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Last weekend, Pepijn (prince of Amsterdam) had a dedicated VTES-and-party weekend again. On the schedule were friday evening partying in Nijmegen, saturday SL in arnhem, saturday evening partying in Bochum, sunday SL in Bochum, and then the trip home.

Some nasty person decided to wreck Pep's car (attempted burglary) just before this entire plan, so it allmost failed, but some quick phonecalls (thanks to Pep's parents) and we were sorted with a new vehicle, and put the plan into motion.

I will say this only once: the hospitality of VTES players and organisers is great, and it was confirmed again this weekend. We had a very very very good time, both in Arnhem, as well as in Bochum, where Bjorn and the cute little semi-goth girl and some Viennese friends of there's did the 'getting into the spirit thing' and went gothic at Zwischenfall (sp?), a big club there.

But you don't want to read about that, you want to read about the tournaments. I'm sure the tournament organisers will post something as well, so I'll leave out things such as memorable quotes etc.

In Arnhem I decided to play a Shambling Hordes deck, having finally gotten the required Charisma's during trading at the Belgian Qualifier. Arnhem being only 2 rounds and then a final, I was a little worried when my first predator, David the Assamite, proceeded to thoroughly chew me up after he threatened his Tremere predator into subservience. The second round was much better for me. Shambling hordes came out in force and I proceded to fratricide in the form of ousting my giovanni prey. That'll teach him to influence out the vampire I want. My new prey could've been a problem (Ventrue for/dom bleed/trap), especially as his prey (my grandpredator) was at 1 pool, but Le Dinh Tho prevented the ousting of my grandpredator by stripping my prey of his bleed cards (the grandpredator had Greta and was using her to stay alive). And of course, Le Dinh Tho occasionally showed some holes in the defense as well - which is when the shambling would move in. The pool gain from the ousts was enough to feel not too much pressure from my Daughters of Cacophony predator, but I also paid them a shambling visit once or twice. After my second prey was ousted, I chewed up the low-on-pool assamite+greta Clan Loyalty unblockable bleed deck, and then powered on ahead through the Daughters. One table sweep in a 2 round 24-person (I think?) tournament - looked like a final for me. I think I torporised vampires over 10 times in that game.

I went in the final as 3rd placed. Not knowing one other deck, I decided to sit as predator to a known malkavian S&B deck, and as prey to something unknown - which proved to be a much much harder !malkavian S&B deck. Oops. The table was rounded out with a Lambach deck (my grandprey) and a !Toreador deck (grandpredator) I had seen in my round 1. Life started out great with a second-turn shambling horde, gotten by Rudolfo, but proceeded to go sour real quick when the !Malk Restructured the horde and the horde came for Rudolfo, whose ass got saved by a Fake Out. I then had to quickly bring out some more Hordes to lay the smack down on the !Malk, and got 3 of them just in time (down to 4 pool or even less at that time). The Lambach/Velya deck saw my need for exerting backward pressure and decided there were easier pickings to be had as my prey, so he switched seats and became my prey. I did have to go backwards and trounced all the !Malks into torpor in one round. The table then became somewhat difficult for me as I was gaining 1 pool a turn through Rudoldo and his blood doll, and I needed to look backwards. A lot of talk, people offering me different things, but in the end I solved that problem by drawing into my bleed cards just at the moment my prey went down to 5 pool by his influencing Meshenka late-game. He had saved me earlier from the !Malk (Eagle's sight) and so I repaid him by ousting him, after making sure all his minions were tapped and not coming back up to bounce my bleed though some rushing with the hordes and a test-bleed for 1. My !Malk predator was ousted by the !Tor, I then ate my next prey, and the !Tor resigned the game to me after that.

BRAAAINZ!

The decklist is at the bottom. Note the useless Vagabond Mystic - great thinking, playing Shambling Hordes and forgetting about the line 'cannot gain life'. I didn't see the Vagabond all day, so it didn't matter.

