Finalists: Andy, Brad, Darby, Dean and Mark.
This event took place on December 8, reported by Kelly Lyons, VEKN Prince of Vidor, with deck comment by the winner:
The Gulf Coast Roast II came to an ending in Vidor, Texas. The Last Grand Prix was played and all that was left was for the top 5 players to duke it out and see who would be crowned champion. There were 4 returning players to the Final Table; last year’s winner Andy Smith, Mr. Hard Money Brad Cashdollar, the Prince of Biloxi Dean Garrison, and the #1 ranked U.S. player Darby Keeney. The newcomer to the table was Mark Figuerola. The final was untimed and this lead to a 3 hour match of perseverance and fortitude.
Andy was the first one out and Mark had the first VP. A trend of started were ouster became the ousted. Mark soon followed Andy and Brad cashed in for his lone VP of the match before he was also removed by his predator, Dean. Dean hung in there for a good period of time but was dominated by Darby’s minions that continued to keep growing. Meanwhile, Dean ran out of cards and moves. The dust had settled in Texas and Darby Keeney stood tall as this year’s champion. Congratulations to Darby Keeney and the rest of the finalist.
Final result:
Darby Keeney 2VP
Dean Garrison 1VP
Brad Cashdollar 1VP
Mark Figuerola 1VP
The tournament winning deck: “Hold My Beer Revision 4” by Darby Keeney
This crypt migrated from all Nosferatu (4 duplicated primogen) to superior Animalism with useful vampire specials. With that change, Protected District appears in smaller numbers, supplemented by Confusion of the Eye (unused this weekend). Baixnho vs Bereguela is give-and-take, the deck really wants some rando 4-cap [ANI] vamp.
The library is atypical - a combat deck of less than 90 cards with 7 Villeins. I've decked myself only once, so this feels "correct" in pratical use. I've gone 1.5/1 Bats:Crows. That's lower than my old 1.6/1 ratio but higher than the 1.3/1 I believe best suited for an S:CE-heavy meta. Retaining maneuvers for vampires playing with 1 blood seemed more valuable than meeting theory-crafted output potential. The stealth is sparse, but feels like just enough.
Basic play remains the same:
- minimize pool expenditure,
- get vampires and Villein for 5 (see above),
- play combat and taste to 3+ blood,
- then play turns situationally based on hand contents.
Crypt (12 cards)
2x Dowager, The 6 ANI OBF aus pot primogen Nosferatu:6
2x Larissa Moreira 6 ANI OBF pot primogen Nosferatu:6
2x Lenny Burkhead 6 ANI obf pot pre primogen Nosferatu:6
1x Baixinho 3 ani obf Nosferatu:6
1x Doc Martina6 ANI OBF for pre Ravnos:7
1x Gathii 5 ANI PRE obf Ravnos:7
1x Horace Radcliffe 5 ANI POT obf Nosferatu:6
1x Nikolaus Vermeulen 7 ANI POT for obf prince Nosferatu:6
1x Trung Chau Pham 3 ANI Ravnos:7
Library (80 cards)
Master (16; 7 trifle)
4x Ashur Tablets
1x Bleeding the Vine -- with only 4 Tablets, this is mandatory.
1x Direct Intervention
1x Giant's Blood
1x Labyrinth, The
1x Secret Library of Alexandria, The -- marginal until it isn't.
7x Villein
Action (11)
11x Deep Song
Ally (1)
1x Carlton Van Wyk
Action Modifier (6)
3x Faceless Night
3x Lost in Crowds
Action Modifier/Combat (5)
5x Swallowed by the Night
Combat (29)
12x Aid from Bats
1x Canine Horde
8x Carrion Crows
5x Taste of Vitae
3x Terror Frenzy -- feels like a 4th copy could work
Reaction (11)
2x Confusion of the Eye -- has to be useful in the long run.
2x Guard Dogs -- the best of bad options.
2x On the Qui Vive
5x Protected District
Event (1)
1x Scourge of the Enochians -- in preference to Carver's.
Thanks to Kelly and everyone else involved in the Gulf Coast Roast, and good luck with the next circuit!
Youri, Axel, Martin (the champion), Vincent, Mathias and organizers Christophe and Laurent.
Report by Christophe Baltazar, VEKN National Coordinator of France:
On Saturday November 8th, held the French Championship in Vitrolles, southern France, close to Marseille. 52 players were gathered for this event, coming from many part of France, but also from Swiss, and even one from Dubai. Thanks to all of them for coming!
The big question at this event was: Are players gonna dare to play the new Sabbat content or not? We were something like 2 weeks after official release. And the answer for Saturday was "not really".
In final, we had:
1. 2 GW, 8 VP: Martin Cuchet
2. 2 GW, 7 VP: Axel Huet
3. 2 GW, 6.5 VP: Mathias Skubich
4. 1 GW, 6.5 VP: Vincent Ripoll
5. 1 GW, 5.5 VP: Bujan Youri
Despite the originality of Youri's deck, he was unable to survive to Martin. Khobar Tower on his own vampires and some cross table rescue helps him a little to resist but Martin ousted him.
Mathias did his best to put pressure on Martin, but Martin was quicker to make his VP, and strong enough to resist to Mathias.
Vincent tried to survive, with little help, and logically, Axel managed to oust him.
Even if Mathias was trying to continue to put some pressure on Martin, the finale reached time limit. Final result: Martin 1,5 vp, Axel 1,5 vp and Mathias 0,5 vp. As Martin was better seed, he won the French Championship 2025. Not the usual Martin, this one is french, "laissez-le nous" 😉 He won several prizes, including the book of the Champion, a kind of story book of each French championship since its start 2000.
