TWD - Kagatanfest '24 - Philippine NC - 25 Players - May 25, 2024

Kagatanfest '24 Philippine National Championships
Pasig, Philippines
May 25, 2024
3R+F
25 players
Joscar Gamaliel Malacaman
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/11420

Deck Name: Matasuntha Makes it Look Easy
Description: The third iteration of Matasuntha deck was geared towards having the ability to rush and torpor multiple vampires in the same turn while keeping the same defensive energy that has won me a couple of tournaments this competitive season. I was expecting a lot of weenie or stealth bleed decks together with the usual combat heavy meta in the Philippines and so I wanted to take a more proactive approach in taking control of the table. The decision to add more rush cards and diversify them was made specifically to handle both.

Round 1:
Justine (Lawfirm) 1VP -> Johann (Mono-Dementation) 1VP -> Mira (Banu Haqim Princes) -> Joscar (Matasuntha) 2VP -> Faust (Malgorzata) 1VP

Johann comes out strong out of the gates with an information highway and 2 vampires out on the very first turn. I open with a dreams of the sphinx and accelerate an extra blood on Matasuntha with the hopes of getting her out by turn 2. Faust begins working on Malgorzata while Justine was working on influencing out Mary Anne Blair.

Johann would contest my dreams and stop me from influencing out Matasuntha on the second round while continuing to bring out more vampires. This was crucial because having a Matasuntha early would have allowed me to ease the pressure on Mira a bit. Mira then plays an Anarchist uprising hitting Johann for 5 in an attempt to maybe aid the back oust. Unfortunately, our first vampires came out too late as Johann ousts Mira just as we bring out our first vampires.

Matasuntha does what she does best and helped me stabilize against the Dementation weenies sending 6 of Johann's vampires to torpor and netting me six pool as if I just ousted someone. With board clear, Justine makes short work of Johann netting her a VP as well. I take out Mary Anne Blair and Malgorzata netting me another 2 pool but also allowed Faust to oust Justine. I would then make short work of both Mistress Fanchon and Lord Tremere on defense clearing the path to victory. This gave me my first game win with 2 VP. Matasuntha had a nice kill count of 9 for this round.

Round 2:
TJ (Malkavian Stealth Bleed) .5VP -> Aurelio (Salubri Wall) .5VP -> Joscar (Matsuntha) 2.5VP -> Jerry (Tremere w/ Fortitude) -> Carding (Heroic Saku)

This was a table that reflected the Philippines penchant for combat based decks with 4 decks designed to beat opposing vampires to submission while surviving the toughest combat. What was interesting with this game is that I held the edge for around 80% of the game considering there was a Stealth Bleeder.

The game was pretty much on a stand still with everyone playing a game of chicken and building up their board. I was actually one of the first to over extend with Matasuntha taking out Karl Schrekt but failed to deal with Gerald Windham because of rolling with the punches. The issue arose when I Villeined Matasuntha for 5 in the hopes of tasting back the blood. This puts my star vampire in a dangerous position but I was able to bring out the rest of the supporting crew through the crypt cycling of both wider view and anarch converts.

These smaller vamps prove to be big threats with the strength increase from Gangrel revel. I managed to oust Jerry through Enkil Cog bleeds but Carding would be able to take him out with Saku who also goes down in the process. I managed to drop a Smiling Jack and protect it in order to oust Carding. TJ was stalled as he ran out of gas against the wall deck while Aurelio was able to take out Masimillano with an aggravated strike from weighted walking stick but I was able to hold out until time is called. This nets me 2.5VP which was enough for another game win and assuring my seat in the finals. Despite being taken out, Matasunta still managed to take 4 vampires out to net me 4 pool.

Round 3:
Danz (Setite Corruption) -> Joscar (Matasuntha) -> Cien (Arika & Friends) -> Aye (Lasombra Nocturns) -> Micon (Computer Hacking)

This was the fastest game of the tournament ending before the 40 minute mark. While my place in the finals was guaranteed at this point, I knew that as a defensive combat deck, I needed to be able to position myself well in order to have the best chance to win the final. Seeing Micon and his computer hacking on the table meant that I would have to be able to stabilize early and not allow him to snowball into a win.

