NYC Draft Tournament Report (Apr 29 2006)

18 methuselahs showed up to duke it out at the drafting tables on Saturday
at
Neutral Ground in NYC. 3 were to drop out after the first round of games,
but we still wound up with 15 people, so it was an excellent turnout.

We drafted a variety of stuff that the store had on hand. Ten packs per
person, with the average distribution being something like 1.5 Cam Ed, 2.5
Final Nights, 2 Gehenna, 1.5 BH, and 2.5 LoB.

I didn't have a particularly clear strategy for a while, since there was so
much variety in the packs, but I wound up with serpentis, presence,
obfuscate, and celerity, along with the usual miscellaneous other stuff. I
was most amused to get both Theo and Theo (ADV), so naturally I had to try
and merge him at some point during the day... I barely made my goal, getting
him merged with about 15 minutes to go in the final.

First round, I was at a table with Joe, Shane Strait, and a Matt whom I had
never met before. I got Theo, Eurayle, and Samat; Joe got Marconius, Otieno
(I think), and another couple of guys. Shane got Ferox, Rocia, and 2 other
guys. Matt got George Frederic and some other guys. I got a very early WMRH,
Joe got an equally early KRCG, Matt got Metro Underground. Shane never got a
good location card.

Usual early draft maneuvering, a few bleeds here and there, tooling up of
guys, etc. Probably more blocking that usual, given the 2 media locations in
play. Matt probably got a little free with the Metro Underground; that,
along with Shane's steady bleeds of 1 or 2 per turn added up, and he was the
first ousted. I was fairly defensive, as my Loners let me act with one guy,
get a blood on him, and have 2 up for defense. I got through for 1 against
Joe fairly often.

Shane had to tap out to get Matt, which put him on about 9 pool. I agreed to
leave Joe alone to let him tap out to hurt Shane; I had every intent of
keeping the deal, until I top-decked the Rev of Desire, which gave me just
enough bleed to break the deal and oust Joe. Shane and I debated
mutual withdrawal, but decided to play it out. He was on 5 pool, and I was
on about 9 or so.

He tooled up with a Razor Bat on Rocia, putting him at 3 pool. We pecked at
each other for a turn or two, neither losing much pool. He had two tapped
guys when I drew my Domain Challenge. I got him to block something else with
Rocia, and then was able to call the vote to oust.

Shane 1 VP, Pat 3 VP GW

Second round, I was at a 5-player table: Gary >> me >> Nick >> Ethan (Lev)
>> another Matt whom I had met before.

Gary got Ahrimanes and Spleen, I got Max, Marriott Hotel Chain, and Eurayle
(who prevented Lev from buying Saulot). Nick got Cock Robin and spent about
5 pool fishing in his crypt. Lev had a surprising number of minions; Matt
got Sennuwy and a Week of Nightmares! Lev and I aggressively
moved Week counters to Sennuwy and Spleen; Nick never moved one.

Nick eventually got a 4-cap Laibon, and I badgered him into going forward a
bit. Lev was hitting Mark hard with a nice toolboxy deck, although Mark was
defending himself well. Gary was relatively fighty with his Ahrimanes, but
not so effective bleeding with anyone but Spleen, who I was able to hold off
most of the time. (It helped that Sennuwy kept having to hunt off him, due
to a Swarm from Lev.)

I Poison Pilled a Domain challenge to do 3 to Nick while taking just 2. (It
passed due to Vox Senis being in play.) From
that point, Lev and I did a 3-2 deal, as I didn't have any way of getting
through his minion advantage. Mark tried to withdraw, but Lev was having
none of it. I forget what killed Gary, I believe it was a KRC. Then we
withdrew to keep the deal.

Lev 3 VP GW, Pat 2VP

Final standings were
Lev 2 GW, 5 or 6 VP
Adam 1 GW, 6 VP
Eric 1 GW, 5 VP (won roll-off)
Pat 1 GW, 5 VP
Matt 1 GW, 3 VP

We sat Matt >> me >> Adam >> Eric >> Lev.

Matt got a disturbing number of guys with obt/dom and/or obf/dom; Robin
Withers, Bartholomew, Dame Hollerton, and somebody else. As it turned out,
he was all stealth and no bleed, so he wasn't able to put too much pressure
on me. I got Samat, an Aabbt Kindred, and Pug Jackson. Adam got Jack Dawson
(Adv), Tariq, and a 3-cap Laibon. He also spent pool on a Creepshow, a
Coroner's Contact, and an Ivory Bow, so he used a lot of pool on guys and
stuff. Eric got Carna, Hermana Major, a Chicago Blood Brother, and Zip. Lev
got Saulot, a 4-cap with superior Kittykat, 2 other guys, and a Neighborhood
Watch Commander.

Lev was relentless against Matt, who could never put pressure on me. I got
Adam for one or two most turns, since he was going forward most of the game.
Eric bled with Zip and a Blood Brother and left Carna up to block. Lev had
several turns where he was doing higher math to figure out how to oust Matt,
but he was never able to bleed enough to get through Matt's blockers,
despite having a couple of Spirit Marionettes and a Repulsion for Saulot.

