Gulf Coast Roast – Dallas

So, I can summarize how this trip compared to Lafayette.

I did much worse in results.  It wasn’t as enjoyable.  But, do those two things relate?  Perhaps.

It was still fun.

The travel logistics with Lafayette were involved.  The travel logistics here straightforward.  Chris, tournament organizer, picked me up from the airport.  The Uber back to the airport on Monday was l-o-o-o-ng.  I got to wondering if the chatty driver was messing with me.  But, my flight ended up delayed 1.5 hours, so spending a lot of time talking to a guy in the sign business was better spent than the time falling asleep waiting for plane to arrive.  In between, just walked from ABnB to J Gilligan’s and back, managing to miss any of the significant rain (and the hail).

I had Texas BBQ twice.  The burnt ends weren’t real burnt ends, which isn’t shocking when real burnt ends are from a fraction of the brisket.  They were also overcooked, but I liked them.  Sausage was good.  When I went back, I got ribs and brisket.  I got too much, it all started to eat the same as being rather soft.  They only had one BBQ sauce, and it was pretty boring after a while.  One of the reasons I don’t rate places on Yelp is that there’s nuance to reviews.  The food was done well.  It turned out to be twice as expensive as their website, which annoyed me.  Twice.  I would have been happier only going the one time.  Rest of food I got on trip was food, just not very notable other than the Cajun restaurant’s boudin link being really boring.

The main problem with this trip was lack of any break.  With Lafayette trip, after Norm picked me up from transit center, we had time to kill, so I got something like a nap.  Then, the pace was just kind of slower.  With this trip, I get up at 3:50AM Thursday morning and we are playing pick up games until like 1:50AM Friday morning with no break.  I can’t sleep in, and trying to go back to sleep in the mornings before heading out didn’t work, so I was horribly sleep deprived, jet lagged, and trying to control my allergies which get triggered by lack of sleep every day.  Day I got back, I just kept nodding off after I got home when I had work to do.  Tuesday was still recovering.

Why take so long to get to games?  Well, I kind of sucked.

In many pick up games and eight rounds of tournament play, I got one table win … playing someone else’s deck.  In fact, every time I borrowed a deck, I got at least one VP.

This just further reinforced the idea that I’m playing a different game from the people who are winning tournaments.  I’m still playing as if the past seven years of cards didn’t exist and I am playing in my state.  It’s like how at EC Berlin in 2017 I was a pitiful minnow (or whatever, I don’t know anything about nature) getting feasted upon by not-minnows.

I made significant mistakes.  Only one was obvious, but I feel like I played the last tournament pretty badly even though my deck played way differently than I expected, though maybe that’s because I was playing it wrong.

First tournament:

Rd1

Ian (nuToreador wallish) -> Dean (!Ventrue disciplines) -> Darby (Ravnos all forward) -> Norm (Banu Haqim) -> Joey (Banu Haqim)

So, my one clear obvious mistake, in that my prey also decided not to take the action and my predator didn’t and my grandpredator didn’t try with his one minion that could, was not removing Pentex from half of Norm’s minions.  Darby’s situation didn’t actually bother me a huge amount until the infamous, “not remove Pentex” round the table.

Given that he ripped through the prelim rounds, taking three Second Tradition decks in succession with Anathemas from two different players on his dudes, why wasn’t I more concerned?  Well, lack of experience with the build was some of it.  Then, there was how Dean’s ash heap was Governs, Conditioning, etc. with like one card that wasn’t plus bleed.  But, Dean didn’t go forward for a couple of turns before Darby started feasting upon Banu Haqim souls.

As Darby’s grandpredator, I got to play some cards.  For instance, to get my predator to show some respect, I burned his eight cap with Dragon’s Breath Rounds off of his rushing my prince with my not having a gun in play.  It’s almost like I don’t like being rushed or having to deal with obnoxious combat.

I Parity Shifted to give Norm and Joey each 1 pool, but it didn’t make any difference.  I wasn’t sure if it would.  I could have gotten more pool off of Voter Cap if the table was more inclined to appreciate my largesse.

Well, anyway, I had no ability to deal with Ravnos.  My only prince didn’t even have CEL for Psyche!.

Rd2

Devin (Lasombra blood denial) -> Clint (something that votes) -> Sidney (nuTzimisce) -> Darby!! -> Ian

Okay, I forgot that I made some other obvious mistakes.  I brought out a 4-cap.  That 4-cap lacked AUS and wasn’t a P/J.  So, I just reduced my pool by 4 to help Darby get 4 VPs.  I discarded a couple cards, but I only played one card before I was ousted.

