Janne Lonnqvist reports on a Vernal Equinox tournament held this spring in Helsinki, Finland.

Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 10:56:47 +0300
From: Janne Lönnqvist (lonkka@fantasiapelit.fi)
To: rageinfo@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Rage] Helsinki 1st Day of Spring Tournament Results

      
    Hiya all!

    Last Tuesday we had a First Day of Spring (RALV)tournament here in Helsinki
    as it was, the 1st Day of Spring. Sorry to report only now, but I´ve been
    somewhat busy... We had larger attendance than the last time (seven
    compared to six), but unfortunately managed to play only two rounds plus
    finals. Perhaps in the summer we´ll be able to pressgang an eigth player,
    but will have time to play only one round...;)

    Sorry, this mail is rather long one!

    First Day of Spring tournament, Helsinki

                            Wyrm kills
                    ("real" Wyrm kills ie non-Thomas)       
                            /points of round

                                                    (total points)
    ROUND ONE:      
    Jere (Ragabash)           8/12
    Juhani (Red Talons)       0/20
    Samuli (Silent Striders)  9(4)/12
    Suvi (Get of Fenris)      0
    WYRM                      10

    Juhani won by fullfilling the Red Talon Victory Condition. While he had 18
    points of Renown in his Victory Pile we decided that if a player fulfills
    his Tribe card´s Victory Condition (s)he gets at least the minimum amount
    of Victory Points to win the game nevertheless.

    Janne (Wendigo)           0/2
    Nina (Theurge)            15/25
    Orava (Uktena)            0/3

    ROUND TWO:
    Janne (Wendigo)           4/13            (4/15)
    Jere (Ragabash)           0/12            (8/24)
    Nina (Theurge)            6/24            (21/49)
    Suvi (Get of Fenris)      0               (0)
    WYRM                      5

    Juhani (Red Talons)       4/13            (4/33)
    Orava (Uktena)            5/13            (5/16)
    Samuli (Silent Striders)  21(9)/23        (30(13)/35)

    FINALS
    Jere (Ragabash)           0/4             (8/28)
    Juhani (Red Talons)       4/13            (8/46)
    Nina (Theurge)            4/4             (25/53)
    Samuli (Silent Striders)  9(5)/20 (39(18)/55)
    WYRM                      0               (total of 15 in all five games)
    VICTIMS                   1

                                            Percentage        Number
                                            of Wyrm kills     of wins
    SCORE:
    Samuli (Silent Striders)  (39(18)/55)     71%(33%)        2
    Nina (Theurge)            (25/53)         47%             2
    Juhani (Red Talons)       (8/46)          17%             1
    Jere (Ragabash)           (8/28)          29%             0
    Orava (Uktena)            (5/16)          31%             0
    Janne (Wendigo)           (4/15)          27%             0
    Suvi (Get of Fenris)      (0)             -               0

    GLORY AWARD:    Samuli  For most kills
    HONOR AWARD:    Nina    For highest percentage of (actual) Wyrm kills
    WISDOM AWARD:   -       Voted among players.

    Even though Samuli got the most points for Wyrm kills we pondered this for
    a little wgile and came to the conclusion that when deranged Thomas and his
    packmates started showing their slain enemies a heated discussion would´ve
    begun. Plus the noble Silver Fang (plus the Stirders of course...) decided
    to allow others, somewhat lower garou, to get some awards too.

    As four packs abstained from voting on the Wisdom Award (although the
    Ragabash tried to vote against Striders and not for some other pack...) and
    three people got one vote (and one got it from himself as "our tribe" is
    right on these matters) we decided that this time it was better to skip
    this award.

    Like in the last tournament, poor Suvi didn´t score any points this time
    around. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Samuli had made
    the deck for her just some days earlier and she was actually playing with
    it for the first time.

