The Stockholm League - December 19 2012

Best weapon in VTES?

Two tables were played in the first round of ten in our December-February league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:
1. Randy (G1-2 Ventrue princes w sticks)
2. Henrik K (!Gangrel tap n bleed) 1,5 vp
3. Jens (G1-2 dom/obf sb)
4. Tomas (G5-6 Shambling Hordes) 2,5 vp, 1 gw
5. Robert D (Dom-weenies w guns)

Table 2:
1. Johnny (Ven/Malk vote)
2. Alexander (Malks w sticks) 1 vp
3. Jens (Infernal Anson)
4. Masso (Baali vote)
5. Jonas H (!Ventrue stickmen) 4 vp, 1 gw

League standings:
Jonas H 24 rtp
Tomas 18 rtp
Henrik K 6 rtp
Alexander 4 rtp
(1 gw = 8 ratingpoints, 1 vp = 4 ratingpoints. Note: Players can play more than one game each round if their participation are needed to complete a table where at least one player has not yet played a league game this round, but only the best result each round counts for rating. If more players than 5 want to play such a table, lowest vp-count this round has priority. No league game starts after 20.00.)

The next round of the league is played at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!

The Stockholm League - December 12 2012 with final results

Congratulations Randy! With more than fifty points more than the runner-up he is the champion of our 2012 October-December league, aka Greger Andersen Memorial League VI.

Three tables were played in the last round of ten. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:
1. Jens (Ventrue lawfirm) 2 vp
2. Caroline (Elimelech toolbox) 2 vp
3. Henrik K (Tremere bruise-bleed)
4. Ober (Ravnos breed-boon)

Table 2:
1. Johnny (Daughters w Choir) 1 vp
2. Robert (Dom-weenies)
3. Peter W (Lasombra vote) 4 vp, 1 gw
4. Kim (Gangrels w dom)
5. Masso (Baali vote)

Table 3:
1. Henrik K (Kiasyd toolbox w Earth Swords) 3 vp, 1 gw
2. Ivan (Infernal Anson)
3. Jens (Ventrue lawfirm)
4. Caroline (Aus-For-Nec wall)
5. Kim (Tzimisce prey punisher) 2 vp

League standings:
Randy 148 rtp
Jens 90 rtp
Marcus 84 rtp
Henrik K 82 rtp
Robert D 74 rtp
Kim 62 rtp
Masso 58 rtp
Jonas H 56 rtp
Erik M 52 rtp
Donk 44 rtp
Peter W 28 rtp
Ivan 24 rtp
Johnny, Caroline, Jan Erik 12 rtp
Kalle, Daniel H, Alexander, Ober, Pio 8 rtp
Tomas W 2 rtp
(1 gw = 8 ratingpoints, 1 vp = 4 ratingpoints. Note: Players can play more than one game each round if their participation are needed to complete a table where at least one player has not yet played a league game this round, but only the best result each round counts for rating. If more players than 5 want to play such a table, lowest vp-count this round has priority. No league game starts after 20.00.)

The first round of our next league is played at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!

Fact: Best deck in Europe = worst in Sweden!

There were four happy vtes players that decided to take the five hour drive to Gothenburg from Stockholm to play in the Archipelago Jones tournament, many thanks to Stefan Karlsson aka Lord of the Clog for running it! It was me (Randy), Ivan, Henrik, and Michael.

In the two tournaments, won by Alexander Båskman 15 player tournament and Michael Holmström 10 player tournament, our EC champion Isak managed to land in the last position of all the players in both the tournaments with his girls will find inner peace deck that he won the EC with.

The best deck in Europe is the worst deck in Sweden!

Looking forward to meeting all you guys at the EC in Stockholm 2013.

Randy

The Stockholm League - December 5 2012

The Chain. Still works. See table 2.

Only eight players dared the "snow chaos" (media terminology) this night. Two tables were played in the ninth round of ten in our October-December league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:
1. Robert D (Black Hand sb w Nostoket) 1 vp
2. Henrik K (Kiasyd toolbox w Earth Swords)
3. Masso (Baali vote) 3 vp, 1 gw
4. Randy (Bigcap sb w Thucimia, Unmada & Lutz) 1 vp
5. Jonas H (Dom-weenie w Dragon Breath Rounds)

Table 2:
1. Ivan (Infernal Anson)
2. Jonas H (Dom-weenies) 4 vp, 1 gw
3. Marcus (G4-5 Ventrue lawfirm) 1 vp
4. Peter W (Bigcap Lasombra vote)
5. Randy (Infernal Anson)

League standings:
Randy 148 rtp
Marcus 84 rtp
Jens 82 rtp
Robert D 74 rtp
Henrik K 62 rtp
Masso 58 rtp Jonas H 56 rtp
Kim 54 rtp
Erik M 52 rtp
Donk 44 rtp
Ivan 24 rtp
Jan Erik 12 rtp
Johnny, Kalle, Daniel H, Alexander, Ober, Pio 8 rtp
Caroline, Peter W 4 rtp
Tomas W 2 rtp
(1 gw = 8 ratingpoints, 1 vp = 4 ratingpoints. Note: Players can play more than one game each round if their participation are needed to complete a table where at least one player has not yet played a league game this round, but only the best result each round counts for rating. If more players than 5 want to play such a table, lowest vp-count this round has priority. No league game starts after 20.00.)

The next round of the league is played at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!

Report: Thoughts Betrayed, December 2012

Thoughts Betrayed Stockholm 2012
Stockholm, Sweden
December 1st 2012
2R + F
19 players
Winner: Jonas Ståhle

Oboy, this might be the most aggressive tournament ever in Stockholm. Certainly the final table was the most aggressive in a long time - four dom-bleed decks and a Reckless Agitation-voter (see below).

Round 1:
Table 1:
Seat 1: Jonas H (Dom-weenies) (2 vp)
Seat 2: Ober (!Toreador w Undue Influence)
Seat 3: Kristofer (Guillame Giovanni rush)
Seat 4: Alexander (!Ventrue stickmen)
Seat 5: Jens (Ventrue lawfirm) (3 vp, 1 gw)

Table 2:
Seat 1: Randy (!Ventrue stickmen) (4 vp, 1 gw)
Seat 2: Johnny (Daughters w Choir)
Seat 3: Adam (Aus-cel-weenies w guns)
Seat 4: Gustav (Bigcap Malkavian sb) (1 vp)
Seat 5: Peter (Big cap Tremere w cel wall)

Table 3:
Seat 1: Jonas S (Giovanni powerbleed w Tangle´s ) (4 vp, 1 gw)
Seat 2: Jonathan (Derange)
Seat 3: Pio (Kiasyd sb w Nocturns) (1 vp)
Seat 4: Erik (!Tremere toolbox)
Seat 5: Ivan (Guhuri rush w tablets)

Table 4:
Seat 1: Tomas (Setites w Temptation)
Seat 2: Masso (Baali vote) (3 vp, 1 gw)
Seat 3: Robert (Dom-weenies w guns)
Seat 4: Henrik (Kiasyd toolbox w Earth Swords) (1 vp)

***************************************************************

Round 2:

Table 1:
Seat 1: Pio (Kiasyd sb w Nocturns)
Seat 2: Jonas H (4 vp, 1 gw)
Seat 3: Kristofer (Guillame Giovanni rush)
Seat 4: Peter (Big cap Tremere w cel wall)
Seat 5: Masso (Baali vote) (1 vp)

Table 2:
Seat 1: Henrik (Kiasyd toolbox w Earth Swords) (1 vp)
Seat 2: Ivan (Guhuri rush w tablets)
Seat 3: Ober (!Toreador w Undue Influence) (2 vp)
Seat 4: Adam (Aus-cel-weenies w guns) (2 vp)
Seat 5: Randy (!Ventrue stickmen)