In Bochum there was another nice turn out of 19 people (I think), with 6 or 9 new players (I forget)! Very good for that domain. Also, these people might've been new, but for that they played very well indeed. Having won my mandatory victory for the Giovanni (I want them to have the bonus card more than the Ventrue or the Malks) I could go back to my first love - Nosferatu, so I played a for/obf tradition/stealthvote princes deck.

Round one saw me on a 4 player table with a S&B malkavian big bleeders prey (with many votes as well, ugh), a Brujah/Nos vote deck opposite me (great decks think alike) and a Nosferatu-with-presence vote&bleed deck as predator. I had a slow start and my S&B prey made meat of his prey in 18 minutes. At that point my predator was also low on pool and my prey got greedy, influencing out more heavy minions. My predator and I combined for 2 rounds of voting and bleeding to oust my prey, to fight it out one-on-one. At that time, I was too strong for my opponent, although he did hold out for an unexpected long time due to blood dolls and lack of damage options in my hand.

Round two saw a 5 players table with a S&B Lasombra/Kyasid predator, a gangrel prey, a ravnos grandprey, and a nice Zayyat/Ingrid Rossler Raptor gangrel predator. Slow to build, but funny to watch the pool management with Heidelburg. That guy (Dieter) was smart too - he saw the parity shifts I was tossing and kept a buffer of his pool in the uncontrolled region. My first minion was Selma, and in turn 3 she did her first and best action of the game - Kindred restructed my predator in the spot of my prey. That was more like it. My new prey proceeded to beat the bejeezus out of the Ravnos anyway, but damage options were flowing for me, a Ventrue HQ guaranteed vote lock, I was letting my predator just bleed me for 1 (with multiple minions) all the time, and at a critical juncture (me at 6 pool, my prey at 4) I played Zillah's valley as my master, and parity shifted my prey to death. Up 10 pool (and the transfer-back with the info highway), I then demolished the weakened ravnos (per orders of the tournament organiser... ). The Zayyat raptor wall and I looked each other over and saw that the fight would be very hard to predict and might well time out. So we made a deal where I would help him oust his prey (my predator), and we would both withdraw, which we did.

Round three was another 4 player table. My generous host, Bjorn, as predator (!Malk S&B), a Lasombra-embrace/marcus-vitel-bleed-with-a-bit-of-vote prey, and a Malky S&B crosstable. I came flying out of the gate with Information highway and fourth traditions, going forward strongly on my prey. The table called me the threat and conviced my crosstable player to bleed his prey, bounced to me, hit me for 6. Ouch. Uh-oh. My predator then tried to finish me off, but couldn't cycle into the required cards. I got a slight new lease on life with a parity shift (I think), but was still in trouble cause I could get no cross-table love. In the end I convinced Bjorn I would uphold a 2-2 table split with him if he bounced a bleed into my prey. Since I was out of ousting reach for bjorn at that time, and he was low on pool with his predator's S&B turn coming up and no other defense in Bjorn's hand, he agreed, and to Bjorn's surprise (Pepijn and his war ghoul deck fucked him over in a previous round) I kept the deal to go to the final with 2TW and 8 VP.

Where I was third. Wow. 2 people with 3 TW ahead of me (Pep's mean-as-hell war ghoul deck and a Tzimisce fiendish tongue S&B deck ahead of me). I sat as to not be Bjorns prey again (remembering how low he had gotten me in round 3), but the final seating turned out to be:

Me (Nos obf/for) -> Pepijn's War Ghoul -> Bjorns !Malk S&B -> Michael's !Tor Toolbox -> Patte's (?) Tzimi S&B.

