Preview art by Clint Langley.
Greetings fellow Methuselahs,
Yes, take another good look at the art above - old school Vampire: The Eternal Struggle artist Clint Langley will once again grace our game with his talent!
DECKBUILDING WITH THE CHAMPION
Bill Troxel of Colorado, USA, won the 2020 World Online Championship, reported in the November newsletter. He used a fresh Tupdog & Emerald Legionnaire brew, and we decided to ask him some questions about its creation and how it works. First, the decklist:
Crypt (45):
x45 Tupdog
Library (90):
Master (39)
x10 Agent of Power
x2 Archon Investigation
x2 Direct Intervention
x10 Inceptor
x8 Liquidation
x7 Parthenon, The
Action (22)
x7 Scrounging
x15 Summon History
Ally (13)
x1 Cry Wolf
x10 Emerald Legionnaire
x1 Gianna di Canneto
x1 Veneficti
Action Modifier (10)
x10 Skin of the Chameleon
Reaction (6)
x6 Delaying Tactics
Hi Bill! Thanks for taking the time to discuss this. The champion deck composition is rather original. How did you come up with it?
- This deck is the convergence of several failed deck ideas. Sometimes you work on crazy ideas that you feel would be strong if you could just find the right tech combination to support them, and this is one of those rare moments where it worked out. I have been experimenting for a while with getting Emerald Legionnaires into play as quickly as possible, because they are so cheap and powerful. I have one deck that uses cel/for weenies Clan Impersonate the Harbingers, Forced March, then recruit Legionnaires, but it is too vulnerable to intercept and/or rush. I have a few decks with Obfuscate weenies who use Agent of Power and Summon History, one of which is actually a good deck, but they are also vulnerable to rush and are not very meta-flexible. And for a long time I have been trying and failing to create a viable deck that uses Tupdogs and Inceptor, the idea being that you could play a fresh Inceptor every turn and maybe create weird and unexpected surprises mid-game, like superior Eternal Mask or Shattering Crescendo or something. No competitive decks ever came of that, but I did learn that with Tupdogs, you could use Inceptor to pull useless cards out of your deck every turn, like if you don't need Delaying Tactics at a particular table, or if you stuffed your deck full of Parthenons or Info Highways for an early draw. When I realized that I could combine the concepts, and that Tupdog and Inceptor both accelerate the growth of the ash heap for recycling Legionnaires, I knew I was onto something. The fact that Tupdogs have access to free stealth and are expendable in combat covered up the holes of some earlier failed decks.
How should the deck be played?
- The first thing I would do is advise a player to adjust the deck for their meta. At the championship table, I was not anticipating much intercept, and that turned out to be a good call. In a heavier intercept environment, you should add some Flow Within the Mountain, which offers combat-ends-continue and is quite good against Second Tradition. The deck also runs better with one more Summon History and two more Legionnaires. Really, I would advise a player to strip the deck down to its core, removing the defensive tech (meaning Delaying Tactics, Direct Intervention, Archon Investigation and Cry Wolf) and adding more of the other stuff to make a high-performance, speedier version. Then after seeing what the deck can really do, make adjustments to suit your tastes and your meta. I would estimate that there is about 12 cards worth of wiggle room for experimentation without ruining the reliability of the core mechanics.
When you are actually playing, the first thing I recommend is to spend pool on bringing out as many Tupdogs as you can, at least for the first 4 turns of the game, usually more, often for the entire game. I have run many simulations in Lackey, and learned that having an extra Tupdog or two in the ash heap often translates to bringing up an extra Legionnaire early on, and an extra bleed per turn from a Legionnaire over a few turns justifies the pool expenditure.
The second thing is to pay attention to what you are fetching with Inceptor, and from where. You will want to keep a copy of Summon History in your ash heap and keep pulling it up to the Inceptor, rather than continually thinning the Summons out of your library. Remember that all the cards that go on the Inceptor will end up in your ash heap at the end of the turn, along with all those Tupdogs. Since Summon History is the only thing you actually need on the Inceptor, the other two grabs are usually a Legionnaire plus a redundant card, like a Parthenon if you already have one. Sometimes you don't need the Legionnaire because there are so many in your ash heap already, at other times you grab two Legionnaires because of how many cards are already in your ash heap. Sometimes you will instead need to pull cards directly out of your hand to try to draw into what you need for the minion phase.
The next thing to stay aware of is sculpting your ash heap. You have to remove 7 cards from the ash heap for every Emerald Legionnaire you will bring out during unlock, and you will want them to not be ally cards, and you will want to have a Summon History left over when you are done. Before discarding at the end of each turn, count your ash heap and the number of Legionnaires there. Sometimes you will find that you do not want to discard a Legionnaire from hand for the sake of your next unlock phase, because if you discard that extra Summon History or Scrounging instead, then you will be able to get one more Legionnaire out without having to remove any Legionnaires from the game, which would deplete your output potential.
Other than that, stop playing Liquidation once your library goes below 30, and wait until you have at least 3 Legionnaires in play – I prefer 4 – before fetching Veneficti. After all, two Legionnaires can be easily rushed and/or stolen, and that puts you behind by a full turn if you don't have any left during your next unlock phase, so getting out Legionnaires is first priority. Read Gianna's special abilities; she's mainly in the deck to destroy guns and to bleed, but her secondary ability also comes in handy. Other than that, have fun!
Why did you choose this deck for this particular tournament?
