Memorable Quotes (Part 46)

Really, anyone who isn't happy when their predator calls a KRC for less than three on them deserves to be hit for three with every KRC. -- bwross

Reference: VtES Usenet Newsgroup.

The Imperator is Chosen

The debate was joined and conflict raged in 64 cities and 17 countries across 6 continents. Faced with a popular uprising in support of the anathema Count Germaine, the clans united. The elders threw their support behind the Gangrel warlord. Karsh has been chosen and will be appointed Imperator. He will lead the armies of the Camarilla, be entrusted to defend them, and maintain the traditions that protect them.

The question remains, has the Camarilla averted a cataclysm or invited one? Stay tuned for the full story of the Rise of Imperator Aftermath.

Get ready for the next chapter in the VtES Storyline, where we travel
to Africa to learn the secrets of Eden's Legacy -- coming fall 2009.

-- Ben Swainbank

You can find more information on the VtES Storyline website soon.

VtES European Championship 2010

According to the french VtES forum (see this organizational anouncement) the European VtES Championship 2010 is going to played in Paris, France. The project is in the early planning stages, so the actual date for the tournament or the exact location has not been determined yet.

So you have the chance to play (and see)

• Bastille Opera House,
• Elysium: The Palace of Versailles,
• Louvre, Paris,
• Père Lachaise, France,
• Paris Opera House, or
  
• Sacre Cour Cathedral, France,

while it's easy to convince your wife/girl friend to visit Paris with you, so she can visit

• Eiffel Tower,
• Champs-Élysées,
• Notre Dame de Paris, or
• Arc de Triomphe,
  

or any other non-VtES location. That's called a win-win-situation.

Results US National VtES Championship 2009

On June 26th, 2008 the US National VtES Championship was held in Columbus, Ohio with 49 players attending the tournament. The final standings were as follows:

1. Jesse Cross-Nickerson (USA) -- 4 GW 10.5 VP -- Black Hand Obfuscate Bleed
2. John Eno (USA) -- 3 GW 11 VP -- !Ventrue
2. Jay Kristoff (USA) -- 2 GW 8 VP -- Fighty Imbued
2. Hugh Angeseeing (ENG) -- 2 GW 8 VP -- !Ventrue
2. Karl Schaefer (USA) -- 2 GW 7 VP -- ???

Congratulations to Jesse for his win of the US National VtES Championship 2009. You can find (a widely scattered) tournament report in the VtES Usenet Newsgroup.
Remark: Please take note that the GWs/VPs shown above are those after the finals.

Result Origins NAC Qualifier 2009

On June 27th, 2009 the VtES Origins NAC Qualifier was held in Columbus, Ohio with 41 players attending the qualifier tournament. The final standings were as follows:

1. Mark Petersen -- 2 GW 10 VP -- Rodolfo / Persephone Tar-Anis / Kindred Spirits bleed
2. Rodd Closson -- 2 GW 10 VP -- Malkavian '94
2. Dave Litwin -- 2 GW 8 VP -- Nosferatu G1/2 Royalty Con Boon
2. Peter Bakija -- 2 GW 7.5 VP -- Nosferatu G1/2 Royalty Con Boon
2. John Flournoy -- 1 GW 6 VP -- Dom/Obt/Chi Big Bleed

Congratulations to Mark for his win of the Origins NAC Qualifier 2009. You can find (a widely scattered) tournament report in the VtES Usenet Newsgroup.
Remark: Please take note that the GWs/VPs shown above are those after the finals.

Results Northwest NAC Qualifier 2009

On June 21st, 2009 the VtES Northwest NAC Qualifier was held in Lakewood, Washington with 17 players attending the qualifier tournament. The final standings were as follows:

1. Fletcher Gibson -- 2 GW 7 VP -- 4 VP -- Samedi Reanimated Corpses
2. Brendan Davis -- 1 GW 4 VP -- 1 VP --
2. Donavan Brouwer -- 2 GW 7 VP -- 0 VP --
2. Jason Dawson -- 2 GW 6 VP -- 0 VP --
2. Kai Doll -- 1 GW 6.5 VP -- 0 VP --

Congratulations to Fletcher for his win of the Northwestern Qualifier 2009. You can find the final standings as well as the winner's decklist in the VtES Usenet Newsgroup.

