This event was in Belgrade on May 16. Report by the champion himself (with deckbox in the image of the finalists above):

Thanks to everyone who showed up and to those who wanted to but could not. We had only 3 guests from abroad, all of whom are fluent in Serbian*, so the communication was smooth. The point is that the community has grown nicely, but we need to do more to promote Belgrade as a destination for playing VtES. Players from Serbia have won the Zagreb GP (⅘ finalists were from Belgrade), and hold the titles of Slovak, Croatian, and Serbian National Champions. The Ottoman Empire moved out some time ago, so it’s a fun place and you don’t even need a visa. But if the mountain won't come to Mohammed … we will meet you in Vilnius!

*it’s a joke on the whole nomenclature of what was known as the Serbo-Croatian language. Look it up on Wikipedia.

The deck: "Carthage Withering"
Author: Nikica Novaković Otso Saariluoma
Description: I read the report on GP Dallas where Brujah barons won and then NC in Finland’s winner’s shoutout to Otso, and it reminded me of a deck I tried a while ago, but did not enjoy that much in our weekly games. I also knew that I’ll face Gangrel barons, more likely than not, so let’s give them a taste of their own medicine by contesting everything and making that damned Earth Meld actually cost something! Off I went to do a bit of netdecking!

Otso said in the description of his 2024 6th Tragic Love Affair winning deck: “My take on Nina's barons with Slow Withering. If the draw and the table work out, it should be able to build to an overwhelming position in the late game. It is also rather hard to interact with the build-up, as it's mostly masters, transfers, events and concealed magnums. However, the list felt clunky as it is and a hand size of six hurts.

After the tournament, would cut Flames of Insurrection (felt like a win more card), Smiling Jack and Constant Revolution (low impact during the day), as well as one of each of Organized Resistance, Diversion and Dust Up (just to smooth out the draws). Might double up on New Carthage.”

I did all that :) and a few touches here and there for personal preference and style:
● Papillon is too expensive for my tastes, so Poacher´s Hunting Ground goes in instead.
It will get a counter if somebody else has a Papillon or Carfax Abbey, or any kind of plain ol’ hunting ground.
● Dark Influence over Direct Intervention. 1 pool extra is worth cancelling your predator’s Organized Resistance for the turn, and keeps me safe from a random DI. The infamous Gangrel packs 3 DIs.
● Elder Library – Otso said: “the list felt clunky as it is and a hand size of six hurts,” so I fixed it :p Not paying for Papillon and Club Illusion saves some pool investment for this and Dark Influence.
● Nightmares Upon Nightmares – The bane of existence for Hecata ally decks. With 4 Gehennas on the table, 3 caps will burn blood for Thirst, and 4 caps will burn cards for this one, so weenies are handled.
● Club Illusion – Removed because I’m more confident I’ll have New Carthage with 2 in the deck, and I can Villein everyone for 5, as no blood is needed. Ultimately slower on the attack angle, but more comfortable bringing in more vampires. Somebody somewhere will have Club Illusion ;)
● Finding room for the 3rd Dreams might be a good idea. Instead of Info Highway, perhaps.
● Rumors of Gehenna never saw the light of day, and passing it on one stealth is iffy.

Crypt (12 cards)
3x Saku Pihlajamäki     8 CEL POT PRE for pro   baron   Brujah:6
2x Aline Gädeke         7 POT PRE cel        baron   Brujah:6
2x Valeriya Zinovieva   7 POT cel pre pro       baron   Brujah:6
1x Massimiliano         7 ANI FOR pro       baron   Gangrel:6
2x Leumeah        6 PRE cel for pot       baron   Brujah:6
1x Atiena        6 CEL obf pot pre       baron   Brujah:6
1x Casey Snyder         6 PRO ani cel for       baron   Gangrel:6

Library (71 cards)
Master (33; 10 trifle)
6x Ashur Tablets
2x Carfax Abbey
1x Dark Influences
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Elder Library
1x Fortschritt Library
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Giant's Blood
1x Information Highway
2x New Carthage
3x Parthenon, The
1x Poacher's Hunting Ground
1x Powerbase: Montreal
2x Vessel
6x Villein
2x Wider View

Political Action (2)
1x Revolutionary Council
1x Rumors of Gehenna

Equipment (6)
4x .44 Magnum
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Sport Bike

