My ACC 2014 Report

Methuselahs from Manila, Japan, and Taiwan escaped the fury of rains brought on by typhoon "Mario", and descended on Iloilo last weekend for the 2014 Asian Continental VtES Championship (ACC). Held at the Iloilo Midtown Hotel, the ACC brought together 22 players to vie for the championship title.

I was afraid I was going to miss it, since my family's flight the day before was cancelled due to the storm. We were able to re-book an early morning flight, and we arrived in Iloilo at close to seven in the morning on the day of the tournament. After a quick refresher at my wife's family home, I was on my way to the hotel, and the ACC.

The ACC had three rounds and a final. Here are my recollections about the three tables I was on. I left the first two tables after being ousted, so I'm not too sure of the final results in each of them.

1st Round

Me (Auspex Weenies) -bleeding- Ferdie Paredes (Malgorzata) -bleeding- Hidetoshi Hayakawa (Stanlislava) -bleeding- Taka'aki Ayukata (Al-Muntaquim) -bleeding- Aurelio Icasiano (Lasombra)

While I was able to bring out about four vamps, including Michael Luther, it was, as Aurelio observed, a rather strange table. One of the early highlights was Al-Muntaquim torporing Moncada. Then, Taki sent in Nedal the Careless to diablerize Moncada; Nedal immediately burned afterwards, with both Hayakawa and Aurelio throwing out vote cards to make it happen. Aurelio then brought out Polonia to compensate, but, with Stanislava out, he found it difficult to maneuver politically. Taki was the first one out, courtesy of a big bleed by Hayakawa. I followed soon after, as I lacked the intercept to block a 3-stealth KRC from Aurelio; I realized too late that Eyes of Argus is only used for (D) actions.

2nd Round

Me - Raf (stealth bleeder) - Don (Imbued) - Johann (Gerald Windham toolbox)

I had gotten an Anarch Revolt out, which was bad news for Don, whose Imbued could not neither go anarch to escape the pings nor could they call off the revolt, since they were not vampires. Hammered by Raf's big bleeds and pinged by the Revolt, Don was quickly off the table. Johann, who, as he has pointed out, did not bleed me at all, took me out by bouncing all of Raf's bleeds to me. My intercept was not coming out as consistently as I liked, and I soon followed Don off the table. Looking at the results, I guess Johann eventually managed to oust Raf for the table win.

3rd Round

Me - Ace (!Ventrue grinder) - Zandro (!Gangrel) - Haig (potence weenie with Beast and Theo)

It was a lucky thing for me Haig decided to pound on Zandro, since that left me to set up. Zandro was caught in a hammer-and-anvil of Ace's bleeds and Haig's pounding, and was soon off the table. Ace then manged to oust Haig, although the effort left Ace's minions either low on blood or torpored. By then, my minions were armed and ready. While Ace blocked, I was able to maneuver and shoot, sending his minions into torpor. I managed to be the last man standing, and gained two victory points.

The finals table was a veterans' table, with only Ace as the new player. The other players were Johann, Charlie, Faust, and Carding, who had just come out of torpor this year. I had to leave after playing one more friendly game (although I learned that it is not proper form to play From a Sinking Ship), and learned over the social media that Carding, using a classic EuroBrujah deck, had managed to win the championship. Congratulations to Richard Barnett, the new ACC champ!

All in all, it was an enjoyable day of VtES, and the ACC demonstrated that, while the game is technically out-of-print, the players remain passionate and dedicated enough to keep it going.

ACC 2014 Deck List: Auspex Weenies

Here's the deck I decided to use in last weekend's Asian Continental Championship (ACC).

Deck Name : Auspex Weenies, ACC 2014 ed
Author : Frederick Tomas
Description :



Crypt [13 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 4 average: 2.84615
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1x Idalia, Prophet of      4  AUS dem       !Malkavian:2
1x Maldavis                   4  AUS for pre   Caitiff:3
1x Michael Luther         4  aus pre       Toreador:3
1x Remilliard, Devout   4  AUS pre       !Toreador:2
1x Richard Tauber, Ay  4  AUS tha       !Tremere:2
1x Isabel de Leon           3  AUS           Toreador:2
1x Martin Franckel        3  AUS tha       Tremere:3
1x Zöe                           3  AUS cel obf   Malkavian:2
1x Almiro Suarez          2  aus           Tremere:3
1x Nicholas Chang        2  aus           !Toreador:3
1x Piotr Andreikov        2  aus           Tzimisce:3
1x Feo Ramos                1  aus           Pander:3
1x Franciscus                 1  aus           Caitiff:2


Library [80 cards]
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Action [1]
  1x Constant Revolution

Combat [4]
  4x Concealed Weapon

Equipment [17]
  3x .44 Magnum
  1x Bowl of Convergence
  2x Cooler
  3x Leather Jacket
  5x Saturday-Night Special
  1x Sniper Rifle
  2x Sport Bike

Master [23]
  2x Anarch Revolt
  1x Archon Investigation
  2x Auspex
  1x Direct Intervention
  1x Golconda: Inner Peace
  1x KRCG News Radio
  1x Millicent Smith, Puritan Vampire Hunter
  1x Parthenon, The
  1x Powerbase: Montreal
  1x Rack, The
  2x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
  1x Sudden Reversal
  1x Vast Wealth
  5x Vessel
  1x WMRH Talk Radio
  1x Wash

Reaction [34]
  2x Eagle's Sight
  4x Eyes of Argus
  8x Forced Awakening
  2x My Enemy's Enemy
  2x On the Qui Vive
  4x Precognition
  4x Spirit's Touch
  8x Telepathic Misdirection

Retainer [1]
  1x Mr. Winthrop

Assessment: While the deck did well as a blocker, the cards I needed for forward movement (Jack, Revolt, Constant Revolution) did not consistently come out, and, when they did, they were immediately blocked or Reversed.

The next time I'm in a tournament, I'll probably consider a more pro-active deck rather than a reactive one.