Tournament report - Avsnitt 4: Tjindar's List

The Expectation Analysis Experiment is from now on resting and I doubt I will pick it up again. Last tournament I played I wrote an article but changed deck on the tournament day so the article was pointless, just spoiling a deck list. I have learned quite some from writing those pre-tournament articles but I feel I got it in me now when designing and choosing decks for tournaments so from now on you’ll just get simple tournament reports.

I drove solely the 280 kilometres early in the morning from Göteborg to Örebro without any real problems but it took some time due to the snow, ice and slow traffic. I was a little tired arriving at the venue but as soon that it was time for the first round I woke up. This is the deck I played:

Deck Name : Funny Form of Curruption Deck
Author : Stefan Karlsson (some credits should go to Erik Gustavsson and Alex Ek for playing their versions of the Undele-deck and sharing ideas)

3x Lutz von Hohenzoll     11 AUS DEM OBF PRE pot  inner circle Malkavian:4
3x Dmitra Ilyanova        9  CEL FOR POT PRE obf  justicar     Brujah:5
3x Undele                 9  CEL FOR obf pre ser  magaji       Ishtarri:5
3x Karen Suadela          7  CEL POT obf pre      prince       Brujah:5

Action [3]
  2x Entrancement
  1x Form of Corruption

Action Modifier [21]
  2x Awe
  1x Daring the Dawn
  5x Forced March
  3x Forgotten Labyrinth
  3x Into Thin Air
  2x Perfect Paragon
  5x Voter Captivation

Action Modifier/Reaction [3]
  3x Scalpel Tongue

Combat [5] 
  5x Majesty

Equipment [1]
  1x Heart of Nizchetus

Master [21]
  1x Coven, The
  2x Dreams of the Sphinx
  1x Giant's Blood
  1x Information Highway
  1x Monastery of Shadows
  1x New Carthage  
  1x Pentex(TM) Subversion 
  6x Villein
  2x Wider View
  5x Zillah's Valley

Political Action [18]
  1x Ancient Influence
  1x Ancilla Empowerment
  2x Banishment
  2x Conservative Agitation
  1x Domain Challenge
  3x Kine Resources Contested
  1x Lextalionis
  1x Neonate Breach
  5x Parity Shift
  1x Reins of Power

This is a standard Parity Shift deck with some quirks. Undele is the key minion but he is no standard star vampire as I don’t need him in the beginning. The crypt with 3x4 vampires and some Wider View works really well in this kind of deck. First I want one of the Brujahs to call early Parity Shifts and then I want the other vampires in the order and speed the game allows. Undele’s special is a killer and that is what makes it worthwhile and possible to include cards like Form of Corruption and Lextalionis in the deck. I think you get the idea so I move on to the actual report. There were 16 players at the tournament but one late arrival and one early departure made us play with 15 players all three rounds.

Round 1
Me –> Henrik Ericsson (KS bleed featuring Santaleous) –> Tomas Wallmur (Seterpenre + Anu Diptinatpa) –> Henrik Rune Eriksson (Ahrimanes toolbox) –> Anders Löf (!Ventrue grinder)
I got a dream start being able to influence quickly and call two early Parity Shifts on my prey. The strength of Santaleous special ability were soon discovered as he cancelled an Eternals of Sirius played by Tomas and to everyone’s surprise Tomas still had to burn the pool for the card. No more Zillah’s Valley for me at that point. Good thing I had Heart of Nizchetus in play so I could hide all my master cards in the bottom of the deck. Tomas got a slow start and Anders drew very few bleed cards but kept himself alive from quite heavy bleeding from the Ahrimanes. I ousted Henrik and and Tomas but then I literary went in to a wall. Anders started to bleed heavier so I needed to oust Tomas quicker than I wanted to not risk getting ousted myself. Anu also increased many of Anders’ vampires bleeds so that was yet another reason. When I hit the tooled-up Ahrimanes there were nothing left do. My library was exhausted due to too many discards and excessive use of Undele’s special and every round he had just enough intercept or wakes to stop my attempt at voting back some heavy stealth on hand. Anders was ousted and I kept a stubborn struggle for a while but the game win was Henrik’s (confusing with two players with the same name isn’t it?)
Rune GW 3VP
Me 2VP

Round 2
Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Lutz & Co Petra Resonance) –> Jonatan Sjöberg (!Nos rush) –> Henrik Rune Eriksson –> Me –> Tomas Wallmur
Isak and I became voting buddies but I had a little struggle influencing the right minions. My starting crypt consisted of one Dmitra and three Lutz and Isak’s first vampire was Lutz and there were no reason to even consider a contest. Isak got a brilliant start playing Pentex on Jonatan’s first vampire only to banish him as quick as the Pentex was removed. When he was influenced back he was banished again and Jonatan didn’t take a single action the whole game. With his back free Rune could bleed me far heavier than I could bloat and even if I did as much damage to Tomas as Rune did to me I was in danger. Isak did what he could to keep me in the game, including not freaking out when I played Parity Shift on him. There were some massive dealing including Isak playing Parity Shift on Jonatan, giving the pool to Tomas in exchange for not being bled. Tomas’ Anu offered her services to Rune’s vampires so soon after Jonatan was ousted Rune got me. Isak could then oust Rune and it looked like he would have a comfortable duel with Tomas but then we were shown what Tomas’ deck really was capable of. He increased Lutz bleed for 3 with Anu to play an Archon Investigation followed by a Daemonic Possession. Next round he did the exact same thing to Tryposa’s Kindred Spirits bleeding if I remember correctly. Very fun to see and I like it when somebody beats me at whacky deck building.
Isak 2VP
Tomas 2VP
Rune 1VP

