TWD - The Shape Mastery - Reims, France - Oct 15 2022

The Shape Mastery
Reims, France
October 15th 2022
3R+F
13 players
Vincent Ripoll
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/10350

Deck Name: With a little help from Giotto
Description: Reins ruins Reims
I decided to rebuild the deck from scratch after the disastrous results of the EC. The deck had become bloated over time due to the addition of cool cards and other silver bullets and the cardflow had become terrible. I've trimmed it to 70 cards to focus on the core mechanics (Giotto / Kaymakli) and performing simple yet efficient actions (bleed for 3, Banishment -- and stealth to make it work!)
The deck is now like clockwork.
The final table was: Evgueni (Ian Forestal EL DOM/OBF) > Mathieu (Khazar Diary) > Me > Dhia (Council of Doom) > Thibault (Tremere Valerius Maior / Carna / Uta Kovacs)
I was first seed and didn't want to sit next to Thibault whose Valerius Maior kills my stealth or Evgueni whose deck can bleed really hard. So I sit next to Dhia, and we made an agreement since his crypt shared Leandro and Arika with mine. I would get Leandro, he would get Arika. (Restrospectively, I would have been the predator of the Khazar deck, but couldn't possibly know Evgueni would be so slow to get out).
Evgueni didn't have Ian in his starting crypt and lost 3 turns to fetch him. During that time, Mathieu brought out Marciana Giovanni, Rudolfo etc., played an early Khazar Diary while discarding some Draeven Softfoot. I managed to bring out Giotto, Leandro and finally Jaroslav Pascek (giving me the vote lock over Dhia) while Dhia played Huitzilopochtli and then Arika. I managed to complete a cycle of Ashur Tablets and yielded Information Highway to allow Dhia to influence faster. I wanted to keep Dhia under control while giving him some air to pressure the Valerius Maior as much as possible, hoping they would both spend lots of resources against each other. On turn 6, Ian Forestal is finally out but the Khazar is almost ready to swarm (5 counters), I have to back oust the Khazar before he gets me. My Ancilla Empowerment is delayed, and I finally oust Mathieu on the following turn despite a DI on the Ancilla: I've drawn Anarchist Uprising. I let Dhia call an Ancient Influence which brings me to 22 pool, then Dhia manages to oust his prey who makes too many mistakes with Valerius (not attempting to block first with him, then getting a Bowl on him instead of Carna or fetching an Ivory Bow with Uta). I was planning to contest Arika to prevent that, but Thibault's early demise caught me by surprise. I contest Arika on the following turn, and Dhia accidentally brings out Leandro (he wanted to bring out Etrius) leading to a double contest. Since it only favors Evgueni who was 1 vp but has a better seed than Dhia, we agree on me yielding Leandro and Dhia yielding Arika. And Dhia is true to its word, so the endgame is pretty tight. I bleed Dhia with Arika for 3, the bleed gets bounced to Evgueni who attempts to block. I add stealth to force him to bounce back which would give me the victory since I keep a Reins of power in hand. But Evgueni takes the bleed and I feel the game is lost for me since Dhia is probably going to oust him. Dhia bleeds on his turn with stealth, but Evgueni had in fact a Deflection in hand and bounces on me which was a very clever move. Thus Evgueni survives and tries to oust me but miss his mark. With less than one minute of the clock, I have one last shot and manages to oust Dhia by bleeding with Arika, calling an Ancilla then a final Reins of Power which also ousts Evgueni. (Different outcome from the EC) Me: 2vp (1st seed), Dhia 2vp (5th seed), Evgueni 1vp.

Crypt (12 cards, min=43 max=28 avg=8.75)
========================================
3x Arika 11 DOM FOR OBF PRE aus cel inner circle Ventrue:2
2x Leandro 11 AUS OBF PRE cel dom inner circle Malkavian:2
1x Jaroslav Pascek 10 CEL POT PRE for obf justicar Brujah:3
5x Giotto Verducci 7 DAI OBF for pot pre Baali:2
1x Catherine du Bois 5 DOM for obf pre Ventrue:3

Library (70 cards)
==================
Master (23; 6 trifle)

---

9x Ashur Tablets -- very usefull despite some Trochomancies on round 1, and Dhia winning the Ashur race in the finals
1x Coven, The
1x Dreams of the Sphinx -- could be removed. I was glad to draw it, but was also fine without it
1x Giant's Blood -- usually discarded because someone else had already played it, but still worth the slot
1x Information Highway -- always useful to transfer back 3 per turn, but see below
1x Jake Washington -- versatile as an early blocker or blood provider, but unused during this tournament
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Powerbase: Montreal -- used in one game only
1x Presence -- a card I've been removing and adding, helps Giotto a lot to play sup Majesty, get the stealth from the Monastery, or simply Banish a 7-cap
1x Uptown Hunting Ground -- wasn't useful during the tournament, usually because I didn't have Arika or Catherine when I could play it. In theory, the deck needs blood but Coven is usually enough
3x Villein
2x Wider View

-- I probably miss a Pentex Subversion to bypass Valerius or simply to save to stealth cards.
-- I used to play 2 copies of Dreams, Powerbase and Information Highway but the deck in fact works well without them. There's mostly useful to bring Giotto out quickly (hopefully gaining some pool at the same time).

Action (4)

---

4x Unleash Hell's Fury -- fine number of copies

Equipment (7)

---

7x Kaymakli Fragment

Political Action (9)

---

2x Anarchist Uprising
2x Ancilla Empowerment
4x Banishment -- perfect tool to control the tables
1x Reins of Power -- the finishing move

Action Modifier (15)

---

2x Elder Impersonation
2x Faceless Night
6x Freak Drive -- a key card during the whole game
4x Lost in Crowds
1x Voter Captivation

-- I've never run out of stealth cards so these are the right proportions

Action Modifier/Combat (4)

---

4x Swallowed by the Night

Reaction (4)

---

2x Deflection
2x On the Qui Vive -- you can't always rely of Freak Drive to end the turn unlocked, never understimate the surprise factor of wakes, especially combined with Jaroslav's intercept and Majesty

Combat (4)

---

4x Majesty

Timo wrote:

I have trouble seeing how you can play 23 masters in a 70 cards deck without having access to MMPA.

I guess you discard a lot of Master Cards ?

Sure, depending on the situation (Giant's Blood already played, need for stealth over need for blood etc.). Also, I've never played more than 6 Ashur Tablets, the extra 3 allow to draw them in time.