Andy Smith wins Gulf Coast Roast Grand Prix 2024!

Played on December 6-8 2024, reported by Kelly Lyons, VEKN Prince of Vidor, with additional comments from Andy Smith, Darby Keeney and Marshall Hogue:

The Gulf Coast Roast has finished its 2024 event. It has been a fantastic year. Thanks to Black Chantry for their support. I want to thank everybody who participated. I want to thank all the southern princes for their hard work, time and money making this year long event possible:
• Chris Franklin – Dallas
• Norm Brown – Lafayette
• Dean Garrison – Biloxi
• Devin Villegas – New Orleans

Norm, Dean, Chris, Kelly and Devin.

Thank you to my wife, Michelle, who let me take the time away from her to do something she knows I enjoy.

We had 54 players who competed in the Grand Prix Events. 33 players in the last event in Vidor.

We had players from Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, Oregon, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Denmark. I truly appreciate the support that this event has had from the player community.

We wrapped things up with three events including the last Grand Prix. Your winners for the events were:
• Kelly Lyons - Danse Macabre II: First Danse (29 Players, 2 rounds + final)
• Darby Keeney - Danse Macabre II: Gulf Coast Roast - Vidor (Main Danse) (33 Players)
• Marshall Hogue - Danse Macabre II: Last Danse (25 Players, 2 rounds + final)

The top 5 point makers to be at the Gulf Coast Roast Grand Prix final table were:
1. Kelly Lyons - 93 points
2. Andy Smith – 55 Points
3. Brad Cashdollar – 53 Points
3. Darby Keeney – 53 points
5. Dean Garrison – 43 Points

Your 2024 Gulf Coast Roast Grand Prix winner is Andy Smith. Congratulations Andy!!!

That’s a wrap. See you next year.

Happy Holidays
Kelly Lyons (AKA – Water Dog) Prince of Vidor

 
Finalists: Kelly, Dean, Andy, Brad and Darby.

Player report: Andy Smith – Grand Prix Final Table

One deck, one game, no time limit, for all the marbles; what do you play?

A question I definitely should’ve asked myself BEFORE driving down to Southeast Texas. I had a feeling it was going to be a bloodbath and I didn’t bring any trump combat/multi-rush type decks. So acting on good advice I pulled an old favorite that I’m super familiar with (brought for pickup play).

OK so my hometown Dallas GP I finished 6th (Darby won). Sadly I wasn’t able to play Lafayette this year (out of the country at the time), Kelly Lyons won it. In Gulfport I finished second to the Water Dog. New Orleans, yep finished second to the Water Dog again (he’s tough y’all!) In Vidor I finished 4th (Darby wins again). So it's a two horse race in my estimation but good enough for 3rd!

But if you saw the crypt circle pics you’ll notice that Kelly pulled 3 trem weenies out of my crypt and no copies of lovely Chalcedony. Un-freaking-believeable luck. So Brad and Kelly decide they don’t want to sit left of a sleazeball weenie dominate deck right? Also Kelly Lyons has what we Texans refer to as, “juevos gigantes” and chooses to sit left of Darby’s Mambo deck.

Of course I get off to a slow start... Dean rips right into Darby with bleeds. Kelly gets busy rushing/bleeding Brad and fighting with Darby. Brad is getting off stealth bleeds but I manage to reduce/bounce enough to get our heroine tooled up with armor, bio-thaum and stone dog and start rushing backwards (she’ll add one razor bat later). To his credit, Dean never lets up but Darby systematically torpors all ravnos. Kelly puts up a great fight and holds his own for quite a while but it’s Mambo FFS... The table collapses, I get a free vp (thank you sir!) and Darby ousts Kelly.

I’ve been told that there were still 4 players at the 2 hour mark in this untimed marathon but I have no idea, it was pretty intense.