- I had been sitting on this deck for most of a year, asking people who saw it not to talk about it and waiting to unveil it in a high-profile tournament, so it was definitely on my list of 10 or so decks that I was strongly considering. I actually hadn't made up my mind to play it until less than an hour before the final round started, and I had modified it by 11 cards just the night before based on what I anticipated from the other players. Since this online tournament was multi-deck and I could choose exactly what to play for the final table, I studied my opponents' play history using the VTES-Hook website. I was able to correctly guess one of the decks exactly (Batsheva), and that deck ended up being my predator. Some of my other guesses were off and so I had stuffed my deck with useless tech, specifically x6 Delaying Tactics, x2 Archon Investigation and x1 Cry Wolf. The x2 Direct Interventions came in handy, though, and the Delaying Tactics were easily pulled into my ash heap via Inceptor.
In the end, I thought the deck would be unexpected, aggressive, resilient and fun to play, and that's why I chose it. In retrospect, I'm really glad I did, because it was the perfect way for the deck to make a splash. I believe that Emerald Legionnaire is a really powerful card that was at first underestimated, and it's a personal project of mine to show that it is maybe a little too strong for its cost. I like to say that Emerald Legionnaire is the new Govern the Unaligned; it is strong enough that you can build all sorts of decks around it and they will still be competitive.
What prey and predator decks do you like and dislike?
- For its prey, this deck particularly dislikes seeing .44 Magnums and lots of wakes, which is true for Legionnaire swarm decks in general. A Toreador gun wall would be a worst-case scenario. A good prey would be someone without many minions and who can't stand up well to contests of attrition, like a typical Dominate bleeder. I don't mind bounce since I am swarm-bleeding rather than power-bleeding, so that's not a concern. As it turned out, my prey was playing Crows and Bats with Deep Song rush – a rush that can't be used against allies – and he was also playing cards that were delivering pool damage to the whole table, so aside from besting my allies in combat, he was nearly a perfect prey.
For its predator, this deck hopes not to see fast stealth bleed. My only recourse in that case is to outrace them, and I did add a couple Archon Investigations and a Cry Wolf to slow them down in that eventuality. As it turned out, my predator had a bleed strategy with zero stealth, which was a very good situation for my deck, and I generally had Tupdogs ready to block when necessary.
We have your report of the final table in the November newsletter, but as for the whole tournament, how was it for you?
- The tournament overall was pretty fun, especially so because it was multideck. My first game was a 2-2 tie with Jay Kristoff, who is one of my favorite players and a great guy. I had played an experimental Dementation + Vicissitude deck and was pleased to have done that well at a pretty competitive table. I also got to test a new deck entitled "Dumpster Fire of Pure Hate" that features both Imbued and Emerald Legionnaire, and got 4 VP with it. I did test out the Tupdog Legionnaires in one of the early rounds. It was a more streamlined version than the one I played in the finals, and quickly swept the four-player table. All my preliminary games were played with different decks and took place over the course of several weeks, so prior to the finals, it had more of a league feel than a tournament feel, really. Good times.
Black Chantry are considering making tournament winning decks available as print-on-demand, and/or just print them as prizes. What do you think about that?
- I have received a physical copy of my tournament-winning deck as a prize from Black Chantry, and am completely elated. That many Tupdogs could be costly to collect! I think it makes a great prize for an online tournament, and I look forward to being able to use it in live play without proxies.
As far as print-on-demand goes, unless everything is going print-on-demand, I think BCP would be wise to review tournament winning decks on a case-by-case basis rather than making them available as a rule. For example, consider that 45 Tupdogs is at least 5 more than my deck needs, if not 10 more. But since it was an online format, there was nothing to stop me from making the crypt 500 Tupdogs, and if I had, well, that's more of a single card than ever needs to be printed for any individual player.
I really like what they did with the 25th Anniversary set, roughly basing it on a famous deck of Martin Weinmayer's, but also filling it out with important cards that new players would value more generally. Approximations or reimaginings of tournament winning decks might be a more optimal approach than boilerplating them, especially for the sake of neonate collections, but that's just my opinion.
Again, thanks for this interview, Bill. If anyone out there feels it would be fun to tell the community about one your your successful decks in an article like this one, please co+ntact the newsletter editor.
WALKING THE PATH OF THE ARCHETYPE
Some thoughts from Mexico:
As in any deck building game, in Vampire: The Eternal Struggle the designing a deck part is one of the most satisfying and playful parts of the game. Each player makes a plan of what their deck should do and how it should work, and when that plan works out it is very satisfying. At a competitive level, this is reflected in the fact that when we win a competition, our deck design will be published in the official channels of the game, joining the archive of tournament winning decks, the “TWDA”. With a bit of curiosity, when reviewing the list of winning decks, you will be able to recognize that there are many similar decks, this is because many players build their decks based on what we call an “archetype”.
If we understand that winning the game is about being the last player at the table, one of the safest ways to achieve this is through the archetype decks. These are decks that are classified into a specific type of proven and successful performance. All the preconstructed decks currently available to buy from Black Chantry Productions are based on a classic VTES archetype, including the five decks in the Fifth Edition box. For example, the Parliament of Shadows deck is a direct damage deck of the political Lasombra archetype, which ousts its prey through political actions. Among the most famous archetypes are the Malk´94 Malkavians, the Ventrue Lawfirm, the Toreador Grand Ball, the Tremere Wall of Auspex and the Nosferatu weenie-Animalism.
Of course, many players rely on these archetypes to build competitive and effective decks. However, there are no fool-proof decks in VTES. All decks have their pros and cons, and each player responds differently to those. Both when playing the archetypes and when playing against them, each player depends on their ability to adapt to the table. One of the things I like the most about VTES is that the decks don´t make the player. Picking an archetype deck does not guarantee success, and all make their own modifications. There are countless versions of the first Malk´94 deck to date, as each player customizes this archetype according to their play style, but they all follow the bleed scheme with stealth.
