I have currently two unfinished posts and huge writters block, so I will try to start a series of short posts with my thoughts of some cards. They should be short, simple and from my personal point of view. I hope I will be able to finish at least these.
I was usualy against including this card when it came to deckbuilding. My reasoning was, that this is very unreliable card - you cannot play lots of it, you will never have it when you need it and it will often end up as a dead card. I ended up with 0 coppies in all of my decks, including those, that would really used this card.
But yesterday, in a process of modifying one of my more retarded decks, I discovered, that I have ran out of them and I am using them more and more. I have started to think about, what has led to a such huge change in my deckbuilding.
Only thing I have came up is, that this is just another aftershock from introducing villein to the game. And yes I know, that it happened a long time ago, but since the ceaseproduction of this game, developments of new decks and strategies are slowing down and Villein has become permanent part of Vtes tournament scene. And if you are playing mid to high caps, why don't just throw one in. If you are able to villein same minion twice for almost all of his blood, it can be a gamechanger. And that is of course most extreme case.
When constructing deck, which has need for some blood gain these days, I just put Giant's there, because I just cannot let others benefit from this huge advantage. I have few deck, where I can benefit a lot from playing this card, but on the other hand, there are decks, that will just benefit more. I often end up playing it early for not much benefit, but just denying playing others is often enough. This has led me to adding this card to more and more decks and this trend will probably last.
In the end, I really do not like this card. Its effect on each game is much more based on luck, than it should be. I would be satisfied with changing "Only one Giant's Blood can be played in a game." to "Each player can play only one Giant's Blood in a game." or even ban this card altogether.
I know there are lot of people, that they are satisfied with the way it is, and I am not surprised. To issue errata or ban cards in dead game is further complicating things, but with this card, I belive that is just not right to let a card, that has this much luck/strength potential in the game.
Once again, this post is a lot longer, than intended from start and I will end it here. I will be back with some more cards soon an probably some other topics.
See you next time...
Friday, January 18, 2013
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Back from the EC report 4/4 - Everything else
I realy wanted to write extensive report with everything else, that was going on when we were attending EC, but I realized, that I have stretched this report already into four parts and well who has been there, already knows and who has not... well the details just will not be so important. So lets do this:
1) Hotel - I realy liked the place. From the first time I entered lobby with man in tuxedo playing piano, I knew I will buy myself beer and have a moment sitting there and listening to him (which i did). I enjoyed the stay alot and although the staff might not be always in understanding of such convention such as EC, I think it was pretty cost/effective stay and had great premises for this tournament.
2) Organizers - Willing. Helpful. Competent. Wow. What else could you wish for?
3) Oganization - I must say, that it was near perfect. Minimum delays because first rounds were not starting as early as usual. More time to find food and eat without rush. This all resolved in much less delays than last year, but finals were ending soooo late. Well, you cannot have everything. But this setting was much more comfortable for me. More time to sleep off hangovers and eating in peace works for me really good.
4) English - last year I had few situations on the table, where not everyone was able to properly understand basic table talk and those who had most problems actually chose decks, that relied heavily on table talk. This year it was much better. Even more. I have met so many people, that left me speechless. I am not a beginner, but wow, there were so many guys, that were speaking so briliantly, that I was actually ashamed of my english.
5) Funny games - Compared to last year, there were a lot more of people, which were joking around, willing to have some fun during a game even on Day 2. Maybe I was lucky this year, but wow, even when the games were pretty serious until the absolute end of time limit, they were enjoyable and I was very pleased with that.
6) Tournament support - I just loved the T-shirts, mugs and all the other stuff, that you could get there. And of course it was cool that people at LCQ received Lilith's Blessing, because this card is just getting anoying to purchase for a lot of people and it just should not. Playing Nations Cup, I did not receive one, but you can't have it all:)
----------------------------------------------------------
7) Archon randomization - I have ranted about this for some time now, but at the EC, this "program" showed its worst. Day one I was at five player table, when there were 3 czech players and met a czech player at second and third table as well. (there were 12 czech players at day1) And those czech players also met on other tables, since Archon splits players into little subgroups and rotates players within them. Personaly, I am fed up with that and I hope with my friend we will devise something better, while still retaining basic rules for player seating.
The last one is probably only thing, that I did not like. I know, that this is not fault of organizers, but after all that great stuff, it bugged me a lot.
For some time now, I did not have enough time to write longer posts and I have been doing them in stretched periodsm oart after part and I think I am now somewhat lacking consistency between and sometimes even within them. I will try to shorten my posts and fill them with more concetrated content.
So one last shoutout - to orgaizers, for doing great job with this event, to winners for proving, that they are very good players, to everyone who attended, because without you, this game would not be as great as it is. I hope we all will meet next year in Stockholm.
See you next time...
1) Hotel - I realy liked the place. From the first time I entered lobby with man in tuxedo playing piano, I knew I will buy myself beer and have a moment sitting there and listening to him (which i did). I enjoyed the stay alot and although the staff might not be always in understanding of such convention such as EC, I think it was pretty cost/effective stay and had great premises for this tournament.
2) Organizers - Willing. Helpful. Competent. Wow. What else could you wish for?
3) Oganization - I must say, that it was near perfect. Minimum delays because first rounds were not starting as early as usual. More time to find food and eat without rush. This all resolved in much less delays than last year, but finals were ending soooo late. Well, you cannot have everything. But this setting was much more comfortable for me. More time to sleep off hangovers and eating in peace works for me really good.
4) English - last year I had few situations on the table, where not everyone was able to properly understand basic table talk and those who had most problems actually chose decks, that relied heavily on table talk. This year it was much better. Even more. I have met so many people, that left me speechless. I am not a beginner, but wow, there were so many guys, that were speaking so briliantly, that I was actually ashamed of my english.
5) Funny games - Compared to last year, there were a lot more of people, which were joking around, willing to have some fun during a game even on Day 2. Maybe I was lucky this year, but wow, even when the games were pretty serious until the absolute end of time limit, they were enjoyable and I was very pleased with that.
