These events were played on August 23-25, 2024. Reported by Kelly Lyons and Darby Keeney:

Things get heated up in the deep south as the Gulf Coast Roast continues in Mississippi. Speaking of hot. How about Darby Keeney??? The man is just a legend. Since his appearance in Dallas in March, Darby has played in 19 tournaments, qualifying for 11 final tables and winning 9 events including 2 events this past weekend in Mississippi. He is currently ranked #2 in the world standings – but for how long?

The Gulf Coast Grand Prix Event – Mississippi was won by Kelly Lyons. This is the Water Dog’s 3rd Grand Prix Final and his 2nd win putting him in first place in the current standings:

RANK    FIRST NAME    LAST NAME    POINTS
1    Kelly    Lyons    65
2    Brad    Cashdollar    35
3    Dean    Garrison    31
4    Sidney    Conklin    28
4    Darby    Keeney    28
6    S. Andy    Smith    25
7    Matthew    Hatch    21
7    Chance    Thebeau    21
9    Clint     Jordan    18
9    Ian     Lee    18
11    Karl    Schaefer    15
11    Kelly    Schultz    15
11    Justin    Shackelford    15
14    Chris    Franklin    12
14    Devin    Villegas    12
16    Norm    Brown    11
17    Oscar    Garza III    10
18    Sagan    Jameson-Hatch    9
18    Joey    Theriot    9
20    Preston    Poulter    8
[The other 23 participants has 3-6 points]

44 Players have participated in the Gulf Coast Roast thus far. New Orleans and Vidor are the final stops for the Grand Prix:

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA:
Friday, October 11 - Abandoning the Flesh
Saturday, October 12 - Gulf Coast Roast Grand Prix - New Orleans - 4th Leg
Sunday, October 13 - Redeem the Lost Soul

VIDOR, TEXAS:
Friday, December 6 - Danse Macabre II - First Danse
Saturday, December 7 - Danse Macabre II: Gulf Coast Roast - Vidor (Main Danse)
Sunday, December 8 - Danse Macabre II - Last Danse
Sunday, December 8 - Gulf Coast Roast - Grand Prix Final

For more information got to the Gulf Coast Roast Facebook Page.

Darby and Kelly both like to talk. So, here are their winning deck list and their commentaries:

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Recruiting Party, Gulfport MS, USA, August 23, 2024
2R+F, 20 players
Winner: Darby Keeney (pictured above) 2GW+8VP + 2 VP in final
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/11470

Tournament winning deck: “Y.A.F.T.P.D.”, a "Funda-Fist" revision.
Credits: Antti Penttilä, Karl Schaefer and Kelly Schultz for discussion/review of previous versions.

This combat module is largely prototypical, but adjusted for Hunger + maneuver + additional strike per rush/block card. I'll miss some blocks, get combats from bleeding and maybe have fights requiring added flexibility - so it's not real math. But whole thing is stupidly polyvalent.

I don't re-adjust to any fixed ratio during play. Decisions are more about immediate effectiveness and looking forward 1-2 actions/reactions when possible.

The tournament was a little odd. I manage to get 4VP in each of the opening rounds and enter the finals as top seed, only to see 2 other players from my first game (Karl with Iron Fist vote and Devin with Scout Shattering Crescendo). At least I know what's coming, right?

Brad fails to display the Dracon in the seating flip and I choose in front of him. Ooops....maybe I didn't know what was coming.

Seating is: YAFTPD (Darby) --> Ministry Pt Protocol (Chance) --> Iron Fist/bounce (Karl) --> Shattering Cresendo/Zappa (Devin) --> Dracon semiwall (Brad)

Chance's minions are pretty big but he makes progress. Karl also does pretty well but we're both really careful with how friendly we get. The table reaches a point where Karl and Devin are under 10 pool. If Chance drops a Club Illusion someone is probably ousted before others can prevent it.

I have Funmi and Kaysim in play and have had Iron Fist, Hunter's Mark and DI in hand for a while. That's more options than anyone really wants, my brain is melting and I have to pick a path when my turn starts.

I finally discount cross-tabling Devin to give Karl 6 pool despite knowing that's probably all Karl gets. This leaves either removing Karl (either by action or inaction) or removing one of Chance's minions and playing a straight-up game. Given the pool totals downstream and the whole "Dracon is unpredictable" thing, I opt for nuking one of Chance's full minions using the Iron Fist for Kaysim's hand strength.

This eventually leads to me ousting Chance and creating that precarious position involving top seed with a VP. As expected, Karl invokes the "Dogpile Darby Protocol." He tries to wall up while Devin Shatters my minions cross-table and Brad bleeds me. The whole thing is an uneasy alliance which I try to break with observations like "you all know Karl just wants votelock, right?" and "didn't Devin just bleed you?"