Similar to the first round, the first oust game very early into the game at around 10 minutes but unlike Johann's Dementation bleeders, Micon's weenies didn't rely on stealth but rather sheer numbers. As a deck that runs a grand total of 18 wake like effects, this played into my game plan perfectly as I was able to send all 9 of Micon's vampires to torpor with my additional strikes counter acting his dodges. Because he dropped early an Antideluvian Awakening and Anarch Revolt, Cien was basically out of the game after I took out Arika with Matasuntha with Dog Pack preventing her from getting away. Instead of going for the oust immediately, I turned my attention towards Aye's vampires and took them out before he can oust Micon. With a table devoid of live vampires other than my own, it was just a matter of cleaning up for a 4 point win. Matasuntha netted me 14 pool in this match.

Finals:
Faust (Malgorzata) -> Christopher (Arishat) -> Justine (Lawfirm) -> Joscar (Matasuntha) -> Micon (Computer Hacking)

Following the dominant display on round 3, I was tempted to put myself in front of Micon's computer hacking deck but good sense took over and I decided to be his predator instead and hopefully slow him down enough with my ability to multirush. Just as well because Micon had an explosive first turn with an antideluvian awakening and 4 1-cap vampires. This lead to a 9 pool loss for Faust on turn 2 and ousting him pretty soon after.

To make matters worse, I wasn't able to draw into my rush cards so I had no way of policing the table. It dawned upon me that me that I might lose this table without having any say if Micon ousts the three other players. Furiously cycling for a rush card, I pushed through a dogpack against Mary Anne Blaire blocking with a Second Tradition through the extra stealth from Forced March and Instantaneous Transformation.

I drew into a rush card but instead of taking out one of Micon's minions, I decided to torpor Mary Anne Blair to tempt Christopher to get the oust early for the 6 pool as a buffer from Micon. I figured that this was mathematically my best shot at controlling the game and winning as Micon would still need to oust me even if he ousts Christopher first.

Things didn't go exactly as planned as Christopher exploded forward dealing tremendous pool damage. Furthermore, I missed using my wider view which forced me to burn Casey Snyder in order not to die from the Antideluvian awakening. There is also the issue of the Hell's Fury waiting if I decide to take an action against his vampires. I knew that my path to victory was going to be through smiling jack. So I started throwing away some of my rush and combat cards and saving up my wakes.

I knew that Micon ran delaying tactics and that I could leverage that it was in his best interest to keep me alive. So I decided not to block most of what Christopher is doing and rely on Micon playing delaying tactics in order to prevent his prey from gaining 6 pool.

It was a balancing act of taking out enough of his vampires to stay alive through pool gain while leaving enough for him to pose a threat. This didn't go exactly as planned as he began blocking some of my bleed for 1's which lead to him losing ousting power. I had to oust him before my plan came to fruition.

It was one on one and Arishat doesn't do too well in one on one situations and I realized that Christopher has run out of stealth cards and must be hand-jammed with political cards. I managed to make a Smiling Jack stick on the table while waiting for Christopher to attempt to remove it in order to send his vampires to torpor. Once I was able to bring out a second copy of my Casey Snyder which enabled the 2 organized resistance I had in hand, I started blocking Christopher's hunt attempts and when his vampires started getting caught I knew there were no more stealth cards to worry about. In breathed a sigh of relief, as Christopher extends his hand once the math for the Smiling Jack damage was inevitable. This gave me the win with 3VP and the honor of being the Philippines National Champion. Matasuntha torpored 8 vampires this game netting me 8 additional pool.

For those who're counting along, Matasuntha gained me a total of 35 pool over 4 rounds of play. I wouldn't have survived 3 of the 4 rounds without her.



Crypt (13 cards, min=4 max=40 avg=6)

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5x Matasuntha 10 ANI AUS CEL FOR PRO Gangrel:5
4x Anarch Convert 1 Caitiff:ANY
2x Casey Snyder 6 PRO ani cel for baron Gangrel:6
1x Massimiliano 7 ANI FOR pro baron Gangrel:6
1x Mickey Wheeler 5 ani cel for pro Gangrel:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (16; 6 trifle)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Gangrel Revel
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
3x Vessel
2x Villein
1x Wider View

Action (9)
4x Deep Song
2x Harass
2x Nose of the Hound
1x Taunt the Caged Beast

Equipment (1)
1x Heart of Nizchetus

Retainer (4)
2x Dog Pack
2x Raven Spy

Action Modifier (7)
1x Enkil Cog
3x Forced March
3x Instantaneous Transformation

Reaction (22)
4x Bait and Switch
4x Deep Ecology
2x Eyes of the Wild
6x Guardian Vigil
2x On the Qui Vive
4x Organized Resistance

Combat (31)
9x Diversion
5x Drawing Out the Beast
6x Hell-for-Leather
5x Taste of Vitae
4x Trap
2x Voracious Vermin