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 Chiropteran 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.