Greetings fellow Methuselahs
Firstly we have some sad news to acknowledge ...




IN MEMORIAM: STEWART WIECK 1968-2017
The V:EKN would like to honour the memory of Stewart Wieck who passed away June 22. Among many other things, he was co-founder of White Wolf, co-creator of the World of Darkness and former Chairman of V:EKN. We are eternally grateful for his contribution to millions of hours of entertainment. His legacy lives on in our game and many others. Rest in peace.

About this by Mark Rein-Hagen: “Stewart Wieck, my partner at White Wolf, has died..."
About this by Richard Thomas: "Goodbye, my friend"
About this by White Wolf: "If I have seen further ..."

NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 IS OVER
US National Coordinator Ben Peal reports: Congratulations to Martin Weinmayer of Austria for winning the 2017 North American Championship! This is his third Continental Championship win - he also won the European Championship in 1999 and 2009. His winning deck was Stanislava multi-act. Congratulations as well to the other finalists: Alex Romano, Mariya Hyryk, Brad Cashdollar, and Bill Troxel.

Congratulations are also in order for the other tournament winners at Origins Game Fair! Bill Troxel won Day 1 of the NAC with old-school mid-cap Protean-Dominate. Adam Huse won the Thursday constructed tournament with a Howler-based Ahrimanes deck, and he also won the First Chance Qualifier on Sunday with an Ishtarri multi-act deck.

Many, many thanks to everyone who attended, including competitors from Chile, Mexico, and Canada! Many thanks as well to Jay Kristoff for running the Week of Nightmares!

Decklists are as follows:

Thursday June 18 - Constructed Tournament (22 Players)
Deck Name: Ahrimanes Rule of Four
Created By: Adam Hulse
Description: My Ahrimanes take on my "Toreador Rule of Four" deck. Ahrimanes lose bounce and titles but gain more stealth and more blocking. Lesson Learned: The Claws of the Dead are a good surprise but should probably just be Force of Personality. Lesson Learned: To give prey hard choices - Pentex Loves You could replace Fear of Mekket.

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 16, Max: 32, Avg: 6.33)
4 Howler      ANI obf PRE SPI8 Ahrimanes
4 Siamese     ani PRE pro SPI7 Ahrimanes
1 Cynthia Ingold    ani for pre SPI6 Ahrimanes
1 Nettie Hale    ani cel pre pro spi5 Ahrimanes
1 Juanita Santiago    ani pre spi 4 Ahrimanes
1 Igo the Hungry    pre pro  1 Caitiff

Library: (90 cards)
Master (19 cards)
2 Wash  
2 Villein
2 Dreams of the Sphinx
2 Wider View
2 Perfectionist
2 Vessel
2 Blood Doll
1 Archon Investigation
1 Barrens, The
1 Fear of Mekhet
1 Anarch Troublemaker
1 Pentex(TM) Subversion

Action (23 cards)
4 Legal Manipulations
4 Public Trust
4 Entrancement
4 Enchant Kindred
4 Engling Fury
2 Abbot
1 Mind Numb

Action Modifier (8 cards)
4 Squirrel Balance
4 Aire of Elation

Reaction (22 cards)
4 Speak with Spirits
4 On the Qui Vive
4 Falcon`s Eye
4 Ears of the Hare
3 Wake with Evening`s Freshness
3 Delaying Tactics

Combat (12 cards)
4 Majesty
4 Claws of the Dead
4 Leapfrog

Equipment (2 cards)
1 Heart of Nizchetus
1 Gran Madre di Dio, Italy

Combo (4 cards)
4 Swiftness of the Stag


Friday June 19 - Day 1 NAC 2017 (25 players)
Deck Name: Good Old PRO-DOM
Author: Bill Troxel
June 2017, Columbus Ohio, USA - NAC Day 1
2nd seed going into final w/1 GW, 7VP. 3 VP in final.
Entire crypt starts w/PRO; some have dom. Handful of dom skill cards, lots of Govern. Decent bleeding, very decent blocking in the late game, some bouncing; decent combat survivability. Iliana stars as prime actor; Caitlin supports as primary blocker. This is a well-tested deck. The Weather Control is for Raptor Decks, which are all too common in my local group, but it can double as stout combat defense when coupled with a Flesh of Marble. Fun to play.

Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=3 max=7 avg=5.92)
3x Caitlin   6 aus dom ANI PRO !Gangrel:2
1x Chandler Hungerford 3 PRO   Gangrel:2
1x Daliyah   4 obf PRO  Nosferatu:2
1x Dr. Allan Woodstock 5 ani aus for PRO Gangrel:3
1x Harry Reese   6 cel obf FOR PRO !Gangrel:3
5x Iliana   7 tha DOM FOR PRO Gangrel:2

Library (90 cards)
Master (16)
1x Backways
1x Coven, The
1x Direct Intervention
5x Dominate
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
3x Perfectionist
1x Twisted Forest
2x Wider View
1x Zoo Hunting Ground

Action (21)
1x Abbot
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
16x Govern the Unaligned
3x Under Siege

Equipment (2)
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Sport Bike

Retainer (1)
1x Mr. Winthrop

Action Modifier (10)
2x Bonding
3x Conditioning
1x Daring the Dawn
4x Earth Control

Reaction (15)
7x Deflection
1x Delaying Tactics
2x Eluding the Arms of Morpheus
5x On the Qui Vive

Combat (25)
1x Claws of the Dead
10x Earth Meld
3x Flesh of Marble
7x Form of Mist
3x Quick Meld
1x Weather Control

Saturday June 20 - Day 2 NAC 2017 (25 players)

Deck name: Stansilava goes for a bloody donat
Author: Martin Weinmayer
Description: I usually play this Deck with 80 Cards, but i did some metagame changes because I expected less combat and more bleed. Changes were +2 forced march +4 Sense the Savage Way +2 murmur +1 villein -1 scourge Big thanks to Ben Peal for his ongoing Support of our game, and all the cool People i was blessed to meet there!

Crypt (12):
4x Stanislava
1x Etrius
2x Ingrid Rossler
1x Mark Decker
1x Xaviar
1x Rachel Brandywine
1x Hartmut Stover
1x Genevieve

Library (88):
Master (22):
7x Villein
4x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Pentex Subversion
2x Papillon
2x Jake Washington
1x Information Highway
1x Ennoias Theater
1x Giants Blood
1x Backways
1x Monastery of Shadows

Minion Cards (66):
9x Govern the Unaligned
1x Seal of Veddartha
7x Parity Shift
1x Ancilla Empowerment
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Reigns of Power

8x Form of Mist
4x Earth Meld
2x Rapid Change
6x Earth Control
4x Instantaneous Transformation
4x Forced March
3x Conditioning
1x Enkil Cog

4x Sense the Savage Way
4x Murmur of thr False Will
6x Deflection


Sunday June 21 - First Chance Qualifier (19 players)
Deck Name: Ishtarri Need No Bounce! (2017 version)
Created By: Adam Hulse
Description: This is the 2017 version of my deck. Minor tweaks to the 2016 version that made finals of Day 2 NAC 2016. The theme of the deck is to abuse meta where there is minimal intercept. Lesson Learned: Maybe a Storage Annex to hold master cards (since doing so many actions) and Talbot's Chainsaw.

Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 17, Max: 31, Avg: 6)
3 Falhu Shibaba    ani CEL CHI FOR PRE8 Ishtarri
2 Ubende      for obf qui CEL PRE7 Ishtarri
1 Honorine Ateba    cel nec FOR PRE6 Ishtarri
1 Mustafa     cel dom FOR PRE6 Ventrue
1 Elizabeth Conde    pre CEL FOR 5 Ishtarri
1 Victor Pelletier    cel dom for PRE5 Ventrue
1 Shasa Abu Badr    cel for PRE 5 Ishtarri
1 Kenyatta     cel for pre 4 Ishtarri
1 Abu Nuwasi     cel for  3 Ishtarri

