7th Sea CoFS European Champs Final Match Report

Match Report - 7th Sea City of Five Sails - European Championship Finals, May 11th 2025

(I don't have a blog, whenever I want to share something potentially big without flooding a Discord/forum etc I use this, apologies for lack of formatting etc)

I wanted to throw out a summary-ish style match report for this one while my mind was still more or less fresh on it; firstly because it was an amazing game with a fantastic opponent, "big" stakes, and because we didn't have any recording/streaming of the games going on. I also hope my post-match commentary is at least interesting to other Castille players, and 7th Sea players in general.

NB: I like to keep language neutral where I can, so I'll be referring to players, including myself, as their respective factions, "me", "my opponent", and "they" throughout. Non-native English speakers please note that "they" can be either plural or singular in English, to avoid confusion. Soline is also referred to with the gender-neutral singular "they".

If I’m referring to city locations by x/y/z format at any point, the order is always Docks/Forums/Bazaar.

Decklists are available here:
Castille: https://discord.com/channels/643518732999589892/1371129099581657139
Eisen: https://discord.com/channels/643518732999589892/1371131368280690878

Record going into final:
Castille: W/W/L/W (swiss) W (semi)
Eisen: W/W/W/W (swiss) W (semi)

Having previously scraped through a close semi-final against the same Vodacce player/deck that had been my loss during swiss, I was nervous going into the final. I hadn't played against many Eisen players at all, and my opponent had marched their way to the final undefeated; in fact, in their semi-final they had beaten another Castille player with an almost immediate assassination victory, so I knew I had an uphill battle. I'm also really not used to being in top-cuts for games, never mind finals, so my nerves were definitely a bit frayed. Thankfully, I had spent the better part of the last two evenings getting to know my opponent over beers and they were such a lovely and warm person that I was able to honestly wish them the best at the start of the game, with the promise I would make their inevitable win as difficult as I could.

Day 1:
City Deck: Devil Jonah’s Bones, Sigurd Ulfsen, Object of Wonder
Castille Planning: The Cat’s Embargo, Makepeace Botwighte
Eisen Planning: Kaspar’s Occupation, Rosine Friese
Renown placement: 1/1/1

We draw our hands, Embargo sees the one-of Dark Gift, a powerful movement card for Eisen - good knowledge to have so early in the game.
Castille draws into, amongst other cards, both Hidden Corridors, Adaptable, and Night of Drinking. With Makepeace’s send-home ability and initiative from the Embargo, there is a chance with this hand of a turn 1 domination victory, so I have a fair bit of planning to do to ensure that it’s an option I can explore without over-reaching.
Sigurd is a very interesting merc here; dash influence are the types of mercenaries I avoid, but I know my opponent has had assassination victories before so I consider him carefully. Devil Jonah’s Bones is mildly interesting, but more important later to maybe recover a sunk Adaptable/Night of Drinking so I don’t really want it myself. Object of Wonder, on the other hand, is an excellent attachment for both leaders to get; Kaspar can use it to get any mercenary (except Penya) for free, and resist Makepeace’s send-home, while Soline being 3/3/3 with their react-move is a real powerhouse of versatility. With my hand a potential day 1 domination, though, I play it safe and don’t immediately attach it.

Notable things this turn:
- Kaspar’s Occupation sees Penya, preventing the Penya Pitfall perfectly.
- Kaspar and Soline both refuse to recruit Sigurd; Kaspar uses his city action and finds Eko Sorridi instead, and Soline would be giving up on day 1 domination by hiring a dash-influence merc.
- Rosine refuses to buy the Object of Wonder, thanks to the additional cost Makepeace adds to it, instead heading to the Docks and attaching an Uppann’s Jacket to ensure Soline can’t claim it. With Eko’s additional influence, this location ends claimed by Eisen and Castille choose not to push for the dominance victory.
- Eko attempts to fight Soline, but an Amour from hand as first combat card keeps the damage minimal.
- With day 1 dominance dismissed, Makepeace haggles for the Object himself, and Soline gratefully gobbles it up.
- Makepeace claims the Bazaar unopposed, and the day ends, Eko stinging Soline for a wound as they run off into the Dusk.

