Greetings fellow Methuselahs,

THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF VAMPIRE: THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE CONTINUES

Now all the cards in the upcoming 30th Anniversary set have been previewed - isn´t it great?! The official release date is July 20, which means the new cards in the set will be legal for tournament play on August 19.

But the celebrations don´t end with this, no absolutely not. Black Chantry aims to have at least two additional expansions this year. The Lasombra Fifth Edition preconstruced deck will appear this autumn, and after that the Hecata preconstructed deck and also New Blood packs for Ravnos, Salubri and Tzimisce. Read a bit more about these plans in the Black Chantry summary in this newsletter.

The preview art above by Raquel Cornejo is from the Lasombra precon. Welcome to the game Raquel!

More previews are coming - follow Black Chantry Productions in social media.

BILL TROXEL IS 2024 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION!

The annual NAC was played on June 22, as usual at the Origins fair in Columbus, Ohio.

Read the full report: NAC 2024

 
PLAYER INTERVIEW: BILL TROXEL, NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION 2024

Hello Bill! Congratulations on once again being the NAC winner. How did you choose your deck for this tournament?
- Honestly, I came to the Week of Nightmares with a bunch of pretty poor decks, and was beaten badly in the events leading up to the NAC. I only considered three of my decks as real candidates: a speedy Anarch vote deck with heavy Protected Resources, a Seraphina-based Salubri Soul Gem deck with strong lunge power (but poor defenses), and this Tzimisce bleed deck. Of the three, this one failed the least, and was the one I had invested the most thought and practice into. It's meant to be defensively strong against stealth bleed, so it fits the meta well. Instead of keeping my choice a secret (which I often do), I told my roommates exactly what I planned to play the night before, opened my deck out on the living room floor and got their input on refinements. Long story short, I played a slightly Euro-charged version of the best deck that I brought.
    It's worth mentioning that collaboration has been a factor in deck selection for the last three NAC wins. Two years ago, I asked Kelly Schultz for advice on which of my decks I should play, I took his advice and won. The following year, Kelly asked me for the same advice, and then he took the title. While there is an advantage to be had in surprising your opponents, I think it pales in comparison to the advantage of getting a second opinion on what you're doing.

Crypt (12 cards)
4x Adrino Manauara 8 ANI DOM PRO pot baron Tzimisce:6
3x Ángel Guerrero 7 ANI DOM PRO baron Tzimisce:6
1x Branimira 6 ANI dom pre pro baron Tzimisce:6
1x Kuyén 6 ANI PRO baron Gangrel:6
1x Clara Hjortshøj 5 PRO ani aus dom Tzimisce:6
1x Kamile Paukstys 5 PRO ani for Gangrel:6
1x New Blood 2 san Blood Brother:ANY

Library (86 cards)
Master (16; 4 trifle)
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Channel 10
1x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Giant's Blood
1x Papillon
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
2x Villein
2x Wider View

Action (15)
3x Deep Song
12x Govern the Unaligned

Political Action (2)
2x Eat the Rich

Action Modifier (8)
4x Conditioning
4x Earth Control

Action Modifier/Reaction (3)
3x Form of the Bat

Combat (17)
1x Donnybrook
9x Earth Meld
7x Form of Mist

Reaction (25)
4x Bait and Switch
4x Deep Ecology
4x Deflection
3x Delaying Tactics
1x On the Qui Vive
7x Organized Resistance
2x Protection Racket

What is a good table for this deck?
- The deck relies on cycling its combat ends, which is why it doesn't feature One With The Land. As such, it doesn't like neighbors who can stymie that flow, such as decks using Mirror Walk and Obedience, or decks with Garibaldi or Living Manse to end combat before range, or combat decks with Immortal Grapple. I used to run Groundfightings in this deck as recyclable protection against Grapple, but took them out based on the meta, figuring that I was willing to open up this vulnerability in exchange for better defense against high-stealth decks.

