Aksinya weenie PRE - Danish Nationals 2019

Report by Christian Nislev: The attendance has been dropping in the last few years, but this year the trend turned upwards with 20 players participating – not least due to a strong turnout by non-Danes, for example Swedes from Malmö, who seem to have come out of torpor and hungry for blood. The Danish meta is typically combat-heavy compared with elsewhere, but this year saw a more moderate metagame with an even distribution of stealth-bleed, fat cap voters, ally-decks and a bit of combat. The following players reached the final: 1. Nikolaj Wendt 2GW7.5 2. Sebastian Fredenberg 2GW5 3. Rudolf Scholz 1GW7.5 4. Henrik Andersen 1GW6.5 5. Nico Scholz 1GW5 While the ally decks were setting up at one end of the table, the bleed decks were pressing forward from early on, and the bleed-bouncing was intense. After more than an hour's play, Sebastian was ousted by Henrik who had three vampires out and another one on the way. The last part of the final saw intense activity with Nikolaj promising Nico to hold off with bleeds so she could go forward in the hope of ousting Rudolf in a few turns. Henrik pushed forward against Nikolaj but Nikolaj kept bouncing bleeds to Nico with Aksinya's ability and Lost in Translation. To cycle cards, Henrik stealthed past Nico's blocking minions to deliver a strong bleed against her. Nikolaj saw his chance and informed Nico that he would break the deal since she was now within ousting range. Shortly after, she was ousted. With a few minutes left, Rudolf pressed Henrik hard and came close to ousting him, but he ran out of time before the final few bleed actions could be carried out. With Nikolaj and Henrik on 1.5vp each, Nikolaj won the Danish National Championship 2019 due to entering the final in top position. A highly unusual final of a Danish championship, with neither combat or vote decks present. The winner was, however, not unexpectedly, Nikolaj Wendt – a former Prince of Copenhagen (now in exile in Serbia) and enfant terrible of the Danish V:TES scene who has for many years been THE player to beat in Denmark (rumour has it that ousting him in casual games is worth 1.5vp...). Nikolaj's comment: "Aksinya is one of my favorite vampires, and I have been trying to slot her into different archetypes (previously the obvious ANI one). She offers great support for the problems that I feel weenie PRE decks normally face."