End of Day 1:
Score: Eisen 1, Castille 1
Boardstate: Eisen have Eko and an Uppmann’s Jacket (Rosine), Castille have an Object of Wonder (Soline), but card advantage due to higher spend from Eisen in High Drama. Soline has suffered two wounds.
Remaining Renown: 0/1/0

Day 2:
City Deck: Kalla & Adelheide, Eager Blade, Inauguration Day
Castille Planning: Marooned, Sanjay
Eisen Planning: Teeth of the Drachen, Philip Hase
Renown Placement: 2/1/2

The Renown placement was mandatory due to Teeth forcing it to locations with no Renown (Forums had one left) and Marooned is Docks+Bazaar anyway.

After drawing hands, Castille look at the board and see that Eisen is likely reinforcing their Eko find in day 1 with more violence in the form of Philip and Teeth, which prevents intervention at unclaimed locations. With the Eager Blade available, there’s a real danger for Castille to lose a character this day.
Castille’s choice of Sanjay while keeping higher on cards provides a strong answer to Eisen pressures and duelling, though. It’s a defensive pick, but with Eisen ahead on bodies and choosing aggression, it turns out to be the wise one.

Key happenings:
- Inauguration Day proves to be a flashpoint for the turn, with multiple characters present and more using movement abilities to get to/from it.
- With the Eager Blade at the Forums, Philip is as strong as he can be this turn, but has to be careful not to get engaged by Sanjay before he can throw his challenge.
- Both players are playing around engages/send homes, with Rosine, Sanjay, and Makepeace all threatening to potentially blow out a location - Inauguration Day’s effects make engages particularly strong, with 2 Renown up for grabs where it sits at the Bazaar.
- Soline decides to be the bait for the Bazaar, since they are immune to Rosine’s action, and I have a secret weapon for dealing with an over-eager Philip; a copy of “You Cheated!” in hand. Makepeace follows, and makes the first claim on it.
- Philip equips the Eager Blade and moves to the Bazaar, to threaten Soline, who is present there with Makepeace - importantly, both are Scoundrels.
- Philip issues his challenge to Soline for four threat, and Soline changes the rules, with the “You Cheated!” and -1 finesse immediately neutering the bunny. Philip doesn’t play a card, so he can keep the Eager Blade, and takes three full wounds due to Soline’s 3 Finesse (+1 from Object of Wonder), ending the duel almost as soon as it starts. Crucially for the turn, this removes Philip’s 2 influence from the equation at the Bazaar, due to Inauguration Day’s Forced ability.
- In an attempt to recover, Eisen play Well Equipped to en-garde Philip, but the jaeger’s head is spinning from the Night of Drinking before, and he stays engaged.
- At the docks, things have gone in Castille’s favour; while the action at the Bazaar was unfolding, Sanjay took the opportunity to engage Kaspar before the old general could muster a mercenary from the deck, or decide to hire Kalla & Adelheide. When Eko arrived to attempt to put Sanjay in the ground in response, Castille threw three cards from hand at the unfortunate pirate using the action on Marooned to end him before he could contribute further damage. Pricey, but dealing with Eko could have cost much more otherwise.
- Rosine decides to move to the Bazaar, hoping to steal it from Castille, or at least lock Soline down to the location without engaging, since Inauguration Day would then give Rosine, and Eisen, its 2 Renown. Since he’s a valid target to be sent home now, Makepeace finds some Hidden Corridors leading to the Docks.
- Kaspar decides not to spend five full cards to recruit Kalla & Adelheide, likely wisely.
- Makepeace sends Kaspar back to the dragon’s lair, and a still en-garde Sanjay is able to claim the docks for Castille.

