Benjamín Rojas wins Grand Prix Santiago!

Report by Daniel Bravo, VEKN National Coordinator of Chile:

On Saturday, August 23, the coldest day of the month, with snow in areas where it had never snowed before and heavy rain the day before, GP 2 took place at the Magic Sur store. The 12 players who were supposed to attend were reduced to 8, mainly due to work commitments and the weather itself.

The two GP tables were played very quickly, and after three clean rounds, the final table was set with Pemar, who qualified with 2 VPs using his Stanislava deck; Gino with Arishat princes and barons with 1 GW and 4 VPs; Maxwell with 1 GW and 5 VPs using his Malkavian G6 Bleed and Stealth deck; Benjamin with a Toreador G6 Political Bleed deck with 1 Gw  and 7 Vps; and Hernan with a Lasombra Purge deck, with 2 GW and 6 VPs.

 

Three vote decks and two decks with titled crypts. Everything suggested it would be a very close and serious final, but with the first comment being 'We all agree that we don’t want Hernan at this table,' the room burst into laughter, making it one of the funniest finals so far in 2025. Hernan made the wise decision to tone down his deck and not play Purges at the beginning, since during political turns all the extra damage was directed at him, regardless of the votes he had.
After almost 45 minutes, Benja ousted Maxwell and his Malkavian princes, which reshaped the vote table. After nearly 1 hour and 40 minutes, Pemar ousted Hernan, leaving only the three political decks in play. It was the only moment when the laughter stopped and the tension could be felt in the air. But Benja managed to make the Rose clan prevail and secured the remaining points, finishing with 4 VPs at the final table. A very good closing for GP 2025.

This is are the words from Benjamin himself:

About the tournament:
"I was a bit nervous going into it as I had not played the game on any competitive level since 2024. I only had a month of playtesting with my deck so I really only went there to play some rounds and see what would happen. Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed with the player count, although competitive level was fairly good in my opinion and I had a great time. Just wish more players would participate there's quite a lot of amazing deckbuilders in the community and getting the chance to see what everyone comes up with is the best part about playing this game."

About the final:
"I'd say last table was one of the most hilarious and yet frustrating matches I've ever played. It was quite a display at how table politics and vote distribution can shift the tide of a game or just drive it to a stalemate. I knew being the prey of Purge was a terrible position to start in so I really tried my best to drain my predator of resources, but in the end I went too hard on that point and should just let my Malkavian prey kill his prey (Arishat) so the vote lock would disappear, since killing Malkavian Bleed would be quite easy with the tools on my deck. Ultimately, I think I made a lot of mistakes that I could cover up with help crosstable and that proved to be a pain later."

About the deck:
"I had been testing V5 Camarilla Toreador decks since around 2022 (starting with Grand Ball), but I really always had an interest in playing around with Aching Beauty, since it's pretty common on the meta here to face at least 1 or 2 decks per table that have options to try and block actions with little to no stealth. Thanks to 30th Anniversary the clan got a lot of cards I really loved, like Loup which works wonders with Change of Target and Majesty. The deck aims to multiact with those cards if blocked, else you play Forced March and go again, which puts your prey in a position where no matter what they do they take pool damage anyways. I do find it funny that Aching Beauty was almost useless during the games, as there were only 2 decks dedicated to blocking and final seating had NONE. I do think that nowadays Toreador have decent enough stealth generation (who would've thought!) and you could run this deck without Beautys and just run stealth masters like Creepshow Casino and Monastery of Shadows and increase the amount of vote generation and bloating."

The tournament winning deck: “Question Mark Bleed” by Benjamín Rojas

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 
2x Mkhokheli 6 PRE aus cel for prince Toreador:6 
1x Carmelita Neillson 5 AUS cel pre Toreador:7 

Library (90 cards) 
Master (16; 4 trifle) 
5x Aching Beauty 
1x Art Museum 
1x Camarilla Conclave 
2x Dreams of the Sphinx 
1x Giant's Blood 
2x Perfectionist 
4x Villein

Action (7) 
6x Enchant Kindred 
1x Judgment: Camarilla Segregation 

Political Action (15) 
5x Camarilla's Iron Fist 
5x Kine Resources Contested 
5x Parity Shift 

Equipment (1) 
1x Heart of Nizchetus 

Action Modifier (30) 
3x Aire of Elation 
2x Awe 
5x Change of Target 
6x Forced March 
5x Loup 
4x Perfect Paragon 
5x Voter Captivation 

Action Modifier/Combat (4) 
4x Resist Earth's Grasp 

Combat (7)
7x Majesty

Reaction (10) 
3x On the Qui Vive 
7x Telepathic Misdirection

Big thanks to organisers, sponsors and players!

Parth Patel wins Gulfport Grand Prix 2025!

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.