Brad’s minions are wrecked *finally* from Kelly, Chalcy and now Mambo and crew. Darby ousts Brad and is OUT. OF. CARDS. I shit you not! And all his vamps are spent from absolutely dominating the table. Our lady of stone is tooled up and able to torpor Mambo and team with rushes and blocks while the dom weenies bleed for one... I drew my first conditioning of the game just as Darby transfers out. I’ve said it before folks, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

I genuinely cannot express enough love and gratitude to the greatness that is the Water Dog, Kelly Lyons. He had the idea, he rallied the princes, he organized the grand prix and oh btw he’s also an amazing host. Thank you sir! He also whipped our asses* all summer so we could try to play with the best players on our little chunk of globe (and then some!). Absolute Legend.

*except Darby

I'd be remiss if I didn't say thank you to Devin Villegas for the sound advice, next round is on me hermano! And of course a huge shoutout to the Dallas road crew; our prince Chris 'Ace' Franklin, the gentleman himself Mark Figuerola, Adrian 'Cereal Killer' Ruiz and Destyn Bowers, aka PopTart; these guys push each other every week to play better (if you see us on Lackey, come get some...) Gents I know I can be frustrating at the table sometimes but you guys are like brothers to me so, you know, thanks for being awesome and tolerating my shenanigans for the past two decades.

Cheers to everybody who participated, the whole series was just an absolute blast. For sure playing the game is fun but getting to hang out with everybody is even better. Great games with great people, I'm humbled and grateful to have met you all and I look forward to the next time our paths cross. It’s hard to fathom what an incredible group of people are attracted to such an insanely difficult game. Much love y’all.

Wow this got pretty verbose, you'd think I won something, my apologies... Without further ado, please prepare to be underwhelmed:

Tournament winning deck: “Chalsy and the gang go out in style” (aka "Bat Country") by Andy Smith

Crypt (12 cards)
5x Chalcedony 7 FOR POT THA VIS Gargoyle:6
1x Chrysanthemum5 AUS THA dom primogen Tremere:6
1x Claus Wegener5 DOM aus for tha Tremere:5
1x Sri Sansa5 DOM aus tha Tremere:6
1x Zane 5 THA aus dom primogen Tremere:5
1x Lauren 4 aus dom tha Tremere:6
1x Tarrence Moore 4 aus dom tha Tremere:5
1x Monica Chang 3 dom tha Tremere:5

Library (89 cards)
Master (12; 2 trifle)
1x Academic Hunting Ground
2x Arcane Library
3x Blood Doll
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
2x Wider View

Action (12)
1x Armor of Terra
2x Biothaumaturgic Experiment
6x Children of Stone
3x Hatchling

Ally (1)
1x Ponticulus

Retainer (6)
5x Razor Bat
1x Stone Dog

Action Modifier (22)
4x As the Crow
3x Conditioning
5x Freak Drive
3x Mirror Walk
3x Skin of the Chameleon
4x Unleash the Hounds

Combat (15)
3x Bond with the Mountain
3x Crawling Chamber
1x Roll
5x Stonestrength
3x Theft of Vitae

Reaction (21)
5x Deflection
1x Delaying Tactics (thought I’d removed them all/discarded)
4x On the Qui Vive
6x Their Master's Voice
3x Voices of the Castle
2x Wake with Evening's Freshness

Player report: Darby Keeney - Danse Macabre II: Gulf Coast Roast - Vidor (Main Danse) – Grand Prix

The tournament winning deck: “Defy the Edict of Worms V2.1”
Mini-Slava Museum/Manse. Adjusted to 82 cards cards from the previous fatter version - thinner versions could still be built as I never came close to expending my library. I don't foresee my versions changing significantly unless/until we see new cards.

Crypt (12 cards)
3x Adrino Manauara 8 ANI DOM PRO pot baron Tzimisce:6
3x Ángel Guerrero7 ANI DOM PRO baron Tzimisce:6
2x Neserian6 ANI DOM cel pro Tzimisce:6
1x Branimira 6 ANI dom pre pro baron Tzimisce:6
1x Marialena 5 DOM PRO ani Tzimisce:6
1x Prentis Derby 4 ani dom pro Tzimisce:6
1x Whisper 5 ANI DOM pro Tzimisce:6

Library (82 cards)
Master (20; 4 trifle)
1x Anarch Railroad
5x British Museum, London, The
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Club Illusion -- included as more Cam decks appear now
1x Direct Intervention
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Jake Washington
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Savannah
3x Villein
1x Wider View

Event (2)
1x NRA PAC
1x Scourge of the Enochians -- meta choice that burned zero vampires in 4 rounds.

