The first leg of the Gulf Coast Roast 2025 circuit was played in Dallas, Texas, on March 22 with 16 Methuselahs. Reported by Chris Franklin, VEKN Prince of Dallas:

Dallas Texas was the host to the second annual Gulf Coast Roast event hosted at J Gilligans Bar and Grill in Arlington Texas. Players from around the country came to battle in three days of fantastic competition. The skill level varied from newcomers to legends of the hobby that rank amongst the very best the world of VTES has to offer. The main event of the weekend was Saturday's Gulf Coast Roast Grand Prix which marked the first leg of the Gulf Coast Roast for this year's competition.

After three long rounds of fierce competition we had a final table which included the number 1 player in the world Darby Keeney as well as veterans Brad Cashdollar, Chris Franklin, and Dean Garrison as well as relative newcomer Destyn Bowers who is also a Dallas native. With a hard fought final in the end it came down to Chris Franklin and Destyn Bowers who after torporing all of Darby’s minions he finally ousted him and then set about torporing all of Chris’ minions before he conceded the win to Destyn.

Standings before the final round:
1st Dean Garrison 2 GW 7 VP
2nd Darby Keeney 2 GW 6 VP
3rd Chris Franklin 1 GW 5 VP
4th Brad Cashdollar 1 GW 4 VP
5th Destyn Bowers 1 GW 4 VP

Final Results: Destyn Bowers 3 VP, Darby Keeney 1 VP and Chris Franklin 1 VP. A massive congratulations to Destyn for his first tournament win!

The tournament winning deck: “Anamilism Fun!!” by Destyn Bowers

Crypt (12 cards, min=19 max=28 avg=5.92)
1x Keegan 8 ANI FOR PRO aus cel Gangrel:6
2x Massimiliano 7 ANI FOR pro baron Gangrel:6
2x Doc Martina 6 ANI OBF for pre Ravnos:7
1x Kuyén 6 ANI PRO baron Gangrel:6
1x Luciano Carvalho 6 ANI OBF pre Ravnos:7
1x Martina Srnankova 6 FOR PRO ani Gangrel:6
1x Roberto Rivamonte 6 ANI OBF PRE Ravnos:7
1x Gathii 5 ANI PRE obf Ravnos:7
1x Whisper 5 ANI DOM pro Tzimisce:6
1x Trung Chau Pham 3 ANI Ravnos:7

Library (90 cards)
Master (7; 4 trifle)
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Metro Underground
4x Villein

Action (23)
1x Army of Rats
20x Deep Song
2x Tier of Souls

Retainer (3)
3x Raven Spy

Action Modifier (15)
3x Adhocracy
12x Ni Dieu ni Maître

Combat (42)
19x Aid from Bats
9x Carrion Crows
2x Conquer the Beast
3x Drawing Out the Beast
4x Pack Alpha
5x Taste of Vitae

A fantastic tournament and a large thanks to both Kelly Lyons for organizing and Black Chantry for providing amazing prize support for the event! Next up for the Gulf Coast Roast II is Lafayette, Louisiana May 31st!