Library: (80 cards)
Master (17 cards)
1 Anarch Troublemaker
1 Archon Investigation
1 Heidelberg Castle, Germany
1 Misdirection
1 Agent of Power
1 Glutton
2 Perfectionist
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Fear of Mekhet
1 Giant`s Blood
6 Villein

Action (18 cards)
10 Enchant Kindred
2 Entrancement
2 No Secrets From the Magaji
2 Well-Marked
1 Aranthebes, The Immortal
1 Restoration

Action Modifier (20 cards)
15 Forced March
2 Perfect Paragon
2 Aire of Elation
1 Daring the Dawn

Political Action (4 cards)
2 Kine Resources Contested
2 Ancilla Empowerment

Combat (7 cards)
2 Hidden Strength
3 Majesty
2 Superior Mettle

Retainer (2 cards)
1 Mr. Winthrop
1 Shaman

Equipment (6 cards)
1 Kduva`s Mask
1 Laptop Computer
1 Sport Bike
1 Reliquary: Trinket
1 .44 Magnum
1 Talbot`s Chainsaw

Combo (6 cards)
5 Resist Earth`s Grasp
1 Ishtarri Kholo

STORYLINE NEWS: “ASCENSION OF CAINE” AND FUTURE STORYLINE MATERIAL
Storyline Coordinator Mike Nudd reports: In May I had the pleasure of attending the World of Darkness convention in Berlin, a fan convention organised by PDA on behalf of the new White Wolf team. The convention had a varied and busy schedule filled with table top role-playing, live-action role-playing, seminars and of course Vampire: The Eternal Struggle.



Vampire the Masquerade Fifth Edition (“V5”)
While most of my time at the event was spent on VTES related matters, I did have the opportunity to see White Wolf’s keynote address on their vision for the classic World of Darkness and the new 5th Edition version of the Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing game.

This new game will follow the timeline of the previous game, but will move the timeline on with some significant changes to the world that vampires live in. One new concept is the Beckoning, a mysterious phenomenon which has called all vampires of the oldest generations away to the far east, leaving their havens unoccupied and their local political positions vacant. In this timeline, the Anarchs have risen in rebellion, causing such a threat that the Camarilla has cast them out, so that they are now enemies and no longer welcome – a true third sect more aligned to the way they are already presented in VTES.

Most shockingly, the mortal world has become aware of supernatural creatures and is mobilising to deal with the threat they represent. Although the public may still be ignorant, large secret organisations are mobilising in what is being called the Second Inquisition, and vampire populations in many cities have already been decimated. As a result, the surviving vampire societies have gone underground, forced to practice their meetings and rituals under the tightest security. Modern technological communications methods can no longer be trusted, and public transport is no longer safe. The hunters are now again the hunted.



Ascension of Caine
One of the Friday events was the Ascension of Caine VTES Storyline tournament, a homage to an original scenario from the Vampire RPG found in the "Berlin by Night" sourcebook. In this scenario Kindred are drawn to the city to witness Caine’s return. Caine demands the abolishment of the Camarilla and Sabbat, and declares that all vampires should pledge fealty to him instead. However this is not Caine, but the ancient Ravnos methuselah Ankla Hotep, who is duped into the charade by his former lover Nefertiti. His powers are enhanced to godlike proportions by a magic amulet crafted by the bane mummy Saatet-Ta.

During the tournament I went around to see what decks people were playing, and what notable story events occurred. Of all the clans, the Setites, Lasombra, Tzimisce and Gangrel were the most well represented. While there isn’t space to cover all the detailed events, some highlights include:
- Baba Yaga entering combat with Arika and inflicting 4 aggravated damage to burn her
- Xaviar (Advanced) Mind Raped by Montano before the latter calls a Baltimore Purge
- Ulugh Beg and Gabrielle di Righetti contesting the title of Tremere Justicar
- Numerous Lasombra diablerised by the Mexico City Circle
- Baba Yaga later being sent to torpor on zero blood by the Neighbourhood Watch Commander
- A tense last-man-standing face-off between Khalil Ravana equipped with the Amulet of Ancients, and Nefertiti (advanced) and a horde of Aabt Kindred

The final took place between a Gangrel deck led by Brunhilde (Petru Makkonen), preying on a Ventrue high cap vote deck (Jeroen Van Oort), preying on Tzimisce (Petri Wessman), preying on a Montano Purge deck (Rudolf Garski), preying on a Malkavian bleed deck (Matti Palomaki). After two hours of play Rudolf was declared the victor, claiming the shiny trophy provided by White Wolf as the prize.