However, playing with archetypal decks is playing safe. Normally decks are more or less accessible to build, but with the current online gaming platforms, you can forget about the limitations of physical cards, so you can try any archetype (because even in dreams most of us will get 30 Tupdogs, for example), to see how it suits your style of play. Also, if you´ve been into VTES for a long time, you may want to try something that is different. There are still a lot of things to explore in VTES when it comes to deck building, and, truth be told, there are great new deck builders all over the world. By consulting the TWDA, you can see which clans have no or few winners and try to make a winning deck for that clan. Who knows, maybe one of your creations will end up becoming a new classic deck archetype ...
Eduardo García Ayala, @LaloVtes
For more on archetypes, check out previous newsletter articles (for example about the Goratrix wall) and also the great articles on VTES One.
DECKS TO BEAT: FEBRUARY
A retrospect by Henrik Klippström.
February, lovely february! With a lack of new funny tournament winning decks, we continue to check out winning decks of the tournaments with most attendants of 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, with some comments about how they would do today and what to maybe change.
Year 2000
“Play the table” by Mike Perlman
Deck type: G1-2 royalty vote
Praxis Seizure: Columbia – Columbia, South Carolina, USA – February 19 – 15 players
2000 creator comments: “Use your predator (and any vote decks that are on the table) to damage your prey. When in doubt, bleed at stealth. Opportunistically steal a location.” (Short LSJ report available.)
Crypt (7)
2x Arika 11 DOM FOR OBF PRE aus cel inner circle Ventrue:2
2x Queen Anne 10 DOM FOR PRE aus obf prince Ventrue:2
2x Anson 8 CEL PRE aus dom prince Toreador:1
1x Lucian 10 AUS DOM OBF cel tha justicar Malkavian:1
1x Roxanne, Rectrix of the 13th Floor 9 AUS DOM FOR OBF pot primogen Malkavian:1
1x Spiridonas 9 DOM THA pot pre prince Tremere:2
1x Wilhelm Waldburg 9 DOM FOR PRE aus cel prince Ventrue:2
1x Emerson Bridges 8 DOM FOR PRE pot prince Ventrue:1
1x Gilbert Duane 7 AUS DOM OBF prince Malkavian:1
1x Greger Anderssen 7 AUS OBF dom pro prince Malkavian:2
Library (90)
1x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Effective Management
1x Elysium: The Arboretum
2x Hostile Takeover
1x Information Highway
1x Millicent Smith - Puritan Vampire Hunter
7x Minion Tap
1x Misdirection
1x Parthenon, The
1x Secure Haven
2x Sudden Reversal
2x Ventrue Headquarters
8x Fifth Tradition: Hospitality, The
3x Govern the Unaligned
6x Kine Dominance
1x Ancient Influence
3x Ancilla Empowerment
2x Kindred Restructure
1x Kine Resources Contested
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Rumors of Gehenna
1x Ventrue Justicar
2x Awe
2x Forgotten Labyrinth
6x Freak Drive
1x Kiss of Ra, The
4x Lost in Crowds
1x Telepathic Vote Counting
7x Deflection
1x Dread Gaze
4x Elder Kindred Network
6x Obedience
1x Redirection
6x Second Tradition: Domain
2021 comments:
- Not really a tournament viable deck today, because it relies quite a lot on banned or nerfed cards: Fifth Tradition: Hospitality, Kindred Restructure and Hostile Takeover. But surprisingly no Parity Shifts!
- Cut down from 90 to 80-ish cards.
- Pretty master heavy, even if you switch Minion Taps for Villeins. Sure you have some MMPA providers, but can´t rely on getting them unless you run more. Millicent would go first.
- 6 Kine Dominance is funny, and might have worked better with those un-nerfed Fifth Traditions. Today switching 4-5 of them for Govern the Unaligned is good if you want to win.
- I would be tempted to run at least a couple of Cloak the Gathering, for those Obfuscate-lacking vamps, but it might be hard to fit.
- I guess Elder Kindred Network and Dread Gaze are metagame choices, they would go away in the cut normally.
- Running no combat defense except for Obedience is a calculated risk, but it usually works good.
- Roxanne can stay at the 13th Floor.
Year 2005
“It´s true, I play Temptations and Condemnations” by Rafa Bonnin, played by Aldo Bosmn
Deck type: Setites & Huitzilopochtli stealth-bleed
Rol Tsunami – Barcelona, Spain – February 27 – 37 players
2005 comment: “Setite deck based on Huitzilopochtli with some Temptations to multi-act and to not pay the infernal trait of the boss, a few Condemnations to control your predator and a lot of bleed based on DOM.”
Crypt (12)
3x Huitzilopochtli 10 AUS DAI DOM OBF POT PRE Baali:2
2x Khay'tall, Snake of Eden 9 DOM OBF PRE SER aus Follower of Set:2
2x Count Ormonde 5 OBF dom pre ser Follower of Set:2
1x Intisar 8 OBF PRE SER cel pot Follower of Set:2
1x Qufur am-Heru 7 OBF PRE SER cel tha Follower of Set:2
1x Sarrasine 7 OBF PRE aus nec ser Follower of Set:2
1x Sir Marriot D'Urban 5 PRE aus obf ser Follower of Set:2
1x Marciana Giovanni, Investigator 2 dom Giovanni:2
Library (90)
3x Blood Doll
2x Direct Intervention
2x Dominate
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
3x Minion Tap
1x Opium Den
1x Temple Hunting Ground
Actions:
5x Condemnation: Doomed
8x Govern, the Unaligned
6x Enchant Kindred
7x Temptation
8x Cloak the Gathering
4x Conditioning
4x Elder Impersonation
8x Lost in Crowds
4x Swallowed by the Night
4x Staredown
8x Deflection
2x Sense the Sin
6x Wake with Evening Freshness
2021 comments:
- Cut down to about 76-80 cards. Removing 10 % in each category will work.
