This tournament was played on October 17 at Guy On The Couch Cards & Gaming in Monroeville, Pittsburgh area, Pennsylvania. Reported by Karl Schaefer himself, the VEKN Prince of Pittsburgh and tournament winner:
We had 21 players show up to the final event for our Appalachian Assault GP series. The event was on Saturday with the finals on Sunday morning.
I picked a deck that I had tweaked to deal with the meta that I was expecting. I was very right and very wrong about the meta. In every prelim round, both my predator and prey had decks that could one-shot a Nephandus. This meant that I was spending a lot of my early game setup, just trying to survive instead of gaining the necessary mass to overwhelm the table. Millicent ended up being critical at keeping some of the aggressive predator combat at bay and my Nephandi are unaffected. Those turns allowed me to gain some mass and finally gain the upper hand when those decks started drawing dead. I had a lot of fat Nephandi running around as I burned vampires in torpor to reduce the ability for the other players to recover.
This eventually led to me being second seed at a finals table that I wanted nothing to do with.
Standings after round 3:
1. Will Matson 2 GW 8.5 VP
2. Karl Schaefer 2 GW 7.0 VP
3. Scott King 2 GW 6.5 VP
4. Erik Albenze 1 GW 6.0 VP
5. Brad Cashdollar 1 GW 5.0 VP
Will had seating choice after me, so I chose to sit away from Erik, both to avoid Shroud of Decay and Corpses with Walking Sticks. That still meant I had to deal with Hunger of Marduk, giving me yet another prey that could one-shot my Nephandi. The game moved slowly for me as I was reluctant to take many actions. I was trying to build some mass to be able to survive the Tzimisce pressure behind me. I dealt to put a no-forward Nephandus in play, which at least gave me an extra blocker, which is necessary against Form of Mist.
Erik was doing a great job keeping Brad in check with small bleeds and unbounceable Shroud of Decay. Eventually Brad falls. I finally have a decent amount of Nephandi and Erik starts bringing Corpses in play to deal with his new prey, Will. I manage to bounce two bleed to Scott, who blocks the first, but not the second. I attempt to move forward and make some progress. Finally getting a couple of bleeds in.
Scott and Erik get into it a bit and after another bounced bleed, I feel like Scott might be low on Second Tradition. I was wrong, but he was low on blood and Hunger, allowing me to empty one vamp and torp another. After another turn, I managed to get Scott. We had about 20 minutes left. I bounced a bleed that would have ousted me and dealt with Erik to ensure that he didn't bounce it back. That prevent me from going forward on my next turn, but I managed to pop a set of Tablets and play a Villein, giving me a cushion. However, that also meant Erik was unchecked. He torped two of Will's vampires. I rescued one, while putting pressure forward. With less than 5 minutes left, Will fires off a monster bleed that I bounce. I DI'd Erik's wake, but he had another and was able to block. On my turn, I work Erik down, but know I can't oust. I pass the turn and hope that Will can survive. At 4 pool, Will eats a Shroud of Decay. He attempts to block the next Shroud of Decay and as time expires is able to do so. I end up winning the tie-break.
Tournament winning deck: "Frosted Flakes" by Darby Keeney and Karl Schaefer
Description: My version of Darby's "Flakes." Darby's deck is great, but I made a few changes.
- Aranthebes has been critical in providing the addition "intercept" against my predator's actions and occasionally the -bleed effect is good too.
- Millicent stymied a lot of action and allow me to build unmolested at times. Was able to recycle it.
- Changed some ratios to keep the decks in the low 70s. The Harass have been in an out, but left them in today and used them twice over the course of the day to excellent effect.
- The double Secure Haven was key to getting it early and keeping Antonio safe.
- Tupdog is great because it allows Anotonio to act and can be brought into play with Dreams. The extra bleed made a difference in round two.
Really appreciate Sergio chatting with me to help me fiddle with the last 2-3 cards. Getting the second Secure Haven was critical.
Crypt (12 cards)
2x Isanwayen 6 DOM MYT OBT Kiasyd:4
5x Antonio d'Erlette 5 THA dom for pot Tremere antitribu:4
1x Mosfair 4 cel dom tha Tremere antitribu:4
1x Keith Moody 3 DOM Tremere antitribu:4
3x Tupdog 1 POT VIS Gargoyle:3
Library (73 cards)
Master (31; 1 trifle)
9x Ashur Tablets
1x Bleeding the Vine
1x Creepshow Casino
1x Direct Intervention
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Haven Uncovered
1x Information Highway
1x Jake Washington
4x Liquidation
1x Millicent Smith, Puritan Vampire Hunter
3x Parthenon, The
2x Secure Haven
2x Shard, London, The
1x Villein
Action (3)
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
2x Harass
Ally (10)
1x Carlton Van Wyk
9x Nephandus
Action Modifier (4)
2x Conditioning
2x Mirror Walk
Combat (9)
9x Target Vitals
Reaction (13)
7x Deflection
3x Delaying Tactics
3x On the Qui Vive
Event (3)
3x Unmasking, The
Congratulations Karl, and thanks for this report. Thanks to all volunteers, sponsors and participants!
