Report Belgium national championship

Hi there,
In order to write the report, I need to remember what the other players were playing. Could you help me to complete the list?


Vincent Ripoll (me) : Shattering Crescendo with Vignes
Michel De Jonge ?
Alban Croibien ?
Ralf Lammert : Mary-Anne Blair bloat
Roel De Koninck ?
Izaak Havelaar ?
Martin Moes ?
Bram Van Stappen ?
Koen Tabak ?
Mil Ceulemans (Tupdog toolbox)
Lucien De Prins (Assamite)
Gauthier Legrand (!Malk BS)

I have a poor memory for these things, but with the decks I think I can recall the details.

Here's my report from the Belgium National Championship that was held in March. First of all, I'd like to thank Luc and Olivier for hosting and entertaining a visiting alien, and for lending me the missing cards, and Dennis for the organization. I'm sorry I had to leave in a hurry but the train wouldn't wait, so grats to Peter and thanks to the other players with whom I had a enjoyable time.
This report may not be very accurate since I write some weeks later, I'll take notes during the tournament next time.

I brought with me 3 decks, a Shattering/Vignes, a Lutz/Maris Streck and my Infinite Corruption deck. The first deck was my first choice because it is funny to play and quite unexpected, even though the last 6 games I played with it I scored 0 VP. I tweaked it just before the tournament by swapping Enchant Kindred for Legal Manipulations/Social Charm and some other fine tuning. Since Olivier had the missing cards (except a Siren's Lure that I replaced with a Virtuosa), I played it.

So, after a day of visiting, food provisioning and drinking, we were ready for round 1!

Round 1: Lily Prelude

Michel De Jonge (Brujah/!Brujah Melee Weapons) > Me (Shattering/Vignes) > Alban Croibien (Obf/Dom G1/2 Bleed) > Ralf Lammert (Pander/Malkavian Legacy of Pander Vote) > Roel De Koninck (Salubri antitribu Rush Combat)
I'm a bit afraid when Ralf brings out two pander on turn 1, and manages to pass a Legacy of Pander. I emit some warnings about the dangerousity of a LoP deck, but realize quickly that Ralf plays a slower but more stable variant with !Malk for stealth and built-in votes. Roel blocks a few actions from Ralf, but is quickly engaged in a fierce combat with Michel that leaves both of them quite diminished. Ralf has troubles on his own because of Alban decks, and I must say that everyone is quite surprised when quite late in the game I start playing Shattering Crescendo. Until then, I was more on bleed tactics. Ralf is quite low in pool and is in great peril of being ousted, but if he manages to survive, he will likely kill Roel that has come quite low on pool, and Michel in a row that is also low on pool. So I have a choice between stopping my prey of killing Ralf, or stopping Ralf from making 2 vps in a row. I chose the later which was not maybe the best choice, and send to torpor all but 1 vampires from Alban. Ralf survives, ousts Roel and Michel. I oust Alban, and send to torpors all but one Ralf's vampires. Ralf concedes.

Me GW 3 Ralf 2

Luc has scored a nice GW5 on his table, so I expect him to reach the final (which was not the case unfortunately). I eat the strangest Lasagna in the world (with ham, beef and mushrooms??) and decide not to drink alcohol after all, since I have a GW

Round 2: The missing voice

Izaak Havelaar (Nana Buruki Ani Rush w/ Ashur Tablets) > Martin Moes (?) > Me (Shattering/Vignes) > Bram Van Stappen (Ventrue G4/5 Lawfirm massbloat) > Koen Tabak (Setite bigcap Reckless Agitation vote/multi-act)
The game starts on a fast pace. Koen brings out fast Keminitiri and bleeds Izaak for quite a lot, which in return back-rushes and sends her to torpor. I don't want Bram to kill Koen to easily, so I rescue Kemintiri, asking Koen to slow down a little. But Koen bleeds again, and Kemintiri goes back to torpor, while Kephamos comes into play. At that point, I decide to stop helping Koen since it would be lost actions and blood because it becomes clear that neither Koen nor Izaak will stop until on of them is ousted. I don't recall what happens next, I suppose Martin doesn't put to much pressure on me, and I must be trying to oust Bram who has a lot of bloating power. Anyway, Bram manages to draw steadily his second traditions and I fail to draw my "block fails" cards. The time I get them, Bram has already made his 3 points, and I manage to oust him in the duel, drawing at last my Siren's Lure.

