Greetings fellow Methuselahs,
Welcome to this newsletter. Above you see the group photo from the European Championship of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, held in Vilnius on September 19-20 with 196 players. Thanks to all of you lovely people, and thanks to the organisers. Hope to see everyone again next year in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
The European Championship 2027 will be in Gelsenkirchen, Germany!
In Vilnius, it was announced that next year's EC will be played in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, on October 29–31. We will continuously report the most important updates about this event, as will other channels, but for the most recent, updated information always consult the official website ec27.vtes.de!
The Archon app is now the official way to handle VEKN tournaments
Here is the official statement from Vincent Ripoll in full:
"Dear Methuselahs, dear organizers,
The Archon app is now the official way to handle your tournaments!
The app passed its trial by fire during the 2026 European Championship in Vilnius and is now replacing the old Excel-based tournament management system after nearly 25 years of loyal service.
Let’s take this opportunity to thank one last time those who have worked on it over the years: LSJ, Dominic Catanzariti, François Alix, Stéphane Lavrut, Jeff Thompson, Jussi Hattara, Karl Schaefer, David Tatu, Kevin Mergen, Vincent Ripoll, Pascal Bertrand, Emiliano D’Onofrio, and Lionel Panhaleux (if I’ve forgotten anyone, please raise your hand!).
It is no longer possible to create new tournaments using the old system, but tournaments that have already been created can still be finalized using the old system if necessary.
Thanks to Lionel “Phoenix” Panhaleux for his excellent work!
If you haven't reclaimed your VEKN number on the app, now is the right time!
This also means that updates to the Tournament Winning Decks (TWD) will primarily be done through the app, which will speed up the process since there should no longer be any data entry errors and the process can therefore be fully automated.
There are still a few details to finalize regarding the TWDs, which explains the delay in the update; we’ll keep you posted.
The VEKN team"
So that's it - the old calendar will be removed in a while, and the old Excel Archon is not to be used any more. The Archon is dead, long live the Archon!
Héctor Javier Ordoñez is the 2026 European champion!
This tournament was played in Vilnius, Lithuania on September 19-20 with 196 players.
Read the full report: European Championship 2026
Player interview: Héctor Javier Ordoñez, European champion 2026
Congratulations, Hector! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. A little background first: how long have you been playing this fantastic game that you obviously now have mastered?
- I used to go to a game club to play Magic, Dungeons & Dragons and Vampire: The Masquerade, among other things. For a while, I even ran Vampire roleplaying sessions! It was around 2002 when my friends and I were introduced to VTES, and we started playing among ourselves.
Our English wasn’t very good back then, so we did what we could. I remember playing Voter Captivation not knowing that you can only take 2 pool! Awe + Voter Captivation was a pretty nice combo haha!
Do you have a regular local group where you live?
- I mostly play around Utrecht, in the Netherlands. We have a pretty regular group, usually with one table per week, sometimes two. The meta is quite diverse, with competitive players and more casual. You can encounter anything from Tupdogs to Ravnos bleed.
Did you get a chance to play in the Week of Nightmares this year, or the Friday Grand Prix?
- I have never attended a Week of Nightmares, but I did play the Friday GP and reached the final. That was very nice, because it meant I could play Saturday with less pressure. So I wasn't that exhausted – I think I was mostly ok, but by the time I was playing the final on Day 2 I was starting to glitch :)
So how was your EC Day 1?
- Since I was already qualified through the Friday GP final, I approached Saturday with less pressure and tried to conserve energy for Sunday. I played a fairly conventional G6 Tzimisce deck with eleven bounce cards, hoping to take advantage of the bleed-heavy meta I expected on Day 1.
I didn’t fare so well, at one table I was sandwiched between two politicals (one of them Nikica’s), and in another I was the unfortunate prey of a Path of Caine rush deck. Neither was really something the deck is prepared for!
How did you decide on a deck for the EC Day 2 tournament? Tell us all about it!
- Mainly I wanted to play something of my own design that I would enjoy, no matter if I won or lost. I expected a very diverse meta with experienced players bringing personal variations of known archetypes and some surprises.
I had played my deck “Baby meeting” around ten times, but only on Lackey, no in-person games. I liked the idea that people seeing my Ministry crypt would think “It is just a Platinum Protocol deck”, although by the final, other players probably knew what I was doing!
