UK Nationals Tournament Report 2020 (in 2021)

One year and seven months after my first nationals attendance (and second ever event), the UK was finally in a position to once again schedule face to face events. With the absence of a National Coordinator, the UK was already behind on organising its National Championships, with 2019s event taking place in early February 2020, just before the pandemic hit. I'd played a Ventrue grinder style toolbox deck based around Gotsdam. I managed to make it to the finals but made some basic errors and came up across a lot of decks I wasn't remotely familiar with. It was my first time playing outside my home playgroup so I was pretty happy with how far I'd gotten. I had a blast, bunch of great games, got to know some of the wider UK player base and went home with some prizes. I went home more excited about the game than I'd been before, eager to attend a load more events and get better as a player. But then, COVID hit and lockdown happened. It was looking like I was going to be waiting a long time for another game.

Fortunately, I was one among many methuselahs forced in to solitude. There wasn't a single V:tES Facebook group that didn't host at least a handful of players banging on about the CCG simulator Lackey. I set it up, created a discord and within no time I was playing more games than I ever had before. I had the privilege of meeting a ton of V:tES players from all around the world and got to see all kinds of decks I'd never come across before.

You probably think I'm rambling here, and you're not exactly wrong. The point was that I also got to explore a lot of new ideas myself. Before lockdown I'd only really built Camarilla prince decks because my cardpool was rather limited. Lackey gave me the opportunity to explore cards a lot deeper and, since I was stuck indoors for my free time, I spent my pub money on more cards.

After playing a rather boring deck last year, I decided to take a deck based on how much I enjoy playing it. I decided to take a multi-action toolbox deck I'd made based around the infamous beatstick Matasuntha. After a few games getting a good friend to bleed the crap out of me with his Kindred Spirits deck, I'd refined the deck to a place I was happy it could compete.

Here's the decklist I decided on...

Deck Name: Matasuntha Multiact Author: Paul Jones Crypt (12 cards) ================== 2x Anarch Convert 1x Inyanga 4x Matasuntha 1x New Blood 2x Randall 1x Doyle Fincher 1x Dr. Sutton Gassaway Library: 90 cards Master (16 cards) ================== 1x Giant's Blood 1x Perfectionist 1x Powerbase: Montreal 1x Rack, The 3x Villein 2x Wider View 1x Zoo Hunting Ground 2x Blood Doll 1x Celerity 1x Direct Intervention 2x Dreams of the Sphinx Action (10 cards) ================== 1x Aranthebes, The Immortal 2x Army of Rats 1x Shadow of the Beast 6x Deep Song Action Modifier (14 cards) ================== 2x Enkil Cog 5x Forced March 2x Freak Drive 5x Instantaneous Transformation

Combat (19 cards) ================== 2x Hidden Strength 2x Pursuit 6x Bear's Skin 3x Taste of Vitae 2x Telepathic Tracking 2x Unflinching Persistence 2x Carrion Crows Ally (4 cards) ================== 1x Double Deuce 1x Mylan Horseed 2x Underbridge Stray Retainer (5 cards) ================== 2x Homunculus 1x Mr. Winthrop 2x Raven Spy Equipment (1 cards) ================== 1x Bowl of Convergence Reaction (20 cards) ================== 2x Enhanced Senses 4x Eyes of Argus 3x On the Qui Vive 1x Read the Winds 2x Sense the Savage Way 3x Telepathic Misdirection 3x Cats' Guidance 2x Eagle's Sight Event (1 cards) ================== 1x NSA Trio

And here's how it all went...

Round 1

Guil Grand Ball (Katie ) > Xendil Vipers (Tom) > Marconius Bleed & Block (Simmy) > Tremere MotS Toolbox (Gary) > Matasuntha Toolbox (Me)

With the Toreador being boxed in between the Gangrel and the !Gangrel, they struggled to keep up with the Psyches churned out by Xendil and his Hatched Vipers. It was only a couple of turns before Madame Guil found herself without blood. Unable to leech back any of the beads she had invested, the Toreador found herself ousted fairly early in the game. The fall of the Toreador led the rest of the table to turn on the Gangrel, but with Xendil hatching his third viper, even a powerhouse like Matasuntha had to pick his battles carefully. The Kiasyd were doing a good job of shutting Xendil down with Faerie Wards ensuring that no bleeds got through. Meanwhile, the Tremere had been biding their time. With the use of Govern the Unaligned and Magic of the Smith, the Tremere Methuselah had amassed himself a small, well equipped army.