Regards,
Mike

DESIGN TEAM NEWS
Design Team leader Ben Peal reports: Round Two of the Bloodlines playtest concludes this weekend. Playtest Coordinator Hugh Angseesing will compile all the reports and data for us, then we'll make the appropriate adjustements to cards for Round Three. Round Three should begin in mid-to-late July, and we anticipate a September release.

CALENDAR
Upcoming events:
July 8 - Valhala - Paulistão 2017 - LIGA NOVA ERA BRASIL - São Paulo, Brazil
July 8 - QCF Barbecue - Vitrolles, France
July 8 - Townsville Carnage 2017 - Townsville, Australia
July 8 - Campeonato Carioca 2017 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
July 8 - 1st Great Symposium; St. Michel - Mikkeli, Finland
July 9 - Campeonato Amazonense de VTES 2017 - Manaus, Brazil
July 9 - LIGA NOVA ERA BRASIL - PB Howl - Campina Grande, Brazil
July 9 - Ascension of Caine: Bochum - Bochum, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
July 15 - Liga "NOVA ERA" Brasil AP - Restricted Vitae - Macapá, Amapá, Brazil
July 15 - Es Julio, y lo sabes - Badía del Vallés, Spain
July 16 - Belgian National Championship 2017 - Brussels, Belgium
July 16 - Spontaneous Power - Palma de Mallorca, Spain
July 19 - Rage Across Appalachia - Asheville, USA
July 28 - Finnish ECQ 2017: Ropecon - Helsinki, Finland
July 30 - Liga "NOVA ERA" Brasil AP - Hunger Moon - Macapá, Brazil

For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event 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

We will not go quietly into the night!

Greetings fellow Methuselahs
You look a bit pale, are you sure you had enough sun lately? Did I say sun?! I mean BLOOD of course – have who had enough blood? There´s nothing like a good old hunt action is it? Or maybe you prefer a bleed for six pool? Anyway, EC 2017 is over, and what an experience it was. And now the NAC is coming up, with no less than eleven tournaments!


EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 SUMMARY
Five V:TES tournaments where played during the World of Darkness Berlin convention, a big gathering of all kinds of World of Darkness-related stuff, hosted by White Wolf on 11-14 May. We won´t delve much further in the non-V:TES-activities, but there were several large larps, playtesting of next V:TM, workshops, contests, presentations, speeches (White Wolf, Mark Rein-Hagen, Justin Achilli, etc.) – if you want to know more about all that, check out www.worldofdarkness.berlin

On Friday: Nation´s Cup gathered 76 players and had two finals. The “best players final” was won by Alain Greiner (FRA) playing a Nephandus deck. The “best team final” was won by Emiliano Imeroni representing Belgium, playing a ani-weenie deck with anarch tech.

On Friday: Storyline “Ascension of Caine” had 39 players and was won by Rudolf Garski (GER) playing a Lasombra Baltimore Purge deck (list here). 

On Saturday: EC 2017 day 1 had a whopping 157 starting players, which is a record for the EC day 1 tournament. Winner was Francois Greiner (FRA) playing a Ventrue princes with sticks deck (list here).

On Sunday: A “Shadow Twin” standard constructed tournament replaced the usual First Chance Qualifier event. 88 persons entered and Cedric Goffaux (FRA) won with a Nana Buruku & Enkidu ANI+POT rush deck (list here).

On Sunday: EC 2017 day 2 was fought by the top 40 players from day 1. The new European champion is Danilo Torrisi (ITA), playing a Saulot & The Capuchin wall deck with anarch tech. See below for an interview with Danilo. More information on all decks that was played on day 2 can be found here. A transcript of the final table can be read here.