Table 3:
Seat 1: Gustav (Bigcap Malkavian sb) (1 vp)
Seat 2: Jens (Ventrue lawfirm)
Seat 3: Jonathan (Derange)
Seat 4: Robert (Dom-weenies w guns) (4 vp, 1 gw)
Seat 5: Tomas (Setites w Temptation)

Table 4:
Seat 1: Alexander (!Ventrue stickmen)
Seat 2: Jonas S (Giovanni powerbleed w Tangle´s) (3 vp, 1 gw)
Seat 3: Erik (!Tremere toolbox)
Seat 4: Johnny (Daughters w Choir) (1 vp)

***************************************************************

Finalists:
1. Jonas S (7 vp, 2 gw)
2. Jonas H (6 vp, 1 gw)
3. Masso (4 vp, 1 gw)
4. Robert (4 vp, 1 gw)
5. Randy (4 vp, 1 gw)

Final table:
1. Robert D playing dom-weenies w guns (2 vp)
2. Jonas S playing Giovanni powerbleed w Tangle´s (2 vp, tournament victory)
3. Masso playing Baali vote
4. Randy playing !Ventrue stickmen (1 vp)
5. Jonas H playing dom-weenies

Jonas S made a nice statement when he was choosing seating as first seed: “Det finns ju några ställen där man absolute inte vill sitta. Men sen vill man ju inte sitta nån annanstans heller.” (”There are some places where I absolutely don´t want  to sit. But on the other hand I don’t want to sit anywhere else either.”) Then he won by picking a two-two split. Congrats!

Tournament winning deck:

Deck Name : Tangled Powerbleed
Author : Jonas Ståhle

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 2 max: 7 average: 5.08333
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Gillespi Giovanni 7 DOM NEC POT aus Giovanni:2
2x Stefano Giovanni 6 DOM nec pot pre Giovanni:2
2x Isabel Giovanni 5 DOM NEC pot Giovanni:2
2x Gloria Giovanni 4 DOM nec Giovanni:2
1x Andrea Giovanni 7 DOM NEC pot vic Giovanni:2
1x Le Dinh Tho 5 NEC aus dom Nagaraja:2
1x Lia Milliner 3 dom nec Giovanni:3
1x Marciana Giovanni, 2 dom Giovanni:2

Library [68 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [16]
14x Govern the Unaligned
2x Sudario Refraction

Action Modifier [28]
5x Bonding
5x Call of the Hungry Dead
5x Conditioning
2x Foreshadowing Destruction
7x Seduction
1x Sleeping Mind, The
3x Tangle Atropos' Hand

Action Modifier/Reaction [1]
1x Murmur of the False Will

Ally [1]
1x Tye Cooper

Master [10]
2x Acquired Ventrue Assets
1x Anarch Troublemaker
2x Life in the City
2x Misdirection
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Prophecies of Gehenna
1x Wider View

Reaction [12]
4x Deflection
1x Delaying Tactics
4x On the Qui Vive
2x Redirection
1x Wake with Evening's Freshness

Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Sat Dec 01 23:16:19 2012]

The Stockholm League - November 28 2012

Powerful 6-cap helped Masso in game 4.

Five tables were played in the eight round of ten in our October-December league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:
1. Randy (!Tremere with allies)
2. Ober (G1-2 midcap PRE-bleed) 2 vp
3. Erik M (!Tremere sb)
4. Pio (Giovanni with Anu)
5. Henrik K (Kiasyd toolbox) 3 vp, 1 gw

Table 2:
1. Jens (Ventrue lawfirm) 3 vp, 1 gw
2. Kim (Gangrel w dominate)
3. Peter W (Lasombra vote) 1 vp
4. Jonas (Dom-weenies) 1 vp
5. Masso (Baali vote)

Table 3:
1. Marcus (G4-5 Ventrue lawfirm) 4 vp, 1 gw
2. Erik M (G2-3 !Tremere sb)
3. Ivan (Guhuri bruise-bleed w Tablets)
4. Jan Erik (G2-3 Malkavians w sticks) 1 vp
5. Donk (Girls)

Table 4:
1. Johnny (Tremere Mind Rape) 1 vp
2. Kim (!Nos toolbox)
3. Henrik K (Kiasyd toolbox)
4. Masso (Baali vote) 4 vp, 1 gw
5. Alexander (Guhuri Founders toolbox)

Table 5:
1. Ober (Cel-rush)
2. Pio (Gerald Wyndham toolbox) 2 vp
3. Randy (!Tremere w Nocturn) 2 vp
4. Peter W (Agaitas+Ian Forestal toolbox)
5. Robert D (Shalmath toolbox) 1 vp

League standings:
Randy 144 rtp
Jens 82 rtp
Marcus 80 rtp
Robert D 70 rtp
Henrik K 62 rtp
Kim 54 rtp
Erik M 52 rtp
Donk 44 rtp
Masso 38 rtp
Jonas H 32 rtp
Ivan 24 rtp
Jan Erik 12 rtp
Johnny, Kalle, Daniel H, Alexander, Ober, Pio 8 rtp
Caroline, Peter W 4 rtp
Tomas W 2 rtp
(1 gw = 8 ratingpoints, 1 vp = 4 ratingpoints. Note: Players can play more than one game each round if their participation are needed to complete a table where at least one player has not yet played a league game this round, but only the best result each round counts for rating. If more players than 5 want to play such a table, lowest vp-count this round has priority. No league game starts after 20.00.)

The next round of the league is played at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!

The Stockholm League - November 21 2012

Excellent artwork by Steve Prescott.

Spirit Marionette was a key card for Randy this night, when he swept a whole table with his Matthias deck. No less than six tables were played in the seventh round of ten in our October-December league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:
1. Tomas W (G5-6 Shambling Hordes)
2. Kim (Dem-weenies) 3 vp, 1 gw
3. Erik M (Midcap Malkavian sb)
4. Randy (Daughters vote) 2 vp
5. Henrik K (!Gangrel tap n bleed)
Comment: Wow this was a horrific game for me (Henrik K) - Randy ousted me with 5-6 political actions with only 1 vote at the table!

Table 2:
1. Robert D (!Salubri wall)
2. Donk (Girls) 3 vp, 1 gw
3. Jonas S (Ravnos breed-boon)
4. Jan Erik (Malkavians with sticks) 2 vp
5. Jens (Ventrue lawfirm)

Table 3:
1. Jonas S (Ravnos breed-boon)
2. Randy (Salubri Spirit Marionette w Mathias) 5 vp, 1 gw
3. Ivan (Ventrue lawfirm)
4. Kim (Ravnos toolbox)
5. Tomas W (G5-6 obf-for vote w Scout and Unmada)

Table 4:
1. Kalle (Assamite vote) 2 p
2. Erik M (IC Flurry sb)
3. Jonas H (Torvus wall)
4. Marcus (Bigcap Malkavian vote) 3 vp, 1 gw
5. Henrik K (!Gangrel tap n bleed)

Table 5:
1. Robert D (Imbued with Gehenna) 0,5 vp
2. Henrik K (!Gangrel tap n bleed) 2,5 vp, 1 gw
3. Erik M (IC Flurry sb)
4. Alexander (!Ven strickmen) 1 vp
5. Johnny (Baali Striga combat)

Table 6:
1. Ivan (Ventrue lawfirm)
2. Kalle (Kiasyd sb with Guillaume Giovanni)
3. Jonas H (Dom-weenies) 4 vp, 1 gw
4. Jan Erik (Malkavians with sticks)
5. Masso (The Unnamed toolbox) 1 vp

League standings:
Randy 136 rtp
Robert D 66 rtp
Jens 62 rtp
Marcus 56 rtp
Kim 54 rtp
Erik M 52 rtp
Donk 44 rtp
Henrik K 42 rtp
Jonas H 28 rtp
Ivan 24 rtpMasso 14 rtp
Kalle, Daniel H, Jan Erik, Alexander 8 rtp
Johnny, Caroline 4 rtp
Tomas W 2 rtp
(1 gw = 8 ratingpoints, 1 vp = 4 ratingpoints. Note: Players can play more than one game each round if their participation are needed to complete a table where at least one player has not yet played a league game this round, but only the best result each round counts for rating. If more players than 5 want to play such a table, lowest vp-count this round has priority. No league game starts after 20.00.)