How were the three preliminary rounds for you?
- I was well seated in the first game with an old-school Salubri wall as my predator, piloted by Corey Porter. He was sniping with Spirit Marionette + Neutral Guard, so I was sure to lock all my minions and play Earth Meld at basic when I blocked. Anne Bøje was my prey with a forward-facing new-school Salubri bleeder. She got the first VP and softened up her next prey before I could empty her pool, so my second VP came without much difficulty. Heads up with Corey it looked like I couldn't get through his defenses, so I was satisfied with the timeout and 2.5VP win.
    My second round was more tense and tenuous. Tero Aalto was my grandpredator playing anarch politics and Sèrgio Martins was my prey, playing Camarilla vote. Both players (who were my roommates) knew my deck inside-out and formed a fairly early alliance as a voting block. As it happened, I had a better draw of barons than Sèrgio did with princes, so when Tero asked me for a rescue (he was being bludgeoned by my predator with Theo Bell), I used the opportunity to talk Tero into making me his new voting buddy until we became adjacent, and to throw a point or two of voting splash damage onto Sèrgio. My alliance with Tero was short lived as he got his VP very soon after, but the splash damage was just enough for my lunge on Sèrgio to be successful the following turn. Tero fell next and then I made the final oust for a 3-1-1 GW.
    Round 3 was comical thanks to the interactions between the players on either side of me. My prey was Marko Saari playing a Chameleon deck, and David Litwin was my predator with an Unnamed bleed deck. Matt Coombs was my grandprey playing Salubri antitribu wall & rush with Hide the Heart, and my grandpredator was Greg Norte playing very old-school Gangrel combat with dominate add-ons. Matt played Haven Uncovered on Marko's first vampire, and while he thought he had performed poorly by only knocking one blood off Marko's vampire and a Hide the Heart on his hunt, it was enough to keep any vamps from getting stolen for a while, so it was actually the perfect thing. I had drawn Garibaldi and Bait and Switch early, so I bounced every single Unnamed bleed for 1 to Marko for several turns to ensure Dave couldn't get Enkil Cog. As timing would have it, the first vampire Marko finally managed to steal was Xeper – from my predator! Not only did this keep David from being able to put real pressure on me, but it ticked him off enough to start using Sense the Sin on his bleeds, so instead of bouncing bleeds for one, I was now bouncing bleeds for three! Soon after, I was able to lunge and get the first VP. Matt was a very dangerous second prey with lots of reaction and combat; I'm still not sure how I got through that, honestly, but it worked out and I found myself at 2 VP. Greg was running Caitlin (the bishop), but had no vamps with more than one vote, making him a perfect target for Eat the Rich, which is how I got most of his pool. Near the end game, I let David get the Cog – and I'll admit that his following lunge with Servitors was scary – he nearly ousted me – but I survived, ousted Greg with a bounced Unnamed bleed for 2 and recovered enough in pool and minions that David conceded the final VP to me for a full sweep.

What were your thoughts at the beginning of the final?
- Because Darby Keeney was also playing Tzimisce starring Adrino Manauara and Ángel Guerrero, I was determined not to sit next to him because we had to amicably coordinate not contesting with each other. My deck can function reasonably well with only one of the two vamps, so as long as we weren't incentivized to contest, I had a chance to play my game. As first seed, that gave me two options: sit as prey to James Messer (Darby's prey), who was playing the deck I most feared (Immortal Grapple wall), or sit as prey to Mark Figuerola piloting the fastest bleed deck at the table, with Pittsburgh newcomer Will Matson as my prey playing my second most-feared deck: Malgorzata + Lord Tremere, which is VERY good at stymieing my flow with heavy use of Obedience and Mirror Walk (and don't get me started on his surgical application of Banishment). I chose to sit as James's prey, knowing that at least I wouldn't get much early pressure from him as he geared up, leaving Will to deal with Mark's Ravnos bleeders.

How did the final play out?
- Darby let me know that he had Adrino in his opening decrypt, and since I had Ángel, it was easy for us to come to terms quickly. I was also thankful to have Kuyen in my uncontrolled region; on Tero's advice she had replaced Marialena in my crypt, which not only meant that I still got to access multiple barons, but that aside from Adrino and Ángel, Darby and I had no other overlapping vampires in our decks at all.
    Sitting next to James, I regretted the absence of Groundfighting from my deck for sure. I was choking on unused copies Organized Resistance and Earth Meld for much of that final, knowing that blocking him meant torpor for me, and my prey Mark was taking no undirected actions for me to block, only bleeds forward.
    Mark got the first VP before Will's deck got a chance to get going. That was actually good for me; my deck doesn't fare well against Will's in our weekly Pittsburgh meets, especially late-game.
    James was next to fall, being the bleed sink at the table. No VPs for me yet, but this was nonetheless good news with my two most feared decks removed. I was holding too much reaction and combat and not enough bleed power, and the next few draws didn't help much, but at least I wouldn't be an easy oust. All three of us were low on pool, but none of us were able to seal the deal for a couple of very intense, nail-biting turns. With the help of some bounced bleeds and finally drawing into my payload, I got Mark out and then went to finish Darby off with an Eat the Rich for four... except... he didn't have a titled vamp! Mark had played Archon Investigation on Adrino during a bounced bleed! Ah well, no stylish win for me – a followup stealth-bleed with Conditioning ended the game.