The Tzimi's sitting cross-table so as to be able to deal for non-contesting crypt draws. I came out with a fairly strong start as well, and then watched the life-saving miracle unfold - Pepijn was not drawing the required ally or retainer to burn to bring out the war ghouls. In the mean time, my predator was bleeding me for around 6 each turn, but I wasn't blocking, since minion taps and parity shifts allowed me wonderful balance against it, robbing Pep of pool at the same time, and slowly starting to jam my predator's hand. I had gotten low by the time I ousted Pep, and was experiencing resistance from the whole table (DI, DT) by that point. Bjorn was at death's door with around 6 pool, but with a little bloat engine running (blood doll/HG). My predator had around 5-6 tzimi's up at that time, and I was looking hard to see whether I would survive to live another turn at some point. So, instead, I called a Kindred restructure to swap my predator for my grandpredator. My new predator would have to defend against the Tzimis (he was also around 6 pool), but had more minions and more intercept than I (although I had been hanging on to 2 2nds for a long time by then), so would likely be able to do that just fine (and a Greta helped as well). The first kindred restructure was stopped (DI), but I had another one on hand, so it happened anyways. The table tried to talk my new predator into trying for the oust when he played a Palla Grande, but I convinced him that he had no chance against my blocking power (my predator's delivery system being bruise instead of stealth). This was a good thing, since he couldn't have ousted me, but he sure could've given the game away to the Tzimi and the !Malk. I then proceeded to oust Bjorn, gaining more pool, guaranteeing that my predator would be keeping the deal since I was outside ousting range. My predator fended off the Tzimi's succesfully and in the end it was all over for them when I cycled into some more forward power (Conservative agitations - 2 to the Tzimi, 1 to me, twice). I then gave my predator the 2 VP he so richly deserved (his first tournament!).

I was very impressed with the new players and felt right at home in the friendly atmosphere. The playgroup said they enjoyed having us over - but I do have the feeling some people will be coming over to the Netherlands some for a little revenge against the Dutch invasion.

As always, thanks to all organisers and fellow players. See you next time! Decklists below (although there were some VERY slight modifications on the day, in the choice of bleed modifier or scouting mission instead of GtU, etc. And that silly Vagabond Mystic)

Tobias
Deventer

Deck Name: BRAAAAAINZ
Created By: Tobias
Description:

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 11, Max: 28, Avg: 4,92)
----------------------------------------------
1 Lia Milliner dom nec 3, Giovanni
2 Rudolfo Giovanni NEC 3, Giovanni
2 Isabel Giovanni DOM NEC pot 5, Giovanni
1 Gillespi Giovanni aus DOM NEC POT 7, Giovanni
3 Andrea Giovanni DOM NEC pot vic 7, Giovanni
2 Le Dinh Tho aus dom NEC 5, Nagaraja
1 Marciana Giovanni dom 2, Giovanni

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (18 cards)
1 Barrens, The
3 Blood Doll
2 Charisma
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Jake Washington (Hunter)
2 Memories of Mortality
1 Morgue Hunting Ground
3 Path of Bone, The
1 Rack, The
2 Tower of London

Action (8 cards)
8 Govern the Unaligned

Action Modifier (12 cards)
5 Call of the Hungry Dead
3 Foreshadowing Destruction
4 Seduction

Reaction (11 cards)
6 Deflection
5 Wake with Evening's Freshness

Combat (14 cards)
6 Fake Out
6 Spiritual Intervention
2 Trap

Ally (21 cards)
2 Leonardo, Mortician
19 Shambling Hordes

Combo (6 cards)
6 Spectral Divination

Deck Name: Traditional Nossies Storyline
Created By: Tobias
Description: I cannot resist.

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 19, Max: 37, Avg: 7,33)
----------------------------------------------
2 Nikolaus Vermeulen ani for obf POT 7, Nosferatu, Prince
2 Sheldon ANI AUS for OBF POT 9, Nosferatu, Justicar
1 Murat OBF POT ser 7, Nosferatu, Prince
2 Suhailah FOR OBF pot ser 9, Ventrue, Prince
1 Queen Anne aus DOM FOR obf PRE 10, Ventrue, Prince
2 Selma the Repugnant ani for OBF POT 8, Nosferatu, Prince
1 Dimple obf 2, Nosferatu
1 Duck obf pot 3, Nosferatu

Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (19 cards)
1 Creepshow Casino
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Giant's Blood
5 Information Highway
5 Minion Tap
2 Secure Haven
1 Ventrue Headquarters
3 Zillah's Valley

