Swedish ECQ 2013 - Tournament Report

First of all - sorry for the late report. Between eye-surgery and taking care of two kids full time I haven’t found that much time and energy to write lately and I didn’t want to rush it. Better try and keep some standard of quality and find some joy doing it.
Between the Archipelago Jones tournament and this one I haven’t been playing much at all and my tinkering with my decks have been kept at an absolute minimum (for me that is since I use to tinker a lot with my decks). I was ill prepared to say the least. Some days before the ECQ I sat down and created 3 new/semi-new decks and I got a couple of casual games played the night before but none of the decks felt good enough so I decided to play my Maris Streck War Ghoul deck again.
I know it is getting dull reading about it and I promise I will try something else next time but to tell the truth - I will probably return to this deck in future reports again. Since last time I only switched a couple of cards and the decklist looked like this at the ECQ:

Deck Name : Mar Ghouls
Author : Stefan Karlsson

Crypt [13 vampires] Capacity min: 2 max: 9 average: 5.53846

5	Maris Streck	9	AUS OBF ani dem dom	justicar	Malkavian	3
2	Horatio	2	vic		Tzimisce	2
2	Piotr Andreikov	2	aus		Tzimisce	3
1	Corine Marcon	6	AUS VIC ani		Tzimisce	2
1	Devin Bisley	5	ANI AUS vic		Tzimisce	2
1	Elizabeth Westcott	5	AUS ani cel vic		Tzimisce	3
1	Wendy Wade	3	ani aus		Tzimisce	2

Library [63 cards]

Action Modifier [5]
  3x Cloak the Gathering
  2x Veil the Legions

Ally [11]
  1x Muddled Vampire Hunter
  2x Ossian
  8x War Ghoul

Combat [8]
  3x Fake Out
  5x Trap

Event [4]
  2x Dragonbound
  2x Unmasking, The

Master [13]
  1x Erciyes Fragments, The
  1x Fragment of the Book of Nod
  6x Jake Washington (Hunter)
  1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
  1x Powerbase: Montreal
  1x Rack, The
  2x Smiling Jack, The Anarch

Political Action [4]
  1x Anathema
  3x Parity Shift

Reaction [15]
  2x Delaying Tactics
  2x Eyes of Argus
  6x On the Qui Vive
  5x Telepathic Misdirection

Retainer [3]
  1x J. S. Simmons, Esq.
  1x Mr. Winthrop
  1x Tasha Morgan

 

Round 1

1	2	3	4
Stefan Karlsson	Thomas Dollas	Helena Löf	Johnny Wretlind
Mar Ghouls	Vignes	Kite/Anatole toolbox	Daughters with Choir and Shattering Crescendo

I have a bad starting hand without Jake Washington or any of the retainers. When Johnny starts to put Choirs on the table I start to worry since without any War Ghouls I will not be able to block him if he plays Daring the Dawn. I calculate worst scenario and he is able to ditch out 12 pool damage which would surely put me in a bad position not being able to get any War Ghouls this game. I get two Tzimisce and Maris on the table and Helena does her best bleeding Johnny so he has to play his Shattering Crescendo backwards.
Thomas bleeds and Helena have to take some of the bleeds going dangerously low on pool since she uses some of her blocks and reaction cards against Johnny to help me. When I finally get my first War Ghoul and is about to go forward I am not quick enough and Thomas manages to oust Helena. I offer Johnny to use Maris special ability for him to gain enough intercept to be able to block Thomas and survive if he stays untapped but instead he lunges and I manage to block all his actions. The next round Thomas scores his second victory point and we are at the duel.
We have plenty of time and I adapt to a slow defensive strategy while Thomas is very active. In one round he performs every directed action possible (tries to steal both Fragment of the Book of Nod and The Rack and bleeds with every vampire). I block everything until I am out of wakes. Then he plays Entrancement on my only War Ghoul. Very good play! I manage to put another War Ghoul and Muddled Vampire Hunter in play next round and I have two Fake Outs on my hand that I can use for his rushes so it turns out to not be as big a problem as it could have been.
Slowly I grind him out finishing it all with a late Dragonbound.
Stefan 2VP
Thomas 2VP