The next round of the league is played at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!

We call it the car

"In Sweden the Coven is called the car. You know, you drive around and play govern conditioning"
- Isak Esbjörnsson Bjärmark, 2012 European champion during the finals of the EC.

The Stockholm League - November 14 2012

Funny bleedguy taking a bath with rats.

Five tables were played in the sixth round of ten in our October-December league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:

1. Randy (Nergal powerbleed) 5 vp, 1 gw
2. Marcus (Carna is Vignes)
3. Peter W (Euro-Brujah bleed)
4. Daniel H (Pro-princes)
5. Kim (Malkavian dem-sb)

Table 2:
1. Jonas S (Ravnos breed-boon)
2. Robert D (!Tre Gargole breed & bleed) 1 vp
3. Peter W (Tzimisce wall)
4. Kim (!Gangrel toolbox)
5. Randy (Speed-War Ghouls with Gehenna) 4 vp, 1 gw

Table 3:
1 Jan-Erik (Toreador aus-pre breed)
2. Marcus (Santaleous and Lutz sb) 1 vp
3. Peter W (Ian and Agaitas Legion)
4. Kristofer (Assamite anarch rush)
5. Ivan (Ventrue lawfirm) 4 vp, 1 gw

Table 4:
1. Donk (Girls will find Inner Peace)
2. Erik M (IC Flurry-sb) 2.5 vp, 1 gw
3. Jan-Erik (Toreador wall)
4. Jonas H (Ishtari breed and rush)
5. Jens (Ventrue lawfirm) 1.5 vp

Table 5:
1. Alexander (War Ghouls) 1 vp
2. Jonas S (Tzimisce wall)
3. Robert (Lasombra w animalism) 3 vp, 1 gw
4. Kim (Tzimisce toolbox) 1 vp
5. Johnny (Malkavian vote)

League standings:
Randy 108 rtp
Robert D 64 rtp
Jens 62 rtp
Erik M 52 rtp
Marcus 36 rtp
Kim 34 rtp
Ivan, Donk, Henrik K 24 rtp
Masso 10 rtp
Daniel H 8 rtp
Alexander, Johnny, Caroline, Jonas H 4 rtp
Tomas W 2 rtp
(1 gw = 8 ratingpoints, 1 vp = 4 ratingpoints. Note: Players can play more than one game each round if their participation are needed to complete a table where at least one player has not yet played a league game this round, but only the best result each round counts for rating. If more players than 5 want to play such a table, lowest vp-count this round has priority. No league game starts after 20.00.)

The next round of the league is played at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!

The artist formelly known as Extrala

This is the second of two interviews made by Marcus B at this years EC in Budapest. It was first published Friday October 26 at the Swedish Facebook coverage of the event. Thanks Marcus for letting us republish it here. //Ashur

I’ve gotten the opportunity to interview Extrala, the famous german Vtes blogger.

M: Hi! What’s your name, how old are you, and for how long have you been playing Vtes?
R: Hi, my name is Ralf, I’m 43 years old, and I started playing back when the game was released in 1994-95. Though I only played for a couple of years, and then quit. I picked it up again 2003 and have been playing since.

M: What was it that made you try the game back in 94-95, why did you quit, and what was it that got you back into the game again nine years ago?
R: When I first started I had it introduced to me by a friend who basically just said something like ’this is like Magic the Gathering, you should try it’. Three years after I quit the game mostly because all the friends that I played with quit, so I had no one to play with. In 2003 then, I went to Essen had the game demoed to me by Andreas Nusser. The demo was really fun and interesting and really had me thirsting for more. I went home and found a play group in Bochum, with which I’ve played ever since.

M: I guess that you’re mostly known for the Vtes blog that you’re managing: extrala.blogspot.com – or should I say used to be managing? Since just a short while back you’ve changed blog portal and are now using vtesone.wordpress.com. When did you start blogging, and why?
R: I started back in 2007 because I felt that there was a need for a blog or something that kept the community posted on big events, tournament results, and other important things that the community needed to know about. White Wolf wasn’t showing any interest in providing this, so I just figured: Why not? At first I didn’t like it so much – if White Wolf had followed suit and started their own reporting page I would probably have quit writing on the blog. But they didn’t, and as time went by I got more and more into managing the blog; expanding it from just posting tournament results to covering various trivia about the game and having many posts oriented at new players, helping them getting into the game.
    Earlier this year I decided to change portal from Blogspot to Wordpress, for many reasons that I’ve posted on the blogs. It’s fun though, because when I look at the statistics for the new blog I see that much of the traffic that comes there actually comes from a link from my old blog. I guess that might be because Extrala was a much more easy name to remember for readers, while VtesOne is note.

M: Yeah, so why did you change name on the blog when you changed platform?
R: Long story short I created a extrala.wordpress.com to test some things, but then I figured that I wanted to reset the account to start anew. So I deleted the account, and when I tried to recreate it I was informed that deleted accounts were gone for good and that there was nothing to do about that. So I was stuck with finding a new new for my new blog.

M: So what made you decide for the name VtesOne for your new blog?
R: Again, it’s a long story, but I’ll try to put it short: I work with product life cycle management, and we have a product that is named MatrixOne, and earlier while this product was in it’s testing stages it had the working name PLMOne. I always liked the naming standard. PLMOne sounds great, and then I got the idea that VtesOne actually sounds equally great, so I went with that!

M: I remember seeing you at the last EC, how did you fare then?
R: Oh, last year was pretty bad on my part. I think I scored like one game win during the whole weekend. I played a Legacy of Pander vote deck and Nosferatu Royalty Blood Hunt deck –
it’s like a Nosferatu Royalty, but with more combat in it. I think the major issue last year was that I lacked ousting power with my decks. The year before that however, 2010, was way better. Then I finished sixth during day 2!
    I think it’s interesting though. I feel that going to the EC is like going to the World Series of Poker. There are just so many great players around, and so many strong personalities. It’s such a great event, even if you don’t win all the time.

M: How have you been preparing for this years tournament? Are you qualified for day 1 or do you have to qualify through the LCQ?
R: I’ve been reading deck lists, mostly, but have also been playing in some smaller tournaments. I’m qualified for day 1, but I’m still playing in the LCQ – it’s such a good way of getting to know new players. Last year I was playing in the Legendary Vampire tournament, but I regret it as the standard of play was sooo high and it was incredibly hard to score.

M: Thank you Ralf! I’m looking forward to seeing you on the floors during the coming days!

The Stockholm League - November 8 2012

Table 1: Jake with Heart AND Pentex!