6) Tournament support - I just loved the T-shirts, mugs and all the other stuff, that you could get there. And of course it was cool that people at LCQ received Lilith's Blessing, because this card is just getting anoying to purchase for a lot of people and it just should not. Playing Nations Cup, I did not receive one, but you can't have it all:)
----------------------------------------------------------
7) Archon randomization - I have ranted about this for some time now, but at the EC, this "program" showed its worst. Day one I was at five player table, when there were 3 czech players and met a czech player at second and third table as well. (there were 12 czech players at day1) And those czech players also met on other tables, since Archon splits players into little subgroups and rotates players within them. Personaly, I am fed up with that and I hope with my friend we will devise something better, while still retaining basic rules for player seating.
The last one is probably only thing, that I did not like. I know, that this is not fault of organizers, but after all that great stuff, it bugged me a lot.
For some time now, I did not have enough time to write longer posts and I have been doing them in stretched periodsm oart after part and I think I am now somewhat lacking consistency between and sometimes even within them. I will try to shorten my posts and fill them with more concetrated content.
So one last shoutout - to orgaizers, for doing great job with this event, to winners for proving, that they are very good players, to everyone who attended, because without you, this game would not be as great as it is. I hope we all will meet next year in Stockholm.
See you next time...
Friday, November 2, 2012
Back from the EC report 3/4 - Day 2
So last year when I got spanked on EC, I met only one deck which realy excited me - Djordje Bjelajac's deck, which in the end won that years FCQ. I got so excited, that I wanted to built deck, that was inspired by him, but not direct copy. I have actualy started with Marry Anne Blaire and Scout Youngwood combo but ended up with something little different. After looking once on the winning decklist, I have continued to develop this deck my own way, although there may be some similarities, since I have encountered at least one deck, that looked very similar so I guess I was not really original in this way. Here is the decklist:
Deck Name: Scout and Friends
Author: Silmegil
Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=8 max=10 avg=8.92)
================================================
1x Annazir 9 DAI OBF POT PRE Baali:5
3x Dmitra Ilyanova 9 obf CEL FOR POT PRE Brujah:5
1x Mary Anne Blaire 10 ani pot AUS DOM FOR PRE Ventrue:5
1x Montecalme 10 obt AUS CEL DOM PRE Toreador:5
3x Scout Youngwood 8 for qui MEL OBF PRE Daughter of Cacophony:6
3x Undele 9 obf pre ser CEL FOR Ishtarri:5
Library (60 cards)
==================
Master (17)
2x Golconda: Inner Peace
1x Legendary Vampire
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Temptation of Greater Power
6x Villein
6x Zillah's Valley
Action (6)
6x Shattering Crescendo
Political Action (12)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment
5x Kine Resources Contested
4x Parity Shift
1x Political Stranglehold
Action Modifier (19)
1x Approximation of Loyalty
2x Bewitching Oration
2x Cloak the Gathering
1x Daring the Dawn
4x Forgotten Labyrinth
1x Kiss of Ra, The
2x Perfect Paragon
2x Virtuosa
4x Voter Captivation
Combo (6)
6x Force of Personality
Created with Secret Library v0.9.4a. (Oct 31, 2012 16:36:58)
First Round:
Girls deck - Tzimisce rush - Me - Dominate/Protean midcaps - Ishtarri vote
The game started great - got zillahs, villeins, my predator was only bleeding me, so I was passing parity shifts. Got out all three main vampires and then I totaly screwed up. I cycled force of personality instead of keeping it and my scout got rushed and amaranthed. After that I tried to make deal with a girls deck to help me pass two anarch uprisings i got in my hand - we would both get VP by this. Well thanks to Delaying Tactics, Direct Intervention and in the end even Dark Influences, I was not able to pass any political cards at all. I was able to oust my prey, but after that my new prey contested Undele with me. With Scout Youngwood burned and Undele contested, this game has ended for me, giving 1GW and 4 VP to Girls deck.
Second round:
Ravnos sensory deprivations and bleed - Unmada + Scout deck - Me - Aus weenies with anarch revolts - Brujah princes
I knew this game would be hell fro the first aus weenie. Got out Dmitra and when Scout youngwood popped on my back, I knew we will have problem. So I dealt with my predator - I will not contest his Scout if he will not contest my Undele. I knew that my deck does not have enough stealth to go against my prey so I tried to play very defensive, bleeding for one, borrowing montreal and so on.My prey ousted Brujah princes in the end and I was not able to do anything about it. Montreal was going around the table and the game looked like easy win for aus weenie. After that, game got a little turnaround. My predator killed aus weenie, because he knew that even when he could kill me, he could not finish my prey after that. I was able to oust Ravnost deck right after that and we got into a heads up with my predator. I got crescendoed pretty hard, but then time ran out. I am not sure how this game would end, but it would have been pretty close. 1 GW 2,5 VPs for me.
Third round:
Setite bleed/enticement - Me - Saulot spirit marionette - weenie pre politics - Ventrue grinder with Lodin
I had good start but after a while Dmitra was contesting her title, whoch realy slowed me down and even when I fot my title back, it was already too late for my predator and grandprey. I was getting some pool each turn thanks to villeins, parity shifts, stranglehold and votercaps, but my prey was bleeding me thanks to numerous deflection and it helped my predator to realy cycle his hand every turn and I have fallen less than 5 minutes before time ran out and my prey died right after time limit ended, but since our game had extra 10 seconds, it was right on time. I believe, that I could have time outed this game, if I wanted, but it just is not the type of player I am. This game was won fair and GW was awarded rightfully.