As for strengths, the deck is very explosive, which is a strength but also a weakness, since it tends to draw attention. You need to know how to manage that. Also, in late game the deck has many, many options. If you have a Garibaldi or a Sargon you can be quite creative with what you can do.
About weaknesses... Early pressure can be problematic, especially before you can develop your board and play strong Consanguineous Boons. It is also difficult if there are votes at the table in the hands of people who want you out. Another problematic point is consistent blockers. The deck is very slippery, since it does many actions per turn, so it is hard to block everything. It does not pack much stealth, which I think should be saved for key actions like Heart of Nizchetus, Consanguineous Boon or Revolutionary Council.
What are the key cards?
- Heart of Nizchetus is particularly valuable because the order of the cards matters, even though the deck already cycles plenty of cards. You want the right sequence: Childe of the Revolution, CrimethInc, Waters of Duat. If you have Waters and CrimethInc, and Childe arrives later, it does not work.
What are the ideal prey and predator?
- The ideal prey is a strong bleeder, since they will get the aggro and I might even get encouragement from the table to kill them.
All predators are bad :D but if I had to choose, anything that does not block too much or is too fast.
What was your experience during the 3 preliminary rounds of Day 2?
- At the first table, Marcus was bleeding me with his Ravnos and my prey Denes was playing Brujah Debate. It was a tense game. At one point I played a Consanguineous Boon for Marcus to keep him in the game in exchange for him not bleeding me.
Second table was tough, with Richard piloting his Capuchin deck as prey and Tomasz with a Nephandi deck as predator. At some point Tomasz played Frontal Assault and torporised all 6 of my minions!
Third table was with Norbert, with Ravnos bleed, as prey and Leonardo with an original Lasombra breed deck that unfortunately struggled to develop until late in the game.
All games were very nice and enjoyable. Even when positions or negotiations were difficult, we laughed and had a really good time!
In the final, what was your seed and what did you think of your position at the table?
- As third seed in the final, I felt my seating options were limited. I sat as predator of Bram, preferring the scenario where he had to backrush me to defend himself rather than him having to rush me to get his point.
Were you familiar with the other players?
- With Nina and Tero I have played a few times before, with Lech only online. Bram and I have played countless games over many years, and I consider him a friend. His Qawiyya multi-rush deck worried me a lot. Looking at the table, I honestly thought my fate was already determined.
How was the early game shaping up?
- My opening was explosive. I brought out a six-cap who had a perfect first turn: Fee Stake, CrimethInc, Childe, CrimethInc, Waters. By the time Qawiyya could act, I had four minions.
Bram wanted to talk before torporising everything on my board. Going backwards would probably mean ruining both our games while the rest of the table develops. So I offered not to do anything forward until he gets his first victory point.
I planned on honouring that deal. I expected Bram to push forward against Nina, and I also had the possibility of ousting her with Revolutionary Council myself, giving Bram his point and releasing me from the deal.
What was your sense of the table mid-game?
- Mid-game was frustrating. Lech played a Direct Intervention and four (!) Delaying Tactics against my attempts to play Consanguineous Boon.
Tero’s The Unnamed wasn’t putting much pressure on Lech’s Harbingers, so Lech had room to develop his board. I had to block Emerald Legionnaire bleeds, which meant spending many actions rescuing vampires from torpor and hunting.
In the meantime Bram did not seem to get close to ousting Nina, and Revolutionary Council was not showing up.
At some point I was at seven pool and in danger of being ousted by Lech. Bram intervened with cross-table rushes to keep me alive. If Lech obtained a victory point, Bram would need two points to win.
Then Revolutionary Council shows up, and at seven minutes left, my turn begins. I know I will not have another turn after this. I will have to make a decision: to honor the deal until the end and lose, or break the deal and win.
I play Revolutionary Council. Lech plays Direct Intervention. I trust the God of cards; play Childe, play Dual Form, bleed with Propaganda, and here it comes: a Sargon Fragment. I play Sargon Fragment, unlock with CrimethInc paying a pool, use it to fetch the Revolutionary Council, play Revolutionary Council.
Target: Bram.
That was dramatic indeed. So to round this off, what do you see in VTES’s future? For you, and for the game?