Five tables were played in the fifth round of ten in our October-December league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:
1. Kim (Gangrel wall)
2. Randy (!Ventrue grinder) 4 vp, 1 gw
3. Henrik K (!Gan Deep Song-Earth Meld)
4. Erik M (IC Flurry-sb)
5. Jens (Ventrue lawfirm) 1 vp

Table 2:
1. Caroline (!Ven Zip Gun) 1 vp
2. Ivan (Aus-weenies)
3. Daniel H (Pro-princes)
4. Robert D (Shalmath ???) 3 vp, 1 gw

Table 3:
1. Kim (!Toreador bruise-bleed w Miller)
2. Erik M (IC Flurry-sb) 4 vp, 1 gw
3. Jens (Ventrue lawfirm)
4. Henrik K (!Gan Deep Song-Earth Meld) 1 vp
5. Masso (Baali w dem and Dabbler)

Table 4:

1. Ivan (Imbued ???)
2. Jonas H (Setite vote) 1 vp
3. Masso (Salubri ???)
4. Robert (Imbued ???)
5. Kim (Gangrel wall) 4 vp, 1 gw

Table 5:
1. Jens (Ventrue lawfirm) 4 vp, 1 gw
2. Kristoffer L (Stanislava force of will-bleed)
3. Caroline (!Ventrue grinder) 1 vp
4. Erik (!Bru w cel and sticks)
5. Johnny (Cybelotron)

League standings:
Randy 80 rtp
Jens 56 rtp
Robert D 44 rtp
Erik M 34 rtp
Marcus 32 rtp
Kim 30 rtp
Donk, Henrik K 24 rtp
Masso 10 rtp
Daniel H 8 rtp
Johnny, Caroline, Jonas H 4 rtp
Tomas W 2 rtp
(1 gw = 8 ratingpoints, 1 vp = 4 ratingpoints. Note: Players can play more than one game each round if their participation are needed to complete a table where at least one player has not yet played a league game this round, but only the best result each round counts for rating. If more players than 5 want to play such a table, lowest vp-count this round has priority. No league game starts after 20.00.)

The next round of the league is played at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!

11 1-caps beats 1 11-cap

Stockholm player Marcus B did a couple of interviews at EC 2012 in Budapest, first published in the swedish Facebook coverage of the event. By kind permission, here is one of them republished to reach a broader audience. It was made on Thursday October 25. //Ashur

Hey everybody. Me and a couple of my fellow Swedish methuselahs arrived at this years EC a bit early, and today, the day befor the Last Chance Qualifier I had the opportunity to run into Enrico De Stefano, the 2011 #1 underdog.
    At the EC last year, Enrico made the finals both day 1 and day 2, and on the day 2 he even was top seed. Victory clear in sight, he held on to the title for the better part of two hours – up until when there was only about 10 minutes left and Otso Saariluoma  managed to oust Izaak Havelaar in an incredibly grueling and exciting game. (You can see the whole transcript of the game at the VEKN forum)
    Enrico is not on VEKN, neither is he on Facebook – a true underdog as last years EC was his first, even! Today we’ll get to know a little bit more about this charming individual who seems to always have a smile on his face, and always has a deal to offer (personal experience from last year Enrico can sometimes be seen walking around with a t-shirt saying ’Before you bleed, let me make you an offer you can’t refuse’ – a phrase that sticks!)

M: Hi Enrico, and welcome to Budapest! Please introduce yourself: What’s your full name, how old are you and where are you from?I know that you’re not on VEKN, but are you on Facebook or any other online forums out there?
E: My name is Enrico De Stefano, I’m 30 years old and I’m from Milan, Italy. I’m not on Facebook, but I’m on the italian Vtes forums www.italybynight.org where my nickname is Embraced.

M: For how long have you been playing Vtes? How did you get into the game?
E: I’ve been playing for five years now. I got introduced to the game by a friend of mine when I was having a downtime from Magic: The Gathering. I’d been playing that game for 2-3 years but was slowly starting to get uninterested in it because it had started feeling like it was not the most skilled player that won games and tournaments, but the player with the biggest wallet and the most up to date card collection. I gave Vtes a shot and here I sit today!

M: Last year you managed to play your way to the finals both day 1 and day 2, and incredble feat. What are you expectations for this year? How have you been preparing to take down the tournament this time?
E: My expectations are not so high, actually. During the last year many players have been quitting the game in Milan because the state of the game, and so it’s getting harder and harder to get a playgroup together for a game. Right now I think that we’re five active players in the city, and we’re lucky if we manage to get four of us together for a game. It happens about twice a month, which is not enough if you want to get in shape for a tournament such as this. No, this year I have no expectations. I’m here to get a change of environment and to have a good time!

M: No need for spoilers on what you’re going to play this year at the EC, but on a more general note: What types do you typically prefer playing and why?
E: In Italy I’ve got quite the renown for playing different types of breed decks. Embrace really is a favorite card of mine and I really love including at least 8 of them in basically every deck I build. I played a Ravnos Week of Nightmares breed deck during the last EC, and in February earlier this year I won a tournament with a Giovanni breed deck that used Khazar’s Diary, Embrace, Liquidation and Sudario Refraction to get a whole armada of small vampires acting on +1 stealth.
    I like The Embrace and I think that eleven 1-cap minions is so much more versatile than one big 11-cap minion. Sure, their actions aren’t that strong, but you got eleven actions when that IC member has one, and that’s really powerful.
    I really like breed decks in general because there really isn’t any particular anti-decks to the a good breed deck. Sure, there are anti-cards like Scourge of the Enochians and Ancilla Empowerment, but you can include answers to those cards in your own deck. Breed decks, in my opinion, are much less sensitive to the ’death by seating’ syndrome that seems to be taking it’s toll on so many decks nowadays. So, by playing a breed deck I don’t have to worrys so much about my seating – I’m confident that I can overrun wall decks and pool gaining strategies, and most traditional bleed defense doesn’t work because bleed bounce really isn’t all that effective as I only bleed for 1 or 2.
    Apart from the Embrace, I really like Ashur Tablets and Liquidation. When those cards were released, there was a major shift in the VTES meta and a whole lot of new game strategies were formed. Sure, Ashur Tablets would have been good if you hadn’t gained pool from it, and I understand that people are complaining about their availability, but it can’t be denied that they enable decks that no other cards do, and as of that I really appreciate what those cards are doing for the game as a whole.

M: So, last question: Do you have any particular plans for Budapest, apart from Vtes?
E: Sure, me and the other Italians are planning for some sightseeing today. Haven’t really decided for what yet, though, I guess we’ll decide that over lunch.

M: Alright! Thanks you so much for the interview Enrico, and good luck in the tournaments this weekend!

Tournament December 1st!

Thoughts Betrayed Stockholm 2012
Saturday 1 December 2012, 12:00 – 20:00
Standard constructed tournament.
Promos for everyone. Welcome!
Venue: Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8, Stockholm, Sweden
www.dragonslair.se
Rounds: 2 + Final
Time Limit: 2 h
Fee: 20 SEK

The Stockholm League - October 31 2012

Three tables were played in the fourth round of ten in our October-December league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Note: When we talk about “Standard tournament rules”, we mean these, including no 2.4 about spectator responsibilities.

Table 1:
1. Jens (Theo Bell w Embraces)
2. Robert D (AUS-FOR wall w Dela Eden) 1 vp
3. Henrik K (Carna is Vignes)
4. Randy (Stickmen) 2 vp
5. Erik M (DOM-OBF bigcap sb/vote w Mistress Fanchon) 2 vp

Table 2:
1: Masso (Unnamed wall w Anima Gatherings) 3 vp, 1 gw
2: Daniel (Pro-princes) 1 vp
3: Peter W (War Ghouls)
4: Jens (Ventrue lawfirm) 1 vp
5: Martin L (Lasombra vote)

Table 3:
1: Randy (Goratrix w Dabbler) 4 vp, 1 gw
2: Alexander (Baali vote w Arishat)
3: Erik M (Flurry-bleed w dom)
4: Robert D (Baali/Nosferatu royalty) 1 vp
5: Johnny (Daughters w Choir and Shattering Crescendo)

League standings:
Randy 56 rtp
Jens, Marcus 32 rtp
Robert D, Donk 24 rtp
Henrik K 20 rtp
Erik M, Masso 10 rtp
Daniel H 8 rtp
Kim 6 rtp
Johnny 4 rtp
Tomas W 2 rtp
(1 gw = 8 ratingpoints, 1 vp = 4 ratingpoints. Note: Players can play more than one game each round if their participation are needed to complete a table where at least one player has not yet played a league game this round, but only the best result each round counts for rating. If more players than 5 want to play such a table, lowest vp-count this round has priority. No league game starts after 20.00.)

