[Report][long] 2003 French Open and French Championship
Stone
Championship (11/16/03) were held in Paris, in the lunch hall of the SNCF,
the railroad national company.
For the record, the French Championship works like the European
Championship, e.g. with qualifiers in different cities (Caen, Carcassonne,
Nice, Nantes, Grenoble, Marseille, Paris). The French Open was also the last
chance to qualify.
90 Methuselah attended the event. So far, European Championships have been
the largest VtES tournaments ever held, and this 2003 French Open comes
next. We enjoyed the presence of German and Belgian players as well.
The event was organized by most of the Paris VEKN staff and co-workers :
Stephane Lavrut (Prince of Paris), Yann Hervy (Gangrel primogen, who
completed the daunting task of getting the venue, same as last year),
Thierry Baillon (Ventrue Primogen, thanks to whom we had an Archon able to
handle 90 players), Patrice Lascombe (Gangrel Archon), Christophe Baltazar
(Malkavian Archon, table sheets, info display and the like), and Franck
Bernard (Brujah Archon, fearless bouncer, barman and scribe of finals using
a modified version of Damnan's transcription system). 4 Judges were given
the responsibilities for four tables each : Jean-Noel Jourdan (Tremere
Archon), Arnaud Clavel, Sebastien Denouault (Malkavian Primogen), Gael
Matthey (Tremere Primogen), with myself as Head Judge. Christophe was
allowed to play, as Stephane decided that a crew of 10 people would be ok to
run the event : it turned out to be the right number as everyone always had
something to do, and despite the size of the tournament we succeeded in
keeping on schedule.
2003 FRENCH OPEN REPORT :
With qualifying objectives in mind, many decks were focused on heavy and
dirty bleed. The quickest VP was gained in like 19 minutes by an aggressive
weenie presence. Here is the Archon report :
Final Rank First Name Last Name City Prelim GWs Prelim VPs Final VPs TPs
1 Christophe BALTAZAR Paris - IDF 3 11 2 180
2 Marc SIMONI Marseille 2 8 2 144
3 Francois ALIX Paris - IDF 2 10 1 168
4 Emmanuel MARTIN Paris - IDF 3 9 0 180
5 Guillaume CHABROL Paris - IDF 2 9 0 168
During the final, the seating order was : Emmanuel Martin (former 2001
French Champion, celerity gun) -> Francois Alix (weenie auspex) ->
Christophe Baltazar (!Malk S&B) -> Marc Simoni (!Malk S&B) -> Guillaume
Chabrol (Ventrue obfuscate)
Note that Laurent Pagorek should actually be 5th in the standings, but the
results had been erroneously entered. Apologies to him.
A detailed transcript will hopefully be available later. Let's say that the
first 30 minutes were a blast : Emmanuel instilled enough fear in his
predator Guillaume to buy turn after turn promises of no aggression. With
the usual "predator buffer" installed, he torporized many minions of
Francois, as guns were the bane of his deck. So his prey, Christophe, had
definitely no pressure and confidently bled Marc for 4-5 each turn. Marc
couldn't oust his prey faster than he was being bled. Christophe kept him
low on pool and agreed to let Marc get his VP. Then the game became one of
those classic, boring, finals with a slow pace and a lot of negotiation.
Guillaume only had one natural ally, Francois, whose minions kept going in
torpor, so he was ousted 40 minutes before the time limit (he was allowed to
transfer out as had definitely no hope of gaining more than zero VP, and he
considered Marc deserved his VP). Emmanuel apparently no longer had any rush
; each time Francois blocked the bleeds, his vampires went to torpor, but
were rescued by Christophe. Christophe let Marc gain a 2nd VP, offering
Francois the last one. So they allied against Marc, ousting him at 1 minute
of the time limit. They quickly discarded each in turn, with the real
professional way of those accustomed to finals and to handling time limits,
allowing Francois to withdraw at 20 seconds of the time limit.
Francois had 1VP, Marc 2VP and Christophe 2VP ; Christophe had a higher
standing after the preliminary rounds, so he won the tournament as well as a
dagger. Congratulations to him, and good thing we let him play after all!
