Fee stake: Turku - Arms of Abyss
Turku, Finland
February 18, 2023
3R + F
28 players
Otso Saariluoma
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/10481
Deck Name: Usurper High Council
Author: Otso Saariluoma
Description: Tremere fatties with a bit diversified crypt and an expanded master module. The game plan is to keep bloating and accelerating out new vampires while aiming for the vote lock and taking over in the mid to late game. The hand manipulation with Ashurs, Heart and Mistress is rather spectacular.
Crypt (12 cards, min=30 max=43 avg=9.17)
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3x Mistress Fanchon 11 AUS CEL DOM OBF THA VIC inner circle Tremere:4
2x Gabrielle di Righetti 10 ANI AUS DOM THA obf pot justicar Tremere:5
2x Orlando Oriundus 9 AUS DOM THA obf bishop Tremere antitribu:4
1x Dr. John Dee 9 ANI AUS DOM THA chi prince Tremere:4
1x Gerald Windham 9 AUS DOM FOR THA Tremere:5
1x Troius 8 AUS DOM THA cel prince Tremere:4
1x Graham Gottesman 7 DOM FOR obf pre tha prince Ventrue:5
1x Johannes Worringen 6 AUS THA dom archbishop Tremere antitribu:5
Library (76 cards)
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Master (33; 9 trifle)
1x Archon Investigation
6x Ashur Tablets
1x Coven, The
1x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Golconda: Inner Peace
2x Information Highway
1x Metro Underground
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Papillon
3x Parthenon, The
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
7x Villein
1x Wider View
3x Zillah's Valley
Action (7)
4x Govern the Unaligned
2x Magic of the Smith
1x Rutor's Hand
Equipment (2)
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Heart of Nizchetus
Political Action (12)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
3x Banishment
3x Parity Shift
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power
1x Rumors of Gehenna
Action Modifier (9)
1x Enkil Cog
2x Forgotten Labyrinth
6x Mirror Walk
Reaction (12)
3x Deflection
2x Eyes of Argus
1x My Enemy's Enemy
4x Obedience
1x Second Tradition: Domain
1x Telepathic Misdirection
Event (1)
1x Scourge of the Enochians
Additional comment from Otso as he replied to a question about including Papillon in the deck, from the event FB-page:
"I thought 4 city titles were enough to justify Papillon, though I played it only once during the tournament (didn't really draw it early enough to matter) and I thought the blood management might come in handy.
As for the feel for specific cards during the tournament, Scourge was really important in two of the rounds. Obediences were not needed this time, but would not cut them. Political Stranglehold and Rumors of Gehenna are maybe less often seen than the other votes, but both were really good throughout the tournament. You could change Bowl of Convergence for something else (Signet of King Saul, Gran Madre di Dio, or sth), as you really don't have wakes to back up the blocking strategy. The main thing that pushed playing Bowl over the others for me was the ability to contest it with MotS. But never saw any other player getting Bowl into play, so wasn't really useful. But the MotS/ Heart module pulls so much weight wouldn't cut them as a package.
I knew that Rutor's Hand might be a bit overkill, played it only once, but then it was rather good. It does fit into the slow building theme of the deck. Metro UG / Enkil Cog module was okay, but not critical. Golconda and Pentex never really saw play during the tournament, but feels nice to have these as options."
Prince report:
We had a tournament in Turku for the first time in 10 years, and it was great success in terms of attendance. As a new baron in the city, I want to thank all the attendees for creating a very nice and warm-spirited tournament. The meta was uncharacteristically non-combat (for the nordic), and there was a lot of fast bleed and politics.
All the finalists in order from highest seed:
Magnus Söder with Arika bleed
Otso Saariluoma with Usurper High Council (2 vps in the final)
Kim Nilsson with Ministry of Crime ie. Platinum Protocol (2 vps in the final)
Noora Hirvonen with Weenie Dem (1 vp in the final)
Pekka Kinnunen with Elimelech toolbox
Shoutout to Lauri Salmi who was left out by draw from shared 4th place.
TWD - Fee Stake: Turku - Arms of Abyss, Turku (Finland) (18 Feb 2023)
Potence, if it doesn't work, you just aren't using enough 
