Ropecon tournament report for \'Avenger\' Time Management Co.

Hi all!

It’s been AGES since my last update, I know. I’m not going to ramble on about that, however. I just haven’t had the time, nor too much to say for the last… half a year, perhaps? I mean, there’s always something to say, but if a hobby feels like more work than it’s worth, then it’s not really worth it. That goes with writing a blog as well. The main idea was – and is – to do this for myself, and other things have just kept me occupied enough.

That’s a shame, though, since there would’ve been loads to write about around the Finnish National Championships we hosted in May! Let’s just say that it was a great success, and not dwindle about the topic longer, since I’ve something else to talk about.

I participated in the major tournament in Ropecon, and this time I wanted to do better than my usual tournament scores. Usually all I get from three rounds is 1,5 points or something. I know I can do better, so this time I decided to let the shit hit the fan.

There’s something a very good friend of mine said, which might explain my choice of a deck a bit:

“You know, I’ve always been proud of how we (that’s me and my mates, the five of us) have always had this distinct way of doing things; how we’ve always been independent, and haven’t gone with the flow and latest trends all the time. That’s just what we do, and doing anything else just goes against our nature.”

I just nodded, and knew he was right. This was after the tournament, but even before that it was pretty clear that I would not even bother with a stealth bleed, voter or anything of sorts. It’s just way too obvious, and in my experience way too random. I was thinking about a G2 Lasombra bleeder with titles to help me against voters and Entombments (a deck that has done well enough in the past), but eventually decided to go with my first love after G2 Toreador – Al’Muntaquim the Avenger.

There’s just something about True Brujah, and I wanted to show that things can be done without stealths, bleeds and bounce as well. It’s hard as hell, but it’s doable. After the tournament I also learned a valuable lesson: how much I really love to maintain a level of control over the whole of the table.

So, the deck I was playing is listed below. It’s basically a multi-rush, which has been tooled up to work mainly against light to no combat at all. Outside the Hourglass is nearly a broken card, and disarm deals with the rest nicely. I don’t have to worry about combat ends anymore.

Deck Name: \'Avenger\' Time Management Co.
Author:
Description:
The Caitiff do the dirty work, and if they get too careless, they have a good home in the freezer - and after feeding, Al\'Muntaquim can eat their hearts for extra bleed.

Crypt (Capacity min=1 max=8 avg=3.33; 12 cards)
==================================================
4x Al-Muntaquim, The Avenger 8 obf pre FOR POT TEM True Brujah:4
1x Andy 1 for Caitiff:4
1x César Holfield 1 obf Caitiff:4
1x Dirk 1 pre Caitiff:4
1x Lisa Noble 1 ani Caitiff:3
1x Nedal, The Careless 1 cel nec Caitiff:3
1x Sandra White 1 -none- Caitiff:3
2x Anarch Convert -none- Caitiff:any

Library
=====================
Master
4x Anarch Revolt
1x Archon Investigation
1x Carver's Meat Packing and Storage
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Fame
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Tabriz Assembly
2x Vessel
2x Wash

Action
3x Ambush
3x Big Game
4x Bum's Rush
1x Clotho's Gift
3x Harass
1x Kiss of Lachesis
1x Path of the Scorched Heart, The
1x Preternatural Strength
2x Summon History
1x Vaticination

Equipment
2x AK-47

Ally
1x Mylan Horseed (Goblin)

1x Carlto van Wyk
1x Ossian

Action Modifier
5x Domain of Evernight
10x Freak Drive
3x Pocket Out of Time

Reaction
1x Delaying Tactics

Combat
1x Decapitate
7x Disarm
2x Indomitability
1x Lapse
9x Outside the Hourglass
2x Rolling with the Punches
7x Taste of Vitae
1x Unflinching Persistence

What I found out afterwards is that I was playing one Disarm too many, and I should’ve had 12 Outsides the Hourglass. The rushes and freaks were mostly fine, and the masters worked well enough, but I still lacked a bit of raw power. Outsides would’ve dealt with that. What I’ll change for the future is:

-1 Disarm

-1 AK-47

-1 Ossian

+3 Outside the Hourglass

The problem is that I don’t own Carlton, so he was borrowed from a mate. I’ll probably need to play Ossian in his stead until I manage to find a copy of Carlton somewhere.

I don’t remember the players on each table by name, so sorry about that, but you’ll know who they were once Orava posts the finalized Archon. You’ll most likely find that on VEKN, as well as Extrala’s blog.

Table 1

Timo Rekola – AUS CEL guns

è Me – Avenger Time Management Co.

è ??? – G1 Malkavian voter

è Ari Lensu – Eurayle Tap&Bleed with !Ventrues

è ??? – Mind Rape Stanislava

Once Timo sat behind me I knew that my game would be pretty tough. The only thing I was really afraid of was another combat deck, and guns with celerity would definitely make things difficult. I was more than fine with Malkavians being in front of me, though, even though I was afraid that they’d start pounding me with their KRCs.