- Blood Dolls and Minion Taps should be Villeins. And while the old proverb goes “All good decks begin with skill cards”, I´m not sure those Dominate skill cards are worth it.
- Condemnation: Doomed is nice, but nice enough for 5? I think not. Same for Temptation, 7 is a bit much, especially if you cut down the deck a bit. It´s flexible though, and nice for Huitzy. Many think it’s too slow, but dropping some early ones on key vamps early will prove very rewarding later, even if you have nothing to grind off blood with. But be careful with cross-table targets, people tend to take it as a sign of hostility! :)
- Here we find a lot of those Cloak the Gathering I mentioned above, but here they´re not that needed. Switch two of those and two Lost in Crowds for just about any other stealth modifiers.
- Marciana, really? No.
Year 2010
“Paella au d'Erlette” by Ignasi Vilagrasa, played by Jordi Tomás
Deck type: Nephandus-breed mash-up
Torneo en Badia – Barcelona, Spain - February 28 – 39 players
Scored 0.5 VP + 3 VP + 3 VP + 3.5 VP in final.
Crypt (12)
4x Antonio d'Erlette 5 THA dom for pot Tremere antitribu:4
1x Cristos Mantigo 5 aus cel dom obf pre Toreador antitribu:3
1x L'Épuisette 4 aus cel pro Toreador antitribu:4
1x Loonar 4 PRE cel Toreador antitribu:4
1x Sabrina 4 aus cel pre Toreador antitribu:3
1x Jonathan Gursel 3 aus pre Toreador antitribu:4
1x Monique Kim 3 aus cel Toreador antitribu:4
1x Justine Chen, Innocent 2 pre Toreador antitribu:4
1x Nicholas Chang 2 aus Toreador antitribu:3
Library (72)
1x Anarch Troublemaker
2x Direct Intervention
1x Fortschritt Library
1x Jake Washington (Hunter)
4x Life in the City
1x Not to Be
3x Palla Grande
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Secure Haven
1x FBI Special Affairs Division
1x Slow Withering, The
2x Unmasking, The
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
10x Art Scam
4x Embrace, The
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
1x Gregory Winter
6x Nephandus (Mage)
1x Ossian
1x Young Bloods
1x Heart of Nizchetus
6x Change of Target
4x Dodge
4x Target Vitals
7x Deflection
3x Delaying Tactics
4x On the Qui Vive
2021 comments:
- If I recall correctly, this is the original, very innovative mash-up between the classic Toreador antitribu breed-bleed and the classic d'Erlette Nephandus deck, i.e., the two decks that later became the Black Chantry precons Libertine Ball and Pact with Nephandi.
https://www.blackchantry.com/products/current-products/preconstructed-decks/
- Ten Art Scams might seem a lot, but consider each one is another minion, and swarming is what this deck does.
- The Slow Withering is extremelly abusive, but of course, if you absolutely have to win, go ahead.
- Otherwise, not much to say. Seems fun, try it out!
Year 2015
“Payload” by Matt Morgan
Deck type:
Northeast Regional Qualifier 2015 – Warwick, Rhode Island, USA – February 7 – 23 players
2015 creator comments (also in the decklist): “This deck originally had one Monastery of Shadows, but I must have moved it to another deck or something. Basically what you have here is an Edward Vignes deck where everybody costs 4 extra pool. The nice thing about all those titles is you can try to shut down bloat vote. Adding pool to the table is bad. I made this deck because I hadn't won a tournament with Ventrue yet (never had an Arika phase) and because I've lost my fear of being ousted and now just play a lot of offense. Haven't had a game go to time in quite a while.
Anyway, the deck took 15 of 19 potential VPs all day, which might be a personal best. I let two get away in the first round because Peteo used some kind of mind control on me and convinced me he had wakes when he didn't. I then took 4 VPs on a pair of 5 player tables and swept the final, mostly by letting bad things happen to people who weren't me. All three of my preliminary rounds finished first and the final took around an hour.”
Crypt (13)
5x Mary Anne Blaire 10 AUS DOM FOR PRE ani pot justicar Ventrue:5
1x Johannes Castelein 9 DEM DOM FOR PRE prince Ventrue:4
1x Lodin (Olaf Holte) 8 DOM FOR PRE aus pro prince Ventrue:5
1x Joseph DiGiaccomo 6 PRE aus dom for Ventrue:5
1x Mustafa, The Heir 6 FOR PRE cel dom prince Ventrue:4
1x Emily Carson 5 DOM for pre primogen Ventrue:5
1x Victor Pelletier 5 PRE cel dom for Ventrue:4
1x Dr. Solomon Grey 2 dom pre Caitiff:5
1x Jackson Asher 2 dom Ventrue:4
"13 cards makes me feel better about not being crypt screwed and empirical evidence has supported that, but there's no real math behind it."
Library (69)
2x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Blood Doll
1x Ephor
1x Giant's Blood
1x Jake Washington
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Perfectionist
1x Ventrue Headquarters
3x Villein
2x Wider View
"Ephor is really just there for flavor, but has helped a little from time to time."
2x Entrancement
9x Govern the Unaligned
1x Judgment: Camarilla Segregation
2x Scouting Mission
1x Anarchist Uprising
2x Parity Shift
"I kept outsmarting myself and not being able to Parity Shift but having the most pool is a pretty good problem to have. I could see swapping a Parity Shift for Banishment. Great for dealing with the untapped bouncer."