The next round of the league is played at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!

The Stockholm League - October 24 2012

With no less than seven Stockholm players attending EC 2012 in Budapest this night, only two tables were played in the third round of ten in our October-December league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:
1. Robert D (Kiasyd sb) 1 vp
2. Daniel H (PRO-AUS-princes)
3. Masso (POT-CEL-FOR with Gwendolyn)
4. Donk (Girls)
5. Jens (Ventrue lawfirm) 4 vp, 1 gw

Table 2:
1. Robert D (AUS-FOR-wall with Dela Eden) 3 vp, 1 gw
2. Daniel H (!Ventrue bruise-bleed w guns) 1 vp
3. Alexander (Baali vote/sb)
4. Johnny (Daughters w Shattering Cresendo)

League standings:
Randy, Marcus 32 rtp
Jens 28 rtp
Donk 24 rtp
Robert D, Henrik K 20 rtp
Masso 10 rtp
Kim 6 rtp
Daniel H, Johnny 4 rtp
Erik M, Tomas W 2 rtp
(1 gw = 8 ratingpoints, 1 vp = 4 ratingpoints. Note: Players can play more than one game each round if their participation are needed to complete a table where at least one player has not yet played a league game this round, but only the best result each round counts for rating. If more players than 5 want to play such a table, lowest vp-count this round has priority. No league game starts after 20.00.)

The next round of the league is played at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!

EC 2012 coverage: Sunday

3:54am – Marcus wrote:

A photo from the last grueling minutes of yesterdays finals. In the last 8 minutes of the game Hugh launched at Randy with his !Ventrues, Erol launched at Tomasz with Stanislava and her friends, and Tomasz launched at Tiago with his Toreadors - but it wasn't enough! No player was ousted and Randal managed to ride his top seed to victory!

9:38am – Stefan wrote:
I became Apache Jones yesterday. Sadly the raw material photo is stuck on my phone so you have to wait a while for the grand transformation.

Sunday at 3:46pm – Marcus wrote:
Hey everybody. Sorry there's been no coverage yet today. The sickess I've been having since I got here took a turn for the worse yesterday around the finals, and I've been quite a bad night. I'm not playing in any of the tournaments today, and I just found my way around the site to be able to report on what's happening.

What's up today:
EC Day 2 - five swedes are fighting for a place in the finals and a potential European Championship title. Good luck Randal, Isak, Adam, Tomas and Kristofer!

FCQ - The rest of the swedes (apart from me) are trying to to secure a spot for Day 1 for next years EC in Stockholm. Of course we're keeping our fingers crossed for all those brave souls competing to be qualified!

As I write this round 2 has been going for 45 minutes. I'll give you photos and information once I get it!

Sunday at 5:28pm – Marcus wrote:
Day 2 update: After round 2 Isak is on 1 gw 4 vp, Tomas has 2,5 vp, Kristofer 1 vp, Adam 2,5 vp and Randal 1 vp. The talk goes that mostly everybody are very cautious and that the games go long. Guesses are that there will only be one or two players with 2 game wins, and the rest of the finalists will have between 1 gw 8 vp and 1 gw 5 vp. Nothing's decided, but there's still a fighting chance for all the Swedes!

FCQ update: Oskar managed to win his first table with his Daughters Lily Prelude deck (he was damn proud about it when I spoke to him, and I think he earns it!). And Henrik won his game round 1, but apart from that I haven't heard about any swedish game wins in the FCQ.

Sunday at 6:52pm – Marcus wrote:

Major reason no other card game can compete with Vtes: There's no judge like our head judge!

Sunday at 7:20pm – Marcus wrote:
I made a quick count on the meta yesterday (EC Day 1) once I'd been ousted in round 2. I have rough notes on 110 decks out of the 149 compeditors.

Major things I noted are listed below:
* I had anticipated many !Ventrue Grinder / Stick Men, but did only see two in the whole hall.
* There were some ten Auspex weenies, some ousting with Anarch Revolts, some with War Ghouls.
* Dom bleed was way more prominent than Dem bleed (on a ratio 4:1, roughly)
* There were about ten Lawfirm of different kinds, quite a few more than I'd anticipated.
* I saw 3 Lutz decks. The two piloted by swedes went on to day 2.
* About ten breed decks, but no prominent clan alignment among them (Ravnos, Assamites, Giovanni were all equally represented)
* All weenie Animalism decks seemed to be lending support from Nana Buruku and Ashur Tablets.
* I could only see one Girls Will Find deck, way less than last year.
* I saw no Shamblers, anywhere!
* One Tryphosa deck. Made me happy. And it´s player pointedly told not to note it down as a Dem Bleed deck :]

And then there were a lot of other one-off decks. As I said, this is only a crude meta estimation. Extrala will probably produce statistics on it later.

Sunday at 8:01pm – Marcus wrote:

Isak 2nd seed i final !

Sunday at 11:38pm – Marcus wrote:
ISAK WINS!!!!!

Sunday at 12:01am – Marcus wrote:

Three great swedes: Apache, Isak and Randy.

 












So, a more organized report on the finals:
Isak played Girls will Find and was hunting on Tiago who played Stick Men w Lodin. Tiago was hunting on Benoit who was playing a !Tor BreedBoon deck. Benoit hunted on David who played a Dogs of War Hektor deck. David, in turn, was hunting on Tomasz who played his Toreador CelGun Princes.

After roughly 1:20 Isak managed to oust Tiago, and with 40 seconds left Benoit managed to oust David. 1,5vp each Isak won on seed.

Isaks first comment after time called: "I need to tell my wife."

A BIG congratulations to the new European champion Isak Esbjörnsson Bjärmark !

Decklists can be found at the forums and the whole final can be watched on Youtube.

The FCQ was won by Tomek Kowalewski with what in Sweden is known as a “Goratrix bearded wall”.

October 30 - Tomas wrote:
So the european championship is over for 2012, I´ve had a great time, most people I´ve talked to about it seemed to be of the same opinion and it ended with a swedish champion. In other words: Everything is at it should be :D

I would liek to express my deep gratitude towards our hosts (if any of them are on ther group , if not you who know them please relay this since I´m sure I´m not the only one from the swedish camp who feel this way). All the other swedes (and players of other nationalities) who made this such a wonderful experience, but I would especially like to thank Marcus Berg for his excellent work on updating this Facebook page to update players who couldn´t attend, for friends and family on what was going on. Thank you Marcus, this is one account where I´m sure already that we will set a new benchmark on EC Stockholm 2013 for all other EC:s to come.

And lastly congratulations to our European champion Isak Esbjörnsson Bjärmark, I have a hard time imagining anyone who deserves the trophy more.

EC 2012 coverage: Saturday

Three swedes at table 1 day 1.

12:36pm – Marcus wrote:
Finally connected to the wifi! Ivan won the table I was sitting on, Randy won his first table. Don't know about anyone else atm. Now: lunch.

7:45pm – Marcus wrote:
Five swedes in top 40!

1. Randal
7. Adam

19. Isak25. Kristofer

29. Tomas

Go go Randy in todays finals!

8:16pm – Kristofer wrote:

Erol, Tiago and Randal.

The finals kick off in 15 mins. A couple of the finalists are chatting away over dessert. Despite hearty jokes there´s tension in the air.

11:08pm – Marcus wrote:

Randy wins the day 1 final after two hours of grinding a table hunting Stanislava (Erol), hunting Cel Princes (Tomasz), hunting Giovanni Powerbleed (Tiago), hunting !Ventrue Grinder (Hugh). Lutz, Unmada, Undele and Dmitra all showed up as Randys friends for the night!