Action (12 cards)
5 Fifth Tradition: Hospitality, The
5 Fourth Tradition: The Accounting, The
2 Third Tradition: Progeny, The

Action Modifier (22 cards)
2 Cloak the Gathering
4 Faceless Night
4 Forgotten Labyrinth
9 Freak Drive
3 Lost in Crowds

Political Action (18 cards)
1 Ancient Influence
3 Conservative Agitation
2 Kindred Restructure
5 Kine Resources Contested
6 Parity Shift
1 Reins of Power

Reaction (8 cards)
8 Second Tradition: Domain, The

Combat (10 cards)
2 Disarm
2 Infection
3 Rolling with the Punches
3 Skin of Steel

Equipment (1 cards)
1 Ivory Bow

Patte Rüger wrote:...the tournemant was really funny and big with about 25 players attending!

The dutch guys had been really nice and friendly and it was much fun playing @ this touremant!

The only fu%&$"/ thing was that I was not in 1st place before the finals,even with 3 GW 10 VP`s....

And you're right , I'm looking forward playing in the Netherlands...revenge...

Tobias wrote:Only no guys wearing hats win finals, you know that.

hardyrange wrote:

Tobias wrote:Only no guys wearing hats win finals, you know that.

But you do not have to be bald to make the Finals, have you?

****************************
* EVENT HISTORIAN'S REPORT *
****************************

Event ID: 1023
Organizer Name: Gerhard Range
Historian Name: Gerhard Range
Event Date: Sun, 28 September, 2003
Event Location: Zu den Vier Winden
Event City: Bochum
Event Country: Germany
Number of Players in Attendance: 25
Winning Player's Name: Tobias op den Brouw
Winning Clan: Nosferatu

****************************************************
* NEW V:EKN MEMBERS *
****************************************************

New V:EKN members are players who were not registered V:EKN members before
this event. Players who have registered but never played in any prior
sanctioned events will be considered new V:EKN members.

How many new V:EKN Members? ___9 (nine)___

****************************************************
* TOURNAMENT WINNING CLAN: *
* *
* What clan won your event?:__Nosferatu___________ *
* *
****************************************************

QUESTIONS COVERING ALL ROUNDS

1. Did Lambach or Lambach (Advanced) enter play?. If so, please describe
interesting events?

No appearance at all.

2. Did the Eye of Hazimel enter play? If so, please describe interesting
events:

No appearance at all.

3. Did the Sascha Vykos, Xaviar, Lucinde Alastor, Hesha Ruhadze or
Jaroslav
Pascek enter play in any game? If so, please describe interesting events

No appearance by most of these worthies, except for:

Hesha Ruhadze:
---------------

Appeared in a Followers of Set deck in the 2nd preliminary round.
The Followers were ousted some time later by a Tzimisce (non-Lambach) stealth bleed deck.

Notable action:

- Hesha used an Enticement against a Nosferatu prey, giving himself stealth with a Forgotten Labyrinth.


Lucinde Alastor:
-----------------

Lucinde enters late in the 3rd preliminary round.
At that time, the table is in the end game, and only 2 players are left: Ventrue against !Toreador (that deck later scored 2nd place in the tournament).

Some notable events:

- Lucinde attempts Parity Shift, but gets intercepted by Sheila Mezarin with Mr. Winthrop. Sheila uses .44 Magnum to maneuver and shoot Lucinde, then plays superior Psyche! (Sheila had a Celerity Discipline Master card) to start a new combat and repeat. Lucinde takes a total of 4 damage.

- Sheila Mezarin attempts a bleed for 2, but is blocked by Lucinde. Again, she uses the .44 Magnum to maneuver and hit Lucinde for 2 damage.

- Lucinde attempts a Govern the Unaligned to bleed the !Tor player, but this is cancelled by Direct Intervention.
Lucinde then attempts a cardless bleed. She is blocked by Sheila Mezarin, again shot from long distance with the .44 Magnum, and finally enters torpor.

- Shortly thereafter, the Ventrue were ousted, giving the !Toreador player his seat in the tournament Finals.



