Another good weekend.
Given my theory that the weekend starts on Friday, 17:30, I'll describe it from there. I was feeling a bit weak, probably due to lack of sleep and my first motorcycle lessons the day before, so VERY unlike me I decided to skip a day of training, since a heavy weekend was coming on. I was just lounging at home, waiting for the moment to pick up Wouter at the station, when I was phoned by Marieke (ninjutsu) whether I was coming to a party at the Burgerweeshuis. I thought: 'hey, might as well spend some time there, as long as I don't drink anything'. While biking over, Wouter called that he'd be 30 minutes earlier, and at the Burgerweeshuis the party turned out to be 10 euro's. Didn't feel like paying that for 45 minutes, so went out to the office to print out a route description and check some last minute details. Then went to pick up Wouter, and we decided hanging out at my place with my bottle of Maredsous would probably be a better idea than pubbing, since we could then also finalize his deck, check out the route, etc.
Bed was hit at 01:00. By this time I had a medium-sized cold.
Wakey-wakey at 07:00, quick shower and cramming the travelfood and other stuff into the bags, and then off to pick up Emile - who was only delayed 20 minutes by the NS. He in a somewhat worse condition than we were, due to a wedding the day before. Off to Germany, and for once the route description from the Internet was OK and we were there in the promised 1.5 hours.
Hung out with friends from the international VTES scene, which was good, and then drafted. I drafted !Malkavian, with 2 Sybil's Tongue and malki with muddled vampire hunter as highlights of my deck. 3 very fun games with interesting use of the Sybil's and the Muddles later, and I had scored 1 GW and 3 VP - with which I was delighted, since it was my first (booster)draft GW at a tournament, and, more importantly, all the games were a LOT of fun.
Also fun was that Emile actually performed well with his Toreador/Brujah hybrid, and got into the finals that day! OK, it meant having to stay at least 2 more hours, and no partying that night (which was OK by me, since the cold was getting bigger, although partying would've been fun), but hell, it was cool. So, the final had Kamel starting off, Dave, A guy who'se name I forgot (sorry! Thomas?), Emile, and Christophe(r) C. Kamel proved to be the threat with heavy pressure on Dave and some very good vampires and a deer rifle. Dave was crumbling, and, on the brink and pressure by Kamel to do something or die next turn, went into his prey heavily, only to be ousted by Kamel anyway. Kamel then ate up his next prey and, after lobbying by Emile for his 1 VP, went with a deal with Emile for a 4/1 split. Emile and Kamel proceeded to oust Christophe(r), with Kamel aiding that cause by contesting Christophe(r)'s Gratiano, but bleeding into Emile anyway to keep him honest. Emile ousted Christophe(r), and then looked over at Kamel's 4 tapped minions and 4 pool. And then proceeded to break his deal and oust Kamel with a surprise Anarchist uprising w. bewitching oration (his only real chance, since Kamel would've probably owned him if it hadn't passed).
Applause from the crowd - a beautiful backstab. So Emile 3 VP, Kamel 2, Emile German Draft Champion 2004.
We went back to Bjorn's place, where we had some great chili and hung around for Bjorn to build his deck for the next day. Around 01:00 he was done (weenie presence vote with some bleed and lots of change of target), and we played one more game, where I played my malkavian obscenity deck (prank/vote/tabledance) and took the GW, with Emile taking 2 VP when I quit the game (he would've taken them anyway). We also had a chance to chat a bit with Martin from Vienna (top seed in the finals on sunday). Around 03:00 we were falling asleep and my cold had gone massive. 5 hours later we were up again (chili breakfast, yay!) and my voice matched my (The) Baron deck - it was like death woke up to play VTES. I wasn't feeling as bad as I had feared the night before, though, so that was ok. Unfortunately, before game 1 my voice had restored itself - it would've been fun to play a game like that.
With some hindrance from the Bochum city planners and a bikerace event we still managed to arrive at the tournament on time. I had already decided to play a remake of my Shambling Samedi deck, hoping to qualify with it, but not expecting too much more from it (possible, but not likely, was my thought).
Game 1 I had a dream start with turn 1 dreams of the sphinx, turn 2 jake washington/the baron active, turn 3 my first shambling horde, freak drive, bleed for 2. On that table were 3 lasombra decks (with my first prey a kiasyd hybrid) and my grandpredator a setite tempt deck with dominate. I ate through my first 2 preys and then made a 3/2 split deal (my favor) with the setite, which we kept. First game, 1GW 3VP, and my day was already great - I already had had enough performance from my deck.
