Mark Kelly VTES Tzimisce 

Art by Mark Kelly for the upcoming Tzimisce preconstructed deck.

Greetings fellow Methuselahs,


Barcelona 2023

EC 2023 IN BARCELONA IS PLAYED ON 14-15 OCTOBER

We are delighted to announce the first rough schedule for the VTES European Championship 2023, played in Barcelona, Spain. This is what we know so far:

• October 9-12: For four days there will be 2 rounds + final tournaments every afternoon/evening.

• Friday, October 13: 3 rounds + final tournament

• Saturday, October 14: EC Day 1

• Sunday, October 15: EC Day 2

There will be an official EC website up soon with more details, which we, of course, will return to in these newsletters and all other channels too. Hope to see you ALL in Spain!


Grand Prix Liverpool 2023

WELCOME TO GRAND PRIX LIVERPOOL ON MAY 20!

The next installment in the current VTES European Grand Prix circuit will be played in Liverpool, England on May 20. For more information about this, keep an eye on:

The Grand Prix Facebook page

The VEKN Event announcement forum

The VEKN European Grand Prix page


OTHER UPCOMING MAJOR TOURNAMENTS

Among the many upcoming events we want to spotlight the following larger ones:

Spanish National Championship in Seville, March 25

Belgian National Championship in Mechelen, May 7

France National Championship in Vitrolles, June 3

Swiss National Championship in Geneva, July 1-2

Norwegian National Championship in Moss, August 5


 
VEKN Code of Ethics
 
VEKN ETHICS COMMITTEE NOTICE

The Ethics Committee met on 29th January 2023 to discuss an incident involving two players at an event in Joensuu, Finland, that took place on Wednesday 28th December 2022. As a result of the discussion and submission of statements from attendees, both players are suspended from organised events for 180 days, until the end of Thursday 27th July 2023.

The Ethics Committee wants to remind organisers and players of their individual responsibilities to treat others with respect, and furthermore recommends organisers and players break / timeout games where needed to allow tempers to cool and civility to return.
 
 

 
 
IMPORTANT VEKN DOCUMENTS NOW ALSO IN SPANISH
 
Now you can access these three VEKN documents also in Spanish. A link to the PDF is on the top of each page:
 
 
 
 
Translations by Ginés Quiñonero.
 

 
Praxis Seizure London
 
PRAXIS SEIZURES

A solid sign of that the VTES community is growing is the steady influx of new volunteer organisers. Below is a bunch that has signed up since last time we reported about it, in November. Thanks guys - you make tournament play possible!

• Chile - Prince of Providencia: Pablo Cabrera
 
• Chile - Prince of Santiago: Casio Celedón

• Chile - Prince of Santiago: Cristian Gutiérrez (Yes, there can be multiple Princes without contest!)
 
• Chile - Prince of Villa Alemana: Iván Gómez
 
• Finland - Prince of Jyväskylä: Pasi Karjalainen

• Italy - Prince of Bologna: Alessio Bianchi

• USA - Prince of Dallas: Chris Franklin

• United Kingdom - Prince of Norwich: James Freimuller
 
• France - National Coordinator: Christophe Baltazar

• Italy - National Coordinator: Miro Albertazzi
 
• Spain - Prince of Córdoba: Mariano Carbonero

• Spain - Prince of Móstoles: Miguel Porras Benito

• Brazil - Prince of Itaocara: Paulo José Aragão Picinini
 
• Brazil - Prince of Poços de Caldas: Isabel Carneiro
 

Black Chantry logo

BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: JANUARY 2023

• Black Chantry celebrates the first year of its webshop with a special bundle for anyone that missed the Unleashed Kickstarter. It includes two decks of each of Danse Macabre, The Unaligned 1, The Unaligned 2 and Anarchs Unbound, as well as 8 each of the Kickstarter promo cards Double Deuce, Ashlesha, Len Kanopka and Vivienne Geroux. That is not all! You also get two New Blood: Ventrue decks and promo cards Gilbert Duane, Okulos, Victoria Ash, Karl Schrekt, and Fiorenza Savona. All this with free worldwide shipping. How can anyone resist?

• Not to brag, but according to this summary on www.drivethrucards.com, 42 of the 50 most sold products in the store are VTES cards or bundles. The most selling one is Direct Intervention with that sassy new art by Ginés Quiñonero. YES, a new batch is on its way, its just a matter of physical proofs being printed and (hopefully) approved in the second try.

• Black Chantry are still investigating the possibility of an EU print-on-demand option. Recently there was some print tests done. However, nothing has worked out yet and it may be that it is not feasible due to price and quality. Never stop hoping!

• The second round of playtesting of the next three preconstructed decks (Ravnos, Salubri, Tzimisce) has been concluded and massive reports has been compiled by the test coordinators. Those are now being digested by the design team prior to a third round of playtesting. Thanks to all testers for your work!

Black Chantry Products 2022 October

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

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


 

World of Darkness news Jan 2023

RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

As usual the World of Darkness team over at Paradox Interactive has a lot of things going on:

Vampire: The Masquerade Players Guide is now available for preorder over at Renegade Game Studios. This book will be a collection of all the seven clans not in the Fifth Edition core book, but also with much new stuff, including new predator types, a new system for coteries, new merits and flaws, new alternative Banes for every clan, additional guidelines for many mechanics, clarifications of some rules and no less than 40 new discipline powers! (Imagine what this means for new VTES cards!)

Hunter: The Reckoning gets several new things, of which we think "Lines Drawn In Blood" is most exciting. It´s a book with four stories that can be played stand alone or connected into a larger game chronicle. This is also available for preorder now.

Vampire: The Masquerade: Rivals, also known as "That other Vampire card game" gets a new expansion soon, called "Justice and Mercy", adding Banu Haqim and Salubri to the game.

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


 

CALENDAR

Upcoming tournaments for the coming month (registered so far) are in:
Brazil x8
Chile x3
Finland
Great Britain
Hungary x2
Lithuania
Mexico
Online x3
Poland x2
Singapore x2
Spain x7
Sweden
USA x5

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 

Don´t be yourself. Be the one that you want to be.

SAC 2022 jogadoresSAC 2022 players honouring the great Fernando "Sydnelson" Cesar.

Greetings fellow Methuselahs,

LEONARDO VILLELA IS THE 2022 SOUTH AMERICAN CHAMPION!

This tournament was played on November 12-13 at Play Easy in São Paulo, Brazil. Day 1 had 16 players.

SAC 2022 floor

 

SAC 2022 prizes
Day 1 standings before the final:
1. Kleber Martins 2 GW 7,5 VP
2. Desso Alastor 1 GW 7 VP
3. Leonardo Villela 1 GW 6 VP
4. Thyelles Yoshitomi 1 GW 5 VP
5. Roxy Cíih 1 GW 4 VP

SAC 2022 Day 1 final table

SAC 2022 Finalists Day 1


Congratulations Leonardo Villela, winning by being top seed at 1,5 victory points. Thyelles got 1,5 and Desso 1.

