This event was held at the Ropecon games convention in Helsinki, Finland on July 20. Reported by organiser Petri Wessman, VEKN Prince of Espoo. All good photos by Marko Saari.

We had a nice turnout, with a total of 54 players, of whom 20 were from outside Finland – a record number of foreign players for this tournament! The tournament went very smoothly, and a big part of that is due to the players, who helped keep things in schedule. Also a big thanks to Black Chantry, Ultra Pro and the Ropecon convention for sponsoring tournament prizes and other support. Games started at around 11:00, and we wrapped up the finals around 21:30. A long (but fun!) day for everyone involved.

As usual for this tournament, the “meta” was all over the place. We had some top-tier players, and then some players who only play VTES a few times per year, all mixed up in the same tournament. All this results is a huge variety of deck types, and I did not see any one archetype really dominate this year. Quite a few new Anarch decks of course, but maybe less than I was expecting. If I had to guess the most popular deck, it would be the new Tzimisce – but that’s only because I saw more than 2 of them. As typical for Finland, there were a lot of combat decks around, and decks with no combat defense tended to be easy pickings unless they were extremely efficient otherwise.

The finalists were as follows (Lasse and Teemu had identical scores, order was determined by coin flip):
    1. Bram Van Stappen (2 GW, 7 VP) - celerity guns
    2. Michael Holmström (2 GW, 6 VP) - Typhonic Beast rush
    3. Lasse Pöyry (2 GW, 5.5 VP) - Ghede + Theo combat
    4. Teemu Sainomaa (2 GW, 5.5 VP) - Lutz & friends politics
    5. Nina Nilsson (1 GW, 7 VP) - animalism anarchs

The following is a (very) condensed summary based on my quick notes (which may or may not be accurate).

First couple of rounds, nothing much happened, just general setup. Round 3, Michael’s Nana rushes Nina’s Massimiliano and sends him to torpor. After that a quiet round, with just some “bleed for 1” stuff.

Round 5, Michael’s Nangila Were rushes Teemu’s Unmada, a lot of damage but no torpor.  Round 5, Bram’s Asguresh bleeds for 1 and gets blocked by Lasse’s Theo Bell, which results in poor Theo hitting torpor after getting shot full of .44 lead.  Nina rescues Theo on her turn.

Round 7, Teemu triggers Ashurs, and Asguresh rushes Theo back to torpor. “And stay down!”. Things are looking grim for Lasse at this point, Bram’s gun+cel combat is a bad match for his more close-range combat package. Next round, Teemu’s Lutz calls Ancient Influence, which ousts Lasse. At this point we have 1:22 left on the game clock.

After the oust, there’s a lot of table talk about who does what (and honestly, at this point the table seems to be going to Bram, his combat demolishes anything else on this table). After lots of discussion, Michael’s Nangila rushes Bram, Asguresh blocks, and Nangila ends up in torpor. Michael to Bram: “I can’t win the game if you’re alive.”

Round 9, Teemu continues to bloat with Minion Tap (he played Giant’s Blood earlier). Nina tries to convince Bram to kill Michael, and after a lot of talk Bram decides to go for it (at least for this round). Bram rushes Nangila (to torpor). Nina does lots of bleeds for 1. Michael brings out Enkidu.

Round 10, Teemu Banishes Nina’s Kuyen and rescues Nangila. 1 hour left on game clock. Bram does nothing much, Nina bleeds and gets blocked by Nangila, sending poor Nangila back to torpor. Next round, Teemu brings out Adana de Sforza (after discussion with Bram about it), Bram and Nina do nothing much, and Michael’s Enkidu rushes Nina’s Branimira with not much effect.

Round 12, nothing much happens, Teemu and Bram both try to convince Nina to do different things. Lots of tabletalk, at the end of which there are 38 minutes left on clock. Next round, Teemu decides to make his move, and Banishes Bram’s Asguresh, Omer and Asmin Kobane. After this, Bram only has New Blood left active. On his turn, Bram brings Asguresh & Asmin back out.

Round 14, Teemu calls Neonate Breach, uses Undele to retrieve two Banishments, and Banishes Asguresh and Asmin again. Michael triggers Ashurs for some much-needed pool, and his Enkidu rushes Teemu’s Undele to torpor.

Round 15, 18 minutes left. Teemu’s Lutz calls Reins of Power, to which Bram chooses no vampire giving Nina 6 pool. Teemu calls KRC. Bram’s New Blood diablerizes Undele (and burns in the blood hunt). Asguresh rushes Adama to torpor. Michael’s Enkidu rushes Unmada, who manages to avoid torpor.

Round 16, Teemu Minion Taps once again, Lutz bleeds ousting Bram (with 8:30 left on clock). Political Stranglehold is called, Delaying from Nina. Teemu rescues Nana. Nina’s Kuyen rushes Unmada to torpor, and then Nina tries to oust Micheal via bleed but Michael has enough wakes to block the attempt (Nana goes to torpor though). Michael plays Golconda on Nana.

Round 17, Teemu triggers Ashurs once again, and the game times out leaving Teemu the winner. Overall, it was a very tight and interesting final round, with lots of surprises.

Teemu: 1.5 VP
Bram: 1 VP
Nina: 0.5 VP
Michael: 0.5 VP

The tournament winning deck: ”Lutz vote” by Teemu Sainomaa and tweaked with Michael Holmstrom.

