Tournament Report - Road to Budapest 1/5

Yesterday I have returned from my friends cottage, where the tournament was held. After lot of thinking and some drinking and some unforseen complications I decided to once again play my Guruhi vote. Well i should have taken one of my less tested decks, because this tournament was like punch to the face.

1st game:

[Potomek] Baali politics - [Me] Guruhi vote - [Jožka] Arika vote - [Faldys] Tremere toolbox - [Bik] Dom/obf swarm bleed

I was screwed right from the start. No magaji showed and I was unable to pass any offensive politics forward. Potomek was ousted really quickly, only one action from him passed and it was Reckless agitation backwards. Faldys died shortly after this and I was trying to survive by passing some KRC backwards.At this point, game just stopped. Bik could not oust me fas enough and I was treathening him with backwards played KRC to prevent him from trying. I was unable to pas any vote forward, because Arika achieved vote lock and Arika was slowly trying to finish this table. In the end, Jožka managed to oust us both. Me 0 VP.

2nd game:

[Shimi] Cel/Pre bleed + guns - [Potomek] Baali politics - [Kunče] Gangrel Raven spy/Earth Meld wall - [Medard] Spirit marionette bleed - [Me] Guruhi politics

Well I was bled for more than 10 pool before my first action and I had to beg practically everyone including my prey to help me. I was able to survive in the end, but ended up with ousting out my own predator to do so. This just ended with basically the worst type of wall next to me. I was able to get 1 VP in the end but alover it was pretty bad game for me and I did not enjoy it at all. ME 1 VP

3rd game:
[Bik]  Dom/obf swarm bleed - [Medard] Spirit marionette bleed - [Kaczkin] Arika vote - [Kunče] Gangrel Raven spy/Earth Meld wall - [Me] Guruhi politics

Ok, so second time i met with worst type of block for me. It did not end well. Medard ousted Kaczkin just moments before Bik ousted him.  And then it just sucked. Basically it ended up with me being ousted in the end without chance. Blocked like 20 times and 2 times delayed. So 0 VP for me again.


This tournament sucked big time for me for a lot of reasons. First of all - pretty bad performance from my side. I think I played deck really good and not made any bad mistakes such as playing wrong cards or forgetting anything important, but balancing the game just sucked on my side. Well some players were playing pretty bad also (in my opinion) so balancing was nearly impossible, but still I am pretty dissapointed. I still haven't played good enough. Still experience is experience and I will keep that in mind for the next time.

In the end this deck won the tournament:

Deck Name: Tremere "Last minute" toolbox
Author: Michal Faldyna
Description:


Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=2 max=10 avg=6.5)
===============================================
 1x  Aisling Sturbridge                 5  dom AUS THA              Tremere:2
 1x  Blythe Candeleria                  3  aus THA                  Tremere:2
 1x  Cardano                            9  ani aus cel DOM FOR THA  Tremere:1
 1x  Cassandra, Magus Prime            10  cel pre AUS DOM THA      Tremere:1
 1x  Javier Montoya                     9  ani cel pre AUS THA      Tremere:2
 1x  Jing Wei                           3  dom tha                  Tremere:1
 1x  Justine, Elder of Dallas           8  obf AUS DOM THA          Tremere:1
 1x  Muaziz, Archon of Ulugh Beg        7  aus dom for THA          Tremere:2
 1x  Mustafa Rahman                     2  dom                      Tremere:2
 1x  Rebekka, Chantry Elder of Munich   8  pot AUS PRE THA          Tremere:2
 1x  Sarah Cobbler                      4  dom THA                  Tremere:1
 1x  Ulugh Beg, The Watcher            10  cel for pot AUS DOM THA  Tremere:1

Library (80 cards)
==================
Master (9)
 1x Lilith's Blessing
 3x Vessel
 5x Villein

Action (12)
 3x Fourth Tradition: The Accounting
 5x Govern the Unaligned
 1x Rutor's Hand
 3x Scouting Mission

Equipment (4)
 1x Bowl of Convergence
 1x Heart of Nizchetus
 1x Ivory Bow
 1x Kevlar Vest

Action Modifier (10)
 3x Bonding
 3x Conditioning
 4x Mirror Walk

Reaction (24)
 3x Deflection
 2x Eagle's Sight
 2x Enhanced Senses
 4x On the Qui Vive
 3x Precognition
 3x Spirit's Touch
 3x Telepathic Misdirection
 4x Wake with Evening's Freshness

Combat (21)
 8x Apportation
 2x Burst of Sunlight
 9x Theft of Vitae
 2x Walk of Flame

Created with Secret Library v0.9.3. (Feb 28, 2012 10:21:17)

It was built last minute before this tournament with a large hangover and limited cardpool. Most of other players were in same state, so this is probably why he won with this abomination:) Still congratulations.

Tournament ahead

As our next constructed tournament will be this saturday, I am once again unsure what to play. Granted our metagame has shifted from "What the hell is wrong with you guys?" combat heavy angle to more aggresive pool damaging decks and options are not as clear anymore. In this moment I have around 13-15 decks, which are spread from "fun to play" to "reasonably strong" and almost each one is an option. So this is not helping either.

I am surely not using any of my power bleed or stealth bleed decks, which are basically boring and I use them only for boosting my self esteem or gaining cheap points during league.

I am tempted to play on of the political decks, which I have used during EC, because I am fairly confident with them and both are very strong. But then no surprise from me.

Well my only block deck would be an option, but I have rebuilt it some time ago and never done proper testing.

Trujah bleed is definitely adept, but it is the same problem. I know it is strong, but i have played like one game with this deck.

I have recently tested some toolboxy and combat decks, but both are very hard to play at this moment. Our enviroment is still less combat heavy than usual, but on the other hand, there is still a lot more combat defense than usual, so once again challenge to play.

As usual, I will pick one right before tournament, but I will be back with at least tournament winning deck, but I will try to bring some photos or write report...

See you next time...