Second tournament:

Rd1

Ian (Lasombra Pot Creation Rites) -> Dean (Aus/Dem/Obf) -> Joey (nuSalubri) -> Jon (Brandywine)

I thought this was going to go fast, at first, with Salubri being pretty good against Brandywine.  But, Dean’s deck was more toolboxy, and he kept things like Delaying Tactics when all my votes do is bloat.

Once the Brandywine Death Star was formed, I got ousted by Madness Network.  I had no ability to hurt her because I … chose poorly.  I was running close combat with only a splash of answers for ranged, and Brandywine had Shadow of the Beast.

Joey crumbled.  This game timed out.

Rd2

Oscar (Vlad Chameleon) -> Chris (Matasuntha) -> Clint (nuTzimisce) -> Sagan (Valkyrie) -> Ian

This was my sort of game.  Game.  Not tournament game.  This would have been an insanely fun casual game.

Oscar Chameleoned Clint crosstable.  Then, he did it again.  Oscar seemed strong, like pineapple.  Oscar Banished my first dude.  Clint played Scourge of the Enochians.  That I didn’t draw any Creation Rites until the game was destined to time out was little solace.  I also got agged by my predator, never bringing out more than two minions.

Then, the tidal action reversed.  Clint Graverobbed … BOTH … of his stolen minions.  Clint’s position actually seemed reasonable at a certain point.  I had virtually no sense of Chris’s game as we didn’t use the end of the tables so it was hard to see what was going on at the other end.

With one minion in torpor, I bled Oscar for 1 at 1 stealth and ousted him with 40 seconds left.

If this was a finals, this would have been like my perfect game.  Do nothing until my inevitable victory … without even playing the point of the deck.

Rd3

Preston (Sabbat? vote) -> Justin (Banu Haqim) -> Ian -> Mark J. (Banu Haqim) -> Adrian (midTzimisce)

Adrian got a VP after I rescued one of his two minions and one of Preston’s two minions.  Mark got Adrian, running out of time before I could rescue Justin’s minions for a third time.

I kept asking for time around the 1 hour mark as I wanted to unlock a personal achievement.  Yeah.  This is a problem.  Other people are doing winning.  I’m just trying to come up with amusing stories to share that aren’t amusing to people who care about results.

If I had won this game, that in the first hour of play, sandwiched by two Banu Haqim decks, I only got into one combat and, in that combat, the BH vampire did not steal any of my Lasombra’s blood, but my Lasombra stole two of the Banu Haqim’s blood, this run on sentence would be full of awesome.

If I had won this game, that in two hours of play, sandwiched by two Banu Haqim decks, where I don’t recall a single instance of having blood stolen from any of my vampires, whether Creation rites or any of my three titled Lasombra, this would make for an epic story.

My playing Shadow Step to set range, Dark Steel, IG, Roundhouse, and still coming up one damage short because of Rego Motum was not encouraging.  Mark did essentially run out of cards where I could have won the endgame with more time even with his .44, but it was too pathetic too late.  I did successfully diablerize one of his vampires to get a .44 and Heart, but my Graverobbing was blocked.

So, I really need to put in the cards that make rescuing cheaper as it seems like the only thing I really do to affect games …

Third tournament:

Rd1

Sidney (Matasuntha w/ nuGangrel) -> Ian (Samedi Ashur Tablets) -> Norm (sortanuGangrel) -> Kelly (Brandywine) -> Andi (Barons w/ Cel)

This was a cluster.  Kelly transferred for two turns, then Norm played Kaymakli Nightmares, so Kelly blocked some stuff before he died.  Andi and I both lacked predators.  Sidney just got a slow start, got his Convert Famed, and was more concerned about Norm than me.

I twice beat Sidney on Ashur Tablets.  Not so hard when the point of my deck is to play one any turn I want to play one and slowly edit my deck throughout the game while gaining pool off of the new Ascendance.  Another obvious mistake, I managed to screw up my transfers.  I think twice.  However, my deck gave me Camera Phone and stealth, so Reg just kept bleeding Norm for 3, while Norm didn’t bother blocking my Reanimated Corpse, so he was eating 5 a turn for a couple of turns.  All that early stealth was useful for ignoring my predator, as well.