Round 3
Me –> Adam Esbjörnsson (Girls will find thinspiration) –> Anders Löf –> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson –> Ivan Marin-Rivas (Anson Ashur Tablets table control)
Again I had a good start and Adam did not. He didn’t draw any crypt acceleration and I could play two early Parity Shifts on him. Anders could build up without any real pressure and Ivan mostly blocked Isak’s actions and let me perform mine since he probably wanted to get rid of Adam’s deck. Andres slowly ousted Isak followed by Ivan and I put ridiculous amounts on pressure on Adam but as you all know his deck (a 65-card version) is a pain to oust, especially played by such a brilliant player. I got to play Lextalionis after Anders ousted Ivan and that felt really good – it is such a powerful card during the right circumstances. I had vote lock and no one were blocking my actions so I could either opt for defence of offence the following turns with Undele. Some rounds I picked Banishments up and some I picked Kine Resources Contested. Problem was that I had to play defensive a little too often to be able to oust. As soon as I did pool damage to Adam he could regain it with Liquidation, Ashur Tablets and its likes and I myself went into ousting range. The game timed out leaving Anders with the win but with ten more minutes anyone could have won.
Anders GW 2.5VP
Me 0.5VP
Adam 0.5VP

It was a nice tournament and I had three good games. I feel the deck lacks a little in offence, I should probably just add two more Kine Resources Contested or something like that. Maybe also exchange some of the more conditional votes even if I like the idea of being able to pick up whatever I need. Protected Resources should probably also be added since I think I performed one or two single bleed actions the whole tournament. The deck is master heavy as it is but Undele’s special makes that problem not being as big as it could have been. I will definitely keep working on this deck since it is both very good and fun to play. Suggestions are welcome.

I also want to thank all players and party animals for a nice day and night in Örebro. See you soon guys!

Swedish Nationals – Tournament Report

So, I played my wacky deck and had three fun games. I’m not sure if my initial prey or predator had a fun game in any of them but no one yelled at me or hit me so I pretend everyone was happy.

Round 1
Kasper Kristensen (Ventrue Breed/Boon) –> Tomas Wallmur (Helena Advanced) –> Henrik Klippström (Euro Brujah) –> Me –> Ville Kaijasaari (Guruhi Master heavy)
Henrik was the first person to give me the idea of using Pressing  Flesh together with Escaped Mental Patients back at our ECQ this year and it was extra fun to give him a taste of it. I didn’t draw any Inceptor early (I played almost 40 cards before seeing the first one) but the Agent of Powers and Abebe was enough to give the deck a good start. Soon I had graverobbed both Donal O’Connor and Nana Buruku and while my prey got low on pool the table, as expected, started to conspire against me. Kasper decided to lunge into me with three Kine Resources Contested when I was at twelve pool so I made a desperate deal with him granting him two Victory Points before I would do any damage to him so he changed his mind. This was a huge mistake and I could have dealt with the situation in two other different ways:
1. Giving him a similar deal but clearly make sure that I would still rush his minions, vote against his referendums and bleed heavily into him during the process.
2. Instead threatening him to spend my last game round (Maybe I would have survived one more turn and I could always bluff having a wake or similar) attacking him instead of ousting my prey if he voted damage my way.
Instead I went too easy on him. I ousted my prey and Tomas ousted Henrik. Tomas and argued that I should deal break but I wasn’t in the mood to do so. I play a fun deck and I have never broke a deal before so this wasn’t going to be the first time. Probably silly of me because breaking that deal would have gave me the game win for sure. Kasper was to strong in the duel since he had saved up lots of Majestys on hand, me having exhausted my library and him having minion superiority. I also made some silly mistakes but nothing that changed fact.
Kasper GW 3VP
Tomas 1VP
Me 1VP

Round 2
Magnus Löf (Lutz & Friends) –> Michael Holmström (!Ventrue sticks) –> Johan Mononen (!Salubri rush & blood deny) –> Alex Ek (Kiasyd s/b) –> Me
This round started a little like the first. I had a quick start  graverobbing Lutz and diablerizing Pherydima. Problem was Alex influenced out small caps and created Nocturns so he did some serious pool damage to me so I had to play Golconda on Lutz. It looked pretty bad anyhow but Johan did his best attacking Alex, not leaving much in defence. I ousted Magnus and Johan was gone soon thereafter (or was it the other way around?). Alex drew very bad and couldn’t oust me and my last four or so pool even if I was almost tapped out. Michael killed him too and again I was in a duel where I was the weaker part.
Michael GW 4VP
Me 1 VP