Leonardo´s tournament winning deck: “Calma e bleed”

Crypt (12)
2x Ayelech 7 AUS DOM THA prince Tremere:6
1x Bituin 6 THA ani cel dom baron Tremere:6
1x Inês Tristão 6 THA aus dom pre prince Tremere:6
1x Lloyd Brooks 6 DOM THA aus pot primogen Tremere:6
1x Trevon Parker 6 AUS DOM THA Tremere:6
1x Chrysanthemum 5 AUS THA dom primogen Tremere:6
1x Zane 5 THA aus dom primogen Tremere:5
1x Lauren 4 aus dom tha Tremere:6
1x Nassir 4 THA aus Tremere:6
1x Tarrence Moore 4 aus dom tha Tremere:5
1x Monica Chang 3 dom tha Tremere:5

Library (73)
Master (12; 4 trifle)
1x Academic Hunting Ground
2x Arcane Library
1x Chantry
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
4x Vessel

Action (13)
8x Govern the Unaligned
5x Magic of the Smith

Ally (2)
1x Carlton Van Wyk
1x Ponticulus

Equipment (6)
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Ivory Bow
1x Kevlar Vest
1x Sniper Rifle
1x Sport Bike

Action Modifier (14)
6x Conditioning
8x Mirror Walk

Combat (6)
1x Burst of Sunlight
5x Theft of Vitae

Reaction (20)
6x Deflection
2x Eagle's Sight
2x Enhanced Senses
3x Eyes of Argus
1x My Enemy's Enemy
4x On the Qui Vive
2x Telepathic Misdirection


Day 2 had 15 players. Standings after the preliminary rounds:
1. Leonardo Villela 1 GW 6,5 VP
2. Thiago Nespoli 1 GW 5 VP
3. Fernando Grossi 1 GW 4,5 VP
4. Desso Alastor 1 GW 4,5 VP
5. Ed Gonçalves 1 GW 4 VP

SAC 2022 Day 2 final tableSAC 2022 Finalists Day 2
Congratulations AGAIN Leonardo Villela, winning this final with 4 victory points. Fernando got 1.

Leonardo´s tournament winning deck: “Power of Princes 2”

Crypt (12)
1x Alice Chen 7 FOR PRE dom obf prince Ventrue:6
1x Benjamin Rose 7 AUS OBF ani pot prince Nosferatu:5
1x Graham Gottesman 7 DOM FOR obf pre tha prince Ventrue:5
1x Karen Suadela 7 CEL POT obf pre prince Brujah:5
3x Arishat 6 DAI OBF PRE 1 vote Baali:6
1x Andi Liu 6 DOM aus obf pre prince Malkavian:6
1x Belinde 6 OBF ani aus pot prince Nosferatu:6
1x Benedito, a Lanterna 6 POT ani aus obf baron Nosferatu:6
1x Donny Kowalczyk 6 AUS cel dom obf prince Malkavian:6
1x Jacques Rouge 6 OBF ani pot pre baron Nosferatu:6

Library (71)
Master (24; 2 trifle)
9x Ashur Tablets
1x Creepshow Casino
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Elysium: The Palace of Versailles
1x Giant's Blood
4x Information Highway
3x Parthenon, The
2x Villein

Action (1)
1x Unleash Hell's Fury

Political Action (19)
1x Ancilla Empowerment
8x Kine Resources Contested
7x Parity Shift
2x Reckless Agitation
1x Rumors of Gehenna

Action Modifier (16)
2x Bewitching Oration
2x Faceless Night
4x Forgotten Labyrinth
2x Lost in Crowds
2x Perfect Paragon
2x Spying Mission
2x Voter Captivation

Action Modifier/Combat (2)
2x Swallowed by the Night

Combat (6)
6x Majesty

Reaction (3)
3x Second Tradition: Domain

SAC 2022 Leonardo with the two prizesLeonardo Villela, winner of both SAC game days!

Thanks to players, sponsors and organisers!


 GP Bologna 2022 champion

DANILO TORRISI WINS GRAND PRIX BOLOGNA 2022!

Words by Simone Zanni:

This year 42 players showed up on December 10 to compete in a great and very friendly tournament.
 
GP Bologna 2022 final table
 
GP Bologna 2022 finalists

Filippo's heavy back rush on Enrique quickly unbalanced the final, leaving two VP´s to Danilo when he felt to take them. At the time out, only Enrico survived to celebrate Danilo´s win.

Congratulations to Danilo Torrisi, and thanks to every player who attended, especially those who came from a long distance. Stats, players and finalists decks are available on bcncrisis.com/tournament/92.

Danilo´s tournament winning deck: “Carnawall”

Crypt (12)
1x Elena Mendoza Vasquez 6 dom obt AUS THA Tremere antitribu:3
1x Eugenio Estevez 6 dom for AUS THA Tremere:3
1x Hannigan 5 dom AUS THA Tremere antitribu:2
1x Martin Franckel 3 tha AUS Tremere:3
1x Selena 6 AUS DOM THA Tremere antitribu:3
1x Valois Sang, The Watcher 6 nec tha AUS DOM Tremere:3
5x Carna, The Princess Witch 7 AUS DOM THA Tremere:3
1x Aisling Sturbridge 5 dom AUS THA Tremere:2

Library: 90
Master (21)
1x Arcane Library
1x Academic Hunting Ground
1x Chantry
1x Dark Influences
1x KRCG News Radio
1x Life Boon
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Powerbase: Montreal
2x Rack, The
3x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
6x Vessel
1x Wider View

Action (9)
8x Magic of the Smith
1x Atonement

Equipment (11)
1x .44 Magnum
2x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Ivory Bow
1x Kevlar Vest
2x Sawed-Off Shotgun
2x Sniper Rifle
1x Sport Bike
1x Bowl of Convergence

Action Modifier (2)
2x Conditioning

Combat (8)
4x Rego Motum
4x Theft of Vitae

Reaction (39)
4x Enhanced Senses
8x Eyes of Argus
3x Forced Awakening
2x My Enemy's Enemy
3x On the Qui Vive
4x Telepathic Misdirection
8x Deflection
3x Delaying Tactics
4x Eagle's Sight
 
GP Bologna 2022Miro and Simone.
 
A side note: This GP has been the last tournament for Simone Zanni as National Coordinator for Italy and for Luca Lanzarini as Baron of Bologna. Their places will be taken soon respectively by Miro Albertazzi, long time player also from Bologna, and Alessio Bianchi, an enthusiastic young player of our community. Good luck guys!
 

 
Middle European Cup 2022 finalists
 
LUKÁŠ SIMANDL IS THE 2022 MIDDLE EUROPEAN CUP CHAMPION!

Report by Richard Unter:

For the third time players from all over Europe gathered to battle it out for the Middle European Cup in Vienna. And boy, oh boy, a battle it was. With 42 players from Hungary, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Finland, Spain, Germany and, of course, Austria (including some of the legends of the game), the battle was fierce.
 
Middle European Cup 2022 floor
 
 
Middle Europe 2022 final table
Congratulations to Lukáš Simandl for winning the 3rd Middle European Cup! He played an incredible tournament, dominated the first two rounds with his Unnamed/Protocol deck and took a well-deserved victory. In a tense final, he took the necessary VP twenty seconds before the time was over by ousting Markéta Munduchová, who needs a special shout out. Not only is she an incredible artist that you should check out, but also she started playing only two months ago and showed an astonishing feat of fair play, when she did not stall the last 20 seconds, when otherwise SHE would have won the tournament by having the only other oust so far when she eliminated Martin Weinmayer earlier on.
 
Middle European Cup 2022 winnerLukáš Simandl.
 