Complete decklists of all finalists can be found at the VEKN forums.

Results and decklists of the Silence of Death side event can be found here. 

EC 2012 coverage: Friday

Will Sweden again crush all it´s enemies?

Stockholmjyhad are proud to present a summary of the swedish coverage of the EC 2012 in Budapest, first published on Facebook. Thanks to Marcus for sharing this!

9:19am – Marcus wrote:
A lot of people at the site and expectation is hanging like a fog in the air. Today there will be two major tournaments: The Last Change Qualifier and the Nations Cup. Everybody please keep your fingers crossed for the Swedes fighting for their place in the LCQ – we want as many Swedes as possible to head through to day 1 tomorrow!

For the second tournament, the Nations Cup, it did indeed look like Sweden wouldn´t be participating with a team – but in the last minute (or last half hour, rather) there was a change of mind and Sweden is now participating with Randal, Ivan and me on the team! I honestly feel quite humbled to be on the team with these two giants of Swedish Vtes ... Please cheer for us everybody and we'll try to make you proud!

This is the schedule for today (and all three days):
Round 1: 11:00–13:00
Round 2: 15:00–17:00
Round 3: 17:30–19:30
Finals: 20:30–22:30

9:44am – Marcus wrote:
Sorry, another update before the game starts. I was planning on posting this last night, but apparantly I forgot and went to sleep instead =/

Yesterday evening, during the welcome ceremony, Ben Peal took the opportunity to showcase 10 new cards from the upcoming Vtes set Danse Macabre. Some examples of the cards he showed:
* A cap9 !Brujah Cardinal with all in-clan superior plus dom and for, and she has +1 stealth on political actions.
* A PRO+CEL dual card that gives +1 stealth on inferior and untaps (like freak drive) on superior. And yeah, there's no blood cost.
* A Carrion Crows for POT+OBT that only works on close range, but also provides a maneuver (only usable to maneuver to short). Lasombra combat, here we go!
* A independent Lasombra with sup in-clan and the ability that she pays 1 less blood for Obtenbration cards. Somehow I know Tomas Wallmur will try to abuse this girl.
* A vote for titled Sabbat that steals 3 blood from a younger vampire to the vampire who called the vote.
And, yeah, Synner-G the city Gangrel will make an appearance too :) 

12:31pm – Marcus wrote:
Round 1 done for some of us. I scored 1vp for Team Sweden in the Nations Cup. Some misplays but nothing fatal. There was a 2-2 split b/w the other players. Ivan managed to get 1gw 2vps. No information about Randy so far. Gameplan right now, as far as I know, is for me and Randy to push Ivan to the finals. But we'll see how it goes!

Kristofer won his first game 1gw 4vp so he's on his way to day 1 with a quick pace. Same is true for Daniel Teige who won his first table 1gw 3vp. Worse for Henrik K and Jan-Erik, who both were ousted by Kristofer on his way to his game win.

4:09pm – Marcus wrote:
Round 2 done and I managed to grab 1 vp off a table where I contested vampires with my prey, my grandprey had four minions and torporized his preys two vampires (my grandpredator) the turn after they turned up to the game. I was a really odd game where my predator was left alone for a long time, and finally managed to set up his Shatter the Gates with his Unnamed. Gawd it was awkward, but it was fun! :)

No idea how this round went for anyone else. Time to go scouting, I guess.

4:16pm – Randyman wrote:
Not doing very well in Nations Cup round 2, got bad seating and overextended :(

6:01pm – Marcus wrote:
Round 3 done. Again I managed 1 vp on a table split by two others. Really interesting game where Erol Hammer is ousted first with his Legacy of Pander deck, but is saved by his grandprey playing a Major Boon. He then goes on and ousts his prey (a Nos Royalty, giving away his vp to his now new prey, a G1-2 Anson/Alexandra vote deck) and I manage to oust my prey (Erols predator) in the coming turn.

Three players left; me with my Bleedfirm, Erol with his Panders, and the Toreador deck. Erol has three Gehenna cards in play and now plays Fall of the Camarilla! I shit you not, Erol turned the whole table upside down with his Fall of the Camarilla. Epic moment and both me and the Toreador could do nothing but laugh at our demise. I got ousted by the Toreadors, so the table was split between them. But gawd, it was a crazy game.

6:09pm – Marcus wrote:

Nations Cup is awesome. I just witnessed a guy (Jeroen van Oort?) ousting his prey using Abombwe (Cycling the Abombwe card was a key play, apparently!)

6:11pm – Marcus wrote:

So, yeah, I've finally figured out how to upload pictures from my phone... yay me!

7:23pm – Marcus wrote:

Seven Swedes on to Day 1 from the LCQ!


7:15pm – Marcus wrote:

First losers! Otso apparantly rode the Finnish team to the finals (3gw 10vp – only 2 vps for the rest of the team!) and will be playing for them, so I guess I'll be rooting for them in the finals.

7:37pm – Marcus wrote:
Kristofer is todays king of swedish Vtes! Number 7 of 127 players! He played Ivans aggressive lawfirm deck and missed the final by a whisker and has a billion good stories to tell about it. Remember to ask him the next time you meet!

Friday October 26 at 11:18pm – Marcus wrote:
Turned out Hungary won the Nations Cup, winning the final table on time against Finland. Observers claim it to have been very tight, and that if the game would have gone on for some 5 to 10 more minutes, Otso would probably had been able to oust Ferenc – but sometimes time runs out on you! Congratulations Hungary! (Decks can be found here)

Pierre Tran Van won the LCQ - all finalists decks can be seen here.

Obvious but useful thought

In games having exact knowledge of what your strategy is and what resources you have is essential to maximize your play. Therefore knowing exactly what you have in your ash heap, your hand, and your library is too good not practice.

Evolving or mastering this is a very good way of becoming a better player. And if you do currently can't have an exact card count of your library and ash heap, start your training by trying to remember your hand and playing (as in planning your turn, reacting and acting) with your cards put down.

//

Randyman

Playing Steven Bradbury-style

Sometimes you succeed. Sometimes you fail. Sometimes you fail miserably. And sometimes you fail on the edge of success. The latter might just be the worst. Especially if you know what you did wrong.

2012 Swedish Qualifier - Pre-game considerations
As usual I never play particulary cheesy decks. Each large tournament I´m kind of decided on that this time, oboy this time, I´m gonna play cheese and do well. But every single time I then come to think of
1) cheesy decks are boring to play
2) cheesy decks can be hard to play because they require exact focus and
3) cheesy decks are obvious – after 2 vamps good players tend to know exactly how to handle them.

So I tend to go for either something new and exciting or some kind of toolbox. This time I went for a variant of the group 4-5 Ventrue lawfirm/grinder-toolbox which put me into the finals last years NC. I tried it out at the last tournament in Stockholm and made it to the final.

The day of battle
I got up 06.00 and managed to pack everything I need for a weekend in Örebro, the bleed-capitol of the world. Got picked up by Randy. He drove very nice and legal, yet we mysteriously arrived at the venue one hour before we intended to. I ate half a Italian BMT and shook some hands. Several finnish players were present as usual – as a matter of fact the Swedish champion has a tendency to be from Finland. All the finnish players are good – some are _very_ good, like European champion Otso Saariluoma who rode next to me from Stockholm. But they have … some problems.

Game 1
Tremere big cap-vote > Me > Imbued > !Tremere sb > Aus-weenie

This seating is just about the worst I can get. Imbued wall (with chainsaw finish) as prey and 8 votes as my predator. The Aus-weenie-player (Otso S) drop turn one Smiling Jack … interesting. As usual, the discussions go wild about who benefits most/least from removing Smiling. Deal attempts are made and short deals are struck.