Retainer (1)
1x Mr. Winthrop

Combat (9)
3x Concealed Weapon
4x Diversion
2x Dust Up

Reaction (16)
5x Bait and Switch
2x On the Qui Vive
9x Organized Resistance

Event (4)
1x Break the Code
1x Nightmares upon Nightmares
1x Slow Withering, The
1x Thirst

Round 1:
Carthage Withering -> New Lasombra B&B -> Princes Politics -> Path of Power politics (Melinda Galbraith) -> Masika & Anneke

Playing first with Dreams in hand, but I’m confused by all the masters, and I’m never sure what to discard. Bringing a deck I played once was a bold strategy. I discard Dark Influences, and a turn later, my Lasombra prey bounces Masika’s bleed of 5 back on me. I’m on the back foot and stay there till the end of the game despite having 3 vampires eventually. I never have enough OR or Bait and Switch in hand to confidently go forward. Masika has Sniper, and Anneke has The Rack and a gun, and each exchange hurts unless I have Diversion. Not many of those in the deck, though.

Lasombra rushes and bleeds forward, and with 2 VPs has no good reason to crash into a wall, especially with increased cost on relevant combat cards due to Slow Withering. With 2 cards in hand and an empty library after triggering Ashurs, the game ends with a timeout and 0.5 VPs.

Round 2:
Ministry Stealth&Vote -> Carthage Withering -> Oblivion power bleed -> DEM weenies -> Path of Power weenies

I have Montreal and Villein in my opening hand, and with no combat in sight, I’m not feeling Saku’s absence in the crypt. The game revolves around balancing cross-table politics so that DEM does not sweep through 2 people and jump on me. Balancing means I support it all as damage goes to my prey and predator and it’s even easier when Bribes are played. I have no pressure and all the time in the world to grind my prey out. 
PoP weenies slow down and fail to kill my Ministry predator despite my support. DEM weenies take 2 VPs with 2 actions, paying extra for Slow Withering and enjoying 11 cards in hand with Bitter and Sweet Story on the board.

My prey is on 2 pools and has a chance to kill DEM weenies, which would leave me fighting for 2 VP and a tied game. Not good. His first Govern + Bonding goes through, and I play Dark Influence on his 2nd Govern. No more Governs, yay! DEM weenies try nothing (?) I kill the prey with Revolutionary Council, and the remaining 4 damage goes to my new and last prey. We shake hands as I’m on ~30 pool, 4 vampires out with Carthage, and the rest of the master in front of me. 1 GW 3 VPs.

Round 3:
Banu Haquim vote -> Brujah Barons (punchy ones) -> Thucimia Death Star Bleed -> Carthage Withering -> Toreador midcap bleed

I’ve seen what Thucimia with Blind Spot and Deed the Heart's Desire does to people, and I’m hoping for enough bounces and early Slow Withering to make it costly. The gods of randomness deliver, and I have Garibaldi, Thirst, and Slow Withering in my opening hand! I bounce a couple of bleeds of 1, taking back my Bait and Switch each time. The crypt draw is not ideal, but there is no chance of contesting it, it seems. I get Saku, and his maneuver will be relevant for future and inevitable combat.

Banus want my votes and a deal to kill my prey in exchange for no aggression until the other Brujah are dead. Sounds sensible to me. We’ve seen Toreador go through their first prey like a lightsaber through some unsuspecting children.

The other barons are progressing nicely with their Carthage (free Carthage is the best Carthage) and leave Thucimia at 6 pool, at which point DEM kicks in and Kindred Spirits show their teeth by bleeding back for 6. Phew!

I easily deal with my prey, who has 1 out of 3 vampires who need to hunt due to Thirst and no one has AUS for bounce. Now my new Banu Prey has some time to kill the inferior Brujah. I let him have a couple of Boons, as in the end, the pool will not be important if he can’t get to the referendum, and with all his guys having inferior OBF, it’s gonna take some resources.

Saku with a gun is enough to dispose of Atiena and Leumeah and survive Alina’s rush over a few turns. Diablery on Atiena brings my handsize back, and I bring in my own Atiena. When we’re down to 1 vs 1, I have all 5 Brujah barons and Maximiliano, so not even Black Throne and Camarila Conclave are enough to pass votes over that and Carthage. 1 GW 3 VP.

