Tournament Report: Grand Ball Hatvan

Hi folks!

Here is my first tournament report for this year. 15 players gathered in Hatvan to get the v:tes season 2012 started in Hungary. I had some deck ideas for this tournament, but decided to give my Eze will slow roll you deck another chance. Here is how it went:

1st table: Cipo (Girls will find Aids) - ??? (Group 1-2 Nosferoyalty) - Myself - Ferenc (Trujah Summon History) - Richard (Blood Brother Chicago circle)

The table started really good for me. I had an awesome opening hand with Enkil Cog, Founders of the Ebony Kingdom and some other yummies in my hand. I was a little worried, because Cipo started with Enkidu and a Villein for 11 + Lilith's Blessing combo and soon Aksinya followed. There were 2 votes at my prey + 7 votes behind me, but that was only a little unpleasant. Most of the time I could manage to call my votes since I had Eze with Kduva's Mask and Sobayifa (7 votes), so I could pass anything with the Edge and a Perfect Paragon. Later on Nana showed up and became Guruhi Kholo. Since my actions were never blocked I could bloat and set up. Unfortunately the overall playing speed was quite low and that caused me to loose some vp's, you'll see later on.

Meanwhile the Blood Brother were fighting the Girls will find deck quite effectively. The Nosferoyalty deck caused me to play carefully, but was never a big threat so I could freely play my game. Ferenc had 2 Trujahs in play so a well timed Banishment on an almost empty Al-Muntathir opened the door for my first vp. I knew the Blood Brothers would want to rush back sooner or later so I let my prey live an extra round because I needed the actions to get an Ivory Bow and a Preternatural Strength on my Well-marked Eze. With this setup and the Blood Brother being down on 1-2 blood only backrushing made no sense anymore. I ousted my second prey and started to push the Girls will deck. I used Enkidu's Red List (he was down on 0 blood) to attack him, torporized and diablerized him. Cipo was low on pool so another well timed Banishment on Aksinya sealed his fate. Well would have sealed his fate, but at this time we timed out. 5 minutes more and I have a Game Win with 5 Vp's, but this way I got 1GW 2,5 VP's only.

2nd table: Myself - Cipo (GWFA) - Dávid (Lutz 'n friends) - Norbi (Malk with Lucian) - Máté (Renegade Garou)

Not the best seating, because of Aksinya. She can stop my deck entirely. Well as long as I don't draw my Banishment. So I focused on bloating and defending in the first place which was Necessary. Norbi started with a Mariel Lady Thunder + Lucian duo so he could defend against the Garou. I knew I won't have to be worried being rushed, but I have to worry about Norbi. This is was actually happened. Norbi made a very fast vp. Then he started to pressure me. He had already 4 vampires and a bunch of pool. Meanwhile cipo was becoming another real threat. No big surprise here: Dávid and I agreed on making a 1-1 vp deal and vote does decks to death. This is what happened. I have not the slightest idea how the heads-up between us would have ended since we both were kind of strong and had similar stats. We timed out 2 minutes after we made our vp's. 1,5 VP's here.

3rd table: Sándor (Gerald Windham) - Richard (Blood Brothers) - Myself - Dávid (Lutz) - Zoltán (Tremere toolbox)

This was like one of the weirdest tables I have ever played. First of all Sándor started with a Ponticulus + Talbot's Chainsaw combo just to see Zoltán stealing his Ponticulus with a Far Mastery. Despite this Sándor could keep himself in the game, well with some of my help. I gave him a rescue and some other help I can't remember. Meanwhile Dávid and Sándor pissed each other of quite hard for reasons nobody else understood. I mean they were cross table and still almost yelled at each other. I was like wow, I better stfu and lean back. So I did my stuff (equip, hunt, bloat, etc.) and I could do so since the Blood Brother had a hard time surviving against Sándor. 

