PetriWessman#
Tournament: Ropecon 2024 Finnish Grand Prix Date: Saturday July 20th, 2024 Location: Ropecon 2024 gaming convention, Messukeskus, Helsinki, Finland Players: 54 Format: Constructed, 3R+F Organizer/judge: Petri Wessman Winner: Teemu Sainomaa Event link: www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/11480
Tournament winning deck (Teemu Sainomaa)
Deck Name: Lutz vote Author: Teemu Sainomaa and tweaked with Michael Holmstrom Crypt (12 cards, min=34 max=44 avg=9.83) ======================================== 3x Lutz von Hohenzollern 11 AUS DEM OBF PRE pot inner circle Malkavian:4 1x Adana de Sforza 11 CEL OBF POT PRE PRO aus inner circle Brujah:4 1x Rafael de Corazon 11 AUS CEL DOM OBF PRE inner circle Toreador:4 1x Armin Brenner 10 CEL FOR POT PRE ani obf archbishop Brujah antitribu:4 1x Unmada 10 AUS DEM OBF VIC cel for justicar Malkavian:5 3x Undele 9 CEL FOR obf pre ser magaji Ishtarri:5 1x Dmitra Ilyanova 9 CEL FOR POT PRE obf justicar Brujah:5 1x Stavros 7 AUS OBF PRE dem priscus Malkavian antitribu:4 Library (76 cards) ================== Master (37; 2 trifle) ---------------------- 9x Ashur Tablets 1x Coven, The 1x Creepshow Casino 1x Dreams of the Sphinx 1x Giant's Blood 1x Information Highway 6x Minion Tap 1x Monastery of Shadows 4x Parthenon, The 4x Protected Resources 1x Secure Haven 1x Wider View 6x Zillah's Valley Action (1) ----------- 1x Entrancement Political Action (15) ---------------------- 1x Anarchist Uprising 1x Ancient Influence 1x Ancilla Empowerment 4x Banishment 1x Disputed Territory 3x Kine Resources Contested 1x Neonate Breach 1x Political Stranglehold 1x Reins of Power 1x Rumors of Gehenna Action Modifier (21) --------------------- 2x Approximation of Loyalty 1x Awe 1x Bewitching Oration 4x Forgotten Labyrinth 3x Into Thin Air 2x Lost in Crowds 2x Perfect Paragon 6x Voter Captivation Action Modifier/Combat (2) --------------------------- 2x Force of Personality
Report
We had a nice turnout, with a total of 54 players, of whom 20 were from outside Finland – a record number of foreign players for this tournament! The tournament went very smoothly, and a big part of that is due to the players, who helped keep things in schedule. Also a big thanks to Black Chantry, Ultrapro and the Ropecon convention for sponsoring tournament prizes and other support. Games started at around 11:00, and we wrapped up the finals around 21:30. A long (but fun!) day for everyone involved.
As usual for this tournament, the “meta” was all over the place. We had some top-tier players, and then some players who only play VTES a few times per year, all mixed up in the same tournament. All this results is a huge variety of deck types, and I did not see any one archetype really dominate this year. Quite a few new Anarch decks of course, but maybe less than I was expecting. If I had to guess the most popular deck, it would be the new Tzimisce – but that’s only because I saw more than 2 of them. As typical for Finland, there were a lot of combat decks around, and decks with no combat defense tended to be easy pickings unless they were extremely efficient otherwise.
The finalists were as follows (Lasse and Teemu had identical scores, order was determined by coin flip):
Bram Van Stappen (2 GW, 7 VP) - celerity guns Michael Holmström (2 GW, 6 VP) - Typhonic Beast rush Lasse Pöyry (2 GW, 5.5 VP) - Ghede + Theo combat Teemu Sainomaa (2 GW, 5.5 VP) - Lutz & friends politics Nina Nilsson (1 GW, 7 VP) - animalism anarchs
Final table order was: Teemu → Bram → Lasse → Nina → Michael. The following is a (very) condensed summary based on my quick notes (which may or may not be accurate).
First couple of rounds, nothing much happened, just general setup. Round 3, Michael’s Nana rushes Nina’s Massimiliano and sends him to torpor. After that a quiet round, with just some “bleed for 1” stuff.