What are your thoughts for the future of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle?
- Personally, I hope to never quit playing this game. It's by far the most rewarding game I've ever encountered, both in its amazing international community and in its seemingly infinite depth of play.
    As far as the trajectory of the game is concerned, it's no secret that there have been lots of changes to the meta in just a few, short years. At first I was opposed to them, especially to the overall power increases that raised the bar for decks to be competitive. In my mind, the result of this "power creep" would be to shrink deck diversity and make it even harder for new players to compete. I was quite mistaken. Now I see that power curve reaching a plateau that is actually really good for the game. Faster decks means fewer timeouts (that's good), I am seeing new players armed with new, powerful cards coming out of the gate kicking ass (that's great!), and while we might have to say goodbye to many of our old favorite, quirky decks, individual old, quirky cards are still finding their way into new-fangled, speedy decks that can keep up with the new meta (that's fantastic!)
    One also might think in a higher-output, bleedier meta that combat would become increasingly less relevant, but I have been finding the opposite to be the case; combat has become strangely more relevant. It's proven true in my local playgroup, in many of our regional tournaments, and if you look at what the world's top players have been winning with, you'll notice quite a lot of combat there too.
    In sum, I think the new meta has finally struck a terrific balance that's great for the health of the game, and we're seeing a much-needed surge in our player base because of it.

We thank Bill for the interview. Read his own comments on the tournament winning deck at the VEKN forum thread.

PRE-REGISTRATION FOR EC 2024 IS OPEN!

If you plan to attend the European Championship in Warsaw, Poland, on September 27-29, please preregister. It helps the organisers a lot to know more about the number of attendees beforehand. This year it is the 30th anniversary of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, so the VEKN and Black Chantry promise to make this event something special!

Register at ec.vtes.club

Info is at tinyurl.com/vtes2024

 
VINÍCIUS COSTALONGA IS THE 2024 CHAMPION OF BRAZIL!

This tournament was played with 48 players in Belo Horizonte on June 8.

Read the full report: 2024 Brazilian Championship

PAUL DIREKTOR IS THE 2024 CHAMPION OF AUSTRIA!

30 Methuselahs from nine (!) countries turned up for this event in Vienna on June 8.

Read the full report: 2024 Austrian Championship

SPECIAL REPORT: ANDRÉ LUIZ WINS RIO ROOKIE LEAGUE 3!

We normally restrict reports in these newsletters to tournaments of continental, national or Grand Prix level, but for this one we make an exception because: well written report, newbie efforts and a fresh Salubri G7 winning deck!

Please, read the full report from June 16: Rookie League 3

RULING OF THE MONTH: EAGLE´S SIGHT TIMING

Not a ruling in itself, but a reminder about something players and judges very often get into problems with: You are NOT allowed to play Eagle´s Sight (or similar effects) to block a bleed action AFTER everyone (including yourself) has declined to block for example

1. a bleed has been redirected (with Deflection or similar effect). This is because to be able to play a Deflection, then the defending player and all other players have declined to block.

If this deflection is then cancelled with a Direct Intervention there is no new opportunity to block even with an Eagle’s Sight.

A new opportunity to block would arise if the Deflection was successfully redirected to a new target.

It is important therefore that if you want to play an Eagle’s Sight to block a bleed against Target Player A for instance, you do that before A tries to play their deflection etc.

This is often where judge’s will be required to rollback a play so that a player can Eagle’s Sight as a redirection perhaps has been played before everyone has declined to block. 

2. Impulse has returned to the acting player after all “declines to block” and then the acting player has impulse to play other effects e.g. a conditioning on a bleed. 

As the Impulse only returns to the acting player after all “declines to block” (where no other effect is used by anyone else), then everyone must have declined at that stage for the conditioning (or other modifier) to be played after block declines. So there is no opportunity to use an Eagle’s Sight at this stage to block. 

