Reported by Kelly Lyons with comment from the winner:
The third leg of the Gulf Coast Roast was held, August 7-9, at Gulfport, Mississippi. Dean Garrison, the prince of Biloxi was the host and he once again delivered a weekend of bleeding and fun in the southern heat.
It all got started on Friday night with Condemnation: Doomed. Brad Cashdollar captured the win with his Tzimisce Deck. It ended on Sunday with Condemnation: Betrayed and a first time win for long time player Justin Shackelford from Lafayette, Louisiana. Justin got his win with a Brujah Anarch Deck. The Sunday win capped off a strong weekend of play from Lafayette players.
That’s because the main event was won by fellow Cajun, Joey Theriot. Joey just got his first win earlier this year in Vidor and now gets his first Grand Prix win as your Gulf Coast Roast III - 3rd Leg - Biloxi/Gulfport Champion.
Standings before the final:
Joey Theriot 2 GW 5.5 VP
Marshall Hogue 2 GW 11.0 VP
Brad Cashdollar 2 GW 8.0 VP
Tom Nichols 1 GW 7.5 VP
Chance Thebeau 1 GW 6.0 VP
Joey shares his thoughts about the final table:
Going into finals, I was placed third. My options were to prey on Tom or on Chance. I knew Chance and I were both running Hecata with similar crypts, so I chose to prey on Chance. Thankfully, Marshall sat behind me, giving me a little bit of buffer from Brad. This position allowed me to play most of my allies and undirected actions with few block attempts.
As the game progressed, Chance and I were able to avoid contestation for most of the match. Marshall was busy setting up his Primogen package, so this freed me to go forward. Neither Chance nor I played an Unmasking, so 1 stealth was all that was needed to get by his blocks. I stalled out midgame due to lacking a much-needed stealth card to oust chance, forcing me to pass turn. However, a well-timed Telepathic Misdirection from Marshall’s +1 stealth bleed sealed Chance’s fate.
Tom was fairly low on pool and had enough cards in his graveyard that I was able to play one Shroud of Decay at superior and supplement with small Servitor and Hecata bleeds to whittle him down. Tom attempted to outpace me by bleeding and burning Brad’s ash heap but ultimately softened Brad up enough for me to oust both, securing the table.
Joey Theriot’s tournament winning deck list: "Hecata Mash 2.0"
Crypt (12 cards)
1x Mora, the Death Seer 7 AUS FOR OBL ani Hecata:6
1x Parijat, the Dark Oracle 7 AUS DOM FOR OBL Hecata:6
1x Tommaso Sforza 7 AUS OBL THA dom for Hecata:6
1x Aitana, The Unholy 6 AUS OBL for tha Hecata:6
1x Lenelle, Mambo of Birmingham 6 FOR OBL aus Hecata:6
1x Monica Giovanni 6 AUS FOR OBL Hecata:6
1x Gebeyehu Abdu 5 AUS OBL for Hecata:6
1x Holliday "Burgundy" Hall 5 FOR OBL aus Hecata:6
1x Hiromitsu Asano 4 aus for obl Hecata:6
1x Alek König 3 OBL Hecata:6
1x Nadezhda 3 aus obl Hecata:6
1x Peter St. John 2 obl Hecata:6
Library (90 cards)
Master (15; 6 trifle)
1x Archon Investigation
1x Biotech Company Hunting Ground
1x Cappadocian Crypt
1x Charisma
1x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
6x Family Gathering
1x Giant's Blood
1x Jake Washington
1x Powerbase: Munich
Action (18)
3x Gate of Acheron, The
13x Shroud of Decay
2x Split the Veil
Ally (14)
6x Aggressive Corpse
8x Spectral Servitor
Action Modifier (16)
4x Shadow Cast
4x Shadow Cloak
4x Stygian Shroud
4x Where the Veil Thins
Combat (8)
4x Pass Through Shadow
4x Rolling with the Punches
Reaction (17)
1x Delaying Tactics
3x Eyes of Argus
2x My Enemy's Enemy
3x Shadow Sentinel
5x Telepathic Misdirection
3x Truth in Darkness
Event (2)
2x Unmasking, The
The Gulf Coast Roast III will continue on October 23-25 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The last leg of the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Final will be held in Vidor, Texas during the Danse Macabre IV on December 2-6.
Current GCR III – Top 10 of 31 players so far:
1 Brad Cashdollar 45
1 Chance Thebeau 45
3 Devin Villegas 37
4 Norm Brown 31
5 Joey Theriot 28
6 Darby Keeney 23
6 Chris Franklin 23
8 Mark Figuerola 19
9 Dean Garrison 18
9 B.J. Rice 18
Thanks for the report, and thanks to sponsors, helpers and players!