Here is his decklist :
S&B deck by Christophe Baltazar
Crypt
1 Persia, the Beautiful Statue
1 Uncle George
2 Dolphin Black
1 Tony
1 Artemis
2 Kite
1 Quentin King III
2 Korah
1 Adelaide Davis
Library
12 Kindred Spirits
5 Madman's Quill
10 Eyes of Chaos
6 Wake
8 Telepathic Misdirection
2 My Enemy's Enemy
6 Dreams of the Sphinx
5 Direct Intervention
2 Pentex Subversion
2 Secure Haven
4 Restructure
2 Delaying Tactics
4 Swallowed by the Night
4 Cloak the Gathering
4 Lost in Crowds
4 Elder Impersonation
3 Faceless Night
3 Domain of Evernight
3 Spying Mission
2003 FRENCH CHAMPIONSHIP REPORT :
45 players were qualified to compete for the title of French Champion. The
other players either played in unsanctioned teamplay format or in draft.
Here is the archon report : a short description of the decks played is also
provided.
Final Rank First Name Last Name City Prelim GWs Prelim VPs Final VPs TPs
1 Laurent PAGOREK ("Jost in time", Palla Grande Embrace) Paris - IDF 2 6,5 3
168
2 ANDREAS NUSSER (Palla Grande) Germany 3 11 1 180
3 Christophe BALTAZAR (!Malk S&B) Paris - IDF 1 7 1 144
4 Francois MORAND (Toreador Grand Ball vote) Chatelrault 2 6,5 0 156
5 Pierre denis BROUILLET ("c'est mal parti" Malk vith Homonculus) Marseille
1 7 0 156
6 Régis CORDIER (Aching Beauty) Marseille 1 6,5 132
7 Kamel SENNI ("The next dominant species", Palla Grande) Paris - IDF 1 6
150
8 Francois ALIX ("vu", weenie auspex) Paris - IDF 1 5 168
9 Jonathan SINIEN (ventrue bleed) Nice 1 4,5 126
10 Denis CHANTELOUP ("Gangrels of Egypt", smiling jack&serpentis) Caen 1 4
108
11 Johannes WALCH ("all the news fit to whisper", Ahrimane) Germany 1 4 102
12 Antoine FRANQUEVILLE-ROY ("Fee des trous", kyasid toolbox) Paris - IDF 1
3 102
13 Olivier DAUGREILH (Gangrel dominate) Paris - IDF 0 4 144
14 Thierry PARRES (ventrue vote obfuscate) Paris - IDF 0 4 138
15 Alexandre DERZYPOLSKI (Tzimisce rush with horrid form) Paris - IDF 0 3,5
138
16 Pierre-Yves AUROUSSEAU (Malk with disguised weapon) Caen 0 3,5 120
17 Guillaume CHABROL (Salubri spirit marionnette+!Ventrue) Paris - IDF 0 2,5
126
18 Samuel BENIES (Tzimisce) Caen 0 2,5 120
18 David BESMIER (Eurobrujah with Anathema) Caen 0 2,5 120
20 Marc KOLMERCHLAG (Salubri+!Ventrue) Paris - IDF 0 2,5 114
21 Alexis ANCELLE (Gangrel with serpentis) Paris - IDF 0 2 102
22 Sébastien VARETTE (Mal+homonculus and Madness network) Grenoble 0 2 96
23 Marc SIMONI (asupex intercept) Marseille 0 1,5 108
24 Christophe CREPAIN (Malk protean with graverobbing) Paris - IDF 0 1,5
102
25 Laurent MEERTENS ("laissez moi gagner" tremere bruise&bleed) Paris - IDF
0 1,5 96
25 Florent VILLEMAGNE (Gangrel with serpentis) Paris - IDF 0 1,5 96
27 Ludovic TURBOUT (ventrue obfuscate) Caen 0 1,5 90
28 Jean Sebastien CHERUBINI (Trem and !Trem intercept) Marseille 0 1 96
28 Olivier LE BAUT ("Revenge of Saulot", probably the most original deck
with Valois Sang, ex nihilo and puppeteer) Carcassonne 0 1 96
30 Geoffroy DULIN ("Brujah, ripost", Eurobrujah) Caen 0 1 90
31 Patrice FOUGERET (Daughters of Cacophony vote) Chatelrault 0 1 84
31 Sébastien IWANSKI ("Malk derange") Nice 0 1 84
31 Yann SEROZ ("Magic Circus 2003", weenie animalism with Garou and War
Ghoul, his earlier version won the last qualifier of the EC2001 in Paris)
Grenoble 0 1 84
34 Mathieu OURMIERES (Shambling Hordes) Carcassonne 0 1 78
34 Emmanuel MARTIN (Celerity Gun) Paris - IDF 0 1 78