Lukáš Simandl´s tournament winning deck: Unspecified snakes

Crypt (12)
5x unnamed, The     10 CEL DAI OBF PRE PRO           Baali:6
1x Nonu Dis          8 OBF PRE PRO for               Ministry:6
1x Crystal Lynn      6 OBF PRE PRO                   Ministry:6
1x Elisha Tucker     6 PRE cel obf pro       baron   Ministry:6
1x Marcel            4 obf pre pro                   Ministry:6
3x Anarch Convert    1                               Caitiff:ANY

Library (90)
Master (16; 9 trifle)
1x Anarch Railroad
2x Archon Investigation
3x Dabbler
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
1x Secure Haven
2x Vessel
3x Villein
1x Wash

Action (18)
1x Entrancement
14x Platinum Protocol, The
3x Unleash Hell's Fury

Ally (1)
1x Carlton Van Wyk

Retainer (2)
2x Homunculus

Action Modifier (35)
6x CrimethInc.
6x Enchanting Gaze
4x Enkil Cog
4x Faceless Night
2x I am Legion
3x Instantaneous Transformation
2x Lost in Crowds
8x Revelation of the Serpent

Action Modifier/Reaction (1)
1x Sense the Sin

Combat (10)
1x Donnybrook
5x Earth Meld
4x Form of Mist
 
Reaction (7)
7x Party Out Of Bounds

We hope everyone had a great tournament and we will see all of you the next time again in Vienna!
 

 
EC 2022 floor
 
THE VTES YEAR 2022
 
A retrospect by Henrik Klippström:

This year we finally had a more normal tournament scene again, after a couple of years of pandemic terribleness. 328 events are reported in the VEKN Event Calendar so far this year, compared to 218 in 2021 and 133 in 2020. The last non-pandemic year was 2019, which had 292 events. This means the game is growing!

Lets have a look at the most interesting stuff that happened this year:

April: The five New Blood introductory decks are released, with some new vampires and desirable reprints for clans Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere and Ventrue.

April: Panders, Salubri and Tzimisce are made available for print-on-demand at Drivethrucards, totally 159 cards, including many player-favourites such as War Ghoul, Legacy of Pander and Neutral Guard.
 
NAC 2022
June: Bill Troxel is the new North American champion, wielding a Daughters of Cacophony deck with (of course) Emerald Legionnaires.

June: The Spanish National Championship has 139 players! Ricardo Filipe Marta wins with a rather classic “Girls” MMPA bleed deck.
 
EC 2022
July: Otso Saariluma of Finland wins the European Championship (again!) with a master-heavy Enkidu/Matasuntha deck. Day 1 of this tournament had 99 players, a nice number considering everything.

October: The Fall of London expansion hits the stores, accompanied by a storyline constructed by the set's main designer Mike Nudd.

October: Ke Carlton wins the Australian & New Zealand Continental championship, playing an Arishat & Barons vote deck.

November: This month had the most National championships: Finland, Sweden, Portugal, UK and Germany.

December: Leonardo Villela is the new South American champion (see this newsletter).

December: The Black Chantry webshop (www.blackchantry.shop) celebrates one year, located in Denmark and run by Jesper Bøje. He says this has been “both a blast and at times exhausting work”. Among his accomplishments are sending cards to 40 countries in six different continents, sending over 8 000 promo cards, sending over 1 000 units of the Unleashed packs, and sending prize support to all the 2022 Atlantic Cup participants. Peak week was week 38.
 
Also, we have seen five European Grand Prix tournaments; both for the very long 2019-2022 season and for the 2022-2023 season. Sebastian Fredenberg of Sweden won the final of the 2019-2022 season. Attendance on the Grand Prix has varied, but besides Continental and National Championships these are the largest VTES tournaments. There´s also been a number of large online tournaments, for example the Online World Championship and the Atlantic Cup.
 
Seville demo 2022
We have also reported about a lot of demo games this year – these are really welcome efforts to show the game to new people. The VEKN thanks all these organisers and hope more will come.

Of course, these were just the highlights. If you´re not a frequent reader of the VEKN newsletter, we really encourage you to browse through the newsletter archive for lots of interesting content, primarily event reports (with deck lists) and strategy articles. We would like to thank everyone that has helped out with content for the newsletter this year (sometimes even on deadline!), and hope for your continued aid in 2023.

Happy new VTES year!
 


 
Julie Collins - Third Tradition Progeny
 
THE MAGIC OF VTES – A BEGINNER`S TALE

This is a story of a Magic: The Gathering player for over 25 years to eventually find another worthy game.

I’ve been a Magic player since around 1995. Throughout the years, I became aware that Richard Garfield continued to develop other games after Magic and that VTES was one of them. Unfortunately, I knew nobody who was playing this game in South Moravia, Czech Republic, and I don’t remember seeing any VTES products anywhere either (though some were apparently available nonetheless).

In any case, one aspect of Magic was really rubbing me the wrong way – its mana system. On top of the normal deck randomization, it creates a secondary luck factor so that even if you draw the best combination of cards, you also need to draw the right amount of land cards to be able to play at all. The dreaded “mana screw”, “mana flood”, and “color screw” situations were plaguing me and everybody else playing the game. Not only was it unavoidable by design, it was particularly painful after investing a lot of money and testing into your tournament deck, then losing a couple of games due to mana issues.

I eventually started to research various other trading card games, living card games, and card-based board games, and learned that Magic was for the most part all but alone in having this kind of crucial game resource management. Most notably, at least for this article, I learned that Richard Garfield himself moved away from this mana system right after finishing the design of Magic, when he started to design Jyhad [1]. I ended up creating a couple of Magic variants that circumvented the mana system [2][3] for casual play but despite wanting to try out VTES, my sense of it at the time was that the game was obscure, nearly dead, and not really available or accessible. Though I browsed some VTES card pictures out of curiosity, being a Magic player used to very quick matches, long multiplayer games with possible early player elimination was not exactly appealing to me either.

Then about 10 years ago I got familiar with the World of Darkness by playing and later localizing (because the writing was that good) the Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines video game by Troika Games. Though it was still no VTES for me, I was primed to get into it at an opportune moment.

Fast forward to autumn of 2020 when I randomly noticed a relatively new offer at my local game store [4], featuring First Blood starters and some Anthology sets. I was like “Whaaaa…?!” and started to scour the internet for how that could be. After finding and reading through the Black Chantry website, I eventually found VEKN.net and the list of princes available there [5].

I was glad to find out that the city I live in, Brno, had a prince. Without a lot of expectations, I wrote an e-mail. To my surprise, I got a reply very quickly so I proceeded to gather a couple of friends who were also interested to learn something about VTES and invited everyone for a demo. This was also during the pandemic when game stores and restaurants were closed so it had to be a house party. For me, it was a success and I knew my time had come to start playing.

I learned that there were dozens of players all across the Czech Republic, and though many of them have been in torpor lately, the Czech community had been organizing regular regional tournaments. I even learned that I already knew at least three VTES players in Brno alone, I just didn’t know that about them before!

I was kind of all in since then. I bought all the Black Chantry precons and bundles that I could get. I was also able to get a bunch of spare cheap cards from my local group to get started with deckbuilding. And I have to admit, VTES does have a steep learning curve. For me, learning the basic rules was nothing compared to actually understanding how to navigate a 5-player game, tracking game states, triggers, etc. I also learned that while being generally very supportive, my play group was not really keen on playing with starter decks with me. So right from the beginning, I was exposed to Anarch Converts, contracts, Palla Grande, and all the other advanced stuff I needed to wrap my head around. I concluded that my precons could not really keep up so I started to build my decks. Someone suggested that I should start with something easy to pilot, like the Dementation stealth & bleed deck based on the First Blood starter. I went with the idea though it was not the only archetype I wanted to explore.

