TWD - Dragonbound: Polaris, Ohio, USA, 04 December 2022

Dragonbound: Polaris
Dragon's Lair Comics & Fantasy, Lewis Center, Ohio, United States
04 December 2022
Standard Constructed, 2R + Final
12 players
Winner: Bill Troxel / Killiam
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/10415

Swept a 4-player table round 1, got 1 VP in round 2. Went into finals as
2nd seed with 1GW+5VP. Won with 4VP in final round.

Finals seating:
1. Alex Romano (1st seed): Inyanga Garou ->
2. Matt: Fighty Summon History Toolbox ->
3. Bill: Unnamed Great Beast w/Abombwe ->
4. Logan Cozad: G6 Platinum Ministry + Serpentis ->
5. Karl Schaefer: Giotto Summons Legionnaires w/British Museum

Deck Name: "Great Beast Takes the Skin: A Stupid Deck for Crappy Jerks"

Thanks to Jay Kristoff for further refining the otherwise boring deck title.
Thanks to Darby Keeney for assisting with initial ideation.

Description:
Brings out the Unnamed who gets Abombwe, grabs a Soul Gem and Calls the Great
Beast for ABO+CEL+PRO. The two large, infernal minions then bleed a lot and the
Great Beast also rushes and goes on ancillary errands. If the Great Beast burns a
minion, it hopefully gets a superior Taking the Skin: Minion and then bleeds twice at
four per bleed.

This deck is really a lot of fun to play, and bloats like crazy when it works. In both
the first and the final rounds, had over 40 pool at the time of ousting final prey. Can
get decked, especially if it runs into walling tech, but don't want to increase library
size any more since it relies on getting a combo going early, and consistency is key.

I encourage you to try this deck out yourself for some quality entertainment.
If there was one element I regretted lacking across rounds, it was a touch of surprise
intercept for the Great Beast. REALLY would have liked to have one more Pursuit.

Crypt (12 cards, min=40 max=40 avg=10)

---

12x unnamed, The 10 CEL DAI OBF PRE PRO Baali:6

Library (79 cards)
Master (18; 10 trifle)
7x Abombwe --a lot, I know, but early draw is important
5x Dreams of the Sphinx. --I make no apologies here. 4 might have been enough
1x Golconda: Inner Peace --for when you're ready for a fresh, new Great Beast
1x Monastery of Shadows --fantastic in this deck; keeping for sure
1x Redeem the Lost Soul --quite good: play master, gain 5 pool
3x Villein --especially nice just prior to blowing up the vamp

Action (18)
5x Call the Great Beast --core card, usually played twice per game, sometimes thrice
7x Flurry of Action --core card; would not recommend removing any copies
2x Mantle of the Bestial Majesty --might replace 1 copy with another Claws of the Dead
4x Unleash Hell's Fury --was the perfect number for this deck in this tournament!

Ally (2)
2x Mylan Horseed --would remove 1 copy if I played this tourney over

Equipment (6)
6x Soul Gem of Etrius --early draw important for immediately Calling the Beast

Action Modifier (20)
1x Cloak the Gathering --was always nice, but 1 was probably enough
4x Earth Control --about right, might have liked 1 more
3x Enkil Cog --don't get too attached; the Unnamed gets blown up twice
9x Instantaneous Transformation --of course
1x Revelation of the Serpent --gold every time, but 1 was enough; only Unnamed can play
2x Zephyr --helped once in each of two rounds; might remove 1 copy

Action Modifier/Combat (7)
4x Predator's Transformation --gold! Cheap to cycle, directly responsible for 2VPs that day
3x Taking the Skin: Minion. --use w/Great Beast and Flurry for lunge gimmick

Combat (8)
1x Claws of the Dead --used for maneuvering to close more often than for the agg
4x Form of Mist --of course super useful; might add another
3x Pursuit --critical at both uses; would definitely add one more

..So in sum, might remove one copy each of Dreams, Mantle, Mylan, and Zephyr,
replacing with one Claws of the Dead, one Pursuit, and maybe one more Earth Control
and/or Form of Mist. Might try to make room for a Predator's Communion and/or a
Taking the Skin: Vulture, and maaaaybe a Carlton Van Wyk and/or Veneficti if I can find
room. Would not try to shrink the deck too much; got decked in round 2 (resulting in
the game loss), and the library was brought low in both of the other rounds.


(edit: changed "-" to "--" for clarity because extra whitespace is not being rendered after submitting)

No legionnaires? I feel disappointed.

The Unnamned can strike 2R agg for one blood.

Ankha wrote:

It looks fun as hell!
But 3 agg cards seems pretty low if you want to burn vampires in combat. Am I missing something?

Allies. Specifically, my Legionnaires fed the Taking the Skin. He won both games that he was at the table with my deck.