Draft report: TempleCondemn the Sins of the Father

Draft Report: TempleCondemn the Sins of the Father
February 3, 2008
Providence, RI

The day after the NERQ at Templecon, 11 players got together for a 7
pack VTES draft using 4 Lords of the Night and 3 Third Edition packs.
Due to the hideousness of running 11 player tournaments, I sat out and
judged the event, issuing a wide variety of warnings and cautions for
minor to purely imagined infractions. We had a very loose, fun
atmosphere combined with tight play, and some very exciting games. We
started early (10 am), and managed to finish 2 hours before the Super
Bowl, which several players wanted to watch. Every round ended around
the 90 minute mark, due to the offensive power of LotN cards, and the
sensible no-bullshit attitude of the players in attendance. The
drafting was conducted with a single 10 player pod. I highly recommend
using
this size for draft pods, rather than setting up smaller tables like
we
did last year. Each player gets to see a wider variety of cards, and
the decks ended up being very effective.

After 2 rounds, the standings were:
1. Matt Morgan 1 GW 6 VP
2. Ben Swainbank 1 GW 5 V
3. Dave Clooney 1 GW 4 VP
4. Ben Peal 2 VP
5. Marc Lussier 1 VP (72 tp)

Matt Hirsch 1 vp (66 tp)
Jen Goldberg 1 vp (60 tp)
Scott Gomes
Amber Kanner
Josh Feuerstein

Marc had to bow out of the final game in order to make his flight
back
to Seattle. It was great seeing him over the weekend; he used to live
in Worcester, and was a regular player in my group before he moved.
He
also deserves props for being the player to travel the farthest to
attend the event. Matt Hirsch was next in line for the finals,
beating
out his own girlfriend by 6 tp for the position.

Note that we only had 3 GWs, despite there being no time outs. This
occurred due to a 2-2-1 split in round 2, which Ben Peal created by
ousting everyone but himself with an Anarchist Uprising after Matt
Morgan had taken 2 VPs. Lest anyone think that draft is a format
requiring less skill than constructed VTES, it should be noted that
our
final table this year was almost identical to the one last year, with
the exception that Josh Duffin (not in attendence) was fittingly
replaced by Matt Morgan.

Here is Dave Clooney's description of the final table, posted
previously on the newsgroup:

"The final was
*Matt Morgan (Spell of Life), bleeding
*Ben Swainbank (all of the stealth cards and all of the payload),
bleeding
*Matt Hirsh (looked toolboxy, with some bleed, Banshee Ironwail,
Akinsya Daclau, and some Ravnos), bleeding
*Ben Peal (Assamites with
AK-47 and 3 Haquim's Law- Leadership, and Lupine Assault!) bleeding
*Dave Clooney (all of the untap cards, the Rack, and big fighty
minions)

"Matt layed into Peal pretty hard, and Peal worked to stay alive with
Alu getting Leadership all the time. He was low on pool the whole
game, but got low cost AK-47 out with Izhim Abd Azrael, and got out a
Blow torch. I tried to stop Matt Morgan from getting his Spell of Life
to go off by attempting to block with Neighbor John and Special
Report, but he was using Porphyrion, and used a stealth card.
Swainbank then bled out Matt Hirsh, and had some of his guys Blow
torched or AK'd, or rushed by mummies. Then Matt Morgan lunged and
ousted him. A few turns later I managed to get the edge, and called a
Reckless Agitation when Matt was at five pool, ousting him. After
that I sent a few of Ben Peal's minions to torpor and was able to win
with 3 vps. A great showing by Matts and Bens at the draft."

This was a very exciting game to watch and judge. Three players took
VPs in the final round, and Dave came out on top in an upset more
surprising than the one people keep talking about later in the day.
Dave deserves some serious congratulations for winning his first
sanctioned tournament, beating out 2 of the top 10 draft players and
the inventor of the format in the final.