Round 3
Me –> Helena Löf (Presence Weenie) –> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Kiasyd s/b) –> Jonas Nyrén (Shambling Hordes)
I had to focus all my energy towards Helena at the start or she would have got Isak really quick. I also had to be careful with my ash heap since Jonas had Giovanni del Georgio in play and could have used his special to remove Escaped Mental Patients, making me unable to play Pressing Flesh. This wasn’t any real problem sine four of my Pressing Flesh was amongst the five last cards in the library. I had to recruit the patients the hard way and that slowed me down. I had plenty of Fake Out on hand and didn’t see any maneuvers played by Jonas so before ousting Helena I rushed and graverobbed The Arcadian but were forced to play Golconda on him to survive. I think I rushed Isak one round too late because once again I was in a duel and this time I didn’t draw any Pressing Flesh.
Isak GW 3VP
Me 1VP

The deck did quite well but it was too new to me to really shine. I will continue working on it to make it even more focused and able to really kill the whole table. It’s interesting to see that my Grandprey won all my three games, and that they all were pretty similar. My initial prey or predator (maybe with the exception of Alex in round 2) were quickly neutralized. I think I need to start spreading my attacks earlier on but the deck takes some more testing before really knowing how to play it at its best. It is a really effective concept and even if it looks like there are many moving parts it's not that hard to get the ball rolling.
First of all I think I have to increase the library to around 70 cards. I am going to remove Information Highway since I just discarded them if I didn’t draw one early. Pentex is also not needed. The times that I needed to play it were when it already looked way too bad for me. I definitely need a second Golconda and some more Sibyl’s Tongue. The rest of the library Increase will probably just be more of the already featured cards. You haven't seen the last of this, that’s for sure.

Resurrection Gothenburg – Tournament Report

It is getting annoyingly obvious that I am making my absolute worst results ever since starting writing on this blog. I played this deck. My reasoning wasn’t completely wrong but the deck is simply not strong enough to be reliable. It is going to be ridden of its red and yellow sleeves and placed in the pile for cards to be sorted.
13 players showed up for the tournament with Archibald showing up first for the second round so all my tables was 4-player ones.

Round 1
Me –> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Kiasyd S/B w. Ashur and Liquidation) –> Robert Ekelund (Mistress Fanchon Baltimore Purge) –> Erik Cardell (CEL guns w. aus and pre)
This game my tooling up worked quite well but Robert took a lot of damage before he could start play his game and was ousted before I could make any serious attempts at getting Isak. I hopes for Erik to try and backoust to take the game win but he instead played both against me and Isak. He was one intercept card short of staying in the game when Isak launched and if that launch had failed I would probably have ousted Isak in my next round. With two Raven Spies and a handful of Earth Melds together with a little more than ten pool it looked pretty good for me but I made some mistakes, the most important one was not to think of Stone Travel so I got tapped out once and almost bled out. I managed to pull myself together and take him out but it was close.
Me 2VP
Isak 2VP

Round 2
Erik Cardell –> Robert Ekelund –> Jonas Alvdén (!Ventru grinder w. obf) –> Me
This game was a disaster. I drew no Earth Melds and since Robert had a slow build-up bringing out Carna and then Mistress Fanchon without crypt acceleration or a single action Jonas had an easy task in bleeding me out. I tried desperately to cycle cards, even convincing Erik to let me play Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers followed by a Freak Drive just for cycling but it didn’t help.
Jonas GW 4VP

Round 3
Adam Esbjörnsson (Euralye and friends) –> Me –> Roger Carhult (Large cap ANI w. multiple MPAs) –> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson
Also a disaster. No Earth Melds from the start here either. Adam influenced out Euralye and put Heidelberg in play. Isak also had a good start building up. I contested Heidelberg and Adam argued he needed it to use backwards to survive and I knew he was right about that. Still I sat in a poor position because I knew Adam and Roger could crush Isak together and I needed all defence I could get against Adam. Him stealing my Raven Spies with Spirit Marionette/Heidelberg was simply nothing I could allow. I made a deal with Isak to keep contesting if he would stop after ousting Adam and let me oust Roger for the duel. Isak soon got Adam and I started my long uphill trip towards ousting Roger. I was almost there so many times but when I got close he always had something to gain ground. Except for a lot of wakes and Cat’s Guidances he also played Golconda twice on his own minions. My deck were almost exhausted when there were three minutes left of the game and Isak had to deal break and sweep the table. I don’t blame him, he gave me more than one hour to do my job but I didn’t manage so the victory was his.
Isak GW 4VP

I think I need to think a little less before the tournament and a little more during it. Next tournament will be the Swedish championships and I should probably go for a fun deck and relax for once to reload my batteries. Maybe next Expectation Analysis Experiment will be a little different, time will tell.

Tommy Bohlin Inte Här Längre – Tournament Report

Another tournament to add to the list of failures. 14 players showed up in Örebro with what probably was the most high quality decks per player I have ever seen in a tournament. Not a single deck I encountered was anything but a potential tournament winner. This is what I played. Very fun to play and very much headache in all of the games.

