Art by Cos Koniotis for a card in the 2022 New Blood set.
Greetings fellow Methuselahs
NEW RULE FOR FINAL ROUND SEATING
From Vincent Ripoll, VEKN Rules Director:
In tournament play, lurking (also known as scouting) has long been seen as a necessary evil: choosing the seating in the finals is meaningless if one doesn’t know what the others are playing. However, all players are not equal in the amount of information about others´ decks they can gather – it depends on who met whom during the preliminary rounds, and of how much data you can collect from other players between rounds. Lurking often also tends to become a nuisance as players interfere in games once their own game is over.
In order to remove the necessity of lurking for the purpose of choosing one's seating for the final table, the following change was tested during the last six months throughout the world, and the feedback was highly positive. Therefore, it will be official as of January 1st 2022 (see Tournament Rules).
3.1.3. Final Round Seating
Table positions are not assigned in the final round. Instead each of the finalists is given an index card (or reasonable substitute) with his or her name on it. Each finalist shuffles his or her crypt and presents it to the judge for additional shuffling and cutting, if desired. The judge then draws three random cards from each crypt and reveals them: those, as well as the number of cards left in the crypt and to whom they belong, are public information until all the players are seated. Starting with the lowest qualifier, each qualifier places his or her index card face-up in a row on the table. When placing his or her card, each player must choose to position his or her card at either end of the row (one end of the row is equivalent to the other) or may create a space between two cards already placed. After all cards have been placed, they are read from left to right to determine seating positions in the final round. The judge will then determine randomly which player will play first. The revealed crypt cards are shuffled back into their owner's crypt.
NEW TOURNAMENT RANKING CATEGORIES
Also from Vincent Ripoll:
Due to the pandemic, online tournaments are more popular than ever with 18 online tournaments in 2020 and 67 in 2021! Don't forget to check the event calendar and the announcements made on the "Vampire: The Eternal Struggle - Official" Discord and the VEKN.net forum.
To accommodate this new kind of tournaments, a distinct ranking will be put in place as of January 2022, leading to 4 categories:
- constructed
- limited
- online constructed
- online limited
Also, some tournament types (such as National Championship Qualifier) are not used anymore, and some others (such as Grand Prix) are missing. The list will evolve to reflect new tournament types.
VADER DORIAN IS THE ONLINE WORLD CHAMPION 2021!
After two months of preliminary games, with a total of 57 players, the final of the VTES Online World Championship 2021 was played on December 11. It can be watched in its entirety at the Codex CRCG Youtube channel.
Congratulations Dave Riordan, “Vader Dorian”, new Online World Champion, who got 1.5 victory points in the final.
Dave's tournament winning deck: Pandermonium
Crypt (12)
1x Feo Ramos 1 aus Pander:3
1x Angela Decker 1 pre Pander:2
1x Huang, Blood Cultist 1 pro Pander:2
1x Jimmy Dunn 4 for CEL POT Pander:2
1x Lena Rowe 3 aus obf pre Pander:2
1x March Halcyon 1 for Pander:2
1x Mitchell, The Headhunter 2 obt pot Pander:2
1x Olga Triminov 1 vic Pander:3
1x Rex, The Necronomist 3 pot pro vic Pander:2
1x Royce 1 dom Pander:2
1x Basil 1 obf Pander:2
1x Christine Boscacci 2 dom vic Pander:2
Library: 66
Master (19)
1x Elder Library
1x Fear of Mekhet
1x Fortschritt Library
4x Information Highway
1x Joseph Pander
2x Kaymakli Nightmares
3x Not to Be
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Día de los Muertos
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
Event (4)
1x Slow Withering, The
1x Veil of Darkness
1x Bitter and Sweet Story, The
1x Blood Weakens
Action (2)
2x Embrace, The
Political Action (36)
2x Kindred Segregation
10x Kine Resources Contested
6x Legacy of Pander
2x Neonate Breach
2x Rumors of Gehenna
2x Year of Fortune
7x Consanguineous Boon
5x Conservative Agitation
Ally (2)
1x Carlton Van Wyk
1x Alia, God's Messenger
Action Modifier (3)
3x Change of Target
Thanks to sponsors, organizers and players!
ŁUKASZ HO THANH IS THE 2021 MIDDLE EUROPEAN CHAMPION!
We totally forgot to report about this event in the last newsletter, but it seems it was a very nice time, so here we go: 25 Methuselahs gathered at Restaurant Centimeter in Vienna, Austria on October 31 to play the Middle European Championship.
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Congrats Łukasz Ho Thanh, the new champion, beating Lukas Vrbicky, Milos Krstic, Richard Utner and Karel Vaigl in the final.
