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!