Round 1
Me –> Anders Löf (Nosferatu with Dominate and Gehenna Madness) –> Tommie Hjerén (Nephandus) –> Adam Esbjörnsson (Gabrielle di Righetti toolbox) –> Henrik “Rune” Eriksson (Kiasyd S/B with Bruise)
I had a quite big crypt and wasn’t able to put more than one Gargoyle in play. At the start I was able to bleed some but Anders beat me up with his animalism combat. Rune was pretty aggressive early and I thought he would be ousted by Adam not bloating more and tapping out but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Adam played safe against Tommie who was building up pretty good. Rune’s constant bleeding and Anders’ defence was more than I could stand for so I was the first kill on a slow table that eventually timed out.
Adam GW 2.5VP
Rune 1VP
Tommy 0.5VP

Round 2
Adam Esbjörnsson –> Erik Löf (Malgorzata Toolbox) –> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Malkavian Weenie Auspex with Madness Netwok) –> Me
I knew from the start that this were going to be a difficult table. I couldn’t create any Gargoyles and I could hardly bleed Adam but had to focus on making Isak waste his blocks and reaction cards on blocking me so Erik could put enough pressure on him. Adam played defensive and Erik did his best. I knew I had a hard time surviving and vampire after vampire went to torpor from Isak’s Magnums. I stayed in the game longer than I thought I would but still I was the first to be ousted in a game that was doomed from the beginning. Maybe, just maybe, if I would have lunged all out forward I might have had the chance of a VP and who knows what more but that is just speculation. I don’t feel I made any mistakes in the game but I have to think more about it.
Isak GW 3VP
Adam 1VP

Round 3
Alexander Båskman (Salubri G6 Toolbox) –> Joakim Nauclér (Lawfirm) –> Me –> Erik Löf –> Anders Löf
This is one of my quickest Victory Points ever. I influenced out Bryan Van Duesen in two turns and bled with him for 7 with Govern the Unaligned + Conditioning and influenced out Heinrick Schlempt and two Tupdogs turn three. Erik had a bad crypt draw and only with the help of Information Highway he now managed to bring Malgorzata to play. He had also invested in Monastery of Shadows so he had only 10 pool left. Turn four my first Tupdog bled for one untapping with As the Crow and then rushed Malgorzata to torpor with Raking Talons. Bryan bled for 7 again and the second Tupdog and Heinrick bled for one each for the oust. Joakim was quite agressive and my six new pool plus some more were soon gone. My momentum worked and soon I had both Anders and Alex within oust range. Alex only had two pool and two Salubri on the table. He couldn’t play any Villeins because Anders had put The Rising in play. I played Pentex Subversion on Alex untapped Salubri and bled Anders out. I had two untapped minions and no +bleed on hand so I bled for one twice but he played My Enemy’s Enemy on my second bleed and survived. He had two Villeins on hand now so he had almost 15 pool at the end of his turn. Now it was a quite open game but Joakim was more effective than me and Alex defended good so I was ousted. A nice way to end a weekend of Jyhad although a game win would have been fun.
Joakim GW 3VP
Me 2VP

I made a quite poor performance but I still believe in my deck. 66 cards are 6 too many and I will tighten it down even further. I never played Skin of the Chameleon so it will probably leave the deck. When it comes to stealth I should add one or two Mirror Walks and maybe a Seduction of two. I can reduce the amount of bleed cards and remove a Create Gargoyle and two Dominate skill cards. I will tinker with this deck soon and probably play it on a tournament again soon.

Weather Control – Tournament Report

14 players gathered in Karlstad for what was to be another epic failure for your favourite expectation analysis experimenter. You can see my deck and read about my hopes and thoughts before the tournament here.

Round 1
Fredrik Larsson (Ventrue princes grinder) –> Johan Mononen (Saulot Valeren Combat) –> Me –> Adam Esbjörnsson (Cryptic Mission without Cryptic Mission) –> Ronnie ? (!Malkavian S/B)
Fredrik put some pressure on Johan early on and deflected almost any bleed Ronnie made. This made it possible for me to bleed Adam with what I had almost every round. Me and him contested Heart of Nizchetus from the start and we were both low on pool. I had three vampires out and Adam had four + two allies, I hade several opportunities of ousting him but I always failed in the end missing a card or to at a crucial point. This was very frustrating and for example I had to play Pentex Subversion twice on the same Nephandus Mage. Fredrik ousted Johan and Adam ousted Ronnie and I tried desperately to survive but was ousted after some more rounds.
Fredrik GW 4VP
Adam 1VP

Round 2
Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Anson with weenie PRE) –> Me –> Fredrik Larsson –> Jonas Peltomäki (!Brujah long range combat)
My first vampire was Pentexed by Isak and he bled me for 10 the round thereafter. He only had Presence weenies in his starting crypt and his deck worked like a Presence weenie deck so I struggled to survive while Fredrik bloated a lot. Me and Jonas tried and stop Isak from ousting me but he was simply too quick. Game over early.
Fredrik GW 2VP
Isak 1VP
Jonas 1VP

Round 3
Alexander Nilsson (Imbued) –> Alexander Gyhlesten (Madness Network / Reversal of Fortunes) –> Jonas Peltomäki –> Me –> Jonas S (Ventrue Grinder)
As one might suspect, early game was all about Alex G’s trick deck. It didn’t work perfectly but he managed to get more turns than the rest of us. Alex N was also tooling up quite good and I did some damage to Jonas S to be hopeful for at least one Victory Point. Alex G was close to oust Jonas P but made a mistake and transferred out a new vampire going low on pool. Alex N saw his  opportunity and ousted Alex G. Jonas S was low on pool and he didn’t know Deep Song’s card text fully so I could rush his only untapped Vampire to tap him and then bleed twice with the Codex for my oust. Alex N now played Millicent Smith and unfortunately the game was stuck running the wrong way because of Alex G’s Reversal of Fortunes. Me and Jonas S, who was in a really bad position, decided to work against Alex N. He definitely had the combat to take care of the imbued and I had no real way of dealing with them other then bleeding, bleeding and bleeding. I had to burn Danielle Diron to get rid of Millicent Smith so Jonas could act with his single vampire. Alex put out a second Millicent Smith and I this time had to burn one of my 5-caps. Jonas couldn’t stop the Imbued and I got stuck in a hopeless duel with only two vampires against his four hunters. Too bad.
Alexander N GW 4VP
Me 1VP