I ended up with 1 GW and 3,5 VP and I was calm, because even if there were a lot of timeouts, I was sure, that I am nowhere near the finals. My surprise was, that I have ended on SIXTH place, missing finals by 0,5 VP. Knowing, that I came that close and did not make it into finals, was at the moment much more devastating, than ending somewhere at the bottom. I must have checked results like five times, before I was totaly sure. We had to go home asap after that, so we were not waiting for finals and I did not end up in most friendly mood after the tournament. Looking back now and comparing how I ended last year and this year, the improvement shows and I am glad, that I could at least prove, that Vtes still lives in Czech republic and we have some good players. Regarding my deck, I think it is pretty close to perfect for my playstyle.
This is basicaly it for all my games on the EC and I will be ending this post, but I will be back soon, because I want to write little about all those other things, that EC is about. So this is it for a now.
See you next time....
Deck Name: Scout and Friends
Author: Silmegil
Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=8 max=10 avg=8.92)
================================================
1x Annazir 9 DAI OBF POT PRE Baali:5
3x Dmitra Ilyanova 9 obf CEL FOR POT PRE Brujah:5
1x Mary Anne Blaire 10 ani pot AUS DOM FOR PRE Ventrue:5
1x Montecalme 10 obt AUS CEL DOM PRE Toreador:5
3x Scout Youngwood 8 for qui MEL OBF PRE Daughter of Cacophony:6
3x Undele 9 obf pre ser CEL FOR Ishtarri:5
Library (60 cards)
==================
Master (17)
2x Golconda: Inner Peace
1x Legendary Vampire
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Temptation of Greater Power
6x Villein
6x Zillah's Valley
Action (6)
6x Shattering Crescendo
Political Action (12)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment
5x Kine Resources Contested
4x Parity Shift
1x Political Stranglehold
Action Modifier (19)
1x Approximation of Loyalty
2x Bewitching Oration
2x Cloak the Gathering
1x Daring the Dawn
4x Forgotten Labyrinth
1x Kiss of Ra, The
2x Perfect Paragon
2x Virtuosa
4x Voter Captivation
Combo (6)
6x Force of Personality
Created with Secret Library v0.9.4a. (Oct 31, 2012 16:36:58)
First Round:
Girls deck - Tzimisce rush - Me - Dominate/Protean midcaps - Ishtarri vote
The game started great - got zillahs, villeins, my predator was only bleeding me, so I was passing parity shifts. Got out all three main vampires and then I totaly screwed up. I cycled force of personality instead of keeping it and my scout got rushed and amaranthed. After that I tried to make deal with a girls deck to help me pass two anarch uprisings i got in my hand - we would both get VP by this. Well thanks to Delaying Tactics, Direct Intervention and in the end even Dark Influences, I was not able to pass any political cards at all. I was able to oust my prey, but after that my new prey contested Undele with me. With Scout Youngwood burned and Undele contested, this game has ended for me, giving 1GW and 4 VP to Girls deck.
Second round:
Ravnos sensory deprivations and bleed - Unmada + Scout deck - Me - Aus weenies with anarch revolts - Brujah princes
I knew this game would be hell fro the first aus weenie. Got out Dmitra and when Scout youngwood popped on my back, I knew we will have problem. So I dealt with my predator - I will not contest his Scout if he will not contest my Undele. I knew that my deck does not have enough stealth to go against my prey so I tried to play very defensive, bleeding for one, borrowing montreal and so on.My prey ousted Brujah princes in the end and I was not able to do anything about it. Montreal was going around the table and the game looked like easy win for aus weenie. After that, game got a little turnaround. My predator killed aus weenie, because he knew that even when he could kill me, he could not finish my prey after that. I was able to oust Ravnost deck right after that and we got into a heads up with my predator. I got crescendoed pretty hard, but then time ran out. I am not sure how this game would end, but it would have been pretty close. 1 GW 2,5 VPs for me.
Third round:
Setite bleed/enticement - Me - Saulot spirit marionette - weenie pre politics - Ventrue grinder with Lodin
I had good start but after a while Dmitra was contesting her title, whoch realy slowed me down and even when I fot my title back, it was already too late for my predator and grandprey. I was getting some pool each turn thanks to villeins, parity shifts, stranglehold and votercaps, but my prey was bleeding me thanks to numerous deflection and it helped my predator to realy cycle his hand every turn and I have fallen less than 5 minutes before time ran out and my prey died right after time limit ended, but since our game had extra 10 seconds, it was right on time. I believe, that I could have time outed this game, if I wanted, but it just is not the type of player I am. This game was won fair and GW was awarded rightfully.
I ended up with 1 GW and 3,5 VP and I was calm, because even if there were a lot of timeouts, I was sure, that I am nowhere near the finals. My surprise was, that I have ended on SIXTH place, missing finals by 0,5 VP. Knowing, that I came that close and did not make it into finals, was at the moment much more devastating, than ending somewhere at the bottom. I must have checked results like five times, before I was totaly sure. We had to go home asap after that, so we were not waiting for finals and I did not end up in most friendly mood after the tournament. Looking back now and comparing how I ended last year and this year, the improvement shows and I am glad, that I could at least prove, that Vtes still lives in Czech republic and we have some good players. Regarding my deck, I think it is pretty close to perfect for my playstyle.
This is basicaly it for all my games on the EC and I will be ending this post, but I will be back soon, because I want to write little about all those other things, that EC is about. So this is it for a now.
See you next time....
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Back from the EC report 2/4 - Day 1
So after my not realy good performance at the nations cup, I went for something solid and tested by many before me, so I had chosen deck that I ripped off. I usualy do not like copying decks that much, but this time, I wanted to go for day 2 and this deck offered pretty good chances.
