As I had been failing to qualify (and miserably) for the Day 2 tournament of the EC, I played the Shadow Twin tournament, which was run in parallel to the Day 2 tournament. Upon a fellow German player, Martin, choosing a deck for me, I was playing a Ravnos Clown Car deck ..
Table 1
- Luca (ITA) — Laosmbra/Kiasyd Stealth Bleed
- Ralf (GER) — Ravnos Breed & Boon — 4 VP
- Daniel (SWE) — Ventrue antitribu anti-Grinder
- Diogo (POR) — Stanislava & Friends Vote/Bleed — 1 VP
- Kamel (FRA) — Toreador antitribu Vote/Bleed?
This one was almost too easy in hindsight. No significant intercept at my left and right (Daniel was playing bleed & bounce, not intercept). Diogo initially looked very strong, ousting Kamel (who didn’t really have a game) rather quickly. At that time Daniel put considerable pressure on Diogo by bleeding, while Luca tried to apply the same pressure to my pool, but the Con. Boons could stabilize my pool easily. Even though Luca wisely played a Sudden against Week of Nightmares shortly before the end, I could go full forward against Daniel and with the help of a few Kine Resources Contested I could oust all the remaining players in one (or two?) turns with about 15-20 Ravnos.
Table 2
- Darby (USA) –Valerius Bleed/Control — 1.5 VP
- Jonas (SWE) — Lasombra Big Cap Bleed (Purge?)
- Bram (BEL) — Obf/Pre Big Cap Vote w/ Ashurs — 0.5 VP
- Kevin (USA) — Miller & Friends Toolbox — 1.5 VP
- Ralf (GER) — Ravnos Breed & Boon
he most horrible table. In Darby’s first discard phase (as second player) he immediately dropped Scourge of Enochians .. game over, man, game over! Not quite, but with Kevin’s intercept on the right and more importantly Darby playing Scobax it was taking too much time to build an army (and hopefully finding The Uncoiling in my library). I could play Con. Boon a couple of time. My favourite moment was driving a wedge between the initial alliance between Darby and Bram (both playing Ashurs and lot of similar master cards), when I had some votes on the table and Bram decided to put pool damage on Darby in exchange for my votes.
Table 3
- Joszef (SVK) — True Brujah Summon History Wall — 1.5 VP
- Gerold (AUT) — Toreador Aus/Cel Gun Wall
- Ralf (GER) — Ravnos Breed & Boon — 1.5 VP
- Rudolf (GER) — Weenie/Mid-Cap Ani Rush
- Matt (UK) — Blood Brothers Bruise & Vote? — 0.5 VP
Initially both Rudolf’s & Gerold’s deck looked very strong, putting considerable pressure on their respective prey. But Matt and I could recover, on my side mostly because Joszef was putting too much pressure on Gerold too soon, which essential put Gerold in an-all-defensive position. In that environment (and now only having to take one intercept location (Rudolf’s late Anarch Free Press), I could play very effectively and getting about 40+ pool and about 15-18 minions in a few turns. Eventually Joszef ousted Gerold, and Matt surprisingly started voting, putting a bit of pressure on Joszef (and damaging Rudolf in the process as well). Then I was able to put a Week of Nightmares in play, and ousted Rudolf in the same turn (iirc), even though I lost a considerable amount of vampires in the process. In my next turn, I was ready to oust Matt, but Joszef blocked the Ravnos which needed to hunt, at which point in time the game ended. About 30 seconds extra needed for my second game win of the day (and the tournament). Oh, well .. that’s life, I guess.
Here are the results from the VTES Storyline tournament “Ascension of Caine” that was played during the VTES European Championship 2017 on May 12th, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. 40 players participated in this tournament, the standings after 2 rounds and the final were as follows:
VTES European Championship 2017 