5x Conditioning
1x Daring the Dawn
1x Enkil Cog
12x Freak Drive
2x Seduction
"Daring the Dawn was key in the final. Seduction is also very important. I got Enkil Cog out every time I drew it."
1x Force of Personality
"Haven't gotten this card to do anything useful for me."
10x Majesty
5x Deflection
2021 comments:
- Yeah! This is my kind of deck, I even think I played a variant in a tournament once. And I think it´s still playable, at least if you aren´t playing in a meta with many wall decks, No Secrets from the Magaji, etc.
- Mary Anne Blaire is a great vampire, possibly a bit underplayed. Both her specials are fantastic. I love those hose early Govern-Freak-Scouting-Freak-special-rounds!
- I like both the ideas of adding a Monastery of Shadows (maybe for the Ephor) and switching the Parity Shifts (now nerfed) for Banishments.
- The deck seems very blood intensive, and I fear ending up with empty vampires, so consider adding Papillon, Uptown Hunting Ground and extra Perfectionists.
- It´s hard to know what to take out to make room, but I feel that one extra Daring and 1-2 Seductions more are needed, just in case you run into a wall deck. I almost always do in my cursed environment, hopefully you have more luck.
- I LOVE the offensive focus, but I could probably not resist adding at least one more bleed bounce and 1-2 wakes.
BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: FEBRUARY 2021
• Last month, 470 cards were added to the VTES Legacy Card Singles at Drivethrucards.com. There were some last minute technical problems with some of the cards, but now all have been fixed and are available for purchase. And more will come!
• Round 2 of the current playtesting batch (four precons - Brujah, Gangrel, Banu Haqim and Ministry, plus the Fall of London set) has ended, and playtest coordinator Darby Keeney is preparing one of those very detailed, excellent playtest reports again. It will determine how many more rounds of playtesting, if any, are needed.
• Like mentioned above, Black Chantry tested a new thing and printed Bill Troxel's championship deck as a unique prize for him. It worked out nice, so we´ll see what happens in the future with similar ideas.
• Otherwise things continue as usual - Ben designs cards and decks, Henrik tries to manage marketing, Vincent templates cards and answers rules questions, Ginés commissions art and Hugh handles everything else that needs handling. If you have any feedback, please contact the company!
• Currently these Black Chantry products are available through Drivethrucards.com and other stores:
- Lost Kindred bundle
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 1
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 2
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 1
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 2
- Den of Fiends Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Anthology I bundle
- VTES Card Creator (Drivethrucards only)
- 25th Anniversary
- First Blood: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Toreador (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Tremere (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French)
- VTES Legacy Card Singles (Drivethrucards only)
- Promo Pack 1 (Drivethrucards only)
- Promo Pack 2 (Event promos only)
- VTES "Parity Shift" playmat
- VTES card sleeves
- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition (Currently stores only)
Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS
• Third person eco terrorist mega mayhem "Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood" was released on February 4.
• Preorders for the story-driven board game "Vampire: The Masquerade - Chapters" from Flyos Games is now open!
• Paradox gave us some news on the very anticipated "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2". Unfortunatelly, there are more delays, but better have a truly great game later than a not so great game now, right? A bit more information was given in the World of Darkness News show.
CALENDAR
Upcoming events:
Follow local regulations on what physical events are possible. Notice that online tournaments are possible - just note "ONLINE" in the event name when you add the event to the calendar!
For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.
CONTACT VEKN
You can contact the VEKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at VEKN.net. Also follow the VEKN Facebook group, the official VTES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official VEKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES
"Full effort is full victory."
Spiritual Intervention by Ginés Quiñonero.
Greetings fellow Methuselahs,
New Year, new battles!
NEW LEGACY CARDS ADDED – SOME WITH SIGNIFICANT CHANGES!
470 cards were added to the VTES Legacy Card Singles at Drivethrucards.com last week. Below you see a list of all that had changes. The webshop can be tricky to navigate, so as a little help a list of all cards with some additional categorization has been made available separately. Card changes of the newly added cards are tournament legal on February 22 (the csv file at VEKN.net will be updated by then). Below is a list of all cards with changes.
Al-Ashrad, Amr of Alamut: Al-Ashrad can now burn locations requiring any clan (not only Camarilla clans).
Alvaro, The Scion of Angelica: Gaining blood is now optional.
Amam the Devourer: Gaining life when burning a minion in combat is now optional.
Ambrosius, The Ferryman: Pathos counters are now removed during the unlock phase.
Antonio Delgado: Unlocking is now optional.
Canopic Jar: Now burns 1 life if the attached minion is an ally.
Consignment to Duat: Now a +1 stealth action.
Divine Image: Now costs 1 blood instead of 2.
Donatello Giovanni: Choosing a vampire is now optional.
Edge Vitiation: Now costs no blood, instead of 1.
Eyes of the Night: NEW ART.
Form of Corruption: Adding a counter is now optional.
Giovanni Acceptance: There is no longer a default sect for each clan.
Giuseppe, Gravedigger: Now costs no blood, instead of 1.
Heaven's Gate: Now leaves the ally in play, but removes it from combat. The ally can now be chosen in the terms of a referendum, or burned to a War Ghoul or Abomination entering play.
Ignore the Searing Flames: The outferior level works explicitly when the opposing minion strikes.
Invitation Accepted: There is no longer a default sect for each clan.
Jar the Soul: Now burns 1 life from the minion if it is an ally.
Kali's Fang: Now costs 2 pool.
Masquer: Now costs 1 blood instead of 2.
Paolo Sardenzo: Gaining blood is now optional.
Path of Typhon, The: NEW ART.
Principia Discordia: The target vampire does not require to be locked.