Deck Name: Edward Vignes Rip-off
Author: Silmegil
Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=3 max=7 avg=5)
============================================
1x Boss Callihan 5 dom for pro PRE Ventrue:3
1x Catherine du Bois 5 for obf pre DOM Ventrue:3
1x Diana Vick 3 dom pre Ventrue:3
3x Edward Vignes 6 for DOM PRE Ventrue:3
1x Elena Gutierrez 4 aus dom pre Ventrue:3
1x Gracis Nostinus 7 aus for DOM PRE Ventrue:3
1x Ingrid Russo 4 for DOM !Ventrue:2
1x Pieter van Dorn 4 dom pre tha Tremere:3
2x Ranjan Rishi, Camarilla Scholar 5 for DOM PRE Ventrue:2
Library (73 cards)
==================
Master (12)
2x Anarch Troublemaker
4x Blood Doll
1x Coven, The
1x Giant's Blood
1x Life in the City
1x Lilith's Blessing
1x Misdirection
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
Action (20)
4x Entrancement
11x Govern the Unaligned
5x Mind Numb
Action Modifier (20)
4x Bonding
7x Conditioning
3x Daring the Dawn
2x Foreshadowing Destruction
4x Seduction
Reaction (13)
7x Deflection
3x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive
1x Wake with Evening's Freshness
Combat (8)
8x Majesty
Created with Secret Library v0.9.4a. (Oct 31, 2012 00:46:52)
First game:
Me - Stanislava - Arika and friends - Jaroslav Pascek and friends - Ira Rivers block
Well this game started with me hating random again, since there were three players from Czech republic on this table - my predator and grandprey. Ira rivers did not show, so my predator tried to fish for him almost entire game with only two au weenies. I slowed down my prey with mind numb on Stanislava and second one on Illiana, but he stil had a great start and I had to be slow to get rid of his deflection and not damaging my prey too much. I tried to kill my prey, because my grandprey was dying, but I just did not have correct cards and this failed attempt made me slow. Stanislava was able to kill two players, before I was ready again, but before I could act, she had ousted third player with two Daring the dawn. I had to use two deflections to survive those misdirected bleeds for 6, so I stayed in the game. In the end, I was able to oust my prey, but it was too late and GW was already his. But it was not a bad start, so 2 VPs for me.
Second game:
Eurobrujah - Lutz anarch revolt - Me - Weenie Warghouls - Lutz and Unmada vote
Ok, another czech player on this table and it was my grandpredator. If you are asking why so little Czech players got to Day 2 - here is your answer - we kept meeting in our games and demolishing each other. My prey got a great start with first turn horatio, second turn jake washington, warghoul and unmasking. After that, he ran out of luck, drawing six more warghoul and no jakes. I ended up stealing his warghoul after he blocked my hunt. My predator brought out 3 anarch revolts, but ended up loosing 10 pool, when he discovered, that it is not lutz, who he influenced out, but another Anarch Convert. And this ended game for both of them. Both I and My predator managed to score VP and after a while I managed to oust my grandprey even. And after that I have made like the most stupid thing during entire tournament. I got total tunnel vision that I had to stop my predator from ruhing my minions as a priority. I had managed to torporize his Theo Bell with stolen Warghoul and he was left on one pool. I had two minions out, warghoul and there was no way, that he could do anything against me, but I was so focused on having spare minions, that I influenced out another one, leaving myself on 4 pool. You can imagine, what happened. Govern with seduction and foreshadowing. I was totaly mad at myself after this game. It was certain, that it will be 1GW and 4VPs for me, but I screwed it sooooo much. But what can you do. Two vps still left me in the game and I was putting all my hopes and efforts to third game.
Third game:
Unnamed bleed - !Toreador palla grande bleed - Me - Weenie nosferatu obf bleed/politics - Ventrue princes
And there was, surprise surprise, another czech player on this table. This time my grandprey. My prey was clever and left two or more of his minions untapped each turn, so it was not easy for me to go forward. I tried to go forward, but I got even bounced once - one of his minions had inferior dominate. This ended like a failed attempt because i did not draw into any bleed cards and managed to send anarch troublemaker to my grandprey. That was basicaly endgame for him. I had stabilized my hand with two deflections, two seductions, delaying tactics, pentex subversion and I continued to bleed for one with most of my minions and just waited for opportunity. My grandprey died, but I knew that there is nothing to do for him from my side and I was waiting for opportunity. It happened few turns after when I delayed con boon, deflected two bleeds at stealth, played pentex (only to cycle) - but was washed by my predator and then I have made two bleeds for three at 1 stealth and second with daring and I made sure that dominate weenie did not have blood to flick. Turn after I was able to oust girl who played Unnamed deck (her unnamed did not show for entire time), because she was already prety low on pool. In the heads up I was able to finish my predator and get 1 GW and 4 VP.
So that was enough for me to get to 12th place after the day 1 and thus qualifying for the Day 2. Sad thing was, that if I did not screw up second game, I would have been sitting in finals and even been top seed. After I had realized that, I got pretty mad on myself once again. Only thing that realy got my hopes up was that I had qualified for the second day. Unfortunately I was only one from czech republic. Seeing that I have faced (and have been stealing VPs) five players from Czech republic, this was really not fun for me - since to some point I have lowered their chances. I was pretty beaten up after this, so I went to sleep pretty soon and hoped for the best in Day 2. That is enough for the day 1 and I will be continuing in next part.
See you next time....