Crypt (12 cards)
3x Lutz von Hohenzollern 11 AUS DEM OBF PRE pot inner circle Malkavian:4
1x Adana de Sforza 11 CEL OBF POT PRE PRO aus inner circle Brujah:4
1x Rafael de Corazon 11 AUS CEL DOM OBF PRE inner circle Toreador:4
1x Armin Brenner 10 CEL FOR POT PRE ani obf archbishop Brujah antitribu:4
1x Unmada  10 AUS DEM OBF VIC cel for justicar Malkavian:5
3x Undele 9 CEL FOR obf pre ser magaji Ishtarri:5
1x Dmitra Ilyanova  9 CEL FOR POT PRE obf justicar Brujah:5
1x Stavros  7 AUS OBF PRE dem priscus  Malkavian antitribu:4

Library (76 cards)
Master (37; 2 trifle)
9x Ashur Tablets
1x Coven, The
1x Creepshow Casino
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Information Highway
6x Minion Tap
1x Monastery of Shadows
4x Parthenon, The
4x Protected Resources
1x Secure Haven
1x Wider View
6x Zillah's Valley

Action (1)
1x Entrancement

Political Action (15)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
4x Banishment
1x Disputed Territory
3x Kine Resources Contested
1x Neonate Breach
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power
1x Rumors of Gehenna

Action Modifier (21)
2x Approximation of Loyalty
1x Awe
1x Bewitching Oration
4x Forgotten Labyrinth
3x Into Thin Air
2x Lost in Crowds
2x Perfect Paragon
6x Voter Captivation

Action Modifier/Combat (2)
2x Force of Personality

Congratulations to Teemu, and thanks to all players, organisers and sponsors!

 
Reported by Ben Peal:

Hey, everyone! Many thanks to everyone who attended Origins, the North American Championship, and the Week of Nightmares this year! We had a big boost in attendance, including several players from Europe!

Photography by Marko Saari.

Here's a quick recap of the Origins weekend:

Thursday, June 20

Day One of Origins started off with a 36-player tournament, won by Vadim Matveev. He played a very original Budapest Circle Blood Brothers deck (decklist link), using the British Museum and blood gain tech to set up big, unblockable bleeds with Walk of Caine. He won both preliminary rounds of this two-round tournament, plus the final!

37 plyers attended the second tournament of the day, which was won by Darby Keeney, no stranger to the winner's circle. This time around for Darby, it was a Brujah Anarch combat deck which centered around Illegalism and Line Brawl (decklist link) - and an awful lot of red cards. It looks like a lot of metagame tech against the Earth Melds and Forms of Mist we've been seeing a lot of, and it served Darby well.

Friday, June 21

Big jump in attendance for this one, with 47 players. Mariya Hyryk won with Brujah, going with Dmitra Ilyanova political deck instead of Anarchs (decklist link). It's the second tournament win for Mariya, raised properly by her father Mark Loughman!

Darby Keeney continued his dominance of the week with his third tournament win, using an unnamed deck. Well, the deck has a name - it's called Six Demon Bag. And it uses the vampire called The Unnamed (decklist link). 44 players in this one, and they all had names.

VTES artist Heather Kreiter.

Saturday, June 22 - the North American Championship

The steady climb in attendance at Origins tournaments continued, with the North American Championship hosting 54 players! After one of the most intense final rounds you'll ever see, Bill Troxel emerged victorious with a Tzimisce Anarch deck! It was a dominant performance by Bill, with three game wins in the preliminary rounds and the game win in the final.

The rankings going into the final round:
1. Bill Troxel (3 GW 10.5 VP)
2. James Messer (2 GW 9 VP)
3. Mark Figuerola (2 GW 8 VP)
4. Will Matson (2 GW 7 VP)
5. Darby Keeney (2 GW 7 VP)

Mark Figuerola came out like gangbusters to start the final, eventually overwhelming Will Matson's Lord Tremere deck for the first oust. James Messer was able to get enough defense going to hold off Darby, and Darby also had his hands full defending against his new predator Mark. Stuck between a hammer and an anvil, Mark was eventually ousted by Bill Troxel. With three players remaining, it was just a matter of time before Darby drew a Pentex to get past Ugadja, and James didn't have a Sudden or Wash in hand. Down to the head-to-head, Darby lunged but came up short, with Bill claiming victory. (An interview with the champion can be found in the VEKN newsletter.)

Bill´s tournament winning deck:

Crypt (12 cards)
4x Adrino Manauara 8 ANI DOM PRO pot baron Tzimisce:6
3x Ángel Guerrero 7 ANI DOM PRO baron Tzimisce:6
1x Branimira 6 ANI dom pre pro baron Tzimisce:6
1x Kuyén 6 ANI PRO baron Gangrel:6
1x Clara Hjortshøj 5 PRO ani aus dom Tzimisce:6
1x Kamile Paukstys 5 PRO ani for Gangrel:6
1x New Blood 2 san Blood Brother:ANY

Library (86 cards)
Master (16; 4 trifle)
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Channel 10
1x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Giant's Blood
1x Papillon
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
2x Villein
2x Wider View

Action (15)
3x Deep Song
12x Govern the Unaligned

Political Action (2)
2x Eat the Rich

Action Modifier (8)
4x Conditioning
4x Earth Control

Action Modifier/Reaction (3)
3x Form of the Bat

Combat (17)
1x Donnybrook
9x Earth Meld
7x Form of Mist

Reaction (25)
4x Bait and Switch
4x Deep Ecology
4x Deflection
3x Delaying Tactics
1x On the Qui Vive
7x Organized Resistance
2x Protection Racket

Many thanks again to everyone who attended! A special thanks goes out to Jay Kristoff for running the Week of Nightmares events leading up to the Origins weekend! Thanks also go out to Comic Shop Plus in Newark, R Bar in Columbus, and of course the Origins Game Fair for graciously hosting the events! I look forward to seeing more of you next year!

Some additional photos by Marko Saari from the Week of Nightmares events:

And there was a Jyhad draft!