Here is Dave's draft deck, along with extensive comments:

Crypt - 7

Phaedyme - 10 ANI CHI DEM FOR pre tha Ravnos- +1 Str
Accorri Giovanni - 6 DOM POT ani nec Giovanni
Anton de Concepcion - 9 ANI DOM OBT POT aus Lasombra- Archbishop,
optional maneuver
Diego Giovanni - 8 CHI DOM NEC POT ani Giovanni - burn locations
Titus Camille - 8 AUS DOM OBF for !Ventrue - +1 Str, steal equipment
Mariel St. John - 6 AUS FOR dom pro !Ventrue
Neighbor John - 5 AUS dom for !Ventrue - +1 intercept

[Mariel was the first minion I drafted, since her disciplines give a
lot of options with draftferiors. Protean has crossover with
Celerity
and Obfuscate, and Auspex pairs with Animalism a lot. I never drew
her
in a game. Phaedyme was great in game two, because there were a lot
of
9 caps on the table, so she facilitated Minor Irritation and Hard
Case.
Titus's +1 strength and equipment stealing were very useful. I put
in
so many high caps because I got three untap cards early in the draft,
and decided to keep grabbing them. The Minor Irritations and Sense
the
Savage Ways have great synergy with the big guys. The Giovanni were
in
there to call Reckless Agitation; I only brought Accorri out in the
final, never brought Diego out.]

Actions - 4
Force of Will - 1
Harvest Rites - 1
Restoration - 1
Resume the Coil - 1

[Force of Will is great (aus untap), the rest didn't matter. I ended
up
getting hit for about 4 or 5 pool early in my first two games, so I
was
playing with two minions (Anton+ Titus, then Phaedyme + Titus) and I
got the Rack out both times, so Harvest Rites and Restoration were
unecessary, and I couldn't play Resume the Coil.]

Equipment - 2
Camera Phone - 1 [very helpful, in game 2 I stole a second one with

Titus, which helped me win.]
Saturday Night Special - 1 [never used it]

Political Action - 1
Reckless Agitation - 1 [Couldn't play / pass it until the final,
where
it won me the game]

Action Modifiers - 4
Confusion - 1
Murmur of the False Will - 1
Foreshadowing Destruction - 2

Combat - 8
Armor of Vitality - 1
Flesh Bond - 2 [excellent]
Rolling with the Punches - 1
Song of Serenity - 1
Stunt Cycle - 1
Target Head - 1
Target Vitals - 1

[The Flesh Bonds were huge. I thought I would have to play them to
end
combat a few times, but I didn't end up needing to, mostly because of
the Rack. Along with the Targets, they made for some severe
combats.

I used the Stunt Cycle with Anton against mummies (Spell of Life was
a
big factor in the draft). There were a lot of guns floating around,
so
having ranged damage was important. Without the fortitude, my minions
definitely would have gone to torpor.]

Master - 6
Agent of Power - 1
Communal Haven: Cathedral - 1 [Never used it]
Depravity - 1
Kumpania - 1
Special Report - 1[Draft gold]
The Rack - 1 [great in first two games, showed up late in the finals
and got washed]

[I got the Rack about half way through the draft, and that finalized
my
plan to go with huge minions and untap. Agent of Power I played in
every game, to give Auspex or Fortitude. Depravity got played in
every
game, and was well worth it. Kumpania was a big deal in game 2, when
I
got Phaedyme. Special Report was another untap, and very helpful.]

Reaction - 10
Eluding the Arms of Morpheus - 1
Fillip - 1
Hardcase - 1
Instinctive Reaction - 1
Minor Irritation - 2 [great]
Guard Dogs - 1
Read the Winds - 1
Sense the Savage Way - 2

[This is a lot of reaction cards, and they allowed me to tap out most
turns. Hardcase was helpful twice, once with a bounced bleed, where
I
didn't want to kill the bouncer with Depravity, and once to destroy a
Combat Shotgun.]

Thanks to the great people at Templecon for putting on a very nice
event, and to Matt Hirsch for inviting me to judge the Sunday draft
again. Everyone from the Western MA playgroup had a great time, and I
feel like we made a very good showing for our small, backwater VTES
scene in the wider competitive environment. Between me and Dave, we
had
a presence at every final table for the weekend. Dave qualified at the
NERQ and won the draft, and noone got completely shut out for VPs. Go
Western MA!

Jesse
Prince of Northampton

jcrossnickerson.RemoveThis@gmail.com wrote:
> Draft Report: TempleCondemn the Sins of the Father
>
>
> Actions - 4
> Force of Will - 1
> Harvest Rites - 1
> Restoration - 1
> Resume the Coil - 1
>
> [Force of Will is great (aus untap), the rest didn't matter.


Is Force of Will the card you mean? I thought that was a fortitude
bleed card that sent you to torp?

best -

chris
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