Vincent Ripoll is the 2024 France champion!

This event took place on October 19. Report by Christophe Baltazar, VEKN National Coordinator of France, and TWD comment by the champion:

French Championship 2024 is over. 50 players were in Villeurbanne for this event, coming from many places in France, and also 4 swiss guys, Martin Weinmayer from Austria and a big suprise as Mehdi Mazni came specially from Atlanta ❤ It's been a long time since the French championship gathered so many people, so first of all, I wanna thank everyone of you who make this event a success!

After 3 rounds we had nearly a Parisian table in finale:
Sélim 1st seed with 2 GW 8 VP 174 TP playing Ventrue obf royalty (Arika ...)
Vincent Ripoll 2nd seed, 2 GW 8 VP 156 TP, with Baron swarm pro deck
Serge, 3th seed, 2 GW 7.5 VP 174 TP, with a Toreador Grand Ball AAA vote deck
Karim Baloul, 4th seed, 2 GW 7.5 VP 156 TP, with a baron ani deck
Frederic Pin 5th, 2 GW 7.0 VP, with weenie Gangrel Garou

Serge was ousted first, followed by Selim (Obedience doesn't works vs Garous) and at time limit, with Fred and Karim still alive, Vincent wins his 2nd title of French Champion. Congrats to you Vincent Ripoll!

Fun fact : It's been more than one year that we planned to prepare a book about the French championship since the start in 2000. I've started the job and Vincent spent a lot of time finishing writing and organizing the book. At the end, it was too late to have it for Saturday ... so Vincent will receive it this week ... What's not natural that a winner "prepare" his own prizes?

The tournament winning deck, with comment:

Deck Name: Baron Protean
This deck is heavily inspired by Simo Tiippana's "Garou Rim: Foreshadowing Destruction" deck (TWD 11456) but I tweaked it a lot, removing the "bad" 8-cap barons to include smaller PRO vampire and reworking the master module.
I doubled all the key cards (so that the only copy doesn't end up in the bottom of the deck): Carfax (blood is crucial), Garibaldi (recursion is strong), and Club Illusion (because we need it to oust!). I played the deck at the EC, and noticed that the cardflow could be problematic, so I added two Heart of Nizchetus and a Powerbase: Los Angeles.
I didn't put The Uncoiling, but Scourge is really a pain in the a**, so it could be included somehow.
The Dark Influences completely screwed my predator during the final (by preventing him from getting a Renegade Garou with his 2-cap before any baron was out to block) and other predators during other rounds playing Immortal Grapple or whatever.
The Erciyes Fragments was a last-minute addition, allowing me to oust to preys with their own bleed cards, but also to retrieve Carrion Crows during the final to fight against the Renegade Garous. The Discipline spread is so wide that you can almost play any card.

Crypt (12 cards)
1x Sergio Bueno 8 OBF PRE PRO aus pot baron Ministry:6
1x Ángel Guerrero 7 ANI DOM PRO baron Tzimisce:6
1x Massimiliano 7 ANI FOR pro baron Gangrel:6
1x Valeriya Zinovieva 7 POT cel pre pro baron Brujah:6
1x Vivian VI 7 PRE PRO obf tha baron Ministry:6
1x Branimira 6 ANI dom pre pro baron Tzimisce:6
1x Casey Snyder 6 PRO ani cel for baron Gangrel:6
1x Elisha Tucker 6 PRE cel obf pro baron Ministry:6
1x Kuyén 6 ANI PRO baron Gangrel:6
1x Kamile Paukstys 5 PRO ani for Gangrel:6
1x Indira 3 PRO Gangrel:6
1x Joseph Fischer 3 PRO Gangrel antitribu:5

Library (90 cards)
Master (27; 6 trifle)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Anarch Troublemaker -- to burn any annoying weapon (Sniper, Ivory Bow) or to deliver the final blow
2x Carfax Abbey -- "The blood is the life!"
2x Club Illusion -- plan A for ousting
1x Dark Influences -- a great defensive card
1x Erciyes Fragments, The -- a last-minute addition, allowed me to oust to preys with their own bleed cards
2x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum -- as usual, gets back the bounce or intercept, or the killing votes
1x Papillon -- "The blood is the life!"
1x Poacher's Hunting Ground -- more blood, or if someone has already a Papillon or Carfax out
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles -- required to cycle more
6x Protean -- we don't need 8 of them for the 8 Childe, as we never play them all. Can be used on some barons to give them PRO
1x Rötschreck -- nice ot have, but not crucial at all
1x Tribute to the Master -- never drawn at the right time
6x Villein -- probably better than Vessel / Blood Doll, allows to get more vampires out, and I rely on the HG to regain blood

Action (10)
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal -- to contest, always useful anyway
8x Childe of the Revolution -- bleed or Revolutionary fodder
1x Constant Revolution -- I removed it, then put it back because it's a great end-game card (before, it's just fun, no need to defend it)

Political Action (2)
1x Eat the Rich -- easy to call, recursive with Garibaldi
1x Revolutionary Council -- endgame oust and/or threat removal (Ivory Bow or strong locations)

Equipment (2)
2x Heart of Nizchetus

Action Modifier (6)
4x Earth Control
2x Monkey Wrench -- for the surprise bleed boost, recursive

Action Modifier/Reaction (4)
4x Form of the Bat

Combat (14)
6x Donnybrook -- agg threat is efficient (can be retrieved with Garibaldi)
8x Earth Meld

Reaction (25)
6x Bait and Switch
1x Delaying Tactics -- I added it for the EC, never used
16x Organized Resistance -- spam! spam! spam!
2x Protection Racket

I would like to thank Ultra Pro for their support, once again, they send us several products for finalist.

Thanks also to Thibaut Trampont, our french distributor for his support too because he offered us several bundles of cards!

Thanks to Octogones who host us the week-end.

Thanks to Mickael Lavallée who co-organized this event with me and spend his entire week-end providing demos.