The main problem with the deck this tournament was the inability to handle allies. In the first and third game that was what killed me. If I could have tapped Adam’s allies I would have ousted him and probably at least one more prey. In the third game I would have won if I could have passed the Imbued some way. The second game were just one of those games that you lose and those games do happen.
If anyone has some suggestion of how to handle allies with the deck – feel free to comment. I will let it rest for a while and rebuild it in the future. It is very fun to play so I don’t want to give it up.

Swedish ECQ 2010 - Tournament report

If you have read this you know what deck I played and what my goal was. As some of you already know the tournament didn't go that well for me. Here is what happened:

Round 1
Alex Gyhlesten (Euralye & friends) -> Robert Doktorow (Weenie Presence) -> Me -> Ola ? (Blood Brothers Kiev Circle bloat and bleed)
This game I never really had a chance. I was bled heavily, Pentexed and Mind Numbed to death. Alex had a terrible crypt draw (his first 6 vampires were 4xEuralye and 2xKieth Moody) and he didn't get Heidelberg Castle. Ola put some pressure on him as well. Robert had his back free and got an easy table sweep.
Robert Gw 4Vp



Round 2
Daniel ? (Tzimisce toolbox) -> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Girls will find..) -> Tomas ? (Giovanni powerbleed) -> Me -> Jonas ? (Some kind of Brujah Celerity combat)
Also a quick game for me but this time some of my destiny was in my own hands. Tomas was early scared of Isak and he tried to deal with me deflecting bleeds to him. This was a really difficult moment for me because I had no Deflections in my hand. Of course I couldn't out that but on the same time pretending to be willing to accept the deal in a near future could be my only rescue of being bled out by his four vampires. I told him I would like to see how the game turned out for a while before making my decision and I got an easy round. I tried desperately to cycle cards because a single deflection would probably have given me my first vp as Jonas didn't do anything and started to go low on pool. However I saw no Deflection and in the following round I was bled out. Tomas then drew very few bleed cards and he couldn't oust Jonas before Isak ousted him and then Isak had an easy drive home.
Isak Gw 4Vp
Tomas 1Vp

Round 3
Me -> Ralf Lammert (Legacy of Pander) -> Magnus ? (!Salubri wall) -> Randal Rudstam (Ani/Pro tap&bleed&block) Mikael Grane (War Ghouls)
Ralf got a good start being the only voter on the table. Magnus was low on pool and it was a critical moment where I decided to go all out against Ralf. He played three Telepathic Misdirecions in that round and Magnus was defenately withing ousting range. I played a Delaying Tactics on Ralf's Kine Resources Contested the following turn but he then outed his first Conservative Agitation and the first Victory Point was his. The War Ghouls kept rushing me but my famed Arcadian only went to torpor once because I drew all Fae Contortions at the right moments and he didn't play any manoeuvres. I actually killed two War Ghouls with Earth Swords and Target Vitals to my predator's great surprise and annoyance. Randal played very good and he blocked almost everything Ralf did. Mikael did his best rushing and bleeding my but I survived his rushes and deflected his bleeds to Ralf and when my library got near to the end I managed to oust Ralf. Randal then got Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers (a card he borrowed from me before the tournament) and with Heidelberg Castle he could easily bleed out both Mikael and me. I made a mistake not destroying the codex with the Anarch Troublemaker while I could but I doubt that it should have had any impact on the results.
Randal Gw 3Vp
Me 1Vp
Ralf 1Vp

Even with a pretty quick and powerful deck that I played I didn't manage to succeed with my goals. There is nothing really wrong about my deck although I'm going to change some minor things in it. The two Taste of Vitae is going to be another Deflection and another Conditioning. I never used the tastes in the tournament and there is room for more bounce and bleed. The real problem is that this deck is not quick enough when facing many other destructive and quicker decks. It also has problems facing wall decks and if it contained more stealth I would maybe have had a chance of a game win in the last game. Perhaps there is room for a Shadow Play or two in the deck. Since I also was almost out of cards in the last game it maybe should go up to around 80. I will modify the deck slightly and keep it and try again.
I feel I learned some during the tournament and hopefully I will be able to bring that knowledge with me and become a better player. In the first round I couldn't do anything but not many first preys of a good weenie presence deck can. In the second round I should probably have been able to talk the table into letting me survive long enough to oust my prey. The third game's mistake together with my library being ousted made it an impossible task at the end.
Even if I was ousted very early in the two first games I had a fun tournament and hopefully I will return stronger next time.