Action (13)
2x Dominate Kine -- steal Garibaldi or Papillon
11x Govern the Unaligned

Equipment (12)
1x Blood Tears of Kephran
2x Cooler
2x Heart of Nizchetus
6x Living Manse -- could be 7x
1x Palatial Estate

Action Modifier (4)
4x Earth Control

Action Modifier/Combat (4)
3x Obedient Flesh
1x Rapid Change

Action Modifier/Reaction (6)
3x Form of the Bat
3x Murmur of the False Will -- losing value as meta capacities shift up

Combat (7)
2x Earth Meld
5x Form of Mist

Reaction (14)
2x Deep Ecology
7x Deflection
2x One With the Land
3x Organized Resistance

We're inching past the Phase II V5 Meta (2 parts Anarch bleed & 1 part Baron vote, shaken well and served cold). As this happens, I think Scourge becomes less important and I slotted Club Illusion expecting fewer random copies to appear. Some other minor shifts following regional trends are likely if I play this again.

Player report: Kelly Lyons - Danse Macabre II: First Danse

1 GW 4 VP in preliminary rounds, 5 VP in final.

Tournament winning deck “Water Dog - Illegal Tactics” by Kelly Lyons

My prince, Norm Brown, won a tournament in Vidor in 2022 with a Brujah Illegalism Deck. He relied on Reckless Agitation as a second action. Here is his deck list.

It was good. I, however, have never been a big fan of Reckless Agitation as Karl Schaefer knows. We’ve had that debate. Instead, I prefer Line Brawl. The ability to bleed with Illegalism unlock then Line Brawl for a pool is just too good. Line Brawl also, gives you an enters combat action and even +1 bleed action. It is the best Brujah action card for anarchs.

I agree with Norm when it comes to Chemistry discipline cards. You get that extra stealth plus it allows you to Dabbler so, if you get blocked with Illegalism you can unlock and still do Line Brawl.

I added a couple of CrimethInc. cards for more unlock. Saku and Valeriya have protean and if you get lucky Brandon Grime has thaumaturgy. That’s why there is 2 of him in the crypt.

Archon Investigation helped me burn a vampire in Round 1.

Round 1
I added 2 X Patsy in the deck to remove prince titles. It paid off in Round 1 were Norm was playing a Banu Haqim Deck. I knew I was going to get my prey So, I crossed tabled him with Patsy so he couldn’t block me after I ousted my prey. Funny thing is I drew into anther one and got 2 of his princes. I topored the third one. Ousted my prey then Norm and took the table.

Round 2
I lost. Big time.

Final Table
I was in the 5th position playing first. Seems like I’ve been in the 5th position playing first lately.

Kelly Lyons – Brujah Illegalism (Multi-acting Brujah with Chemistry. Stick a Chemistry skill card and a Dabbler on a Brujah. Illegalism bleed then unlock if not blocked. If blocked, unlock with Dabbler. Line brawl. If TheCrimethINC is on the table unlock. You get the idea.)
Anne Boje – Tzimisce (This is a Darby Keeney deck utilizing Underbridge Stray and Tainted Spring. She beats you up with puppies. When I interviewed Darby a few years ago on my channel and was saying he was beating me up with puppies… this was the deck. Brutal.)
Marshall Hogue – Primogen (Marshall: “Weirich Waldburg making all the other primogen act, primarily bleed, at 1-2 stealth and a mix of reduce and bounce.  It's designed to wear out anything but the heaviest of intercept.”)
Chris Franklin – Protean Barons (Chris: “I wanted to be able to defend against stealth bleed while also having votes in case the meta was heavily voting with cam fist and reckless agg. It worked well but only because I didn’t see much combat ends.”)
Oscar Garza III – Lasombra (Oscar: “Straight up new Lasombra bleed. 30 stealth/bleed modifiers 13 governs. Literally copied Malk 94 ratios. I went the path of filthy. Stealth bleed requires no discussion.”)