34 Serge - ORPHEUS CIRRI ("Romain t'es loin" !gangrel dominate) Marseille 0
1 78
37 Pierre-Emmanuel ARNAUD ("Stealth but no bleed" Followers of Set) Grenoble
0 0,5 96
38 Cédric POTIN ('The Beautiful Lasombra in vote") Caen 0 0,5 90
38 Jo HERROELEN (Gangrel Dominate) Belgium 0 0,5 90
40 Adrien ORDINES (Ravnos Dominate) Marseille 0 0,5 84
41 Pierre LE RUNIGO (Tzimisce toolbox) Grenoble 0 0,5 66
42 Raphael LEROUX (Malk vote) Caen 0 0 72
43 Olivier DEVAUD (weenie obfuscate with Saturday night) Paris - IDF 0 0
66
43 Christophe RIVAS (Ravnos dominate) Carcassonne 0 0 66
45 Jérémy BENAIM ("the phenomenon x-periment", giovanni with Krassimir)
Paris - IDF 0 0 60
Many games reached the time limit, unlike the day before, as everyone
defended their survival with ferocity.
The seating order of the final was :
Christophe Baltazar (definitely in great shape, !Malk S&B) -> Pierre-Denis
Brouillet (who was finalist in the 2002 French Championship, Malk with
Homonculus and Madness Network) -> Francois Morand (also a regular finalist
of Paris tourneys, Toreador vote with Toreador Grand Ball) -> Andreas Nusser
(who unleashed the wrath of Palla Grande from Germany) -> Laurent Pagorek
(another Palla Grande deck)
From what I heard, Pierre-Denis had a terrible hand. He influenced IIRC
Greger Andersen and a small Malk but was heavily bled by Christophe. Andreas
and Laurent played it as safe as possible as they knew they were playing the
same decks, so there was the problem of contest, and for Laurent the
double-edged problem of Palla Grande. Francois had a Succubus Club in play.
Laurent bloated with Art Scams. Francois lowered his prey with Kines and
Parity Shifted his grandprey Laurent, in order to keep Pierre-Denis alive
and keep his grandpred at bay. Pierre-Denis influenced Mariel, Lady Thunder
despite Francois's advice and was ousted after 50 minutes. Laurent was
infuriated by the Parity Shift, but Francois managed to buy his Parthenon
for 6 pool, giving him the leeway to call another Parity Shift, which was
maybe Direct Intervened by Christophe, can't remember-again, a transcript
will be available later. There was also a contest between the two Palla
Grande decks, Creamy Jade or Jost.
Basically, after one hour the situation looked grim for Andreas who was
getting low (5-6, maybe) on pool, with no bloat available and a predator
calling unblockable votes turn after turn. Laurent had like 18 pool. Andreas
offered a 2-2VP deal, which was judged illegal (it was a winning deal for
Andreas due to his higher prelim rank, but Jean-Noel and myself thought
Laurent still had a chance to win the game, hence the decision to declare
such a deal illegal). It was still judged illegal one table turn after, so
Andreas proposed a 1/3VP in favour of Laurent, which was accepted. The two
other methulelah didn't propose any counter-deal but reached an unsteady
truce. Andreas yielded the contest and Christophe made a critical mistake as
he did anticipate the amount of bleed he would get in one turn, but hastily
played a direct intervention and paid the last pool that would have saved
him. He fell to Laurent's embraces and !Toreador, 24 minutes before the time
limit. Now alone, Francois used every opportunities he had to oust his prey
but Andreas finally drew his Delaying Tactics, so Francois was ousted 12
minutes before the time limit. Laurent and Andreas finally discarded in
turn, allowing Laurent to withdraw.