GothCon 2010 Annual Draft - Tournament report

30 players showed up for this event and we drafted 4 boosters of Third Edition and 4 boosters of Keepers of Tradition in 3 pods of 10 players each. The 8 booster draft was actually my work annoying the organizers about having a draft without recursion making it harder to build a good deck. I had decided to build a Malkavian before we started and stuck to that plan even if it probably wasn't the best. I could have drafted an Excellent Lasombra deck from the cards I saw during the drafting of the four first boosters. Here is all the cards I drafted:

Crypt [25 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 10 average: 6.56
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Ankou, The 10 AUS DEM OBF Malkavian:5
2x Lord Fianna 8 AUS DEM OBF cel pro Malkavian:5
1x Melinda Galbraith 10 AUS CEL DOM POT PRE obt cardinal Lasombra:4
1x Mictlantecuhtli 10 ANI FOR POT THA pre pro Gangrel:5
1x Konrad Fleischer 9 ANI AUS DOM FOR tha !Ventrue:4
1x Ariadne 8 ANI FOR PRO chi Gangrel:5
1x Carlak 8 CEL PRE dom pot prince Brujah:5
1x Conrad Adoula 8 DOM OBT POT ani cel Lasombra:4
1x Stavros 7 AUS OBF PRE dem priscus !Malkavian:4
1x Drusilla Euphemia 6 AUS OBF dem vic !Malkavian:4
1x Frere Marc 6 PRO THA aus for !Gangrel:4
1x Humo 6 ANI POT obf obt !Nosferatu:4
1x Joseph DiGiaccomo 6 PRE aus dom for Ventrue:5
1x Ryszard 6 CEL OBF pre pro bishop !Gangrel:4
1x Tears, The Dark Pi 6 AUS DEM PRE cel !Toreador:4
1x Arthur Denholm 5 AUS DEM obf Malkavian:5
1x Frank Litzpar 5 OBF ani for pot !Nosferatu:4
1x Luc 5 OBF dem vic !Malkavian:4
1x Paul Calderone 4 cel pot pre Brujah:5
1x Portia 4 for pre pro Ventrue:5
1x Andre LeRoux 3 aus Toreador:5
1x Kalila 3 aus obf Malkavian:5
1x Lynn Thompson 3 cel pot Brujah:5


Library [63 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [11]
1x Dark Mirror of the Mind
1x Dive into Madness
2x Kindred Spirits
2x Loki's Gift
1x Political Struggle
1x Revelations
2x Sleep of Reason
1x Total Insanity

Action Modifier [8]
1x Elder Impersonation
1x Faceless Night
1x Mask of a Thousand Faces
1x Perfect Paragon
1x Private Audience
1x Serenading the Kami
1x Telepathic Vote Counting
1x Veil the Legions

Ally [3]
1x Courier
1x Escaped Mental Patient
1x Young Bloods

Combat [12]
1x Acrobatics
1x Blur
1x Chiropteran Marauder
2x Kraken's Kiss
1x Meld with the Land
1x Reality Mirror
1x Rego Motus
1x Resilience
1x Sacrament of Carnage
2x Torrent

Equipment [2]
1x IR Goggles
1x Monocle of Clarity

Event [1]
1x Unmasking, The

Master [12]
1x Anarch Revolt
1x Asylum Hunting Ground
1x Frontal Assault
2x Gangrel Conspiracy
2x Major Boon
2x Rack, The
3x Zillah's Valley

Political Action [5]
1x Dogs of War
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Templar
1x Toreador Justicar
1x Ventrue Justicar

Reaction [8]
1x Delaying Tactics
1x Guard Dogs
1x Legwork
1x Shattered Mirror
2x Telepathic Misdirection
1x Voice of Madness
1x Wrong and Crosswise

Retainer [1]
1x Charnas the Imp

And here is the deck I built:

Deck Name : The Ankou eats the world but is never influenced out
Author : Stefan Karlsson

Crypt [8 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 10 average: 7.375
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Ankou, The 10 AUS DEM OBF Malkavian:5
2x Lord Fianna 8 AUS DEM OBF cel pro Malkavian:5
1x Stavros 7 AUS OBF PRE dem priscus !Malkavian:4
1x Drusilla Euphemia 6 AUS OBF dem vic !Malkavian:4
1x Arthur Denholm 5 AUS DEM obf Malkavian:5
1x Luc 5 OBF dem vic !Malkavian:4


Library [40 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [8]
1x Dark Mirror of the Mind
1x Dive into Madness
2x Kindred Spirits
1x Revelations
2x Sleep of Reason
1x Total Insanity

Action Modifier [5]
1x Elder Impersonation
1x Faceless Night
1x Mask of a Thousand Faces
1x Telepathic Vote Counting
1x Veil the Legions

Ally [2]
1x Escaped Mental Patient
1x Young Bloods

Combat [4]
1x Acrobatics
1x Chiropteran Marauder
1x Meld with the Land
1x Reality Mirror

Equipment [2]
1x IR Goggles
1x Monocle of Clarity

Master [10]
1x Anarch Revolt
1x Asylum Hunting Ground
1x Frontal Assault
2x Major Boon
2x Rack, The
3x Zillah's Valley

Political Action [1]
1x Political Stranglehold

Reaction [8]
1x Delaying Tactics
1x Guard Dogs
1x Legwork
1x Shattered Mirror
2x Telepathic Misdirection
1x Voice of Madness
1x Wrong and Crosswise

When I built the deck I had 9 useful vampires to chose from so it was all good. Too bad only that I only had 32 usable cards in my library. I had to put in 8 junk or corner case cards to reach the limit of 40. As I always do in draft I didn't expect this deck to do anything good at all but I was wrong (and a little lucky) this time.