FINALS SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

4. Please describe any interesting events involving titled vampires.
5. Please describe any interesting Political Actions, if any.
6. Please describe any interesting combats.
7. Please describe any interesting deals made between players playing
clans from different sects.
8. Please describe any other surprising or interesting things that
happened.

I will answer all of these questions in the chronological order they happened during the Finals, since I feel this will be easier to follow.

The starting seating order was:
Tzimisce 1 (stealth bleed) -> Nosferatu (princely politics) -> Tzimisce 2 (War Ghouls) -> !Malkavians (stealth bleed) -> !Toreador (Concealed Guns)

The most interesting events:

- During the whole game, Tzimisce 2 fails to draw a single retainer or ally to use as "raw material" for his War Ghouls.

- Claven (who incidentally has a Fame on him, thanks to Tzimisce 2), tries to bleed his prey with a Kindred Spirits, using over the time Lost in Crowds, Elder Impersonation, Swallowed by the Night and Spying Mission to get a total of +4 stealth, but nonetheless is blocked by Greta Kircher, who uses Spirit's Touch, Enhanced Senses and a Rumour Mill, Tabloid Newspaper, to get +4 intercept. They just hit each other for 1 hand damage each in the resulting combat.

- The Nosferatu player's Queen Anne uses a Fourth Tradition (on Nikolaus Vermeulen, as it later turns out). Nobody attempts to block. She uses Freak Drive and untaps. She then attempts a Parity Shift. She is blocked by Corinne Marcon with a Telepathic Misdirection. Corinne goes to long range with a Fake Out and attempts a Breath of the Dragon, but Queen Anne prevents with a Superior Mettle.

-Selma, The Repugnant, uses another Fourth Tradition to bring Nikolaus Vermeulen out in that round.

- General Perfidio Dios uses Lunatic Eruption on his prey's Greta Kircher. Nobody blocks. In the turn of Greta's controller, she attacks Lolita Houston, but Lolita H. maneuvers awy with a Chiropteran Marauder, and nobody takes any damage. Mercy, The Knight Inqisitor, then destroys the Lunatic Eruption, with no block attempt.

- Selma, The Repugnant, tries a Parity Shift, but Corinne Marcon blocks using Wake With Evening's Freshness and Telepathic Misdirection. Both hit each other with hands, but Selma uses Skin of Steel to prevent the damage.

- Queen Anne succeeds in playing a Parity Shift and shifts 5 pool away from her controller's prey (Tzimisce 2) to her controller's pool.

- Nikolaus Vermeulen attempts a Reins of Power. There are some negotiations about a possible deal where his (!Toreador) grand-predator could give intercept via Rumour Mill to Nikolaus' (Tzimisce 1) predator, but no deal is struck, so the political action succeeds. Tzimisce 2 loses 4 pool, !Toreador gain 1 pool, Tzimice 1 loses 1 pool.

- Nikolaus Vermeulen attempts an Ancient Influence. But this is cancelled cross-table with Direct Intervention from his (!Malkavian) grand-prey, who does not want his own prey to gain pool.

- Claven (still with Fame) attempts to hunt. His predator's Corinne Marcon attempts a block with Telepathic Misdirection for +1 intercept, but Claven uses a Swallowed by the Night to get a total of +2 stealth and succeeds.

- Nikolaus Vermeulen uses a Fifth Tradition: Hospitality on his controller's Queen Anne.

- Nikolaus Vermeulen attempts a bleed for 1, but is blocked by his prey's Horatio. Horation uses a Trap, Nikolaus prevents in the first round with Superior mettle, so after two further rounds of hand strikes, both go to torpor.

- Immediately after Nikolaus goes to torpor, Queen Anne ousts her prey (Tzimisce 2) with a bleed for 2.

- Later, Queen Anne rescues Nikolaus Vermeulen from torpor, and she pays the 2 blood.

- The Tzimisce 1 and the !Malkavians agree to a deal: They will both attempt to oust the Nosferatu player, then the Tzmisce player will let the !Malkavians oust the !Toreador. After that, they will play it out. As it later turns out, both players try to honor their deal to split the table even after the seating order changes (see below).