So I lean back and do just about nothing. The Imbued player (Adam) let me Govern down two times, which turn out to be just about enough for me to survive the Smiling.

Otso defends the Smiling all game and it´s me and him heads up. I have double Daring the Dawn in hand, but only need to use one of them to oust him. Once again what I have named the Steven Bradbury-style of play triumphs!

Me: 4 vp, Otso: 1 vp

Game 2
Lutz-voter > Weird ani-obt-dom toolbox > G1-2 Ventrue lawfirm > Me

My prey put out Lutz and Gabrielle. My predator (Ivan) choose Democritus and Sir Walter. Jippie, I´m vote locked. But my prey make some wrong choices and I manage to oust him when I draw a lot of bleed cards in a row.

My last minute addition Ericyes Fragment was important in this game – I have no idea why my prey fed me a Mind Rape (+2 bleed!). I really like the Fragment – try it out if you haven´t.

Next prey now is the ani-Lasombras (Marko), which has lost a big cap to a Banishment and is low on pool. I actually thought I had him, but suddenly he flashes out a strong combat hand (Crows+Shadow Strike+Torn+Taste) and torpors my key bouncer Emily Carson.

Me: 1 vp, Ivan: 3 vp

Game 3
Mono-obf sb > Shambling hordes w Dragon Breath Rounds > ME > Turbo-Nergal > Warghouls

This is the game were I screwed up. The warghoul-player (Andreas) got a _very_ strong start with Pentex Subversion on his predators Nergal and the softest of soft obf-weenies as prey. It seemed as he was getting the table, the only problem for him was his bad bleeding ability, just bleeds for 1 or 2.

Also, I was not very fond of letting Nergal out of Pentex, because I know that type of deck is hard to stop when it´s on a roll. But with no Nergal there was absolutely no pressure on the Warghouls, so after a while I had to remove the Pentex.

Nergal quickly ousted the Warghouls and the totally crippled obf-weenies. Then zombies with DBR (Jens) rushed Great Beast and a Giovanni Graverobbed him. Not good.

Now the Nergal-player (Ville) hinted that he was going to self-oust, being in a lost position as he was, but I somehow missed the hint, and instead of playing safe and taking my 1 vp (which had taking me into the final!), I influenced out an extra vamp and was smashed by zombies and Great Beast, and ousted.

Me: 0 vp, Jens 3 vp, Ville 2 vp

Finals (which I missed)
G1-2 Ventrue lawfirm > Malk bigcaps sb > Turbo-Nergal > !Tremere sb > Aus-weenie

I think I would have about the same chances as the G1-2 lawfirm if I played in here, and that would have been my place if I´d taken that last vp (Ivan beat me on TP´s). It´s just Steven Bradbury-style, watch the others make bad deals and then heads up with Otsos Aus-weenies I just repeat Game 1 :)

A very memorable final though. Santaleous whopped Nergals butt, some very classy dealmaking from the Malk player Henrik E, nice slowplay by the !Tre-player BobbyDoc and finally aus-weenies running out of wakes. Congrats again BobbyDoc!

Summary
So this was one of those times I failed on the edge of success. All in all I´m quite pleased with the weekend, as I made it to the finals in the draft on Sunday with a super-shitty deck. Also if I can´t win our last Stockholm tournament before the EC, I´ll be going to Budapest without being qualified, and that kind of suck, but it´s not the end of the world.

Swedish National Championships 2012; the Myrdin version

As usual the swedish nationals were held in Örebro and since I like to start at the beginning I'll take you through my preparation jitters all the way through to the finals.

Choosing a deck:

I had a hell of a time choosing a deck; since I'm on paternity leave at the moment I have a hard time building new decks and even tweaking current ones since I can't have any cards around while my daughter is awake - she eats Warghouls for breakfast ;) After the usual lot of angst, slightly diminished since my choices were restricted I finally settled between two decks. It was my Imbued Chainsaw deck, which is a very defensive and reactive deck, it does really well when there is little intercept around, with its quick buildup and strong endgame it's a stable and very good. The problem is that I was unsure of the meta, in a heavy vote meta it does poorly since it gets crosstable ousted more easily than Auspex weenies (my Imbueds are similar to that type of deck but with a more aggressive endgame). It also does poorly against slight intercept meta with a lot of aggression (Stickmen for example).

My other choice was the deck I had won a tournament with two weeks prior, a deck I dubbed "Vita Kränkta Män", a very aggressive multiact lawfirm with a midcap crypt. Now midcaps are bad, but they have been seeing an upswing in the meta with the introduction of the Wash/Zillah-archetype and the increase of anti-crypt acceleration package. It also includes less common vampires such as Democritus and Wilhem Waldburg which lessens the chance of contest as compared to Arika, Lucinde Alastor and Mary Anne Blaire. Again, Democritus is a horrible vampire with a "fun" special, but that just adds to the decks flavor in my opinion - it seems less of a threat when you start off with Democritus rather than Arika or Mary Anne Blaire.

The night before the tournament I slept horribly (of course!), my daughter had nightmares and I had to spend half the night calming her and finally had to sleep with her on the sofa. So it was with some difficulty that I got up at 6 am, showered, got dressed, packed my stuff and met up with Robert Doktorow at the train station. When we finally got to Örebro I still had no idea on what to play, tired and slightly confused I finally asked Isak to chose for me. He suggested we play Rock, Paper, Scissors over the decision, I won and got to play the Lawfirm which was in my hand at that moment.

Pre game talks:

We had the usual pregame talks about meta, about decks, about new concepts, about tournaments. The thing that stuck in my head was the Gaussian Game Distribution theory. The thought is of course that over the course of a tournament (3 games) you will have one game that you're in the best situation to win considering meta, seating and game progression. Not losing that game and getting as many VP's on the other games will get you to the finals. It's a fun theory and oddly alluring to me :)

First game:

Stickmen-> Stickmen-> Obf-weenies-> Me -> Obt/dom-lowcaps

My cryptdraw this game was not too bad, I got Democritus, Wilhelm Waldburg, Sir Walter Nash and Heather Florent on the start, with a first turn Sphinx. That meant Democritus in two turns - awesome! Problem was though that I was going to have trouble defending versus the obf-weenies. Since it was the first game I had no prior knowledge to decks and I would have to plan my game "in the dark" so to speak. I took the obvious route and went Democritus first with the Sphinx and planned on Wilhelm Waldburg as my second vampire. My prey started off with Quincy the Trapper, so I thanked my lucky stars that I hadn't picked my Imbued deck :D The game progressed normally except that the lowcap dom-obt deck managed to land some serious bleeds on his prey, which was unusual considering it was a very defensive Stickmen, that left a lot of maneuvering space for the second Stickmen deck. The obf-weenie deck choked on stealth since I declined to block it, but taking bleeds of 1-2-3-4-4 during the first five turns was killing me more quickly than I liked. The problem of not drawing into Parity Shifts was complicating things. I managed to vote an early Neonate Breach though to damage my prey and predator and try to put my predator into the defensive or to let the second Stickmen get an early oust. I did manage to keep my head above the water until the second Stickmen deck ousted the obf-weenie. That was the same turn I got my third vampire, so when it became my turn again I took the lunge and tried to oust. Unfortunatly I failed and died shortly after. Game win went to the second Stickmen I believe - I spent the remaining time scouting the decks to be better prepared for round 2.