Round 1
Caroline Hyll (mixed - lots of minions) -> Me -> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (ventrue/gangrel something) -> Tom ? (Malkavian with Presence) - > Magnus ? (Lasombra something)
I brought out Arthur Denholm and Stavros. My Anarch Revolt did some damage and my deck survived pretty well until midgame where Caroline grew too strong and it was just a matter of time until I should be ousted. Magnus had a hard time with Tom's stealthed bleeds and was the first to go. Isak went low on pool and with two Telepathic Misdirections on hand I saw my chance of ousting him before being ousted by Caroline but instead I had to use one of them for intercept to block a back ousting vote from Isak. Guess what I replaced it with? Yes, Delaying Tactics. Caroline Bled me out, some deal attempts were made but nothing more happened before time limit was exceeded.
Caroline 1.5vp
Tom 1.5vp
Isak 0.5vp

Round 2
Henrik Ericsson (Malkavian featuring Mary Anne Blaire) -> Me -> Joakim ? (Sha-Ennu) -> Torbjörn ? (Lasombra)
This time I got Lord Fianna in play and soon he performed Dive into Madness for a premanent bleed of 2 at 1 stealth. I also got the Anarch Revolt on the table in my first round doing some damage to the whole table. My prey and grandprey played a little too defensive I think, being short on intercept, and I managed to oust them both pretty easily. Henrik bloated like crazy with Mary Anne and it was not until the duel I started blocking him. He had a Muddled Vampire Hunter in play and it was hard trying to keep all my vampires at 4 or more blood all the time. However Fianna and his dived madness was too good not to succeed and I had intercept at hand at just the right times to block Henrik's attempts at removing Dive into Madness.
Me gw 4vp

I got the 8th place and that was more than I hoped for so for once I am happy with my result.

Alltid rött alltid rätt - Tournament Report

We suffered from the Greater Curse of Eleven Players and I had a bad feeling about that from the start. Fortunately I wasn't playing in the first round so I both had the time to do some scouting and play two games of Battle Line with Alex. I knew from scouting that it would be a hard time for me reaching the finals with my specialized deck.

Round 2
Me -> Ida Olsson (Laibon Ravnos Breed/Boon) -> Roger Carhult (Nakthoreb Trafficing) -> Alex Ek (Ventrue Breed/Boon) -> Peter ??? (Followers Bleed/Entice)
My predator had a hard time with Alex getting a great start. I wasn't bled for more than I could handle which was furtunate since my crypt draw wasn't the best. I started with three Anarch Converts and one Delilah Monroe. The top two vampires in my crypt turned out to be the remaining two Anarch Converts so it took a while before I could get my first Baron. I also didn't draw any vote master until late mid-game so I spent most of the game with no permanent votes. The breeding worked fine since the whole table was completely intercept-free and Alex helped me pass some Con Boons for survival and even some Kines.

Roger fought hard and managed to corrupt some Embraces, Third Traditions and Tumnimoses from his prey and predator but it was just a matter of time before Alex got his first VP. Ida's vote engine started to work and in one round she succeeded with two Con Boons for a total of 16 pool. I had Revolutionary Council in hand and 8 Anarchs, one of them being Baron so I knew I could make Ida burn 14 pool with one action but not being able to handle the last two pool. I was also running low on pool and I made a deal with Alex that he would let me get my Victory Point before trying to oust me. I did my thing and Ida was on two pool. Alex turned out to have the perfect hand so after some bleeds and two 3-1 Kines he ousted me and Ida at the same time. Sad times and a beautifully sneaky way of honouring his deal.
I should have played it cool. I had the Museum in play and I could demand to bloat for some rounds before damaging Ida. Alex would probably have had to work with me anyhow since Ida would have been too strong without me being able to deal her massive damage. Bad mistake but a good game.
Alex GW 2.5VP Me 1VP Roger 0.5VP

Round 3
Me -> Martin Svenneryd (Beast&Co Combat) -> Mattias Thörnkvist (True Brujah/Brujah something) -> Peter Kärrberg (Akunanse Toolbox)
I knew I would never get trough my first prey without help. The situation wasn't better since he had seen me execute the Revolutionary Council for 14 in the previous round. Fortunately Peter had been slammed by his combat in round 2 so he wasn't willing to oust me before I ousted Martin.
Both me and Mattias got a good share of Potence and Animalism-combat in our faces while Peter was free to do his set-up. Soon Martin had both Information Network and Rumour Mill in play plus intercept-reactions on hand so my Barons couldn't act at all since I only had Creepshow Casino in play. I made him take some vote damage and the whole table was turned against him. Peter and I made a deal he shouldn't oust me before I ousted Martin. This time I thought I would prepare for a double-oust and getting 12 fresh pool for the duel since Mattias was totally crippled but I influenced one vampire too many to my controlled region. Peter was able to do the same thing Alex did to me the round before with an Anarchist Uprising ousting me and Martin at the same time. Who was the fool of the day?
Peter GW 3VP Me 1VP

I made one mistake in each game against smart predators and that cost me the chances of entering the finals. The greatest lesson learned from this is that it is hard to play a specialized deck that focuses on only one strategy. I don't think I am a good enough player yet to succeed when I need to. I have to start playing safer decks for a while and analyzing the different aspects of the game before I try these crazy attempts again.
There is nothing wrong with the deck I played. I will keep it for a while but the three Dodges will probably be traded for one more Con Boon, one more damaging vote and a third copy of Conductor. There are also some new cards to play with from Heirs to the Blood and most of the Con Boons should be traded for Benefit Performances. About half of the Kines should be Lily Preludes as well but other than that none of the new cards adds anything good to this deck.

