TWD – 2nd Tragic Love Affair

2nd Tragic Love Affair
Espoo, Finland
August 19th, 2018
2R+F
12 players, Standard constructed
Organizer: Tero Aalto
Winner: Antti Penttilä

www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/8983
www.facebook.com/events/1279905445480074/

The weekend before the European Championships was an obvious time for a final testing tournament. There was a wide variety of decks, perhaps less combat-oriented than average. Only two games timed out, one of them being the final.

Final Rank	Name	Prelim GWs	Prelim VPs	Final VPs	TPs
1	Antti Penttilä	2	4	2,5	120
2	Jyri Puhakka	1	3	1	88
2	Tero Aalto	0	3	0	90
2	Marko Saari	1	4	0	78
2	Ilari Sani	1	4	0,5	96
6	Juha Laukkanen	0	2		84
6	Jani Malmi	0	2		84
8	Lauri Salmi	0	2		72
9	Tom Lindberg	0	0		46
10	Jaakko Nurro	0	0		40
11	Marko Oja	0	0		36
12	Katja Jauhiainen	0	0		30

The final table:

1. Jyri Puhakka (Nephandus Carna)
2. Marko Saari (The Unnamed bleed)
3. Ilari Sani (Cybele/Aksinya)
4. Antti Penttilä (Goratrix wall)
5. Tero Aalto (Kiasyd bleed)

The winning deck and a detailed report of the final will appear below shortly.

Archon approved.

Congrats to Antti and thank you to Tero.

Sorry for the late reply! I’ve been quite busy after EC.

The tournament was very fun for me, because of all the nice methuselahs that participated in it. I’m super stoked about how cool the people are that I get to play with.

Definitely felt like everybody brought their A-game and decks that were tried and tested. (EC was JUST around the corner, so what can one expect?)

I had a hunch for a while, that this was the correct time to bring out my version of a Goratrix-deck to the games. Which in the end, proved to be the correct decision. Also my tactic for EC was that Day-1 I would play my Legionnaires and Day-2 would be wall of some sorts, so why not Goratrix(contesting was what I feared the most tbh. The deck is solid.) so better get some field training going on.

Preliminary rounds were mostly me remembering how to play wall decks. They used to be my go-to decks during 2005-2008. Many times I was just reminding myself: ”You don’t need to get EVERY VP, it is enough that you don’t let anyone get 2 and that you are the last player in the table.”

FINALS:

I was the highest seed, but had only played against Tero and Ilari during the tournament. I had a hunch what Jyri possibly played(he was in Ropecon finals just a while ago, so why would he change something that works.) Marko was a total mystery for me so I wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

So I did what I did last time when I won a tournament: Seated myself behind the Kiasyds.

The plan was, again to let the Kiasyd soften the table a bit and then run everything over when other methuselahs resources are low.

Then I found out that Jyri WAS playing the same deck that he played in Ropecon, I felt slightly intimidated because of that and tried to make the whole: ”Let’s be friends but kill the Kiasyds first? ” and we kinda did, but something silly happened...

I found out that after Marko had brought out a Xeper(to combat the Nephandi) he brought out the Unnamed and was content to bleed big bleeds in to Aksinya(so basically me, every time) and because of the threat for aggra I wasn’t too happy to block them.

I tried to discuss about that with him, but to no avail. And I totally understand his logic of saying no to me. It was his best chance of winning-> to just go for it! He was already on a loose noose with the Nephandi swarming behind him...

I had pretty much the worst starting crypt you can get with the deck. 3converts and 1omaya-> brought out a convert, made him anarch-> got another Omaya-> made her anarch and only then I managed to get Goratrix. So my start was super slow and when Marko played/instead of discarded scourge of the enochians. I decided that it is time for him to go(at the time the convert was important to me), he was way too reckless for my taste and had to be ousted, before he does something super nasty to me. 2 bounces later he was gone, and Jyri having a better buffer against the Aliens, which suited my plan just fine.

Then it was just Goratrix doing Goratrix stuff, gearing up, eagles sighting key actions. Saving Jyri at least once. And bouncing Cybeles bleeds to Tero.

Tero ALMOST had Jyri!
It all came down to 1 more stealth... that he didn’t manage to draw... unlucky!

I got oust from him and then from Jyri and with about 30seconds in the game-clock, me having more than 30pool. Ilari said it is over, he can’t oust me. And Goratrix the 7-times-traitor/one of the all time favourite vampires of mine was victorious.


Deck Name: GoraTRIX
Author: Dada

Crypt
4x Anarch Convert
2x Devin Bisley
4x Goratrix
2x Omaya

Library (90 cards)
==================
Master (20)
5x Anarch Revolt
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Guardian Angel
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
2x Vessel
4x Villein
1x Wider View

Action (5)
1x Army of Rats
4x Magic of the Smith

Equipment (5)
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Ivory Bow
1x Kevlar Vest
1x Ruins of Ceoris

Ally (2)
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
1x Mylan Horseed (Goblin)

Action Modifier (2)
2x Enkil Cog

Reaction (47)
7x Cats' Guidance
7x Eagle's Sight
4x Enhanced Senses
7x Eyes of Argus
2x My Enemy's Enemy
3x Read the Winds
9x Sense the Savage Way
8x Telepathic Misdirection

Combat (9)
1x Canine Horde
8x Carrion Crows

Description:
The deck is ancient and I have no idea the original author is! I would be more than happy to credit him/her.
My version has a couple more enhanced senses than usual. Less eyes of argus-> more sense the savage way(I just love the card) and some read the winds, because they are awesome with Goratrix. Goratrix loves his untaps, so I have 26+Mylan. Also in my opinion Anastasz di Zagreb is too expensive for what it does and Devin is awesome, so a little switch-a-roo there.