I played the deck several times to learn the archetype and a few months later I joined the Czech National tournament, called Pulled Fang, just to get to learn the community a bit more. And what do you know, it wasn't a complete wash. My first table looked as follows: Aksinya as my prey, Stanislava as my predator, with Lasombra powerbleed and Toreador CEL-guns across the table. Long story short, I somehow managed to oust two players while the Lasombra ousted Stanislava. In the heads up and in the last minute of the time limit, I managed to DI a crucial Conditioning, saving enough pool to finish the game the next turn. Talk about beginner’s luck! In the following games, I encountered many decks that I did not recognize and had no idea how to play against, scoring no more points but it was already worth it.

For each subsequent regional tournament, I improved my deck a little bit and tweaked it based on its previous performance and advice I got from others but I realized that it won’t be that simple. I keep encountering decks unfamiliar to me which is a good thing. But combined with weird and unexpected interactions and errors players make randomly, there does not seem to be a silver bullet to learning VTES other than just playing and failing better. This is truly a far cry from how Magic is played competitively, with short and explosive games followed by instant gratification.

On the other hand, I learned that even in VTES, if you are unlucky, you get to play very little or not at all. For example, I was recently on the wrong end of a couple of Brainwashes followed by multiple 419 Operations and was unable to accomplish anything in that game.

And so I’m building various decks, trying various archetypes, learning from TWDA [6], the Information Highway blog [7], and other resources. However, I’ve put several constraints for myself on what (not) to play. As I started my card collection with BCP products, I decided not to play groups 1-3. In fact, my sense of the game is that these old groups include some very efficient if not unbalanced vampires from when the game was very young and which would probably not be designed today. I am also avoiding playing 11-caps, as to me, they appear as too archetype-defining, susceptible to fast decks but otherwise hard to deal with. Case and point, very early on, I did not get why the Stanislava precon was considered to be very strong. I played one game with it in a pub. With a bit of hand-holding, I managed to score a GW without a lot of effort and had to admit it’s not a very fun deck for casual play. On the other hand, the new Mithras appears to be designed specifically to allow a broader range of strategies to build around.

I for one appreciate the changes Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition (“V5”) is bringing to the table as it basically allows VTES to be reimagined from the ground up, with all the experience from the past 20+ years. That enables the Black Chantry team to not only design new cards for new or updated deck archetypes, but also to update existing cards that are compatible with V5 and that previously saw little or no play.

For now, my signature (and also marginal and incidental) “tech” for my Malkavian stealth & bleed is something I did not see anyone play thus far, though I’m sure I was not the first to discover it: multiple Information Highways in the deck, burnable by Osric Vladislav for profit :)

I’m looking forward to playing new cards, new clan decks, and new reprints for post-Fifth-edition VTES (which I also call “Modern”). I’d like to see the format grow until it is big enough to draw in more of the veteran players. If I could make two wishes for the game, one major and one minor, at this stage in my VTES “career”, they would go like this:
• To me, it seems that Dominate bleed & bounce is very often, well, too dominant. I’d appreciate to see a combination of an erratum to address this reality, a few cherry-picked reprints for Modern VTES like Narrow Minds, and/or several newly-designed cards to nerf the archetype a bit, a Touch of Clarity type of thing.
• I’d like to see Victim of Habit tweaked to be playable. In my view, the card has a tremendous potential in many non-bleed deck archetypes but unfortunately, due to its current wording, it has been and continues to be virtually unplayable.

In closing, I’d like to thank the Black Chantry team for their time and effort, and wish them to be able to go full-time soon, and both the Czech VTES and international VTES Discord communities for supporting and cherishing new players like me. VTES is hard but many folks I’ve met personally or virtually really make it fun. I pass my turn.

Tomáš (“charmer” on Discord)
Do you also want to contribute to the newsletter? Contact
 

Black Chantry logo

BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: DECEMBER 2022

• There is to be an alternate art version of Archon Investigation handed out as a promo at the Spanish National Championship in Sevile in March. The art by Ginés Quiñonero shows a historic flashback scene with later Justicar Alonso Petrodon working as an Archon in 15th century Seville. And yes, Archon Investigation will see print again in other ways soon, but not with this special artwork.

Archon Investigation

• Round 2 of playtesting of the upcoming Ravnos, Salubri and Tzimisce preconstructed decks is ongoing. The playtesters now get to try both modified versions of the cards from round 1 and some all new ones. The aim is to do at least three rounds of playtesting in time for a second quarter release of these decks.

• Black Chantry wants to direct a special thanks to all you who created fresh online content for VTES during the past year. We see more and more of this, both tools like Codex of the Damned and VDB.im, and video content like that of Reading Between the Lyons and SuakuOZ, or like the very nice game overview by Jenders Gaming recently. If possible, Black Chantry will gladly help out if you want to create VTES content, for example with artwork and proofing.

• The next batch of print-on-demand Legacy Card Singles is a bit delayed, but hopefully ready soon, possibly even when you read this!

Black Chantry Products 2022 October

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

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


RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

Some cool stuff in December:

The official digital for Vampire: The Masquerade called Vampire Nexus continues to grow, now with three more titles in the online library: “Chicago By Night”, “Cults of the Blood Gods” and “Auld Sanguine”.

• Also growing is the new Vampire: The Masquerade wiki over at Paradox Wikis. If you have a user (or creates on), feel free to add content! For example the Vampire: The Eternal Struggle entries need more words :)

• The World of Darkness News Show had some interesting episodes with an interview with the Milan Uprising developers and showcase of Vampire Jam 2022 (two episodes).

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


 

CALENDAR

Upcoming tournaments for the coming month (registered so far) are in:
Brazil x3
Chile
Denmark
Norway
Online x2
Spain x5
USA x3

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 

Everything you can imagine is real.

Australia and NZ 2022 finalists 
 
Greetings fellow Methuselahs,
 
KE CARLTON IS THE 2022 AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND CONTINENTAL CHAMPION!
 
23 players on October 1. Words by Simon Reed:


For the first time in three years, players gathered for the Aussie & NZ Continental Championships this year in Melbourne. Joining the locals were travellers from Townsville, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Wellington and Auckland. The games were all played in excellent spirit with a general vibe of everyone enjoying being able to gather again to play. Wins were spread around with a total of 10 players gaining a game win and a coin toss being required to decide fifth place – Alistair the most unlucky 6th player.

Australia and NZ 2022 final table

In the end the final table was nothing short of brutal with almost no intercept on display, in a little over an hour Ke Carlton emerged triumphant taking the final with 4 victory points.

Check out both the video of the game and the comment video of the game. Also read Ke´s full tournament report at VEKN.net forum.

Ke´s tournament winning deck: “Baalicious Barons”
Comments: Mutes + Arishat + Barons for vote lock and attrition. Fairly light stealth. Added 2x Organised Resistance and 2x Monkey Wrench for a bit more flexibility. 6x Bait and Switch likely better than Organised Resistance however prey jamming on bounces works. Xeper for anti ally/legionnaries. Museum for Recursion. Thanks to Karl Schaefer for convincing me on the power of Eat the Rich.

