2 Powerbase LA and replace Spirit's touch for Guardian Vigil

Guardian Vigil is better for this deck in almost every way. The only vampire that loses out is Aleph, but you gain the ability to cycle intercept when you don't need it and help your hand flow into something better.

Agreed.

ResurrectioN wrote:

I'm also thinking ditching Aleph for Isabel de Leon. It's extremely rare he will have a weapon to get though on or off turn.

Dorian Strack is probably a better choice. If you can't get the main Malks (bad crypt draw) and need a backup, he has Celerity and with your Dust Up and lack of Dominate, he seems like a better backup minion (though no Madness Network, but you can't have everything). And if you can get the main Malks out his lack of Malkiness for the MN won't be missed.

Dorian also makes more sense in case of Vigil.
In the less then 10 games played Aleph is the last choice (comes out 3rd or 4th) and has to get a weapon via action. That implies that everyone else has a weapon so get's expensive and unnecessary or it's just win more type of situation.
Maybe better to just have a 3 cap bouncer who will bleed as frequently as 4caps.

Thanks for the input!