Still they persist as I not-so-subtly bleed Karl out, giving me a little more pool buffer as I continue the long process of losing vampires to Scout. Devin and Brad continue to tag-team me. Warmaksan becomes my only hope as I desperately try to oust Devin, who decided that Visions of Zapathura and Party Out of Bounds are cards worthy of seemingly infinite repetition.

I eventually deck Devin. My deck is light on Swallowed by the Night, so Warwaksan enthusiastically demonstrates how [cel] + Resist Earth's Grasp combine in a sub-optimal ousting plan. I fall to Brad's bleeds, leaving those two heads up.

Brad has too much pool for 3 people to remove, but Devin imitates the local cockroaches. We saw them in our AirBnB, they really do get man-sized and are extremely resilient.

Time expires, leaving me with a finals game win from the sidelines. It was a well played finals all around and was incredibly fun despite seeing my minions slowly wither in the midgame.

Future considerations: Funmi-led [AUS] bounce/wall and pure rush combat versions of this deck are currently on the back shelf.

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Farah Sarroub 7 CEL THA aus obf prince Banu Haqim:6
2x Kasim Bayar 9 CEL OBF THA aus pot justicar Banu Haqim:6
2x Kassandra Tassaki 6 CEL THA obf prince Banu Haqim:6
2x Oluwafunmilayo 8 AUS CEL OBF THA prince Banu Haqim:6
2x Warmaksan 5 THA cel obf prince Banu Haqim:6
1x Greg Mazouni 4 cel obf tha Banu Haqim:6
1x Khadija Al-Kindi 6 CEL OBF THA primogen Banu Haqim:6
-- Funmi really rounds out this crypt and usually feels like the star vampire.
-- Wish I could get rid of Warmaksan, but any 5-cap prince is awfully good.

Library (90 cards)
Master (15; 8 trifle)
2x Alamut -- defense before offense
1x Direct Intervention
1x Giant's Blood -- Better me than them
3x Haqim's Law: Retribution -- Enough in this version
2x Priority Contract -- Been the right number so far, 3 caused hand jam
6x Villein -- This could increase to 7 and the deck might be better

Event (2)
1x NSA Trio -- I can't tell you how often this buys a turn without predation
1x Scourge of the Enochians -- replaced Aranthebes when Iron Fist replaced Ancilla/Anarchist

Action (5)
5x Hunter's Mark

Political Action (5)
4x Camarilla's Iron Fist -- incredible midgame potential, even if not realized this weekend
1x Disputed Territory

Equipment (2)
1x Bowl of Convergence -- half the crypt has [aus/AUS]
1x Sport Bike
-- Both work better than Market Square when playing 2nd Trad, if you can afford the equip action

Action Modifier (3)
3x Forgotten Labyrinth -- critical for Hunter's Mark with crypt's prevalent [obf] drawback

Action Modifier/Combat (10)
6x Resist Earth's Grasp
4x Swallowed by the Night -- More [CEL] than [OBF] means more Resists

Combat (39)
3x Blur
16x Hunger of Marduk
2x Lightning Reflexes -- Just can't drop these, they always make a difference
3x Psyche! -- just enough to make Form of Mist/Majesty think twice
7x Pursuit
3x Quickness -- I sometimes wonder about this card's errata and a deck might result
3x Rego Motum
2x Zip Gun -- love this wrinkle

Reaction (9)
9x Second Tradition: Domain -- prototypical BH Prince card count

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War Party, Gulfport MS, USA, August 25, 2024
2R+F, 21 players
Winner: Darby Keeney 2GW+7VP, 4VP in final
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/11472

Tournament winning deck: “Flakes”
LiqTab Combat ally swarm, postnerf and V5 tuned, created by Darby Keeney, based on a deck Mehdi Mazni played in the 2018 NAC finals, which appears to have roots in decks from Malween Douchy (2009) and Pawel Kukielczynski (2010).

I've been running variants of this deck since seeing Mehdi run his during the 2018 NAC finals. I've made finals with them but hadn't won until this less combat-focused V5 version saw the light of day.

Most recent changes are summarized inline below.

Crypt (12 cards)
5x Antonio d'Erlette 5 THA dom for pot Tremere antitribu:4
2x Isanwayen 6 DOM MYT OBT Kiasyd:4
1x Ember Wright 3 aus dom Tremere antitribu:3
1x Janine 4 aus dom tha Tremere antitribu:4
1x Keith Moody 3 DOM Tremere antitribu:4
1x Mosfair 4 cel dom tha Tremere antitribu:4
1x Saiz 3 aus dom Tremere antitribu:3
-- Isanwayen is a "break glass in case of emergency" Parthenon + Deflection machine. Never showed in any round this time.