Plus Matt got a Haunted Powerbase: Barranquilla, so he had the only pool
gain on the table. (Other than Saulot's indirect gain.) Matt almost
superior-Haunted my WMRH while it was tapped, but fortunately thought better
of it. I used it, along with Poison Pill and Vox Senis, to keep Lev from
calling any votes that would have really hurt Matt. I eventually got Lev to
hit Adam with a big enough KRC (2-2) to make it worth my while to let the
vote pass. Lev briefly toyed with ousting Eric backwards to shore up Adam,
but that plan was doomed. Neither Eric nor Matt (with my WMRH) were going to
let it happen, plus Eric & I had vote lock anyway.

I got Adam right after that and bought Adv Theo. I later tried to call
Diversity to guarantee a table time-out, but Eric blocked with Carna. Lev
tried to call Domain Challenge to blow up the table, which would have given
me 3, Eric 1, and Lev 1, but the vote was blocked by Matt with my WMRH.

After that, I realized my master plan to merge Theo, then got Eric with a
bleed, called Domain Challenge to get Lev, and withdrew to let Matt get a VP
for second place, since he had indeed been the best predator in the world
(as he reminded me several times).

Thanks to Nick and the NYC crew for hosting. I had a great time at all three
tables and at my draft pod. You really must hold tournaments more often!

- Pat

TWD from NYC Draft Tournament, April 29, 2006

CRYPT (12)
Theo Bell
-- Used in G1. Never had enough combat for him to be scary. Might have used
his rush once.
Theo Bell (Adv)
-- Influenced him very late in final as insurance minion. Got him merged in
the last 10 minutes or so, but he never acted.
Aabbt Kindred
-- Very useful in final. Built-in prevention kept Tariq with Ivory Bow from
rushing me, since I could always prevent the 1 agg.
Samat Ramal-Ra
-- Got him in 1st round and final. Never diablerized with him.
Pug Jackson
-- Got in final only.
Amenophobis
-- In crypt draw once, never influenced him.
Sir Marriott D'Urban
-- Got in 2nd round only.
Max Lowell
-- Got in 2nd round.
Agru Kabera
-- Never saw him. A shame, his +1 bleed would have been very handy.
Mr. Noir
-- In crypt draw 1st round, but picked Eurayle instead.
Kkay'tall
-- In crypt draw a couple times but never influenced.
Eurayle
-- Got in 1st 2 rounds. Useful, but I didn't have great Obeah cards to go
with her.

LIBRARY (40)

Master (6)
Diamond Thunderbolt
Vox Senis
Loner x2
Presence
WMRH
-- Probably the best master package I've ever drafted. All were used with
good effect. WMRH was in particular huge. I was able to use it a lot myself
and it gave me great leverage in the final. Only lost 2 pool to its drawback
all day.

Action (5)
Enticement
Entrenching
Blackmail
Clotho's Gift
Pandora's Whisper
-- Decent actions overall. Never used Pandora's Whisper, but the others were
used at least once.

Reaction (7)
Peacemaker
Spirit's Touch
Aversion
Ecstasy
Poison Pill
Extortion x2
-- Never used the Spirit's Touch. Peacemaker is nice in draft at [pre], if
your pred has a better combat package than you do, as happened to me in 2nd
round. Used Extortion once at inf only. Poison Pill was great, it gave me 2
damage on Nick in 2nd round, and forced Lev to name me on the right side of
Finding the Path in the final.

Combat (
Stunt Cycle
Mask Empathy
Anesthetic Touch
Heaven's Gate
Infection
Absorb the Mind
Psyche!
Blur
-- I actually used Mask Empathy in the final. Matt's Robin Withers was empty
and had Tasha; I blocked with Aabbt Kindred, who struck Mask Empathy to burn
Tasha while not putting Robin in torpor. Never played Heaven's Gate or Stunt
Cycle. Infection at [for] saved me from a nasty Wooden Stake in the final.

Action Mod (6)
Bewitching Oration
Repulsion
Revelation of Desire
Domain of Evernight
Elder Impersonation
Psychomachia
-- Never played Psychomachia. Cycled BO once when I didn't really need it.
Others all used to good effect.

Political Action (4)
Diversity
Ancient Influence
Domain Challenge
Archon
-- Not sure what brain cloud made me include Archon. Never even got to pitch
it for a vote. Domain Challenge was huge. (Thanks to Josh Duffin for showing
me the value of Domain Challenge in one of the first drafts I ever did.

Combo (1)
Sense the Sin
-- Used once, I think, at outferior of course.

Burn Option (1)
Dirty Contract
-- I had 3 more burn option cards. Should have ditched Archon, Heaven's
Gate, and 1 Extortion.

Equpment (2)
Flash Grenade
Canopic Jar
-- I forgot that the Grenade had to be equipped and tried to use it as a
direct strike... silly me. Equipped the Jar once, but game ended before I
could use it.