The total sum of the turnout at EC 2017 is 400, which is the most since Budapest 2012. This is the first time attendance didn´t require qualification, but another reason for the high attendance was of course the Anthology set, given and sold to all event ticket holders. A complete card list for the new set can be found at www.worldofdarkness.berlin/vtes

Another storyline, “The Line”, was played in a less formal fashion during the weekend. Storyline coordinator Mike Nudd will tell more about the results of the storylines later – you are all still welcome to run your own storyline events and report your results to

A couple of interesting meetings also took place. Representatives from V:EKN met White Wolf to discuss the future of V:TES – it was a good meeting but we have nothing to disclose at this moment. However, we recommend you to watch the White Wolf keynote presentation from Berlin. V:TES is mentioned a couple of times and you are given some peeks into the upcoming metaplot for the World of Darkness setting. Also the annual National Coordinators meeting was held. Among the things that were discussed was where the 2018 EC will be arranged – more about that later.

The V:EKN would like to give a special acknowledgement to the non-European players who came a long way, from Brazil, Chile, USA and other places. Also a special thanks to the players took the time off to run V:TES demo games for interested not-yet-V:TES-players at the event, primarily Kai Kimmerle. There was a constant pressure for such games, and those who volunteered are worth great praise. And also of course thanks to the tournament organisers: Mike Nudd, Hugh Angseesing, Serge Cirri and Vincent Ripoll. Thank you!

You can read more about EC 2017 at Extrala´s special blog vtesec2017.wordpress.com, including deck lists for final tables, statistics and reports of Extrala´s own efforts.

Congratulations to all winners and thanks to everyone who attended!


INTERVIEW OF THE MONTH: DANILO TORRISI, EUROPEAN CHAMPION 2017

Congratulations Danilo! Let´s start with the day 1 tournament. What deck did you play and what was your strategy?
- I played a very aggressive political/bleed deck with Rafael de Corazon, Mistress Fanchon, Rebekah and Maris Streck. The strategy is to start fast with Zillah´s Valleys, bleed with Flurry of Action at superior and then vote. I played this kind of deck because I think many players have aggressive decks in day 1 to try to take a single game win to qualify for day 2. I used a bleed+political deck because many players have defense agains bleed but nothing against political.

How did it go?
- It worked very well in the first round. I took 4 vp in less than 50 minutes. In the second round unfortunaly there was a Tupdog deck at the table. It rushed down all vampires cross table, so zero points for me. In the third round I was in a table with two wall decks; one Gangrel deck and one Carna grinder deck. No ousts and 0,5 vp for everyone – a very boring game. So I got to day 2 with 1 gw and 4,5 vp.

So, what about day 2? How did you choose your deck?
- In day 2 I played a wall deck based on auspex and fortitude. The two big vampires in the crypt are Saulot and The Capuchin, but there are also some smaller vampires with aus and for, and Anarch Converts for an anarch strategy with Anarch Revolts and some other cards. I chose to play a wall because in day 2 there is less aggressive deck, so the game is usually slow. A deck like mine needs time to grow up, but when I have Saulot, The Capuchin and maybe another vampire, and eleven cards in my hand, I feel kind of immortal! My strategy is to stay alive, let some players be ousted and then play Smiling Jack or Anarch Revolt and try to defend it against only two methuselahs to take the game win. (Danilos deck list http://www.vekn.net/forum/event-reports-and-twd/75788-ec-2017-day-2-tournament-winning-deck#81853)

How did you perform in the preliminary rounds?
- The first round I took zero vp. There was two animalism-weenies, one Nana Buruku deck and one gargoyle bruise-bleed deck at the table, so my Saulot had to visit torpor many times. The second game was me > Toreador AAA guns > Toreador AAA guns > Celerity weenie with guns > Toreador AAA vote. Many contests in that game! The third game was me > Arika vote > Giotto Verducci bleed/vote > Montano Baltimore Purge > MMPA animalism with Aksina & Cybele. Both these games was good for me because they were slow. I had time to build my wall defense and won both games with 4 vp, so I was first seed in the final with 2 gw and 8 vp.

