Finalists - the winner in red!
This event was played with 19 players in Gulfport Mississippi on August 23. Reported by Kelly Lyons, Dean Garrison and Parth Patel:
Another great weekend in the south. Methuselahs were bleeding away at the 3rd Leg of the Gulf Coast Roast II in Gulfport, Mississippi. Friday night got kick started with a Water Dog victory at the Revelation of Wrath Tournament. His Nosferatu Antitribu Vote Dirt Deck muddied the playground for the win.
Sunday, saw the Prince of New Orleans, Devin Villegas, win an exciting final round during the Revelation of Despair Tournament. Devin’s Daughters Deck sang the song that makes Shattering Crescendo worth singing. The vocals he sang lead to a victory that was years in the making.
But, the big event was Saturday Night. GCR II – Gulfport Grand Prix was on the line. Just like in Dallas and in Lafayette, it was the New Bloods that were doing all the bleeding. The young guns came prepared and whooped up on the veterans.
Standings after three rounds:
1. Justin Shackleford 3 GW 180 12 VP
2. Parth Patel 1 GW 6.5 VP
3. Joey Theriot 1 GW 5.0 VP
4. Logan Jameson-Hatch 1 GW 4.0 VP 112 TP
5. Josue Torres 1 GW 4.0 VP 102 TP
It was Parth Patel who rose up to conquer them all. In just his second tournament ever, Parth wins a Grand Prix Event. I don’t know what their princes are teaching these neonates down south but they better stop before they take over.
Parth´s tournament deck, with comments: “Scouse politics”
Crypt (12 cards)
3x Diana Iadanza 9 AUS CEL FOR PRE justicar Toreador:7
2x Catalina Vega 8 AUS CEL PRE for prince Toreador:6
2x Flávio Gonçalves 7 CEL PRE aus for prince Toreador:6
2x Maila 6 AUS PRE cel primogen Toreador:6
1x Bret Stryker 4 CEL PRE Toreador:6
1x Valentina Osako 3 PRE Toreador:7
1x Kazuki Hanabira 2 aus Toreador:7
Library (90 cards)
Master (18; 4 trifle)
1x Art Museum
1x Creepshow Casino
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Information Highway
1x Jake Washington
1x Protected Resources
6x Toreador Grand Ball
3x Villein
1x Wider View
Action (8)
6x Enchant Kindred
1x Entrancement
1x Heart of the City
Political Action (14)
2x Banishment
4x Camarilla's Iron Fist
4x Kine Resources Contested
4x Parity Shift
Action Modifier (23)
2x Aire of Elation
2x Awe
2x Bewitching Oration
4x Forced March
4x Loup
2x Perfect Paragon
7x Voter Captivation
Action Modifier/Combat (4)
4x Resist Earth's Grasp
Action Modifier/Reaction (2)
2x Scalpel Tongue
Combat (6)
2x Charismatic Aura
4x Majesty
Reaction (15)
4x Eyes of Argus
4x Second Tradition: Domain
7x Telepathic Misdirection
So, I started playing V:TES at the end of April. I played twice at Miles 2 Adventure learning the game and borrowing a few decks before heading back to the U.K., where after a few weeks I found a group in Liverpool.
I played a game or two of stealth-bleed but decided I really liked the Toreadors from the V5 starter box I ordered, and with a lot of help from the community in Liverpool, Mikey Ferguson especially, the deck went through many iterations as I learnt the game and got better. I took it to my first tournament in Bletchley in mid-July where unfortunately I only managed 0.5 VP. I believe it wasn’t tournament ready and I was nowhere near a good enough player.
After I returned to the USA I started playing at Miles 2 Adventure again as well as online. I kept tweaking the deck slightly through over 40 iterations before I finally arrived at one I was happy with 3 days before the Gulf Coast Roast, and I’m incredibly pleased with how it worked out. Even before the tournament I was not very confident. I told people I just wanted to beat my previous 0.5 VPs and maybe if I’m lucky I could win 1 table over the 3 day weekend.
When I won my first table on Saturday with 4vp, I thought maybe I just got lucky but my confidence grew throughout the day, and by the time I sat down for the finals table I had a feeling I could be in with a good chance, although I had played with both Justin and Joey before and knew they would be difficult opponents.
