by Michael Sacco

Cryptozoic's Brand Ambassador Christina Sims spent 2011 traveling the globe as Alexstrasza the Life-Binder, incinerating nearly anyone that dared her challenge her for the title of Dragonslayer at Organized Play events. For 2012, Alexstrasza was retired, but Christina will continue to offer a steep challenge for roaming adventurers as Vanessa VanCleef, the poison-flinging, nightmare-inducing Defias Kingpin. Christina handcrafts costumes for use at these events, and you'll find her Vanessa getup to be very accurate and well-made.

Vanessa's first appearance was on the Friday at this weekend's Darkmoon Faire Los Angeles. Her first day terrorizing the DMF ended with only one defeat; the rest of her challengers weren't so lucky. She had this to say about her deck:

"When you first start with the Vanessa deck, you have to randomly choose a Nightmare. The Nightmare is a card that you don't get to interact with -- you can't get rid of it -- but changes the game. It can either be beneficial for me or detrimental to the player. Think of it like you're in the Deadmines, and you get to my ship, but I've already poisoned you and you're hallucinating.

After you've chosen your Nightmare, you're going to have to interact with a lot of Toxins I'll afflict you with. Vanessa has a few of her Deadmines allies up her sleeve, like Helix, Glubtok, Foe Reaper, and Admiral Ripsnarl. The toxins are the core of my arsenal, though. They do damage over time, so it's a race against the clock. You can buy yourself some times if you can somehow get rid of Toxins, but there will always be other ways she can get rid of you. She's not strictly a DoT deck!

The deck is a lot more interactive than the Alexstrasza deck, because each ally and ability does its own thing. In the Alexstrasza deck, the allies were just regular Worldbreaker-block allies. Alexstrasza relied mostly on abilities to get the job done. Vanessa doesn't have those problems. Due to the Nightmares, every game you play can vary greatly, too.

If you beat me, you'll get a Defias bandana with the Cryptozoic logo on it, as well as the VanCleef Vindicator title, which will be implemented with our Dragonslayer title. Good luck and bring some anti-venom – you'll need it!”