What was your strategy in the final? What was the threats for you on that table?
- My strategy was sit with Noora as predator because Saulot is immune to damage from The Unnamed and I can deflect bleeds on my prey. That way I can focus on Orian and try to stop him cross table with Eagle´s Sight or Delaying Tactics. I have no problem with Nephandus because my vampires can prevent damage and kill them easy. So my greatest problem was the Tzimisce deck, because I didn´t know what kind of combat he played and I don´t know the player. So I tried to play with two alternative strategies: block everything threatening and try to keep all players alive for two hours, or with Nooras help kill my prey with deflected bleeds. The first one worked better! :-)

Is there anyone you want to thank who helped you succeed in the EC this year?
- I want to thank all my friends in Team Italy. We talk a lot and try to help each other to build decks and choose what decks to play. This year it worked out very good for me! :-)


NAC AND WEEK OF NIGHTMARES COMING UP
North American Championship events at Origins and Week of Nightmares events are posted on the vekn.net calendar.

Week of Nightmares events start on Saturday, June 11 and will be at Fabian's Pizza at 691 N. High St in Columbus, just down the street from the convention center.
Sunday June 11: 2:00 pm start
Monday June 12: 11:30 pm start and 6:00 pm start
Tuesday June 13: 11:30 pm start and 6:00 pm start
Wednesday June 14: 11:30 pm start and 6:00 pm start

North American Championship events are at Origins starting on Thursday, June 15:
Thursday June 15: Constructed, 11:00 am start
Friday June 16: NAC Day One, 11:00 am start
Saturday June 17: NAC Day Two, 11:00 am start
Sunday June 18: First Chance Qualifier, 10:00 am start

Be sure to sign up for a FULL SHOW BADGE and use the VEKN club code. This coupon code will remove $30 from the cost of the badge. Coupon Code: LwXcDYSx


DESIGN TEAM NEWS
Round Two of the Bloodlines set playtest is underway! Round Two will conclude at the end of June. We're aiming for a late summer release for the set. If you'd like to join the playtest, please contact our Playtest Coordinator, Hugh Angseesing.


CALENDAR
Upcoming events:
June 3 - Cape Town Pre-Nationals Tournament - Cape Town, South Africa
June 4 - LIGA_NOVA_ERA_BRASIL- PB - Storm Hammer - Campina Grande, Brazil
June 11 - After Anthologies - Badía del Vallés, Catalunya, Spain
June 11 - Week of Nightmares event 1 - Columbus, USA
June 12 - Week of Nightmares event 2 - Columbus, USA
June 12 - Week of Nightmares event 3 - Columbus, USA
June 13 - Week of Nightmares event 4 - Columbus, USA
June 13 - Week of Nightmares event 5 - Columbus, USA
June 14 - Week of Nightmares event 6 - Columbus, USA
June 14 - Week of Nightmares event 7 - Columbus, USA
June 15 - LIGA_NOVA_ERA_BRASIL-AM - Fortitude Master - Manaus, Brazil
June 15 - V:TES Constructed Tournament - Columbus, USA
June 16 - V:TES North American Championships Day 1 - Columbus, USA
June 17 - V:TES North American Championships Day 2 - Columbus, USA
June 17 - Campeonato Brasileiro de VTES 2017- Manaus, Brazil
June 17 - ICON SA 2017 - Midrand, South Africa
June 17 - German ECQ: Grapple in the Art Museum, Vol. 4 - Bad Nauheim, Germany
June 17 - Brno Nights I. - Brno, Jihomoravský kraj, Czech Republic
June 17 - Bewitching Oration - Paris, France
June 18 - V:TES First Chance Qualifier - Columbus, USA
June 25 - Liga_"NOVA ERA"_Brasil_AP - Restricted Vitae - Macapá, Brazil
June 25 - ALOHA - São Paulo, Brazil

For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event 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

Blood and souls!