lördag 29 december 2012

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!

onsdag 19 december 2012

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

torsdag 6 december 2012

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!

onsdag 5 december 2012

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]

torsdag 29 november 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!

fredag 23 november 2012

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!

tisdag 20 november 2012

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.

måndag 19 november 2012

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!

lördag 10 november 2012

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!

fredag 9 november 2012

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!

torsdag 8 november 2012

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!

tisdag 6 november 2012

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!

måndag 5 november 2012

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!

söndag 4 november 2012

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.

lördag 3 november 2012

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

torsdag 1 november 2012

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.

onsdag 31 oktober 2012

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

torsdag 25 oktober 2012

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.

måndag 22 oktober 2012

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!

söndag 21 oktober 2012

An epiphany of talons


















I had an epiphany when I woke up on the morning of the Swedish Nationals and added one Raking Talons. It helped me win the final.

This is what happened in the tournament. Some details may be wrong, but in whole quite close to the truth.

Round 1
Me (deck below) - Otso (Aus wall) - Randy (Orlando vote) - Henrik.K (Ventrue) - Adam (imbued)

I was the starting player and having both Rock Cat and Carlton on hand I opted for a Tupdog.
Otso put up a aus-weenie, so I misdirected that and played Rock Cat. Otso played DI on the cat. I played Carlton instead and that Adam DI:ed.
     The rest of the game I hit my head against the aus-wall and the whole table struggled because of Otso's Smiling Jack.
     The table collapsed when Smiling hit 5 or 6 and Henrik was able to pick up the remaning pieces.

Henrik ("Ashur") 1 gw + 4 vp, Otso 1 vp

Round 2
Anders (Shamblers) - Daniel (!Ventrue grinder) - Me - Alexi (IC Flurry bleed) - Jens (Shamblers)

Comfortable game for me. The two shambler decks were neutralizing each other, doing the odd rush against Alexi and Daniel.
     Alexi managed (before I should have ousted him) take out Jens thanks to Enkil Cog. I still could oust him and Anders (only at 2) in one turn.
     Daniel was a little crippled due to having previously being rushed, so I could quite easily oust him after a while.
     I was aware of the ousting capabilities of Daniels deck, so I played it safe the whole game.

Me 1 gw + 4 vp, Alexi 1 vp

Round 3
Jonathan (Create gargoyle w dom) - Isak (Kiasyd tablet bleed) - Marko (Nahir) - Me - Stefan (Mistress F Flurry bleed)

Jonathan started out strong and poor Marko was eating both some bleeds from Isak as well as some deflects.
     At one point I played a little reckless and was immediatly rewarded by some Deflections and bleeds from Marko, which almost ousted me.
     The next turn I was able to get Stefan. Jonathan ousted Isak and Marko, but my position was now quite good and I could win the end game.

Me 1 gw + 3 vp, Jonathan 2 vp

Final
Me - Otso (Aus-wall) - Ivan (Ventrue lawfirm multi-act) - Henrik E (Kindred Spirits-bleed w Santalous and Lutz) - Ville (Turbo-Nergal)

I was second seed and ended up having Otso (1st seed) as my prey again. I was prepared for the eternal pain of having an aus-wall in front of me until I saw my opening hand; Raking Talons. I managed to eat Otso's first vampire, Victoria, so it took him a longer time to set up,
giving Ivan more room to do his thing.
     Henrik stopped the Nergal deck quite easily with the master denial of Santalous.
     Ivan ousted Henrik soon after Henrik got Ville.
     Except for my first turn, I did very little during the game, I just tried to opt my hand and hope for the best. Now and then I probed Otso's defenses and after a while he showed all signs of running out of wakes. Ivan had an contested Anarch Troublemaker that would come in play on his next turn. So I deliberately "overextended" my pool by getting up a new vampire (Hannigan), the other three were tapped. I thought this should be enough for Ivan using the AT on me. And I was right. I had 4 On the Qui Vie on hand and could handle his assault quite well. Now Otso had 2 untapped vampires, so I used AT and ousted him and Ivan in one turn.

