Monday, November 22, 2010

VtES EC 2010 Decks of Interest

During the VtES EC 2010 there was a strong tendency towards known and strong decks, which had proven to give players sure game wins (and sometimes even) tournament wins. For example regarding bleed decks, there were basically four types of decks:
  • Kindred Spirits Stealth Bleed (including both weenie Dementation version and the version with larger vampires and more Obfuscate)
  • Kiasyd or Lasombra Stealth Bleed (mostly with the G4/5 vampires) with or without Nocturns
  • Giovanni Powerbleed
  • Ventrue feat. Edward Vignes Bleed
In addition some, but not many Weenie Dominate, Baali Obf/Pre S&B or Gerald Windham & Friends Bleed decks showed up.

Or in other words, there were very few "rogue" decks with new and/or at least some surprising tricks. Some of the more interesting decks of the EC (not already shown as finalist's decks) include the following:

  • Legendary Vampire (October 29th, 2010)

    • The Blood Brothers Kiev Bleed deck played by Jakub B. (POL) played, is built around the in-circle disciplines Sanguinus, Fortitude and Protean, but basically is stealth bleed deck with strong bloat component using 16 copies of Unwholesome Bond.

    • A Cybele/Lutz/Unmada deck was played by Otso S. (FIN), which basically runs the same engine as the now classic Cybele/Aksinya/Inner Circle deck, but uses Derangement to gain vote control on the table. The deck is not entirely new and already won the Finnish ECQ tournament earlier this year.

    • This is a Al-Munthahir & Friends Summon History built by The Lasombra and played by Robyn T. (USA). Key to this political deck is Summon History which is used to put several big cap titled Sabbat and Camarilla vampires on play.



  • Last Chance Qualifier (October 29th, 2010)

    • Christophe B. (FRA) fielded a Lasombra G4/5 feat. Appius Black Hand Nocturn deck, which was a nice of change of pace in comparison to the other Lasombra & Kiasyd Stealth Bleed decks. The deck uses a significantly different crypt consisting of Appius Claudius Corvus and his Lasombra Black Hand friends, and uses a few cards requiring the Black Hand to great effect.

    • When looking at the Midcap G2/3 Obf/Dom Ally "Stuff" deck, which was played by Otto K. (FIN), I am still wondering how this deck is gonna work. It has several minions with Dominate and/or Obfuscate, yet chooses to play Computer Hacking. The main vampire is Kyoko Shinsegawa, but the only card requiring a discipline she can play is Deflection. I mean, it looks like a bloat/swarm bleed deck, but it appears to be less effective than it could be. On the other hand it scored 1 GW 5.5 in the LCQ tournament.

    • One of the most interesting deck is the Followers of Set feat. Nakhthorheb Chameleon played by Marko S. (FIN). He uses Nakhthorheb, which becomes first Baron, then plays Chameleon to take control of vampires just moved to the ready region. The trick mainly works in the first half of the game, when Nakhthorheb is influenced quickly using Eternals of Sirius, but can be pulled off later as well with the help of Banishment.

    • Another deck based on Al-Muntahir is the Al-Muntahir Summon History Powerbleed used by Tomas W. (SWE) in the LCQ tournament. This time Summon History helps to gather a truckload of bleed equipment and bleed retainers, to finally be able to bleed for 7 without playing a card. Quite similar to an Una Freakshow deck ..

    • The Followers of Set G4/5 feat. Cybele Illomba Set's Curse deck built and played by Ivan M. (SWE) made it Deck of the Month September 2010. Read more there about this unique deck.

    • Teemu S. (FIN) played Arika/Tyler & Lasombra Friends Baltimore Purge. The deck uses Arika and especially Tyler to be able to first put down a number of opposing vampires using Baltimore Purge, and then diablerize one or more vampires with the help of Tyler's special ability to untap after she diablerize a vampire.

    • Similar to Robyn's deck (see above), the Al-Muntahir/Inner Circle Summon History as played by Martin S. (NOR) summons Inner Circle members to do their master's bidding. This deck is not as focused as voting as Robyn's, but has a stronger ally angle.

    • Frode L. (NOR) uses his Nadima/Mirembe/Nehsi Pro/Set Hatch the Viper Rush deck to setup his vampires superior Protean & Serpentis with a number of Hatch the Viper retainers, and then rushes his opponents to put them down

    • What do you do when you want to play Weenie vote deck and you're in need of some extra votes? Put 17 Orun in it, or at least that's what Benjamin B. (FRA) did with his Weenie Laibon Orun Vote. Similar to the Team Africa deck, the deck uses the different Laibon clans for gaining vote majority at the table without spending too much pool on its vampires.