- Having seen VTES in its darkest years, I am very happy to see how strong the community and the competitive scene are.
For me the appeal is still discovering ideas, building new decks, seeing whether I can make it work. The upcoming sets and the Sabbat paths give us more possibilities for that, and I enjoy seeing the meta change.
Regarding helping the game grow: I think we should make it as easy as possible for interested people to find a game in their city. They need to know who to contact, where to borrow decks, etc.
And for a game so complicated, I would love to see some outstanding tutorials. For example, there is a Netrunner tutorial that is immersive, accurate, and interesting. Something similar for VTES could help turn interest into players, in my opinion.
Finally, a big thank you to the organisers, judges and players. It was an amazing EC. I am grateful that every year we all agree we should go somewhere, sit together, stab each other in our hearts, and laugh about it. To share this unique, extraordinary game with you all is an honour. Thank you.
Thank you, Héctor. A very strong weekend for you – good luck in the future!
Daniel Magda is the 2026 Czech champion!
Played in Pelhřimov on September 5 with 53 players.
Read the full report: Czech Republic National Championship 2026
Alex Shoemark is the 2026 UK champion!
Played in Nottingham on September 5 with 25 players.
Read the full report: UK National Championship 2026
Nick Miller wins Grand Prix Sydney 2026!
Played with 16 Methuselahs on September 5.
Read the full report: Grand Prix Sydney 2026
Louis Emerson Tong is the 2026 champion of Singapore!
The tournament was played at Gamersaurus Rex (!) in Singapore City on September 19. Only 9 players in the battle - better luck next year!
Read the full report: Singapore National Championship 2026
Welcome to Festivo dello Estinto 8 in Zaragoza!
On November 6-8, Festivo dello Estinto returns for its eighth edition. In this VTES storyline tournament, special rules favour the Sabbat and the results feed back into the World of Darkness narrative. Black Chantry created a special full art version of Crusade: Aragon for this event, but that is far from all you get by attending - there will be special tournament cards, VTES artist guests, side events, tin deck boxes, barbecues, Vaulderie (!) and all kinds of other fun in this Zaragoza weekend. The winner gets the prize ring, a complete Sabbat Wars set, and the chance to become the face of next year's Sabbat Convert card.
For more details and to register, check out vtes-zaragoza.com!
CometCon 2026 - a VTES celebration!
On September 5-6, the game convention CometCon was held in Gijón, Spain. This time it had two nice VTES events, a standard constructed tourament and a 2-player variant one that was extra successful - people loved it! Read all about it in the report by Daniel Méndez, VEKN Prince of Gijón.
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Succubus Club to the left, Elysium to the right.
Great VTES content
A few years ago, it was rather easy to keep up with great VTES-related content online - especially if you were mainly interested in English-language content. Now, to our great joy, it's practically impossible! But here are some recent picks:
• The Thessalian Scrolls gathers some interesting statistics on tournament games.
• Succubus-club.net seems like a strong competitor to Lackey for playing VTES online.
• Elysium is another new tool for the same thing - which one is best?!
• Ratcat is a newish Youtube channel that helped out with streaming games from the Vilnius EC. Also has funny memes!
• If you are a fan of old-school card game art, check out artist Randy Gallegos's Substack - sometimes about VTES.
Do you know about something we should highlight in this section? Contact the editor at !
Reminder: Please join the World of Darkness Community Map!
Please advertise your VTES playgroup and/or VTES events on the World of Darkness Community Map! This is important to help the game grow. But list only things that happen in public places where anyone is welcome - nothing played at someone's home, and no online events.
Check out the map here: World of Darkness Community Map
Submit here: Map submission form
Black Chantry Summary: September 2026
• Noites Brasileiras and Secrets of New York now have an official release date, October 31. Your local store might sell them before that, but that is the first date when the new cards are allowed in VEKN sanctioned tournaments. Also, check out the announcement post for a listing of all the set artists!
• Henrik, Hugh and Vincent of Black Chantry attended the EC in Vilnius and would like to thank the hosts for a very well-organised event. There was a small presentation and Q&A focused on the recent survey results and current plans for the game. Great times as usual, playing games and talking to players and artists!
• Product Director Ben Peal will appear at the South American Championship in Brasilia, Brazil on October 10-11, and would love to see you there! He has prepared a presentation - make sure to prepare some tricky questions to ask him!
