TWD + Report: Ropecon 2013 Finnish ECQ, July 26th 2013

• Tournament: Ropecon 2013 Finnish ECQ
• Date: Friday July 26th, 2013
• Place: Ropecon 2013 gaming convention, Dipoli, Espoo, Finland
• Players: 72
• Format: EC Qualifier (constructed), 3R+F
• Organizer/judge: Petri Wessman
• Winner: Toni Karjalainen (see below for deck list)

Another year, another big VTES tournament at the Ropecon gaming convention. We had 71 players last year, a somewhat expected drop from previous years due to the game not getting any new material. I was frankly expecting the drop in attendance to continue a bit, so I was very happily surprised to see 72 players in total this year, actually beating last year by one player. That's great! Once again we had a largish contigent of Swedish players, invading Ropecon with the intention of seizing the Finnish ECQ for themselves. While they ultimately didn't succeed in their nefarious plan, one of them did get to the finals and it was a close call in the end.

Like last year, the tournament was held in the TF building next to the Dipoli main building. This year we decided to try using the second floor area for this tournament, which proved to be a good choice -- we had the area to ourselves, and I could even announce some things to everyone at once without disturbing players of other games. The air did become quite foul near the end (the ventilation had severe problems with this many people in that space), but overall I think it worked fine. Well, at least better than the previous areas we've used.

I'd (again) like to thank all the players for exemplary behaviour. Everyone helped in getting the show on the road in a timely fashion, there were no acrimonious rules arguments (though several interesting questions were asked), and in general is was a joy to run (though exhausing, of course, especially since the thing ran well past midnight as is traditional). We were so well in schedule, in fact, that I decided to run the finals at TF too -- the place closes at 3am, and last year we relocated to Dipoli for the finals. So... thanks, guys 'n gals!

As for the decks played... they were a (very) varied bunch. While a lot of staple tier1/2 decks made their appearance, I also saw a lot of "weird stuff", some of which apparently was quite effective. Suprisingly, the single vampire I saw most of was Nakhthorheb, with at least 3 (maybe 4) decks featured him as star player, including Toni's winning deck. I was expecting to see a lot of Animalism combat, but noticed surprisingly little of that. Otherwise, big-cap powerbleed and powervote seemed to be the dominant themes this year, in general.

That theme was exemplified by the finals: a shortish and brutal affair, with everyone playing powerbleed or vote decks, all except Aleksi using big-cap main vampires. Villeins and Governs were tossed around with wild abandon, and in the end Toni's brutal and fine-tuned Nakhthorheb presence-bleed machine took the win. See the end of this post for a play-by-play transcript of the final round.

Extra thanks to the Finnish NC Janne Lönnqvist who was, once again, an immense help with everything (including providing everyone with a huge pile of promo cards). I'd also like to thank Ville Lovikka, the Ropecon card games organizer, for coming up with very spiffy prize plaques for the finalists.

-Petri “Orava” Wessman


Results

The bolded 18 players received EC qualification for 2013.

