[TWD] Shell Break 2024 (2024-04-01)
01 Apr 2024 20:50 - 16 Apr 2024 06:12 #111065
by UFOPOLI
2 votes (titled) of Helsinki
[TWD] Shell Break 2024 (2024-04-01) was created by UFOPOLI
Shell Break 2024
Espoo, Finland
2024-04-01
2R + F
18 players
winner: Tero Aalto
0 GW 3,5 + 2,5 in the final
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/11331
The annual Easter event has somehow become a milestone of personal redemptions. First this was two years ago where I made it to the HoF, then last year my oldest proper tournament deck's first win. Now, it was my last remaining "cliché" deck's turn.
My personal expectations for the day were very low: mainly just to successfully organize and somehow stay awake. Namely, I had spent the previous week in Eurovision parties in Spain and only returned home in the early hours of morning. I could have played a lot better in a better state of awareness, but luckily having played this deck in tournaments since forever, it also largely played itself.
Throughout the tournament, the MVP of the deck was Secure Haven, and the final especially would have been completely unwinnable without it. The crypt is a bit unconventional but I'm very satisfied with it.
- - -
Deck Name: Lavatanssit
Author: Tero Aalto
Crypt (12 cards, min=25 max=44 avg=9.17)
5x Stanislava 11 ANI CEL DOM FOR PRO inner circle Gangrel:2
4x Hartmut Stover 10 CEL OBF PRO dom for archbishop Gangrel antitribu:3
1x Caitlin 6 ANI PRO aus dom bishop Gangrel antitribu:2
1x New Blood 2 san Blood Brother:ANY
1x Soldat 7 POT PRO cel dom obf Gangrel antitribu:3
Library (77 cards)
Master (14; 7 trifle)
1x Backways
1x Coven, The
1x Giant's Blood
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Perfectionist
2x Secure Haven
6x Villein
1x Zoo Hunting Ground
Action (7)
7x Govern the Unaligned
Equipment (2)
2x Heart of Nizchetus
Political Action (10)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
2x Ancilla Empowerment
4x Banishment
1x Kine Resources Contested
1x Reins of Power
Action Modifier (23)
3x Conditioning
4x Earth Control
6x Forced March
7x Instantaneous Transformation
3x Seduction
Reaction (11)
7x Deflection
1x Guard Dogs
3x On the Qui Vive
Combat (9)
3x Earth Meld
6x Form of Mist
Event (1)
1x Scourge of the Enochians
Espoo, Finland
2024-04-01
2R + F
18 players
winner: Tero Aalto
0 GW 3,5 + 2,5 in the final
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/11331
The annual Easter event has somehow become a milestone of personal redemptions. First this was two years ago where I made it to the HoF, then last year my oldest proper tournament deck's first win. Now, it was my last remaining "cliché" deck's turn.
My personal expectations for the day were very low: mainly just to successfully organize and somehow stay awake. Namely, I had spent the previous week in Eurovision parties in Spain and only returned home in the early hours of morning. I could have played a lot better in a better state of awareness, but luckily having played this deck in tournaments since forever, it also largely played itself.
Throughout the tournament, the MVP of the deck was Secure Haven, and the final especially would have been completely unwinnable without it. The crypt is a bit unconventional but I'm very satisfied with it.
- - -
Deck Name: Lavatanssit
Author: Tero Aalto
Crypt (12 cards, min=25 max=44 avg=9.17)
5x Stanislava 11 ANI CEL DOM FOR PRO inner circle Gangrel:2
4x Hartmut Stover 10 CEL OBF PRO dom for archbishop Gangrel antitribu:3
1x Caitlin 6 ANI PRO aus dom bishop Gangrel antitribu:2
1x New Blood 2 san Blood Brother:ANY
1x Soldat 7 POT PRO cel dom obf Gangrel antitribu:3
Library (77 cards)
Master (14; 7 trifle)
1x Backways
1x Coven, The
1x Giant's Blood
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Perfectionist
2x Secure Haven
6x Villein
1x Zoo Hunting Ground
Action (7)
7x Govern the Unaligned
Equipment (2)
2x Heart of Nizchetus
Political Action (10)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
2x Ancilla Empowerment
4x Banishment
1x Kine Resources Contested
1x Reins of Power
Action Modifier (23)
3x Conditioning
4x Earth Control
6x Forced March
7x Instantaneous Transformation
3x Seduction
Reaction (11)
7x Deflection
1x Guard Dogs
3x On the Qui Vive
Combat (9)
3x Earth Meld
6x Form of Mist
Event (1)
1x Scourge of the Enochians
2 votes (titled) of Helsinki
Last edit: 16 Apr 2024 06:12 by Ankha.