Round 2

1	2	3	4
Nikolaj Wendt	Stefan Karlsson	Isak Esbjörnsson Bjärmark	Michael Jørgensen
Guillaume Giovanni with Obtenebration	Mar Ghouls	Arika Mind Rape Abactor	Assamites

This is the game when my starting crypt lacks Maris Streck when I have two stealthy decks as prey and predator. Michael slowly influences out a big cap Assamite and Isak has the crypt acceleration he needs to get his ball rolling quickly. Before anyone knows what happened Michael is ousted. Me and Nikolaj agrees that Isak have to go next and Nikolaj doesn’t bleed me while I use all my resources towards Isak. It takes some rounds but I manage to get him and again I am in the duel.
Without Maris it is hard for me to block Nikolaj’s actions but fortunately he doesn’t have that much bleed on his hand when he passes my defence. He plays Sudario Refraction for 3xOubliette one time and it is hard for me put his vampires in torpor with such stunts even though I have Ossian and 3 War Ghouls. He is also gaining a larger hand size from Guillaume’s special so it is just a matter of time here.
When I finally start to beat his vampires down he plays Secure Haven on Guillaume. I forget that War Ghouls can tap and burn to burn a location so with a stealthed Govern + Conditioning Nikolaj bleeds me out.
When I realise my mistake I get really pissed at myself, actually considering quitting the tournament early. I have lunch with Isak, Marko, Nina and Tom during the break and I think I interrupt the conversation like five times with a grumpy “Fucking Secure Haven..”.
Nikolaj GW 2VP
Stefan 1VP
Isak 1VP

Round 3

1	2	3	4	5
Jan Sonnenberg	Archibald Zimonyi	Stefan Karlsson	Mattias Bäckström	Rudolf Garski
Malk 94	!Ventrue / Tremere block and bleed	Mar Ghouls	Mistress Fanchon powerbleed and vote	Saulot and Euralye Spirit Marionette

Archibald is playing defensive towards the Malkavians from the start and I need no more than 2 stealth to put my allies to play even though he fields both Neighbor John and Carna. Rudolf is influencing aggressively in the beginning of the game but he has good reaction cards so he survive the bleeds from Mistress Fanchon. I am also going low on pool having to take some bleeds in the bouncing chain and I am really scared Archie will lunge and kill me but I have a feeling he doesn’t play that much bleed. He has a .44 Magnum and will be hard for me to backrush the way I want so I hope for him to get bled out so I can concentrate on the Malkavians.
Jan also starts to go low on pool and I try and get him to roll forward towards his first victory point but he is a little hesitant not wanting to run in to my War Ghouls. Soon he is so low on pool that going for the oust is his only option in getting anything this game and fortunately he manages to oust Archibald who has been sitting on a bad hand.
A bleed for 8 from Mistress Fanchon is bounced all the way around the table leaving me at 1 pool. Rudolf locks Jan down with Unburdening the Bestial Soul in exchange for me rushing all of Mattias’ vampires to torpor. When Rudolf have bled Jan out we renew our deal - Rudolf not bleeding me and me ousting Mattias instead of rushing Rudolf’s vampires. I still only have a few pool so I know a dealbreak might come. Luckily I have both On the Qui Vive and Telepathic Misdirection on my hand for the worst case scenario but it doesn’t happen and Mattias is ousted.
Still not high on pool I have to fear Saulot playing Neutral Guard. I have my reaction cards and blood on Maris so Euralye and Rudolf’s three or so AUS weenies is no big concern. I focus on getting Saulot to torpor and succeed in the task also diablerizing him in the process. Rudolf plays Secure Haven on Euralye and this game I remember War Ghoul’s full card text but don’t think its worth a War Ghoul to remove it. I get the weenies to torpor but time runs fast and I am getting stressed. I also stress Rudolf but he is a smart and patient player and doesn’t change his normal pace nor does he take offence. I slowly build my pool and am in no danger anymore and finally I manage to block Euralye and from that point I can stress-bleed for the win with little more than one minute left of the game.
Stefan GW 3VP
Jan 1VP
Rudolf 1VP

Happy that I didn’t leave for home I got a qualifier t-shirt and a place in the finals. My first and third game was long and I left for lunch right after the second one so I didn’t do any scouting at all during the preliminary rounds. I made a quick ask-around and got to know what the others were playing and 50% of that information was correct (I hate you guys!). The standings before the finals:

1	Daniel “DT” Teige	2 GW	6.5 VP
2	Marko Lindros	2 GW	6 VP
3	Magnus “Ober” Karlström	1 GW	8 VP
4	Stefan Karlsson	1 GW	6 VP
5	Daniel Wiberg	1 GW	5 VP

It was obvious the no one would chose to sit between me and Daniel since its quite bad for your health to be squeezed between two War Ghoul decks, especially if they are both blocky. Ober’s choice of seat would therefore decide who would be prey and predator between me and Daniel. He chose to sit as my predator and Daniel was my prey. Not good at all.

The Finals

1	2	3	4	5
Stefan Karlsson	Daniel Wiberg	Ober	DT	Marko Lindros
Mar Ghouls	Wall Ghouls	!Tremere mass bleed	!Ventrue Grinder	!Ventrue Grinder with gimmicks

Marko plays Sudden Reversal on my first Jake Washington but I have another on my hand to contest Daniel’s when it hits the table. Daniel asks me about which vampire I will bring out first and since I have all three weenies in my starting crypt I tell him Piotr (want to deny him Auspex as much as I can). He influences out Horatio. When Marko’s first vampire turns out to be Katherine Stoddard I see a small window of opportunity. I have a trap and a My Enemy’s Enemy on my hand. If I block Horatio’s first action with Wendy Wade and play Trap I might be able to get a ghoul on the table before anyone can block it. I influence her out but still lack that retainer to be able to try and recruit a War Ghoul. When the calculated combat between Horatio and Wendy occurs Daniel plays Target Vitals and I am owned. DT constantly helps me with blood from Owain Evans and even rescues me from torpor but Marko’s very cool and odd deck packs enough power bleed for me to be a quick oust even with Maris and a couple of wakes as defence.
Daniel gets his first War Ghoul and starts to pound on Marko’s vampires. Ober bleeds like crazy and DT has to play defensive. DT has enough bounce cards to eat trough Marko’s pretty big pool. Ober and DT starts to deal and manages to block Daniel’s second War Ghoul recruit attempt. He gets Ossian instead and Ober rushes for his victory point when it is still time.
In the duel Ober is almost getting that last bleed to hit with Mirror Walk and Bonding but Daniel cycles wakes and gets Eyes of Argus and can block it for the win. Congratulations!
Daniel GW 2VP
Ober 1VP
DT 1VP
Marko 1VP

I had a great time and the 41 players were a great surprise and a good life sign of the game. Me and Isak discussed the state of the game some weeks earlier and though only about 25 players would show up and we were happy to be proved wrong. I also qualified for the EC which is a good thing that will make me be able to relax during the Stockholm EC.
I will miss the big Copenhagen tournaments this year but hopefully I will play something and write about it before Autumn and the Swedish nationals and the EC.
Keep playing and keep keeping this game alive people!

Archipelago Jones - Tournament Report

For the first time in my career as a Vampire player I am organizing the event. Not organizing as in being a prince and managing the Archon and such but organizing as in being the host of the venue. With the new regular tournament place in Göteborg not allowing alcohol I was worried for our traditional Glögg-tournament. I got permission from my parents in law to use their summer house on the beautiful island Brännö in Göteborg’s southern archipelago.

Our prince, Sten, couldn’t participate but our NC Isak took his place handling the paperwork. 15 player showed up and Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri even brewed us a special Glögg for the event.

At the tournament I was far too busy with practical stuff and all my games lasted long for me so I didn’t take any proper notes. The reports of the games might be a bit short and lacking but its the best my memory can reporoduce.
I choose to play one of my favourite decks for the moment and it hasn’t changed much since I played it at the First Chance Qualifier in Budapest.

