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.