This tournament was played on July 18 at Jazzland Wien, Vienna, Austria. Reported by Paul Direktor, co-organizer with Richard Utner:

Organizing the first GP in Vienna and the largest tournament here since the EC 2002 has been a blast. Having 74 players from over 16 countries here made it almost feel like a precursor to the EC. The event started already on the Thursday before, when the first Methusaleh gathered for some casual games and ended one week later, after the last guests left and went back home.

The meta was predictably unpredictable, although the usual meta decks were as prevalent as suspected. Congratulations again to Heimo, for winning his first tournament and keeping the title in Austria! After 3 games, his Arradhya deck turned out to be top seed with an impressive 3 GW 12. The other finalists included Giotto & Friends, Malkav '22 S&B, Animalism Barons and a Hecata Ally Swarm deck.

Score before the final:
1) Heimo Wurzer 3 GW, 12 VP
2) Vincent Ripoll 2 GW, 9 VP
3) Attila Tormasi 2 GW, 8 VP
4) Petter Zittnan 2 GW, 8 VP
5) Gyula Erdös 2 GW, 7.5 VP

Final Result: All players 0.5 VP, Heimo winner because he was to top seed.

Tournament winning deck: "Ladies of Power"
Comments by the winner: This is my take on Aaradhya and the Path of Power path, specifically for big tournaments or tournaments where you can expect more bleed and little combat decks. I tried to slim the deck down, make it more consistent, less explosive, so as not to put a target on my back in every game.

Crypt (12 cards)
4x Aaradhya, The Callous Tyrant 10 ANI DOM FOR POT PRE cardinal Ventrue:6 -- Only running 4 Aaradhya, to have an easier time to get out 3 vampires, which is always the goal.
2x Dark Selina 9 CEL POT PRE dom for cardinal Brujah antitribu:5
2x Üresség 8 CEL POT PRE dom for archbishop Brujah:6 -- 2 Üresség over Rexton since his ability is almost always active in the last legs of the game, and the +bleed is really noticeable.
2x Věnceslava, The Implacable 9 DOM FOR POT PRE cel archbishop Brujah:6
1x Khin Aye 7 POT PRE dom for priscus Ventrue:6
1x Rexton "Savage" Abernathy 8 DOM POT PRE cel archbishop Brujah:6

Library (84 cards) -- Master package is pretty standard, not running Privileged Position’ or Black Forest Base’ to slim the deck down a bit
Master (18; 5 trifle)
1x Creepshow Casino
2x Dreams of the Sphinx -- can bring out Aaradhya 1 turn early, otherwise hand size is always good
1x Día de los Muertos -- for when you aren’t getting the vote push you need
1x Elder Library
1x Giant's Blood
1x Gurchon Hall -- against advise, this card just feels right for this deck
2x Information Highway
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Papillon
1x Secure Haven
1x Ventrue Headquarters
5x Villein

Action (7)
7x Govern the Unaligned -- we have dominate, so it is almost a must

Political Action (13)
1x Anarchist Uprising -- against all the baby factories and zombie decks
1x Ancilla Empowerment -- against all the baby factories and zombie decks
2x Banishment -- great for protection
6x Cold War -- your bread and butter
1x Empires Fall -- can often work as a better Kine
1x Political Stranglehold -- you will get 6 or 9 pool with this, and sometimes can even help your crosstable friends
1x War of Ages -- it is easy to get the votes for it, since people still underestimate the dmg

Equipment (1)
1x Heart of Nizchetus -- if you get it early its great, but thinking about actually dropping it

Action Modifier (31)
4x Dominant Personality
2x Enkil Cog -- Paul told me to put 2, and I listened
4x Freak Drive -- gives you amazing lunge potential
4x Iron Glare -- Essentially running 4 of all the good cards we want, and only using versatile vote push so we don’t waste any card slots and always have something useful to play.
4x Perfect Paragon
4x Relentlessness -- This gives you a good combo of block fails and - intercept
4x Unthinkable Humiliation
5x Voter Captivation

Combat (4)
4x Majesty -- less against combat, and more to be able to unlock so we can bounce

Reaction (10)
6x Deflection -- to make sure to survive against heavy bleeders early
2x On the Qui Vive -- 2 is enough, as Aaradhya can often stay up with Enkil Cog
2x Redirection -- in case the blood runs low

Photos by Marko Saari (floor) and Andreas Kucera (winner).

Special thanks goes to fellow player and lawyer Arthur Machac for sponsoring parts of the event!

Thanks for this report, and thanks to all organisers, sponsor and players!

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!