 

Deck Name : Mar Ghouls
Author : Stefan Karlsson

Crypt [13 vampires] Capacity min: 2 max: 9 average: 5.53846

5	Maris Streck	9	AUS OBF ani dem dom	justicar	Malkavian	3
2	Horatio	2	vic		Tzimisce	2
2	Piotr Andreikov	2	aus		Tzimisce	3
1	Corine Marcon	6	AUS VIC ani		Tzimisce	2
1	Devin Bisley	5	ANI AUS vic		Tzimisce	2
1	Elizabeth Westcott	5	AUS ani cel vic		Tzimisce	3
1	Wendy Wade	3	ani aus		Tzimisce	2

Library [63 cards]

Action Modifier [5]
3x Cloak the Gathering
2x Veil the Legions

Ally [10]
1x Muddled Vampire Hunter
2x Ossian
7x War Ghoul

Combat [8]
3x Fake Out
5x Trap

Equipment [1]
1x Heart of Nizchetus

Event [4]
2x Dragonbound
2x Unmasking, The

Master [13]
1x Erciyes Fragments, The
1x Fame
6x Jake Washington (Hunter)
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
2x Smiling Jack, The Anarch

Political Action [4]
1x Anathema
3x Parity Shift

Reaction [15]
2x Delaying Tactics
2x Eyes of Argus
6x On the Qui Vive
5x Telepathic Misdirection

Retainer [3]
1x J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1x Mr. Winthrop
1x Tasha Morgan

Round 1

1	2	3	4	5
Daniel Wiberg	Alex Båskman	Stefan Karlsson	Ida Olsson Bjärmark	Ivan Marin-Rivas
!Toreador breed and bleed	Kiasyd + Lasombra stealth bleed	Mar Ghouls	Kite and Anatole toolbox	Ventrue Lawfirm

As soon as I know which deck Ida is playing I know it will be hard for me to get my setup. With either Kite or Anatole as her first minion she won’t easily let me get any allies to play. Fortunately Alex plays mostly low- to mid-caps and Ida knows he will make a quick victory point if I am not allowed to defend myself so she agrees to let me recruit one War Ghoul. I also have an early Pentex Subversion on his Isanwayen and I manage to defend myself pretty good.
Ivan is having a slow start and Daniel is free to build up as he like. I reason I have to help Ivan with some intercept from Maris for Ida not to oust him too quick. In return he agrees to vote in favour of my Parity Shifts. I probably shouldn’t have done that, not because I needed every drop of Maris’ blood but because Daniel would have had much more pressure coming his way with Ida as predator.
Daniel bleeds Alex down low and my defence is enough to not take much damage but Daniel stops his momentum and lets Alex survive for a while trying to lunge at me. At this stage I have to take some damage but I survive. I try to call a Parity shift, stealthing with Cloak the Gathering but forgets that I can tap Erciyes Fragments to steal a stealth card from Ida and I am blocked.
Alex have barely any ready minions and is of no use to Daniel anymore so he is bled out. Ida also bleeds Ivan out and we are at the three player game. At this stage the game win is out of my hand and I am not going to survive if I try and oust Ida before she gets Daniel with only one War Ghoul so I am aiming for a 2-2 table split. Ida agrees after some talking to let me call Anathema on Anatole and rush him with my War Ghoul playing a Trap for 8 more pool. Not a happy decision for Ida but she is toast in a duel against Daniel. It doesn’t help that long though and I am ousted.
The duel is surprisingly long but Daniel wins in the end.
Daniel GW 4VP
Ida 1VP 

Round 2

1	2	3	4	5
Stefan Karlsson	Daniel Wiberg	Randal Rudstam	Peter Kärrberg	Isak Esbjörnsson Bjärmark
Mar Ghouls	!Toreador breed and bleed	Baali Malefecia denial bleed	Asguresh block and rush	Girls will find Apache Jones