Round 5, Michael’s Nangila Were rushes Teemu’s Unmada, a lot of damage but no torpor. Round 5, Bram’s Asguresh bleeds for 1 and gets blocked by Lasse’s Theo Bell, which results in poor Theo hitting torpor after getting shot full of .44 lead. Nina rescues Theo on her turn.
Round 7, Teemu triggers Ashurs, and Asguresh rushes Theo back to torpor. “And stay down!”. Things are looking grim for Lasse at this point, Bram’s gun+cel combat is a bad match for his more close-range combat package. Next round, Teemu’s Lutz calls Ancient Influence, which ousts Lasse. At this point we have 1:22 left on the game clock.
After the oust, there’s a lot of table talk about who does what (and honestly, at this point the table seems to be going to Bram, his combat demolishes anything else on this table). After lots of discussion, Michael’s Nangila rushes Bram, Asguresh blocks, and Nangila ends up in torpor. Michael to Bram: “I can’t win the game if you’re alive.”
Round 9, Teemu continues to bloat with Minion Tap (he played Giant’s Blood earlier). Nina tries to convince Bram to kill Michael, and after a lot of talk Bram decides to go for it (at least for this round). Bram rushes Nangila (to torpor). Nina does lots of bleeds for 1. Michael brings out Enkidu.
Round 10, Teemu Banishes Nina’s Kuyen and rescues Nangila. 1 hour left on game clock. Bram does nothing much, Nina bleeds and gets blocked by Nangila, sending poor Nangila back to torpor. Next round, Teemu brings out Adana de Sforza (after discussion with Bram about it), Bram and Nina do nothing much, and Michael’s Enkidu rushes Nina’s Branimira with not much effect.
Round 12, nothing much happens, Teemu and Bram both try to convince Nina to do different things. Lots of tabletalk, at the end of which there are 38 minutes left on clock. Next round, Teemu decides to make his move, and Banishes Bram’s Asguresh, Omer and Asmin Kobane. After this, Bram only has New Blood left active. On his turn, Bram brings
Asguresh & Asmin back out.
Round 14, Teemu calls Neonate Breach, uses Undele to retrieve two Banishments, and Banishes Asguresh and Asmin again. Michael triggers Ashurs for some much-needed pool, and his Enkidu rushes Teemu’s Undele to torpor.
Round 15, 18 minutes left. Teemu’s Lutz calls Reins of Power, to which Bram chooses no vampire giving Nina 6 pool. Teemu calls KRC. Bram’s New Blood diablerizes Undele (and burns in the blood hunt). Asguresh rushes Adama to torpor. Michael’s Enkidu rushes Unmada, who manages to avoid torpor.
Round 16, Teemu Minion Taps once again, Lutz bleeds ousting Bram (with 8:30 left on clock). Political Stranglehold is called, Delaying from Nina. Teemu rescues Nana. Nina’s Kuyen rushes Unmada to torpor, and then Nina tries to oust Micheal via bleed but Michael has enough wakes to block the attempt (Nana goes to torpor though). Michael plays
Golconda on Nana.
Round 17, Teemu triggers Ashurs once again, and the game times out leaving Teemu the winner. Overall, it was a very tight and interesting final round, with lots of surprises.
-Petri "Orava" Wessman
Added later a note from Lasse: I was a bit unlucky with my crypt draw. First Ghede was sixth card (less than 5 % probability). This deck needs Ghede, Theo is just a support. I didn't know what kind of deck Bram was playing. In crypt reveal there was 2 Banu Haqims and I expected Retributions... With Ghede in the opening crypt the finals would have been totally different game.
