TWD - Black Forest Base/HG Freiburg: Return of the She-Wolf

Black Forest Base/Hunting Ground Freiburg: Return of the She-Wolf
Freiburg, Germany
March 18th 2023
3R + F (multideck)
8 players
Sebastian Meurer's (#3040004) TWD with 2 VPs in finals.
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/10586
2vp in final (multideck event)

Deck Name: Fleurdumal and Other Stories
Description: This is something of a hybrid between a Malk dementation bleed deck and a Toreador tap and bleed. I think the crypt is awesome and pretty unique: five vampires with AUS DEM PRE, which also happen to come with votes, +bleed and/or useful specials. This allows for a very versatile deck: consistent mid-stealth bleed power combined with a sturdy defensive package (the flexibility of Random Patterns helps a lot) and some vote. Moreover, the deck has three ways to look at other players‘ hands (Patterns in the Chaos + Specials of Fleurdumal and Alicia Barrows), which helps a lot, especially in an Archon-heavy meta.
I’ve been meaning, but didn't get around to add a few cards, because I sometimes run out: probably Anarch troublemaker + some stealth, possibly a second Touch of Clarity.



Crypt (12 cards, min=30 max=44 avg=8.92)

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4x Fleurdumal 8 AUS DEM PRE cel tha prince Toreador:3
4x Lutz von Hohenzollern 11 AUS DEM OBF PRE pot inner circle Malkavian:4
2x Lazarus James 8 AUS DEM PRE obf tha Malkavian:4
1x Alicia Barrows 9 AUS DEM OBF POT PRE archbishop Malkavian antitribu:4
1x Tears, The Dark Pierrot 6 AUS DEM PRE cel Toreador antitribu:4

Library (81 cards)
Master (20; 6 trifle)
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fragment of the Book of Nod
1x Giant's Blood
2x Information Highway
1x Legendary Vampire
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Papillon
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
5x Villein
1x Wider View
4x Zillah's Valley

Action (12)
1x Entrancement
8x Kindred Spirits
1x Madman's Quill
2x Mind Numb

Equipment (1)
1x Bowl of Convergence

Political Action (3)
1x Banishment
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power

Action Modifier (15)
9x Confusion
2x Eyes of Chaos
2x Mind Tricks
2x Patterns in the Chaos

Action Modifier/Combat (6)
5x Deny
1x Force of Personality

Action Modifier/Reaction (5)
4x Random Patterns
1x Touch of Clarity

Reaction (11)
5x Eyes of Argus
1x Shattered Mirror
4x Telepathic Misdirection
1x Wrong and Crosswise

Combat (8)
3x Charismatic Aura
5x Majesty

An extremely relaxed day with nice people & exciting games. Beforehand, I was a bit sad that we only managed to gathr eight players. However, as it turns out, eight-player-multideck is a really interesting format. Guaranteed four-player tables leads to a a somewhat different choice of decks. Moreover, tables are fast and produce gamewins.

Above all, we had a really nice group and the location, the shop "Kainskind", supported us wonderfully. Naturally, that the guests were polite enough to let me win, was a welcome bonus.

Results

1 Sebastian M. 1 GW/5, 2 in the finals
2 Thorsten B. 1 GW/2,5, 2 in the finals (special mention: last deck standing)
2 Markus L. 2 GW/7, 1 in the finals
2 Jennifer F. 1 GW/4,5, 0 in the finals
2 Kevin H. 1 GW/3, in the finals

3 Jan E. 1 VP
4 Robert I. 0
4 Jonas R. 0


No less than six out of eight players wrote reports after the tournament on the German forum! forum.vekn.de/viewtopic.php?t=56888 (In the age of deepL the language needn’t be a problem, right?).

The three rounds were fun: I swept with an Appolonius combat deck in round 1, snatched 1 VP from a way too fast ministry bleed deck in round 2 and survived a Malkavian bleed deck with my non-deflecting !Brujah voters by means of a Black Forest Base (admittedly, I was ousted by some Tremere shortly before timeout instead).

In the finals, I opted for my Fleurdumal (and Lutz) bleed deck, which combines forward pressure with a pretty good defence and is usually quite reliable. I would have liked to have a non-wall as my prey, but the first seed had similar plans.

So, here’s the line-up:
Jennifer: No Guillaume Giovanni/Kiasyd bleed --> Kevin: Sergej Voshkov Creeping Wall --> Thorsten: Matasuntha & Inyanga Wall --> Sebastian (me): Fleurdumal & no Lutz bleed --> Markus: 5/6 Tremere Toolbox ft. Gerald Windham

My Cryptdraw was less than ideal: Neither Lutz nor Lazarus James, so no +bleed. Also, neither acceleration nor villein for a long time. Whatever, I influeced Fleurdumal and Alicia Barrows instead and soon found two key resources: Monastery of Shadows and Papillon. I decided to put pressure on Markus early, hoping to at least slow down his build-up. With a wall breathing down my neck, I couldn't make any undirected actions anyways. That I helped Markus to put pressure on Jennifer was a price I paid. The table soon suffered from Kevin’s Smiling Jack. But since this Jack hurt exactly the wrong methuselahs most, Kevin let himself be convinced to give up on three or four counters – whereupon Thorsten played another one. Markus ousted Jennifer and stood strong with about 6 Tremere, at least he was missing some of his usual setup locations.
As a first seed with a VP and way too many minions, the rest of the table was not well disposed towards Markus. In order to facilitate me putting pressure on Markus, Kevin sent an Anarch Troublemaker on its way, which Thorsten then passed on to me with a turn delay (in both cases without effect). In the meantime I had influenced a third vampire (Tears) and was starting to get through Markus defense. When the Anarch Troublemaker arrived, I saw my chance, especially since I knew that Markus‘ hand was short on defense (thanks to Alicia's special). Unfortunately, I didn't have the necessary bleed cards. I therefore started with an action backwards to cycle a Majesty and – lo and behold – the bleed machine was running again. In the end, Markus' own Camarilla Segregation took care of his last pool, serves him right!
The only remaining problem was Thorsten’s Smiling Jack, which counted 4, then 5 counters. It was clear that even with my Papillon and the 6 pool for the oust, there was no way to carry the 1.5 VP into the timeout, especially as Tears ended up in famous and in torpor. Fortunately, Kevin suffered as much from the Smiling Jack as I did. Thorsten did me the favour of blocking Sergej while hunting in the Warsaw Station. As a result, the Smiling Jack finished off Kevin and me in the right order (for me).

Myself: 2 VP, TW thanks to Second Seed
Thorsten: Last methuselah standing, 2 VP
Markus: 1 VP

My thanks to all who attended – the Black Forest Base will surely call again!