VtES North American Championship Qualifiers 2009 (Update)

Here's a list of the upcoming North American Championship Qualifier tournaments for VtES in 2009, mostly taken from the WW event calendar:

• New York City Qualifier, New York (NY) -- July 11th, 2009
• Western NY Qualifier, Ithaca (NY) -- August 1st, 2009
  

And the list for the NACQs already played:

• Northeast Qualifier, Providence (RI) -- February 7th, 2009 -- Winner: John Eno (USA)
• Las Vegas Qualifier, Las Vegas (NV) -- February 7th, 2009 -- Winner: Matt Morgan (USA)
• Great Lakes (Illinois) Qualifier, Lansing (IL) -- February 28th, 2009 -- Winner: Matt Strehlow (USA)
• San Francisco Bay Area Qualifier, San Francisco (CA) -- March 28th, 2009 -- Winner: Jeff Kuta (USA)
• Great Lakes (Ohio) Regional, Columbus (OH) -- April 19th, 2009 -- Winner: Mark Loughman (USA)
• South West Qualifier, Los Angeles (CA) -- May 23rd, 2009 -- Winner: Chris Shorb (USA)
  
• Texas Qualifier, Dallas (TX) -- May 30th, 2009 -- ???
  
• Mexico Qualifier, Mexico City, Mexico -- May 30th, 2009 -- Winner: ???
• Montreal Qualifier, Montreal, Canada -- May 31st, 2009 -- Winner: ???
• Great Lakes (West) Qualifier, Coon Rapids (MN) -- June 13th, 2009 -- Winner: ???
• Northwest Qualifier, Lakewood (WA) -- June 21st, 2009 -- Winner: Fletcher Gibson (USA)
• Origins Qualifier, Columbus (OH) -- June 27th, 2009 -- Winner: Mark Petersen (USA)

All this culiminating in the North American VtES Championship 2009:

• North American Championship 2009 -- Atlanta (Georgia) -- October 2nd - 4th, 2009

VtES European Championship Qualifiers 2009 (Update)

Here's a list of the upcoming ECQ tournaments for VtES in 2009, mostly taken from the WW event calendar:

• Polish ECQ -- Warsaw, Poland -- July 4th, 2009
  
• Scottish ECQ -- Edinburgh, Scotland -- July 11th, 2009
• Czech ECQ -- Prague, Czech Republic -- August 11th, 2009 -- New!
• Dutch ECQ -- Tilburg, Netherlands -- August 30th, 2009

... and the list of past ECQs 2009:

• Swedish ECQ -- Gothenburg, Sweden -- April 11th, 2009 -- Winner: Erik Torstensen (SWE)
• French ECQ (North) -- Paris, France -- April 18th, 2009 -- Winner: Orian Gissler (FRA)
• Spanish ECQ (South) -- Cordoba, Spain -- April 25th, 2009 -- Winner: Iñaki Puigdollers (ESP)
• Spanish ECQ (North) -- Valladolid, Spain -- April 25th, 2009 -- Winner: Eneko Oribe (ESP)
• Danish ECQ -- Arhus, Denmark -- May 9th, 2009 -- Winner: ???
  
• English ECQ -- Burton-on-Trent, UK -- May 16th, 2009 -- Winner: Mike Wilson (ENG)
  
• Hungarian ECQ -- Budapest, Hungary -- May 16th, 2009 -- Winner: Gyula Erdos (HUN)
  
• French ECQ (South) -- Grenoble, France -- May 17th, 2009 -- Winner: Yannick Gibert (FRA)
• Norwegian ECQ -- Bergen, Norway -- May 30th, 2009 -- Winner: ???
  
• Belgian ECQ -- Bruxelles, Belgium -- May 31st, 2009 -- Winner: Sebastian Meurer (GER)
• German ECQ -- Bochum, Germany -- June 13th, 2009 -- Winner: Izaak Havelaar (NED)
• Icelandic ECQ -- Reykjavik, Iceland -- June 20th, 2009 -- Winner: Hugh Angeseeing (ENG)
  

All this culminating in the European VtES Championship 2009:

• 2009 European Championship -- Palma de Mallorca, Spain -- November 13th - 15th, 2009

You can also find a list of qualifier/championship events on White Wolf's VtES Championship webpage.