Library (70 cards)
Master (30; 1 trifle)
9x Ashur Tablets -- dropped to 9 copies post nerf, plan for 2 sets.
1x Bleeding the Vine -- why should anyone else complete the Tablets?
1x Creepshow Casino -- marginal hard-recruit tool, unknown value.
1x Direct Intervention
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Frontal Assault -- simply huge in this build, won game 2.
2x Haven Uncovered -- also important in games 2, 3 and 4.
1x Jake Washington
4x Liquidation
4x Parthenon, The
2x Shard, London, The -- terrible interpretation IMO, but play as ruled.
1x Villein -- marginal, should probably be Wider View
-- I used to run an Information Highway to dribble pool onto vampires while still crapping out Nephandi. Probably should replace the Creepshow Casino.

Event (3)
3x Unmasking, The -- yeah, this does a thing and still deserves a nerf

Ally (10)
1x Carlton Van Wyk
9x Nephandus

Equipment (1)
1x Heart of Nizchetus -- I never took time to get this, but I think it is important?

Action Modifier (4)
4x Mirror Walk -- I didn't used to play these, but the no-combat clause opens options.

Combat (8)
8x Target Vitals -- Trap isn't V5 meta, this is the combat pump. Doesn't feel excessive.

Reaction (14)
8x Deflection -- increased for the current meta
2x Delaying Tactics -- crucial in the finals
4x On the Qui Vive

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Gulf Coast Roast Grand Prix (3rd Leg) – Biloxi/Gulfport, Gulfport MS, USA, August 24, 2024
3R+F, 25 players
Winner: Kelly Lyons 2GW+8VP + 2 VP in final
www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/11471

Tournament winning deck: “Water Dog - Manipulating the Beast”

My previous Gangrel Deck was “Unscrupulous Behavior in the Wild” which had a similar crypt. With this deck I decided to let André the Manipulator shine. The +2 cards for your hand is too good when it’s so easy to make him anarch, unlock, act again, defend, etc. Utilizing Thing and Effective Management helped me put Andre into play every round including the final.

For this crypt I dropped Martina Srnankova, Mickey Wheeler, and Hanna Nokelainen. I added 2X Andre and Massimiliano. Massimiliano, although higher in cost than what I wanted to pay would be another baron added to help play Bait and Switch.

The library was completely different in many ways except for Thing and Deep Ecology. Starting with master cards the big change was adding 2x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum. Why wasn’t that in my other Gangrel Deck??? I also, added a Pentex(TM) Subversion which came up big in the final. However, this is a reduced master card package as I went from 16 master cards to 14.

I added Break the Bonds, Open War, and Constant Revolution reducing the number of Things and Skullduggeries. The combat package was completely overhauled to add Concealed Weapons with .44 Magnums. Open War with guns was really important in the finals.

I knew I couldn’t oust Kelly if we were heads up. Back ousting was the option I was thinking. He committed himself when he influenced out a third vampire. That dropped his pool. I immediately Pentexed Stanislava, torpored Ingrid Rossler by using Shatter and then diablerized her. The game shifted to whether or not Karl could be ousted but he’s such a good player that he was able to stop bleeds and set himself up to oust me. Knowing this I was prepping for him.

I don’t quite remember the order of things here but Andy finally ousted Matt. I believe it was at this point that Karl decided to make his move. Karl had an Anarch Troublemaker in play. I was feeling good about my hand sitting on Deep Ecologies and Eyes of the Wild. Also, for the last 2 turns I was slow bleeding Andy and leaving 2 untapped minions to tempt Karl to use his Troublemaker. He finally committed, locked down my minions, and then sent 5 straight Public Trust bleeds. I prevailed the onslaught and now with Karl weak Andy committed to oust him. I had no problem with this because I truly felt that my bleeds weren’t going to be enough to get Karl. Also, I still get the Tournament win as long as I oust Andy.

I was about 95% sure that Andy had an Archon Investigation. I needed him to get rid of it. So, I sacrificed a vampire with a Monkey Wrench bleed, then influenced out Kuyén. I held onto one more turn. Sitting on 2 pool, I Garibaldied a Break the Bonds to get another plus bleed in my hand and finished the job.

Thanks to Dean Garrison for hosting. Also, big shout out to Terry Miles of Miles to Adventure Game Store.