To help prevent this situation when a judge needs to be called, slow down play a bit and ALWAYS check with ALL players if they want to respond in any way to what is happening - especially if vampires with superior Auspex (for Eagle´s Sight), superior Spiritus (for Falcon´s Eye) or the vampire Anneke (with her special ability) are at the table, but also to consider cards like Direct Intervention. This also means all players (that are interested) should focus on what is happening on the table at ALL times. Yes, this is clunky, but really helps game flow!

Good places to look for rulings and/or ask rules questions:
- the dedicated section at the VTES Discord
- the VEKN Forum Rules Questions section
- the VEKN Facebook group

GREAT VTES CONTENT

This time we want to highlight:

• SuakuOZ continues to review and discuss new products, last the Fifth Edition Salubri precon deck.

• Similarily, "The Water Dog" over at Reading between the Lyons talked about the Tzimisce precon.

• The Garou Rim Gazette had an interesting piece about new card design, a response to an article on ICLee´s Gaming blog.

• VTES One continues, as eternal as the Eternal Struggle itself. Last with a couple of more entries in the entertaining "Did you know" series.

• This content is more solid: Have a look at those gorgeous Bratislava VTES coasters above! Nice initiative by Prince Radoslav Vitek, with the QR code for the local community Discord on the flipside. If you also have created some cool VTES stuff like that, drop an mail to the editor at , and we´ll show it here. Same goes for any online content - we love to spread the word!

DO YOU WANT TO HOST EC 2025?

The application period is still open for the 2025 Vampire: The Eternal Struggle European Championship.

Interested organisers are encouraged to submit their proposals for consideration between today and August 31st to 

The proposals should include the following information (fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.), in addition to any other information that the organisers deem relevant:
• Country:
• City:
• Approximate dates:
• Scheduled off season (Y/N):
• Organizer(s):
• Head judge:

VENUE
• All inclusive location (room, hotel, food, refreshments) (Y/N):
• Accommodations close to venue (Y/N):
• Snacks and meals on-site (or within 5 minutes) (Y/N):
• Distance to major hubs:
• Distance to major city:
• Non-smoking venue (Y/N):
• Air-conditioned venue (Y/N):
• Enough area suited for mass registration (Y/N):
• Free WiFi available (Y/N):
• Microphone/loudspeaker announcements (sound system) (Y/N):
• Video projection system (remaining time) (Y/N):
• Opening hours:

ROOM(S)
• Enough room for 200 players (Y/N):
• Separate rooms for side events (Y/N):
• Comfortable chairs (Y/N):
• Table cloths (Y/N):
• Round tables for 5 players (Y/N):
• Are toilets close to reduce game delays? (Y/N):

ORGANIZATION
• On-site registration on multiple computers (number of players/30) (Y/N):
• On time registration, breaks and events (Y/N):
• Using armbands to indicate registration type (Y/N):
• FAQ (handout at registration) (Y/N):
• Lunch breaks (Y/N):
• Two head organisers (side events/main tournament) (Y/N):
• Organizers and judges properly identified (Y/N):
• Assistants (non VTES players) (Y/N):
• Documentation/archiving person (traceability) (Y/N):
• Spouse info/events (Y/N):
• Seating print-outs on multiple spots (Y/N):

SCHEDULE
• Last Chance Qualifier:
• EC Day 1:
• EC Day 2:
• Side events:

COVERAGE
• Live webcam as weekend documentation (Y/N):
• Detailed final round(s) report (Y/N):
• Final round video recording/streaming (Y/N):
 

BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: JUNE 2024

• The 30th Anniversary set was formaly announced on June 1, for official release on July 20 and official tournament legality date August 19. Product Director Ben Peal wrote a piece about the deck design (“Vampire: The Eternal Struggle turns 30 – welcome to the ball!”) and we also saw an interview article with returning original Jyhad artist Randy Gallegos (“Artist in focus: Randy Gallegos”). Content list and all cards have been spoiled in various ways - you´ll find everything on the 30th Anniversary product page.

We´ve seen some nervous questions about the box quality of this 30th Anniversary set, and about that we can assure a sturdy thing, roughly equivalent of the much loved 25th Anniversary box, with room for 102 sleeved cards.

• Product Director Ben Peal hosted the North American Championship, also attended by CEO Hugh Angseesing. Of course, this was a blast, as you can see by all the smiling faces in the tournament report.