Final results :
Chrisophe Baltazar 1VP
Andreas Nusser 1VP
Laurent Pagorek 3VP
Laurent is the new French Champion. Congratulations!
Here is his decklist :
Deck name : Jost in time
Crypt :
1 Carter
1 Creamy Jade
1 Ian Wallingford
4 Jost Werner
1 Lolita
1 Mercy
2 Remilliard
1 Sheila Mezarin
Library :
Master
4 Anarch Troublemaker
1 Coven
2 Fetish HG
8 Life in the City
4 Misdirection
5 Palla Grande
4 Parthenon
4 Tribute to the Master
1 Pentex Subversion
Action
7 Art Scam
8 Embrace
2 Entrancement
3 Mind Numb
Action Modifier
6 Change of Target
Reaction
3 Delaying Tactics
6 Telepathic Misdirection
8 Wake
2 My Enemy's Enemy
Combat
6 Majesty
3 Dodge
3 Staredown
He won a Black Hand set, before the boxes even hit the shelves! Thanks to
White Wolf for the set. Thanks to our sponsors, the shops Fireball and La
Guilde des Jeux who provided prize support :
http://www.laguildedesjeux.fr/
http://www.fireball.fr/
As for the side events, a report of the Draft is included at the end of this
post.
The end of the event unfortunately had to be run in a hurry ; a power
failure consumed some of our time and we had to leave the venue in order to
remain in the limits of our budget-we didn't want Stephane to pay 80 Euro
from his own pocket, as was the case last year.
We did however took the time to take a picture of the whole group and
especially to make a surprise for Stephane, who was given a Sword from
Tolede, courtesy of the Paris VEKN et al crew. It was a way to thank him for
all his efforts as Prince, as he devoted a lot of time to make the game grow
and prosper in Paris, for five years.
Since he created Paris VEKN, no less than 62 tournaments were run in Paris.
The 1999 French Open (85 participants) was the biggest tournament ever held
in the world at that time, and another record was reached with the 2001
European Championship (114 players). Thanks to his efforts, we enjoy the
regular presence of foreign players at regular tournaments (Belgium,
Germany) and 2003 is the second year where players from all over France
compete in a tournament structure akin to that of the EC. The link below
gives the curriculum vitae of Paris VEKN (in English), with the list of all
the tournaments that were run since its creation.
http://www.parisvekn.com/CV_Vekn_Paris.doc
With this 90-players, 2-days tournament done, Stephane Lavrut now resigns
his princedom and becomes the French National Coordinator, which no doubt
will keep him busy. For having seen the enormous amount of work he has done
as a Prince, I know that it's nearly impossible to find someone else for the
job. However, the new prince will not need to organise the next French
Championship, which will be in Stephane's hands.
So the new Prince of Paris is Kamel Senni, who was in Paris VEKN as Ventrue
Primogen before resigning for personal reasons. He did however largely
demonstrate his capabilities in organising, running and judging for years
and is definitely the one we need as successor. His new staff will probably
be constituted within the next days. The Paris VEKN site (in English) will
be maintained (http://www.veknfrance.com) as well as the French forums (in
French ; http://www.veknfrance.com/forum).