Crypt (12)
4x Arishat                   6 DAI OBF PRE            Baali:6
2x Xeper, Sultan of Lepers      7 ani dai pro OBF PRE     Baali:6
1x Jacques Rouge              6 ani pot pre OBF        Nosferatu:6
1x Atiena                    6 pot pre obf CEL        Brujah:6
2x Elisha Tucker              6 cel obf pro PRE        Ministry:6
2x Vivian VI                 7 obf tha PRE PRO        Ministry:6

Library: 73
Master (16)
1x Anarch Railroad
2x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
3x Information Highway
6x Villein
2x Wider View
1x Creepshow Casino
1x Direct Intervention

Action (8)
3x Unleash Hell's Fury
5x Condemnation: Mute

Political Action (19)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment
11x Kine Resources Contested
3x Reckless Agitation
3x Eat the Rich

Action Modifier (20)
2x Faceless Night
5x Forgotten Labyrinth
5x Lost in Crowds
2x Monkey Wrench
2x Bewitching Oration
4x Voter Captivation

Combat (4)
4x Majesty

Reaction (6)
4x Bait and Switch
2x Organized Resistance

All the finalists decks: Ke, Shan, Stu, Nathaneal and Craig.

Thanks to Stu “Disco” MacLeod for organising, Steve Harris for running and judging on the day, MotS Imports for prize support, and our host Midaan Games for the tables as well as the streaming service.


 
VTES Finland 2022 Teemu Sainomaa 
TEEMU SAINOMAA IS THE 2022 CHAMPION OF FINLAND!
 
45 players gathered for the Finnish Championship in Espoo on November 5.
 
VTES Finland 2022 finalists
Juha, Antti, Teemu, Jyri and Esa-Matti.
 
Finland 2022 final table
 
Congratulations Teemu, who got 3 victory points in the final (Antti 1, Juha 1). A bit more words about the tournament are at the VEKN.net forum.
 
Teemu´s tournament winning deck: “Shattering Gangrels”

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Massimiliano 7 ANI FOR pro baron Gangrel:6
2x Casey Snyder 6 PRO ani cel for baron Gangrel:6
2x Kuyén 6 ANI PRO baron Gangrel:6
1x Martina Srnankova 6 FOR PRO ani Gangrel:6
1x Kamile Paukstys 5 PRO ani for Gangrel:6
1x Hanna Nokelainen 4 ani for pro Gangrel:6
1x Nathan Turner 4 PRO ani Gangrel:6
1x Indira 3 PRO Gangrel:6
1x Joaquín de Cádiz 3 for pro Gangrel:6

Library (87 cards)
Master (14; 4 trifle)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Backways
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Ecoterrorists
1x Ennoia's Theater
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
1x Society of Leopold
4x Vessel

Action (14)
1x Constant Revolution
2x Rewilding
4x Shattering
7x Thing

Equipment (3)
1x Camera Phone
2x Sniper Rifle

Political Action (1)
1x Revolutionary Council

Retainer (4)
4x Raven Spy

Action Modifier (3)
3x Earth Control

Action Modifier/Reaction (4)
4x Form of the Bat

Combat (14)
10x Earth Meld
4x Form of Mist

Reaction (30)
10x Bait and Switch
5x Deep Ecology
6x Eyes of the Wild
9x Organized Resistance

This tournament it was also the last for Janne Lönnqvist as Finland´s National Coordinatior, so he was honored with a VERY nice portrait in oil by VTES artist and player Noora Hirvonen:
 
VTES Finland 2022 Janne Lönnqvist
 
Thanks to Marko Saari for the photographs, and thanks to all organisers, sponsors and players!
 
 

 

Sweden 2022 finalistsFinalists: Antti, Robert, Erik, Jyri and Jonas.

ERIK MOSSBERG IS THE 2022 CHAMPION OF SWEDEN!

This tournament was played in the bar of at the excellent game store Alphaspel in Stockholm on November 26. 33 Methuselahs turned up, including 6 Finnish ones.

Sweden 2022 floor

Sweden 2022 prizes

Standings after the three preliminary rounds:
1. Robert Doktorow 2 GW 10 VP
2. Erik Mossberg 2 GW 9,5 VP
3. Jyri Puhakka 2 GW 6 VP
4. Jonas Ståhle 1 GW 7,5 VP
5. Antti Penttilä 1 GW 6 VP

Sweden 2022 final seating

Sweden 2022 final table
 
Congratulations Erik Mossberg, who became the new Swedish champion by ousting both his prey and his predator with a Anarchist Uprising when there were about 10 minutes left, and then staying alive as top seed. Great work with a pretty straight forward deck!
 
Erik´s tournament winning deck:

Crypt (12)
2x Kasim Bayar        9 CEL OBF THA aus pot   justicar   Banu Haqim:6
2x Farah Sarroub      7 CEL THA aus obf      prince    Banu Haqim:6
3x Kassandra Tassaki   6 CEL THA obf         prince    Banu Haqim:6
1x Khadija Al-Kindi    6 CEL OBF THA         primogen   Banu Haqim:6
2x Warmaksan         5 THA cel obf         prince    Banu Haqim:6
1x Nayarana          4 THA cel                     Banu Haqim:6
1x Bijou            3 cel tha                     Banu Haqim:6

Library (79)
Master (16; 8 trifle)
1x Giant's Blood
4x Haqim's Law: Retribution
1x Market Square
1x Papillon
3x Priority Contract
1x Underworld Hunting Ground
5x Villein

Event (1)
1x Narrow Minds

Action (6)
2x Hunter's Mark
4x Magic of the Smith

Equipment (4)
1x .44 Magnum
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x IR Goggles
1x Kevlar Vest

Political Action (5)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment
3x Parity Shift

Action Modifier/Combat (10)
5x Resist Earth's Grasp
5x Swallowed by the Night

Combat (24)
11x Hunger of Marduk
7x Pursuit
3x Quickness
1x Walk of Flame
2x Zip Gun

Reaction (13)
2x On the Qui Vive
11x Second Tradition: Domain

Thanks to organisers, sponsors and players!


 
VTES Portugal 2022 champion
 
JOEL MONTEIRO IS THE 2022 CHAMPION OF PORTUGAL!
 
The 2022 Portuguese National Championship was held on November 5th at Smartmove Games in Porto. This was the first time Nationals were played outside Lisbon and the tournament attracted 22 players from Portugal, Spain, Hungary, and Ireland. Report by Joel Monteiro, Prince of Porto:
 
The VTES Portuguese National Championship was held for the first time ever in my town, Porto. As the local Prince, I was asked to be a part of the organization team and did my best to welcome everyone to our city. The Porto scene is very casual and very recent, started by me and a friend about 6 months after V5 came out, so I entered Nationals with no expectations other than having a great time, ensuring everyone was also having a great time, and learning from more experienced players.
 
VTES Portugal 2022
 
Standings before the final:
1. Luis Sancho 2 GW 5,5 VP
2. Joaquim Correia 1 GW 6 VP
3. Joel Monteiro 1 GW 5,5 VP
4. Adriano Miranda Gangrel Wall 1 GW 5 VP
5. Sérgio Martins 1 GW 4,5 VP
 
VTES Portugal 2022 final table
To my surprise, I reached the finals with 5.5 VPs, 4 of which were collected during round 3 where my Banu Haqim took by surprise an ever-bloating Girls deck sitting at 12 pool, followed by Legionnaires, and, finally, a very hard-to-take-down Helena (Adv) with reactions for days. I must have spent 4 or 5 turns hurling 4 vampires at the Helena player, which kept blocking everything.