Game 2 was tougher. No Baron in my opening crypt. My prey a lasombra embrace/vote machine with marcus vitel, my predator and grandpredator Ignacio/Bloodbrother combat decks, and my grandprey daughter/ventrue vote. The combat decks trumped my combat (shamblings) and were both my predator as the daughter/ventrue kept throwing Kindred Restructures. I only got 1 shambling out with the promise to my prey I would not use it against his vampires but to protect me from my predator. My prey proceeded to develop into the table threat, I did manage to plink him down to 5 pool though (cons boons were DI'd/DT'd). On my predator's turn, I asked my predator to bleed me for 1 - which I bounced into my prey (who only had 1 lasombra prince and a creation rite untapped). He took the bleed - now at 4 pool. I then bleed for 4 with my Jorge de la Muerte (dom skillcard/Gtu). My prey deflected. My predator used the Ericyes Fragment to get a DI from my ashheap and DI'd the deflection with it. The bleed for 4 happened and I got my VP. Bizarre. From that point, however, the ventrue/daughter got the vote lock, and started manipulating the table, allying with the other combat deck. Me and my ally went down, and they withdrew, for a 2-2-1 split. Still, a VP for me, albeit a bizarre one.
Game 3 had a hellish start with a heavy-deflect deck as prey, a dominate seduction/bonding deck as predator. Before I had out my first defense I had alreay been bled for around 11. The Baron was just too big so I had to settle for Jorge (with dom card) and Isabel, and slowly trickle out the shamblings. I was getting no love from my prey (correct call by her, but I could try to wheedle something, of course), but my grandprey did pass a politcal stranglehold which bought me some breathing room. Around 5 pool my defense stabilized. My crosstable grandprey (!Malk/Malk SB) offered me a 3/2 split in his favor, and I agreed (with a thought to backstabbing, of course, but intending to keep my deal, since I really was in a bad place). We ousted my prey, giving me a safe buffer to defend with (which I did), and started pounding my predator and my new grandprey. I was also still slowly bleeding into my prey (for 2 a pop), which he could deflect if he wanted to cycle into defense, and rushing the table with hordes. Just before my ally ousted my predator in the three-way, I bled into him for about 5, to keep him honest once he ousted my predator. In the 1-on-1 we kept our deal and did the 3/2 split. He was outside my reach, and my shambling had been depleted by that point. Maybe I could've taken the game win if I'd shifted tactics about mid-deal, but I don't think so, and I think I would've gotten the whole table on my head, then, so it was safer to play for a possible backstab in the end, which turned out to be unattainable after all.
So, at the end of the day, 1 GW, 6 VP, which was happily enough to qualify (11th spot, top 18 qualified).
Many Dutch guys qualified - good to see. Emiliano went into the final (finished 5th in the end, I heard this morning). We went home without having to see the final (a very good thing, because we were all tired/hungry) and I got to drive 210, which was a fun thing in and of itself.
A great weekend with great hospitality and friendly people. Thanks again to Bjorn.
Bed was hit at 01:00. By this time I had a medium-sized cold.
Wakey-wakey at 07:00, quick shower and cramming the travelfood and other stuff into the bags, and then off to pick up Emile - who was only delayed 20 minutes by the NS. He in a somewhat worse condition than we were, due to a wedding the day before. Off to Germany, and for once the route description from the Internet was OK and we were there in the promised 1.5 hours.
Hung out with friends from the international VTES scene, which was good, and then drafted. I drafted !Malkavian, with 2 Sybil's Tongue and malki with muddled vampire hunter as highlights of my deck. 3 very fun games with interesting use of the Sybil's and the Muddles later, and I had scored 1 GW and 3 VP - with which I was delighted, since it was my first (booster)draft GW at a tournament, and, more importantly, all the games were a LOT of fun.
Also fun was that Emile actually performed well with his Toreador/Brujah hybrid, and got into the finals that day! OK, it meant having to stay at least 2 more hours, and no partying that night (which was OK by me, since the cold was getting bigger, although partying would've been fun), but hell, it was cool. So, the final had Kamel starting off, Dave, A guy who'se name I forgot (sorry! Thomas?), Emile, and Christophe(r) C. Kamel proved to be the threat with heavy pressure on Dave and some very good vampires and a deer rifle. Dave was crumbling, and, on the brink and pressure by Kamel to do something or die next turn, went into his prey heavily, only to be ousted by Kamel anyway. Kamel then ate up his next prey and, after lobbying by Emile for his 1 VP, went with a deal with Emile for a 4/1 split. Emile and Kamel proceeded to oust Christophe(r), with Kamel aiding that cause by contesting Christophe(r)'s Gratiano, but bleeding into Emile anyway to keep him honest. Emile ousted Christophe(r), and then looked over at Kamel's 4 tapped minions and 4 pool. And then proceeded to break his deal and oust Kamel with a surprise Anarchist uprising w. bewitching oration (his only real chance, since Kamel would've probably owned him if it hadn't passed).