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02 Apr 2024 18:53 - 02 Apr 2024 19:04 #111087
by UFOPOLI
2 votes (titled) of Helsinki
Replied by UFOPOLI on topic [TWD] Shell Break 2024 (2024-04-01)
After a decent sleep and some recovered cognitive functions, I can do further analysis of the tournament. The Finnish tournament meta is typically quite varied, compared to many countries, especially in smaller tournaments. For example, I saw only two anarch Gangrel decks (which I think is presently the #1 deck to beat), and even the only Ministry I witnessed played Serpentis. Similarly, there were three Salubri decks, two of them with Obeah.
It wouldn't be Finland without a lot of combat, and this tournament was no exception. My first table, however, was more peaceful than average. The biggest threat there was the Saulot deck with Spirit Marionettes and !Tremere rush (including some Nephandi), my predator. However, Saulot was having quite a bit of trouble from bleedy Ahrimanes, so I ended up helping him quite a bit with a Banishment and an Ancient Influence, the latter of which in particular tipped the table. My prey was a very interesting Ian Forestal Temporis deck that got the first oust from its Malkavian bleeder prey that couldn't get past the Ahrimanes, while I was busy doing other things. Eventually, I got an oust myself, and the rest of the table I focused on staying alive, while Saulot was bleeding me threes and fours. Apparently, there had been a bleed of eight coming up just as the time ran out. 1,5 points.
The second round was a four-player table, which is usually bad news for the slow big-cap decks I almost always play. The other piece of bad news was that my predator was Ghede rush. In the rock-paper-scissors cycle of combat defense, an Obedience deck wouldn't have minded this (and the very same setting had actually occurred to Małgorzata the year before in this same tournament) but Stanislava's S:CEs don't do much against Grapple. Luckily for me, my crosstable was a new Ravnos bleeder that played an early Week. Ghede tried to rush Stanislava but Hartmut got in the way and survived. The turn after, I banished Ghede, which unfortunately meant giving two points to my weenie Ministry Temptation prey, but the alternative would have been the two of them ganging up on me, so it had to be done, and I had a good feeling I could get two points if I just played systematically, which worked out. 2 points, for a total of 3,5, which was enough to be the fourth seed in the final as only three of the eight games had produced a GW. The last place in the final was given out for the discount price of 2 VPs, to the aforementioned Temptation deck.
Being a low seed saved me from the trouble of thinking about seating. Having Celerity rush decks as higher seeds would save me from the trouble of having minions, too, I thought. The rushers decided to sit next to each other for some reason, which allowed the top seed, another Ravnos bleeder, to pick the only position not next to a rush deck, which also happened to be as my prey. A deck with no votes or bounces as my prey was the only redeeming feature in this seating.
The final table looked like this:
Meanwhile, Petri had accumulated an impressive board with the help of Break the Bondses, even if there was a Temptation on all of his vampires. I seemed to be less concerned about this than the others but I had no problem with the focus being on somebody else than myself, even though the amount of ready minions Petri didn't have much impact on my game, as long as there was at least one of them with the ability to play reduce, as I would always have enough stealth to get through. Teemu activated one Temptation to bleed Otso so that he could block and torporize it, and Otso rushed another on his turn, which I thought was quite a lot to do crosstable at that stage, but I guess I should trust Otso to know what he's doing. Through this, I kept myself relatively safe by buying peace from Bram who was in low pool, first by agreeing not to deal him any damage (which was easily done considering I play only one KRC), then by banishing Otso's Anson (at three blood), the latter of which also served my own plan as I had seen him as the table threat since the beginning of the game.