The Gangrel were falling behind and with a Pentex Subversion being placed on Matasuntha, the many minions of the Tremere prevented the Gangrel from removing it. The Kiasyd were being deflected while sneaking in their bleeds, leaving the Tremere in a strong position. Eventually Xendil slammed down a rush that Marconius couldn't cancel and Marconius found himself in a deep slumber. At this point the Kiasyd realized their only chance for survival laid with Matasuntha and used their stealth to remove the Pentex Subversion.

Matasuntha had a couple of deadly combats with Xendil, barely coming out on top with both players losing a lot of beads. A brutally timed Direct Intervention stopped Xendil regaining his lost blood with Taste of Vitae, whilst Matasuntha was able to play hers. Xendil once again tried to rush forward in a desperate attempt to regain some blood, but Faerie Wards stopped him in dead in his track, making him unable to unlock. Xendil eventually got the opportunity to act, but with the !Gangrel methuselah being reduced to only a few pool at this point, Xendil rushed backwards one more time to strike down his rival, but Inyanga dived in the way and took the hit. The !Gangrel were ousted that round and the Kiasyd managed to escape on a time out with few pool remaining.

Matasuntha Toolbox 2.5

Marconius Bleed 0.5

Tremere MotS 0.5

Xendil Vipers 0

Guil Grand Ball 0

Round 2

Inner Circle Votes (Marc) > Malkavian Weenie Auspex Wall (James) > Lord Tremere Bruise Bleed (Ed) > Matasuntha (Me) > Shemti Ecstacy (Luke)

Once again the prey of the Tremere, Matasuntha found zero use for damage prevention, and with a prey packing so much bleed reduction against already minute bleeds, this proved to be a challenging table seating. Crosstable, the Malkavians were defending themselves again the heavy pressure of the Inner Circle fatties hitting them hard, while pecking at the Tremere who were slowly being ground down by the Gangrel they'd been bleeding in to. With the Inner Circles being the only methuselah that wasn't heavily defensive, the game took a slow and grindy pace, with the Tremere eventually yielding its VP to the weenie Malks.

The Malks were the next to fall. With the table having just one vote to oppose the Inner Circle between them, every action they took was deadly, and even the Weenie Auspex couldn't block everything. The Gangrel were making good headway against the Setites, with their bead count getting low, but with a new and dangerous predator looming, Matasuntha had to hope the Inner Circle had used up their evasion ousting the Malks. Unfortunately, due to the game being so grindy, we never got to find out.

Inner Circle Votes 1.5

Weenie Auspex 1

Matasuntha 0.5

Shemti Ecstacy 0.5

Lord Tremere 0

Round 3

Matasuntha (Me) > Goratrix Wall (Mike) > Ventrue Grinder (Tibor) > Stanislava (Mikey) > Marconius Bleed (Simmy)

Matasuntha once again next to a Thaumaturgy deck, but with Goratrix using cards like Carrion Crows, the damage prevention was very useful this game. A lot of interesting combats between the two ancients, with even Goratrix finally low on blood, Matasuntha was finally grinding down the iconic !Tremere. Marconius was struggling to get through with Raven Spies and Bowls of convergence making bleeding in to a challenging activity. This was a tough game for Marconius with Faerie Wards being a dead card as the prey of the powerful Stanislava. With so much pressure from the right, Marconius was forced to Govern down. The Ventrue had a slower start with Goratrix slowing them down early game, but after a few too many fights with the Gangrel, the !Tremere had to focus backwards more. The Ventrue then began to build up and pressure Stanislava, with Deflections allowing the Kiasyd to use some of their reactions.

Whilst this game was very fun and interactive, the sheer amount of combat paired with the speed of a bunch of players who hadn't played in over a year meant we were cut off before any VPs could be claimed.

Matasuntha 0.5

Goratrix 0.5

Stanislava 0.5

Ventrue Grinder 0.5

Marconius 0.5

Final Round

Kiasyd Bleed (Marcin) > Malkavian Weenie Auspex (James) > Weenie Dominate (Norbert) > Matasuntha (Me) > Tzimisce Toolbox (Hugh)

With so many time outs I was concerned I wouldn't make it to the final table, but it seems that having so many players returning after lockdowns meant a bunch of the games had timed out and I was through in fifth position. Marcin was next, in fourth. James was third, giving him the first choice of seating. As a wall deck, James decided he'd rather be the prey of the bleed deck than of me. Next up, Hugh in second decided to bleed in to Marcin. Norbert was top seed and decided to be my predator, he was unaware of the deck I was playing, but wanted to be the prey of the wall deck which would allow him to take 3 VPs before having to bleed in to the Auspex Weenies.