• More products are now available for print-on-demand at Gamepod in Spain: the 5 First Blood packs and 22 (!) products in the Latin language.

• The 2024 Continental championship promo card was announced: Antediluvian Awakening, with art by Black Chantry´s own Ginés Quiñonero.

• The Lasombra preconstructed deck will hopefully (knock on wood!) be out in October, for a premiere at the Spiel game fair in Essen, Germany.

• If everything works out, The Hecata preconstructed deck, which shares the new discipline Oblivion with the Lasombra, will hit stores sometime in November or December.

• 56-card New Blood packs for Ravnos, Salubri and Tzimisce will also appear sometime in this year´s last quarter, or possibly early 2025.

• Design of four Sabbat-themed preconstructed decks moves on, soon for eager playtesters to have first bite at!

• Both putting more old legacy single cards up for print-on-demand and the 2-player VTES variant are on hold for now – all of the above have higher priority.

Currently these Black Chantry products are available through Gamepod, Drivethrucards.com and other stores:

• Lost Kindred bundle
  Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 1
  Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 2
  Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 1
  Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 2
  Den of Fiends Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
  Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
  Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
  Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
  Anthology I bundle
  VTES Card Creator (Drivethrucards only)
  25th Anniversary
  First Blood: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French)
  First Blood: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French)
  First Blood: Toreador (Also Spanish, French)
  First Blood: Tremere (Also Spanish, French)
  First Blood: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French)
  VTES Legacy Card Singles (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
  Promo Pack 1 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
  Promo Pack 2 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
  Promo Pack 3 (For promotion only)
  Promo Pack 4 (For promotion only)
  VTES "Parity Shift" playmat
  VTES card sleeves
  Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition (Stores only)
  Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition Latin (Drivethrucards only)
  Fifth Edition: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  Fifth Edition: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  Fifth Edition: Toreador (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  Fifth Edition: Tremere (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  Fifth Edition: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  Promo Pack 3 (Event promos only)
  Fifth Edition: Banu Haqim (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  Fifth Edition: Brujah (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  Fifth Edition: Gangrel (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  Fifth Edition: The Ministry (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  New Blood: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  New Blood: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  New Blood: Toreador (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  New Blood: Tremere (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  New Blood: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  The Fall of London (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
  Echoes of Gehenna
  Shadows of Berlin (Also Spanish, French)
  New Blood: Banu Haqim (Also Spanish, French)
  New Blood: Brujah (Also Spanish, French)
  New Blood: Gangrel (Also Spanish, French)
  New Blood: The Ministry (Also Spanish, French)
  Fifth Edition: Ravnos (Also Spanish, French)
  Fifth Edition: Salubri (Also Spanish, French)
  Fifth Edition: Tzimisce (Also Spanish, French)

Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

From the last month of activities over at the World of Darkness crew at Paradox, we would like to highlight:

• Roll20 has acquired Demiplane, the character-building solution used for Vampire: The Masquerade and many other tabletop roleplaying games. Learn more at Roll20´s blog.

• Vampire: The Masquerade - Reckoning of New York is a new game from Draw Distance, developers of visual novels Coteries of New York and Shadows of New York. Play the demo now on Steam!

• The Chinese Room published two new Dev Diaries for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. Number 13 focuses on level design, lighting and audio and number 14 has more commentaries from the team, new concept art and in-game screenshots.

• The classic Vampire: The Masquerade lorebook Revelations of the Dark Mother gets a reprint later this year! Pre-orders are open over at Renegade Game Studios.

• Vampire: The Masquerade - Rivals is getting a Werewolf expansion! Fang & Talon introduces two tribes as pre-constructed decks and lets you play against vampires and hunters from all previous expansions. Release is in August 2024 and preorders are open.

Subscribe to the World of Darkness News show for more news!

CALENDAR

Upcoming tournaments for the coming month (registered so far) are in:
Belgium x2
Brazil x8
Chile
Czech Republic
Finland x4
Italy
Poland
Portugal
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain x6
Sweden
UK
USA

For details about these events, see the VEKN Event Calendar.

Remember: Online tournaments are possible - just check the box "Online tournament" when you add the event to the calendar!

CONTACT VEKN

You can contact the VEKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at VEKN.net. Also follow the official VTES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, the official VEKN X (Twitter) account @VEKN_VTES and the official VTES Discord server.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”