Since my first game was the last to end the first round I didn’t scout anything so no clues on what the others are playing besides Daniel. Having him as prey feels a little better as I can let him expand and hopefully kill him with Dragonbound. Isak knows what Peter is playing and is not deploying Aksinya as defence. Randal bleeds hard into Peter who manages to bounce some but Psalm of the Damned, I am Legion and Hide the Mind deals enough damage for Peter to be in a bad spot. Isak is also very low on pool, partially because of Peter’s bounces and partially from influencing out Cybele and an Inner Circle without playing Villein on any of them.
I get my first War Ghoul at my second attempt since Daniel plays some slight intercept and blocks the first. In the best of worlds Daniel would grab two victory points and I the last three since Asguresh’s combat should beat my War Ghouls and I don’t like to be near it. This is not going to happen and its up to Maris Streck if Peter or Isak should be the first one to be ousted. I can’t let Peter get ousted since Randal’s deck (especially after 12 new pool) has the potential to deny it’s way trough my defence. I present a deal with Peter that I am helping him if he let me have another War Ghoul and let me oust Daniel before he goes for me. He can’t do anything but accept. It cost Maris 5 blood for Peter to survive Randal’s lunge but instead he manages to bleed Isak out and sits a little better.
Randal is trying his best to talk Daniel into letting him survive to be able to kill Peter but I argue that he would get two quick victory points if he is allowed. Daniel decides to oust Randal and we are at my beloved three player game.
Peter is not kind to my pool bouncing bleeds and bleeding himself but I get my second War Ghoul and start to pound all of Daniel’s vampires to torpor. I don’t have Dragonbound yet and it is taking too long to oust Daniel. Peter is going to win this if I don’t do anything. When I get the feeling Peter is not having enough combat cards on his hand I decide its time to trust my gut feeling and I play Pentex Subversion on Asguresh who is his only vampire with a .44 Magnum. I then defend it with my War Ghouls and apart from a couple of additional strikes and presses to end combat when I have played Trap he is not able to do anything. I manage to lock him down as well and take the win. Thank you gut feeling (or maybe - thank you glögg)!
Stefan GW 3VP
Daniel 1VP
Peter 1VP

Time for a lunch break and a 20 minutes walk in the winter landscape that has started to melt during the day. It is a jolly and glöggfryntlig bunch who enter the island’s tavern for some pre-ordered and very good food. We even manage to time the short opening hours of the grocery store and make some additions to the evening’s dinner.

Round 3

1	2	3	4	5
Hanna Båskman	Ivan Marin-Rivas	Stefan Karlsson	Randal Rudstam	Archibald Zimonyi
Dementation stealth bleed	Ventrue Lawfirm	Mar Ghouls	Baali Maleficia denial bleed	Tzimisce wall

I don’t draw any War Ghouls early and Randal contests Jake Washington which will give me a rough start. Archibald builds his defence and Hanna bleeds Ivan hard. Randal plays Villein followed by Giant’s Blood and I know this will be a one hell of a game to gain anything from. I decide to try and stay high on pool surviving and waiting for an opportunity to do something.
Maris gives Ivan’s vampires quite some intercept to be able to survive Hanna and in return I am allowed to Parity Shift first Randal and then Hanna. Archibald is a little overconfident in defending against Randal’s deck which is designed just for cracking Auspex decks and is the first to go.
From Parity Shift, some bounces and heavy influencing Randal is very low on pool and I start one of my turns on three pool where I only have two vampires that can bleed for one each. Thing is he is tapped out and his two vampires, Nergal and Cybele, are both Infernal so if I bleed him for two he can’t untap and oust Hanna. Hanna has enough table presence to potentially oust both Ivan and me quickly if she survives so I have a problem whatever I chose to do. I propose the following deal to Hanna: If I bleed Randal for two she bleeds him out with Kindred Spirits before trying to oust Ivan. I also offer to let her be until she ousts Ivan if she fails in her first attempt. She is giving it a serious thought but decides that she have to hope for Randal not having enough bleed to oust her and go for the Game win instead of what would probably only be one victory point in a duel against me.
I let Randal be and he has enough bleed cards to oust Hanna and after that me and Ivan are easy preys and we have a sweep.
Randal GW 5VP

It was a fun tournament and I am still very much in love with my deck. I just need to learn to not make any mistakes at all with it since its setup is very unforgiving. I talked to my parents in law today and they asked us if we would like the venue next year as well and I told them that would be great so I hope to repeat this and maybe even make it a tradition. I want to thank Isak, Lars and Michael for cooking our dinner and Henrik, Ivan, Lars, Michael and Randal for keeping me company almost all weekend. Hell I want to thank all that showed up - we had a great time!

No to the most important announcement. Who became Archipelago Jones? Fasten your seatbelts and read this - Isak Esbjörnsson Bjärmark, our reigning European Champion secured this important title with his 0 vicory points and lowest tournament points ever seen on Brännö. As that isn’t enough he did it with the same deck that he won the EC with. I leave you thinking about that for now with this beautiful picture: