Preview art by Gabriel de Góes for an upcoming Vampire: The Eternal Struggle card.
Greetings fellow Methuselahs,
What about that cow?! Who said all ghouls need to be humans? Fantastic art by Gabriel de Góes, a preview from a card to be released later this year.
KELLY SCHULTZ IS THE 2023 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION!
We are very happy to see that the North American Vampire: The Eternal Struggle championship is back on track again after pandemic times, in some regards more flourishing than ever. The ten (10!) Week of Nightmares tournaments held at various Columbus venues the week before the main event had unusually many players, each with 25-30 players, both old, new and returning Methuselahs. Excellent!
The winners of the 2 round + final "side tournaments" were:
Monday: Erik Albenze
Monday: Mark Loughman
Tuesday: Darby Keeney
Tuesday: Darby Keeney
Wednesday: Karl Schaefer
Wednesday: Guy Russo
Thursday: Kelly Schultz
Thursday: Norm Brown
Friday: Erik Albenze
Friday: Karl Schaefer
Sunday: Karl Schaefer
On Saturday it was time for the actual championship, as usual played at Origins Game Fair at the Greater Coumbus Convention Center. 41 players turned up for battle. Standings after the three preliminary rounds:
1. Ian Lee (2 GW, 8 VP, 168 TP)
2. Kelly Schultz (2 GW, 7.5 VP, 168 TP)
3. Bill Troxel (2 GW 7.5 VP, 156 TP)
4. Mark Figuerola (2 GW 6.5 VP, 156 TP)
5. Kelly Lyons (1 GW, 7 VP, 150 TP)
Congratulations Kelly Schultz, new North American champion! We look forward to a newsletter interview with him some time in the future. He got 3 victory points in the final, Kelly Lyons got 2.
The tournament winning deck list: "Platonic Vote"
Crypt (12)
3x Lutz von Hohenzollern 11 AUS DEM OBF PRE pot inner circle Malkavian:4
3x Undele 9 CEL FOR obf pre ser magaji Ishtarri:5
2x Dmitra Ilyanova 9 CEL FOR POT PRE obf justicar Brujah:5
1x Adana de Sforza 11 CEL OBF POT PRE PRO aus inner circle Brujah:4
1x Orlando Oriundus 9 AUS DOM THA obf bishop Tremere antitribu:4
1x Rafael de Corazon 11 AUS CEL DOM OBF PRE inner circle Toreador:4
1x Stavros 7 AUS OBF PRE dem priscus Malkavian antitribu:4
Library (80)
Master (23; 1 trifle)
1x Barrens, The
1x Creepshow Casino
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
5x Information Highway
7x Minion Tap
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Secure Haven
1x Wider View
5x Zillah's Valley
Action (1)
1x Entrancement
Political Action (20)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
3x Banishment
3x Conservative Agitation
1x Disputed Territory
1x Honor the Elders
6x Kine Resources Contested
1x Neonate Breach
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power
Action Modifier (30)
2x Awe
2x Bewitching Oration
3x Elder Impersonation
1x Faceless Night
3x Forgotten Labyrinth
5x Lost in Crowds
6x Perfect Paragon
8x Voter Captivation
Action Modifier/Combat (6)
6x Force of Personality
Thanks to organisers Ben Peal and Jay Kristoff, any others that helped, sponsors and, of course, all the lovely players!
REMINDER: REGISTER FOR EC 2023 BEFORE JULY 15 TO GET THE EXCLUSIVE PLAYMAT
The organisers of the Barcelona Vampire: The Eternal Struggle European Championship 2023 ask you to please register for the event as soon as possible. If you register before July 15, you get the tournament exclusive playmat with the new Piper artwork depicted above. Hope to see you in October!
REMINDER: GRAND PRIX BRUSSELS COMING UP
On July 15-16, the European Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Grand Prix tour will have a stop in Brussels, Belgium. On Saturday, the wam-up event is the Belgian Limited National Championship 2023, a booster draft tournament in 3 rounds + final. Then on Sunday it´s time for the main event, a 3 rounds + final standard constructed tournament (proxies not allowed). Check out the VTES forum for detailed information!