Then out of nowhere Dávid and Sándor became friends again and agreed on Dávid ousting his other cross table buddy, namely Richard. I was like the hell is going on here??? Well Richard got ousted and we were down to 4 players. During all this weird stuff Dávid didn't really notice what I was preparing for. Meanwhile I had the Kduva's Mask, Enkil Cog, Narrow Minds, Heart of Cheating, etc. in play. I just bled him to death using Enkil cog in 1,5 turns. So we were 3 players left and Zoltán easily ousted Sándor. The heads-up was kind of short since I had a Pentex ready for Carna. He couldn't stop my multi action and a Banishment on his other "big guy" (an 6 cap on 1 blood) was the final punch. 1 GW 3 VP's.

FINAL

So I reached the finals as top seat with 2GW 7VP's. I knew all the finalists decks and how they play so I ran through some scenarios in my head to come up with some plans, depending on how they choose the seats. This is how they sat down:

Sándor (Gerald Windham) - Botos Péter (Anarch Enkidu) - Dávid (Lutz and friends) - Gyula (Omaya + Khalu wall)

So my view of all this:

1. I can't sit between Sándor and Enkidu. I will have a rush/bleed predator and a rush + grapple prey. No way I can survive here.

2. I can't sit between Enkidu and Lutz. Grapple rush predator is bad. In this scenario Dávid and his cross table buddy Gerald Windham will have vote lock, so I can't play my votes.

3. I can't sit between Dávid and Gyula. Same vote lock problem and no way I can oust Gyula's deck which is packed with DI's, Delaying Tactics and bounces. 

4. That leaves only one spot: Sitting between Gyula and Sándor.

My Plan:

I knew Dávid plays with Zillah's valley and stuff and that Gyula plays very defensively in the early stages of the game. I also knew that Sándor prefers to go forward and that Botos' priority would be defense first. This means I counted on Dávid taking off pressure from me and trying to oust Gyula. I was ready to give him all my support when it comes to hurting Gyula.

In the first few rounds my plan worked out. I managed to pass a Magic of the Smith and get my Kduva's Mask. Also I could pass Founders of the Ebony Kingdom. I was very sure that later on I will have no problems ousting Sándor and that 1 VP would be enough to win the final since I am first seat and the game would (and did) progress very slowly. 

What I did not count on was Dávid entirely stopping to do anything against Gyula after being blocked and torporized once. Who follow my blog will know that I had this issue with him once. Besides this first attempt he didn't make any other actions against his prey during the entire final. I stop complaining here.

I still had the chance to win, but here came the other bad luck: Neither Enkil Cog nor a single Villein showed up during the entire final. Enkil Cog would have been helpful, but that was not the deal breaker. The lack of a single Villein was. Gyula, who had no pressure at all left on him, slowly grinded me. I had one window open when I played a Pentex on Sándor and easily could have ousted him if Gyula wouldn't be Mr. Eagle's Sight himself (I did and always will loath that card). Gyula ousted me and when he did so I had 3 vampires (11 - 10 - 8 caps) almost full with blood. 

When I played the Pentex I was down on 4 pool (before playing it). It was clear that Botos was about to make his VP so making it to the time out wouldn't be enough for me to win. I needed a VP myself. I had no Majesties left in my hand and 3 vampires. Gyula had 4 vampires, but 2 of them would killed me in combat. I could have tried to defend and play against Gyula, but with little time left that would have only won Botos Péter the final, therefore I made my call to try to make my VP and hope for Gyula lacking an Eagle's Sight. Unfortunately he had one.

Final Note:

All in all it was a good tournament with good games. I had fun and that's the most important thing. Too bad for me I am still unable to win a final when not playing a deck with strong combat options. After so many finals played with non-combat decks (surely 30+) during my v:tes career without ever winning one I really wonder what I am doing wrong. I hope some day it will work out for me and get rid of this curse.

Oh, and another thing: the more I play with this Eze deck the stronger Banishment gets in my eyes. Currently I even think it is better than Parity Shift. I well timed mid- endgame Banishment can easily open the way for a Game Win.

by: Mephistopheles