Other finalist decks
(do not have deck from Bram yet, will add it here if I get it)
Nina Nilsson
Deck Name: Animals Author: Nina Crypt (12 cards, min=16 max=28 avg=5.67) ======================================== 1x Adrino Manauara 8 ANI DOM PRO pot baron Tzimisce:6 1x Ángel Guerrero 7 ANI DOM PRO baron Tzimisce:6 1x Massimiliano 7 ANI FOR pro baron Gangrel:6 2x Branimira 6 ANI dom pre pro baron Tzimisce:6 2x Kuyén 6 ANI PRO baron Gangrel:6 1x Doc Martina 6 ANI OBF for pre Ravnos:7 1x Gathii 5 ANI PRE obf Ravnos:7 1x Whisper 5 ANI DOM pro Tzimisce:6 2x Trung Chau Pham 3 ANI Ravnos:7 Library (90 cards) ================== Master (18; 5 trifle) ---------------------- 1x Anarch Free Press, The 2x Blood Doll 2x Carfax Abbey 2x Club Illusion 2x Fame 1x Flames of Insurrection 1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum 1x Guardian Angel 1x Powerbase: Montreal 1x Vessel 4x Villein Action (12) ------------ 1x Army of Rats 10x Deep Song 1x Status Perfectus, The Political Action (1) --------------------- 1x Eat the Rich Retainer (3) ------------- 3x Raven Spy Action Modifier (1) -------------------- 1x Conditioning Action Modifier/Reaction (2) ----------------------------- 2x Form of the Bat Reaction (22) -------------- 4x Bait and Switch 2x Cats' Guidance 1x Delaying Tactics 1x Guard Dogs 1x On the Qui Vive 10x Organized Resistance 3x Protection Racket Combat (31) ------------ 13x Aid from Bats 9x Carrion Crows 1x Donnybrook 2x Groundfighting 4x Taste of Vitae 2x Voracious Vermin
Michael Holmström
Deck Name: Typhonic Beast Nangila Author: Michael Holmström Crypt(12 cards; Capacity min=1 max=11 avg=6.666666666666667) ================== 4x Nangila Were 9 obf ser ANI POT PRE Guruhi:4 3x Nana Buruku 8 ANI POT PRE Guruhi:4 2x Enkidu, The Noah 11 for ANI CEL OBF POT PRO Gangrel antitribu:4 1x Gustaphe Brunnelle 8 obf ANI DOM POT Nosferatu:4 1x Andre LeRoux 3 aus Toreador:5 1x Anarch Convert 1 -none- Caitiff:ANY Library: 78 cards Master (34 cards) ================== 9x Ashur Tablets 7x Villein 4x Serpentis 2x Dreams of the Sphinx 2x Protected Resources 1x Archon Investigation 1x Carver's Meat Packing and Storage 1x Fame 1x Giant's Blood 1x Golconda: Inner Peace 1x Information Highway 1x Mbare Market, Harare 1x Powerbase: Luanda 1x Secure Haven 1x Wider View Action (3 cards) ================== 1x Deep Song 1x Entrancement 1x Well-Marked Combat (35 cards) ================== 10x Typhonic Beast 6x Carrion Crows 6x Immortal Grapple 6x Taste of Vitae 3x Drawing Out the Beast 2x Torn Signpost 1x Canine Horde 1x Roundhouse Event (2 cards) ================== 1x Dragonbound 1x Scourge of the Enochians Reaction (4 cards) ================== 1x Cats' Guidance 1x Delaying Tactics 1x On the Qui Vive 1x Sense the Savage Way
Lasse Pöyry
Deck Name: Ghede Ropecon GP 24 Author: LsuP Crypt (13 cards, min=14 max=40 avg=7.31) ======================================== 5x Ghede 10 FOR OBF POT PRE SER Ministry:6 3x Theo Bell 8 CEL POT PRE aus dom Brujah:6 1x Aline Gädeke 7 POT PRE cel baron Brujah:6 1x Leumeah 6 PRE cel for pot baron Brujah:6 1x Elen Kamjian 4 CEL POT Brujah:6 1x Ariane 3 cel pot pre Brujah:5 1x Anarch Convert 1 Caitiff:ANY Library (90 cards) ================== Master (12; 6 trifle) 1x Carver's Meat Packing and Storage 1x Fame 1x Flames of Insurrection 1x Powerbase: Montreal 1x Secure Haven 1x Tension in the Ranks 5x Villein 1x Wider View Action (11) 1x Entrancement 1x Field Training 1x Heart of the City 1x Heroic Might 4x Line Brawl 3x Preternatural Strength Equipment (4) 1x Book of Going Forth by Night, The 1x Flak Jacket 1x Leather Jacket 1x Light Intensifying Goggles Action Modifier (8) 1x Enkil Cog 7x Freak Drive Action Modifier/Combat (2) 2x Shadow Boxing Combat (53) 3x Disarm 1x Diversion 3x Dust Up 8x Immortal Grapple 1x Jones, The 3x Pulled Fangs 3x Street Cred 9x Taste of Vitae 22x Typhonic Beast