Bram GW 3 Me 2

Round 3: Harmony

Mil Ceulemans (Tupdog toolbox) > Lucien De Prins (Assamite Loss Bleed) > Gauthier Legrand (!Malk BS) > Me (Shattering/Vignes)
Mil has a large crypt, which can mean only Tupdogs. On a 4 players table, it sounds awful. I bring out Delilah on turn 1 because I have two Shattering in hands. Mil brings out 3 Tupdogs, but fortunately Lucien plays midcap so Mil won't be able to rush everyone. We manage to rescue each other, Lucien and I, and hopefully Mil's deck is not very combat aggressive (only Raking Talons with no Grapple or Torn). In the meantime, Gauthier brings out Harold Zettler, Pentex Director, plays a Vessel on him, a Pulse at superior, an Helicopter, then finally bleeds. A 12 pool investment that burns on an Archon Investigation that I play as soon as I can, not taking a chance of losing it to Revelation. I manage to bleed Mil down to 6 as he brings out Selena. Lucien is quite low too, and Gauthier has brung out Apache Jones. Gauthier still needs some training as the end of the game goes like this: "--Gauthier: Apache bleeds for 2 in Kindred --Me: hmmmm, Vignes tries to block --Gauthier: +1 stealth --Me: ok, no block, how much is it? --Gauthier (playing Eyes of Chaos with great satisfaction): 4! --Me: Deflect on my prey". Surprisingly, Mil had to deflect and dies when I bleed. Then Gauthier bleeds again for 4 at 1 stealth and ousts Lucien on a Deflection from Vignes. I oust Gauthier just afterwards.

Me GW 4

Final Round: Death of the Drum

There is already a report somewhere on the final, so I won't enter in too much details. I made two mistales I guess: sitting as Peter's prey (I didn't know what he was playing), being his predator would have a better place. And trying to oust my prey despite his intercept, whereas Shattering back Peter's vampires would have (maybe) allowed me to survive and win the table with 0,5. Anyway, the deck didn't work well during the final (no pool gain, not enough stealth + blockfails), and the stealing of Impudulu by Ralf doomed me since Angela Preston had to hunt each turn. So grats to Peter for being cautious with his vampires' blood to avoid the Shattering Crescendo and his patient bleeds for 1 that ousted me.

The deck:

Deck Name : No more loud music
Author : Vincent Ripoll
Description :
A Shattering Crescendo deck featuring Vignes for defense.
Previous versions included Ashur Tablets and required back shattering to survive, Vignes helps a lot.
There are some nice combos in the decks, including the Siren's Lure + Catatonic + Target Vitals, Angela + Vignes, or Art's Traumatic Essence against Ponticulus or Tye Cooper.
18 Shattering is a good number, the card flow is great, especially with Yseult.
There is one Virtuosa in the deck as I lacked a fifth Siren's Lure. I don't know whichever is better.
The 2 Domain Challenge were supposed to help against weenie decks, I just discarded them each time.
I don't remember if there was an Anarch Troublemaker in it, maybe a player took it by mistake at the end of a game.
The deck name is based on the Belgium rock band deUs, because the deck was first played as it is during the Belgium 2011 National Championship.


Crypt [13 vampires] Capacity min: 4 max: 6 average: 5.46154

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5x Edward Vignes 6 DOM PRE for Ventrue:3
3x Yseult 6 FOR MEL PRE Daughter :3
3x Angela Preston 5 MEL PRE for Daughter :2
2x Delilah Monroe 4 MEL for pre Daughter :2


Library [84 cards]

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Action [28]
2x Art's Traumatic Essence
5x Legal Manipulations
18x Shattering Crescendo
3x Social Charm

Action Modifier [12]
5x Missing Voice, The
2x Phantom Speaker
4x Siren's Lure
1x Virtuosa (replacing a Siren's Lure)

Action Modifier / Combat [2]
2x Force of Personality (great against blocking allies)

Ally [2]
1x Impundulu
1x Member of the Entourage

Combat [11]
6x Catatonic Fear
5x Target Vitals

Event [1]
1x Dragonbound

Master [18]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Archon Investigation
3x Blood Doll
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Elder Library
1x Failsafe (because the deck has pool issues)
1x Fame
1x Giant's Blood
1x Paris Opera House
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Perfectionist
4x Wider View (because of the 4-vampires crypt, and gives pool)

Political Action [2]
2x Domain Challenge (never played, can be removed)

Reaction [8]
8x Deflection