Between Eisen playing multiple cards to answer Castille’s questions this turn and actively spending to grab two locations, Castille ends the day with one card remaining in hand; the much-coveted Adaptable. Eisen have a full hand, so Sanjay is going to struggle to be relevant next turn. But Castille have come out with a commanding lead in Renown. No one has had the time or characters to claim the Forums, where the single Renown remains.

End of Day 2:
Score: Eisen 1, Castille 5
Boardstate: Eisen have the Eager Blade (Philip, 3 wounds taken), an Uppmann’s Jacket (Rosine); Castille have an Object of Wonder and Uppman’s Jacket (Soline, 2 wounds taken).
Remaining Renown: 0/1/0

(My nerves are utterly shot at this point. I might be behind in cards, but the Adaptable represents a real win-con for day 3 if I can make it happen).

Day 3:
City Deck: Giacinto, Gustavo, Early Morning Arrangements
Castille Planning: Castillian Caper, Lorenzo de Zepeda
Eisen Planning: Armed and Marshalled, Edeline Trinken
Renown Placement: 2/1/2

Mandatory Renown placement again this turn; Caper is two locations with no Renown (Docks and Bazaar in this case) and Armed and Marshalled is fixed to the same ones.

Castille draws to a total of seven cards, which includes the second copies of both Night of Drinking and “You Cheated!”, cards that are potentially crucial for this turn. I’m sad that I haven’t seen a single copy of Improvising this whole game, since I know both Well Equipped and Stratege are in the Eisen discard pile. I do find a Taunt, at least, which is another key tool, in a way.

I go into the turn with a plan; Caper gives me two things I need - a guarantee of initiative, and the ability to ensure all three locations are a potential win for me. Lorenzo is chosen because he essentially guarantees success for the finesse pressure. Edeline could prove to be a problem for Castille this turn due to easily becoming insurmountable amounts of influence and, potentially, the reaction move messing with one of my own characters’ placement, should a duel happen anywhere near her. Armed and Marshalled is probably the biggest problem I might come across, however. A second engage/move home ability on top of Rosine’s could be game-ending, and Soline isn’t immune to this one; the only other attachment I run in my deck is the Hidden Flintlock (which remained hidden) and nothing came out of the city deck to attach, so a second attachment on Rosine or Philip could prove to be the end for Soline’s effectiveness this turn.