Crypt (12 cards)
1x Massimiliano 7 ANI FOR pro baron Gangrel:6
2x André the Manipulator 6 FOR PRO Gangrel:5
1x Casey Snyder 6 PRO ani cel for baron Gangrel:6
1x Kuyén 6 ANI PRO baron Gangrel:6
1x Crow 5 ANI for pro tha Gangrel:5
1x Dario Ziggler 5 FOR ani pro tha Gangrel:6
1x Kamile Paukstys 5 PRO ani for Gangrel:6
1x Nathan Turner 4 PRO ani Gangrel:6
1x Indira 3 PRO Gangrel:6
1x Joaquín de Cádiz 3 for pro Gangrel:6
1x Ruslan Fedorenko 2 pro Gangrel:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (14)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Backways
1x Club Illusion
2x Direct Intervention
1x Ecoterrorists
4x Effective Management
1x Ennoia's Theater
2x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion

Action (26)
2x Break the Bonds
1x Constant Revolution
1x Open War
2x Rewilding
2x Shattering
2x Skullduggery
16x Thing

Political Action (2)
2x Revolutionary Council

Equipment (4)
4x .44 Magnum

Action Modifier (12)
4x CrimethInc.
2x Earth Control
6x Monkey Wrench

Action Modifier/Combat (2)
2x Rapid Change

Action Modifier/Reaction (4)
4x Form of the Bat

Combat (8)
4x Concealed Weapon
2x Earth Meld
2x Form of Mist

Reaction (18)
5x Bait and Switch
9x Deep Ecology
3x Eyes of the Wild
1x Organized Resistance

Thanks to Kelly and Darby for this report, and to all organisers, sponsors and player!

This event was played in Johannesburg on July 6. Report by Nevil Wright, VEKN Prince of Pretoria/Johannesburg:

Although we had only a few players (6), and unfortunately the Cape Town group was not able to send any representatives, we had a lot of fun. New, old and returning players brought their usual wide variety of decks and the prelim rounds were not dominated by any one player. Several coin tosses were required to set the final table.

Result after three preliminary rounds:
1. Joshua Newcombe 1 GW, 5 VP
2. Coenie Pretorius 1 GW, 3 VP
3. Nevil Wright 1 GW, 3 VP
4. Jaco van der Walt 0 GW, 1 VP
5. Clement Langenhoven 0 GW, 0 VP

Josh came out, guns blazing, and quickly subdued both predator and prey. He tore through Nevil`s Setites in less than half an hour, and this earned him much table-hate. But then he hit Clement´s wall. To quote Clement and his use of Obedience. "Sit. Stay."

Things went downhill from there, and, after eating its way through Jaco`s depleted pool and torporised Malkavians, the creeping sabotage eventually got him.

Coenie and Clement then settled into a war of attrition, and like all such wars, it dragged on with neither side securing an advantage. 2 hours later, with only minutes remaining, Clement broke through and finally finished Coenie off.

From front: Coenie (currently untapping); Jaco (ousted); Josh (concentrating); Nevil (ousted); Clement (pensive).

In summary: Clement 2 VP, Coenie 2 VP, Josh 1 VP.

The tournament winning deck: “Elimelech Hears Voices”

Crypt (12 cards)
5x Elimelech the Twice-Damned  11 pro AUS DEM DOM FOR OBF  Ventrue antitribu:5
1x Lutz von Hohenzollern 11 pot AUS DEM OBF PRE  Malkavian:4
1x Morel   6 AUS DEM OBF  Malkavian:4
1x Arthur Denholm  5 obf AUS DEM  Malkavian:5
1x Tears, The Dark Pierrot 6 cel AUS DEM PRE  Toreador antitribu:4
1x Tryphosa    10 AUS DEM DOM OBF POT  Malkavian:4
1x Bloody Mary   8 pre AUS DEM OBF  Malkavian:5
1x Alicia Barrows  9 AUS DEM OBF POT PRE  Malkavian antitribu:4

Library: 80 cards
Master (15 cards)
1x Giant's Blood
2x Information Highway
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Asylum Hunting Ground
2x Powerbase: Montreal
2x Vessel
2x Villein
1x Wider View
3x Dreams of the Sphinx

Action (10 cards)
1x Entrenching
1x Haunting, The
1x Restructure
1x Revelations
2x Sleep of Reason
3x Call, The
1x Abbot

Action Modifier (3 cards)
2x Mind Tricks
1x Veil the Legions

Action Modifier/Combat (5 cards)
5x Swallowed by the Night

Combat (15 cards)
3x Forearm Block
2x Gemini's Mirror
4x Weighted Walking Stick
6x Coma

Ally (1 cards)
1x Mylan Horseed

Retainer (1 cards)
1x Mr. Winthrop

Equipment (3 cards)
1x Ivory Bow
1x Sengir Dagger
1x Bowl of Convergence

Reaction (27 cards)
3x Eyes of Argus
2x Mental Maze
6x Obedience
2x On the Qui Vive
3x Redirection
6x Voice of Madness
2x Wrong and Crosswise
3x Deflection

All in all, we had an excellent day of VTES (It's not often you play four rounds of a tournament in a single day).

So, tired but sated, we headed off into the deepening twilight, another day of battle done.

Thanks to the organiser, the players and Pandemonium Games in Cape Town for prize support!