I had a very strong start, and about an hour in I managed to get the oust on my prey with a big Aire of Elation bleed, but now I was in a predicament as my predator and grand predator were on 3 pool each and I didn’t want Justin to get the double oust, so I decided to make a deal with Joey. If I used my last vampire to call an Camarilla’s Iron Fist and back oust to give him 6 pool, he would commit to going backwards until the 1v1. It was risky, as a 1v1 vs a Hecata swarm deck is difficult but ultimately it turned out to be the game winning move. Even despite giving Joey the buffer, Justin managed to bleed him out on the next turn. However, I had prevented the double oust which meant that he only got 6 pool instead of 12, so I was able to ultimately win out in the 1v1.
Winning my second ever tournament felt unreal, I still have no idea how I managed it but I’m incredibly happy, and I had a ton of fun playing throughout. I'd like to shout out my fellow “Scousers” who trained me in a trial by fire when I was learning with them so I was prepared for anything. I hope to do them proud by winning many more tournaments here in the U.S.
A big shout out to Terry Miles for hosting at Miles to Adventure. It’s a great store and Terry is a great host. Go check them out. Next stop for the GCR II Grand Prix is New Orleans on October 3-5. We hope to see you there.
Finalists: Justin Bedford, Alastair Pearson, James Snowball, Henrik Schalekamp, Yancke Van Tonder.
South African VTES Nationals at Dragonfire: Cyberdrive ’25 (16 and 17 August 2025)
This year our champion is James Snowball! Coming through with a well-balanced V5 Brujah Anarch deck, James survived a gauntlet of three brutal rounds against murderous opponents before taking the final table from Justin’s Lasombra Oblivion/Dominate bleed dynamo. Here’s how it went down:
Round 1:
Yancke > James > Hendrik > Jaco > Claudi
Yancke, with his v5 Gangrel net-deck, was James’s (V5 Brujah) predator. Claudi was poised to strike with her Ravnos deck, fresh off the last tournament win. Jaco – the visiting Prince of Johannesburg – sat with a Toreador Grand Ball toolbox, while Hendrik’s Tzimisce wall anchored the table. Early pressure from Hendrik stifled Jaco, leaving Claudi largely unchecked. She consistently bled Yancke, with some pressure redirected onto James through Bait and Switch. Forced into a corner, Yancke fired off a Revolutionary Council, destroying Hendrik’s Yawp Court, Ivory Bow, and some of Claudi’s pool, but only shaving a single pool from James.
From there, James found himself steadily whittled down by the Gangrel’s small bleeds, eventually pushed to a single pool after a Monkey Wrench with Kamille. Claudi’s meddling – such as a Delaying Tactics on a decisive vote – prolonged James’s survival. In the end, Yancke finally ousted James with an unblockable bleed for one via Daring the Dawn. The game timed out with Jaco about to fall to Hendrik, leaving Yancke’s Gangrel on top with 1.5 VP and the rest of the table at 0.5 each.
Round 2:
Kris > Jaco > James > Martin
Martin’s Giovanni Real Estate deck stumbled badly, drawing neither Deflections nor Villeins. A devastating Monkey Wrench bleed for six from James hit just after Martin’s 9-cap arrived, leaving him reeling. James swore he only packed a single Monkey Wrench, but the Giovanni’s poor luck sealed his quick oust. Meanwhile, Jaco’s Toreador Grand Ball toolbox clashed with Kris’s Nosferatu Baron wall in a thematic battle over Creeping Sabotages. Lore bled into gameplay here: Nosferatu destroying the Toreador Grand Ball gave them -1 stealth, crippling their strategy against the unblockable Toreador sabotage engine.
With pressure mounting, James ground Kris down and landed another “miraculous” Monkey Wrench bleed for the oust, suggesting perhaps he had been less than honest about his decklist. With six Brujah in play – including the full-art Theo Bell – James then dismantled Jaco’s Toreador, carefully torporising key vampires while leaving a helpless weenie untouched. The cruelty paid off: James swept the table with 4 VP + GW.
James Snowball Mantis Style Kung-fu realized in VTES play.