Me 1 gw + 3 vp, Ivan 1 vp, Henrik E 1 vp

Tournament Winning Deck:
Vamps (12)
1 Bryan Van Duesen (7, aus DOM pre THA, Tremere Antitribu, 2, Sabbat: +1 bleed)
1 Heinrick Schlempt (2, tha, Tremere Antitribu, 2, Sabbat)
1 Brooke (3, dom tha, Tremere Antitribu, 2, Sabbat)
1 Hannigan (5, AUS dom THA, Tremere Antitribu, 2, Sabbat)
1 Kurt Strauss (5, aus DOM tha, Tremere Antitribu, 2, Sabbat)
1 Reverend Blackwood (6, DOM obf THA, Tremere Antitribu, 2, Sabbat Bishop)
1 Selena (6, AUS DOM THA, Tremere Antitribu, 3, Sabbat)
5 Tupdog

Library (61)
Masters (9)
1 Pentex Subversion
1 Anarch Troublemaker
1 Misdirection
2 Direct Intervention
2 Blood Doll
1 PB: Montreal
1 Coven

Actions (8)
8 Govern the Unaligned

Action Modifiers (18)
4 Bonding
4 Conditioning
10 Mirror Walk

Allies (10)
1 Carlton van Wyk
4 Hexaped
4 Nephandus
1 Rock Cat

Combat (1)
1 Raking Talons

Reactions (13)
5 Deflection
6 On the Qui Vie   
2 Delaying Tactics

Events (2)
2 Unmasking

/Robert D ("BobbyDoc")

fredag 12 oktober 2012

Meet the Prime Mover

The column The Wyrm´s Turn have a recent interview with the rather reclusive Mark Rein-Hagen, creator of the World of Darkness, Ars Magica and other great stuff. Without him we probably wouldn´t be flipping these odd paper pieces at all, as he both made up Vampire: The Masquerade and co-founded Wizards of the Coast. It wouldn´t surprise me if his new boardgame Democracy is brilliant. Have a nice read!

The Stockholm League - October 10 2012

Cybele - the girliest girl? Art by ~Toxs1n.


















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

Table 1:
1. Erik M (Aus-weenie)
2. Jens (Shamblings w Dragon Breath Rounds)
3. Randy (G1/2 PRE powerbleed w tablets) 1 vp
4. Henrik K (G5/6 lawfirm/grinder)
5. Donk (Girls) 4 vp, 1 gw

Table 2:
1. Marcus (G4/5 lawfirm) 4 vp, 1 gw
2. Tomas (Baali/Setite soulgem-turbo)
3. Jonas H (Setite vote) 1 vp
4. Jonas S (Samedi w Shamblers)
5. Jan Erik (Lawfirm w Arika)

Table 3:
1. Jens (Infernal Anson w guns) 1 vp
2. Robert D (Pre-weenies)
3. Masso (Saulot Lord of Serenity wall) 0,5 vp
4. Henrik K (!Ventrue grinder w Haven Uncovered) 2,5 vp, 1 gw
5. Erik M (!Brujah w guns)











In this game Jens got a fantastic start. In turn 3 he hade two princes in play, plus Anarch Troublemaker, Parthenon, Anthelios, Dreams of the Sphinx and a .44 Magnum on Anson. He also had played Villein for 8 and Giant´s Blood on Anson, and Parity Shifted his prey for 5. But in true Jens fashion he didn´t think it looked so good for him! This time he was kind of right though - his next prey was a bit too rough on him, and after some Haven Uncovered and Wash the !Ventrue grinder could oust him and then get the game win on time.

League standings:
Donk, Marcus 24 rtp
Henrik K 18 rtp
Randy, Jens 4 rtp
Masso 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!

tisdag 9 oktober 2012

The Stockholm League - October 3 2012 - Final result

Nazi-Jesus, currently in the service of Henrik K.


















Congratulations to Jens, reigning and defending Stockholm league champion!

Two tables were played in the tenth and final round of ten in our August-October league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:
1. Henrik K (G4-5 Ventrue lawfirm-grinder)
2. Jens (Shambling Hordes w Dragon Breath Rounds) 3 vp, 1 gw
3. Donk (Enkidu rush)
4. Marcus (Imbued w dem weenies) 2 vp
5. Tomas W (Anson vote?)

Table 2:
1. Masso (Unnamed w Shatter the Gates)
2. Robert D (AUS+FOR wall) 2 vp
3. Henrik K (!Ven w Mathias and Spirit Marionette) 3 vp, 1 gw
4. Tomas W (!Toreador breed-boon w ani)
5. Alex (G5-6 Baali vote)

Final league standings:
Jens 106 rtp
Jonas H 80 rtp
Robert D, Randy 64 rtp
Henrik K 56 rtp
Ivan 52 rtp
Jan Erik 48
Tomas W 44 rtp

Marcus, Caroline 36 rtp
Masso 32 rtp
Kristofer 30 rtp
Ober 24 rtp
Kim, Donk 20 rtp
Erik M 16 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. No league game starts after 20.00.)