For the finals, I chose the Mak S&B as my prey since that deck focus on quickly taking out their prey, often plays few intercept cards and its deflections could be mitigated by the single copy of Narrow Minds if I ever drew it. To my right was a player I had faced a couple of times during the tournament, always as my prey, running a Gangrel Anarchs Wall. The wall is very good at blocking but needs time to build its board presence, so this was a position that favored both of us, although mostly him if the game ran long enough. My crypt was Kassandra, 2x Warmaksan and Bijou. Not ideal since CEL is the deck’s backbone, but I had to manage.

I started by influencing Kassandra, which I took out the following turn. My prey took out Alexander Silverson, a cap 8 and his largest vampire. The Nosferatu player had a great start, influencing Alonso Petrodon thanks to a turn 1 Information Highway. The Legionnaires player started summoning the namesake allies by turn 2, a problem far from my radar since I was running 14 copies of Hunger of Marduk. The Gangrel had a great start, as usual, using his 3 and 4 caps to influence larger vampires with Thing. I drew the game’s first blood with my Kassandra and thanks to Second Tradition: Domain I blocked a Constant Revolution, a card that took me out on Round 2 of this tournament. After Kassandra, I spent 4 transfers on Warkmaksan and the following turn took him and Bijou out. By this time, both my prey and predator also had 3 vampires out, with the Gangrel building his board faster than expected while denying the Legionnaires player. I needed an extra vampire to block the Gangrel horde, so the next turn I spent 4 transfers to draw a card from my crypt. Another Kassandra. I did the same the following turn - a third Warmaksan. I couldn’t believe my bad luck, which was obvious to anyone at the table. By the time I finally drew a new vampire - Khadija - I was already at 7 pool, thanks to an Army of Rats I didn’t block because I was eyeing my prey’s diminishing pool. Thanks to Haqim’s Law: Retribution and Swallowed by the Night, I had been steadily bleeding my prey for 2 for the past turns. I had Narrow Minds out so he didn’t bother deflecting such low bleeds. Eventually, when his pool went to single digits, he started deflecting or blocking. I always used the same trick during combat: Hunger of Marduk coupled with a maneuver and additional strikes. Blur, in particular, allowed me to clear the way for future bleeds by sending a couple of his vampires to torpor, although the cap 8 Alexander remained in play.

With my prey at 5 pool, I could almost taste that extra 6 pool that would help me influence Khadija, but a Political Stranglehold from the Nosferatu player let everyone but me recoup 3 pool, which set me back a couple of turns. The following turn I got a bleed through, but my prey had a deflection that sent me fighting the Legionnaires player, which still wasn’t putting any pressure on the Gangrel. I started the following turn at 6 pool after a Smiling Jack joined the army of Rats and 4 Gangrels at the table. I had only 1 Second Tradition: Domain in my hand so without Khadija, I wouldn’t last more than a couple of turns. I really needed that 6 pool so decided to risk an alpha strike with my 3 vampires. At this point, I had 3 Haqim’s Law Retribution out so all I needed was a single bleed to go through. I tapped Dreams of the Sphinx to increase my hand size and started bleeding. The first was blocked and I finally left Silverson dry, but not in torpor. Not enough. The second bleed was deflected. With only Bijou left, I locked her, hoped my prey didn’t have an On the Qui Vive and went for it. The bleed went through and I discarded 3 combat cards to Haqim’s Law: Retribution to increase the bleed to 4. I got the 6 pool and brought Khadija to the table. With her and Second Traditions for both Kassandra and Warmaksan, I was confident I could hold the incoming bleeds for the time remaining in the game.

Aware that the time was running out, the Gangrel player, which had 4 or 5 vampires out and somewhere between 15 and 20 pool, started bleeding me with everything. I blocked 2 vampires and let another one through. When my turn started, I only had time to attempt to bleed the Nosferatu player once, which deflected to the Legionnaires. He blocked, time for the round ran out, I maneuvered to long and we waved at each other (hand strike at long). I was the new Portuguese National Champion.
 
Joel´s tournament-winning deck:

Crypt:
2x Farah Sarroub
3x Kassandra Tassaki
1x Khadija Al-Kindi
3x Warmaksan
1x Greg Mazouni
1x Nayarana
1x Bijou

Library:
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
6x Haqim's Law: Retribution
1x Khabar: Community, The
1x Market Square
3x Priority Contract
4x Villein
1x Wider View
 
1x Narrow Minds

4x Hunter's Mark
4x Judgment: Camarilla Segregation

1x Heart of Nizchetus

4x Resist Earth's Grasp
5x Swallowed by the Night

2x Blood Rage
5x Blur
2x Fast Hands
14x Hunger of Marduk
5x Psyche!
8x Pursuit
4x Quickness
4x Rego Motum
 
8x Second Tradition: Domain
 
VTES Portugal 2022 players
I’d like to thank everyone who made the trip to Porto to play in the Portuguese National Championship, Smartmove Games for hosting our event, and Ultra Pro and Black Chantry for sponsoring it. We hope to see everyone next year at Grand Prix Lisbon 2023!
 

 
UK 2022 champion
TIBOR MÓROCZ IS THE 2022 UK CHAMPION!
 
21 players turned up for battle at Patriot Games in Leeds on November 12.
 
VTES UK 2022 floor VTES UK 2022 floor
VTES UK 2022 floor UK 2022 Noora Hirvonen art
Tibor Mórocz comments on the preliminary rounds:
1st table: This was a borderline nightmare scenario for my deck, every player on the table planned to vote as a part of their gameplay. This slowed my deck down significantly. I thought I was done for when Lauri’s Arishat tore Laemuah’s tongue out (Condemnation: Mute) and Lutz appeared on the table for Adam. Matt had some Banu Haquim with combat potential, so the table wanted him out of the game first, as the rest being non-combative decks. All alliances proved to be short-lived until Adam and Lauri decided to carve the table up between themselves. I made a desperate dash for glory but forgot to use the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum to exchange an Illegalism for a card in my hand from my ash heap at the beginning of, my turn, so Lauri remained in the game on 1 pool. Out of some mysterious reason Lauri did not back-oust me with a vote according to their plans, but left me on 2 pool. Matt was already out, so when I bounced Mikey’s big bleed to Lauri (he managed to regain some pool in his turn) I offered Mikey a deal of our own: If he uses stealth to get through the blocker and ousts Lauri, I will not cause him any harm until the two of us remain on the table and even help him to oust Adam, and we will decide the fate of the table between us. The deal was made and was honoured by both players. Mikey had a cunning plan to oust me with a bleed-unlock-vote combo which should have worked if I did not top deck a Scalpel Tongue. Luckily I did. Mikey put all his effort to my annihilation that turn, so I could bring him down in my next one. 3Vp 1GW

2nd table: I did what I came for: I managed to convince Tara (my first vampire of the game) to abandon the futile and shallow efforts of the Camarilla and join the revolution as the Baron of San Diego (Anarch Secession) Aline, the baroness of Mannheim did not fail me with her super ability this time either. With the vote lock and repeated multi action bleed-vote combos I quickly managed to oust Matt. Marcin laid heavy pressure of continuous bleeds on Mark. By the time the stream roller of the Brujah revolution gobbled up the Malkavian horde, Mark was already on his knees, but even in his weakened state he managed to put up quite a resistance for a surprisingly long time. 4Vp 1 GV

3rd table (the unfortunate game): James sat in front of me with weenie AUS blocker. The maximum I could master was 2 stealth (having the Anach Railroad in play) and these attempts gave no challenge to the blocker deck. Mark had his deck rolling, so he was going forward full throttle. Michael wanted me to commit myself against James’s deck (which I did valiantly), and he did not go fully medieval on my backside with his Baali minions. In retrospect I think it was a mistake, he should have vanquished me earlier, because he would have had more chances against James with Unnamed’s quality aggravated damage than I had with my Majesties... I pressed James hard, Michael weakened me. Mark ousted Michael and James was desperate to strike a bargain against Mark, but I had nothing (reasonable) to offer to either of them in a game of three. Marked swept the table for a 4Vp 1 GV. 0Vp for me.
 