Important events:
- Soline leads the pack for Castille, occupying the Forums to be as reactive as possible for the day. My intention is that their reaction move will be used to play Adaptable to the correct location at the last possible moment, and while they aren’t entirely safe from being assassinated, “You Cheated!” is at least one get-out-of-jail card against Philip, who still wields the Eager Blade and represents the greatest threat.
- To avoid getting engaged by Armed and Marshalled, Soline recruits Gustavo. A solid recruit at this point that provides both +2 influence to the Forums and an extra card from my deck; his ability sees a Quick Reflexes and another card I choose not to take. I might need to avoid a wound this turn, I think. Gustavo later is engaged by Rosine’s ability to prevent him being a claim threat later in the turn. Importantly, this uses up the ability. One fewer Eisen answer to the question that is Adaptable.
- Kaspar moves, uncontested, to the Docks, where I half expect him to recruit Giacinto to keep the location on lock. Instead he goes fishing, and finds Ravenna Destine, actually a fairly strong find at this point since she is able to claim and also draw a card. Ravenna does perform both actions over the turn.
- Kaspar en-gardes with Appealing to the People. After the game my opponent mentions that they consider this their biggest mistake, though I disagree, instead saying it actually made no difference at all; I’ll explain this later.
- I make my main play. Lorenzo moves to the empty Bazaar, then claims it uncontested with his next action. “Match point” I say aloud, as the 2 Renown here represents a Castille victory if left uncontested. I didn’t buy Lorenzo to fight, he’s here to do one job only: With 2/1/2 Renown spread I currently need to take and hold either the Docks or the Bazaar to win. With a successful Caper, I can go up to 6 Renown immediately and then any one of the three locations will suffice to win. I’m trying to give myself as many options as possible.
- At the Forums, Rosine shows up and equips a throwing knife. At first I think this is to send Soline home with Armed and Marshalled, but there’s a surprise waiting for me; Last Word requires a ranged weapon, and *Throwing* Knife is, unsurprisingly, ranged. Last Word threatens to move Soline to the Docks. I ask for a momentary pause to think about this, as this represents firstly a reduction in my possible win-con locations, since now they can only reach the Docks or the Forums, not the Bazaar. If this was the only consideration I might have let this happen, but more importantly a 3 combat Kaspar was standing en-garde at the Docks, and I was much less confident that Soline would survive multiple attackers piling on them in a single turn. I made a very difficult decision, and cancelled the Last Word with Night of Drinking, so that Soline stayed where they were, was safe from Kaspar’s wrath, and had the widest possible area to move to later.
- I told my opponent after the game that Kaspar becoming en-garde with Appealing to the People wasn’t necessarily a mistake because of the Night of Drinking. Had Kaspar not been en-garde, I would likely have let Soline be moved to the Docks. If Appealing happened after this to attempt to en-garde a character, this would have been cancelled instead, so the overall effect was the same, except Kaspar was en-garde in a location where he had no real use other than securing it, and Soline remained at the Forums.
- Soline remaining at the forums, however, meant that Armed and Marshalled had its most valuable target. With the addition of the Throwing Knife Rosine now had the same number of attachments as Soline, and sent them packing back to el Gato’s hideout, where they remained for the rest of the game.
- Eisen reclaimed the Forums with help from Edaline and Rosine, with an engaged Gustavo unable to respond in any way.
- At the Bazaar, the game was playing out for real; Eisen eventually sent Philip over here to contest the location. I took the opportunity to immediately resolve the Caper, and go to 6 Renown. Now I could claim any one location and, if I could hold it, would win, rather than just the outside two.
- The Bazaar becomes the focal point of the game. Eisen claim control of it back from Castille, and a war of present influence begins; Edaline is Taunted to the Forums by Gustavo, but is given the Dark Gift that allows her to return. Philip is sent home by Makepeace at some point after engaging, and I finally make the decision to commit Sanjay to the Bazaar, threatening to retake the location from the lonely Edaline.
- Eisen make their final play of the game, moving Rosine to the Bazaar with their last Stratege to prevent a Claim pressure from Castille; both Rosine and Edaline are too high influence for Makepeace to send home.
- At this point, Eisen control all three locations, threatening Domination victory. Castille have two en-garde characters, but neither is at a location that can be claimed by pressure and, having drawn no Improvising all game, Castille cannot use Stratege to move over to the now uncontested Forums. Castille are out of stalling tactics, and out of ways to make Eisen spend further cards.
- I play Adaptable, and claim the Bazaar.

With all of Eisen’s in-play abilities used up through careful application of pressure to them throughout the turn, I am left with only hope. My heart leaps into my throat.

Castille have two cards in hand now, neither of any use for claiming or preventing a claim. Eisen have four. If Eisen have an answer that puts an en-garde character in the Bazaar they can win; but if that answer takes them to less than two cards, Sanjay can engage that character before they get to claim. I think the only card that wins the game for Eisen at this point is the second copy of Well-Equipped.

My opponent looks at their hand, taps their cards on the table briefly, considering. A smirk appears on their face. My heart sinks, my pulse races. I’m all-in now; if they have the answer then they have it, nothing more I can do now. I actually find myself relaxing a little, knowing I no longer have any control of the outcome, no more decisions to fret over, no more pressure.

There is a beat, then my opponent reaches their open hand out to me to concede the game.

Final Result: Castille Economic Victory, 7 - 4

I’ve broken the game down in my head a few times and I think the single crucial moment that meant the game went to Castille instead of Eisen was the challenge that Philip issued to Soline in day 2. By engaging Philip and, thanks to “You Cheated!” effectively ending the duel to no detriment to Castille, it opened up the line of play where I could send Philip home with Makepeace, claim the Bazaar with Makepeace, then send Makepeace over to the Docks to contribute to the influence there to allow Sanjay to claim. This meant that instead of getting two Renown each that day, I gobbled up four to Eisen’s zero, a swing that put me in range for the win in day three.