The game begins, Marcin draws the short straw meaning the Kiasyd take the first turn. This is less than ideal for me as Norbert was able to influence out 3 minions on his first turn. Luckily, I had 4 transfers and New Blood in my crypt. New Blood wakes, saving me from 2 bleeds on the second turn, but forcing her to hunt. Turn 3, Matasuntha hits the table and the real defensive strategy begins.

The Kiasyd crash forward, with the Weenie Auspex catching them regularly. The Malks seemed pretty happy with their prey pushing so hard in to the Gangrel as the Dominate Weenies were losing a ton of beads. The Malks snook in the bleeds where they can but had their own trouble with the Kiasyd packing a surprising amount of combat action, bullying the Malks in to torpor. However, the Kiasyd had problems of their own. The Tzimisce were left with zero pressure early doors, allowing them to amass a small army. The small but regular bleeds were adding up and the Kiasyd were in trouble.

Matasuntha was hanging in there, her ability to gain pool by torporing weenies proving as invaluable. The Gangrel tried as best they could to pressure forward, and fortunately resolved a Homonculus, which allowed Matasuntha to shrug off the effects of Flash Grenade. Homunculus came with a cost though, along with the Walking Sticks the Dominate Weenies packed, there were too many combats to play prevention for and burning blood each turn meant that Matasuntha was running out of blood, fast. It turns out Taste of Vitae isn't so hot against one capacity vampires.

Despite the large amount of pressure the Gangrel were under, an Enkil Cog paired with Deep Song meant that Matasuntha was bleeding for a decent amount each turn, and the pool gain from her special text afforded the Gangrel more minions. The Tzimisce were looking low on pool, but managed to get the oust, with 6 more pool putting them back ahead. At this point the Weenie Malks were pretty worn down from fighting off the Kiasyd, the Tzimisce swept in and finished them off, sneaking in a bleed when the Malks found themselves with plenty of wakes but no intercept in hand.

The Dominate Weenies were looking more than a bit worse for wear at this point, the Gangrel bled as heavily as they could in to the Tzimisce but couldn't outpace the 6 a turn pool gained from the ousts. The Dominate Weenies were ousted, making it a one on one. At this point it seemed either player could be last man standing, but the Gangrel had spent most of their prevention cards staying alive earlier, which meant the aggravated damage from the Tzimisce was particularly deadly. The pool of the Tzimisce was looking particularly low, but with a well timed Rotshreck on Matasuntha, followed by a diablerie, the game was sealed. A full table sweep for Hugh Angseesing and his Tzimisce.

Tzimisce Toolbox 5

Matasuntha 0

Weenie Dominate 0

Weenie Auspex 0

Kiasyd Bleed 0

And here's the winning deck...

Deck Name: Prey Punisher 2021 Author: Hugh Angseesing Crypt (12 cards) ================== 1x Elizabeth Westcott 1x Ana Rita Montaia 1x Horatio 1x Little Tailor of Prague 1x Lolita Houston 1x Meshenka 1x Olga Triminov 1x Rose, The 1x Caliban 1x Christine Boscacci 1x Corine Marcon 1x Devin Bisley Library: 89 cards Master (16 cards) ================== 1x Anarch Troublemaker 1x Hungry Coyote, The 1x KRCG News Radio 1x Library Hunting Ground 1x Pentex(TM) Subversion 1x Ròtschreck 1x Wall Street Night, Financial Newspaper 2x Wash 6x Blood Doll 1x Channel 10 Action (12 cards) ================== 10x Fiendish Tongue 1x Aranthebes, The Immortal 1x Abbot

Action Modifier (10 cards) ================== 10x Changeling Action Modifier/Combat (9 cards) ================== 9x Plasmic Form Combat (17 cards) ================== 3x Inner Essence 5x Breath of the Dragon 9x Chiropteran Marauder Ally (1 cards) ================== 1x Carlton Van Wyk Equipment (3 cards) ================== 2x Living Manse 1x Bowl of Convergence Reaction (20 cards) ================== 2x My Enemy's Enemy 4x On the Qui Vive 7x Telepathic Misdirection 3x Wake with Evening's Freshness 4x Delaying Tactics Event (1 cards) ================== 1x Uncoiling, The