Qadir ul-Ghani: The clan he changes to must be another clan than the clan to which he currently belongs.
Realm of the Black Sun, The: Now costs no pool, instead of 1. Gaining pool is now optional.
Retain the Quick Blood: Moving blood to the card and moving blood back to the vampire are now both optional.
Revelation of Despair: Works when blocking any minion, not only one controlled by the predator.
Revocation of Tyre: There is no longer a default sect for each clan.
Saqqaf, Keeper of the Grand Temple of Set: Gaining a pool is now optional.
Shadow Parasite: Now costs 1 blood instead of 2.
Shadowed Eyes: Burning the card costs 1 blood or life, no longer a conviction.
Spiritual Intervention: NEW ART.
Summon the Abyss: NEW ART. Now costs 2 blood instead of 3.
Summon the Serpent: Now a +1 stealth action.
Sutekh, The Dark God: Gaining a pool is now optional, but works with all mummy allies (not only bane mummies).
Ur-Shulgi, The Shepherd: The Tajdid that is retrieved from the library is now revealed.
Web of Knives Recruit: The recruit is now explicitly Independent.
Weeping Stone: Gaining a blood is now optional.
DELMAR SITTONI WINS THE BRASILIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!
41 brave Methuselahs logged in to play the (delayed) 2020 Brasil National Championship on January 23. The organizer Desso Alastor tells us that the environment had many ally decks, including several with Nephandi and Emerald Legionnaires, as you can see on the final table...
Congratulations Delmar, champion with 4 victory points in the final!
TWD: "Cidade Das Esmeraldas"
Crypt (12)
1x Anarch Convert 1 -none- Caitiff:ANY
1x Mina Grotius 6 cel FOR NEC Harbinger of Skulls:3
2x Nicomedes 5 aus for nec vic Harbinger of Skulls:4
2x Solomon Batanea 5 nec AUS FOR Harbinger of Skulls:4
2x Zygodat 6 pot AUS NEC Harbinger of Skulls:4
2x Erlik 10 AUS CEL FOR NEC THN Harbinger of Skulls:3
2x Erebus 7 dem AUS FOR NEC Harbinger of Skulls:3
Library: 90
Master (28)
2x Information Highway
10x Liquidation
4x Parthenon, The
2x Powerbase: Montreal
3x Villein
3x Wider View
1x Creepshow Casino
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
Event (6)
1x FBI Special Affairs Division
1x Scourge of the Enochians
1x Slow Withering, The
3x Unmasking, The
Action (5)
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
4x Computer Hacking
Ally (21)
1x Mylan Horseed
19x Emerald Legionnaire
1x Carlton Van Wyk
Action Modifier (6)
2x Acheron Vortex
4x Call of the Hungry Dead
Action Modifier/Combat (8)
8x Breath of Thanatos
Action Modifier/Reaction (1)
1x Spectral Divination
Reaction (15 cards)
6x On the Qui Vive
6x Telepathic Misdirection
3x Delaying Tactics
Thanks to the organizers and all players!
THE FIFTH EDITION ONLINE VTES RULEBOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE!
Yes, finally a online, illustrated version of the Fifth Edition rulebook is up on www.vekn.net/rulebook. Check it out, and please tell VEKN or Black Chantry your feedback!
THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING A NEW PLAYER TODAY
Some thoughts from Mexico:
When I started playing Vampire: The Eternal Struggle in Mexico back in 1996 it was a revealing and somewhat complex experience. Although at that time there were many stores where card games were sold (mainly Magic: The Gathering) there was not easy to find VTES cards nor VTES players. In the old days to put together a deck required a considerable investment since the cards came randomly, which meant that to build a deck you had to buy a large number of boxes or booster packs to get the cards you required to achieve the deck of your choice. That is something that new players won't have to go through.
The first VTES boosters contained 11 cards (3 crypt cards and 9 library cards) randomly distributed, so you had to search the packs for what you needed or find other players with whom to trade your spares or what you did not need. Something curious was that many times the cards of common rarity that you needed were sometimes more difficult to get than the ones of rare rarity. I must confess that even today there are cards that I never had a chance to get, and some I did not even see in play. But unlike other card games, in VTES you could make fun and functional decks out of mostly common cards, making the player's skill more important than rare or expensive cards.
These conditions made getting a deck to your liking a feat given the arduous search work it required. More than once when I reviewed winning decks available online, I exclaimed: “12 Immortal grapple?! When will I get 12 Immortal Grapple?!” To date I only have 6 of those that I am exchanging from deck to deck when I need them. And the same goes for a lot of cards. Until the 25th Anniversary deck was released, I was only able to get 10 copies of Freak Drive.
The strategy of Black Chantry Productions, who currently publishes VTES, aimed at attracting new players is very appealing since the Fifth Edition is a package with everything you need to play a game of VTES from scratch. The box includes five preconstructed, ready-to-play and fairly balanced decks as well as a beautifully edited rulebook and help sheets so that every new player knows what to do with their deck. I think this is great success!
Now, Black Chantry has made every effort to make VTES more accessible to players, what remains is to make the community of players wider and much of that task belongs to the old VTES players. In the past, some communities of players have been very closed, everyone had their own game group with which they used to play. Today, to be able to maintain our game with the vitality that we want, we need to focus on revitalizing and strengthening our community, making it more friendly and being available to teach interested people. We must share our experience, to help new players more interested in the different aspects of the game and motivate them to new challenges. We dream that new players join the communities of this cult collectible card game around the world.
Eduardo García Ayala, ”Lalo Vtes”
DECKS TO BEAT: JANUARY
A retrospect by Henrik Klippström.
