TWD - Belgian National Championship 2021, Brussels, 6.11.2021

Belgian National Championship 2021
Brussels, Belgium
November 6, 2021
3R + F
17 Players
Organizer & winner: Emiliano Imeroni

www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/9913

A quick overview

17 players assembled to fight in the first Belgian event since the start of the pandemic, quite a respectable turnout given the circumstances! The overall metagame seemed to favour focused/aggressive decks, with somewhat fewer walls and combat than is common at these latitudes. After three hard-fought rounds, Stéphane D thought he could not be in the finals with 1GW3 and left before all games finished... thus relinquishing his finalist spot to Bart.

The final's seating was as follows:
Rahma (Spell of Life) -> Nicolas (Kyasiphandus) -> Vincent (Shattering Crescendo) -> Bart (Lutz) -> Emiliano (new royalty).

The final was a quick affair, over in about 1 hour. Emiliano started strong voting against Rahma, reducing the time available for the Spells of Life to fire, while Nicolas bled Vincent constantly, forcing the latter to look mostly backwards. Bart was a bit unlucky with Zillahs and took some time to bring out Lutz. Then there was a "sliding doors" turn where all parallel universes seemed to collide: Rahma's well-played Delaying Tactics left Emiliano at three pool and open to Bart, then Rahma also Suddened Nicolas' third Ashur, ruining his chances to oust Vincent. In turn, Vincent found no block or bounce on his way to oust Bart with two Legal Manipulations. This allowed Emiliano to oust Rahma and prepare the endgame via his own third Ashur. Finally, after an Ancilla Empowerment+Neonate Breach combo ousted Nicolas and left Vincent at 3 pool, it did not take long for the struggle to conclude.

Result: Emiliano 4 VP, Vincent 1 VP

A big big thank you to all participants for a very fun day of bleeding (and politicking) and... thanks also for letting me win, for once!

Final standings

Final Rank Name Prelim GWs Prelim VPs Final VPs TPs
1 Emiliano Imeroni 2 8 4 168 - Infernal Princes of Anarchy
2 Nicolas Verhille 1 5 0 132 - Kyasid S&B with Nephandi
2 Vincent Ripoll 1 4 1 136 - Daughters Shattering Crescendo
2 Jonathan (Rahma) Sinien 1 6 0 132 - FoS Spell of Life
2 Bart Jansen 1 3 0 96 - Lutz & big cap friends
6 Frédéric Pin 1 2 96 - Weenie Blood Sorcery combat
7 Stéphane Vens 0 3,5 138 - Nosferatu G5/6
7 Bram Van Stappen 0 3,5 138 - "Massassuntha" Anarch wall
9 Marius Iscru 0 3 126 - Anson & Alexandra
10 Jeroen van Oort 0 2 90 - Thucimia S&B
11 Michel De Jonge 0 1,5 96 - Malk v5 precon
12 Maarten Rijnbeek 0 1,5 90 - Nosferatu G5/6
13 Thomas De Wolf 0 1 90 - !Ventrue grinder
14 Tom Vandenberghe 0 1 88 - Anarch Gargoyle wall/combat
15 Jonathan Van der Smissen 0 0 70 - Janni rush
16 István Cserdi 0 0 48 - Weenie politics
WD Stéphane Declercq 1 3 102 - Brujah Anarch combat

Tournament winning deck

Deck Name: Infernal Princes of Anarchy
Played by: Emiliano Imeroni
2 GW 8 VP + 4 VP in final
Description:
All credit to the deck's creator, grandmaster Bram Van Stappen! Thank you!
A new generation of the classic "Royalty" deck based on the new cheap Fifth Edition Princes, with the "Reckless" support of Anarch Barons and of the invaluable Lutz-cancelling star Arishat.
Instructions for use: steal deck from Bram the day before the event, then quickly unleash your political might on everyone while trying to stay (barely) alive.

Crypt (12 cards, min=24 max=28 avg=6.33)
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3x Arishat 6 DAI OBF PRE 1 vote Baali:6
1x Alice Chen 7 dom obf FOR PRE prince Ventrue:6
1x Benjamin Rose 7 ani pot AUS OBF prince Nosferatu:5
1x Graham Gottesman 7 obf pre tha DOM FOR prince Ventrue:5
1x Karen Suadela 7 obf pre CEL POT prince Brujah:5
1x Andi Liu 6 aus obf pre DOM prince Malkavian:6
1x Belinde 6 ani aus pot OBF prince Nosferatu:6
1x Benedito, a Lanterna 6 ani aus obf POT baron Nosferatu:6
1x Donny Kowalczyk 6 obf dom cel AUS prince Malkavian:6
1x Jacques Rouge 6 ani pot pre OBF baron Nosferatu:6

Library (62 cards)
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Master (23)

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9x Ashur Tablets
1x Coven, The
1x Creepshow Casino
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
4x Information Highway
3x Parthenon, The
1x Protected Resources

Action (1)

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1x Unleash Hell's Fury

Political Action (18)

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1x Ancilla Empowerment
3x Kine Resources Contested
1x Neonate Breach
8x Parity Shift
4x Reckless Agitation
1x Rumors of Gehenna

Action Modifier (13)

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1x Bewitching Oration
1x Faceless Night
5x Forgotten Labyrinth
2x Lost in Crowds
2x Perfect Paragon
2x Voter Captivation

Reaction (2)

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2x Second Tradition: Domain

Combat (5)

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4x Majesty
1x Staredown

Very strong deck, and well played Emiliano!
Having played against this deck in 3 games at the tournament with Lutz, I could only beat it once, and that was only because Emiliano had just ousted the player with The Coven, leaving Arishat without blood supply to win the political battles