Rank	Name	Prelim GW	Prelim VP	Final VP	TP	Deck/comment
1	Toni Karjalainen	2	8	4	138	(see below)
2	Are Vaskela	2	9		168	(see below)
2	Aleksi Kivilahti	2	10	1	162	(see below)
2	Tuomas Vuokko	2	7.5		150	(see below)
2	Juha Nyholm	2	8		168	(see below)
6	Teemu Pulkkinen	2	7		150
7	Adam Esbjörnsson	2	7		144
7	Kari Mäkinen	2	7		144
7	Otso Saariluoma	2	7		144
10	Heikki Palomäki	2	6.5		144
11	Marko Saari	2	5.5		144	Who let the dogs out
12	Michael Holmström	1	8		156
13	Matias Frosterus	1	7		144
14	Pauli Kiova	1	6		150
15	Jukka Pasanen	1	4.5		150
16	Aleksi Nuora	1	4.5		120
17	Ari Lensu	1	4		144	Tie My Rope
18	Erik Mossberg	1	4		126	!Tremere stealth bleed
19	Randal Rudstam	1	4		112
19	Matti Palomäki	1	4		112
21	Ida Olsson Bjärmark	1	4		108
22	Marko Lindroos	1	4		90
23	Kari-Pekka Ylikangas	1	3.5		120
24	Jukka Lindström	1	3.5		114
25	Margus Paananen	1	3.5		108
26	Lasse Pöyry	1	3		120
27	Juri Juskevits	0	3		132
28	Niina Stenberg	0	2.5		132
29	Timo Snellman	0	2.5		114
30	Ville Saaristo	0	2.5		102
31	Antti Iivari	0	2.1		120
32	Ville Kilpi	0	2		120
33	Toni Manninen	0	2		114
33	Juhani Puska	0	2		114
35	Ville Kaijasaari	0	2		108
36	Otso Turunen	0	2		90
36	Akseli Jalava	0	2		90
38	Henri Halonen	0	1.5		118
39	Jyri Puhakka	0	1.5		108
39	Mikko Inkinen	0	1.5		108
41	Samuel Mäenpää	0	1.5		106	Imbued
42	Tuukka Kallas	0	1.5		102
42	Esa-Matti Smolander	0	1.5		102
42	Johnny Wretlind	0	1.5		102	Euro Brujah
45	Jari Mäkikyrö	0	1.5		100
46	Petrus Makkonen	0	1		102	"AVENGER" Time Management Co.
47	Jonas Ståhle	0	1		100
48	Kimmo Pekkola	0	1		96
48	Mikko Hyvärinen	0	1		96
48	Jussi Hattara	0	1		96	Call the Madness
51	Timo Rekola	0	1		94
52	Noora Hirvonen	0	1		90
52	Pekka Kinnunen	0	1		90
54	Isak Esbjörnsson Bjärmark	0	1		84	Girls...
54	Mikko Moisander	0	1		84	Vastarannan kiisket VI
56	Hannu Kokkonen	0	0.5		90
57	Janne Lönnqvist	0	0.5		82
58	Ari-Pekka Alestalo	0	0.5		72
59	Jani Malmi	0	0.5		60
60	Peter Kaario	0	0		90	Korsoraattori
61	Tuomas Nyberg	0	0		88
62	Tommi Hakomaa	0	0		76
63	Anssi Rekola	0	0		72
63	Tom Lindberg	0	0		72
63	Mika Nurmikolu	0	0		72
63	Petro Hirvonen	0	0		72
67	Pasi Karjalainen	0	0		70
68	Johan Wahlström	0	0		60
68	Juho Vuorikoski	0	0		60
70	Raymond Mäkeläinen	0	0		54	Settite Duat Corruption
70	Teemu Sainomaa	0	0		54
DQ	Sebastian Schiavone	0	0		52

The DQ is from leaving the tournament after two rounds (he let me know well before 3rd round started, so no problem there).


Decklists

Tournament Winner (Toni Karjalainen)

Deck Name : Nakhthorheb

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 10 average: 7.75

5x	Nakhthorheb	(10)			Follower of Set	(group 4)
2x	Anarch Convert	(1)			Caitiff	(group ANY)
1x	Neferu	(9)		2 votes	Follower of Set	(group 4)
1x	Pentweret	(9)			Follower of Set	(group 5)
1x	Porphyrion	(9)			Follower of Set	(group 5)
1x	Shemti	(9)		1 vote	Follower of Set	(group 5)
1x	Abdelsobek	(5)			Follower of Set	(group 5)

Library [70 cards]

Action [17]
3x Enticement
3x Entrancement
7x Intimidation
3x Revelation of Ecstasy
1x Temptation

Action Modifier [24]
2x Cloak the Gathering
3x Elder Impersonation
2x Enkil Cog
3x Faceless Night
4x Lost in Crowds
3x Revelation of Desire
3x Spying Mission
4x Truth of a Thousand Lies

Action Modifier/Combat [3]
3x Swallowed by the Night

Equipment [3]
1x Learjet
2x Mokole Blood

Master [16]
7x Eternals of Sirius, The
2x Golconda: Inner Peace
1x Opium Den
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Secure Haven
4x Villein

Reaction [7]
2x Delaying Tactics
3x Eluding the Arms of Morpheus
2x Mental Maze


Other Finalists

Are Vaskela

Deck Name : Ropecon 2013 Are
Author : Are
Description :
Idea is from EC 2012 day 1: Unmada and Lutz, and also from Otso's great decks.