The table was pretty even. Everyone was doing damage to everyone else. However, Chris was going to be ousted on the next turn. I, being the only one who helped him, was given a reprieve from his last action of “F### You All”. Chris called an “Eat the Rich”. He placed 4 damage on everyone else but me. On my next turn I swept the table.

Side Note: I really liked Marshall’s Deck. Need a deck list from him.

Crypt (12 cards)
1x Saku Pihlajamäki 8 CEL POT PRE for pro baron Brujah:6
2x Aline Gädeke 7 POT PRE cel baron Brujah:6
1x Valeriya Zinovieva 7 POT cel pre pro baron Brujah:6
1x Atiena 6 CEL obf pot pre baron Brujah:6
1x Leumeah 6 PRE cel for pot baron Brujah:6
1x Octane 6 CEL POT PRE Brujah:6
2x Brandon Grime 5 CEL pot pre tha Brujah:6
1x Siarhei Levchenko 5 CEL PRE pot Brujah:6
1x Anita Wainwright 3 cel pre Brujah:6
1x Ariane 3 cel pot pre Brujah:5

Library (90 cards)
Master (24; 9 trifle)
2x Archon Investigation
1x Carfax Abbey
4x Chimerstry
4x Dabbler
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
2x New Carthage
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
1x Thaumaturgy
5x Villein
1x Warzone Hunting Ground

Action (20)
10x Illegalism
9x Line Brawl
1x Open War

Political Action (2)
2x Patsy

Action Modifier (10)
2x CrimethInc.
6x Power of One
2x Smoke and Mirrors

Combat (23)
3x Bollix
9x Dust Up
3x Immortal Grapple
2x Pursuit
2x Side Strike
4x Taste of Vitae

Reaction (11)
5x Bait and Switch
6x Organized Resistance

Player report: Marshall Hogue - Danse Macabre II: Last Danse

2 GW 7 VP in preliminaries and 2 VP in the final.

Tournament winning deck: “The Gold(man) Standard”
I really wanted to take one of my favorite cards (Undue Influence) and one of my favorite vampires (Laura Goldman) and just build a fun deck that tends to last way longer than you'd expect in combat, way longer than you'd expect on the table and is super fun to play. Build up your play space with the 3 caps, get that first baron out and just play smart. If I were to make any changes to the deck, I'd drop the one Chameleon and put in a second Monkey Wrench, having that available quicker with Garibaldi has always benefited me. Shout out to Dean Garrison for loaning me two Protection Rackets before the tournament to replace the two very mediocre Touch of Pain I had in there initially.

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Aline Gädeke 7 POT PRE cel baron Brujah:6
2x Laura Goldman 3 cel pre Brujah:5
1x Anita Wainwright 3 cel pre Brujah:6
1x Ariane 3 cel pot pre Brujah:5
1x Atiena 6 CEL obf pot pre baron Brujah:6
1x Brandon Grime 5 CEL pot pre tha Brujah:6
1x Leumeah 6 PRE cel for pot baron Brujah:6
1x Saku Pihlajamäki 8 CEL POT PRE for pro baron Brujah:6
1x Siarhei Levchenko 5 CEL PRE pot Brujah:6
1x Valeriya Zinovieva 7 POT cel pre pro baron Brujah:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (19)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Anarch Railroad
6x Blood Doll
2x Carfax Abbey
1x Club Illusion
5x Effective Management
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x New Carthage
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles

Action (26)
1x Chameleon
1x Entrancement
1x Fee Stake: Los Angeles
1x Fee Stake: Perth
7x Line Brawl
15x Undue Influence

Action Modifier (13)
1x Monkey Wrench
12x Power of One

Action Modifier/Combat (2)
2x Resist Earth's Grasp

Combat (13)
13x Dust Up

Reaction (17)
6x Bait and Switch
2x On the Qui Vive
7x Organized Resistance
2x Protection Racket

Thanks to Kelly and all other organisers, sponsors and of course all the players who played the Gulf Coast Roast 2024!