So, I have a bunch of dudes with a bunch of blood and tons of pool, and the game collapses to the two-player as Andi calls three Reckless Agitations with two landing to take out Sidney.  I get Andi down to 3 pool …  Then, all my guys get torped as Andi’s deck finally draws into his intercept, and my Ivory Bow isn’t as good as his Celerity with .44.  He takes equipment from me.  I hang on until time runs out.  He might have gotten me if he could finish his turn.  I was just utterly crippled.

Ah, VTES.  Not Shadowfist swingy, but it’s a CCG.

Rd2

Sagan (nuNos) -> Clint (nuTzimisce) -> Andi -> Ian

Not unexpected.  I knew I was dead as I have no meaningful defense to Reckless Agitation.

Well, the theory is that I bloat off of Ashur Tablets.  I didn’t draw Ashur Tablets.  Nor did I draw a Villein.  I got a Sengir Dagger.  Later Gran Madre.  In this entire game, I never once got into combat being sandwiched by combat decks with my deck with more combat cards than stealth cards.  It’s my superpower.

I rescued Clint’s minions three times.  Well, he did get a VP after I was ousted as he and Sagan conspired to get Andi out of the game.

Yup, put cards in that reduce cost of rescuing (in terms of actions and/or blood).

Rd3

Ian -> Joey (nuSalubri) -> Preston (Beast Under Siege) -> Mark J. (Unmada Dabbler)

This was frustrating in that my prey and axe were doing things that set me up well for two VPs, but it didn’t help me.  I got a different draw, which is not surprising when my deck has lots of one-ofs and two-ofs.  Mark Revelationsed the only Deflection in my deck, which turned out fine for him, though I think the safer play was to just do anything to get Preston out of the game as Joey’s deck and my deck didn’t really hurt Mark’s.

I couldn’t burn a Madman’s Quill, so I got bled for a lot.  I think a mistake here was thinking that the deck plays differently than how it was conceived.  I thought my deck was only likely to get two dudes in play and hope I can oust people somehow that way.  I got four dudes in play, but I didn’t need the fourth one.  That was seven less pool that could have kept me in the game one more round, where maybe I get a VP.

Joey did yeoman’s work of getting the crap beat out of him over and over and still got Preston.  Mark cleaned up.

I played three decks that did the fight thing.  I chose badly to have two of those be close combat oriented.  Pretty much everyone’s opinion is that I need to stop playing jank, myself included.  The NAC last year was a data point for how my preferred deckbuilding style is overly self-punishing as I give myself very little opportunity to succeed and I’m just not better enough in play skill than my opponents to get away with that.

Lafayette was an illusion [sic] in that two of the finals I made I really didn’t belong.  Tables fell in ways that didn’t make much sense.  In six Gulf Coast Roast tournaments, the only finals I made where I felt like I deserved to be there was when playing new cards in a mostly serious deck (that did get off Machine Blitz).

What will I play at Origins?  Well, only about two months to find out.

As for pick up games, I brought two decks specifically to play against people who didn’t know me well and kept playing against people who didn’t need to see the decks.  I actually only took five pictures of games on the trip.  Took three of food to send to coworker.

I did play my Trophy deck in all of one game.  I played it badly, not clipping my prey’s wings when 75% of his minions were in torpor.  I held off on getting a couple of trophies early because there are 12 in the deck, and I had an easy mark.  Another dumb play.  I finally broke down and got my two trophies, though my Clan Respect choice wasn’t optimal.

I did have a Secure Haven. It got burned.

Here’s standard Guillaume deck I borrowed after first VP where just needed to draw one stealth for second VP.  If only there was a way to draw cards in a Guillaume deck.

Late Saturday night – Oscar left Sunday morning and Mark J. was borrowing his Ivan deck, I put Ivan down with Toreador w/ Obtenebration.  This was the casual deck I played by far the most as it was weirdly not useless.  Had no real oust plan, but it could wreck Mark’s Inside Dirt deck with all of the reduce, intercept.

Devin played my “autopilot” Baali of the Name 1.1 deck at the end of a night.  That was probably not wise.   I never got to play Baali of the Name 1.1 in a casual game.

Thanks to Chris for running and helping me get away from the airport and lending me his power decks.  Thanks to everyone who listened to this crackpot.  Thanks to Mark for arranging ABnB, Devin for shuttling folks and stuff and food.

I need to stop with the early morning flights.  They are harsh on me.  And, maybe, I’ll relearn how to build a normal deck that can oust people.