Deck Name: Edward Vignes Rip-off
Author: Silmegil
Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=3 max=7 avg=5)
============================================
1x Boss Callihan 5 dom for pro PRE Ventrue:3
1x Catherine du Bois 5 for obf pre DOM Ventrue:3
1x Diana Vick 3 dom pre Ventrue:3
3x Edward Vignes 6 for DOM PRE Ventrue:3
1x Elena Gutierrez 4 aus dom pre Ventrue:3
1x Gracis Nostinus 7 aus for DOM PRE Ventrue:3
1x Ingrid Russo 4 for DOM !Ventrue:2
1x Pieter van Dorn 4 dom pre tha Tremere:3
2x Ranjan Rishi, Camarilla Scholar 5 for DOM PRE Ventrue:2
Library (73 cards)
==================
Master (12)
2x Anarch Troublemaker
4x Blood Doll
1x Coven, The
1x Giant's Blood
1x Life in the City
1x Lilith's Blessing
1x Misdirection
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
Action (20)
4x Entrancement
11x Govern the Unaligned
5x Mind Numb
Action Modifier (20)
4x Bonding
7x Conditioning
3x Daring the Dawn
2x Foreshadowing Destruction
4x Seduction
Reaction (13)
7x Deflection
3x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive
1x Wake with Evening's Freshness
Combat (8)
8x Majesty
Created with Secret Library v0.9.4a. (Oct 31, 2012 00:46:52)
First game:
Me - Stanislava - Arika and friends - Jaroslav Pascek and friends - Ira Rivers block
Well this game started with me hating random again, since there were three players from Czech republic on this table - my predator and grandprey. Ira rivers did not show, so my predator tried to fish for him almost entire game with only two au weenies. I slowed down my prey with mind numb on Stanislava and second one on Illiana, but he stil had a great start and I had to be slow to get rid of his deflection and not damaging my prey too much. I tried to kill my prey, because my grandprey was dying, but I just did not have correct cards and this failed attempt made me slow. Stanislava was able to kill two players, before I was ready again, but before I could act, she had ousted third player with two Daring the dawn. I had to use two deflections to survive those misdirected bleeds for 6, so I stayed in the game. In the end, I was able to oust my prey, but it was too late and GW was already his. But it was not a bad start, so 2 VPs for me.
Second game:
Eurobrujah - Lutz anarch revolt - Me - Weenie Warghouls - Lutz and Unmada vote
Ok, another czech player on this table and it was my grandpredator. If you are asking why so little Czech players got to Day 2 - here is your answer - we kept meeting in our games and demolishing each other. My prey got a great start with first turn horatio, second turn jake washington, warghoul and unmasking. After that, he ran out of luck, drawing six more warghoul and no jakes. I ended up stealing his warghoul after he blocked my hunt. My predator brought out 3 anarch revolts, but ended up loosing 10 pool, when he discovered, that it is not lutz, who he influenced out, but another Anarch Convert. And this ended game for both of them. Both I and My predator managed to score VP and after a while I managed to oust my grandprey even. And after that I have made like the most stupid thing during entire tournament. I got total tunnel vision that I had to stop my predator from ruhing my minions as a priority. I had managed to torporize his Theo Bell with stolen Warghoul and he was left on one pool. I had two minions out, warghoul and there was no way, that he could do anything against me, but I was so focused on having spare minions, that I influenced out another one, leaving myself on 4 pool. You can imagine, what happened. Govern with seduction and foreshadowing. I was totaly mad at myself after this game. It was certain, that it will be 1GW and 4VPs for me, but I screwed it sooooo much. But what can you do. Two vps still left me in the game and I was putting all my hopes and efforts to third game.
Third game:
Unnamed bleed - !Toreador palla grande bleed - Me - Weenie nosferatu obf bleed/politics - Ventrue princes
And there was, surprise surprise, another czech player on this table. This time my grandprey. My prey was clever and left two or more of his minions untapped each turn, so it was not easy for me to go forward. I tried to go forward, but I got even bounced once - one of his minions had inferior dominate. This ended like a failed attempt because i did not draw into any bleed cards and managed to send anarch troublemaker to my grandprey. That was basicaly endgame for him. I had stabilized my hand with two deflections, two seductions, delaying tactics, pentex subversion and I continued to bleed for one with most of my minions and just waited for opportunity. My grandprey died, but I knew that there is nothing to do for him from my side and I was waiting for opportunity. It happened few turns after when I delayed con boon, deflected two bleeds at stealth, played pentex (only to cycle) - but was washed by my predator and then I have made two bleeds for three at 1 stealth and second with daring and I made sure that dominate weenie did not have blood to flick. Turn after I was able to oust girl who played Unnamed deck (her unnamed did not show for entire time), because she was already prety low on pool. In the heads up I was able to finish my predator and get 1 GW and 4 VP.
So that was enough for me to get to 12th place after the day 1 and thus qualifying for the Day 2. Sad thing was, that if I did not screw up second game, I would have been sitting in finals and even been top seed. After I had realized that, I got pretty mad on myself once again. Only thing that realy got my hopes up was that I had qualified for the second day. Unfortunately I was only one from czech republic. Seeing that I have faced (and have been stealing VPs) five players from Czech republic, this was really not fun for me - since to some point I have lowered their chances. I was pretty beaten up after this, so I went to sleep pretty soon and hoped for the best in Day 2. That is enough for the day 1 and I will be continuing in next part.
See you next time....
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Back from the EC report 1/4 - Nations cup
So I just got back from a great EC event and same as last year I would like to leave some notes and impressions. Since my posts are often legthy, I will separate report to four parts - one for each day and last one for the final impressions, thanks and shout outs.
So the first day, I was one of our Nations cup team and since I did not want to let down other teammates, I have chosen my probably most stable deck - Tremere politics 0.79. Here is the decklist:
Deck Name: Tremere politics 0.79
Author: Silmegil
Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=7 max=9 avg=8.25)
===============================================
2x Anastasz di Zagreb 8 ani cel dom AUS THA Tremere:3
1x Carna, The Princess Witch 7 AUS DOM THA Tremere:3
1x Dr. John Dee 9 chi ANI AUS DOM THA Tremere:4
2x Ladislas Toth, The Torch 7 for AUS DOM THA !Tremere:3
3x Malgorzata 9 pre AUS DOM THA VIC !Tremere:4
2x Orlando Oriundus 9 obf AUS DOM THA !Tremere:4
1x Polly Kay Fisher 8 for pot AUS DOM THA !Ventrue:4
Library (90 cards)
==================
Master (15)
6x Blood Doll
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Erciyes Fragments, The
4x Information Highway
1x Sudden Reversal
Political Action (16)
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
1x Domain Challenge
10x Kine Resources Contested
2x Neonate Breach
1x Political Stranglehold
Action Modifier (4)
4x Mirror Walk
Reaction (28)
1x Eluding the Arms of Morpheus
2x Enhanced Senses
2x Eyes of Argus
2x Forced Awakening
4x On the Qui Vive
3x Precognition
5x Spirit's Touch
9x Telepathic Misdirection
Combat (27)
10x Apportation
4x Aura Reading
10x Theft of Vitae
3x Walk of Flame
Created with Secret Library v0.9.4a. (Oct 30, 2012 23:50:48)
I am not sure if it was a smart choice, but I did not want to let anyone down and this is one of my most reliable decks. I want to apologize in advance, that I did not write down names of other players and my memory is not as it used to be, so there maybe some mistakes, but I will try to keep it as real as possible.