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 9 max: 11 average: 9.83333

6x	Unmada	(10)		justicar	Malkavian	(group 5)
2x	Lutz von Hohenzollern	(11)		inner circle	Malkavian	(group 4)
2x	Dmitra Ilyanova	(9)		justicar	Brujah	(group 5)
2x	Undele	(9)		magaji	Ishtarri	(group 5)

Library [60 cards]

Action Modifier [9]
1x Approximation of Loyalty
1x Elder Impersonation
1x Forced March
2x Forgotten Labyrinth
3x Lost in Crowds
1x Telepathic Vote Counting

Action Modifier/Combat [2]
1x Resist Earth's Grasp
1x Swallowed by the Night

Ally [1]
1x Muddled Vampire Hunter

Master [29]
1x Giant's Blood
1x Golconda: Inner Peace
3x Information Highway
1x Jake Washington (Hunter)
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Parthenon, The
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Protected Resources
1x Temptation of Greater Power
5x Villein
1x Wash
2x Wider View
9x Zillah's Valley

Political Action [16]
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
2x Banishment
1x Disputed Territory
2x Kine Resources Contested
6x Parity Shift
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power

Reaction [3]
1x On the Qui Vive
1x Second Tradition: Domain
1x Telepathic Misdirection


Aleksi Kivilahti

Deck Name : Praidi paraadi
Author : Aleksi Kivilahti

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 7 average: 5

2x	Isanwayen	(6)			Kiasyd	(group 4)
2x	Dame Hollerton	(5)			Kiasyd	(group 4)
1x	Roderick Phillips March	(7)			Kiasyd	(group 4)
1x	Onaedo	(6)			Lasombra	(group 4)
1x	Banjoko	(5)			Lasombra	(group 3)
1x	Ermenegildo, The Rake	(5)			Lasombra	(group 4)
1x	Leila Monroe	(4)			Lasombra	(group 4)
1x	Quincy, The Trapper	(4)			Kiasyd	(group 3)
1x	Randel, The Coward	(4)			Ventrue antitribu	(group 4)
1x	Lucy Markowitz	(3)			Lasombra	(group 4)

Library [72 cards]

Action [18]
15x Govern the Unaligned
2x Gremlins
1x Song of Pan

Action Modifier [25]
5x Bonding
4x Conditioning
3x Foreshadowing Destruction
1x Seduction
3x Shadow Play
4x Shroud of Absence
4x Stone Travel
1x Tenebrous Form

Ally [4]
4x Nocturn

Combat [1]
1x Shadow Body

Master [16]
1x Coven, The
4x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Effective Management
3x Great Symposium
3x Life in the City
1x Misdirection
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion

Reaction [8]
5x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics
1x On the Qui Vive


Tuomas Vuokko

Deck Name : Tupdogfiller
Author : Tuomas Vuokko
Description :
Tooboxy, you never know what you are going to get. 1st draft, some changes if I plan on playing this again in a tourney. Rutors should probabkly be Zillah'sm no real need for the big guy votes.


Crypt [22 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 9 average: 5.40909

8x	Tupdog	(1)			Gargoyle	(group 3)
4x	Malgorzata	(9)		priscus	Tremere antitribu	(group 4)
3x	Orlando Oriundus	(9)		bishop	Tremere antitribu	(group 4)
3x	Paul Cordwood	(8)		bishop	Tremere antitribu	(group 4)
2x	Ladislas Toth, The Torch	(7)		archbishop	Tremere antitribu	(group 3)
2x	Antonio d'Erlette	(5)			Tremere antitribu	(group 4)

Library [81 cards]

Action [13]
8x Govern the Unaligned
3x Rutor's Hand
2x Zillah's Tears

Action Modifier [14]
2x Conditioning
2x Foreshadowing Destruction
10x Mirror Walk

Action Modifier/Reaction [2]
2x Murmur of the False Will

Ally [4]
4x Nephandus (Mage)

Combat [8]
2x Raking Talons
6x Target Vitals

Master [17]
4x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Golconda: Inner Peace
2x Information Highway
1x Monastery of Shadows
6x Villein
2x Wider View

Political Action [8]
1x Ancient Influence
6x Kine Resources Contested
1x Political Stranglehold

Reaction [15]
5x Deflection
3x Eyes of Argus
4x On the Qui Vive
3x Telepathic Misdirection


Juha Nyholm

Deck Name : Thumbs Up 2013
Author : Juha Nyholm

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 10 average: 8.33333

3x	Ambrosio Luis Moncada, Plenipotentiary	(10)		cardinal	Lasombra	(group 2)
3x	Gratiano	(8)		priscus	Lasombra	(group 2)
2x	Alvaro, The Scion of Angelica	(9)		archbishop	Lasombra	(group 2)
2x	Francisco Domingo de Polonia	(9)		archbishop	Lasombra	(group 2)
1x	Dr. Julius Sutphen	(5)		bishop	Lasombra	(group 3)
1x	Dr. Julius Sutphen Adv	(5)			Lasombra	(group 3)