Nordlicht - Tournament Report and EAE1 Aftermath

12 players attended the tournament which meant only 4-player tables, something I thought would be good for my deck. That was today's first mistake. To see my decklist and expectations, read this.

Round 1
Anders Löf (Nos/!Nos with Dominate) - Me - Alex Ek (G3-4 Lawfirm) - Archibald Zimonyi (!Tor Aus/Cel Guns)
Anders brings out Julio Martinez and try to by some time playing Pentex on him but he has a Sudden Reversal at hand. My setup works okay but I soon suffer a Canine Horde from Anders. He quickly grows powerful as he has no pressure from Archie who suffers a serious red card hand jam. Alex also builds up and goes a little too low on pool, exactly where I want him.
When things start to look hopeful and I have started my forward hurting with a new chainsaw Anders finishes his series of Ashur Tablets and brings his Canine Horde back on hand and shuffling his one copy of Sudden Reversal back into his library. He now has three minions and two of them with dominate. I am pretty low on pool since I have suffered some bleeds and paid for a lot of equipment. I try to Pentex backwards again but Anders has drawn his Sudden and I have to oust Alex in two rounds to not die to Deep Song and Govern bleeds. I need Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers but have no Magic of the Smith in hand so I go for heavy card cycling. Unfortunately Alex manages to oust Archie but I still have one more chance with Fame and Magic of the Smith in hand.
Then I play like an ass. I have Heidelberg out and play Villein as a safety play if Alex somehow manages to stop my ousting plan, leaving 2 blood each on Mictlantecuhtli and Jayakumar (my only two minions). I play Fame on one of Alex's vampires and play Magic of the Smith with Mictlantecuhtli to get the Codex. Only I should have left one more blood on him to be able to Freak Drive and take the needed action but instead I fail to oust and I'm dead in Anders' next round. I don't think ousting Alex would have been enough to get my deck on its feet again for the game win but it was a terrible mistake.
Anders 3, Alex 1


Round 2
Rune Eriksson (Tor Guns) - Anders - Erik Cardell (Nos Royalty) - Me
Erik plays some early Zillah's Valley and hands me some pool damage before I get Mictlantecuhtli out. I play Pentex on Lord of the Clog and Anders helps me rushing Erik's other vampire to keep him from doing too much damage to me. I struggle a bit to get my chainsaw out and am dangerously low on pool when it's time to go for some action. I manage to cripple Erik and it looks like a Victory Point for Anders but my next plan is to get him and play duel against the guns deck, a battle I should be able to win.
Then Erik plays Temptation of Greater Power on Kikayaon who has Talbot's Chainsaw and Ivory Bow. Erik and I have 5 pool each but Rune and Anders have somewhere above 10 each. I of course bids my maximum 9 pool but Rune and Anders keeps bidding and Anders wins with 13 pool. Erik goes out in style and I'm quick to follow. Rune struggles a bit but Anders has grown too powerful.
Anders 4

Round 3
Simon ? (Aus/Obf Disguised Agg Weapon Rötschreck) - Alex - Me - Erik Torstensson (Large cap Master Card Galore)
If I struggled in the previous game to get the chainsaw this game it was even harder. I tried to equip it the old fashioned way but was blocked by the lawfirm. I got a Freak Drive DI'd and another saw DI2'd. Meanwhile my cross-table buddy goes low on pool and eventually gets ousted. I should have interfered with him influencing out his last minion because I know how heavy Erik's deck bleeds but I made the mistake believing he had more intercept and wake than he actually did.
Now a loose deal was formed between the two musketeers Erik and Alex wanting me (who eventually equipped the saw via The Sargon Fragment and having three minions) ousted. I had to destroy them both quickly to stand a chance. I got Giant's Blood Washed and didn't have enough blood to rush enough times to neutralize Alex. Instead he could bounce Erik's stealthed bleeds to me and yet again game over with no victory points.
Erik 3, Alex 1

Conclusion
I'm very disappointed. I got 0 victory points and unfortunately I don't have much of an analysis to give you. This deck is too weak. There are way to many things in the game that stops it from working properly. Sure, it is scary and a killer if it's allowed to do it's job but problem is it isn't. If I had played better I would have gotten at least one victory point and maybe more but I would not have had a chance in the finals with two decks packing Canine Horde and one deck packing Heroic Might. Not to mention all DI's and other tech that works against it.
One thing I actually did learn: Always calculate your whole turn and don't just have two blood if you are planning in playing Magic of the Smith followed by a Freak Drive.
I realise this is a pretty mediocre analysis but I will make it up to you by making another better one next time. That's a promise.