  • EC 2010 Day 1 (October 30th, 2010)



  • EC 2010 Day 2 (October 31st, 2010)



  • First Chance Qualifier (October 31st, 2010)

    • Emiliano I. (ITA) with 2 GW 7 nearly reached the final in the FCQ. He played a Tzimisce G2/3 Maris Streck War Ghoul nicknamed "Wallghouls". The deck has strong control angle with Maris Streck's special, and it becomes even stronger when (in addition to Unmasking) the War Ghouls are granted the intercept Maris Streck provides.

    • Kristofer Å. (SWE) with his Assamite G4/5 Black Hand Contract deck in the first place looks like a standard (usually not very successful) rush combat deck, but in fact this deck has more to offer. It uses not only the Black Hand angle, specifically Black Hand Contract, but also the Anarch angle for the use of Steely Tenacity, giving the Assamites a copious amount of rushes.

    • The Mata Hari & Friends Vote/Sensory Deprivation deck played by Pierre-Denis B. (FRA) is another Mata Hari deck. The deck is rather toolboxy, but interestingly the deck has strong vote angle with various political locations, but also Sensory Deprivation as backup plan.

    • The Maureen & Friends Infernal Servitor was played by Pieter H. (NED) and built by his fellow countryman Izaak H. The deck uses the classic Dominate/Obfuscate bleed mechanism for ousting. Beyond that it has an added strong Baali angle with Unleash Hell's Fury for defense and Infernal Servitor and Greater Curse for offense

    • Let me present you the most focused deck in all of the EC 2010 tournament decks. This Brujah G1/2 Weenie Arms Dealer Flash Grenade deck was played by Christian N. (DEN). When looking at the deck you'll see that it has only 11 different library cards. For my point of view it might get a bit boring to play after a while, but it sure has focus. The basic trade of the deck is to equip the arms dealers (and/or Weenie Brujah) with Camera Phones and bleed your opponent with a horde a Weenies and Arms Dealers. If blocked play Concealed Weapon on Flash Grenade and thereby keep the opposing vampire tapped for his next turn.

I am not saying all of these decks are truly good and well-executed, but all of them (some more, some less) were a welcome change to a lot of standard decks seen during the EC. You can find (a few) extra EC 2010 decks on Secret Library when entering "EC 2010" as title in the deck search form.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

And now for something completely different ..