Round 3:
Claudi > Al > Michael > James
This table featured Michael’s Hecata Zombies, James’s Brujah Barons with Theo Bell, Claudi’s Ravnos bleeders, and Al’s Banu Haqim Princes. Claudi immediately pressured Al’s pool while James tooled up cautiously. Al walled hard with Second Traditions, but Ravnos tricks like Memory Rift denied him combat. Fishing for Hunter’s Mark, Al instead back-rushed the Hecata, only to be foiled again by Phaibun’s special dodge. Priority Contracts gave temporary respite, but overall the Banu struggled to impose control.
James, meanwhile, farmed resources, camped Powerbase Montreal, and waited for the right moment. A key back-rush let Theo Bell dunk Michael’s 9-cap Hel-Bla before a Rotting Behemoth could arrive. Even so, the standout moment came when Theo, red cards in hand, was suddenly invited for a tea and some chill-out time by Claudi’s Doc Martina at the Garibaldi Museum. As Al’s pool evaporated, the Hecata struck a desperate deal with the Banu, but betrayal soon followed as the assassins backstabbed their temporary ally for a VP. Ultimately, James outlasted Claudi through patience and precision farming, claiming the well-deserved GW.
Standings before final:
1. James Snowball 2 GW, 6 VPs
2. Hendrik Schalekamp 2 GW, 5.5 VPs
3. Yancke van Tonder 1 GW, 5 VPs
4. Justin Bedford (Biggy) 1 GW, 5 VPs
5. Alastair Pearson 1 GW, 4.5 VPs
The final saw Alastair (Banu Haqim) sitting first with, Justin’s Lasombra sitting second. Yancke’s positioned his Gangrel downstream of Al, and Hendrik wanted to build his Tzimisce wall downstream of Yancke. And so James, with the advantage of being 1st seed, positioned himself as the Gangrel’s predator and the Banu’s prey.
The table settled into a tense equilibrium, with cautious bleeds and probing actions. Al’s Princes were forced to focus backward on Justin’s bleed engine, giving James precious breathing room to build.
Yancke’s Gangrel pressed hard on Hendrik, nearly ousting the Tzimisce, but misplays and attrition cost him dearly. Forgetting that a Giant’s Blood had already been played, Yancke Villeined without safe recourse for his vamp to fill-up again, and was downed on the hunt action. Hendrik’s blocking and back-play eventually doomed the Gangrel him to James’s relentless New Carthage bleeds. With Yancke gone, James strengthened his grip, slipping in another unexpected Monkey Wrench bleed to hammer Hendrik.
Justin looked poised to close out the game with a Dominate/Oblivion swarm, but James revealed a surprise Eat the Rich that could have eliminated both Justin and Al in one blow. Al’s Banu, however, blocked with Second Tradition, saving Justin long enough to seize a VP from Alastair’s collapse. This left James and Justin heads-up. By then, the Brujah were firmly entrenched, fueled by 12 extra pool from fallen Methuselahs. James stayed composed, pressing his bruise-and-bleed strategy faster than Justin could bleed. And with that, James Snowball claimed victory and the title of South African National Champion 2025!
Final result: Justin Bedford 1 VP, James Snowball 4 VPs.
The tournament winning deck: “Brujah anarchs” by James Snowball
Crypt (12 cards)
3x Theo Bell 8 CEL POT PRE aus dom Brujah:6
2x Aline Gädeke 7 POT PRE cel baron Brujah:6
1x Valeriya Zinovieva 7 POT cel pre pro baron Brujah:6
2x Atiena 6 CEL obf pot pre baron Brujah:6
1x Leumeah 6 PRE cel for pot baron Brujah:6
1x Elen Kamjian 4 CEL POT Brujah:6
1x Ariane 3 cel pot pre Brujah:5
1x Rayne 2 pot Brujah:6
Library (90 cards)
Master (17; 7 trifle)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
2x Carfax Abbey
2x Fame
1x KRCG News Radio
2x New Carthage
1x Powerbase: Montreal
5x Villein
1x Warzone Hunting Ground
2x Wider View
Action (16)
2x Heroic Might
3x Illegalism
6x Line Brawl
3x Make the Misere
2x Show of Force
Political Action (2)
2x Eat the Rich
Ally (1)
1x 47th Street Royals
Action Modifier (3)
3x Monkey Wrench
Combat (35)
7x Dust Up
2x Flash
6x Immortal Grapple
2x Pursuit
5x Quickness
4x Roundhouse
4x Taste of Vitae
5x Torn Signpost
Reaction (16)
4x Bait and Switch
2x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive
8x Organized Resistance
Tale of two princes - Skye (Cape Town) and Jaco (Johannesburg)
We would like to thank Pandemonium Games for providing prize support as always! We would also like to thank the committee of Cape Legion of Adventurer’s and Wargamers (CLAWs), and the University of Cape Town, for hosting a very successful Dragonfire ’25: Cyberdrive! It has always been a tradition to host the South African National VTES Championship at this convention, amidst our geeky friends. Thank you for keeping up the tradition!