DEMO GAMES AT MEGA XP GAME FAIR
Attention Mexican Methuselahs! And potential Methuselahs! If you happen to be in Mexico City on July 15th, swing by the board game convention MEGA XP. Luis Jiménez and others will host demo games this day - come play, chat, hang out and get some promo cards!
29 YEARS AFTER RELEASE: JYHAD SEALED TOURNAMENT
On June 17, a Jyhad sealed tournament was played in Zaragoza, Spain. David Villalba tells how it came to be and how it turned out:
How did we get to the point to organize this kind of tournament? For a long time we were willing to organize a different tournament in Zaragoza. We wanted to play games such as we used to in 1994, with a small bunch of bad cards. We checked our local community about their interest in something like that, something different. In general, the idea was welcomed by most of the players so we engaged our local Prince, Raúl Perfecto, and we got down to work.
First we needed to get hold of Jyhad stuff. Not an easy task, but after some diving on the VEKN forum we found that a similar tournament was held in USA in 2022. We started seeking for the person who organized it and, thanks to him, we got two booster boxes and some decks so the first task was completed. Let´s run a tornament!
The second task was to find somewhere to play. La Goblinera (“the goblin hideout”) was the most suitable one. It´s a club for tabletop-, board-, card- and role playing games, that usually embraces groups playing the role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade. It was a perfect venue and the most important thing: they found it a great proposal.
Finally, we opened the registration. We just had supplies for 15 players, so the tournament was really narrow and few hours after the registration began, it was filled. We had twelve local players and we showed the Fifth Tradition for three visitors from other cities.
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The tornament rules were as follows:
- Players create a deck out of the content of five booster packs. In addition, a sealed Jyhad starter deck was opened for each table, so players divided into the three five-player pods were able to pick cards in order to complete their decks.
- At least 8 vampires per crypt and between 35 to 50 library cards.
- Library can be re-shuffled and played one more time once it was empty.
- Every card is played according to the written text, not to the current text.
- All “playing for ante” and cards that may change the seating are forbidden.
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The tournament had 2 rounds and a final. The final table looked like this: Malkavian/Ventrue/Tremere DOM & PRE (Fernando) >> Malkavian DOM & OBF (Pedro) >> Gangrel (Ricky) >> Tremere toolbox (David) >> Ventrue/Tremere bleed & votes.
Fernando started powerbleeding and redirecting some bleeds and ousted Pedro who made the mistake to try to equip with weapons instead of bleeding fast. Then Fernando pushed again and ousted the Gangrel deck, who had no intercept cards in his deck and failed to draw cards to attack vampires. After that, Fernado's vampires were starving, so he ran out of power and got completely stuck.
Meanwhile, the Toolbox Tremere was playing a low profile game, letting the vote & bleed deck punish the Malkavian/Ventrue DOM & PRE deck who had two victory points already. After an important Deflection, the Tremere toolbox managed to oust the Vote & bleed deck and then, thanks to a 2-pool Misdirection to lock both of the Malkavian/Ventrue's two unlocked vampires, he won the game well-deserved with a three victory points result.
The best part of the tournament was the great enviroment and cheering up with a ”wake with evening's freshness”! And of course playing our favourite game in a different manner. Every participant finished the tournamet with a good feeling and a big smile, and people were very thankful for the effort done getting the supplies. So we have no choice: We are looking for more Jyhad sealed stuff for next year!
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GEHENNA COMES TO CHILE!
Some Chilean players created their own, non-official storyline event to celebrate the release of the Echoes of Gehenna set. Rodrigo Iturrieta sent us the rules, translated by Ginés Quiñonero:
Introduction
After so many years of studying, I should have realized who I was. I knew all the wonders and stories written in the four most famous books...
My pride blinded me. I thought I would recognize it, but it wasn't the case, and now it shares its visions with me...
I know I met him, shared with him, traveled with him... but I can't remember...
His power could rival any god in this world.
He watches us, and his judgment feels closer and closer. I know it because he has whispered it in my dreams and has imprinted the visions in the journeys my mind has taken to forgotten corners of a doomed world...
Now I am just a puppet, a ghost walking among my Kin. Many of them say I am dead. They believe our Dark Father met a similar fate. They have no idea how wrong they are.
Gehenna is real, it still continues, and its Echo resonates louder every night...