• The full art promo card Crusade: Aragon, made for Festivo dello Estinto (see above in this newsletter), has been added to the print-on-demand at Gamepod and can be ordered by any National Coordinator.
• The third round of playtesting of two preconstructed decks for a 2-player variant of VTES has just started. Several art pieces for this are already completed, which will be used one way or another.
• Design of "Anthology II" and New Blood packs for the four Sabbat paths continues. New art for some Anthology cards that need it has been commissioned or is already delivered. New Blood playtesting will start shortly.
• Want to know more about future releases? Dates are a bit off, but the product roadmap article at Blackchantry.com is still relevant.
• The following Black Chantry products are currently available through Gamepod, Drivethrucard
Lost Kindred bundle (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 1 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 2 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 1 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 2 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Den of Fiends Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Anthology I bundle
VTES Card Creator (Drivethrucards only)
25th Anniversary
First Blood: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
First Blood: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
First Blood: Toreador (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
First Blood: Tremere (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
First Blood: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
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)
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)
30th Anniversary (Also Spanish, French)
Fifth Edition: Lasombra (Also Spanish, French)
Fifth Edition: Hecata (Also Spanish, French)
New Blood: Hecata (Also Spanish, French)
New Blood: Lasombra (Also Spanish, French)
Path of Caine (Also Spanish, French)
Path of Cathari (Also Spanish, French)
Path of Death and the Soul (Also Spanish, French)
Path of Power and the Inner Voice (Also Spanish, French)
New Blood: Ravnos (Also Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese)
New Blood: Salubri (Also Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese)
New Blood: Tzimisce (Also Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese)
Noites Brasileiras (Also Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese) (Upcoming)
Secrets of New York (Also Spanish, French) (Upcoming)
Do you have opinions about or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook, Instagram
Recent news in the World of Darkness
The annual “Month of Darkness” is on! This year there is a lot going on, all summarised in this post on Worldofdarkness.com. Sales, creative prompts, BEAUTIFUL metal dice and many other things.
A third Dev Diary on the next edition of Vampire: The Masquerade was published. In it, Creative Director Jess Lanzillo describes some of what the team learnt during the 1.0 Alpha playtest and some of the plans moving into 2.0. Most of these are game-mechanical things with very little obvious effect on VTES. The most interesting thing is maybe that the most mentioned discipline in the playtest feedback was Protean – a discipline that was not in the playtest, was heavily emphasised in V5 (and thus also VTES Fifth Edition), and that now seems to be removed from the game. Interesting times indeed!
Looking for more World of Darkness in your channel of choice? Check out the Linktree!
Calendar
Major events coming up:
October 10: Continental Championship South America, Brasilia, Brazil
October 11: Continental Championship Asia, Tokyo, Japan
October 17: Continental Championship Oceania, Brisbane, Australia
October 17: Grand Prix Pittsburgh, USA
October 18: Appalachian Cup Grand Prix final, Bethel Park, USA
October 24: Grand Prix New Orleans, USA
October 31: National Championship France, Nancy
October 31: National Championship Netherlands, Doorn
November 7: National Championship Sweden, Stockholm
November 7: National Championship Switzerland, Zürich
November 7: National Championship Slovakia, Bratislava
November 7: National Championship Denmark, Køge
November 15: National Championship Mexico, Mexico City
November 21: National Championship Canada, Montréal
November 28: National Championship Germany, Herne
November 28: National Championship Hungary, Budapest
December 5: Grand Prix Vidor, USA
December 13: Grand Prix Cearense, Brazil
Tournaments for the coming month (registered at the time of writing) are in:
Australia x4
Brazil x8
Canada
Chile x2
Croatia
Finland x3
France x2
Germany x2
Greece
Hungary x5
Italy x3
Japan
Netherlands
Online x2
Portugal x3
Serbia x2
Spain x10
South Africa
Sweden
UK
USA x9
For details about these events, see either Archon.vekn.net or the VEKN Event Calendar - the Archon app will gradually replace the calendar. Also, check out the World of Darkness Community Map.
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 the contact forms at VEKN.net. Also follow the official VTES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, the official VEKN X account @VEKN_VTES and the official VTES Discord server.
Wisdom comes with age. But sometimes age comes alone.