If that hadn’t have happened, we would have gone into day 3 with 3 Renown apiece and I would have had to rely on different strategies altogether; I might have mustered Rosa and chosen Until Morale Improves, or gambled on Torvo potentially being able to kill Rosine (though I think this was much less likely, and since I didn’t draw any Unsanctioned Duels it would definitely have failed). None of those answers are as effective as the one I was given the chance to pursue, and Eisen’s boardstate advantage would have quickly become insurmountable.

Having made a couple of key errors in other games where I had forgotten about the consequences of messing with city cards, I actively chose to never use Early Morning Arrangements. I was always the player in control of the pressure action on it, with Lorenzo camping the spot out, so I could have at any point taken the card to my home, but it replaces itself with a new city card, and if one had come out that gave Eisen even the slightest advantage in the Bazaar it could be the end of me, and having that happen because I resolved an effect I had no need of would have felt terrible.

Overall, I admitted to some luck in the game; I drew both copies of Night of Drinking, I drew Adaptable in day 1 before I could accidentally gamble it to the bottom of my deck, I drew both copies of “You Cheated!”, although I only played one; my opponent said they had been tempted not to use Armed and Marshalled to send Soline home; I had engaged them early as temptation to potentially attempt to challenge them (which would engage an Eisen character) or to use up Armed and Marshalled on them so that Makepeace and, more importantly, Sanjay, would be safe from it later. The temptation they resisted was to fight Soline, in the end. When they mentioned they regretted not doing it, I mentioned the second “You Cheated!”, vindicating the choice they had made.

I don’t believe my opponent made any play errors besides that day two challenge, though, and the closeness of the result showed just how crucial that one mistake was in the end. They played around the day one Dominance I might have threatened; possibly without knowing it, but by putting Rosine at the same location as Soline before Soline used their move reaction they ensured that there would be no way for me to hold all three locations that day.

For my part, I don’t think any of my plays were glaring errors. When Soline was moved home in day three I felt like I had missed the possibility of it, but actually allowing it meant Sanjay was safe when the time came for him to use Adaptable, and the only way I could prevent it would be to react-move Soline away from Rosine; this would only have delayed the inevitable, however, since Rosine had multiple ways of moving and there were more attachments in the Eisen hand to enable it later anyway.

In hindsight, had I simply refused Eko’s challenge in day one instead of spending the Amour to parry two threat, I would have been safer at the end of the game had everything else played out the same way; my hand at the end would be three cards (instead of two), to Eisen’s four, so if they had played the Well Equipped that I dreaded, I would have had sufficient cards for Sanjay to engage the character that became en-garde. That’s a nonsense scenario though; had Soline ended day one with four wounds instead of two I think my opponent would have put a lot more effort into finishing the job, and I might not have been able to prevent it, even with my lucky draws, so the game would have likely been very different. I doubt I would have made that decision differently, even knowing what I know now.

Overall I was happy with how my deck reacted to the largely unfamiliar Eisen faction. With all I learned from the game, I think I would play almost exactly the same deck as I did, but would drop my two copies of Roll the Bones for two of Robbery instead, a change I very nearly made before the event. Robbery would have enabled me to grab a key attachment from Eisen at some point onto Soline to make it far more difficult to shift them with Armed and Marshalled, making my Adaptable plan far easier to secure, since I could do it at any location while Soline was in play at the Forums. Roll the Bones (of which I think I drew one, spending it to pay a cost) doesn’t provide me any such options, so I finally think I’m ready to cut it from the deck.

As a final note, I’d like to say thank you to my opponent, who was the most gracious and delightful person I could hope to face in a final match. They proved themselves to be a real powerhouse, consistently demolishing all opposition. I know that if my luck had been slightly worse in that game I would certainly have lost and I fully expect them to come back next year and be sitting at the top table in the final once again.

¡Viva la Castille!