Tournament Report Secondary Final (places 6-10) of Spanish Nationals

112 Players, Alicante, ES, 27 Nov 21.
Congrats to the participants and winner of the real final! And thanks for the fun match. (My first live tournament in two decades.)

Decks and seating:

• Palla Grande Swarm (Daniel Simón Pla or Christian Torralba Diaz, not sure) >
• Dominate Wheenie (Jesús Rios) >
• Ravnos Clown Car (José Luis Gutiérrez Gallego) >
• Kyasid Bleed (Daniel Simón Pla or Christian Torralba Diaz, not sure) >
• Animalism Mid Cap (Thomas Stellmach, me).

A vigorous match, with shifting power dynamics, and five kind players bringing a good vibe to the table - despite many, many interactions not following the usual pred-prey order... The Clown Car had the highest seed, I had the second highest. A game description in three acts narrated from my point of view, bias, and incomplete information. I would be curious how this match looked from the other player's perspectives.

I The Set-up. And the Slow-down
There were many great evils on the table, but the Clown Car was the greatest (also top seed). So, let's make friends: Deep Song cross-table rush the Ravnos, crows, bats, and all. Flatten that curve! Only to see the Dom Deck bleeding the Clown Car for 7 or 8 the following turn. Did I do this right? This was the first of many actions directed across or backwards, clawing for survival and giving my prey room to breed. The following turns the Clown Car was slow enough to just not offset the incoming dom bleeds with consangineuous boons, which led me to visit the Wheenie Bleeder to reduce the amount of minions a bit, while ashuring back up to 20 pool.

II The Gamble: Yeah, my cross-table buddy shall have all the VPs
The Wheenies eventually managed to dominate the Clown Car, ousting it while tapping out. This changed the situation for the Kyasid - now it was go full speed ahead or die. I hadn't hit my predator so far, and I did expect to get bled. What I did not expect is that Draeven Softfoot and his two Kyasid masters would bleed me for a total of 15, but so they did. Did I muck this up? A deflect or two and then some bleeds would kill me. The Toreador Swarm was by now developed enough to be threatening to his Wheenie prey. I decided to remove the Kyasid from the equation (and table), rushing all my predator's minions to his (unheard) protest. The Dom Wheenies subsequently bled the Kyasid out. 2nd VP for them. Alas, it was not enough pool gain to survive the toreador swarm, who – despite still not having cycled into a palla grande - bled out the wheenies in the same turn — maybe for the best. 1 VP for them.

III The Resolve: The Party has been cancelled
Having recovered the previous turn with Liquidation-Ashur-Wider View to 13 pool, having pulled three majesties with three rushes, I prepared for the Toreador Swarm taking back a hand-full of Deep Songs with another ashur set, inhaling deeply, ready to warble and dance with the Toreador. The Toreador Swarm agreed that my Animalism Critters are more than ready to party: Yield with about half an hour to go. 2 VPs and table win by seed.

Winner decklist?

Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=3 max=8 avg=5.)
==================
1x Effie Lowery 5 obf ANI SPI Ahrimane:4
1x Fish 5 pre ANI POT Guruhi:4
1x Janey Pickman 6 for ANI PRO Gangrel antitribu:4
3x Nana Buruku 8 ANI POT PRE Guruhi:4
1x Sahana 5 pre pro spi ANI Ahrimane:4
1x Stick 3 ANI Nosferatu antitribu:4
1x Beetleman 4 obf ANI Nosferatu:4
1x Yuri Kerezenski 5 aus for vic ANI Tzimisce:4
1x Bobby Lemon 4 pro ANI Gangrel:3
1x Celeste Lamontagne 5 for ANI PRO Gangrel antitribu:4

Library: 90 cards

Master (36 cards)
==================
1x Fame
4x Liquidation
4x Parthenon, The
15x Ashur Tablets
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Sudden Reversal
5x Villein
1x Wash
1x Wider View
3x Dreams of the Sphinx

Action (11 cards)
==================
10x Deep Song
1x Abbot

Combat (32 cards)
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3x Target Vitals
5x Taste of Vitae
2x Terror Frenzy
12x Aid from Bats
1x Canine Horde
9x Carrion Crows

Retainer (3 cards)
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1x Mr. Winthrop
2x Raven Spy

Reaction (7 cards)
==================
4x On the Qui Vive
3x Cats' Guidance

Event (1 cards)
==================
1x Scourge of the Enochians

Well written report. Exciting to read.

Always hard to balance the table right when you have the option of doing so. Well played.

You realise this was the "2nd final" report for places 6 to 10 of that tornament ...