From the start this tournament was another success, 37 methuselahs had signed-up for it but only 32 made-it in the end.The room could only hold 34 so it was a blessing afterall.
People from all corners of Quebec,showed-up for this event, the 3 preliminary rounds saw intense competition and many games reach their time limit unfinished.
As usual, Bleed Stealth and Political Decks were abundant. A few combat decks did raise some eyebrows though: R�mi Boucher's punishing Nosferatu deck (Torn Signpost/ Immortal Grapple/ Drawing out the beast/ Skin of steel combo ) was a favorite of mine (boy did my vamps hurt...) and Sudama's Ravnos combat deck was also worth mentionning (he did make the final!)
People seemed to really enjoy themselves, the 3 preliminary rounds is great because you can have a bad round and recover easily. Many players were participating in their first tournament (6).
Door prizes were abundant, all in all 30 prizes were given out to participants above the prizes for the finalists.
In the first round, I suffered the wrath of Remi Boucher's Nosferatu Combat deck, I had both a prince and a priscus out but Remi controlled the votes with his justicar, prince and primogen! Unable to past most of my votes I was reduced to bleeding my prey (with a pulse) for 3 each turn but it was quite the task since he was playing a weenie presence deck with lots of pool to spare :(
Left alone by his predator, Remi finally took control of the table. The highlight of that round for me was banishing Remi's justicar by using telepathic vote counting to prevent him to vote...After that all I remember is hitting the mat...
The second round started well for me, I quickly ousted my prey ( I had two vamps bleeding with pulses)but then ran into trouble as I became the #1 ennemy around the table...My predator took out a Priscus wich complicated my voting strategy since both our prisci cancelled each other's votes, I managed to stay in, until the last 10 minutes with one prince with one blood left on him but fell to consecutive deflections for 4 pool.
To my defense though I must say that I did run out of stealth, I had my second prey in the ropes when I went dry, I actually went for at least 20 cards without one single stealth card! A killer when you are stuck between two combat decks with intercept.
The third round was perhaps my best, I started out slow watching Dominique Lewerenz' (my primogen) anti politic weeny deck completely mess-up his prey's Ventrue vote deck, (surprise influence, political backlash combo). What a mess it was! Since he was my prey, I used my Muddle Vampire hunter to take out many of his weenies and bled him for 3 (pulse again) many times eating-up his pool as fast as he had gotten it! The table was then set for Marcus Tremblay and I to Rumble, his Lasombra political, combat deck was imposing but I managed to oust him by sacrificing two vamps to save the only one with a pulse of the canaille on it and finish him. I must say playing Marcus is always a pleasure, he is quite the adversary to say the least!
With my measely 4vps I missed the finals but enjoyed myself nevertheless.
Going into the finals were:
Samuel Belanger (Ventrue vote/bleed deck) with 8.5vps
Marie Pierre Delage (Gangrel Bleed/stealth) with 8 vps
Danny Hall� (Malkavian Bleed Stealth) with 7 vps
Sudama H�bert (Ravnos combat) with 6.5 vps
Nicolas Savard (Malkavian Bleed Stealth) with 6vps
The final game did not last very long!
Danny's bleed stealth quickly got people's attention around the table as he ousted his prey in minutes. He became the target of many deflections and was even intercepted by Marie Pierre when he was about to oust Nicolas, his new prey... Tapping out proved to be costly for Marie Pierre, her predator (samuel) deflected a bleed from his predator to oust her at her great disbelief! The remainder of the game seemed to be a foot race between Danny and Samuel, Danny finaly fell to Samuel's Ventrues.
It was the quickest final I ever saw, that's for sure... Congragulations to Samuel B�langer for winning the tournament! (only his second tournament played!)
The final standings were:
1st place: Samuel B�langer 11.5 vps, Sacha Vykos T-shirt and 10 SW boosters
2nd place: Danny Hall� 9 vps 10, SW boosters
3rd place: Marie Pierre Delage 8 vps, Clan Book Novel and 3 SW boosters
4th place: Sudama H�bert 6.5 vps, Clan Book Novel and 2 Sw boosters
5th place Nicolas Savard 6 vps 2 Sw boosters
A huge Thank You to the Librairie Donjon and Patrick Casavant for making this day possible for all of us and their generous donation (one box of SW boosters). The folks at White Wolf also outdid themselves with their huge prize support(t-shirt, books, rare/uncommon cards, promo cards...).
2 Ventrues (PH and Jeff) wanting to "talk" to the Brujah
"Hey Jeff it's only an Immortal Grapple... get over it!"