When reading this, I realise this somewhat looks like a press release, as if
everything was perfect in a beautiful world. Never mind. Sure, some things
could be better made, but then, nobody's perfect. Lately, I've seen some
players behave like spoiled children or angry consumers, complaining about
this and that (why are the food and drink so expensive? Why is there only 15
minutes between the rounds? Why do you open the windows? Why can't we be 10
people talking around this table about to finish, never mind if it disturbs
the players? Why do I get only 1 booster when I'm ranked 80th? Why do we
have to pay so much, I mean 10 euros is expensive for a 2-days tournament, I
already paid 10 euros for a movie ticket and I have to pay 150 euros for my
BH boxes, I'm poor you know?) and how things should be done. After the
French Championship, we did have a lot of positive feedback-and thanks to
all who took the time to send it-but that was after the angry posts; after
the flamewars, on a French forum. It could be ok if we were paid for all
this work. But we're not. Stephane, his crew and myself have been busting
our *** for years, back when VtES was with WotC, back when it was a dying
game ; now the game, for all I know, seems to be prospering. If not for
Stephane's *voluntary* efforts, the player base in Paris wouldn't be so
large and the level of competition wouldn't be so high than they are now. If
not for his efforts, we wouldn't have a national and co-ordinated
championship with an operational network between the cities. So to all who
understood and appreciated the accomplishments, we say : thank you. To the
no-brainers whose skills in organisation are barely adequate to have a pizza
delivered, to those who are incapable of nothing but endless rants and
complaints, I say : get lost.
If we were told, back in 1996, that we would be holding European
Championships or French Championships with 90+ players, I wouldn't have
believed it, but he and his team made it possible ; for what it's worth,
they have my deepest respect for that and they definitely deserve a whole
lot of credits.
As for me, I also resign my unofficial position of co-worker. I need a
break, for a variety of reasons (when you open your BH boosters and realise
the only Anarch card you've played with is Brinkmanship, then something is
wrong). I'd still like to work with Kamel so I'll organise and/or judge a
sanctioned tournament in December 2004, but I leave the "big ones" to the
new generation of judges : the ones who judged during the Championship, and
they will be joined by Francois Vabre who will probably become the national
rules guru (I wish Danov aka Charles Lechasseur lived in France, but hell,
you can't win'em all).
In conclusion.thanks to the players who travelled a long way, we hope to see
you again next year. (and Carcassonne players, if you can host a large
tournament I hope you will do it soon!). Good luck to Kamel, who has a lot
of work ahead. But he doubtlessly will be a great Prince (and he read
Machiavel, unlike Stephane ;-) ).
Stone
Finally, here is the report of the Draft event by Franck Bernard :
REPORT OF THE DRAFT SIDE EVENT - FRENCH CHAMPIONSHIP 2003
15 players (3 different nationalities) come to the Draft event to try to
prove that they're the "best deck builder". The Draft was in Camarilla
Edition with 9 boosters.
The draft itself takes place in a good atmosphere, and quickly, the
different players draft their card in an efficient and quick way.
30 minutes were allowed to the players to build their deck and crypt.
The first round begins with a time limit of 1 h 30 (such as the others).
The first table achieves on the victory of Guillaume DEGREZE with 4 Vps
The fifth Vp is taken by Nicolas ANDRE
The second table achieves on a time limit with only 1 player ousted.
The third table achieves on the victory of Frank VANDEPUT (from Belgium)
with 3 Vps
Julien DRUEL and Cyrille BOUTIN, won each, 1 VP
Atmosphere still very friendly as the second round began.
The first table achieves on the victory of Cyrille BOUTIN with 4Vps, the
fifth Vp is won by Julien DRUEL
The second table achieves again on a time limit, with 2 players ousted;
The third table achieves on a tie : both Frank VANDEPUT and Errol ONGUN won
2 Vps, Vincent DORMOIS won 1 Vp.
No problem of judging during the rounds, players were autonomous and very
fair-play. Congratulations to all of them ! So, the third round began, and
will determine finalists.
The first table, achieves on a time limit and a tie between Cyrille BOUTIN
and Christophe COCHET : 1.5 Vps each, and Franck GALEA won 1 Vp
The second table; achieves on a time limit and no players ousted at all;
The third table achieves on a victory of François VABRE with 3 Vps,
Guillaume DEGREZE won the 2 other Vps.