With Petri thus largely neutralized, the attention started to shift towards me instead. Luckily, I had just drawn a Secure Haven at this point, so it didn't look hopeless, even when Otso played a Haven Uncovered on Stanislava. Bram was not interested in rushing me yet, so when I got my next turn, I simply played my own Haven on her, and this was the turning point of the game, even though my mental battery was so low that I almost considered just giving up and going home. I proceeded to oust Petri with bleeds and an Ancilla Empowerment, with an Anarchist Uprising as backup, as I was sure there would a DT from either him or Teemu. When there wasn't, I thought Teemu had simply saved his to save himself, and as I had no other reasonable actions left, I voted the other one as well, to a semi-accidental double oust.
At that point, Bram and Otso joined forces to get rid of me, which made sense as either of them still had the chance to win as higher seeds. Hartmut, not protected by the Secure Haven, was quickly toast, despite me having stored a bunch of S:CEs. There were less than 30 minutes left on the clock and I had a lot of pool, so it started to look like I had a chance. Bram had a consistent bleed of four on the table, steadily consuming my pool, while I was bleeding Otso for threes (which was trivial to do with both Backways and Monastery on the table, plus Heart of N. producing a steady supply of +1 stealth cards), occasionally banishing something to slow my opponents down, and bouncing whenever I got the chance. I got Otso down to three pool, at which point he gave up on Bram and ousted him. However, there were only a few minutes left, so I (un)lived.
It wouldn't be Finland without a lot of combat, and this tournament was no exception. My first table, however, was more peaceful than average. The biggest threat there was the Saulot deck with Spirit Marionettes and !Tremere rush (including some Nephandi), my predator. However, Saulot was having quite a bit of trouble from bleedy Ahrimanes, so I ended up helping him quite a bit with a Banishment and an Ancient Influence, the latter of which in particular tipped the table. My prey was a very interesting Ian Forestal Temporis deck that got the first oust from its Malkavian bleeder prey that couldn't get past the Ahrimanes, while I was busy doing other things. Eventually, I got an oust myself, and the rest of the table I focused on staying alive, while Saulot was bleeding me threes and fours. Apparently, there had been a bleed of eight coming up just as the time ran out. 1,5 points.
The second round was a four-player table, which is usually bad news for the slow big-cap decks I almost always play. The other piece of bad news was that my predator was Ghede rush. In the rock-paper-scissors cycle of combat defense, an Obedience deck wouldn't have minded this (and the very same setting had actually occurred to Małgorzata the year before in this same tournament) but Stanislava's S:CEs don't do much against Grapple. Luckily for me, my crosstable was a new Ravnos bleeder that played an early Week. Ghede tried to rush Stanislava but Hartmut got in the way and survived. The turn after, I banished Ghede, which unfortunately meant giving two points to my weenie Ministry Temptation prey, but the alternative would have been the two of them ganging up on me, so it had to be done, and I had a good feeling I could get two points if I just played systematically, which worked out. 2 points, for a total of 3,5, which was enough to be the fourth seed in the final as only three of the eight games had produced a GW. The last place in the final was given out for the discount price of 2 VPs, to the aforementioned Temptation deck.
Being a low seed saved me from the trouble of thinking about seating. Having Celerity rush decks as higher seeds would save me from the trouble of having minions, too, I thought. The rushers decided to sit next to each other for some reason, which allowed the top seed, another Ravnos bleeder, to pick the only position not next to a rush deck, which also happened to be as my prey. A deck with no votes or bounces as my prey was the only redeeming feature in this seating.
The final table looked like this:
- CEL princes w/ guns (Otso)
- CEL multiclan rush (Bram)
- Stanislava (Tero)
- Ravnos bleed (Petri)
- Ministry Temptation (Teemu)
Meanwhile, Petri had accumulated an impressive board with the help of Break the Bondses, even if there was a Temptation on all of his vampires. I seemed to be less concerned about this than the others but I had no problem with the focus being on somebody else than myself, even though the amount of ready minions Petri didn't have much impact on my game, as long as there was at least one of them with the ability to play reduce, as I would always have enough stealth to get through. Teemu activated one Temptation to bleed Otso so that he could block and torporize it, and Otso rushed another on his turn, which I thought was quite a lot to do crosstable at that stage, but I guess I should trust Otso to know what he's doing. Through this, I kept myself relatively safe by buying peace from Bram who was in low pool, first by agreeing not to deal him any damage (which was easily done considering I play only one KRC), then by banishing Otso's Anson (at three blood), the latter of which also served my own plan as I had seen him as the table threat since the beginning of the game.
