A Tournament Report by 2014 North American Champion Tom Capor

As World Championship Weekend approaches, we will be posting articles each week so players can learn how to best prepare for their next large tournament. Whether you’re planning on attending Worlds or following along through our online coverage, these articles are a great insight into how some of the best players of your favorite game prepare for major tournaments.

Today, we are joined by 2014 Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game North American Champion Tom Capor. Tom shares how he was able to defend his title a second year in a row despite significant challenges leading up to the 2014 North American Championship.

Tom Capor on the 2014 North American Championship

Ladies, gentlemen, things from beyond time and space, and everyone in between, I welcome you to my Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Gen Con 2014 tournament report!

The 2014 North American Championship stage was set as loyal Cthulhu fans from across the country traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana to compete for the title of North American Champion. It was once again time to defend the title that I have somehow managed to retain since its introduction in 2012.

Deciding the Deck

“It was only for a moment that I hesitated, for more than curiosity and scientific zeal was driving me on and working against my growing fear.”
– Nathaniel Peaslee, Shadow Out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft

After a disappointing Regional Championship season where I was unable to earn a bye, I needed to re-evaluate my deck choice. Piloting the infamous Y-Train (a combo mill deck) since its debut at the 2013 North American Championship, I was beginning to have my doubts about whether or not I could continue to pilot it effectively.

The math was there; the playtesting results were there. In my opinion, even against its predictability, it was still, by far, the best deck in the format. However, my level of play skill had been heading in a downward spiral since the 2013 World Championship. Time away from the game coupled with sleep deprivation was not helping. I wasn’t on my ‘A-game’ for a long while, and if I wanted to continue to pilot arguably the most demanding deck in the card pool, I needed to get back into shape.

With a more strict sleep schedule in place, training regiments designed to focus on increasing precision play, and no surprises from any last-minute FAQ entries, I gained enough confidence to use the deck again. The only question was, what version?

In 2013, Yog-Shub was a clear winner with The Festival (The Key and the Gate, 51) and Shub’s support removal. However, without The Festival and Master of the Myths (Into Tartarus, 101), I had to find another way to quickly rifle through my deck. While other options such as Mono-Yog, Yog/Shub, Yog/Silver Twilight were quite viable, the Yog/Cthulhu version gave me my best test results against the broadest field.

Y-Train 3.0

Characters: 25

• 3x Keeper of the Great Library
• 3x Yithian Scout
• 2x Scholar From Yith
• 2x Professor Nathaniel Peaslee
• 3x Lost Oracle
• 3x Faceless Abductor
• 3x Stalking Hound
• 3x Dreamlands Fanatic
• 2x Black Dog
• 1x Descendant of Eibon

Support: 10

• 3x Lost City of Pnakotus
• 3x Frozen Time
• 3x Flooded Vault
• 1x Snow Graves

Event: 15

• 3x Interstellar Migration
• 3x Studying the Void
• 3x Pushed into the Beyond
• 3x Walk the Path
• 3x Deep One Assault

Why Cthulhu for the second faction? Mainly, it was for Flooded Vault (Terror in Venice, 10) and Deep One Assault (Core Set, 56). Having six ways to find Lost City of Pnakotus (The Key and the Gate, 27) was the key. There are other cards that could serve as a substitute, but since Flooded Vault also had the ability to find Frozen Time (The Key and the Gate, 22) and an emergency Snow Graves (At the Mountains of Madness, 15), I couldn’t pass up the utility. Deep One Assault’s versatility, while trickier to use than say Thunder In the East (Kingsport Dreams, 34) or Burrowing Beneath (Core Set, 137), proved useful in giving me more options to deal with problematic characters such as Alternative Historian (Seekers of Knowledge, 15). To help fill out the ranks, I called upon an old favorite of mine: Dreamlands Fanatic (In the Dread of Night, 47), usually a ‘free’ character with Fast and an Arcane Icon.

The other biggest trick I’ve added since last year was Walk the Path (Written and Bound, 18). Normally a weak utility card against most matchups, it is a critical card for the mirror match. I theorized that I would see a lot of mirror matches at the North American National Championship despite not facing a single one throughout the Regional Championship season.

The Big Day Arrives!

An amazing turnout for the event! I won’t lie, it brings a smile to my face to know that the game is still growing since its LCG release in 2009. Through the Swiss rounds there were some amazing games with everyone having a lot of fun. Even some new faces like Jonathan Lekse, Shawn Macleod, and Vince Urbonas, managed to gain some valuable experience as they claimed top 8 spots before being eliminated.