Standings before the final:
1. Mark Hammond 2 GW 8 VP
2. Tibor Mórocz 2 GW 7 VP
3. Warren Clarke 2 GW 7 VP
4. Simmy Singh Rayat 1 GW 5 VP
5. Marcin Jankiewicz 1 GW 4 VP

UK 2022 final table

Tibor´s comments on the final:
When I saw the 3 mini-stealth bleed and Mark’s Cybelle and Co deck, I knew the game will be a quick and intense. I decided to roll a die to determine between which 2 low cap bleeder would I sit. Mark chose to be my grand-prey. We sat down and Mark started the game. Warren had no bleed protection, only pool gain from Kindred Spirits bleeds. Somehow with the help of the „Heart of Cheating” I managed to cycle my hand enough to be able to get a Reckless Agitation through (vote lock again), which was the final nail to the Malkavian antitribu’s coffins. To my surprise I managed to oust Warren with only two vampires at my disposal. Not too much later I managed to oust Mark, who was under heavy pressure from Warren previously, and about the same time Marcin ousted Simmy despite the bleed reductions he played. Marcin managed to start the game with a Specialization that brought him countless pool and the opportunity to cycle the unnecessary stealth out of his hand. He had more minions than me, but I had the multi-action capability of 3 vampires that was enough that turn to oust him, despite my mistake of overlooking Persia, The Beautiful Statue’s special ability for +1 intercept for a blood.

Congratulations Tibor, winning the final with 4 VP (Marcin got 1).

Tibor´s tournament winning deck: “Brand New Carthage 2022 UK Nat [by Badgerfun]”
Comment: The heart of the deck was the New Carthage, luckily I managed to draw and play it in time during all the matches I played (no wonder there are 5 of it in the deck). I kept discarding even from perfect-looking hands until I could play it. Aline Gädeke’s (4 in the crypt) special ability, the bleeds with Illegalism and Power of One ensured me to be able to pull the votes off during the same turn with my barons which had 3 votes each. The Bait and Switch bounce was excellent choice and the Voter Captivations saved me in the finals too. Since it was a deck that I had in mind since a while but only assembled the day before the tournament and was untested, there were some cards that I would swap out: Grooming the Protégé for Blood Dolls, and since the 2x Field Training does not work on titled vampires, I would just ditch them. The deck’s main aim is to go forward with Illegalism bleeds, Kine Resources Ccontested and Reckless Agitations, while regaining pool with the numerous Villeins and Voter Captivations, „tank” the small bleeds, bounce the big ones. Majesty is not only a combat solution, but more preferably an unlock option too.

Crypt (12)
1x Carlak            8 CEL PRE dom pot   prince   Brujah:5
4x Aline Gadeke        7 POT PRE cel      baron    Brujah:6
2x Valeriya Zinovieva   7 POT cel pre pro   baron    Brujah:6
2x Atiena            6 CEL obf pot pre   baron    Brujah:6
2x Leumeah            6 PRE cel for pot   baron    Brujah:6
1x Tara              6 POT PRE cel      prince   Brujah:5

Library (90)
Master (20; 8 trifle)
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
2x Grooming the Protégé (was a bad idea – include Blood Doll instead)
5x New Carthage
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
6x Villein
2x Wider View

Action (12)
1x Anarch Secession
2x Field Training (Misread, useless in this deck – remove this!!!)
9x Illegalism

Equipment (1)
1x Heart of Nizchetus

Political Action (19)
1x Anarchist Uprising
4x Consanguineous Boon
1x Firebrand
7x Kine Resources Contested
1x My Kin Against the World
1x Patsy
3x Reckless Agitation
1x Revolutionary Council

Action Modifier (18)
1x Perfect Paragon
10x Power of One
7x Voter Captivation

Action Modifier/Reaction (2)
2x Scalpel Tongue

Combat (8)
8x Majesty

Reaction (10)
6x Bait and Switch
4x On the Qui Vive

Thanks to organisers, sponsors and players!


 
Germany 2022 finalists Finalists: Jan, Roy, Thomas, Marius and Robert.
 
MARIUS ISCRU IS THE 2022 CHAMPION OF GERMANY!
 
Played on November 19 in Mainz. Words by Ali Almadhi:
 
We had 19 players. Two international players among them, one from France and the other from Australia (living in Germany at the moment). The atmosphere was good, everyone was exited to bleed, oust and see old friends again.
 
Germany 2022 Germany 2022
Germany 2022 Germany 2022
Germany 2022 Germany 2022
Germany 2022 Germany 2022

Standings before the final:
1. Thomas Stellmach 2 GW 8 VP
2. Robert Ingenlath 2 GW 7 VP
3. Marius Iscru 1 GW 7 VP
4. Jan Etzel 1 GW 6 VP
5. Roy Opitz 1 GW 5,5 VP
 
Germany 2022 final
 
Germany 2022 final table
The final was set to 2 hours and 15 minutes. It started well for all the players. Robert underestimated the ousting power of the presence bleeds behind him and was ousted after 45 minutes. After that, the game stalled for a while. There was a lot of table talk and deal proposals. The Legionnaires tried to break the stalemate and moved forward against the Banu Haqim, but they were ready for them and managed to fend them off eliminating most of them. Thomas then decided to end the threat behind him by rushing the Harbingers and remaining Legionnaires. This allowed Jan to overcome the few surviving defenders and oust Roy after 1 hour and 45 minutes. Some more table talk and dealing led to Jan tapping out and allowing Marius to oust him 2 hours in to the final. In a tense heads up Marius managed to hold off the Banu Haqim until the end of the regulation time and win the tournament.

Marius own comments:
I didn't have much of a choice for seating since I entered the final 4th, missed a game win and 4 victory points by just 1 pool during the 2nd round. So my predator was a rushing Assamite, but he had no rush cards in his hand for ages. I didn't want to cycle his Second Traditions, so I went full forward on my prey, Cybele/Great Beast – I was able to make the oust with luck on Ashur Tablets and Wash on a Villein.

My new prey was a Malkavian stealth-bleeder who was putting a decent amount of pressure on his prey; Emerald Legionnaires with Erlik. The Banu Haqim stole a Powerbase: Montreal and kept it for ages. The Emerald Legionnaires hadn't enough defense to resist the rushes of the Banu Haqim and the Malkavian's bleeds and got ousted.