This final was played on October 18 in Monroeville, Pittsburgh area, Pennsylvania. Reported by Karl Schaefer, VEKN Prince of Pittsburgh:
The morning after the last Appalachian Assault 2026 tournament, we held the finals for the league. Featuring Guy Russo, Karl Schaefer, Alex Romano, Erik Albenze, and Brad Cashdollar. The finalists were chosen based on points, not just wins, like our compatriots do in the Gulf Coast Roast, with one exception, the winner of the final event was automatically in the Grand Final. We felt this strategy promoted travel while ensuring folks still had some chance at the last event regardless of how many events they could attend. Because the final is not VEKN sanctioned, we did what the US has always wanted to do in a final and sat players randomly, having seeding only matter in the case of a tie.
Karl never found Sascha, which meant that his deck had card flow trouble. He was able to make some headway on Brad with Horatio bleeding every turn and the agg combat coming at timely points, but not enough to keep Brad in check. He pushed his way through Guy quickly thanks to timely Villeins and had four vampires by the time he got to Alex. Erik was balancing keeping Alex in check with rescuing his vampires after agg-combats with Karl. That only delayed the inevitable as Karl fell next, hand-jammed on master cards. Brad's combat was too much for the remaining players to handle and he oust Alex and finally Erik.
Winning deck: "Brad’s Banu" by Brad Cashdollar
Crypt (12 cards)
2x Farah Sarroub 7 aus obf CEL THA Assamite:6
2x Kasim Bayar 9 aus pot CEL OBF THA Assamite:6
2x Kassandra Tassaki 6 obf CEL THA Assamite:6
5x Oluwafunmilayo 8 AUS CEL OBF THA Assamite:6
1x Warmaksan 5 cel obf THA Assamite:6
Library: 90 cards
Master (22 cards)
1x Market Square
1x Papillon
6x Ashur Tablets
3x Priority Contract
6x Villein
1x Wider View
4x Haqim's Law: Retribution
Action (1 cards)
1x Magic of the Smith
Political Action (2 cards)
2x Camarilla's Iron Fist
Retainer (1 cards)
1x Omael Kuman
Equipment (2 cards)
1x Book of Going Forth by Night, The
1x Bowl of Convergence
Action Modifier/Combat (4 cards)
4x Resist Earth's Grasp
Combat (39 cards)
8x Pursuit
5x Rego Motum
2x Zip Gun
16x Hunger of Marduk
8x Blur
Reaction (19 cards)
3x Eyes of Argus
1x My Enemy's Enemy
10x Second Tradition: Domain
5x Telepathic Misdirection
This GP final was played on the same weekend as the 2026 Oceania championship. Reported by Ke Carlton via Steve Harris:
Five 2026 GP events (Auckland, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney) determined the finalists. The GP Final was contested around the Oceania Continental Championship weekend in Brisbane (mid-October 2026).
Top 5 qualifying standings:
1. Richard Aumann (Melbourne) – 78 pts (Auckland winner: Hecata Bone Shamblers)
2. Ke Carlton (Auckland) – 65 pts (Melbourne winner: Cultural Appropriation)
3. Rathpex (Melbourne) – 51 pts (Perth winner: Minister Lim Ministry)
4. Nick Miller (Sydney) – 50 pts (Brisbane + Sydney winner!)
5. Ben Szymkow (Perth) – 30 pts
Rich got a quick start and influenced a couple of one caps (Alex, Donald) and quickly recruited an ECTU Operative and Gregory Winter. Rathpex was feeling the pressure quickly and felt the need to back rush. Ben brought Unmada into play and gently bleed for 2 - 3 to not enrage Ke's rational Tupdogs.
It turned out Rathpex did not need to worry about Rich. Nick’s Will-o’-the-Wisp power bleed allowed him to oust Rich cleanly and Ke had made clear very early that he would not interfere with his oust. Graham and Horst's Dominate was ineffective against the Will-o’-the-Wisp with Enkil Cog and roughly 40 minutes into the game, Rich took consecutive large bleeds and was first out, leaving 80 minutes on the clock. Nick influenced Eurayle, ready to play Renewed Vigor. Rathpex was fairly low on pool 5 so still in danger.
An empty Sha-Ennu was turned into a raw recruit and a full Lutz agg poked and burnt by a Nephandus. Nick brought a second Sha-Ennu into play leaving him on one pool.
The second Sha-Ennu was poked into torpor and grave-robbed, Nick was ousted. On the same turn Unmada met some aggravated hands and also went into torpor. Table talk began in earnest, now that Nick was ousted Ben and Rathpex needed to double team Ke.
Unmada later recused but was then punched back into torpor and also grave-robbed. With under 10 minutes remaining on the clock, Rathpex and Ben mounted a late push to try to oust Ke. Despite their best efforts, Ke held without over-extending. The clock expired and Ke’s Tupdogs took the day on time-out.
Congratulations Ke, thanks for this report, and good luck with the next GP circuit!
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