This tournament was played at  Spelfanaat Mechelen on July 6. Reported by Maaike Kerschot, VEKN National Coordinator of Belgium:

The day before the Belgian National holiday was the perfect time to bring together 30 Methuselahs to fight for the title of Belgian National Champion 2025. On the day before, 19 players from Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany and even Denmark and Finland had already tested their skills in the annual draft championship, with Bram Van Stappen and his zombies emerging victorious. Now, 30 players were ready to put their carefully constructed (and quite diverse) decks to the test.

Standings before final (top 5 players + their GWs and VPs from the first three rounds)
1. David Martinelli 2 GW, 5.5 VP
2. Jesper Bøje 1 GW, 7 VP
3. Héctor Javier Ordóñez García 1 GW, 5 VP, 138 TP
4. Tom Van Coillie 1 GW, 5 VP, 132 TP
5. Bram Van Stappen 1 GW, 5 VP, 120 TP

The final (available on Youtube) started with skirmishes between Matasuntha and her Banu prey, while the menace of Turbo Nergal was becoming darker and darker. After two tense hours (and an anticlimactic judge decision at the end), Jesper Bøje’s infernal deck just edged its victory over Héctor Ordoñez impressive multirush tech.

Final result: Jesper Bøje 2.5 VP, Héctor Javier Ordóñez García 1.5 VP.

The tournament winning deck: “Press 9 to Call the Great Beast” by Jesper Bøje
Description: Empowering evil, one Freak Drive at a time.

Crypt (12 cards)
9x Nergal         10 AUS DAI FOR OBF PRE THA      Baali:5
3x Nergal (ADV)   10 AUS DAI FOR OBF PRE THA      Baali:5

Library (78 cards)
Master (16; 3 trifle)
2x Antediluvian Awakening
2x Archon Investigation
4x Dementation
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Society of Leopold
3x Villein
1x Visit from the Capuchin

Event (3)
1x Bitter and Sweet Story, The
2x Narrow Minds

Action (16)
4x Call the Great Beast
1x Entrancement
5x Legal Manipulations
3x Magic of the Smith
3x Unleash Hell's Fury

Equipment (3)
1x Heart of Nizchetus
2x Soul Gem of Etrius

Action Modifier (32)
5x Aire of Elation
3x Daring the Dawn
2x Elder Impersonation
1x Enkil Cog
12x Freak Drive
2x I am Legion
5x Lost in Crowds
1x Perfect Clarity
1x Spying Mission

Action Modifier/Combat (2)
2x Hide the Mind

Action Modifier/Reaction (2)
1x Sense the Sin
1x Touch of Clarity

Combat (2)
2x Majesty

Reaction (2)
2x Visions of Zapathasura

A big shoutout to the staff of our local gamestore Spelfanaat in Mechelen who provided us with the perfect location, delicious catering and sponsoring for our tournaments. Also a great thank you to UltraPro for providing us with generous prize support. We could not have done this without you.

This tournament in the North American Cup Grand Prix series was played on April 26. Reported by Darius at Diableriste.com and the winner Alexandre Bustos himself:

On this rainy Saturday, an event in the North American Cup series took place at the Abyss facility in Montreal. Once again, it was a very enjoyable day with few twists and turns. There were 22 players in total, including three from south of the border: Karl Schaefer from Pittsburgh, Darby Keeney from Colorado, and Chris Malec from upstate New York.

The tournament consisted of three preliminary rounds at five tables (two five-player tables and three four-player tables) and a five-player final. Since I wasn't present at the final table, I wasn't able to witness the game unfold. However, Alexandre Bustros, who was there, gave me a summary, which is as follows:

Standings after three rounds:
1. Karl Schaefer 2 GW, 8.0 VP
2. Alexandre Bustros 2 GW, 5.5 VP
3. Martin Servant 1 GW, 8.0 VP
4. Richard Blais 1 GW, 7.0 VP
5. Darby Keeney 1 GW, 6.0 VP

The game started off rather poorly for Alexandre and Martin, who were playing the same vampires. Karl had a very fast start with his Ravnos bleed deck, and Darby quickly turned against him leaving some space to Alexandre. Richard was bled once by his prey (everyone used Deflection). Karl played Kaymakli Nightmares, which delayed Martin by a turn. Darby did what he could to survive Karl's multiple bleeds; he played two My Enemy's Enemy targeting Richard, who ended up with just one pool. Karl received a lot of "table hate" in the form of various votes. Martin didn’t have a Baron due to the lost turn from Kaymakli Nightmares, and he was ousted by Alexandre, who finally managed to bring out a second Baron without contesting Martin’s, as well as a War Ghoul. Richard ousted Karl, and a bit later Alexandre deflected a final fatal bleed back to him to oust him! After that, there was no chance for Alexandre to lose, he had 2 victory points and a better starting position than Darby.

Congratulations to Alexandre for his great victory!

The tournament winning deck: Ghouls & Ghost by Alexandre Bustros

Crypt (12)
3x Angel Guerrero
2x Adrino Manauara
2x Whisper
1x Marialena
1x Branimira
1x Clara Hjortshoj
1x Prentis Derby
1x Susie Kano

Library: 75 cards
Master (15)
2x Blood Doll
1x Papillon
2x Anarch Troublemaker
1x From a sinking ship
5x Jake washington
2x Villein
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Giant's blood

Action (13)
13x Govern the Unaligned

Action Modify (12)
6x Conditioning
2x Foreshadowing Destruction
2x Invigorate
2x Horrific Countenance

Action Modify/Reaction (2)
2x Form of the Bat

Recruit Actions (5)
5x War Ghoul

Combat (15)
2x Carrion Crows
8x Earth Meld
3x Form of Mist
2x Groundfighting

Reaction (13)
8x Deflection
4x Organized Resistance
1x Redirection

Thanks again to the organizers!