Łukasz´s tournament winning deck: Harbingers Emerald Legion
Comment: "Since Polish Nationals l’ve changed all fortitude prevent for CE (Spiritual Intervention). As it turned out, the change was crucial for the final in Vienna ;)"
Crypt (12)
1x Anarch Convert 1 -none- Caitiff:ANY
1x La Viuda Blanca 6 for obf AUS NEC Harbinger of Skulls:6
2x Mordechai Ben-Nun 8 ANI AUS FOR NEC Harbinger of Skulls:5
1x Pearl 4 obf AUS Malkavian antitribu:5
2x Veejay Vinod 3 AUS Nagaraja:6
1x Hecate 6 AUS FOR NEC Harbinger of Skulls:5
3x Khurshid 8 AUS FOR NEC POT Harbinger of Skulls:6
1x America Johnson 4 vic AUS Tzimisce:5
Library: 90
Master (16)
1x Erciyes Fragments, The
1x Fragment of the Book of Nod
1x Giant's Blood
1x Guardian Angel
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
1x Barrens, The
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
4x Vessel
2x Direct Intervention
Event (1 cards)
1x Unmasking, The
Action (2)
1x Anima Gathering
1x Abbot
Ally (11)
11x Emerald Legionnaire
Equipment (6)
1x .44 Magnum
1x Ivory Bow
1x Kevlar Vest
2x Sniper Rifle
1x Bowl of Convergence
Action Modifier (5)
1x Kiss of Ra, The
2x Trochomancy
2x Call of the Hungry Dead
Action Modifier/Combat (4)
4x Breath of Thanatos
Action Modifier/Reaction (4)
4x Spectral Divination
Combat (5)
5x Spiritual Intervention
Reaction (36)
3x Enhanced Senses
11x Eyes of Argus
5x Forced Awakening
3x My Enemy's Enemy
4x On the Qui Vive
6x Telepathic Misdirection
4x Eagle's Sight
Thanks to sponsors, organizers and players!
EVEN MORE NEW PROMO CARDS!
Black Chantry Productions aren´t lazy on creating new special promo cards – here are more:
• Direct Intervention (Two versions)
These are special promo versions (one sketch and one "part painted") for tournament players and volunteers. So far they have only been awarded to a couple of German players and to 25 players at the Spanish National Championship, but more have been printed so don´t pay too much on Ebay for one!
• Official The Edge card
This was also handed out at the Spanish National Championship this year, but it can be printed on demand by anyone on Drivethrucards.com.
SEND IN COOL VTES CONTENT!
Please help out with material for this newsletter – mail to . Tournament reports (large events mainly) and anything of your own writing have priority for publishing, but really anything that’s cool and about VTES is interesting, to show the game is played all over the world and to inspire others. Two examples:
• Nice to see that Russia is playing! (images above). It´s been hard to access recent products and promos, but now some have reached the Russian community, and Moscow tournaments and a Telegram channel is active. Thanks to Denis N, Armen K and others for organizing!
• Awesome deckbox by Répliquant, available at Events for games, this one painted by @ewiie83. Anyone can create merch like this, just remember to talk to Black Chantry before using any logos or artwork.
BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: DECEMBER 2021
• The big thing this month is that Black Chantry now has its own webshop, Black Chantry Distributions. Its located in Denmark (EU) and run by Jesper Bøje. The primary purpose for creating this is to make it easier for VTES cards to reach people that don´t live close to a friendly local game store that stocks it. Hope you like it!
• The design team thought the Fall of London cards needed another round of playtesting, so round 3 started December 18 and will go on for a month. Some errata for older problematic cards are also being tested.
• In addition to the Direct Interventions and Edge promos mentioned above in this newsletter, a group 6 version of Tegyrius, Vizier was created as a reward for backers of MET Vampire: The Masquerade - War of Ages. It will be made available later, either as normal event promo or in a product.
• Black Chantry have received a lot of feedback about the rulebook and are working on releasing an updated version in 2022. If you have any feedback, please tell by mail or message!
• In summary, 2021 was a busy year for Black Chantry. Of course, the conditions for marketing a multiplayer, (mostly) live card game is not optimal during a pandemic, but efforts were plenty: 500+ cards added to Drivethrucards (not counting the Latin cards craziness!), playtesting of future sets, 20+ new promo cards, the massive Unleashed Kickstarter campaign (330 percent funded!), event support (for the few events that were possible), own webshop and, of course, the four new Fifth Edition precons (Brujah, Gangrel, Banu Haqim and Ministry). As usual, some projects needed to be put on hold to prioritize others, but 2022 has many new things waiting for VTES fans. Black Chantry wish you a happy, healthy new year!
- Currently these Black Chantry products are available through 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 only)
Promo Pack 1 (Drivethrucards only)
Promo Pack 2 (Event promos 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 (Stores only)
Fifth Edition: Nosferatu (Stores only)
Fifth Edition: Toreador (Stores only)
Fifth Edition: Tremere (Stores only)
Fifth Edition: Ventrue (Stores only)
Promo Pack 3 (Event promos only)
Fifth Edition: Banu Haqim (Stores only)
Fifth Edition: Brujah (Stores only)
Fifth Edition: Gangrel (Stores only)
Fifth Edition: The Ministry (Stores only)
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
The World of Darkness team over at Paradox launched "Vampire Jam" at the end of their Month of Darkness, a way for anyone to create a World of Darkness-themed digital game, submit it and get the chance of having it published. The contributions were plenty and some look awesome - check out the videos below!
CALENDAR
Upcoming events: Yes, we report about exciting live events in this newsletter, but the VEKN still refrain from generally encouraging physical tournaments. Follow local regulations on what events are possible. Online tournaments are possible - just check the box "Online tournament" when you add the event to the calendar!
For more information on upcoming events see the VEKN Event Calendar.
If you want more done - do less.