Deck of the Month: June 2009: Anson, Volker & Ashur Tablets

This month's deck is the tournament winning deck "Anson, Volker & Ashurs Tablet" played by Marcin Watras (and original concept by Péter Korsós).

After last month this kind of deck missed the topspot for the Deck of the Month just by an inch, and the deck scored another tournament this month, now it's time for standing at the top of the list. The deck is a unique blend of Celerity Gun combat combined with the ability to block with Second Tradition: Domain and using Ashur Tablets to recycle cards from the ashheap. This version does not use Liquidation, but on the other hand has only the minimum library size of 60 cards.

Gang Territory
Bydgoszcz 2009 Mini-Qualifier
June 13, 2009
Bydgoszcz, Poland
3R + F
13 players

Deck Name : Anson - Volker Ashur ver 1.2
Author : Marcin Watras
Description : Deck concept taken from Peter Korsos.
2 GWs 7 VPs + 1 GW 3 VPs

Crypt (12 vampires) Capacity min: 2 max: 8 average: 5.33333
------------------------------------------------------------
4x Anson 8 CEL PRE aus dom prince Toreador:1
3x Volker, The Puppet 5 CEL pot prince Brujah:2
1x Jimmy Dunn 4 CEL POT for Pander:2
1x Parmenides 4 CEL qui Assamite:2
1x Victor Tolliver 4 CEL pot !Brujah:2
1x Sarah Brando 3 CEL !Brujah:2
1x Carter 2 cel !Toreador:2

Library (80 cards)
------------------------------------------------------------
Action (8)
8x Bum's Rush

Combat (35)
4x Blur
7x Concealed Weapon
2x Fast Hands
8x Psyche!
6x Pursuit
3x Sideslip
5x Taste of Vitae

Equipment (7)
7x .44 Magnum

Event (1)
1x Dragonbound

Master (19)
9x Ashur Tablets
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fame
2x Haven Uncovered
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Tension in the Ranks
2x Vessel

Political Action (2)
2x Parity Shift

Reaction (8)
8x Second Tradition: Domain

Card Distribution in "Ebony Kingdom"

After having (finally) received my booster display of the VtES expansion "Ebony Kingdom", and after a little card counting, I came up with the following distribution of cards in the different card slots of a booster:

• 4 common cards

1. card slot: Bamba -- Despiral -- Dusk Work
2. card slot: Familial Bond -- Reliquary: Trinket -- Tunner Runner
3. card slot: Devil-Channel: Feet -- Jua Vema -- Taming The Beast
4. card slot: 419 Operation -- Exile -- Unholy Radiance

• 3 vampire cards

5. card slot: Abu Nuwasi -- Elizabeth Conde -- Jibade el-Bahrawi (ADV) -- Luanda Magere -- Lucian, the Perfect -- Nana Buruku -- Ngozi Ekwensu
6. card slot: Aisata Swanou -- Batsheva (ADV) -- Fode Kourouma -- Kamiri wa Itherero (ADV) -- Nestor Kaba -- Socrate Cidibe -- Umdava
7. card slot: Abiku -- Arriette Sylla -- Cesewayo (ADV) -- Mamadou Keita -- Titi Camara -- Undele

• 1 rare card

8. card slot: -- (rare card)


• 3 common cards

9. card slot: Neebi -- Invoke Poison Glands -- Supernatural Resistance
10. card slot: Mundane -- Kuta -- Pallid
11. card slot: Brutal Influence -- My Kin Against the World -- Aye or Orun

Memorable Quotes (Part 45)

"LSJ? You are being cryptic..." -- XZealot

"Naw, not me. Cryptic is calling someone cryptic in a reply to yourself which contains no dialog from that supposedly-cryptic someone nor from anyone else other than yourself.

What I have been being in this thread is 'explict and verbose'." -- LSJ

Reference: VtES Usenet Newsgroup

Next VtES Expansion "Heirs to the Blood"

According to Potomac Distribution, the next VtES expansion is going be named "Heirs to the Blood". Reportedly the expansion will consists of boosters and starters, and is going to be released in October 2009.

Announcement Dutch EC Qualifier 2009

The Dutch VtES EC Qualifier 2009 will take place in Tilburg, Netherlands on August 30th, 2009. Here are the details for this constructed tournament:

Format:

• Dutch EC Qualifier: Standard Constructed. Detailed rules can be found on the VEKN Tournament Rules webpage.