While looking through the decklists (a total of 539 decks) of the EC 2010, I noticed there are a lot of funny or at least interesting deck names. Here's random assortment of them:
  • Last Chance Qualifier
    • "In the Name of Wendy " by Mikkel P. (DEN) for Malkavian/Malkavian antitribu S&B(1)
    • "Recruitment Party Sacre Bleu!" by Marko S. (FIN) for a Nakhthorheb Chameleon deck.
    • "Boys who hate Girls who love .." by Janne L. (FIN) for deck with some strong anti-recursion tech.
    • "We have a voice, you know" by Charles M. (FRA) for Weenie Presence Vote deck.
    • "With Dominate you can" by Timo S. (FRA) for Weenie/Midcap DOM deck.
    • "Gangréille with Cheese" by Tiago B. (POR) for a Stanislaw DOM deck.
    • "Plan 9 from Outer Space" by David G. (FRA) for Giovanni Powerbleed deck.
    • "The Grotesque Stuka Squad" by Petri W. (FIN) for a Tremere/Gargoyle Dive Bomb deck.
    • "Here, kitty, kitty. OMG, that's not a kitty." by Koen T. for a Renegade Garou deck.
    • "La Griffe et la Poison" -- Christophe C. (FRA) for a Gangrel Serpentis deck.
    • "Mr. Table Hate" by Arto H. (FIN) for a Ravnos Toolbox deck.
    • "By Gustave's Grace" by Johathan H. (UK) for a Ventrue Lawfirm deck.(2)
    • "Paris, Love and Potence" by Giovanni A. (ITA) for a Weenie Potence deck.
  • Day 1
    • "Victoria's Secret" by Otso S. (FIN) for a Weenie Auspex decks featuring Victoria (of course).
    • "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" by Marko S. (FIN) for a Gargoyle Rockcat deck.
    • "Wonderful Mistress" by Francois G. (FRA) for a deck featuring Mistress Fanchion.
    • "Better Gentlemen, Same Sticks" by Tiago G. (POR) for a(nother) Ventrue Grinder deck.
    • "Embrace moi si tu peux!" by Mathias S. (CZE) for a Ravnos Embrace Boon deck.
    • "Who let's the dogs out?" by Antonio Cobo C. (ESP) for a Tup Dog deck.
    • "Vampire Girls meets Frankstein Girl" by Mika N. (FIN) for a Giovanni Shambling Hordes deck.
    • "Guillaume and Baldesar sitting in tree" by Jonathan H. (UK) for a Guillaume/Baldesar Bleed deck.
  • Day 2
    • "Suddenly - Vampires and Faeries, oh my!" by John B. (UK) for a Kiasyd S&B deck.
    • "The Reilu Meininki" by Marko S. (FIN) for a Ventrue antitribu Grinder deck.
  • First Chance Qualifier
    • "Una's Freaky Friday" by Jakub H. (CZE) for Una Freakshow deck.
    • "Wallghouls" by Emiliano I. (ITA) for a Maris Streck Warghoul deck.
    • "Thug-o-Matic" by Petri H. (FIN) for a Black Hand Thugee deck.
    • "Revenge of the Sectoid Baby!" by Elias M. (FRA) for a Kiasyd S&B deck.
    • "Followers of (.)(.)" by Tommi H. (FIN) for deck based on Gabrielle Righetti
    • "Big Bastards Bleed" by Timo S. (FIN) for Big Cap Toreador & Friends DOM Bleed deck.
    • "Santaleous Metagame Solution" by Pasi K. (FIN) for a Malkavian S&B featuring Santaleous
    • "Tuppey Snack" by Mathieu R. (FIN) for a Ventrue Lawfirm deck.
    • "Serving the Dark Priestress" by Pieter H. (NED) for deck with Maureen and Infernal Servitors
Also quite funny to notice:
  • Francois G. had this line in his decklist: "Dreams of the Sphinx Demons that win".
  • Matthieu R Deck wrote beneath his decklist: "Deck Crafted with Igloi's Loyalty".
Footnotes:
(1) actually I didn't get the reference. Can somebody please educate me?
(2) the deck description deck was "Some dull Ven Vote and Bleed, snore fest"

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Pictures from the Day 2 Tournament

Here are some pictures from the Day 2 and First Chance Qualifier (FCQ) tournaments of the VtES EC 2010 in Paris, France. In addition, more (and much nicer) pictures where taken by Marko (a professional photographer from Finland) and Jénifer (from France).

Left: The Day 2 tournament just before round 3.



Right: Oscar given a short speech addressing the players who reached the Day 2 of the EC 2010 tournament.

Left: Round 3 Table 1 with Ricardo, Erol, Danilo and Peter.




Right: Round 3 Table 2 with Michael, Yannick, Zsolt, Kasper and Erik.

Left: Round 3 Table 3 with Ivan, Otto, Tomasz, Otso, and Gines.




Right: Round 3 Table 5 with Benoit, Mehdi, Christian, Ben, and Marko.

Left: The final table of the FCQ with Laurent, Johannes, Jakub, Jerome (not pictured) and Lubomir.



Right: The endgame of the FCQ finals with Jakub and Lubomir left with 2 and 1 pool left.

Left: One of the highlights of the FCQ finals: Jakub's Mylan Horseed equipping with an Ivory Bow. Scary dude!


Right: The final table of Day 2 tournament with Erol, Otto, Brian, Mehdi and Jasper.

Left: Closeup of the final table somewhat early in the game.

Right: Three players left at the final table after first Jasper, then Otto were ousted by Mehdi. For short time it looked good for Mehdi, but then his vampires were beat up by Brian's Akunanse.

Left: Some of the prize support of for the Day 2 and FCQ tournament.





Right: Brian and Martin, the new and the former VtES EC Champion.

Monday, November 1, 2010

VtES EC Nations Cup 2010 (Final Standings)

For each participant in the finals of the 5 big tournaments (LCQ; FCQ; Legendary Vampire; Day 1, Day 2) of the EC 2010 each nation will gain points. The winner's nation will get 3 points, every one else in the finals gets 1 points.