The winning deck: “Haqim's Law: Peach” by Martin “spigushe” Cuchet
Crypt (12 cards)
1x Kasim Bayar 9 CEL OBF THA aus pot justicar Banu Haqim:6
4x Oluwafunmilayo 8 AUS CEL OBF THA prince Banu Haqim:6
2x Farah Sarroub 7 CEL THA aus obf prince Banu Haqim:6
2x Kassandra Tassaki 6 CEL THA obf prince Banu Haqim:6
1x Khadija Al-Kindi 6 CEL OBF THA primogen Banu Haqim:6
2x Warmaksan 5 THA cel obf prince Banu Haqim:6
Library (90 cards)
Master (19; 8 trifle)
4x Ashur Tablets
3x Haqim's Law: Retribution
1x Market Square
1x Powerbase: Montreal
3x Priority Contract
1x Rack, The
1x Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper, The
5x Villein
Action (8)
4x Fleetness
4x Magic of the Smith
Equipment (4)
2x .44 Magnum
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Heart of Nizchetus
Action Modifier/Combat (5)
5x Swallowed by the Night
Combat (42)
3x Blur
10x Hunger of Marduk
3x Infernal Pursuit
12x Psyche!
10x Pursuit
4x Rego Motum
Reaction (12)
12x Second Tradition: Domain
The same day, the final of the first French League was played (congratulations Gwen Foret for winning that one with Gargoyle deck) and the following day also the “Le Lendemain” tournament (won by Kamel Senni with a Stanislava deck). See the VEKN forum for reports from those events.
Thanks also to Ultra Pro and The Red Question for their support (sleeves, boxes, portfolio, cards ...) for this weekend! A huge thanks to all players, and congratulations to all winners! See you next year in France guys :)
We normally only present National, Grand Prix and Continental level tournament reports here, but we make an exception for this one, to showcase what a neonate playgroup looks like and how to develop it. Words by Sven Helmer, VEKN Prince of Zurich, Switzerland:
On 22 November, sixteen Methuselahs gathered in Zurich for the tournament "Überwald League of Temperance".* For ten of the players, this was the first tournament they have ever played in, that is why the tournament announcement asked players to not play hyper-competitive decks. This worked out quite well and everyone had a lot of fun, showing everyone that VTES tournaments are usually quite relaxed and laid-back affairs. I chose not to participate, so I had enough time to answer questions and explain cards, as I expected a higher number of rules questions/clarifications.
After two rounds, the finalists were determined: Tacitus (Ministry Stealth-Bleed/Vote, 2 GW, 7 VP), Milan (Karl Schrekt Tremere Block, 2 GW, 6 VP), Kevin (Nergal Stealth-Bleed, 1 GW 6 VP), Sven (Stanislava, 1 GW 3 VP), Jennifer (Path of Death Servitors, 0 GW, 3 VP). Jennifer managed to oust Tacitus before the game timed out, securing the tournament win. Although the final included a significant number of wraiths, the zombie in the background of the picture of the finalists did not participate.
The tournament winning deck, Servitor Swarm, was described by Jennifer as a Servitor deck with the Path of Death and Soul as a basis for more bleed:
Crypt (12 cards)
2x Sakura, The Merciless 7 DOM OBL THA aus pot Lasombra:6
1x Parijat, the Dark Oracle 7 AUS DOM FOR OBL Hecata:6
2x Aitana, The Unholy 6 AUS OBL for tha Hecata:6
1x Azucena 5 DOM OBL pot Lasombra:6
1x Zbigniew, Hunter of Mekhet 5 OBL aus dom tha Lasombra:6
3x El Monseñor 4 OBL dom Lasombra:6
1x Alek König 3 OBL Hecata:6
1x Peter St. John 2 obl Hecata:6
Library (90 cards)
Master (16; 3 trifle)
2x Archon Investigation
2x Blood Doll
1x Burial Site Hunting Ground
1x Charisma
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Effective Management
1x Fragment of the Book of Nod
1x Information Highway
1x Powerbase: Munich
2x Villein
1x Wider View
Action (10)
2x Govern the Unaligned
8x Shroud of Decay
Ally (16)
16x Spectral Servitor
Action Modifier (26)
1x Conditioning
9x Gifts From Hereafter
5x Shadow Cast
5x Shadow Cloak
3x Stygian Shroud
3x Where the Veil Thins
Combat (6)
6x Pass Through Shadow
Reaction (14)
6x Deflection
3x Delaying Tactics
5x Shadow Sentinel
Event (2)
2x Unmasking, The
For the Zurich playgroup, this tournament was an important milestone. Compared to the first tournament we held in Zurich, we were able to double the number of participants and the fledgling playgroup is in a good state, we manage to play quite regularly, managing to get a session in almost every week.
Until a few years ago, there was only one noteworthy playgroup in Switzerland, the one in Geneva. We are happy to have established a second one. On the way there, we experienced what a lot of other new playgroups have also found out. Be patient, this is not going to happen from one day to the next, there are going to be setbacks. Only one of the three demo sessions we ran actually brought in a couple of new players. Play in a public place to attract attention to get potential new players interested in the game (fancy blood counters and edges also help here). Try to create a friendly environment, i.e., leave your cut-throat decks at home for a while. We played a lot of V5-clans to teach basic strategies and always had plenty of these decks around for players to try out.
Many thanks also to TwoMoons, a trading-card shop that opened its doors recently in Stettbach for hosting and supporting the tournament. We hope to have many more tournaments and VTES sessions at this location in the future.
* In case you are wondering where the tournament name comes from, this is a reference to Terry Pratchett. It is the name of a vampire self-help group trying to abstain from human blood.
Thanks for this report Sven, and good luck in the future Zurich!
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