First game:
Ravnos deck - Me - Nana Buruku animalism rush - (First memory gap) - Antonio d'Erlette Nephandus deck
This was really bad game overall. I drew like 5 apportations in the beginning and after that replaced them with five thefts of vitae. No dreams of the sphinx, no aura readings. Early political cards blocked, since animalism deck played quite a few intercept cards, which surprised me a little. I was pretty threatened, because it looked like both my predator will die soon and there were like 5-6 mages on the table already. I chickened out, kept the thefts, applied minimal pressure to my prey and he ousted my grandprey. I was cycling everything like crazy and tried to stack on political cards, even discarded some of those thefts in the end, but was unable to go for oust and killed with a lot of bleeds for one. I killed few mages, cycled aura readings, thefts but no wakes, no anarch uprisings, neonates or anything else. I had a really bad draw, discarded every turn and tried to get ready, but I should have tried to go forward more and maybe more cycle, but that could easily mean some backrushes for me and end game. But seeing how it ended and that my prey got 3VP and GW, it was bad play on my side.
Second game:
Flurry of action IC bleed - Queen Anne with Mind rapes - Jack Drake anarch rush deck - !Toreador undue influence - Me
Another game I am not so proud of. IC bleed had a great start with Rafael Corazon bleeding for 6 and then getting Enkil cog. I made a mistake by taking out Carna before Malgorzata, which slowed down my votes and my prey got an early votelock. Queen Anne did a great job with defending herself - mind raping Yazid Tamari backwards and after I have suddened villein on him, all blood was taken by hedleberg and he was banished with our joint votes. But after that, my prey got a second IC and ousted Queen Anne. With blood gained, he got out Yazid again and even with my Orlando Oriundus out, he still got votelock and managed to kill even Jack Drake player. After that deal was made, that he will let !Toreador player to oust me before he will go for him. Here is when I started to feel good finaly - I had a lot of defensive cards in my hand, knew that if I have time, I will get vote lock with Malgorzata and may have a shot at GW. I had my 3rd minion out, finaly drew some Blood Dolls and getting into a strong position. I managed to stop some votes with intercept, blocked some bleeds and my prey was asking each turn if he can bleed and if the !Toreador player has some misdirection cards. I already played 4 misdirections and after one turn I brought out fourth minion, got the votelock, but was again low on pool. IC player asked about misdirection, bleed for four at 1 stealth and after me declining to block, bleed got up to 7 and I have sent it backwards, unfortunatelly ousting my predator. After that if was quick. At 1 hour and 50 minute marker I have passed my first vote and i have blocked every single action going my way. At 1:57 I have ended my turn with three Kine Resources Contested and Anarchist Uprising, finally killing my prey and getting two VPs. Again I had problems with card cycling, and was really slow so I couldnt go forward from the start and almost did not make it in time.
Third game:
Me - Pander legacy deck - Nosferatu royalty - AAA - Ventrue princes
Third game ended in complete disaster for me. With only one influence, no Malgorzata, I decided to take Dr. John Dee out, followed by Anastazs di Zagreb, because there were two of them in my starting crypt. There were votes all over this table, so it did not look good for me, but I was hoping to build more stable position in time. This was ruined by my prey, which had placed Fear of Mekhet on Anastasz, jumping then to my grandpreys Angus the Unruled and returned to me, finaly burning Anastasz. I replaced him with Ladislas Toth the Torch, but got pretty low on pool with dominate heavy deck on my back. My vampires got tapped with anarch troublemaker and I died because of bleeds with two misdirections on my hand but no wake cards.
So total of 2 VP for entire three games is not much. Especialy when my seating was not so bad. I am pretty clear where my mistakes were.
One of the most interesting things for me was that I got actually pretty intimidated by facing such a great players and great names and actually played more passively than I had to. On the other hand my last game I maybe got too reckless and ended up dying. Anyway this was great experience for me and my deck definitely caused some surprises like when I bring Carna out first and everyone expected tremere block deck, after that I discarded few mirror walks, everyone expected heavy bleed. Delaying tactics were often piling up in discard piles and probably my favourite was dialog with my deceased predator in first game after like 1 hour and 30 minutes:
Predator: You realy do not play any dominate cards there, right?
Me: Nope, there are none in my deck.
I still enjoyed playing this deck, but I have some ideas for changing it again, but nothing big. It is still very stable although suffering from beeing little toolboxy. I am not saying, that this deck is something realy special, but I would like to play it ocasionaly in the future.
I am little sad, that I hadn't managed to score more VPs for our team, I guess I have to improve my skills even more for next time. I guess, that this is enough about nations cup and I will come back with report from Day 1 soon.
See you next time....
