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VTES Grand Prix Montreal 2025

This tournament in the North American Cup Grand Prix series was played on April 26. Reported by Darius at Diableriste.com and the winner Alexandre Bustos himself:

On this rainy Saturday, an event in the North American Cup series took place at the Abyss facility in Montreal. Once again, it was a very enjoyable day with few twists and turns. There were 22 players in total, including three from south of the border: Karl Schaefer from Pittsburgh, Darby Keeney from Colorado, and Chris Malec from upstate New York.

The tournament consisted of three preliminary rounds at five tables (two five-player tables and three four-player tables) and a five-player final. Since I wasn't present at the final table, I wasn't able to witness the game unfold. However, Alexandre Bustros, who was there, gave me a summary, which is as follows:

Standings after three rounds:
1. Karl Schaefer 2 GW, 8.0 VP
2. Alexandre Bustros 2 GW, 5.5 VP
3. Martin Servant 1 GW, 8.0 VP
4. Richard Blais 1 GW, 7.0 VP
5. Darby Keeney 1 GW, 6.0 VP

VTES Grand Prix Montreal 2025
The game started off rather poorly for Alexandre and Martin, who were playing the same vampires. Karl had a very fast start with his Ravnos bleed deck, and Darby quickly turned against him leaving some space to Alexandre. Richard was bled once by his prey (everyone used Deflection). Karl played Kaymakli Nightmares, which delayed Martin by a turn. Darby did what he could to survive Karl's multiple bleeds; he played two My Enemy's Enemy targeting Richard, who ended up with just one pool. Karl received a lot of "table hate" in the form of various votes. Martin didn’t have a Baron due to the lost turn from Kaymakli Nightmares, and he was ousted by Alexandre, who finally managed to bring out a second Baron without contesting Martin’s, as well as a War Ghoul. Richard ousted Karl, and a bit later Alexandre deflected a final fatal bleed back to him to oust him! After that, there was no chance for Alexandre to lose, he had 2 victory points and a better starting position than Darby.

Congratulations to Alexandre for his great victory!

The tournament winning deck: Ghouls & Ghost by Alexandre Bustros

Crypt (12)
3x Angel Guerrero
2x Adrino Manauara
2x Whisper
1x Marialena
1x Branimira
1x Clara Hjortshoj
1x Prentis Derby
1x Susie Kano

Library: 75 cards
Master (15)
2x Blood Doll
1x Papillon
2x Anarch Troublemaker
1x From a sinking ship
5x Jake washington
2x Villein
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Giant's blood

Action (13)
13x Govern the Unaligned

Action Modify (12)
6x Conditioning
2x Foreshadowing Destruction
2x Invigorate
2x Horrific Countenance

Action Modify/Reaction (2)
2x Form of the Bat

Recruit Actions (5)
5x War Ghoul

Combat (15)
2x Carrion Crows
8x Earth Meld
3x Form of Mist
2x Groundfighting

Reaction (13)
8x Deflection
4x Organized Resistance
1x Redirection

Thanks again to the organizers!