TWD - War Party - Gulfport MS, USA (August 25, 2024)

War Party
Gulfport MS, USA
August 25, 2024
2R+F
21 players
Darby Keeney
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/11472

-- 2GW+7VP, 4VP in final

Deck Name: Flakes
Created by: Darby Keeney
Inspired by: Based on a deck Mehdi Mazni played in the 2018 NAC finals, which appears to have roots in decks from Malween Douchy (2009) and Pawel Kukielczynski (2010)
Description: LiqTab Combat ally swarm, postnerf and V5 tuned.

I've been running variants of this deck since seeing Mehdi run his during the 2018 NAC finals. I've made finals with them but hadn't won until this less combat-focused V5 version saw the light of day.

Most recent changes are summarized inline below.

Crypt (12 cards, min=13 max=22 avg=4.5)

---

5x Antonio d'Erlette 5 THA dom for pot Tremere antitribu:4
2x Isanwayen 6 DOM MYT OBT Kiasyd:4
1x Ember Wright 3 aus dom Tremere antitribu:3
1x Janine 4 aus dom tha Tremere antitribu:4
1x Keith Moody 3 DOM Tremere antitribu:4
1x Mosfair 4 cel dom tha Tremere antitribu:4
1x Saiz 3 aus dom Tremere antitribu:3

-- Isanwayen is a "break glass in case of emergency" Parthenon + Deflection machine. Never showed in anyn round this time.

Library (70 cards)
Master (30; 1 trifle)
9x Ashur Tablets -- dropped to 9 copies post nerf, plan for 2 sets.
1x Bleeding the Vine -- why should anyone else complete the Tablets?
1x Creepshow Casino -- marginal hard-recruit tool, unknown value.
1x Direct Intervention
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Frontal Assault -- simply huge in this build, won game 2.
2x Haven Uncovered -- also important in games 2, 3 and 4.
1x Jake Washington
4x Liquidation
4x Parthenon, The
2x Shard, London, The -- terrible interpretation IMO, but play as ruled.
1x Villein -- marginal, should probably be Wider View

-- I used to run an Information Highway to dribble pool onto vampires while still crapping out Nephandi. Probably should replace the Creepshow Casino.

Ally (10)
1x Carlton Van Wyk
9x Nephandus

Equipment (1)
1x Heart of Nizchetus -- I never took time to get this, but I think it is important?

Action Modifier (4)
4x Mirror Walk -- I didn't used to play these, but the no-combat clause opens options.

Reaction (14)
8x Deflection -- increased for the current meta
2x Delaying Tactics -- crucial in the finals
4x On the Qui Vive

Combat (8)
8x Target Vitals -- Trap isn't V5 meta, this is the combat pump. Doesn't feel excessive.

Event (3)
3x Unmasking, The -- yeah, this does a thing and still deserves a nerf

PLAY SUMMARY

My first round was tough - ANI combat and Banu in a 4-player game. I managed to make space and chipped away for 3 VP. Second round was easier after finally breaking through a Gangrel combat wall.

The finals set-up was just plain ugly. I don't think I could possibly win without both top seed benefits.There's a message there - getting both seating advantage and tiebreak benefit is too much. Stats might show it to be that important, but my experience is different.

Seating: Ravnos BtB (Matt) --> PRE Iron Fist (Karl) --> Toreador Iron Fist (Kelly Lyons) --> Gangrel Iron Fist (Kelly Schultz) --> Nephandus (Darby).

If there were ever a table designed to social engineer me into nothingness, this is it. I sat in front of the last vote deck to keep them all seated in a row, hoping to see one ousted and the remaining two in opposition. Ideally, Matt ousts Karl then the Kellies hate each other but hate Matt more. That could go horribly wrong and Matt could just go nuts, but I have to try this way or there's at least one clear voting alliance.

I get started with stupid momentum.....Parthenon into Dreams, get a 3 cap, who will make a Nephandus while I get Antonio. Third turn is 2 hard-way Nephandi and another from Antonio. I'm spending a lot which is dangerous, the other players notice my expansion but at least I'm less of a Parity Shift target.

Matt started slow and the 3 vote decks are infighting with shifting alliances almost immediately. Wow.....unexpected, but Karl is correct that he can't win an eventual heads-up against Kelly Schultz and needs him at least controlled to have any chance. They are all drawing strangely too, the votes aren't that dense. I take pretty much all the single points from votes, but not the full force from most of them.

A few turns in, Matt looks ready to oust Karl and I don't really want Matt to rampage. I Uncover Gathii's Haven, torpor him and he'll become an hors d'oeuvre for Nephandus #5 (I think). Matt still has a chance but suffers a mis-step, leaving Karl at 1 pool.

There's some hemming and hawing, but not a lot of progress until my turn mostly because I Delay my predator's Reins of Power. My turn starts and after Liqudating, I oust Matt but don't have enough to get Karl too. Nine more pool puts me on good footing and the remaining players aren't happy. Over that turn cycle Karl gains some beads, Kelly Lyons doesn't give in despite a previous upstream Banishing, then Kelly Shultz helps both backoust and Parity Shifts still more pool to Karl. Wow, Karl suddenly has a lot of beads to remove.

I give up on the second set of Tablets, Liquidate again and start bleeding with everything I control except the mighty Jake Washington. It takes 2 turns and a Delaying Tactics for an Anarchist Uprising, but I oust Karl to secure a 2nd VP. With the seed advantage, that's a win. We play it out anyway and I oust the remaining Kelly on my next turn.

Good summary. Though you call my deck PRE/CIF, it was the same deck I played on Friday, which was marked as CIF/deflection. The new cards really do power Cam voting and I'm excited to see what others do with the new stuff. Taking a Ventrue vote deck into two finals in the same weekend seems like a huge upgrade to where Cam voting was last week.

It is shocking that Kelly Schultz and I both did draw odds for how our decks performed. I had a 0.02% chance to see only 2 votes in the 30 played cards. Expeected (ie 50% odds) would be 6-7 votes. Kelly had something like a 0.002% chance to see no CIF until the heads-up. It had to be some of the luckiest draws in the world for Darby. Even slight more performant and expected odds would have resulted in a much different experience for all involved. It may have ended the same way because 3 votes decks stacked is a good way to solve the problem, but it would have been more interesting.

Fair point on the classification of your deck. It's probably more CIF/bounce than PRE/CIF - at least from what I would say.

Yes, I was very much the recipient of good fortune with pretty much every library draw.

My start was god-mode if one is willing to spend extravagantly - and I was.
Matt's Ravnos were bleeding for 1 and found 1 S:CE while dead on early BtB?
You and Kelly experienced Lackey (ADV) draws. (Kelly's deck was focused on Info Highway acceleration, but I think his opening hand was FIVE copies?)

Some of that probably helped push the really unexpected shifting vote alliances. At least one play error helped both of us (I wish the whole world could have seen the look we shared in real time - there was NO poker face from either of us).

As for Cam voting, I made a prediction in Facebook that the meta will be flush with Iron Fist for a while. Yes it's good (3 decks in the finals good - but driven by the top-tier players in a tournament with some new players). Now, we get to see exactly how good. Anything that gets us away from PP/BtB bleed is welcome in my house.