As you might have read earlier, I manage to qualify for this tournament just the
day before, at the LCQ. Time to choose deck, and as usual in this moment, pride
goes before intelligence. I want to play something original. Or at least kind
of original. So this time I went with my Kiasyd combat-toolbox with Earth Swords,
a deck that works okey and I have played quite a lot. I know. A stupid choice.
Based on a deck by Martin Randers.
Crypt [12]
2x
Arcadian, The 8 DOM MYT OBT chi for Kiasyd:5
2x Pherydima 8 DOM MYT NEC obt pot bishop Kiasyd:4
2x Omme Enberbenight 7 MYT OBT cel dom priscus Kiasyd:4
3x Isanwayen 6 DOM MYT OBT Kiasyd:4
1x Roderick
Phillips 7 DOM MYT cel obt tha Kiasyd:4
2x Dame
Hollerton 5 DOM OBT myt Kiasyd:4
Library [82]
Master/Event
[14]
3x Villein
2x Direct
Intervention
1x Dreams
of the Sphinx
1x Fame
1x Great
Symposium
1x WMRH
Talk Radio
2x Wash
1x Pentex
Subversion
1x Fear of
Mekhet
1x The
Uncoiling
Action/Equipment [13]
3x Abbot
1x
Aranthebes, The Immortal
8x Govern
the Unaligned
1x Ivory
Bow
Action
Modifier/Combo [9]
3x
Conditioning
6x Fae
Contortion
Combat [19]
5x Darkling
Trickery
8x Earth
Swords
4x Target
Vitals
2x Taste of
Vitae
Reaction/Combo
[27]
4x
Deflection
1x
Redirection
6x Eyes of
the Night
2x Forced
Awakening
4x On the
Qui Vive
2x Wake
with Evening's Freshness
8x Aura
Absorption
The arrows in the graphics below shows the general
amount of pressure a Methuselah put on his or her prey – yellow is “not much”,
orange is “some” and red is “a lot”.
Table 1:
Difficulty
for me: 3/5. A rather open history. Could have worked.
My
performance: 2/5. I had no idea what Jukka and Gabriele played until late in
the game – both decks looked like some kind of toolbox – and that made it
difficult for me to make the right choice in some important situations early on.
The other
players: Gabriele died rather early to Aleksi bleeds – a deck like that cannot
be allowed to have more than 2 minions, but neither Jukka nor Gabriele had
means to stop him. Marko of course is a very good player, calm and smart even
under hard pressure, but I almost ousted him because of my intercept. I didn´t
learn until the last couple of turns or so what Jukka played, it was some kind of wall deck with sticks and breed and Palla Grande.
Lesson to
learn: Knowledge is power. Reading the table and knowing deck archetypes is
very important. Also: The Kiasyd group 4-5 crypt is very popular.
Marko: 1,5
Jukka: 1,5
Aleksi: 1
Me: 0,5
Table 2:
Difficulty
for me: 2/5. This was totally winable, especially after I smacked my predators
first minion into torpor and was able to Govern down. But … shit happens.
My
performance: 3/5. I played pretty good here, in my humble opinion. My deck is
not fast enough though.
The other
players: All played fairly well. Apart from me hurting my predator a lot everybody
did pretty much what was expected of them. Daniel is a rather new player, but
he won his other two games and got to the finals.
Lesson to
learn: Not a new lesson at all, but a reminder: Never listen to the Aus-weenie
player. Just f**k him/her up and let him/her manage with one minion is he/she
has a non-aggressive predator, or two minions if he/she has a aggressive
predator. Also: The Kiasyd group 4-5 crypt is very popular.
Me: 1,5 vp
Pau: 0,5 vp
Csaba: 0,5
vp
Daniel: 0,5
vp
Table 3:
Difficulty
for me: 2/5. I thought I could smash the Imbued, and I thought I could handle
my predators weenies. I also thought my combat could trump the stickmen´s.
My
performance: 2/5. Although I survived the 1-cap swarm (a very, very, very
stupid deck), and although I burned one or two of my preys Imbueds, it didn´t
work out. The stickmen-decks did contest a bit, but Hugh had no pressure from
his predator at all, so he won this and played the final, and later won the
whole championship.
The other
players: Hughs and Markos decks was similar. The Imbued deck was weird, with Lock
and other stuff instead of the usual tech I´m used to (no Gehenna, no Talbot´s
chainsaw). The weenie deck as incredably strange – just 1-caps and Thin-blooded
Seers with Computer Hackings and Leverage, no tech at all. A deck that, in my
book, only should be able to take 1 vp – ie, destroy the game for one player
and unbalance the table, nothing more.
Lesson to
learn: I took a lot of resources to defend myself, I might have cycled a bit
too much there, as I didn´t have a deck left when my predator and Marko was
gone.
Hugh: 4 vp
Marko: 1 vp
No day 2
for me. Stay tuned for my FCQ report.