Also, it was unfortunate that I (Skye) could not participate this year, due to work obligations, but the fact that we had Jaco, Prince of JHB, visiting Cape Town during this time, and playing with a deck which contains a Mkhokheli, Prince of Cape Town, I do not feel quite so bad… and I got to have a bird’s eye objective view over the whole tournament.
And to Michael, Yancke, Kris and Alastair, I want to thank you guys for your assisting me putting this report together, and to Neil, our National Co-ordinator, for running the show on Day 1, when I had work obligations.
Report by Steffen Waschul, VEKN Prince of Herne:
After organising the first German Grand Prix in Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, in 2023, we were delighted to be able to host another Grand Prix in Germany in 2025.
While 35 Methuselahs gathered in Essen in 2023, we were able to welcome 49 players to Herne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, on August 16th. We were very lucky to be able to use the local Pestalozzi-Gymnasium. This allowed us to organise the tournament in a flexible yet stringent manner. The participating players came from all over Europe – a sign enough for us that the Bochum/Herne domain is an established tournament venue in North Rhine-Westphalia and therefore Germany.
We were particularly pleased that, in addition to the Grand Prix promo, we were also able to present all Methuselahs with a total of 17 German promos that had never been published before. In 2023, we were already able to distribute the Crypt Card Aline Gädeke and Horst von Brühl in German to the participants of the Grand Prix. We are all the more pleased that we were able to distribute absolute classics in German translation this year, e.g. Govern the Unaligned or Carrion Crows.
Standings after 3 preliminary rounds:
1. Alexander Tüschen 2 GWs 7,5 VPs
2. Rudolf Scholz 2 GWs 7 VPs
3. Martin Weinmayer 2 GWs 6 VPs
4. Gwénael Forêt 2 GWs 5,5 VPs
5. Tero Aalto 1 GW 6 VPs
Final result: Tero Aalto 0,5 VP, Alexander Tüschen 0,5 VP and Martin Weinmayer 2,5 VP – congratulations Martin!
The tournament winning deck: “The Endless Dance” by Martin Weinmayer
Crypt (12 cards)
1x François Villon10 AUS CEL PRE ani obf pot prince Toreador:6
5x Diana Iadanza 9 AUS CEL FOR PRE justicar Toreador:7
1x Catalina Vega 8 AUS CEL PRE for prince Toreador:6
1x Marcos Belegrad 8 AUS CEL PRE ani prince Toreador:7
1x Modius8 AUS CEL PRE obf prince Toreador:7
1x Flávio Gonçalves7 CEL PRE aus for prince Toreador:6
1x Maila 6 AUS PRE cel primogen Toreador:6
1x Mkhokheli 6 PRE aus cel for prince Toreador:6
Library (90 cards)
Master (22; 6 trifle)
1x British Museum, London, The
1x Camarilla Conclave
1x Creepshow Casino
2x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Elder Library
1x Elysium: The Palace of Versailles
1x Giant's Blood
2x Monastery of Shadows
2x Papillon
2x Toreador Grand Ball
6x Villein
Political Action (14)
2x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment
3x Camarilla's Iron Fist
7x Parity Shift
1x Political Stranglehold
Equipment (6)
2x Bowl of Convergence
2x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Palatial Estate
1x Sargon Fragment, The
Action Modifier (16)
1x Aire of Elation
5x Forced March
4x Loup
2x Perfect Paragon
4x Voter Captivation
Action Modifier/Reaction (2)
2x Scalpel Tongue
Combat (16)
7x Charismatic Aura
9x Majesty
Reaction (14)
4x Eyes of Argus
4x Second Tradition: Domain
6x Telepathic Misdirection
On behalf of domain Bochum/Herne and the German V:TES community, we would like to thank everyone who set out on August 16th to continue the Eternal Struggle! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
Sponsored by Ultra Pro
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