We were then in a 3-player configuration, and I felt I could not resist the Banu Haqim combat and the Malkavian's bleeds. I asked the Malkavians if they could destroy the 13 pool of Banu Haqim, and the Malkavian player said he could. With this information, I was OK to let them kill the Banu Haqim, but I wanted to lower his pool with some bleeds so I could have a chance in the final duel. But to my surprise he decided to block my bleeds and go to torpor with one vampire. Therefore he could not oust his prey anymore. I had no other choices than ousting him, even if I knew the duel against the Banu Haqim would be very hard.

In the face to face that followed I took 17 pool damage in one turn which left me at 1 pool. The next turn I stayed full unlocked to block the bleeds, and all my vampires but 2 were burned or torporized. I survived thanks to a wake blocking the last bleed and the time limit got reached. One more turn would have meant I was dead! Thomas, the Banu Haqim player, would have also deserved to win since he is a nice person inside and outside the game.

I had a very good time seeing old players and talking with some others. I think most of the players had a good time playing this tournament. German players are nice!

Marius' tournament winning deck: “Bleeding Anson”

Crypt (13)
5x Anson                        8 CEL PRE aus dom   prince    Toreador:1
1x Gideon Fontaine                3 PRE                     Ventrue:1
1x Jazz Wentworth                5 PRE dom for               Ventrue:1
1x Mariana Gilbert                4 PRE cel                  Toreador:1
1x Rake                        6 PRE aus cel pot   prince    Brujah:1
1x Ramiel DuPre                  5 PRE aus cel dom            Toreador:1
1x Ranjan Rishi, Camarilla Scholar   5 DOM PRE for               Ventrue:2
1x Victoria Ash                  6 PRE aus cel dom   primogen   Toreador:2
1x Violette Prentiss              4 PRE dom                  Ventrue:1

Library (90)
Master (43; 7 trifle)
2x Anarch Troublemaker
15x Ashur Tablets
1x Barrens, The
1x Coven, The
1x Direct Intervention
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Golconda: Inner Peace
1x Jake Washington
2x Life in the City
5x Liquidation
1x Misdirection
3x Parthenon, The
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Wash
2x Wider View

Event (1)
1x Scourge of the Enochians

Action (17)
9x Enchant Kindred
4x Entrancement
1x Intimidation
3x Mind Numb

Action Modifier (7)
6x Aire of Elation
1x Conditioning

Action Modifier/Combat (3)
3x Force of Personality

Combat (8)
7x Majesty
1x Staredown

Reaction (11)
7x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive
 
Thanks to organisers, sponsors and players!
 

VTES New Zealand 2022 champion
 
MICHAEL CARTER IS THE 2022 NEW ZEALAND CHAMPION!
 
This event took place on August 28 at Hobby Master NZ in Auckland, but somehow got lost in the VEKN archives. Here´s some words from Simon Reed:
 
VTES New Zealand 2022 final table
 
The final of "Sunday Seduction" - the New Zealand VTES Nationals - ended in a time out, with 1 victory point each for Stanislava. Anson Guns and Banu Haquim, and thus Stanislava winning thanks to entering the final as first seed. An unfortunate ending, with Ivan pushing against the time limit in order to try for the tournament win but falling just short, to some frustration.
 
Michael´s tournament winning deck:

Crypt (12)
2x Genevieve                 10 aus dom ANI FOR PRO     Gangrel antitribu:2
2x Hartmut Stover             10 dom for CEL OBF PRO     Gangrel antitribu:3
1x Iliana                    7 tha DOM FOR PRO        Gangrel:2
2x Ingrid Rossler             9 dom ANI FOR PRO        Gangrel:2
1x Mark Decker                8 ani for obf pot CEL PRO  Gangrel:3
4x Stanislava                11 ANI CEL DOM FOR PRO     Gangrel:2

Library: 90
Master (21)
2x Information Highway
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Papillon
5x Villein
5x Zillah's Valley
1x Zoo Hunting Ground
1x Campground Hunting Ground
1x City Gangrel Connections
1x Coven, The
2x Dominate
1x Ecoterrorists

Action (9)
9x Govern the Unaligned

Political Action (15)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
6x Kine Resources Contested
4x Parity Shift
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power

Equipment (1)
1x Signet of King Saul, The

Action Modifier (17)
1x Enkil Cog
3x Freak Drive
3x Instantaneous Transformation
2x Seduction
1x Beast Meld
2x Conditioning
5x Earth Control

Action Modifier/Combat (2)
2x Rapid Change

Combat (11)
7x Form of Mist
4x Earth Meld

Reaction (14)
2x Obedience
4x On the Qui Vive
2x Rat's Warning
6x Deflection

Thanks to Hobby Master games for hosting us and providing prize support as well as special thanks for being the first store in NZ to have VTES products on shelves after many years! Thanks also to Ke Carlton for the custom play mats which were prize support for all players making the final table, and to Jason Farley for organising the event.
 

Gines Quinonero - Praxis Seizure Venice

 

PRAXIS SEIZURES

As most of you know, the local tournament organisers of the VEKN are called Princes. These are the most recent additions - thanks for signing up!
 
• Spain - Las Palmas: Jonay Marrero Pérez
 
• Spain - Palencia: Ricardo Jiménez Gallego

• USA - Atlanta: Sean O´Brian

• Brazil - Visconde do Rio Branco: Igor Castro de Souza

• Norway - Vestby: Jon Martin Fjeld

• Spain - San Pedro Alcántara: Fernando Delgado Gómez

• Mexico - Coacalco: Alberto Brown y Mier
 
• Finland - Turku: Noora Hirvonen
 

Black Chantry logo

BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: NOVEMBER 2022

• It´s been a bit quiet since Fall of London, but don´t worry, a lot of things are happening in the BCP workshop! The big thing is of course the next set of preconstructed decks (Ravnos, Salubri and Tzimisce) that has been on one round of playtesting and soon will be ready for the next round. Three rounds of testing are needed, so even though most art is completed, a 2022 release is impossible. Now it looks more like a early Q2 release, let´s hope for that.

• Playtesters also have had a look at some suggested rules changes and card errata. Those reports are in, so now relevant powers are thinking deep and hard about what to do. If test results are not very clear, more testing and discussions will be needed. More about that when something can be said!

• Not one, but TWO new promo packs are being prepared. These will have the "lost" ten cards from the Berlin Anthology that were not in Anthology 1 (André the Manipulator, Joseph Fischer, etc.) together with some other much sought after cards that don´t seem to fit in any normal upcoming products. These will be announced as soon as the content is nailed.

• More content for VTES Legacy Card Singles are ready, but launch has been delayed just a bit. You know it´s soon Christmas? :)

Black Chantry Products 2022 October

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

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


 

Milan Uprising

RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

Our favorites to highlight this month:

• The official Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition wiki is now online! Great to keep up to date with current lore, and good easily accessible help on the game rules too. Check it out at vtm.paradoxwikis.com/VTM_Wiki

"Milan Uprising" is a new interesting blend of physical and digital games - it´s a board game with digital support, to put it simple. And it´s set in Italy - we all love Italy! Learn more at Teburu.net

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


 

CALENDAR

Upcoming tournaments for the coming month (registered so far) are in:
Austria
Chile
Brazil x4
Finland
France
Italy
Poland
Portugal
Spain x4
USA x3

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 

Don´t be afraid. You are not that dangerous.