Rise of the Imperator storyline

We played the Espoo (Finland) Imperator storyline tournament last Saturday (May 9th), with a total of 14 players. First things first, here are the condensed results:

• Winning Player: Otso Turunen
• Winning Clan: Brujah
• Key Minion: Hektor
• Imperator Nominee: Themistocles

Otso says he chose the Imperator nominee because he's studying ancient Greece, and (I quote): “if this guy managed to deal with the old Persians, he can handle modern challenges too!”.

We played three rounds (with normal 2h time limit), no finals – winner determined by final score total. Otso was the only one with 2 Game Wins here, so it was a clear win. I used Imperator decks of 40 cards each, following some recommendations from the “official” list but doing lots of my own tweaks. Each deck was slightly different, and all were randomized between tables before each round. The decks had a lot of effect in some tables, very little in others. Also, I noticed that there were huge differences in how much people liked to use actions to discard cards from the deck – some tables went through the decks *fast*, while in others the same 3 cards sat on the table for a long time.

Everyone seemed to like the format, the Imperator decks provided some extra tactical considerations and some extra randomness, without changing the nature of the game. I know I had a lot of fun, and judging by comments so did everyone else. All in all a success, even though the turnout (14) wasn't too big by local standards.

Here's a breakdown of the clans people played:

• Nosferatu: 4 decks
• Toreador: 3 decks
• Ventrue: 3 decks
• Brujah: 2 decks
• Malkavian: 2 decks

So no Tremere at all, and the Nosfes were the most popular. Somewhat surprising.

Here's a breakdown by final total scores and clan:

• Nosferatu: 2 GW, 10 VP
• Brujah: 2 GW, 9 VP
• Ventrue: 2 GW, 9 VP
• Malkavian: 1 GW, 7 VP
• Toreador: 0 GW, 4 VP

Finally, here's Otso's deck list:

Deck Name : A union made in hell
Author : odeoderok

Description : The deck is not very consistent, but fun! The Major Boon got me both of my game wins, 
protecting me from bleedy predators. I never played New Carthage. Despite the negligible amount of 
defense, cross-table buddies with votes helped me stay alive long enough. It also helped that my 
first prey was ousted by other people in two games :D


Crypt (12 vampires) Capacity min: 6 max: 10 average: 8.5
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4x Dmitra Ilyanova     9  CEL FOR POT PRE obf  justicar Brujah:5
3x Hektor              9  CEL POT PRE QUI for  priscus  !Brujah:4
1x Jann Berger         10 CEL POT PRE dem for  prince   Brujah:4
1x Carlak              8  CEL PRE dom pot      prince   Brujah:5
1x Count Germaine      8  CEL FOR POT PRE obf           Brujah:4
1x Karen Suadela       7  CEL POT obf pre      prince   Brujah:5
1x Tara                6  POT PRE cel          prince   Brujah:5


Library (90 cards)
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Action (14)
  1x Abbot
  1x Ambush
  3x Bum's Rush
  1x Condemn the Sins of the Father
  1x Eternal Vigilance
  2x Fleetness
  1x Harass
  2x Heart of the City
  1x Preternatural Strength
  1x Rampage

Action Modifier (11)
  5x Forced March
  4x Freak Drive
  2x Iron Glare

Action Modifier/Combat (5)
  5x Resist Earth's Grasp

Combat (24)
  3x Armor of Vitality
  3x Blur
  6x Immortal Grapple
  5x Pursuit
  2x Taste of Vitae
  5x Torn Signpost

Equipment (5)
  2x Assault Rifle
  1x Heart of Nizchetus
  1x Helicopter
  1x Sport Bike

Master (18)
  3x Dreams of the Sphinx
  1x Fame
  1x Guardian Angel
  1x Major Boon
  1x Monster
  1x New Carthage
  1x Perfectionist
  1x Powerbase: Montreal
  1x Sudden Reversal
  1x Tension in the Ranks
  3x Vessel
  3x Villein

Political Action (6)
  3x Alastor
  3x Parity Shift

Reaction (4)
  2x On the Qui Vive
  2x Second Tradition: Domain

Retainer (3)
  1x J. S. Simmons, Esq.
  1x Mr. Winthrop
  1x Tasha Morgan