Second game:

Lutz/Unmada vote -> Dom/ani highcaps -> Me -> G4/5 ventrues

This was my "win" game, even thought it didn't seem so at the start. Again I had a great cryptdraw with Democritus, Emerson Bridges, 2x Sir Walter Nash and a Sphinx on my starting hand. This time I couldn't get a two turn Democritus, but since I had a fairly defensive deck as a predator I settled for a three turn Democritus instead. Since I had a vote deck crosstable we made a deal to split damage evenly among our preys - even though the Lutz deck got the better part of the deal I was ok with it, since that put the my predator on a backwards trajectory instead of forward. Despite my predators slight intercept package a midgame Banishment from Lutz and my aggressive voting put him in a situation with only 1 vampire fairly early. That gave me the opportunity to push forward and try for the oust, I wasn't afraid of getting bounced since that meant that the Lutz deck would get ousted and I would get into a heads-up or tripple with the votelock, a good situation for me in any case. Worst case scenario was a 2-2 table split which was ok as a second game result, even though I thought I had a good chance of pulling off a win. Lutz died shortly after, then with some blocking from my predator I managed to get a kill on the second votedeck. That meant a sure win when I was chugging along with 3 aggressive vampires vs the 1 of my predator. 1 GW 3 VP for me! =D

Lunchbreak:

We had lunch, it was great, I ate alot of carbs and drank cola to keep awake, but with the good result of the second game I was quite alert again.

Third game:

Lutz/Unmada vote -> Inner Circle cel/dom/obf -> Me -> Lowcap PRE princes -> Imbued with Chainsaw

Again I was happy I didn't play my Imbued deck, this would have been a horrible contestfest. The game was very tight though, I came close to winning it but a missplay by me the last turn cost me the game, but I'm getting ahead of myself. My cryptdraw was less stunning this time, but still good - Wilhem Waldburg, 2x Sir Walter Nash and Ranjan Rishi. I realized of course that I would have no chance getting the votelock this game, so off I went discarding votes first chance I got. First action my prey did was a Mind Numb on my first vampire, a disaster when playing a dominate ladder, but I luckily played Direct Intervention on it. My own first action was a Mind Numb on my own predators first and only vampire which made everyone chuckle something about it being a Stockholm thing (my prey was Tomas, also from Stockholm), I didn't draw into a Freak Drive so I ended my turn and thanked my lucky stars for another turn of breathing room. My grand predator played Villein on Unmada and then Temptation of Greater Power on my predators Mind Numbed Inner Circle. That meant of course I would get a lot of breathing room, but also that it would put my predator in the shitter while my grand predator would be extremely strong and looking for an easy endgame vs me (he also played Protected Resources to defend against my heavy bleeds). I bidded very aggressively and managed to push the bid up to 21 pool. That put my grand predator on the defense since he had to deal with the imbued to be able to pull off a political action and with me or my prey to get the votelock to pass it. He broke his deal with the imbued after no blocks were declared and stole 5 pool from him anyway. This made me chuckle and also hope that the chainsaw wielding imbueds would punish him and leave me in a good position for a tripple or heads-up. After a few more turns I managed to kill my prey who was getting blocked to death by the imbued while getting enough minions into play to be able to push through the blocks thrown by the imbued and manage another oust. Unfortunately my predator had another vampire in play by then and both predator and prey decided to oust me first. After a few turns of me going forward to gain the momentum advantage I did my missplays. First I didn't stay untapped although I drew into a few deflections instead I was too eager for the bleed advantage; Second I mistakenly expected my predator of using his Metro Underground or at least having means of untapping to be able to defend against the eventual backstab from Lutz. When I noticed he couldn't it was too late and we both got ousted the same turn, I was 1 pool away from ousting Lutz the turn before =(.  1 GW 5 VP for me.

Finals:

I had the bottom seed for the finals, I won over Henrik Klippström because of TP's (he was playing the G4/5 ventrues that I ousted game 2). Since I didn't have to worry over the seating I grabbed a seat and enjoyed the seating struggle; it ended with: Auspex-weenie -> Me -> Lutz powerbleed -> Turbo-Nergal -> Dom/tha lowcaps with allies

My first thought was "I got to be fast or this game will not go well for me". My cryptdraw was very good again - Democritus, Wilhelm Waldburg, Sir Walter Nash and Timothy Crowley. The problem was that with a auspex-weenie behind me I couldn't chance picking up Democritus first since he has minor fortitude and can't power through blocks with Freak Drive. That left me with only three vampires in my crypt, I wasn't sure if it was going to be enough. I drew a first turn Sphinx which would give me a turn two Wilhelm, a lucky draw =D Another bout of misfortune for the auspex-weenie was that when he blocked the first action with Victoria from the tha/dom-deck he got clawed by a slaving Tupdog and diablerized with my consent. He influenced up Zoe and passed the turn. Phew, since I had a two turn Wilhelm with the Sphinx that would give me enough time to be able to get settled. I was left alone to do my first actions, it was superior Govern, Freak, superior Scouting mission which let me have Sir Walter Nash quickly and cheaply as a second vampire. I then settled into a very aggressive stance trying to get a quick oust to put pressure on the auspex-weenie (me running away from him with all the VP's) and cutting the game short for the Turbo-Nergal. The auspex-weenie was top seed and he did a beatiful play where he sniped the Nergal VP for my prey to be able to control my VP's. That meant that if I got two kills I would be in a heads-up vs him and still give him the chance of a tournament win. I did not want to get into a heads-up vs an auspex-weenie without proper preparations and going all out offensive had cut down on my buildup actions, such as superior Govern. The next turn I killed off the Lutz powerbleed and started my build-up. Either I would get into a heads-up vs the dom/tha-deck while having the votelock, or I would chance it against the auspex-weenie, but with a table presence and a good hand. So I kept up the actions but not as aggressive towards my prey anymore. Finally I got my fourth vampire out and had a hand of bleeds and my last Daring the Dawn. So I lunged. Unfortunately the dom/tha-deck had saved up on wakes and managed to stop my lunge. While I had the Daring the Dawn to power through I could not use it to get the oust and go into a heads-up against an auspex-weenie without any Darings left in the deck. So I opted to wait for another round. Bad luck again and the auspex-weenie had run out of wakes and got ousted. That left me wide open and I got ousted the same turn - game and tournament win to Doktorow. It was a very close game with a lot of exciting strategic decisions. I might have been able to do a few things differently, but I believe I made no huge mistakes. Overall the tournament was good and I was happy with my deck choice, after it´s performance I can say that I'm quite pleased with it, even though I've been considering a few minor tweaks. Maybe for the next tournament :D

/Myrdin

The Stockholm League - October 17 2012

Helped Randy make the sweep at table 2.

Three tables were played in the second round of ten in our October-December league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:
1. Aaron (Khazars Diary w Cry Wolf)
2. Henrik K (!Ventrue grinder) 0,5 vp
3. Erik M (Eurobrujah) 0,5 vp
4. Tomas W (G5/6 Daughters w Shattering Cressendo) 0,5 vp
5. Kim (G1/2 IC vote) 1,5 vp

Table 2:
1. Donk (Girls)
2. Jens (Shambling Hordes w DBR)
3. Jan Erik (Dem-weenies)
4. Jonas S (G4/5 PRE-princes)
5. Randy (G1/2 PRE-powerbleed w Tablets) 5 vp, 1 gw

Table 3:
1. Alexander (Rachel Brandywine w Madness Network)
2. Johnny (Daughters w Choir) 1 vp
3. Donk (Lambach wall)
4. Masso (Unnamed wall w Shatter the Gates) 2 vp
5. Marcus (G4/5 Ventrue lawfirm) 2 vp

League standings:
Randy, Marcus 32 rtp
Donk 24 rtp
Henrik K 20 rtp
Masso 10 rtp
Kim 6 rtp
Jens, Johnny 4 rtp
Erik M, Tomas W 2 rtp
(1 gw = 8 ratingpoints, 1 vp = 4 ratingpoints. Note: Players can play more than one game each round if their participation are needed to complete a table where at least one player has not yet played a league game this round, but only the best result each round counts for rating. If more players than 5 want to play such a table, lowest vp-count this round has priority. No league game starts after 20.00.)

The next round of the league is played at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!