Our next ten week league begin at Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmstorg 8 next Wednesday about 1800-ish. Be there!

måndag 8 oktober 2012

Tournament reminder!

Wondering why the people on the picture here seem so tense? They are getting ready for 
Protected Resources Stockholm 2012
When? 2012-10-20, 12.00-20.00
Where? Dragon´s Lair, Kungsholmen
Format: Constructed, 2 rounds + final
Fee: 20 SEK
Promos for everone!
Questions? Leave a comment below!
Welcome!

måndag 1 oktober 2012

BobbyDoc swedish champion 2012!














 Stockholmjyhad would like to offically congratulate Robert Doktorow (aka "BobbyDoc"), the 2012 Swedish champion. Finally a Stockholm player made it!

Extra cred for playing a deck he threw together just prior to the tournament without any playtesting. And with Hexaped!

Stay tuned for more comments, reports and possibly a deck list here and/or at the VEKN forum.

fredag 28 september 2012

The Stockholm League - September 26 2012

 Untap and Disguised Weapon in one card. Balanced?






















Four tables were played in the ninth round of ten in our August-October league. Standard tournament rules apply + printed proxy is allowed.

Table 1:
1. Caroline (Ani-For-Aus wall w Mordecai) 3 vp, 1 gw
2. Tomas W (!Toreador vote w animalism)
3. Kim (Ahrimanes toolbox) 1 vp
4. Henrik K (!Ventrue w Mathias and Spirit Marionette)

Table 2:
1. Jens (Shambling Hordes w Dragon Breath Rounds)
2. Ivan (Imbued ???) 5 vp, 1 gw
3. Donk (Enkidu rush)
4. Johnny (Turbo-Cybele)
5. Jonas H (Dom-weenies)

Table 3:
1. Alex (Ventrue lawfirm)
2. Masso (The Unnamed Enkil-Homonoculus-sb)
3. Kim (!Nosferatu rush/wall) 3 vp, 1 gw
4. Henrik K (!Ventrue w Mathias and Spirit Marionette)
5. Tomas W (G4-5 presence-princes w Parity Shifts) 2 vp

Table 4:
1. Caroline (!Ventrue anarchs) 1 vp
2. Donk (Enkidu rush)
3. Jan Erik (PRE-AUS Jost & Rebekka) 3 vp, 1 gw
4. Jonas H (Dom-weenies) 1 vp
5. Johnny (Daughters breed-boon)

League standings:
Jens 86 rtp
Jonas H 80 rtp
Randy 64 rtp
Robert D 56 rtp
Ivan 52 rtp
Jan Erik 48
Tomas W 44 rtp
Henrik K, Caroline 36 rtp
Masso 32 rtp
Kristofer 30 rtp
Marcus 28 rtp
Ober 24 rtp
Kim, Donk 20 rtp
Erik M 16 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. 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 - September 19 2012

Jens won with zombies with guns and grabbed the lead.













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

Table 1:
1. Henrik K (!Ventrue w Mathias and Spirit Marionette)
2. Kristofer (Spirit Marionette + Temptation) 1,5 vp
3. Erik M (Setite sb w Giotto Verbucci)
4. Tomas W (!Toreador vote w animalism) 2.5 vp, 1 gw
5. Jonas H (Dominate-weenies)

Table 2:
1. Randy (Ani-Aus-wall)
2. Ivan (Baron Samedi w Reanimated Corpse) 3 vp, 1 gw
3. Donk (Failed to report deck type)
4. Jan Erik (Setites?) 2 vp
5. Jens (Shambling Hordes w Dragon Breath Rounds)

Table 3:
1. Jens (Shambling Hordes w Dragon Breath Rounds) 3 vp, 1 gw
2. Donk (Hermanas w Liliths Blessing)
3. Erik M (Setite sb w Giotto Verbucci) 2 vp
4. Robert D (Aus-cel wall w guns)
5. Masso (Trujah bruise-bleed w Shalmath)

League standings:
Jens 86 rtp
Jonas H 80 rtp
Randy 64 rtp
Robert D 56 rtp
Tomas W, Henrik K 36 rtp
Masso 32 rtp
Kristofer 30 rtp
Jan Erik, Marcus 28 rtp
Ivan, Ober 24 rtp
Donk 20 rtp
Erik M, Caroline 16 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. 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!