The Signs of the End
Gehenna is the End of Times for Cainites. No euphemisms. THE END. Vampires from all over the world sense this pivotal point in history and are attentive to the Signs that precede the catastrophe.
In Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, Event cards with the Gehenna subtype are part of the Signs of the End.
A Gehenna Event on the table is difficult to handle, and as they accumulate, everything becomes nearly impossible for the Methuselahs.
The Rules of the End
- The deck construction format is V5+ (Vampire: The Eternal Struggle 5th Edition and beyond). If you have any doubts about which cards correspond to this format, you can find information at http://vteschile.cl/formato-limitado/
- All Ally cards (Recruit Action) are considered unique and contestable, even if the card text does not state "Unique."
- The following cards cannot be used in deck construction:
- Crypt Cards: Karen Suadela
- Event Cards: All Event cards (whether Gehenna or not) cannot be used in decks.
- All servants created with cards of type "Embrace" (Bamba, Creation Rites, The Becoming, The Embrace, Thin-Blooded Seer, Third Tradition: Progeny, Tumnimos, Waters of Duat) are considered unique.
- A "Deck of Events" is assembled from the Echoes of Gehenna expansion pack and the card "No More Jyhad" is added to it. The game starts with the Wormwood Event in play. At the end of each round, the first Event card from the Deck of Events is revealed and put into play (ignoring any requirements and/or restrictions, if any).
- Each Methuselah can burn an Event card in play by paying 2 from their Blood Pool and skipping their turn. This can only be done once per game.
- The winner of the game is awarded the pack that was used to assemble the Deck of Events at their table.
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Download these rules in Spanish here.
GREAT VTES CONTENT
Blogging about Vampire: The Eternal Struggle seem to be a flickering business, but here´s some currently active ones in English that we like:
• The Thessalian Scrolls is by a Spanish player who talks about his tournament experiences and all things VTES - well worth a look!
• The Garou Rim Gazette is by a Finnish player who writes about various gaming stuff. The article "Deckbuilding Brujah Debate" is about just that - how to build a deck around the card Brujah Debate, something many have tried, but the archetype so far hasn´t become a staple top tier thing.
• VTES One has been around forever with a steady steam of content. Lately we saw an entertaining experiment with AI for VTES in "Mastering the Shadows", check it out!
DO YOU WANT TO HOST THE 2024 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP?
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):
Thanks for your application!
BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: JUNE 2023
• Black Chantry CEO Hugh Angseesing, designer Mike Nudd and some FANTASTIC volunteers appeared at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham, UK. The space was shared with Null Signal Games, current producers of Netrunner. Great success! Demo games! Sold products! Player questions answered! Smiling faces! Don´t be surprised if this happens again.
• The New Blood packs for Banu Haqim, Brujah, Gangrel and Ministry are at the printer. Hopefully they will reach stores in August or early September.
• Another full art promo card was revealed! This time for fifth installment of the Festivo dello Estinto storyline tournament in Zaragosa, Spain, to be played on September 16-17. And appropriately, the card is Festivo dello Estinto:
• The next three preconstructed decks (Ravnos, Salubri and Tzimisce) are getting close to ready for print. Three rounds of playtesting are done and all art is in. The design team and the rules director are doing some finishing touches.
• You asked for it - you got it! The Fall of London set is now available in latin at Drivethrucards.com!
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 (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)
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 crew over at Paradox and all their partners are doing a lot of stuff! Here´s our top Vampire-related picks from the last month:
• “Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice” was announced. Developed by Fast Travel Games (makers of “Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife”), this will be a VR first person single player adventure RPG set in Venice. Check out the trailer over at www.vtmjustice.com
• Finally some news about “Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2”! New in-game screenshots, a refund programme and a date for more news (September) was revealed – read the full announcement at Paradox!
• Renegade Game Studios will publish “Blood-Stained Love”, a sourcebook for Storytellers and players who want to include more romance in their Vampire: The Masquerade chronicles, filled with new merits, flaws, powers and role-playing tips.
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 x15
Chile x4
Croatia
Finland x2
Mexico
Online x3
Poland
Portugal
Spain x7
Switzerland
United Kingdom
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 V:EKN
You can contact the V:EKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at V:EKN.net. Also follow the official V:TES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official V:EKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES
You think you want to disappear? What you really want is to be found.
