These three tournaments were played on April 10–12 2026 in Dallas, Texas. The report is by Chris Franklin, Darby Keeney and Kelly Lyons, with extra comment from the champions:

The second leg of the Gulf Coast Roast III began on Friday, April 10th with the Dallas Reconquista tournament. A weekend that saw 4 of the United States top ten players in attendance competing with other veteran players all bringing their best resulting in a high level of play. 

For the third year in a row we gathered in the historic Arlington venue of J Gilligan's bar and grill. The staff and ownership deserve a callout as they always treat us so well and allow us to take over their event room for the entire weekend providing great service throughout.

Finalists of the Dallas Reconquista - winner Chance second from the left.

The final table for day one resulted in the following players making it. Table seating: Darby Keeney with V5 Ministry > Mark Figuerola with Inside Dirt Nossies > Kelly Lyons with Hecata > Chance Thebeau with Weenie Animalism > Adrian Ruiz with Tzimisce block/bleed

Darby strikes first with his high-powered Ministry ousting Mark with help from Kelly rushing backwards.

Chance then ousts Adrian. Kelly turns his attention to Chance’s weenies and hurts him but Darby seeing an opportunity goes for Kelly and outs him before he can finish off Chance.

With nothing to stop him Chance rushes the Ministry and eliminates all his opponent’s vampires leaving him as the sole survivor and the winner of the day and marking Chance’s first tournament win! Congrats Chance!


The Gulf Coast Roast III Grand Prix

Day two was a rainy Saturday for the Gulf Coast Roast III Grand Prix. We had 14 players in attendance with the finals resulting in the following players making the finals. 

Gulf Coast Roast III Grand Prix Dallas finalists.

This was a wild game from jump with Chris turn one playing a Jake Washington who immediately equips an Ivory Bow. Brad, thinking he has a clear shot, rushes Lydia but Jake blocks and comes out ahead with a well-timed Rotschrek! Jake survives to tell the tale to his friends. 

Besides that though it was Chance who came out swinging with his high powered Hecata bleed deck. Everyone knowing what it was capable of felt it the dominant table thread. Darby was forced into survival mode almost immediately and wasn't able to put any pressure on Brad. 

Devin, facing little pressure from the True Brujah though, was keeping Chance mostly in check and with enough help from the table was able to eliminate the Hecata. Darby is now not in much of a better position than he was before however with two Brujah decks on his left and right. The True Brujah are defending every turn from Brad’s rushes so with nothing to stop him Devin secures another VP ousting Darby. 

Now knowing Devin only needs one more VP to secure the win Brad and Chris attempt to work together but it's too little too late. Devin eliminates Brad and takes the overall win for the Grand Prix. Devin's play that day was overall superb as the first seed so a well-earned victory for him indeed!

Devin Villegas (5 VP!) breaks down his tournament win along with his deck list:

A piece of advice: If you don’t have a VTES buddy to trade decks and ideas with, get you one. One of my top buds and prior GCR winner, Andy Smith, will often discuss different approaches or decks with me leading up to a tournament. For the Dallas leg of this year’s GCR, he took it a step further and gave me the keys to the Cadillac. A deck which, in his words, was close.

That wasn’t quite correct because, as far as I can tell, this deck is complete. A highly-tuned S-tier block machine, Sakuspace was a terror in every round. Ended up top seed going into the finals, losing only one table to time. Taking nothing away from the excellently played final, that top seed and subsequent seating choice turned out to be a large factor for success. Final table was Hecata Swarm (Chance) → Toreador Vote (Darby) → Brujah Fighty Toolbox (Brad) → Temporis Shenanigans (Chris) → Brujah Blocky Guns (Devin). 

To begin, the other Brujah deck and I must negotiate crypts. He wants to claim Saku, who I have in my opening crypt. I agree, recognizing the deck can work well without him, but not without a lot of complaining because come on… that is the deck Namesake for a reason! Hecata starts off applying a tremendous pressure, forcing the Toreador to bloat + go upstream straight away. The swarm nearly succeeds, but combined table back pressure proves to be too much, leaving me with 1 VP and maybe 2.5 predators since I am now a clear table threat. 

Toreador bloats back up and begins to apply some pressure to the other Brujah. After getting Hour-glassed by the Trujah, I decline to block anyone with Temporis for essentially the rest of the game. Instead, I focus on stabilizing, pressuring the Toreador, and attacking the Trujah support. Once Mylan and Abdelsobek are beaten up, my pressure lightens. With the help of several redirected Veneficti bleeds I’m able to squeeze the Toreador for another VP.

The final nail in the coffin was weaponized contestation, flipping Saku and Carfax Abbey on the same turn while the other Brujah was struggling to pierce the Trujah defense. I secured the edge, circled the wagons, and passed quite a few turns before finally squeezing out the other Brujah VP. All in all… a great deck, great final, and a great tournament against top flight Methuselahs.

The tournament winning deck: “Sakuspace”, created by Andy Smith, piloted by Devin Villegas

Crypt (12 cards)
4x Saku Pihlajamäki     8 CEL POT PRE for pro   baron   Brujah:6
1x Aline Gädeke     7 POT PRE cel      baron   Brujah:6
1x Valeriya Zinovieva   7 POT cel pre pro       baron   Brujah:6
2x Leumeah     6 PRE cel for pot       baron   Brujah:6
1x Atiena     6 CEL obf pot pre       baron   Brujah:6
1x Bituin      6 THA ani cel dom       baron   Tremere:6
1x Casey Snyder    6 PRO ani cel for       baron   Gangrel:6
1x Elisha Tucker    6 PRE cel obf pro       baron   Ministry:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (22; 8 trifle)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Carfax Abbey
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Giant's Blood
6x Hackerspace
1x Papillon
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
1x Vessel
5x Villein
2x Wider View

Action (8)
7x Line Brawl
1x Open War

Political Action (7)
2x Eat the Rich
5x Reckless Agitation

Equipment (7)
4x .44 Magnum
1x Ivory Bow
2x Sniper Rifle

Action Modifier/Reaction (3)
3x Scalpel Tongue

Combat (23)
6x Bollix
6x Concealed Weapon
6x Diversion
5x Hell-for-Leather

Reaction (20)
8x Bait and Switch
12x Organized Resistance


The North American Cup Grand Prix Dallas

Day 3 was the North American Cup event where 11 players went on to speed run through a 3 round event in about 4 and a half hours. Everyone apparently decided we needed to finish this up as quickly as possible to get to the finals! 



When the play began we knew that Andy was going to set the tone for the game. His very fast Nossie weenies put pressure on Chance before he could even get a minion out. 

Chris and Brad agree not to contest minions and Chris gets his minions out quickly and is able to pass some damaging votes on Brad but once Albert and Brad get voting minions out it shuts down Chris’ ability to progress his game and spends the rest of the game defending from Banu rushes. 

Chance eventually succumbs to Andy’s pressure and then the table is solely focused on eliminating Andy from the game. With Brad and Albert working together they manage to get Andy off the table. With Chris impotent to do anything to either player it gives Brad time enough to power through Albert and oust him from the game. 

By that time Albert had torpored Chris’ minions so with no hope left he concedes to Brad who takes the NA Cup victory home to Ohio! Well played to him!

Brad Cashdollar (4 VP) breaks down his tournament winning deck list: “Hard Money Power”

Crypt (13 cards)
4x Aaradhya, The Callous Tyrant   10 ANI DOM FOR POT PRE   cardinal     Ventrue:6
3x Dark Selina   9 CEL POT PRE dom for   cardinal     Brujah antitribu:5
1x De Sade       9 AUS DOM FOR PRE       archbishop   Ventrue antitribu:5
1x Věnceslava, The Implacable      9 DOM FOR POT PRE cel   archbishop   Brujah:6
1x Damian        8 DOM OBL POT for pre   archbishop   Lasombra:6
1x Rexton "Savage" Abernathy       8 DOM POT PRE cel       archbishop   Brujah:6
1x Üresség       8 CEL POT PRE dom for   archbishop   Brujah:6
1x Khin Aye      7 POT PRE dom for       priscus      Ventrue:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (23; 7 trifle)
1x Black Forest Base
1x Dark Influences
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
2x Monastery of Shadows
1x Powerbase: Madrid
1x Privileged Position
1x Purchase Pact
1x Secure Haven
4x Unholy Sacrament
1x Ventrue Headquarters
7x Villein

Action (6)
6x Govern the Unaligned

Political Action (15)
2x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment
3x Banishment
2x Cold War
1x Empires Fall
5x Kine Resources Contested
1x War of Ages

Action Modifier (23)
1x Daring the Dawn
3x Dominant Personality
2x Enkil Cog
4x Iron Glare
2x Magnetic Authority
2x Perfect Paragon
4x Relentlessness
3x Unthinkable Humiliation
2x Voter Captivation

Action Modifier/Reaction (3)
3x Absolute Tyranny

Combat (6)
6x Majesty

Reaction (14)
8x Deflection
4x Obedience
2x On the Qui Vive

North American Cup Grand Prix Dallas finalists - the winner Brad in the middle.

All together a wonderful weekend of VTES with a collection of the best group of guys you could hope to know. Everyone played at the best of their ability and left with a lot of great memories and eager to see each other again. What a wonderful experience the GCR has become. I encourage others to attend if you haven't yet. You will not be disappointed! 

Gulf Coast Roast III top 10 right now:
1. Devin Villegas 34 points
2. Brad Cashdollar, Chance Thebeau 30
4. Norm Brown 28
5. Darby Keeney 23
6. Chris  Franklin, Dean Garrison, B.J. Rice 15
9. Matthew Hatch 11
10. Adrian Ruiz, Justin Shackleford 10

Thanks for these reports, and thanks to the venue, all volunteers and players!