With Petri thus largely neutralized, the attention started to shift towards me instead. Luckily, I had just drawn a Secure Haven at this point, so it didn't look hopeless, even when Otso played a Haven Uncovered on Stanislava. Bram was not interested in rushing me yet, so when I got my next turn, I simply played my own Haven on her, and this was the turning point of the game, even though my mental battery was so low that I almost considered just giving up and going home. I proceeded to oust Petri with bleeds and an Ancilla Empowerment, with an Anarchist Uprising as backup, as I was sure there would a DT from either him or Teemu. When there wasn't, I thought Teemu had simply saved his to save himself, and as I had no other reasonable actions left, I voted the other one as well, to a semi-accidental double oust.
At that point, Bram and Otso joined forces to get rid of me, which made sense as either of them still had the chance to win as higher seeds. Hartmut, not protected by the Secure Haven, was quickly toast, despite me having stored a bunch of S:CEs. There were less than 30 minutes left on the clock and I had a lot of pool, so it started to look like I had a chance. Bram had a consistent bleed of four on the table, steadily consuming my pool, while I was bleeding Otso for threes (which was trivial to do with both Backways and Monastery on the table, plus Heart of N. producing a steady supply of +1 stealth cards), occasionally banishing something to slow my opponents down, and bouncing whenever I got the chance. I got Otso down to three pool, at which point he gave up on Bram and ousted him. However, there were only a few minutes left, so I (un)lived.
2 votes (titled) of Helsinki
Last edit: 02 Apr 2024 19:04 by UFOPOLI.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Trochomancy
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03 Apr 2024 22:08 #111096
by UFOPOLI
You'll have to ask our NC about that. I've done my part on Monday.
2 votes (titled) of Helsinki
Replied by UFOPOLI on topic [TWD] Shell Break 2024 (2024-04-01)
No Archon yet?
You'll have to ask our NC about that. I've done my part on Monday.
2 votes (titled) of Helsinki
The following user(s) said Thank You: Lönkka
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04 Apr 2024 02:28 #111097
by Contcha
Replied by Contcha on topic [TWD] Shell Break 2024 (2024-04-01)
Congratulations for the winning! Are available the deck lists of the other finalists?
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04 Apr 2024 06:19 #111099
by PetriWessman
I was playing this:
Replied by PetriWessman on topic [TWD] Shell Break 2024 (2024-04-01)
Congratulations for the winning! Are available the deck lists of the other finalists?
I was playing this:
Deck Name: Visions of Bleed
Author: Orava
Crypt (12 cards, min=15 max=28 avg=5.25)
========================================
2x Sreelekha 8 ANI FOR OBF PRE Ravnos:7
1x Doc Martina 6 ANI OBF for pre Ravnos:7
1x Roberto Rivamonte 6 ANI OBF PRE Ravnos:7
2x Gathii 5 ANI PRE obf Ravnos:7
2x Phaibun 5 OBF PRE ani Ravnos:7
2x Jean-François 4 ani obf pre Ravnos:7
1x Zafira 4 PRE obf Ravnos:7
1x Oleg Kaprizov 3 obf pre Ravnos:7
Library (90 cards)
==================
Master (15; 8 trifle)
----------------------
2x Archon Investigation
5x Dabbler
1x Fortune Teller Shop
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Park Hunting Ground
1x Sudden Reversal
3x Villein
1x Week of Nightmares
Action (19)
------------
15x Break the Bonds
2x Entrancement
1x Field Training
1x Mind Numb
Equipment (3)
--------------
1x Anarch Manifesto, An
1x Shilmulo Tarot
1x Treasured Samadji
Retainer (3)
-------------
1x Crypt's Sons
2x Feral Hound
Action Modifier (25)
---------------------
5x Faceless Night
6x Lost in Crowds
5x Memory Rift
3x Spying Mission
6x Visions of Gehenna
Reaction (16)
--------------
2x Delaying Tactics
5x Guard Dogs
4x Party Out Of Bounds
5x Visions of Zapathasura
Combat (8)
-----------
4x Unholy Penance
4x Voracious Vermin
Event (1)
----------
1x Narrow Minds
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