Library [90 cards]

Action [12]
4x Creation Rites
8x Govern the Unaligned

Action Modifier [25]
2x Blanket of Night
3x Conditioning
6x Seduction
5x Shadow Play
2x Shroud of Absence
3x Shroud of Night
1x Tenebrous Form
3x Voter Captivation

Combat [7]
1x Burning Wrath
3x Oubliette
3x Shadow Body

Master [15]
2x Blood Doll
2x Dominate
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Elysian Fields
1x Giant's Blood
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Power Structure
4x Villein

Political Action [15]
1x Banishment
1x Cardinal Benediction
3x Consanguineous Boon
1x Conservative Agitation
2x Domain Challenge
6x Kine Resources Contested
1x Neonate Breach

Reaction [16]
10x Deflection
2x On the Qui Vive
4x Wake with Evening's Freshness


Final Round Transcript

This is based on my personal notes, scribbled down during the game. Some detail is missing and there may be mistakes here and there. Since we were (surprisingly!) well within schedule, I decided to run the finals at TF also (last year we relocated to Dipoli since TF closes at 3am).

Play started at 0:50am and ended at 2am (1h 10min total).

The players were (in seating order):

1. Toni Karjalainen
2. Are Vaskela
3. Tuomas Vuokko
4. Aleksi Kivilahti
5. Juha Nyholm

Turn 1

Toni: bring out Anarch Convert

Are: Zillah's Valley

Tuomas: just transfers

Aleksi: just transfers

Juha: just transfers

Turn 2

Toni: Convert bleeds for 1

Are:

• Wider View
• Zillah's Valley
• bring out Unmada

Tuomas: just transfers

Aleksi: bring out Dame Hollerton

Juha: just transfers

Turn 3

Toni: just transfers

Are:

• Villein Unmada for 7
• Protected Resources
• Unmada calls Parity Shift from Tuomas for 5

Tuomas:

• bring out Malgorzata
• bring out Tupdog

Aleksi:

• Dame superior Govern
• bring out Ermenegildo, The Rake
• bring out Lucy Markowitz

Juha:

• bring out Ambrosio Luis Monçada, Plenipotentiary

Turn 4

Toni:

• Golconda on Unmada, Wash from Are
• Pentex on Unmada
• Convert bleeds for 1
• bring out Nakhthorheb

Are:

• Info Highway
• bring out Lutz von Hohenzollern

Tuomas:

• Tupdog rushes Unmada, Unmada goes long range
• Malgorzata does her own action
• bring out Antonio d'Erlette

Aleksi:

• Great Symposium
• Ermenegildo superio Govern
• Lucy bleeds for 1
• bring out Isanwayen
• bring out Randel, The Coward

Juha:

• Villein Ambrosio for 10
• Giant's Blood on Ambrosio
• Ambrosio superior Govern
• bring out Dr. Julius Sutphen (adv)

Turn 5

Toni:

• Eternals of Sirius
• Nakhthorheb bleeds w/Intimidation, reduced to 2 via Protected Resources
• Enkil Cog on Nakhthorheb
• Nakhthorheb plays Enticement, untaps with Truth of a Thousand Lies
• bring out Neferu

Are;

• Golconda on Malgorzata (Tuomas pays)
• Lutz removes Pentex (block attempt, stealth)

Tuomas:

• Villein Malgorzata for 6
• Antonio bleeds with Govern, adds stealth, gets bounced to Juha
• Malgorzata calls Kine 2+2, passes

Aleksi:

• Isanwayen recruits Nocturn
• Isanwayen bleeds with Gremlins
• Randel bleeds for 1
• Lucy bleeds for 1
• Ermenegildo bleeds for 1

Juha:

• Villein Dr. Julius for 5
• Dr. Julius hunts
• (Enkil Cog) Nakhthorheb bleeds for 2
• Ambrosio bleeds for 1

Turn 6

Toni

• Eternals of Sirius
• Nakhthorheb bleeds for 2
• Nakhthorheb plays Enticement, Are is ousted
• Nakhthorheb untaps with Truth of a Thousand Lies