After 3 rounds, the ranking was the following
Rank First Name Last Name GWs VPs
1 Cyrille BOUTIN 1 6.5
2 Guillaume DEGREZE 1 6
3 Frank VANDEPUT 1 5
4 François VABRE 1 4.5
5 Errol ONGUN 0 3
6 Christophe COCHET 0 2.5
7 Jérôme AUDIGNON 0 2
7 Julien DRUEL 0 2
9 Julien MOISY 0 2
10 Nicolas ANDRE 0 1.5
11 Vincent DORMOIS 0 1.5
12 Franck GALEA 0 1
13 David MAZALTARIM 0 0.5
14 Johan GUIHENEUF 0 0
15 Jérôme ARNAUD 0 0
The final was judged by Arnaud CLAVEL (Thanks to him !).
Frank VANDEPUT was the winner with 2 VPs.
Errol ONGUN won 2 Vps, and François VABRE won the last Vp.
I was really happy to organise this event, I want to thank all the players
for their fair-play and good mood. Thanks to Stéphane LAVRUT to help me, as
the Time Keeper during the Draft, and to Arnaud CLAVEL to be here on the
final.
Franck BERNARD, Brujah Primogen and Archon
Paris VEKN, France
Kamel SENNI
> The French Open (11/15/03 ; yes, but better late then never) and the French
> Championship (11/16/03) were held in Paris, in the lunch hall of the SNCF,
> the railroad national company.
<snip your good report>
Thanks you, Pierre "Stone". for all your work as game promoter and
offical french rule guru ("official" by the respect and the confidence
the french players of all cities have put on you).
You forgot that you have taken that role in the french vekn forum, to
answer to rule questions, asked by the 215+ members registered.
I remember that day of 98' (or 99' ?), when you have organised one of
the first no-limit tournament in Paris...(so with official no-card
limit).
These days are far away from us...
I stop these old warrior souvenirs lol.
I thanks again all the crew, who have join me, again, in that new
parisvekn team, and the new ones, especially Francois Vabre.
And thanks to all players of France to promote continuously Vampire
The Eternal Struggle.
Special thanx too to my fellow princes of Marseille, Caen, Grenoble,
Carcassonne, Metz, Strasbourg, Lyon, Nice, Compiègne, Nantes ...to
help organizing such an event.
Big up' to Séphane Lavrut : without him, his skills, his will, Paris
would not the city with the most VEKN members (185...someone say
better ? Perhaps Madrid or Barcelona...(kisses to Damnans, Marco and
Sergio, by the way : happy new year, my friends!)).
Kamel SENNI, Prince of Paris.
Hardy Range
in your report, you mentioned "...an Archon able to handle 90
players".
Since I will be organizing the upcoming German EC qualifier (planned
for the end of April 2004), and we hope to have that much players,
too, I am of course very interested in your remark.
Is that an adapted version of the Archon, with functional changes (and
more
stable :-) )?
Any help in this matter would be very much appreciated!
Best regards,
Hardy Range
Prince of Bochum, Germany
http://www.vekn.de
Stone
"Hardy Range" <hardy...@gmx.de> a écrit dans le message de news:
f7e55900.04010...@posting.google.com...
> Hello Franck,
>
> in your report, you mentioned "...an Archon able to handle 90
> players".
it wasn't him, actually. nevermind. go to the vekn site and contact Thierry
Baillon from there, he should be able to help you. either that or contact
Stéphane. and yes, it is a modified version.
Stone
Kamel SENNI
The French version (from Thierry Baillon, web master of the french
site, and administrator of the french forum, a very busy and skilled
man;-) can handle 200 players.
It's a "stable "version, as far as i know.
i will talk about that with Johannes Walch, when he will come to
Paris.
Kamel Senni, Prince of Paris.
Damnans
Kamel SENNI wrote:
[...]
> Big up' to Séphane Lavrut : without him, his skills, his will, Paris
> would not the city with the most VEKN members (185...someone say
> better ? Perhaps Madrid or Barcelona...
Barcelona has 145 V:EKN members, but metro Barcelona has 3 princedoms:
Barcelona, Hospitalet de Llobregat, and Badalona, with a total of 172
V:EKN members.
Madrid has 137 V:EKN members.
So it seems Paris is still on the lead ;-)
Greetings,
Damnans