The game started with a Pentex (by Ari) on my Prey, and his game slowed down enormously. Stanislava player was very concerned with Eurayle from the start, since Ari had drawn Heidelberg at the start, and had already stolen the Malkavians for a couple of bleeds. So, Eurayle got an insane amount of stuff on her head – Mind Rapes, Banishments, you name it, and that made Ari less of a threat in my eyes. I was happy ‘bout that, to be honest, since that would help me double oust pretty quickly.

Timo kept bleeding me for one or two each turn, and I had to take out a couple of his minions before moving forwards. I also learned that Andre Leroux can reduce his own bleed for two extra, so he’s basically a bleeder for two! He had to go from the start.

Once I got my Anarch Revolts people started going Anarch instead of voting them away. This was exactly my plan, even though I took a couple of pool damage from them myself. The only problem at my first oust was that I didn’t draw one rush more, so that the Revolts took out Stanislava before I could react to that, and that effectively gave Ari a free VP. I got myself an AK about this time, and that forced Timo to play more carefully. He was bouncing back and forth from torpor, but his growing lot of minions worried me a lot, and I started thinking that it would be well possible that he’d oust me before I’d get a sweep. Thus I decided to torporize his anarch, giving Ari another free VP, but it was a trifle to decimate his vampires afterwards and get myself 3VP and a GW.

This game was pretty easy for me in a way that I got basically no resistance from my left side, but I grew so low on pool by the end (just slightly too slow ousting) that I had to hand a couple of VPs to my grand prey. It was mighty close to a sweep, but got no luck here.  It was a good game, none the less, and a nice start. I got more VP from a single game than I had had in any tournament before!

Second game

??? – G3-4 Malkavian S&B

è Niina Stenberg – Nakherhotep

è ??? – G4-5 Ventrue/Daughters of Cacophony voter

è Jussi Hattara – Undele and Armin Brenner

è Me – Avenger Time Management Co.

Once I saw what was being influenced out I was pretty much as confident as I could ever be – no combat on the table what so ever! I can’t screw this up, or I’ll have no chance to get into the finals. And everything seemed to go nicely once the Daughters took three Lily Preludes to Jussi before he got Armin up. This should be my game.

I was afraid everything would go wrong if the Malks saw what I was up to, so I tried to play it slow and gather a decent hand. Niina was struggling, since she played radios, and Naggy and all her tool up cost her plenty of pool. Roughly during the fifth turn things started going slightly against my way. First Niina agreed that it would be a good idea to play Giant’s Blood on Avenger to help me torporize the malks, but the malk player saddened that it. I was still pretty confident ‘cause I got Jussi to Kine me only for one or two a couple of times (the rest went backwards) so that I wouldn’t need to rush him (and his Carlton) and still let him cap for pool. But then my oust was delayed by a turn ‘cause my Anarch Revolt was saddened (again by the malkavians), and even though I tried rescued the famed vampire I had already torporized that turn, the second rush was blocked by a wake. This gave the malkavian player a chance to bleed me for four with a Kindred Spirits (something I had dreaded), and this diminished my resources annoyingly.

I was still pretty confident at this stage, and thought that now it was time to go backwards. I played my own Carlton to contest, since Jussi was doing well better than earlier, and equipped with an AK-47. However I was only at 1 blood, since I didn’t draw an Outside on time as I rushed Armin, and couldn’t do anything about his Majesty.

Next I had to make a deal with Niina that I’d let her do whatever until she got her first oust if she wouldn’t play Temptation of Avenger and steal my AK.  On the next turn I got banishmented by Armin (after Undele voted it back to his hand!), even though I really tried to block the vote with Niina’s help (I had promised to see to that we two would be in the heads up, and practically promised her two VPs for her radios), but an unexpected Forgotten Labyrinth decimated my dreams of a GW.

At this point I was really frustrated, since I was delayed by those couple of turns that the malkavian player suddened those crucial masters, and that I was so close to being saved (the radios, that rush a turn before, and even a delaying tactics I had played just a couple of turns before to save me from a KRC!), but what can you do! Even then I made a mistake of paying Carlton’s contest for one or two turns instead of saving that pool for bringing Avenger back up. I could’ve done exactly that with the help of a newly played Dreams of the Sphinx, but just as I was about to get him up (in 1 pool), Niina contested the Dreams and everything was hopeless again.

By this time I had already given up hope, but tried to survive to the last. I rushed Armin constantly with my Caitiffs, and forced him to play majesties and kept him in a hunt loop. Eventually Niina swept his preys off the table, and I was the last waiting for the Setites at roughly 5 minutes on the clock. Finally the finishing blow came as Dirk was put under a Temptation, and he bled my last two pool with an entrancement! Oh, the cruel world! It was great fun once it was clear I couldn’t rise anymore, however, so the game wasn’t wasted at all.

A reminder of how crucial it is to go backwards even though it might seem at a point that it’s not that useful. If I could’ve, I would’ve decimated Undele, but at every turn I was delayed by a very minor setback. And, ironically, the easiest table for me was lost by a card I had feared the most: Banishment. Oh dear…

Third game

??? – Lutz and Presence Malkavians

è ??? – G2 Tzimisce

è Me – Avenger Time Management Co.