Tuomas:

• Wider View
• Antonio bleeds, adds stealth, bleed of 2 (with Murmur of the False Will)
• Malgorzata calls Ancient Influence, passes, Delaying Tactics from Toni
• (Enkil Cog) Nakhthorheb bleeds with Intimidation, adds stealth, gets bounced to Aleksi (bleed of 4)
• bring out Tupdog

Aleksi:

• Randel recruits Nocturn
• Dame bleeds with Govern, adds stealth and Conditioning, gets bounced to Toni
• Isanwayen bleeds with Govern, adds Bonding, gets bounced to Toni
• Lucy bleeds with Govern
• Randel bleeds with Govern + Conditioning

Juha:

• Villein Ambrosio for 7
• Power Structure
• Ambrosio hunts
• Dr. Julius hunts
• bring out Francisco Domingo de Polonia

Turn 7

Toni:

• Eternals od Sirius
• Neferu bleeds with Intimidation, adds stealth
• Nakhthorheb bleeds with Intimidation, addes stealth and Revelation of Desire
• Nakhthorheb equips with Learjet, untaps with Truth of a Thousand Lies
• Nakhthorheb plays Revelation of Ecstasy on Malgorzata

Tuomas:

• Wider View
• Dreams of the Sphinx
• Tupdog rushes Nakhthorheb, Nakhthorheb untaps, blocks and plays Mental Maze
• Antonio bleeds, addes stealth and Conditioning, gets bounced to Juha, gets bounced on to Toni
• Malgorzata does her own action
• (Enkil Cog) Nakhthorheb bleeds with Entrancement, adds stealth, bounced to Aleksi, bounced onwards to Juha

Aleksi:

• Misdirection on Polonia
• Dame bleeds with Govern
• Isanwayen bleeds with Govern + Foreshadowing Destruction
• Lucy bleeds, adds Foreshadowing Destruction, bounced to Toni, Convert blocks
• Randel bleeds for 1
• Ermenegildo bleeds for 1, Juha is ousted
• bring out Quincy, The Trapper

Turn 8

Toni:

• Villein Neferu for 6
• Eternals of Sirius
• Convert hunts
• Nakhthorheb equips Mokole Blood
• Neferu bleeds wit Entrancement
• Nakhthorheb bleeds, adds Revelation of Desire, Tuomas is ousted
• Nakhthorheb untaps with Truth of a Thousand Lies

Aleksi:

• The Coven
• Pentex on Nakhthorheb
• Lucy bleeds with Govern
• Randel bleeds with Govern
• Isanwayen bleeds with Gremlins
• Quincy bleeds for 1
• Dame bleeds for 1

Turn 9

Toni:

• Eternals of Sirius
• Convert removes Pentex (gets stealth)
• Neferu bleeds with Intimidation and stealth
• Nakhthorheb bleeds with Intimidation and stealth, Aleksi is ousted

Pics

Some pictures from the finals, by Marko Saari.

...and here are some snapshots from the preliminary rounds, from my crappy mobile phone camera

Thanks for organizing ECQ once again!

We had ventilation?
Didn't notice since the air was SO heavy. Downstairs would've been WAY better a choice.

Me, I didn't really contribute anything to the effort. Petri is the one that should be thanked!

Thanks for everyone attending and being so amicable to play with. Especially the people from far off places and foreign countries (= Western Land of Wonder aka. Svearike aka. Sweeden)

EDIT: And a humongous thank you to David Tatu, Esq. who was kind enough to selflessly help me secure some promos that have been harder to come by in these neck of woods!

Lönkka wrote:

Thanks for organizing ECQ once again!

We had ventilation?
Didn't notice since the air was SO heavy. Downstairs would've been WAY better a choice.

Well, dowmstairs ventilation sucks also (as we noticed last year), and the problem there is that we'd have to share the space with the MtG crowd, leading tp cramped seating and a *lot* of noise. I personally liked the upstairs more, even though it got pretty tropical in there :}

Ideally we'd have the whole of downstairs for VTES, but I think the Magic folks would object to that. Silly people.

Flogging a dead horse here but downstairs has ceiling at around 5 meters, whereas upstairs it is lower than normally since the ceiling is the same for both.

Playing on the table right next to the terrace door was great but elsewhere not.

Perhaps next year we'll bring a fan or two with us to make the air move more inside from the terrace?

During Saturday's draft it was really nice to have some of the games on the terrace!