Applause from the crowd - a beautiful backstab. So Emile 3 VP, Kamel 2, Emile German Draft Champion 2004.
We went back to Bjorn's place, where we had some great chili and hung around for Bjorn to build his deck for the next day. Around 01:00 he was done (weenie presence vote with some bleed and lots of change of target), and we played one more game, where I played my malkavian obscenity deck (prank/vote/tabledance) and took the GW, with Emile taking 2 VP when I quit the game (he would've taken them anyway). We also had a chance to chat a bit with Martin from Vienna (top seed in the finals on sunday). Around 03:00 we were falling asleep and my cold had gone massive. 5 hours later we were up again (chili breakfast, yay!) and my voice matched my (The) Baron deck - it was like death woke up to play VTES. I wasn't feeling as bad as I had feared the night before, though, so that was ok. Unfortunately, before game 1 my voice had restored itself - it would've been fun to play a game like that.
With some hindrance from the Bochum city planners and a bikerace event we still managed to arrive at the tournament on time. I had already decided to play a remake of my Shambling Samedi deck, hoping to qualify with it, but not expecting too much more from it (possible, but not likely, was my thought).
Game 1 I had a dream start with turn 1 dreams of the sphinx, turn 2 jake washington/the baron active, turn 3 my first shambling horde, freak drive, bleed for 2. On that table were 3 lasombra decks (with my first prey a kiasyd hybrid) and my grandpredator a setite tempt deck with dominate. I ate through my first 2 preys and then made a 3/2 split deal (my favor) with the setite, which we kept. First game, 1GW 3VP, and my day was already great - I already had had enough performance from my deck.
Game 2 was tougher. No Baron in my opening crypt. My prey a lasombra embrace/vote machine with marcus vitel, my predator and grandpredator Ignacio/Bloodbrother combat decks, and my grandprey daughter/ventrue vote. The combat decks trumped my combat (shamblings) and were both my predator as the daughter/ventrue kept throwing Kindred Restructures. I only got 1 shambling out with the promise to my prey I would not use it against his vampires but to protect me from my predator. My prey proceeded to develop into the table threat, I did manage to plink him down to 5 pool though (cons boons were DI'd/DT'd). On my predator's turn, I asked my predator to bleed me for 1 - which I bounced into my prey (who only had 1 lasombra prince and a creation rite untapped). He took the bleed - now at 4 pool. I then bleed for 4 with my Jorge de la Muerte (dom skillcard/Gtu). My prey deflected. My predator used the Ericyes Fragment to get a DI from my ashheap and DI'd the deflection with it. The bleed for 4 happened and I got my VP. Bizarre. From that point, however, the ventrue/daughter got the vote lock, and started manipulating the table, allying with the other combat deck. Me and my ally went down, and they withdrew, for a 2-2-1 split. Still, a VP for me, albeit a bizarre one.
Game 3 had a hellish start with a heavy-deflect deck as prey, a dominate seduction/bonding deck as predator. Before I had out my first defense I had alreay been bled for around 11. The Baron was just too big so I had to settle for Jorge (with dom card) and Isabel, and slowly trickle out the shamblings. I was getting no love from my prey (correct call by her, but I could try to wheedle something, of course), but my grandprey did pass a politcal stranglehold which bought me some breathing room. Around 5 pool my defense stabilized. My crosstable grandprey (!Malk/Malk SB) offered me a 3/2 split in his favor, and I agreed (with a thought to backstabbing, of course, but intending to keep my deal, since I really was in a bad place). We ousted my prey, giving me a safe buffer to defend with (which I did), and started pounding my predator and my new grandprey. I was also still slowly bleeding into my prey (for 2 a pop), which he could deflect if he wanted to cycle into defense, and rushing the table with hordes. Just before my ally ousted my predator in the three-way, I bled into him for about 5, to keep him honest once he ousted my predator. In the 1-on-1 we kept our deal and did the 3/2 split. He was outside my reach, and my shambling had been depleted by that point. Maybe I could've taken the game win if I'd shifted tactics about mid-deal, but I don't think so, and I think I would've gotten the whole table on my head, then, so it was safer to play for a possible backstab in the end, which turned out to be unattainable after all.
So, at the end of the day, 1 GW, 6 VP, which was happily enough to qualify (11th spot, top 18 qualified).
Many Dutch guys qualified - good to see. Emiliano went into the final (finished 5th in the end, I heard this morning). We went home without having to see the final (a very good thing, because we were all tired/hungry) and I got to drive 210, which was a fun thing in and of itself.
A great weekend with great hospitality and friendly people. Thanks again to Bjorn.