After 5 of the 5 tournaments of the EC 2010 the Nations Cup standings are the following:
1. Sweden -- 7 points
1. France -- 7 points
3. USA -- 5 points
4. Hungary -- 3 points
5. Czech Republic -- 2 points
5. Finland -- 2 points
5. Germany -- 2 points
8. Canada, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, UK -- 1 point each

Results EC 2010: European Championship (Day 2)

Copied from http://www.sevenoaksart.co.uk/flags.htmHere are the results from the European Championship (Day 2) tournament that was played during the VtES European Championship 2010 on October 30th, 2010 in Paris, France. 40 players participated in this EC tournament, the standings after 3 rounds and the final were:
1. Brian Moritz (USA) -- 2 GW 9 VP -- 3 VP -- Akunanse Bleed/Combat
2. Medhi Mazni (FRA) -- 1 GW 5.5 VP -- 2 VP -- Euro Brujah Parity Shift
2. Erol Ongun (GER) -- 3 GW 11 VP -- 0 VP -- Stanislava & Friends DOM/PRO Bleed/Vote
2. Otto Kukkasniemi (FIN) -- 1 GW 7.5 VP -- 0 VP -- Weenie Auspex/Necromancy Wall
2. Jesper Boje (DEN) -- 1 GW 6 VP -- 0 VP -- Nergal Turbo/Powerbleed
Congratulations to Brian for winning the European VtES Championship 2010. He's the first player to win both the North American and the European Championship!

The final seating was Erol --> Brian --> Medhi --> Jasper --> Otto. The game ended about 10 minutes before the time limit.

Two quotes from the finals:
  • Otto (a bit angry about prolonged talks about how Parity Shifts and stuff must be done): "You're talking for more than 10 freaking minutes, and nothing is happening."
  • Erol (when asked if he transfers himself out) : "No, self-ousting is gay!"

Results EC 2010: First Chance Qualifier

Copied from http://www.sevenoaksart.co.uk/flags.htmHere are the results from the First Chance Qualifier tournament that was played during the VtES European Championship 2010 on October 31st, 2010 in Paris, France. The tournament gives the players the first opportunity to qualify for the Continental Championship tournaments in 2011. 149 players participated in this EC tournament, the standings in the finals were:
1. Jerome Goyet (FRA) -- 2 GW 8 VP -- 1.5 VP -- No Secrets from the Magaji Animalism Wall
2. Laurent Allonce (FRA) -- 2 GW 8 VP -- 1.5 VP -- Nakhthorheb Corruption Bleed
2. Johannes Walch (GER) -- 2 GW 9.5 VP -- 0.5 VP -- Tremere G4/5 Vote/Bleed
2. Lubomir Gargulak (CZE?) -- 2 GW 8 VP -- 0 VP -- Brujah G4/5 Alastor Vote
2. Jakub Hrbacek (CZE) -- 2 GW 7 VP -- 0 VP -- Una Freakshow Rush
Congratulations to Jerome for winning the first chance qualifier at the EC 2010.

Final Seating was Johannes --> Laurent --> Jakob --> Jerome --> Lubomir.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Pictures from the Day 1 Tournament

Here are some pictures from today's Day 1 Tournament of the VtES EC 2010 in Paris, France. Most the them were taken during or after the round 3.
Left: One of few new VtES t-shirts I saw during the EC 2010. The back side of the Team Italy t-shirt.




Right: Actually nicer part of the t-shirts is the front side ..

Left: Round 3 Table 8





Right: Round 3 Table 16. Why the cat hat? Because he's playing Animalism! Or not ?!?!

Left: Round 3 Table 25. Do you know what's tragic .. if you bleed your prey for 8 (when he has 8 pool) a few minutes before the timeout, and your prey just reduces the bleed by one .. Ask Emiliano "Sans Terre" about it!

Right: Round 3 Table 26.

Left: Round 3 Table 28. A table with another Cybele deck made in Sweden!





Right: Round 3 Table 29

Left: Final seating order of the final table with (very quickly made) custom cards. Very cool ...



Right
: Final Table of the Day 1 Tournament in full motion and many spectators.

VtES EC Nations Cup 2010

I just came yesterday with the idea for some sort of VtES Nations Cup (or so how I would call it). For each participant in the finals of the 5 big tournaments (LCQ; FCQ; Legendary Vampire; Day 1, Day 2) of the EC each nation will gain points. The winner's nation will get 3 points, every one else in the finals gets 1 points.

