TWD: Old Friends: Newark, Heath OH (25 July 2021)

Old Friends: Newark
Heath, Ohio
July 25. 2021
2R + F
13 players
Karl Schaefer
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/9809

-- 1 GW 5 VP + 2 VP in final

Deck Name: Dirty Nights
Author: Karl Schaefer
Description: Night Moves + Inside Dirt

A fun day with a little luck thrown in.

Round 1: I swept a 5-player table.  Going fourth gave me the right set up against the large vampire decks in front of me.  My predator was a bruise-bleed deck that I managed to mostly ignore because of the pool gain from the ousts.  The star card this round was Millicent Smith, which I dropped in the two player.  I could stealth by blocks and he could not.  It sealed the sweep.

Round 2: I sat prey of a speed War Ghoul deck.  It went about as expected.  I lost a minion a turn, but had my prey as close as 2 pool before finally succumbing.

I was first seed for the finals.  Knowing what the other decks were playing I was unsure that any of them could be fast enough or robust enough to stop the speed War Ghoul deck.  I chose to sit as the predator of that deck hoping that the burn blood effect on Inside Dirt would prevent any War Ghouls from getting into play.  (I never actually used that effect all day.)

Finals seating:
Mark Loughman: AAA Aching Beauty ->
Brad Cashdollar: Stanislava ->
Jay Kristoff: Black Hand block ->
Me: Inside Dirt ->
Bill Troxel: Speed War Ghoul

Bill had a bad crypt draw and did not get a Tzimisce on turn one.  I opened with two Clotho's Gift in hand and instead of attempting any forward actions ensured that I got extra crypt cards as fast as possible.  Bill was without a War Ghoul for several turns, but instead of using my first Inside Dirt to empty I decided that I had enough vampires and would rather Bill spend the pool.  Bill finally gets a War Ghoul.  At the start of his next turn, he is at 7 pool and I have 5 vampires in play.  He plays The Parthenon (for a cycle) and then locks it for Dia de los Muetos.  I Wash the latter.  I lose an empty Lubomira to a War Ghoul rush.  Bill spends 3 more pool on another War Ghoul leaving himself at 2 pool.  He then calls Autorkis Persecution.  Mark had vote lock.  Both Bill and I both attempted to negotiate with Mark; Bill won the negotiations.  So, I Delayed the vote.  Bill had a Cryptic Rider and a second Autarkis in hand.  I never would have ousted him had those passed.  He managed to cycle into a Con Boon and ended his turn with 4 pool.  Mark is close to ousting Brad, calling Parity Shift and giving Bill 2 pool.  Next turn I manage to oust Bill with my 4 remaining vampires.  Mark ousts Brad.  After another turn, Mark starts at 6 pool.  I play Night Moves and follow that with Inside Dirt.  Jay plays Eagle Sight, attempting to block.  I played superior Forgotten Labyrinth and a Spying Mission.  Jay DI's the Spying Mission and I follow up with a Cloak.  Jay declines to block.  A Night Moves and a stealthed bleed later, I oust Mark.

I have two cards left in my library.  I concede my VP to Jay winning the 2-2-1 split on seeding,

Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=2 max=5 avg=3.272727)
==================
1x Frank Litzpar                 5 ani for pot OBF          Nosferatu antitribu:4
1x Jeffrey Mullins               4 cel OBF                  Gangrel antitribu:4
2x Lubomira Hradok               3 OBF                      Nosferatu antitribu:5
1x Old Neddacka                  2 obf                      Nosferatu antitribu:4
1x Skidmark                      5 aus pot FOR OBF          Nosferatu antitribu:4
1x Skulk                         4 ani OBF                  Nosferatu antitribu:5
1x Blister                       3 obf pot                  Nosferatu antitribu:4
1x Aaron Bathurst                4 for obf pot              Nosferatu antitribu:4
1x Bloodfeud                     2 obf                      Malkavian antitribu:4
1x Denette Stensen               2 obf                      Gangrel antitribu:4
1x Alu                           2 obf                      Assamite:5

Library: 69 cards

Master (13 cards)
==================
2x Archon Investigation
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Millicent Smith, Puritan Vampire Hunter
1x Nosferatu Kingdom
3x Villein
3x Wash

Action (28 cards)
==================
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
3x Clotho's Gift
3x Computer Hacking
10x Inside Dirt
11x Night Moves

Action Modifier (18 cards)
==================
3x Cloak the Gathering
3x Faceless Night
2x Forgotten Labyrinth
1x Freak Drive
3x Lost in Crowds
2x Marked Path
4x Spying Mission

Action Modifier/Combat (3 cards)
==================
3x Swallowed by the Night

Political Action (1 cards)
==================
1x Domain Challenge

Ally (1 cards)
==================
1x Mylan Horseed

Reaction (4 cards)
==================
2x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive

Event (1 cards)
==================
1x Narrow Minds
 

I had played a prior version of this deck a couple of years ago. The change from 2 pool to 3 pool loss is significant. Inside Dirt will be a useful tool for !Nosferatu going forward.

Oh, i see this as disguised Banu Haquim overlord commanding his lesser sabbat nosferatu minions.

Hi Karl.

(...) wrote:

Bill Troxel: Speed War Ghoul
(...)
Bill had a Cryptic Rider and a second Autarkis in hand.
(...)

Would it be possible to get some info about the War Ghoul Vote deck please? Even if not the full deck list, could you please let me know the ratio of Autarkis Persecution/Cryptic Rider/War Ghoul for the deck? I am currently playing some Rock Cat Vote deck and I am with 8 Rock Cat + 7 Autarkis + 1 Día de los Muertos within 90 cards. I would like to try different ratio but I have not decided yet which one to try first.

Thanks in advance.
Rémi.

To answer your question, the War Ghoul deck has 85 cards and contains:
1 Dia de los Muertos
7 Autarkis Persecution
2 Consanguineous Boon
2 Rumors of Gehenna
4 Cryptic Rider
4 Heart of Nizchetus

Rumors and Con Boon are often easy to pass when the right terms are selected, and then you Cryptic.

Also, this deck is heavy on actions (35) and masters (20), contains a couple Parthenons (in addition to the Rumors), and has a crypt that includes 8 one-capacity vampires, 2 two-caps and 2 four caps. As such, it is a very high-flow deck. I would not use the same numbers for an 85-card deck if the card flow were much slower.

Hope that helps. Happy hunting!

Oh, I overlooked the part of the question about the War Ghouls themselves.

For rush allies, the deck contains 7 War Ghouls and 2 Ossians.
Other allies include 2 Vagabond Mystics, 2 Carlton Van Wyk and 3 Jake Washington.
There are also 6 free retainers to help with War Ghoul fodder.

Cheers!