New year, new battles, and another look into the history of VTES, more precisely the history of the competitive scene. Below are the four winning decks of the tournaments with most attendants of 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, with some comments of mixed quality from yours truly.
Year 2000
Untitled by L. Scott Johnson
Deck type: Dominate royalty stealth-bleed
Jyhad Underground – Charlotte, North Carolina, USA – January 9 – 16 players
Creators own 2000 comments: “Should replace Greger with another copy of Mariel. His lack of superior DOM is too much - even though he has a title and OBF. Mariel's ability is useful when faced with an intercept-combat deck.” … “I'd Drop the [Hostile] Takeovers. They weren't effective in this deck. Replace with an Obfuscate skill card and another Cloak the Gathering.”
Crypt (12)
1x Constanza Vinti 8 CEL DOM POT prince Brujah:2
1x Courtland Leighton 4 dom for pre Ventrue:1
1x Democritus 10 DOM PRE aus cel for justicar Ventrue:1
1x Dónal O'Connor 8 CEL DOM POT prince Brujah:2
1x Emerson Bridges 8 DOM FOR PRE pot prince Ventrue:1
2x Gilbert Duane 7 AUS DOM OBF prince Malkavian:1
1x Greger Anderssen 7 AUS OBF dom pro prince Malkavian:2
1x Mariel, Lady Thunder 7 DOM OBF aus tha Malkavian:1
1x Queen Anne 10 DOM FOR PRE aus obf prince Ventrue:2
1x Sir Walter Nash 7 DOM FOR PRE prince Ventrue:1
1x Spiridonas 9 DOM THA pot pre prince Tremere:2
Library (90):
2x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Hostile Takeover
2x Information Highway
1x Life Boon
6x Minion Tap
1x Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper
4x Sudden Reversal
3x Govern the Unaligned
2x Far Mastery
6x Fifth Tradition: Hospitality
1x Judgment: Camarilla Segregation
6x Scouting Mission
1x Muddled Vampire Hunter
1x Political Ally
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
12x Bonding
6x Cloak the Gathering
4x Seduction
3x Deflection
1x Elder Kindred Network
1x Legacy of Power
10x Obedience
3x Redirection
8x Second Tradition: Domain
2020 comments:
- Yes, it is THE L. Scott Johnson, known as LSJ, lead designer of many VTES sets. There´s actually a short tournament report, that tells this deck got 3 victory points in the final, 2 went to a Animalism weenie deck.
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad/_P3-7Mk6pQM/discussion
- Light stealth decks is always depending on your local meta, but with that in mind it looks kind of stable. Maybe a bit low on “throughput”. On the other hand it´s good defensively.
- Playing Scouting + Bonding instead of Govern + Conditioning saves a lot of blood on the vampires, but slows you down a lot. Having saved that blood I´d run some Freak Drives, although that might warrant a slight modification of the crypt.
- As most modern decks, this would do better around 80 cards, so just strip 1-2 off the cards that we have the most off, and of course remove the weird odd stuff (Legacy of Power?! Political Ally?!!)
- Also, both Hostile Takeover and Fifth Tradition: Hospitality had errata after this, so those can also go. Might save a couple of the latter if I go with those Freak Drives.
- Minions Taps should be Villeins today.
- Sudden Reversal is tricky. When I get owned by MMPA decks or just strong master cards, I always think “Darn, I should play more Sudden Reversals!”, but then when I run them, they´re often dead cards in my hand. The same goes for Wash.
- Life Boon is still dirty, but still works!
Year 2005
“Buckets o' Money” by Ben Peal
Deck type: Ventrue with Obfuscate breed & bloat
The Unmasking – Seekonk, Massachusetts, USA – January 2 – 26 players
2005 creator comment: “Basically a Group 3-4 Ventrue version of the Lasombra Creation Boon deck, using 3rd Trads instead of Creation Rites and Ventrue Headquarters instead of Power Structure. Marcus Vitel's retainer-burning ability was invaluable in the tournament. This is now the second tournament I've won with a deck that was the result of a conversation with Sten During (the previous deck was Pochtli Twister).”
Crypt (12)
3x Lucinde, Alastor 10 DOM FOR PRE obf pot tha justicar Ventrue:3
3x Marcus Vitel 10 DOM FOR OBF OBT PRE prince Ventrue:3
1x Catherine du Bois 5 DOM for obf pre Ventrue:3
1x Earl 4 dom for pot Ventrue:3
1x Elena Gutierrez 4 aus dom pre Ventrue:3
1x Robin Withers 4 dom obf pre Ventrue:4
1x Diana Vick 3 dom pre Ventrue:3
1x Lana Butcher 3 dom for Ventrue:3
Library (90)
4x Blood Doll
1x Information Highway
1x KRCG News Radio
6x Obfuscate
1x Paragon
1x Secure Haven
2x Sudden Reversal
1x The Barrens
1x Uptown Hunting Ground
4x Ventrue Headquarters
1x Zillah's Valley
4 x Govern the Unaligned
1 x Psychic Veil
8x The Third Tradition: Progeny
6x Consanguineous Boon
4x Kine Resources Contested
1x Praxis Seizure: Cairo
1x Praxis Seizure: Geneva
3 x Bewitching Oration
4 x Cloak the Gathering
1 x Elder Impersonation
4 x Faceless Night
2 x Forgotten Labyrinth
4 x Lost in Crowds
4 x Spying Mission
4 x Swallowed by the Night
8 x Deflection
8x Wake with Evening's Freshness
2020 comments:
- Yes, it is THE Ben Peal, current lead designer of many VTES sets.
- 90 cards should go down to 80-ish, and this ratio of master cards won´t do without MMPA tricks.