After 3 of the 5 tournaments of the EC 2010 the Nations Cup standings are the following:
1. Sweden -- 7 points
2. Hungary -- 3 points
3. France -- 2 points
3. USA -- 2 points
5. Canada, Finland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, UK -- 1 point each

Results EC 2010: European Championship (Day 1)

Copied from http://www.sevenoaksart.co.uk/flags.htmHere are the results from the European Championship (Day 1) tournament that was played during the VtES European Championship 2010 on October 30th, 2010 in Paris, France. The tournament is played as a qualifier for the actual EC tournament on the next day. The top 40 players qualify for the next day's tournament. 155 players participated in this EC tournament, the standings after 3 rounds and the final were:
1. Erik Torstensson (SWE) -- 3 GW 11 VP -- 2.5 VP -- Cybele/Aksinya/Inner Circle Master Cards
2. Ben Peal (USA) -- 2 GW 8 VP -- 0.5 VP -- Kiasyd Stealth/Bleed w/ Nocturns
2. Hugh Angseesing (UK) -- 2 GW 8 VP -- 0.5 VP -- Ventrue Antribu Grinder
2. Ricardo Marta (POR) -- 2 GW 11 VP -- 0 VP -- OBF/DOM G3/4 Bleed
2. Danilo Torrisi (ITA) -- 2 GW 7,5 VP -- Una Freakshow
Congratulations to Erik (again!) for winning the Day 1 tournament of the EC 2010. Table seating at the final table was Erik --> Ricardo --> Danilo --> Ben --> Hugh. Decklists to follow after the Day 2 tournament. 1 GW 4 VPs (and favourable TPs) were necessary to qualify for the Day 2 tournament on Sunday.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Pictures from the Last Chance Qualifier

Here are some (more or less random pictures) from the Last Chance Qualifier and Legendary Vampire events during the VtES EC 2010 in Paris, France:

Left: Final Table of the Last Chance Qualifier.





Right: Final Table of the Legendary Vampire tournament.

Left: Each of the tables has a different VtES table cloth with a clan symbol. Most fitting, this is the Baali one, which was one of most seen (and successful) clans during this day's tournaments

Right: Part of the prize support for the finalists.

Left: A large, large heap (like in unsorted heap) of vampires in TTC's card shop ... but apparently there were some goodies to find (Isabel Giovanni for example).

Results EC 2010: Legendary Vampire Invitational

Copied from http://www.sevenoaksart.co.uk/flags.htmHere are the results from the Legendary Vampire tournament that was played during the VtES European Championship 2010 on October 29th, 2010 in Paris, France. This was an invitational tournament, where 25 of the best VtES players in the world, fight for the victory. 25 players participated in this EC tournament, the standings after 3 rounds and the final were:
1. Erik Torstensen (SWE) -- 2 GW 5 VP -- 2.5 VP -- Cybele/Aksinya/Inner Circle Master Cards
2. Orian Gissler (FRA) -- 1 GW 5 VP -- 1 VP -- Nosferatu G1/2 Royalty Vote
2. James Messer (USA) -- 1 GW 4 VP -- 0.5 VP -- Ahrimanes G4/5 Wall
2. Patrick Benoit (FRA) -- 1 GW 2.5 VP -- 0 VP -- Weenie Potence
2. Marcin Watras (POL) -- 0 GW 5.5 VP -- 0 VP -- Antonio d'Erlette Nephandus
Congratulations to Erik for winning the Legendary Vampire 2010 tournament. Even so (or because?) there were so many good players, there were only 5 game wins in the 3 preliminary rounds (out of 15 possible). On the other hand, the LCQ had 84 game wins (out of 105 possible).

Results EC 2010: Last Chance Qualifier

Copied from http://www.sevenoaksart.co.uk/flags.htmHere are the results from the Last Chance Qualifier tournament that was played during the VtES European Championship 2010 on October 29th, 2010 in Paris, France. The tournament gives the players the last opportunity to qualify for the European Championship tournaments on the followings days. 172 players participated in this EC tournament, the standings after 3 rounds and the final were as follows:
1. Csaba Greguss (HUN) -- 3 GW 9 VP -- 5 VP -- Malkavian antitribu Stealth/Bleed w/ Events
2. Christian Chenard (CAN) -- 2 GW 9,5 VP -- 0 VP -- Giovanni G2/3 Kazaar's Diary
2. Peter Ducai (SVK) -- 2 GW 8 VP -- 0 VP -- Malkavian G1/2 Vote/Block/Bleed
2. Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (SWE) -- 2 GW 8 VP -- 0 VP -- Cybele/Aksyna Master Cards
2. Toni Karjalainen (FIN) -- 2 GW 8 VP -- 0 VP -- Baali G5/6 Stealth Bleed
Congratulations to Csaba for winning the LCQ of the EC 2010. Of the 172 players, making this tournament one of the biggest in VtES history, actually 58 players qualified for the further championships tournaments during the EC. 1 GW 3.5 VP (plus favourable TPs) were necessary to qualify.