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!
 |
 |
 |
André on the left, with Baron José Fontenele and the special award playmat.
Reported by José Fontenele, Baron of Rio de Janeiro.
On the weekend of June 16, 2024, the Third Edition of the Rookie League took place at Manavai, located in Campo Grande, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The tournament was created with the aim of introducing the game to new methuselahs, and, in this third edition, it featured a healthy mix of 28 players, including experienced and beginners playing VTES.
It is important to mention that it was the first official tournament in this location and that, despite the fear of scheduling the event in a new location, players from all over the state of Rio de Janeiro appeared at the event. Showing the strength of the largest playgroup in the country, we have methuselahs from São João de Meriti, Sepetiba, Nova Iguaçú, Volta Redonda and different neighborhoods of the state capital.
I want to highlight that there was a special award that may have motivated so many players to come: a playmat with official Black Chantry art for the winner. The art was kindly provided by Ginés Quiñonero, whom I thank for his attention and generosity. In addition to the awards, what was seen was a meeting of new and experienced Methuselahs exchanging opinions about the game and discussing winning strategies.
After 2 big rounds, the final table featured the following decks and players:
In the end, André Luiz became the winner with his Salubri V5 Grinder. I asked him to write down his vision of the final table and received the following words:
“As they say… the last will be the first. I entered the table in fifth place. Since I had a !Malk B&S deck under my belt, I thought I´d raise a vampire as quickly as possible. Saulot gave me his blessing. I started with Powerbase: Montreal and Sight Beyond Sight in hand and with 4 influence to go. I started calling the Ukrainian soldier [Opikun], and placing the master Sight Beyond Sight to defend against !Malk attacks. The main vampires Abaddon and Serafina did not come to this table. I had to turn around. When a Smilling Jack hit the table, everyone agreed to try to remove it, giving 2 turns of peace when it came out. Once again the Ukrainian soldier saved the day by taking Smilling from Felipe. In these 2 turns of peace I managed to set up my setup and disturb José a little… remembering that the agreement was 2 turns without bleed. When Alan played another Smilling, everyone again agreed to remove it, and once again Salubri managed to do the dirty work by removing the Smilling. Alan tried to negotiate not to take it away, but Smilling… you know… has been winning tables since 1994.
Without Smilling at the table, everyone went back to normal play. As Alan was aggressively rushing the !Malks, Notorius began the retaliation by bleeding backwards. I started attacking my prey with a lot of bleeds and block-fails, and José started doing the same with his prey. I was impressed by the number of bleed-bouncing cards that Felipe used to survive Malk attacks. He used Heart of Nizchetus very well to filter the deck. Felipe managed to divert all of Malk bleeds to Alan, and then managed to take out his prey with his bleeds. Alan was the first placed in the tournament for the table and the first to leave the table... as it should be...
As the !Malk deck was left without a predator, Salubri got a target on its forehead. !Malk, without mercy or mercy, began to bleed heavily. I managed to pass some bleeds and block others (I took Coma x2). Even though Notorius bleeds all the time, I managed to take José´s Malk out of the game.
Now it got serious. Tremere and !Malk joined forces to weaken the Salubri as much as possible. Saulot gave his blessing once again. I managed to get through and take some !Malk bleeds without much harm and prevented the Tremere aggravations. Finally I managed to take out the Tremere and went all in on the !Malks with the gang of angry Salubri: 5 vampires. Victory!!!!! The Salubri V5 deck, with its new cards, considerably improves the grinder archetype.”
The tournament winning deck: "Salubri V5 Grinder"
Crypt (12 cards)
2x Abaddon 8 AUS DOM FOR cel pot Salubri:7
1x Seraphina 8 AUS DOM FOR cel tha Salubri:7
2x Ilonka 7 AUS DOM FOR tha Salubri:7
2x Aniel 6 AUS DOM for Salubri:7
1x Castellan 6 AUS FOR cel dom Salubri:7
1x Malachi 6 AUS DOM FOR Salubri:7
1x Sakhar 6 AUS FOR dom Salubri:7
2x Opikun 5 FOR aus dom Salubri:7
Library (90 cards)
Master (14; 3 trifle)
2x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Meditative Grove
1x Misdirection
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Saulot´s Guiding Wisdom
1x Sight Beyond Sight
1x Sudden Reversal
3x Vessel
Action (14)
8x Feast of the Soul´s Secrets
6x Govern the Unaligned
Action/Combat (4)
4x Touch of Valeren
Equipment (2)
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Heart of Nizchetus
Action Modifier (20)
2x Conditioning
5x Forced Confessional
1x Foreshadowing Destruction
6x Freak Drive
3x Seduction
3x Unleashing the Bestial Soul
Combat (14)
6x Hidden Strength
4x Rolling with the Punches
4x Weighted Walking Stick
Reaction (22)
6x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics
6x Eyes of Argus
2x My Enemy´s Enemy
2x On the Qui Vive
4x Telepathic Misdirection
I want to thank Editora Conclave and Baron Márcio who helped with the promotional cards for the event and all the participants present. It was just the first of many. Let´s play VTES!
Page 15 of 25