è ??? – Anson with guns and Tablets

è Tomi Sillanpää – Black Hand Lasombra bleeder

What to say here... I was first off very tired, as we all were I suppose. Also, I was playing behind of a Swede, and we all know how well they play, and how good decks they play for that matter. Sorry I can’t remember your name, mate!  Anyways, I knew already what Tomi was playing, since we had talked about our decks in advance. Coming from the same town does that, I suppose. Anyways, Tomi’s a wonderful player, and his skills in deck building dwarf mine by far, so I had to be extra careful here.

The game for me started after Stavros was brought up by my grand predator, the Tzimisce brought a 8-cap with clan disciplines with the help of Powerbase Montreal, and I burned said Tzimisce after he blocked my attempt to steal Montreal. I really needed the pool, I knew, and if I could get rid of my Prey’s vampire at the same go, I was more than happy to do that. I apologized pretty quickly afterwards, since I knew how that would wreck his game, but I really didn’t want to risk him playing Changeling bleeds on top of bouncing both Tomi’s, and Lutz’s bleeds to me.

I pretty much despaired once the first Ashurs were played, and I knew what to expect from my Prey – Anson and guns. Oh shit, how in hell would I be able to fight through gun combat and infinite amount of pool, combat cards and Pentexes?! An early Anthelios didn’t help me at all, but giving up wasn’t a part of my plan.

I brought Anson to very low pool with superfast aggression and Anarch Revolts, but once the first Ashurs and Villeins started things slowed down a lot. My aggression kept Anson pretty much occupied, and Tomi got to be by himself a lot, and the rest of the table was pretty much playing under his shadow. I even tried to rush him once (I knew I could do nothing about Anson), which agitated him to no end, but eventually he just used a DI to my rush. I know, and I think everyone else knows, why I rushed him, and I’m pretty sure he knows as well, but he was pretty pissed off anyways.

We kept dueling with Anson, and my two Rolling with the Punches’ saved me from a couple of crucial combats, but Ashurs just kept him on medium pool all the time, and even though his 2^nd traditions grew him low on blood, he just wouldn’t die, nor was he close at any point. Bringing out Marcellus in the later part of game, and Villein + Giant’s Blood on him helped him a lot as well, even though some of that blood was used to save Anson from torpor where my Outsides had put him.

By this time Tomi had already gotten his first oust, and the second came soon enough. I gave Anson some room to rush and torpor Tomi’s vampires (or most of them at least), and after surviving for about an hour and a half and three pentexings (fucking Anthelios!), it boiled down to being just three of us, less than 10 minutes on the clock, Tomi with two VPs and me in a Pentex.

I had five pool, Mylan, a single Caitiff and Avenger with permableed of 5, my Prey had his smaller minions, Marcellus and Anson all tapped and on one or two blood, and Tomi had a single vampire with some blood. I told him to make his decision quickly – either bleed me for 5 and get Archoned, or help me rid my Pentex on Avenger, let me rush Anson and friends and at least give him a chance. After a minute or so, which felt like ages, he helped me with the pentex, which gave me a chance to get my shit together, a turn for Anson to torpor Tomi’s minions and bleed for a couple, and once again a turn for me to Fame Marcellus, torpor him and bleed for 6. There was a minute on the clock, I believe, by the time I bled Tomi for six after and got a GW with 3 VP.

What I learned from this game: Play more Outsides, for f’s sake! They’re so good I should have way more than 9. 12 should do, I think. Also, be glad that Anson didn’t play a single Taste of Vitae. One of those would’ve ruined my game even more that insane master tech ruined it now. I would’ve been okay with Presence Anson, but those guns really gave me a royal headache.

I don’t think Anthelios and Ashur Tablets were supposed to be a part of this game, to be honest. They’re just frustrating and annoying, so they are.

I was also very concerned about being a bleed sink in this game. I think I did well by burning the minions on my right, but still an irresponsible turn by any of the other players could’ve brought me to an early grave. Also, it wasn’t really an option to start rushing both Lutz and three of Tomi’s four minions to make the game possibly easier for me. So, this time I just had to prey, and some vampire gods were on my side.

Eventually I was very surprised I got the GW from the last game, and that I now stood at 7VPs and 2 GWs. Once I heard that it could well be that it might be enough for a final seating I kinda poofed, and called my friends and was pretty much out of it – and I was kinda crushed once I heard that the lowest that got into the finals was 2+9, and I had 2+7! If just that second game would’ve gone my way, I would’ve been there, or there was a fair chance – and a super star multi-rush for that matter!

Anyways, once I saw what kinds of decks they were playing in the finals I decided it was good enough for me and my mates that I got so close. At least I was saved some major ass rape they would’ve offered me in the finals. So, we had some late dinner from the grill and enjoyed the moment that one of us had gotten so close. And I was beaming, I can tell.

So, there, I eventually DID follow my instincts and decided not to play some half-assed stealth bleed. They’re just so not worth it, I’ve gathered. I can’t really play them, I can’t feel I’m in control, I don’t really even WANT to play them, so the best chance would be to just maim them in the ground so that I could finally play the game MY way. That went fine, really, in the end, and I’m sure to try this deck again in some major tournament.

Maybe even in Budabest, really, now that I’ve qualified… Hmm…