[TWD] AAAAA - Göteborg ECQ 2008

[the scavenger]

I would say that the only real good Anthelios hoser my feverish brain can come up with atm is The Uncoiling. And that's a card more players should use. Events are quite nasty.
Sadly it doesn't help against the other recursion cards though, are there any cards without harsh requirements that do? Perhaps we need an event that kills 2 cards at random in each meths ash-heap during their discard phases.

I don't know if we need another silver bullet. Seriously most recursion tech can be countered, if people would just be willing to include the cards. Uncoiling you already mentioned, Arson or Unnatural Disaster to destroy the Parthenon come to mind in that department as well (not all Anthelios abusing decks are based on Anson). The other stuff like Sudario is action-based and thus can be blocked, the Broken Heart can be stolen, destroyed or simply contested. Or play a rush deck and kill all their minions... ;-)

sk.

[Johannes]

Wie versprochen, mein report. Leider weiss ich die meisten Namen der Spieler nicht mehr

Round 1)

me -> Tzimisce (Dragos, Meshenka a good deal of combat) -> OBF/PRE voting with ICs and princes -> AUS/ANI wall

In the first game I did find myself in a really tough spot. Both predator and prey were playing a good deal of combat and both had Telepathic Tracking, being able to trump my Majesties. I was pretty much stuck in my spot, fortunately the other voter exploded in action and put serious pressure on my predator so I was able to build up by playing a lot of masters and not taking actions. For the few actions I attempted poor Anson went to Torpor twice and was finally burned (enabling me to influence him a 2nd time). My prey was quite low on pool also since he ate a lot of colateral damage from the votes, but I was never in a position to oust him (esp. since I didnt get any TGB and only one Aching Beaty and no Ambulance/Change of Target). Due to my heavy master action (MT Alexandra, GB and MT again for a net gain of 20 pool!) I was able to survive and we had 0,5VP for everybody in the end. The Coven made huge difference in the game, since I played it turn1 so it gave about 60 blood to the table.

Round 2)

me -> Mats (Ravons Clown Car) -> Beast/Potence -> Khazar -> !Tremere Create Gargoyle

This was a pretty interesting game due to the setup. Mats exploded in actions from the start creating a scary number of minions. Still the Potence deck was mostly going forward since Mats didnt take any aggressive actions (I assume waiting for the 1 turn oust). I received a good deal of pressure from my pred who gave his little gargoyle fiends dominate and started to bleed with 3-4 minions each turn. I had difficulties passing any votes since Mats had a lot of Delaying Tactics and obviously (and cleverly) wanted me to die. The game boiled down to the turn where I ousted Mats by trying a Parity Shift first (which he Delayed) and then ousting him with an Anarchist Uprising. Had he kept the Delay for the AU I would not have won. The Anarchist uprising also put the Khazar deck at 5 pool, so the Potence deck went for the Fame/rescue/dunk and bleed to get his VP. The next two rushes of the Potence deck (in his next turn) went into Jake Washington and D.I/Majesty and I took GW, 4VP.

Round 3)

me -> Tzimisce Vote -> Hugh (Weenie !Trem Nephandus) -> Large cap !Trem bleeding -> ANI wall (my deck, lent to Tore, ouch)

The game went great from the start! My predator was getting a huge deal of pressure and had a bad hand from the start and wasn´t able to cycle too well. My prey put pressure on Hugh, Hugh put pressure on his prey and I was slowly building up. Unfortunately the Tzimisce and the !Trem had the vote lock so they happily passed the votes from the Tzimisce while the !Trem was asking 4 pool to let me pass a Parity Shift. I decided to wait. It boiled down to the turn of my prey. Hugh had 6 pool, 5 minions. The Tzimisce called an Anarchist Uprising. They voted for it. I voted for it as well. But I tapped the second vampire of the Tzimisce with a Scalpel Tongue (which was one of the most hilarious situations. ever) So he was @ 2 pool and Hugh @ 1. Hugh ousted his prey. I took the Tzimisce and shortly after Hugh (he had nothing against my votes and Aching Beauty bleeds). I let the ANI deck withdraw for 0,5, after all it was my deck hehe. GW, 3VP.

Even with 41 players 2GW, 7,5VP was "only" enough for 3rd seed, wow. Shouldn´t have given the 0,5 to the ANI deck. Well, I don´t like choosing my seat as well, and on top I had no idea what the other players were playing anyway.

Finals)

me-> !Brujah Unexpected Coalition Vote -> Erik Weenie Auspex -> Strange DEM lockdown deck -> Black Hand Assamites Bloat&Bleed#

My prey had a rather small crypt and was influencing Vampires quite fast. Erik was getting his guys out as well and stuffed them with equipment, also putting quite some pressure on his prey. Therefore my predator had a swell time building up and getting one largish vampire after another. Erik decided not to block the Crusades from my prey because he was afraid that I would have vote lock then. I tried one aggressive Parity Shift, playing Approximation of Loyality on his Unexpected Coaltion, only to get my votes canceled by scalpel tongue. Well. So I let my prey (who quickly was going up to having 5 Crusades out) plunge into Erik (who had a hard time blocking all the votes) and decided to stay and defend by making defensive votes and Parity Shift against my predator which seemed ok to my prey. Nevertheless I was bled for lots, esp. after my predator acquired Guarded Rubrics and swapped it around for (Tattoo Signal and Seraphs Second for untap) multiple 3 point bleeds per turn. I kept a little pressure on my prey by making bleeds from time to time. The decisive turn came when I bounced two 3 bleeds into my prey, moving him into kill range for me. I started my turn by stealing one of the lockdown decks Thugees with Anson (who had 2x Aching Beauty and Ambulance by the time). The afformentioned Thugee put another Archbishop of my prey to torpor (he had allready one down due to Erik´s Ivory Bow), which gave me vote-lock. I started with an Anarchist Uprising, because I was sure Erik had either Delaying Tactics or Direct Intervention in hand. By playing the AU I made sure he had to act now, because that would have killed him as well. As planned he DI´ed the AU, which I followed up with a Reins of Power and a bleed to finish off my prey. Fortunately the DEM lockdown deck torporized and diablerized the vampire with Guarded Rubrics so I was safe for the next turn (it could have been problematic, still I had a D.I for the Seraphs Second, so depending on his order of play I could have stopped him anyway). The game went to time then and I was the winner with 1,5VP in the finals (getting the only oust).

I had a really nice time in Gothenburg, despite the nasty snowish weather. The players are among my favourites in the V:TES world and it is absolutely astonishing that everybody speaks decent English.

[Erol]

And again, Johannes is the Rocker !!!

AWESOME

BOOYAKA-SHA