Finalists: Niki, Pedro, Edd, Alex, Norbert

This tournament was played on August 29. Reported by James Freimuller, VEKN National Coordinator of the UK, with comment from the champion:

This year saw UK Nationals located in the lovely Dice Cup Cafe in Nottingham where 25 methuselahs came to duke it out.

Having hosted the nats for a few years now, it's interesting to see the meta shift over time. In the UK's case that's more combat and more allies.
Another welcome addition was several neonates! We had 3 new players join us from our recent recruitment drives (Thanks to Luke Kay for a solid effort there) and 1 return from a long torpor.

Going into the final, the standings were:
1 Norbert Flasko 2 GW 8 VP
2 Edd Phipps 1 GW 4.5 VP
3 Alex Shoemark 1 GW 4 VP
4 Niki Sehmi 1 GW 4 VP
5 Pedro Valentim 1 GW 4 VP

Here is Alex's report:

"Firstly, many thanks to everyone involved for organising such a great event and to everyone I played against for welcoming me to tournament VTES. I've played other CCGs competitively and this community puts them to shame. Special thanks to Mikey and the Liverpool coven for coaching and support; you've obviously taught me a lot in a few months!

Seating was a huge factor in the final. I figured I'd be happiest anywhere but between Banu rush and War Ghouls, so I positioned myself with Pedro's ghouls as my predator, assuming that Edd and Norbert were unlikely to choose to be prey to the only stealth-bleed deck. I suggested to Norbert that he might want me as prey as I have almost no intercept or votes, which worked out very well as Pedro's ghouls got busy bashing Aaradhya et al., leaving me without much pressure.

I also benefited from a dream start of double Zillah's Valley for a turn 2 The unnamed + Anarch Convert as 1st player.

Turn 3 Heart of the City + unlocking into Platinum Protocol began an onslaught of stealthy bleeds for 4+.

Niki bounced several and saddled me with Haven Uncovered, bringing Edd's wrath to bear upon The Unnamed, but he didn't muster enough stikes to torpor, and was low enough on pool that he shifted his attention to pressuring his prey.

Once Niki ran dry on bounce I was able to oust and finally deploy Enkil Cog. From here, Edd managed to sweep Pedro and Norbert, but I could Unleash Hell's Fury for protection and was well set up to chew through his remaining pool.

That I won despite missing 7 of 9 corruption counters from Platinum Protocol is testament to the power of the deck, and my biggest takeaway was that I should consider my words more carefully as I very nearly threw the game with poorly thought out and horrendously timed table talk early on. Sometimes, pointing out what is likely to happen in your turn just makes you seem like a big threat, best to keep quiet and hope nobody is thinking about you!"

Crypt(12 cards)
4x unnamed, The    10  CEL DAI OBF PRE PRO  Baali:6
4x Anarch Convert   1  -none-               Caitiff:ANY
1x Nonu Dis         8  OBF PRE PRO for      Ministry:6
1x Crystal Lynn     6  OBF PRE PRO          Ministry:6
1x Doctor Morocco   5  PRO cel obf pre      Ministry:6
1x Jenny Silver     5  PRE PRO obf          Ministry:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (22; 2 trifle)
7x Zillah's Valley
4x Dabbler
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Rötschreck
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Archon Investigation
1x Barrens, The
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Giant's Blood
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Villein

Action (17)
12x Platinum Protocol, The
2x Unleash Hell's Fury
1x Conceal
1x Entrancement
1x Heart of the City

Retainer (2)
2x Homunculus

Equipment (1)
1x Heart of Nizchetus

Action Modifier (27)
8x Revelation of the Serpent
4x Memory Rift
3x I am Legion
3x Instantaneous Transformation
3x Enchanting Gaze
2x CrimethInc.
2x Enkil Cog
1x Lost in Crowds
1x Monkey Wrench

Action Modifier/Reaction (3)
2x Sense the Sin
1x Form of the Bat

Combat (6)
3x Form of Mist
2x Earth Meld
1x Bollix

Ally (1)
1x Veneficti

Event (1)
1x Narrow Minds

Action Modifier/Combat (3)
3x Swallowed by the Night

Reaction (7)
7x Party Out Of Bounds

Huge congratulations to Alex, this was his first tournament having picked up VTES very recently! I'm very happy to see new people enter our community and feel so supported.

Thanks for this report, and thanks to players and sponsors!