A cut must be made, a champion must be crowned, and the top 8 had some serious contenders:

1. Jonathan Lekse
2. Jim Black
3. Jeremey Zwirn
4. Tom Capor
5. Chase Causey
6. Vince Urbonas
7. Shawn Macleod
8. David Boeren

My path would begin against Chase Causey and his Cthulhu/Miskatonic University deck. Chase was hoping to rekindle a bit of the spirit of Research and Destroy, a Cthulhu/Miskatonic Deck popularized by Graham Hill during last year’s European Championship and used by Jim Black to knock me out of the top 8 in the 2013 World Championship. But thanks to my pre-tournament preparation and some adrenaline, I managed to take the game.

Next up was David Boeren fresh off his defeat of Jonathan Lekse, who aside from being a good friend of mine, was the top seed in the top 8, went undefeated in the Swiss, and was running a deck nearly identical to my own. David is a powerful player of his own, and you may recognize him from his Elder Things podcast, his 2nd-place finish at the 2012 National Championship (in which he nearly defeated me), or from his constant support of the community via the forums. I was a little nervous. With a little luck from my deck and some well-timed plays, I was able to finesse my way through to the final round!

Epic Battle of Ultimate History

My final opponent of the day was Jeremy Zwirn! Jeremy is a strong player, the current Cthulhu World Champion, and a former Android Netrunner and Warhammer: Invasion World Champion. And those are just the titles I know about.

We were both running the Y-Train, making the match even tighter. Jeremy’s deck was using a more traditional Yog/Shub powerhouse. However, my deck contained Walk the Path, which gave me a pretty sizable advantage going into the
mirror match.

The opening moves were pretty tenuous. Compared to a normal game, I had a bad start and did not see any of my engine pieces. What I did have, though, was tons of character removal. So, after a soft opening turn one from Jeremy, and myself not drawing into any combo pieces, I decided to go for a story win!

An unconventional move for the deck I was playing, but since I was in no position to use deck discard as my route to victory, my only chance was to force Jeremy off his game as well, and hope that it would force him to do things he wouldn’t normally do. I think for the most part this plan worked. I was able to take and maintain board control, I was able to rack up success tokens, and Jeremy could only cycle a pair of Speak to the Dead (Whispers in the Dark, 20) to fill his discard pile. I wouldn’t be shocked if he had other options, as his hand became massive fairly quickly, but if using Speak to the Dead was his best option, I couldn’t ask for more.

Going into the final turn, I had 2/4/4 success tokens with a Descendant of Eibon (The Terror of the Tides, 75) in play and a massive board presence, an open domain for a Walk the Path, and Deep One Assault that I was using to bluff as a Black Dog (Words of Power, 29) the whole game. Whether or not the bluff actually worked I’ll probably never know, but we both respected the Black Dog the whole game. Regardless, I was threatening to win the game on my next turn, and Jeremy’s deck was getting awfully low. Any lower and he wouldn’t be able to survive a Walk the Path that would eventually copy his trigger of an Interstellar Migration (The Key and the Gate, 37). Without the aid of his second and third Snow Graves, Jeremy was forced to go for the win hoping against all hope that his Snow Graves already on the board would go uninterrupted.

After a lot of counting by both of us and Jeremy putting a few final Yithian cards he needed into the discard pile via Studying the Void (The Key and the Gate, 35), Jeremy launched his first Interstellar Migration. I responded with a Deep One Assault to remove his lone Snow Graves. Dismayed, Jeremy knew it was over, but not giving up, he began to look for a way out. Doing anything he could, he pinged me with a Yithian Scout (The Key and the Gate, 15) from his discard pile. Then, it was my turn to make sure I could win the game. After some stressful counting, I did indeed have enough Yithians in my own discard pile to launch my first Interstellar Migration. Counting again to make 400% sure, the game was over. If Jeremy launched a second Migration, I could use my Walk the Path to copy the effect for the win; waiting it out would allow me to win with my second Migration.

The Streak is still alive!

Counting My Lucky Stars

I’ve been very fortunate over the years to be able to continue to play this amazing game at such a high level. Through the game I have met some awesome people, many of whom I’m lucky enough to call friends, and it is a trend I hope to continue as far into the future as possible.

The 2014 World Championship Weekend is Approaching

Thanks, Tom!

Tom didn’t quit despite a slump in his tournament results. Will you have the courage and passion to continue forward and improve yourself before your next tournament?

Check back in the coming weeks to hear stories from other North American Champions, and join us for the 2014 World Championship Weekend in a couple weeks for your chance to gain fame in your favorite game!

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