Time:

• Sunday, 30 August 2009
• Doors open/registration 10:00 h
• Start first round 11:00 h

Location:

• Denksport Cafe Theseus
• Bredaseweg 167
• 5038 ND Tilburg
• The Netherlands


• Since this is a cafe, please do not take your drinks along (Food is fine).

Round system:

• 3 rounds, plus final (time limit: 2 h each)

Entrance fee:

• 5 Euro

Registration:

• You can pre-register by leaving a response in the dutch VtES forum. This is not required, but appreciated by the tournament organizers.
  

Card Tech: Liquidation & Ashur Tablets

Lately the combination of Liquidation and Ashur Tablets has become popular in a couple of VtES decks. The best example for deck that that uses this combo is one named "Ashur Celerity that won the Hungarian ECQ 2009 earlier this year.

Liquidation lets you gain 3 pool while moving 7 cards from the top of your library to your ashheap. On the other hand, Ashur Tablets lets you gain 3 pool and retrieve up to 13 cards from your ashheap to your library (and one to your hand), if you manage to put a set of three Ashur Tablets into play under your control. This is a decent pool gain combined with the ability to control the contents of your library in the mid- and endgame. The combo is somewhat similar to the Liquidation / Sudario Refraction that the Speed Shamblers deck uses in perfection.


Advantages
The basic package consists of one Liquidation and three Ashur Tablets, which lead to following numbers:

• Pool gain: 6 = 1.5 pool/card
• Card flow: 13 cards retrieved - 7 cards discarded = 5 card retrieved from ash heap + 1 card to your hand

So the combo is somewhat better than the Ascendance "benchmark" (regarding pool gain). But what it makes playable is, that in addition you have some form of control of the cards in your library, and can retrieve cards from your ashheap later in the game.

I added a package of 2 Liquidations and 6 Ashurs Tablets to my Antonio d'Erlette Nephandus deck, and this improved the deck's performance significantly. The pool gain is necessary since the Nephandi and equipment I am running in this deck are quite expensive. Also later in the game I can retrieve the cards that I am going to need for a particular situation, e.g. Conditioning for ousting, Nephandus for putting them into play after they have been burned, etc.

Multiple of the basic package (i.e. two Liquidations and six Ashur Tablets or three and nine) are advisable, because with only three Ashur Tablets the risk is just too high "losing" one of Ashur Tablets by a Liquidation into the ashheap.


Disadvantages
The main problem with the combo is the high number of master phase actions (and card slot) it costs. So from point of view the tech is only suitable when you have multiple master phase actions (Anson, Nana, Parthenon, etc.) or your master card count is somewhat low.

Currently the race for putting Ashur Tablets into play comes up only very occassionally. So it's usually save to assume, that you can complete your set of three Ashur Tablets without any disturbance, though this may change in the future.

Another, yet small disadvantage is the fact that you do not replace Liquidation until your next discard phase. This can be very annoying if there are other cards/effects that also reduce your handsize effectively, e.g. the do-not-replace clause on Mirror Walk or the handsize reduction caused by Dragonbound.


Summary
While not the swiss army knife for VtES the combo Liquidation and Ashur Tablets is an interesting card tech for those decks which want/need to combine decent pool gain with card retrieval from the ash heap. It's not suitable for all deck types

Results Italian National VtES Championship 2009

On May 31st, 2009 the Italian National VtES Championship was held in Rome, Italy with 27 players attending the final tournament. The final standings were as follows:

1. Simone "Levy" Bianchi -- Toreador Antitribu Palla Grande Swarm
2. Miro -- Followers of Set G2 DOM / Eternals of Sirius
2. Simone -- Brujah G4/5 Vote
2. Francesco -- Tzimisce Wall w/ War Ghouls (& a little vote)
2. Gian -- Lutz/Neferu/.. PRE OBF vote

Congratulations to Levy for his win of the Italian National VtES Championship 2009. You can find the finalist's decklist in the VtES Usenet Newsgroup and pictures from the event in the Italian VtES forum.

European VtES Draft Championship 2009

After last year's very successful "European VtES Draft Championship" the German VEKN community is happy to announce that in 2009 the second installment of this great event will take place in Germany.

