Obvious but useful thought

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

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

//

Randyman

Playing Steven Bradbury-style

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Me: 4 vp, Otso: 1 vp

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

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

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

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

Me: 1 vp, Ivan: 3 vp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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")

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!

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!

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!

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.