Standings before the final:
1. Nikica Novaković 2 GW 6.5 VP
2. Nikola Obradovic 2 GW 5.5 VP
3. Nemanja Jovicic 1 GW 7.0 VP
4. Dusan Kosanovic 1 GW 6.0 VP
5. Djordje Bjelajac 1 GW 4.0 VP

The finals:
I’m the top seed, so I choose to sit behind the 2 aggressive bleed decks with a clear strategy of playing for 2 VPs and a draw. That means I’m not going forward too harshly, not that I can with this deck, and making sure my predator dies. The cross table Juliet and I have the votes. Slow Withering is gonna annoy everyone decently. Excellent!

I get excited about having both Dreams of the Sphinx, Wider View, and Villein in my opening hand, and forget to play the Wider View before the Dreams :/ Oh well, at least I don’t look too strong and/or lucky :)

The game goes somewhat predictably, except that my ORs are not that frequent. I prevent the 1st Govern from my pred, and Saku with a .44 deals some damage to Gnaeus Aemilius Augustinus, leaving both on 1 blood. I patch it up with Giant’s Blood. My second vampire is Aline, but again, given the lack of OR, I’m not confident about going forward with more than 1 vampire. With Carthage in play, at least the bleeds are double the usual.

Thucimia dies without a single action taken due to a timely Mind Numb by one of the Toreador and a bunch of bleeds, obviously. Juliet passes a Parity Shift. Weakness in my defenses is exposed, but ultimately not exploited, when I take 2 bleeds for 2 from my prey while Saku is unlocked, as it bounces around the table. Well, 4 is much less than whatever 3 Lasombras with DOM can do when I have a single bounce and no ORs 🙌.

Lasombra seems to think I’m baiting them, and they are low enough on pool and decide to go back, sending Juliet to torpor. 3 Gehenna cards are in play, and I’m balancing my pool with Vessels and no hunting ground and no OR. Why do I keep forgetting to take it to hand via Garibaldi?

3rd Ashur is Washed, but Montreal instead will do. Saku gets Mind Numbed, and my predator bleeds me for a total of 2, although I’m completely defenseless. Phew again! Pretty people with roses steadily go forward with their 5 minions, undisturbed by my occasional bleed to take the Edge from them.

Juliet passes the Camarilla Iron Fist for 4 dmg on Lasombra and Dominica with Guiding Wisdom, and Andi Liu and Gilbert finish the job. Prey has 1VP, pred has 1VP. We’re halfway there, and pretty much living on a prayer. Nightmares Upon Nightmares are affecting 1 vamp of both of my opponents, so they have discards to do. A neat feature of NUN is that once you replace, you’re implicitly in the master phase, so it’s very, very easy to forget stuff in the unlock.

Toreador and Malks strike a deal to give Malks a turn to try to kill/cripple me at my 5 pool. I have 3 vampires with Carthage and the Elder Library. Saku has Mr. Winthrop's help, and I feel somewhat comfortable with 2 OR in my hand.

Malks play Dreams and go down to 3 pool. Juliet calls for Alastor to get the Helicopter. I don’t mind the Helicopter, but 2 more cards from Juliet’s special is a no-no. She manages to jump over Saku’s 2 intercepts. I dare not chase her all the way with the last OR. Helicopter goes on Andi, who calls Camarilla Iron First. Uh-oh! Winthrop and OR are enough for the block, and Andi is in torpor after an additional strike. Close call.

Details are fuzzy on what I play in my master phase, but I end up with 3 ORs in hand, including the one from Garibaldi, and 6 pool. Toreador makes an easy job of Malks and bleeds me for 1 with few dudes in hopes of exhausting my ORs. I block them 1 by 1, but the last little pretty bastard bleeds for 5 with Propaganda. Titled vampires can’t block. No subtlety with that guy! Let’s hope he did not draw into more of those.

I start my turn at 1 pool and Vessel and Villein, and later I’m at 7. Phew! again. I end my turn with 4 OR in hand again, and by playing them to block hunts, I draw into two more. I’m also out of reach for another Propaganda + Aire of Elation.

Toreador players offer me a handshake, and it’s 2 VPs, a draw game, and the tournament is won. It took the wisdom of two people, Otso and Nina, and the luck of one to win this.
The lesson here is to prepare for Gangrel Barons and hope never to meet Gangrel Barons, and you’ll do fine (?) Maybe test the deck a few times before taking it to the tournament. I’m so used to playing Deflection that Bait and Switch locking a vampire confused me.

Ban Garibaldi-Meucci Museum.

Thanks to Nikica for the report, and congratulations to the title! Also thanks to the organisers, sponsors and all participants!