    Orava had a theme deck from a current topic (BSE disease) called the Mad
    Cow -deck stacked with Bison Spirits and other appropriate cards. Moo!
    However the most wicked combination in the game (except perhaps Samuli´s
    Fool´s Luck/Go for the Throat) was Nina´s Annie Quickhand (gains all
    benefits) who liked to Bear Hug her opponents to death. Crunch! And to
    think that Care Bears were called Huggey Bears here in Finland when the
    show was aired...

    Below is Samuli´s winning deck, some thoughts how he is going to modify it
    and some ideas how to play it.


    Silent Strider: Wyrm's gonna get its ass kicked

    Garou (19 renown):
    ------------------
    Natasha Moonchaser      (7 renown Strider)
    Zin-Shaar               (5 renown Strider)
    Dugal Steady-Hand       (1 renown Strider)
    Thomas Reichal  (6 renown Fang)
       w/ Silent Strider Tattoo (tattooed by Dugal)

    Sept Deck (52 cards):
    ---------------------
    2x Massive Mold Spirit (5 allies)
    3x Spirit of the Vulture

    2x Corrupted Blight Child (7 enemies)
    1x Steals-the-Wind
    3x Wakshaani
    1x Wyrm Vitalizer

    3x D'siah (6 equipments)
    3x Naturae Boon

    1x Dark Tidings (19 events)
    3x Hail the Sun
    2x Honor for the Tribe
    3x Hunt Blessing
    3x Rob the Power of Wyrm
    3x Song of Intuition
    2x Standing Together
    2x Tribal Peace

    1x Burrow (9 gifts)
    3x Fool's Luck
    2x Thieving Talons of Magpie
    3x Touch of Death

    3x Regroup (5 moots)
    2x Strip of Standing

    1x Heal the Spirit (1 rite)

    Combat Deck (20 cards):
    -----------------------
    2x Reading the Soul (2 combat events)

    2x Gut That Wyrm! (9 full moons)
    1x Deceptive Strike
    1x Eye Gouge
    1x Haymaker
    1x Go for the Throat!
    1x Molotov Cocktail
    1x Big Honking Club
    1x Swipe

    2x Channel Spirit (9 new moons)
    1x Adapt
    1x Block and Strike
    1x Painful Block
    1x Steel Arm to the Chest
    1x Fetal Position
    1x Big Ol' 2x4
    1x Defensive Posture

    Tuning the deck (thoughts after the tournament):
    ---------------------------------------------
    Remove Wyrm Vitalizer
    Remove Naturae Boons
    Remove Dark Tidings
    Remove Hail the Suns
    Remove Burrow
    Add Moots
    Optimize Combat Deck:
      - Get Sidesteps
      - Add Cards that require discarding other cards

    About the deck:
    ---------------
    -Thomas is your main wyrm killer. Arm him with everything.
    -Natasha is your secondary alpha. She has a nice Combat Event.
    -Use Zin-Shaar to make nice targets for Strip of Standing and collect
    renown with Honor for the Tribe and Standing Together.

    > 3x Spirit of the Vulture
    > 3x D'siah
    > 3x Hail the Sun
    > 2x Gut That Wyrm!

    Every opponent of Thomas is Wyrm.

    > 3x Fool's Luck
    > 1x Go for the Throat!

    Drop your combat hand to one card (Go for the Throat!), and make your
    opponent randomly discard down to one card. Note: my Combat Deck should be
    more optimized for this, it worked only once every four times.

    > 3x Song of Intuition
    > 2x Reading the Soul (2 combat events)

    Know what your opponents combat hand looks like. Use Go for the Throat!
    with that knowledge.

    General tips:
    -------------
    Try to kill Wyrm (opponents of Thomas are still wyrm) for about 3-5 renown
    every turn as your Garous are not the mightiest of warriors. Please others
    with moots to collect renown. Make Tribal Peace with packs like Red Talon/
    Uktena/ Philodox. Your Victory Pile should have a lot of cards for 1-5
    points, and you can win. Don't be a target, or you'll lose :)


    Take care,
    Janne Lonnqvist