So the first day, I was one of our Nations cup team and since I did not want to let down other teammates, I have chosen my probably most stable deck - Tremere politics 0.79. Here is the decklist:
Deck Name: Tremere politics 0.79
Author: Silmegil
Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=7 max=9 avg=8.25)
===============================================
2x Anastasz di Zagreb 8 ani cel dom AUS THA Tremere:3
1x Carna, The Princess Witch 7 AUS DOM THA Tremere:3
1x Dr. John Dee 9 chi ANI AUS DOM THA Tremere:4
2x Ladislas Toth, The Torch 7 for AUS DOM THA !Tremere:3
3x Malgorzata 9 pre AUS DOM THA VIC !Tremere:4
2x Orlando Oriundus 9 obf AUS DOM THA !Tremere:4
1x Polly Kay Fisher 8 for pot AUS DOM THA !Ventrue:4
Library (90 cards)
==================
Master (15)
6x Blood Doll
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Erciyes Fragments, The
4x Information Highway
1x Sudden Reversal
Political Action (16)
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
1x Domain Challenge
10x Kine Resources Contested
2x Neonate Breach
1x Political Stranglehold
Action Modifier (4)
4x Mirror Walk
Reaction (28)
1x Eluding the Arms of Morpheus
2x Enhanced Senses
2x Eyes of Argus
2x Forced Awakening
4x On the Qui Vive
3x Precognition
5x Spirit's Touch
9x Telepathic Misdirection
Combat (27)
10x Apportation
4x Aura Reading
10x Theft of Vitae
3x Walk of Flame
Created with Secret Library v0.9.4a. (Oct 30, 2012 23:50:48)
I am not sure if it was a smart choice, but I did not want to let anyone down and this is one of my most reliable decks. I want to apologize in advance, that I did not write down names of other players and my memory is not as it used to be, so there maybe some mistakes, but I will try to keep it as real as possible.
First game:
Ravnos deck - Me - Nana Buruku animalism rush - (First memory gap) - Antonio d'Erlette Nephandus deck
This was really bad game overall. I drew like 5 apportations in the beginning and after that replaced them with five thefts of vitae. No dreams of the sphinx, no aura readings. Early political cards blocked, since animalism deck played quite a few intercept cards, which surprised me a little. I was pretty threatened, because it looked like both my predator will die soon and there were like 5-6 mages on the table already. I chickened out, kept the thefts, applied minimal pressure to my prey and he ousted my grandprey. I was cycling everything like crazy and tried to stack on political cards, even discarded some of those thefts in the end, but was unable to go for oust and killed with a lot of bleeds for one. I killed few mages, cycled aura readings, thefts but no wakes, no anarch uprisings, neonates or anything else. I had a really bad draw, discarded every turn and tried to get ready, but I should have tried to go forward more and maybe more cycle, but that could easily mean some backrushes for me and end game. But seeing how it ended and that my prey got 3VP and GW, it was bad play on my side.
Second game:
Flurry of action IC bleed - Queen Anne with Mind rapes - Jack Drake anarch rush deck - !Toreador undue influence - Me
Another game I am not so proud of. IC bleed had a great start with Rafael Corazon bleeding for 6 and then getting Enkil cog. I made a mistake by taking out Carna before Malgorzata, which slowed down my votes and my prey got an early votelock. Queen Anne did a great job with defending herself - mind raping Yazid Tamari backwards and after I have suddened villein on him, all blood was taken by hedleberg and he was banished with our joint votes. But after that, my prey got a second IC and ousted Queen Anne. With blood gained, he got out Yazid again and even with my Orlando Oriundus out, he still got votelock and managed to kill even Jack Drake player. After that deal was made, that he will let !Toreador player to oust me before he will go for him. Here is when I started to feel good finaly - I had a lot of defensive cards in my hand, knew that if I have time, I will get vote lock with Malgorzata and may have a shot at GW. I had my 3rd minion out, finaly drew some Blood Dolls and getting into a strong position. I managed to stop some votes with intercept, blocked some bleeds and my prey was asking each turn if he can bleed and if the !Toreador player has some misdirection cards. I already played 4 misdirections and after one turn I brought out fourth minion, got the votelock, but was again low on pool. IC player asked about misdirection, bleed for four at 1 stealth and after me declining to block, bleed got up to 7 and I have sent it backwards, unfortunatelly ousting my predator. After that if was quick. At 1 hour and 50 minute marker I have passed my first vote and i have blocked every single action going my way. At 1:57 I have ended my turn with three Kine Resources Contested and Anarchist Uprising, finally killing my prey and getting two VPs. Again I had problems with card cycling, and was really slow so I couldnt go forward from the start and almost did not make it in time.
Third game:
Me - Pander legacy deck - Nosferatu royalty - AAA - Ventrue princes
Third game ended in complete disaster for me. With only one influence, no Malgorzata, I decided to take Dr. John Dee out, followed by Anastazs di Zagreb, because there were two of them in my starting crypt. There were votes all over this table, so it did not look good for me, but I was hoping to build more stable position in time. This was ruined by my prey, which had placed Fear of Mekhet on Anastasz, jumping then to my grandpreys Angus the Unruled and returned to me, finaly burning Anastasz. I replaced him with Ladislas Toth the Torch, but got pretty low on pool with dominate heavy deck on my back. My vampires got tapped with anarch troublemaker and I died because of bleeds with two misdirections on my hand but no wake cards.
So total of 2 VP for entire three games is not much. Especialy when my seating was not so bad. I am pretty clear where my mistakes were.
One of the most interesting things for me was that I got actually pretty intimidated by facing such a great players and great names and actually played more passively than I had to. On the other hand my last game I maybe got too reckless and ended up dying. Anyway this was great experience for me and my deck definitely caused some surprises like when I bring Carna out first and everyone expected tremere block deck, after that I discarded few mirror walks, everyone expected heavy bleed. Delaying tactics were often piling up in discard piles and probably my favourite was dialog with my deceased predator in first game after like 1 hour and 30 minutes:
Predator: You realy do not play any dominate cards there, right?
Me: Nope, there are none in my deck.
I still enjoyed playing this deck, but I have some ideas for changing it again, but nothing big. It is still very stable although suffering from beeing little toolboxy. I am not saying, that this deck is something realy special, but I would like to play it ocasionaly in the future.
I am little sad, that I hadn't managed to score more VPs for our team, I guess I have to improve my skills even more for next time. I guess, that this is enough about nations cup and I will come back with report from Day 1 soon.
See you next time....
Monday, October 15, 2012
200 preregistered players at EC
I am looking forward to this event, it looks like this year is going to be huge. Well nothing more to say at this point, I just wanted to celebrate this great number. Vtes is clearly nod dead yet.