- Selma, the Repugnant, attempts a Parity Shift. General Perfidio Dios attempts to block with a Telepathic Misdirection, but Selma uses Lost in Crowds. The General uses a Delaying Tactics.

- Nikolaus Vermeulen attempts a Kindred Restructure. The player starts asking around for deals concerning the new seating order, provided that he gets away from the Tzimisce 1 stealth bleeder who currently is his predator. But the !Malkavian player honors his previous deal with the Tzimisce 1 (see above) and uses a Direct Intervention to cancel the Kindred Restructure. But Nikolaus' player has a second Kindred Restructure in his hand, and Nikolaus himself succeeds: No block attempts and vote majority for the Nosferatu player lead to a new seating order:
Nosferatu -> !Malkavians -> Tzimisce 1 -> !Toreador

- The !Toreador and the Nosferatu agree to a counter-deal against the !Malkavians and Tzimisce. The !Toreador will not oust the Nosferatu, and after the Nosferatu oust the other two, he will yield, getting the !Toreador 2 VPs. This deal will be honored, too.

- Caliban attempts a bleed with Fiendish Tongue against the !Toreador, but Greta Kircher uses a Telepathic Misdirection to deflect the bleed to the !Malkavian player (honoring the deal mentioned above). But the !Malkavian player uses Direct Intervention to cancel the Telepathic Misdirection. Greta Kircher attempts to block instead, but Caliban gets +1 stealth with a Plasmic Form. When Greta uses Spirit's Touch for +1 intercept, Caliban plays a Changeling for another +1 stealth. But the !Toreador player has drawn another Telepathic Misdirection, and Greta again redirects the bleed to the !Malkavians, who lose 2 pool.

- Nikolaus Vermeulen is filled up to capacity with a Giant's Blood.

- Selma the Repugnant tries a Conservative Agitation, which is not blocked. The referendum would now oust the !Malkavians, but a Delaying Tactics by the Tzimisce cancel the referendum and so saves his deal partner.

- But immediately after that, Nikolaus Vermeulen succeeds with a Kine Resources Contested, and (with token support from Ian Wallingford's vote given by the !Toreador player) oust the !Malkavians.

- Devin Bisley bleeds with Fiendish Tongue and has to use Plasmic Form and Changeling to get a total of +2 stealth, but is blocked by Melisande with Rumour Mill and a Special Report. Devin Bisley uses a Chiropteran Marauder to maneuver to long, and sends Melisande to torpor with Breath of the Dragon.

- Ian Wallingford rescues Melisande from torpor, but she pays for it.

- Nikolaus Vermeulen succeeds with an unblocked Conservative Agitation, making his Tzimisce prey lose 2 pool, and the Nosferatu player himself loses 1 pool (still haviong the deal with his !Toreador predator). The Tzimisce 1 player now is down to 1 pool. Nikolaus uses Freak Drive to untap. Selma the Repugnant immediately tries another Conservative Agitation, but Caliban uses Wake with Evening's Freshness and Telepathic Misdirection to block. The combat is uninteresting, hand strikes both. But now Nikolaus bleeds for 1, and ousts the Tzimisce.

- The Nosferatu honor the deal and yield, so the !Toreador get the other 2 VP (and the 2nd place in the tournament).



QUOTES:

"You never believe me when I pretend to be your friend!" (Nosferatu player to his cross-table !Malkavian "ally")

"Sorry, I can't get out of bed - I bleed for only 1..." (Tzimisce stealth bleed player, after failing to find good cards)

"If in doubt - oust your prey!" (after a player took some time making his move)

"Why make the entire table hate you, instead of winning?"

Tobje wrote:Thanks to everyone! For your convencience, here's a copy of my post to the newsgroup:

Männele wrote:

Tobje wrote:Thanks to everyone! For your convencience, here's a copy of my post to the newsgroup:

What a cool report, what cool decks. Thank you for that.

Cheers!

Tobias wrote:You're very welcome - hope to see more Germans en Dutchfolk playing together in the future.