This time around, "vtes.de" is inviting all European players to join in a weekend of tough struggles, vicious politicking and nasty fighting with tooth and nail. Many consider the draft format to be the queen of tournaments, as players cannot rely on an established and well-tested deck but instead have to adapt to a game environment which is rapidly changing all the time. Do you have what it takes to conquer the European Nights?

The Tournament

• The Eurodraft will take place on Saturday, December 5th, 2009. The winner will be awarded with the European Draft Champion title of 2009.

The Location

• The event will take place on the 5th (and 6th of December for the German VtES Championship) in DasHaus in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany. Amongst European players this location is well-known due to the numerous events such as qualifiers and nationals which took place there in the past. It offers more than enough room for about 100 players in two different rooms. Drinks will be available on location.

Format

• Eurodraft: Draft from 9 boosters.

Time-Table

• Saturday (Dec. 5th) -- Eurodraft


• Registration 10:00 - 11:00
• Draft & Decklists 11:15 - 12:15
• 1st Round 12:30 - 14:30
• 2nd Round 15:30 - 17:30
• 3rd Round 17:45 - 19:45
• Finals 20:00 -- 22:00

Costs

• 5 EUR admission fee for both days + cost of cards for the draft (about 20 EUR).

Prizes

• tba

Notes

• Traditionally, numerous Christmas fairs take place in neighboring cities like Mannheim or Heidelberg during December. These not only feature traditional German treats, but also souvenirs and the famous "Glühwein" (mulled wine).

More Details and Registration

• forum.vekn.de (requires registration)

German National VtES Championship 2009

As in the previous years the German National VtES Championship tournament takes place in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany. The championship tournament is played on December 6th, 2009 in the same location and the same weekend as the EuroDraft event (on December 5th, 2009).

The Tournament

• Sunday, December 6th, 2009 will be devoted to the German VtES Championship -- please note that you will not have to qualify for this event. The top 5 players will automatically be qualified for participation in any Continental Championship in 2010.

The Location

• The event will take place on the 6th (and 5th of December for the EuroDraft tournament) in DasHaus in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany. Amongst European players this location is well-known due to the numerous events such as qualifiers and nationals which took place there in the past. It offers more than enough room for about 100 players in two different rooms. Drinks will be available on location.

Format

• German Championship: Standard Constructed, detailed rules can be found on the VEKN Tournament Rules webpage.

Time-Table

• Sunday (Dec. 6th) -- German Championship


• Registration 10:00 - 10:45
• 1st Round 11:00 - 13:00
• 2nd Round 14:00 - 16:00
• 3rd Round 16:15 - 18:15
• Finals 18:30 - 20:30

Costs

• 5 EUR admission fee for both days (EuroDraft & German Championship)

Prizes

• tba

Notes

• Traditionally, numerous Christmas fairs take place in neighboring cities like Mannheim or Heidelberg during December. These not only feature traditional German treats, but also souvenirs and the famous "Glühwein" (mulled wine).

More Details and Registration

• forum.vekn.de (requires registration)

Deck Building Utilities (Update June 2009)

New versions of the "Secret Library", "Anarch Revolt Deck Builder" (ARDB) and "Fragments of Elder Library Deck Builder" (FELDB) have been published in June 2009. Here's the update of the basic information:

Secret Library
Current Version: 0.9.1
Author: Jussi Hattara
Homepage/URL: http://www.secretlibrary.info
Description: A finnish website with similar filter & search functionality as "V:EKN Nu" and "VtES Monger". Nice, fresh web design and the ability to keep one's inventory as well as deck building utility. Definitively the best web-based site. The only "drawback" you need a (free) account to use the deck building and inventory functionality.
Advantages/Disadvantages:

• Card List & Inventory
• complete card list with card texts
• lacks pictures of actual cards, but this maybe is more a copyright issue.
  
• search & filter use, but not as sophisticated as in the ARDB
  
• card inventory can be kept
• Deck Building
• offers the basic functionality of deck builder
• includes card drawing simulation, but offers no statistical information on the deck.
  
• ability to export decks as text (*.txt), HTML file (*.html), FELDB (*.eld) or for use in JOL (*.jol), Lackey or WebTES or for posting to internet forums (*.phbBB) and local forums.
• gives some advice on deck building based on the "Happy Families" theory
• Other Features
  
• since it's web-based application, you don't need a local installation.
• ability to make deck lists public or keep them private.

Expansions: all VtES expansions (now including Ebony Kingdom).
Latest Posting: 17/Jun/2009
Changelog: Secrect Library Changelog

Anarch Revolt Deck Builder ("ARDB")
Current Version: 2.9.1
Author(s): Graham Smith (current project lead) / Francois Gombault (initial creator)
Homepage: ARDB on Google Code
Description: Layered Filters, multiple export functionality and a tidy interface are the top features of this program, somewhat newer than the FELDB it had a fresh start and gained soon popularity in the VtES community.
Advantages/Disadvantages:

• Card List & Inventory
• complete card list with card texts
• complete collection of pictures of actual cards.
  
• great search & filter use, multiple, layered filters
• card inventory can be kept
• Deck Building
• offers the basic functionality of deck builder
• includes some statistical information about the decks as well as card drawing simulation
• ability to store decks in XML format (*.xml), as text (*.txt), HTML file (*.html) or for use with JOL (*.jol) or for posting to internet forums (*.phbBB).
• gives some advice on deck building based on the "Happy Families" theory
• Other Functionality
• can update card database from White Wolf website
• little utility for creating proxy cards

URLs:

• ARDB v2.9.1 for Windows
• ARDB v2.9.0 for Mac OS X 10.5
• ARDB v2.9.0 for openSUSE 11.0
• ARDB v2.8.0 (Beta) for Debian
• VtES Card Images
• VtES Card Images (KoT Only)
• VtES Card Images (EK Only)

Cost: free software
OS Platforms: Windows, OpenSuSe, Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, (Mac OS X 10.5)
Expansion Updates: about 1 to 4 weeks after an expansion has been released.
Expansions: all VtES expansions.
Latest Posting: 15/Jun/2009
Changelog: ARDB Changelog on Google Code

Fragments of Elder Library Deck Builder ("FELDB")
Current Version: 2.5.1
Author(s): Balasz Kuno Kiss
Homepage: FELDB on Google Groups or Bala's FELDB website
Description: After the ELDB ("Elder Library Deck Builder") was no longer maintained, the ELDB's author David Andersion-Davila published the sources and FELDB was the result of the development with serious improvements over the old program.
Advantages/Disadvantages:

• Card List & Inventory
• complete card list with card texts
• complete collection of pictures of actual cards.
• basic ability to filter and sort cards, this could be better, especially when compared to the ARDB.
• card inventory can be kept, but needs to be used carefully when updating to the next version or expansion.
• Deck Building
• offers the basic functionality of deck builder
• includes some statistical information about the decks as well as card drawing simulation
• ability to store decks in native format (*.eld), as text (*.txt), HTML file (*.html) or for use with JOL (*.jol).
• Other Features
• deck manager functionality
• several import/export options for decks and inventories
• usually the quickest update after an expansion has been released
• can update card database from White Wolf website -- New!
  

URLs:

• FELDB v2.5.1
• VtES Card Images

Cost: free software
OS Platforms: Windows
Expansion Updates: about 1 to 2 weeks after an expansion has been released.
Expansions: all VtES expansions.
Latest Posting: 05/Jun/2009

Spanish National VtES Championship 2009

In 2009 the Spanish VtES Championship tournament is played in Sevilla, Spain. The constructed tournament is played on October 17th and 18th, 2009. The tournament event starts with the last chance qualifier on Saturday, since admittance to the championship tournament is restricted. The actual national championship tournament is played on Sunday then. You can find more information on the tournament in the Spanish VtES forum (in spanish).

French National VtES Championship 2009

This year the French VtES Championship 2009 takes place in Caen, France. The constructed tournament is played on September 26th and 27th, 2009 in the following venue:

Tandem
8 rue Nicolas Oresme
14000 CAEN

The tournament event starts with the last chance qualifier on Saturday, since admittance to the championship tournament is restricted. The actual national championship tournament is played on Sunday then. You can find more details in the Caen VEKN forum (in french). There you can also find a list of players that are already qualified.

Tournament Report German EC Qualifier 2009

Even though I didn't win the VtES tournament, here's my round by round report of the German ECQ qualifier that was played on June 13th, 2009 in Bochum, Germany. I was fielding a Tremere antitribu/Tremere deck featuring Antonio d'Erlette and Carna with Nephandus mages as key cards. You can find the complete deck in the Secret Library.

Round 1: Ortje (Weenie DEM Bleed) --> Ralf (Ferox Gargoyles Rush Combat --> Me (Antonio Nephandus) --> Josha (Obf/Pre Bigcap Vote) --> Emiliano (Tzimisce Horrid Form Rush Combat)

Arguably I didn't have the worst position at the table, but two combat decks at the table were making me twitchy. Ortje started bleeding heavily into Ralf's Gargoyles which promptly returned the favour by dunking Apache Jones. I rescued Apache from torpor. Actually I wanted the Gargoyles out of the game, since I couldn't handle Potence/Fortitude combat very well, and Ortje was already under pressure by Emiliano.

Josha brought out Rafael de Corazon, on which he tried to play a Minion Tap a turn later, which I promptly Washed. Rafael de Corazon made Emiliano a little nervous, since he admitted that this posse of Meshenka, Caliban and Horatio weren't that much into intercept. He resolved his concerns by rushing Rafael with Meshenka. After Trap, Horrid Form, Horrid Form a Majesty by Rafael was answered with Telepathic Tracking and a Chiroptean Marauder in round 5 of the combat, which let to Rafael's early demise to the ashheap. Meanwhile I had Carna, Antonio D'Erlette and two Nephandi out, but since I had played a Wash the previous turn Ralf played a Fame on Antonio and rushed him a turn later while Ralf himself was on ~6 pool. He managed to get through with a Skin of Cameleon and dunked Antonio promptly, reducing my pool from 10 to 6. Ralf was ousted the next turn, but I also managed to oust a very weakend Josha, who made a gamble earlier by trying bring out a third vampire, leaving him with 5 pool only.

In the midgame Ortje had protected one of his mid-caps Malkavian antitribu with a Secure Haven, but this one minion was enough for me since Emiliano's Tzimisce could only dunk a vampire now and then and I didn't have enough intercept/Deflections to stop the Malkavians from ousting me. The heads-up saw Emiliano taking control eventually, when he had dunked all but one of Ortje's vampire into torpor while he was on 10-15 pool himself. Ousting Ortje was then a matter of a few turns for Emiliano.

Result: Emiliano (2 VP), Ortje (2 VP), Me (1 VP)


Round 2: Me (Antonio Nephandus) --> Thomas (Gerald Windham Freakshow) --> Peter (Anson Princes Cel Gun w/ Ashur Tablets/Liquidation) --> Markus (Tremere Wallish Toolbox)

While the table setup was generally ok, since I was sitting as predator of the perceived table threat, and I was not sitting next to the Celerity Gun deck, the table had other problems for me. On one hand Markus was playing almost exactly the same unique equipment (Heart of Nizchetus, Ivory Bow) as I was, on the other Peter was also using the Ashur Tablets/Liquidation engine as I was, only with Anson he was able to play it faster. But the game turned out to be better than I anticipated. Peter had a great card flow initially, and since he was scared by Gerald Windham, he attacked him immediately, and dunked him thanks to Psyche and Blur. But I waited with ousting Thomas since I don't want to sit next to the Celerity Gun deck immediately. So I brought one Nephandus after another, while Markus also choose to build up with an Ivory Bow, a Heart of Nizchetus, a Kevlar Vest and a Ponticulus (the later two Markus stole from my ashheap with an Ericyes Fragment).

Eventually I ousted Thomas, and the table was sort of balanced for a short while. I had a horde of Nephandus, but did not dare to attack, since I feared the Peter's guns; Peter didn't dare to go forward, since he feared the Ivory Bow and later on not being to able to rescue his own vampires from torpor (an Unmasking was already in play); Markus also didn't like to go forward and kill the Nephandi, since I managed to put a FBI Special Affairs Division into play. After some rounds Markus declared that Peter and he needed to remove the Nephandus/FBI threat by attacking from both sides. This was the starting signal for me: I contested Markus' Carna and started attacking Peter, while giving him the opportunity to oust Markus by contesting. I managed to dunk most of Peter's vampires due to relentless attacks, and me knowing that Peter's only wake cards are very likely Second Traditions. So weakend it was not hard to remove Peter's remaining pool.

The end game saw me attacking with a horde of Nephandus (which reincarnated from the earlier losses with the help of Ashur Tablets), and Markus reacting over and over again with Aisling Sturbridge who managed to kill Nephandus after Nephandus with Theft of Vitae. In the end the game timed out.

Result: Me (GW 2.5 VP), Markus (0.5 VP)


Round 3: Paul (Ventrue Dom/For Bleed) --> Johannes (Matthias & Harbinger Friends Wall) --> Me (Antonio Nephandus) --> Markus (Obf/Pre Bleed) --> Ben (G4/5 Brujah Prince Vote/Bleed)

The table had a fanastic setup for me. A prey that had virtually no defense, and a predator that was too busy blocking an aggressive predator with no stealth. From the start Markus bleed Ben aggressively. and Ben was actually more victim than player. On the other end of the table Paul, Johannes and I brought out a couple of minions, but nothing really exciting was happening. I had already a couple of Nephandi out, and then started bleeding into Markus immediately, but failed to oust Markus before he did the same to Ben. With Ben gone, Markus bleeded Paul who gladly bounced the bleeds to Johannes, who initially blocked most of the bleeds. This gave Paul the opportunity to play a Pentex Subversion on Johannes' Matthias, and oust Johannes with several high-powered bleeds. In the mean time I had a Ponticulus, 6+ Nephandi, Carna and Antonio out. Paul tried to bleed me with one of his DOM minions and I declined to block. Paul then played Conditioning and Command of the Beast for a total bleed of 5, so I could play Deflection and ousted Markus who had tapped out all of his minions. Paul then conceded the game since he had no way to bypass my horde of blockers (he mostly relied on Seduction and Daring the Dawn).

Result: Me (GW 3 VP), Markus (1 VP), Paul (1 VP)


So I managed to get into the final, but in fourth place I wasn't able to influence the seating order. I think Erol as top seeded player underestimated the bleed power of Markus' and Izaak's decks and overestimated the intercept capabilities of Izaak's and my deck, and so he choose to be Cassian's predator and Markus' prey, while Izaak as second seeded, rightly guessed that my deck has the least initial forward momentum and gave him the time to build up and oust his prey.

Final Round: Erol (Nosferatu G1/2 Royalty) --> Cassian (G3/4 Obf/Dom Bleed) --> Me (Antonio Nephandus> --> Izaak (Tremere Bleed/Bloat) --> Markus (Tremere Wallish Toolbox)

So three Tremere/Tremere antitribu decks in the final, with all three playing Carna, the Princess Witch, and two aggressive decks, one with vote angle and the other with a bleed angle. The game started slow with everybody bringing out one to two vampires each. Unfortunately I had no Antonio in my starting crypt, so I decided to bring out Frondator first. I was very cautious in the beginning, not knowing that Izaak had almost no intercept in his deck, and Cassian didn't have Titus Camille in his starting crypt. The later was the reason that I was initally very cautious to use any Magic of the Smith to put equipment into play, and instead discarded them.

Erol really started the game when he was playing Legendary Vampire on Selma the Repugnant (even though his first try was Washed). Erol then played successful Parity Shift against Cassian, gaining 5 pool since he already had vote lock. Cassian was unimpressed and played Govern the Unaligned on one of his uncontrolled minions to regain the lost pool. I recruited a Nephandus with Frondator, and finally had an Antonio in my uncontrolled region. Izaak also played Govern the Unaligned and equipped one of his minions with a .44 Magnum. Markus' Tremere started to bleed Erol somewhat heavily, who couldn't block. The next two turns saw Erol trying to play two Parity Shifts, both were DIed by Markus, leaving Erol who had brought out Suhailah as second vampire on very few pool which Markus could remove easily with his bleeds backed up by Mirror Walk. In the meantime Cassian had completed his selection of vampires in his controlled region with Black Lotus, Robin Withers, Ulrike Rothbart and most importantly J. Oswald `Ozzy` Hyde-White. His bleeds were ultimately my downfall since I hadn't have any access to decent amount of intercept and only two Deflections weren't enough to withstand the persistent stealth bleed. The rest of final is a short story. Izaak put Markus under heavy pressure, and could oust him with a superior number of minions easily. In the heads up Izaak had the greater bleed power, and so Cassian followed Markus shortly after.

Result: Izaak (GW 3 VP), Cassian (1VP), Markus (1 VP)

Overall the final round wasn't too exciting (in comparision to the previous games) and over in about an hour. But congratulations to Izaak who had chosen the best table position (for him), and played to the best of his abilities.