2011 ACC

I didn't realize it's been three years since I've written anything in this blog. I didn't even write anything about White Wolf ending production on the game last year.

At any rate, the game itself remains alive, as dedicated players continue to gather and play.

Last Sunday, for instance, I managed to play in the Asian Continental Championships (ACC), held at Schizo Cafe along Katipunan Ave. in Quezon City.

Since I knew that parking in that area was a premium, I decided to go early, only to find out that the cafe was still closed; it would open near 9 am.

When it opened, the players arrived in trickles, and, soon, it was time to game.

I used a version of the deck I played in the qualifier tournament, a intercepting deck with Cock Robin the Nosferatu justicar as the central vampire.

In the first round, I managed to get a game win (GW) and 3 victory points (VP), even though Cock Robin didn't come out. In that table, I managed to hold the line with Teresita, Nikolaus Vermeulen, Calebros the Martyr, and Sundown, as my Smiling Jack did the work.

In the second round, I got two more VPs, and was the last man standing, as Singaporean Le Fei took out the other three Meths using her Samedi deck.

The third round went pretty quickly, as Gee Hwan (did I get the spelling right?) brought a stealth dom bleeder, and took out the table early enough for us to rest up for the finals. I managed to bring out the Smiling Jack, but it wasn't able to put a dent into the speed of the bleeding Gee brought to the table.

My GW and 5 VPs got me onto the table, along with Karl, Troy, Gee Hwan, and defending champion Stephen. As luck would have it, the seating placed squarely in front of Gee Hwan, which basically ended any chance for me to get started. Sure enough, while I got Teresita out, Gee had gotten me down to 5 pool in 5 minutes.

Unfortunately for him, the sheer brutality of the bleed spurred the other Meths to act, as both Stephen and Troy attacked Gee's minions after what happened to me. It was enough to weaken Gee for Karl's bleeding, making Gee the first player off the table. Since I was too weakened to do anything, Gee's exit was quickly followed by mine. Stephen managed to hold off Karl in the end game in order to defend his title.

All in all, it was a good day for playing V:TES. My deck worked fairly well, and I got a whole load of prizes for making it to the finals table. I also made a number of new friends among the Singaporeans and Japanese who came over, which is, for me, one of the key reasons for playing.

The Ateneo was well-represented in the ACC finals, since all of the Filipinos in the finals (Karl, a college history professor, myself, a teacher, and Troy, an alumnus) were connected one way or the other to the school.

Even though V:TES is no longer being produced, I'm hoping that the ACC helped revitalize the game here in the Philippines, at least among those of us who do play. I'm looking forward to the next tournament.