See you next time... or at the EC :)
See you next time... or at the EC :)
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Draft tournament at the Czech ECQ
I am back after some time with tournament report. I have been swamped with other things, (work, personal life, organizing tournaments, etc.) so there was not a lot of time left for blogging. Czech ECQ was a lot of trouble for me, there were some organizational problems, combined with some loose ends and in the end, there were only 17 players even when I expected a lot more. In the end I ended up playing a lot worse than I intended, so I will not write about main even and instead I will focus on followup draft tournament.
With resources of diffent boosters thinning and some conversations, we ended up drafting two boosters of BH edition, three LotN and three 3rd edition boosters. Not totaly sure if this is ideal, but it was not totaly bad either.
I for myself made some pretty stupid choices in the beggining and it costed me a lot in the end. I must say I was hoping for Blackhorse Tanner or Owain Evans. Chances were pretty slim, but what the hell. Our entire drafting table of five did not open any of them so I was at least happy with that, but I ended up with unbalanced crypt with good supporting vampires bud bad "star" vampires. Idealy I would like to bring out Sebastian Gouled with DOM and Dominique (ADV) with AUS for their defensive capabilities, but this proved unreal in the end. In most games I ended up with one of them and 2-3 supporting ones. I had some stealth and some dominate punch which in the end worked out well and I got to finals as the second seed, but then my luck ran out.
I was a little tired before finals and not done enough scouting as I should, but in the end, I would probably made the same mistake. I sat as prey for deck I knew had limited ousting potentian and could give me a lot of space. I should of course realized, that first seed will see the same chance and he ended up as my predator. He had quick hogh cap assamite bleed with lot stealth and lot of + bleed cards. I had only two misdirections and very limited intercept, so I knew it will be bad for me. In addition, my grand predator did bring out Malgorzata, Owain and he had even Blackhorse Tanner and I was like What the hell? Who let him to have those three in one deck? It ended up bad for me as I expected. I was under a lot of pressure early and even if I was lucky to draw both of my telepathic misdirections, it wasnt enough. I was forced to go forward fast and even ousted my prey, but my minions got torporized and I have exhausted most of my resources and was killed in the end.
The three player game was very surprising, because My predator (exhausted from ousting me) and even grand predator (playing litlle recklessly) were ousted in the end and the game was won by my grand prey. There were a lot of mistakes during this game and I do not want to go into specifics, but even when I lost, I confirmed that draft is still my favourite format.
I screwed up a big time, when drafting a crypt. It was first mistake of this kind which I have ever made, because usualy I have more problems with library decisions. Once again I have new eperience and I will learn from it - actualy I think that this is my best skill - capacity for learning from my mistakes, since there was always a lot to learn from:) Next time we will probably try to use a little different combination of boosters to provide a little different experience.
There will be probably no posts from me for some time, since the main focus now is on organizin Czech party and preparing for EC. It looks like there will be minimum of 15 participant from Czech Republic, so I have huge hopes for this EC. I would be much more happy if I had all of my decks in order, but at this point I am not satisfied with any of them entirely and I have before me a lot of testing, optimizing and preparing for different metagame, there is a lot of work before me and not a lot of time, so after publishing this article, I am going back to deck optimizing. I hope I will see as many of you as possible at EC and I am totaly looking forward to it.
So see you at the EC...
With resources of diffent boosters thinning and some conversations, we ended up drafting two boosters of BH edition, three LotN and three 3rd edition boosters. Not totaly sure if this is ideal, but it was not totaly bad either.
I for myself made some pretty stupid choices in the beggining and it costed me a lot in the end. I must say I was hoping for Blackhorse Tanner or Owain Evans. Chances were pretty slim, but what the hell. Our entire drafting table of five did not open any of them so I was at least happy with that, but I ended up with unbalanced crypt with good supporting vampires bud bad "star" vampires. Idealy I would like to bring out Sebastian Gouled with DOM and Dominique (ADV) with AUS for their defensive capabilities, but this proved unreal in the end. In most games I ended up with one of them and 2-3 supporting ones. I had some stealth and some dominate punch which in the end worked out well and I got to finals as the second seed, but then my luck ran out.
I was a little tired before finals and not done enough scouting as I should, but in the end, I would probably made the same mistake. I sat as prey for deck I knew had limited ousting potentian and could give me a lot of space. I should of course realized, that first seed will see the same chance and he ended up as my predator. He had quick hogh cap assamite bleed with lot stealth and lot of + bleed cards. I had only two misdirections and very limited intercept, so I knew it will be bad for me. In addition, my grand predator did bring out Malgorzata, Owain and he had even Blackhorse Tanner and I was like What the hell? Who let him to have those three in one deck? It ended up bad for me as I expected. I was under a lot of pressure early and even if I was lucky to draw both of my telepathic misdirections, it wasnt enough. I was forced to go forward fast and even ousted my prey, but my minions got torporized and I have exhausted most of my resources and was killed in the end.
The three player game was very surprising, because My predator (exhausted from ousting me) and even grand predator (playing litlle recklessly) were ousted in the end and the game was won by my grand prey. There were a lot of mistakes during this game and I do not want to go into specifics, but even when I lost, I confirmed that draft is still my favourite format.
I screwed up a big time, when drafting a crypt. It was first mistake of this kind which I have ever made, because usualy I have more problems with library decisions. Once again I have new eperience and I will learn from it - actualy I think that this is my best skill - capacity for learning from my mistakes, since there was always a lot to learn from:) Next time we will probably try to use a little different combination of boosters to provide a little different experience.
There will be probably no posts from me for some time, since the main focus now is on organizin Czech party and preparing for EC. It looks like there will be minimum of 15 participant from Czech Republic, so I have huge hopes for this EC. I would be much more happy if I had all of my decks in order, but at this point I am not satisfied with any of them entirely and I have before me a lot of testing, optimizing and preparing for different metagame, there is a lot of work before me and not a lot of time, so after publishing this article, I am going back to deck optimizing. I hope I will see as many of you as possible at EC and I am totaly looking forward to it.
So see you at the EC...
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