- I had to check Paragon because I could not for my life recall what it does. It does … not enough!
- I don´t think I would bring this to a tournament today, even if slimmed down. Just like the 2000 deck above, it is a bit low on “delivery” compared to modern similar competitive decks. Unless you have a very solid plan for how to stay alive (more than just breeding and bloating), you will need to be able to be more offensive. For example, a !Toreador breed-boon deck has Palla Grande and/or Foundation Exibit, Ravnos breed-boon decks has Week of Nightmares, etc.
Year 2010
“Shambling Powerbleed” by Aitor Jimenez and Antonio Cobo Cuenca, played by Jordi Tomás
Deck type: Classic Zombie powerbleed
True Blood – Barcelona, Spain – January 30 – 41 players
Crypt (12)
2x Andrea Giovanni 7 DOM NEC pot vic Giovanni:2
1x Francesca Giovanni 4 dom nec pot Giovanni:2
1x Gillespi Giovanni 7 DOM NEC POT aus Giovanni:2
1x Gloria Giovanni 4 DOM nec Giovanni:2
2x Isabel Giovanni 5 DOM NEC pot Giovanni:2
2x Le Dinh Tho 5 NEC aus dom Nagaraja:2
1x Lia Milliner 3 dom nec Giovanni:3
1x Rudolfo Giovanni 3 NEC Giovanni:2
1x Stefano Giovanni 6 DOM nec pot pre Giovanni:2
Library (70)
3 Acquired Ventrue Assets
3 Blood Doll
1 Coven, The
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
1 Giant's Blood
1 Jake Washington (Hunter)
1 Misdirection
2 Pentex Subversion
1 Far Mastery
9 Govern the Unaligned
3 Sudario Refraction
1 Leonardo, Mortician
1 Ossian
11 Shambling Hordes
2 Bonding
6 Call of the Hungry Dead
4 Conditioning
1 Foreshadowing Destruction
4 Seduction
6 Spectral Divination
4 Deflection
2 Delaying Tactics
2 On the Qui Vive
2020 comments:
- NOW we´re talking! This looks very stable, and it kind of plays itself, although the Shamblings needs a bit of thought to do optimal at the table, so might be tricky for newbies. But I wouldn´t hesitate to play this pretty much as it is …
- But it might need some extra bleed-bounce, at least 2 more, depending on you´re meta. On the other hand, everybody kind of expect you play more bounce, so they THINK that you always have one in your hand, so you might play it cool and keep the amount down.
- There´s a lot of decks of this archetype in the TWDA, so browse around to look at other variants.
- Much of what you need for this deck was published as $0.35 print-on-demand cards at Drivethrucards.com this month, check it out!
Year 2015
“Rachel's Network v3” by Daniel Malk
Year of Fortune – Praia Grande, Brazil – January 1 – 19 players
Crypt (12)
5x Rachel Brandywine 10 AUS DEM OBF PRO ani prince Malkavian:3
3x Greger Anderssen 7 AUS OBF dom pro prince Malkavian:2
2x Victoria 5 AUS cel obf Malkavian:2
2x Zöe 3 AUS cel obf Malkavian:2
Library (90)
1x Giant's Blood
4x Madness Network
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Perfectionist
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Protean
1x Rack, The
3x Vessel
1x Wider View
4x Anima Gathering
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
2x Carrion Coffin
2x Shadow of the Beast
5x Elder Impersonation
1x Enkil Cog
5x Faceless Night
5x Lost in Crowds
5x Swallowed by the Night
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
2x Homunculus
1x Ivory Bow
3x Disengage
10x Earth Meld
3x Form of Mist
3x Eyes of Argus
6x Mental Maze
10x Second Tradition: Domain
6x Telepathic Misdirection
2020 comments:
- Got 3 victory points in final.
- I´d usually slim this deck down to 82-ish, but a bit hesitant because doing so with wall decks – in the odd games you actually can run out of cards playing this kind of deck (which is far from my personal favorite archetype!)
- Carrion Coffin makes a rare appearance here. It is kind of like Homunculus, weaker but less brittle.
- I´d consider diversifying the stealth cards a bit (4 of each instead of 5, making room for one more type), but on the other hand these four are the best for this deck.
- Might add 1-2 Smiling Jack, the Anarch as an alternative win condition if bleeding gets problematic.
BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: JANUARY 2021
• 470 cards was added to the VTES Legacy Card Singles at Drivethrucards.com - see the list at the top of this newsletter!
• Round 2 of the current playtesting batch (four precons - Brujah, Gangrel, Banu Haqim and Ministry, plus the Fall of London set) ends in the beginning of February.
• Mind´s Eye Theatre got a promo card, the Lasombra Prince of Tampa Alicia Cortez. Its available with a special icon in the Mind’s Eye Theatre Vampire: The Masquerade Volume 2 backer program, but will appear in other versions a while after that book is in stores. About this, Black Chantry CEO Hugh Angseesing did one more of those nice long interviews, this time for the Southhampton LARP:ers.
• Product director Ben Peal answered some questions about VTES design and the future of the game in an article at Blackchantry.com.
• Currently these Black Chantry products are available through Drivethrucards.com and other stores:
- Lost Kindred bundle
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 1
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 2
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 1
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 2
- Den of Fiends Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Anthology I bundle
- VTES Card Creator (Drivethrucards only)
- 25th Anniversary
- First Blood: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Toreador (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Tremere (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French)
- VTES Legacy Card Singles (Drivethrucards only)
- Promo Pack 1 (Drivethrucards only)
- Promo Pack 2 (Event promos only)
- VTES "Parity Shift" playmat
- VTES card sleeves
- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition (Currently stores only)
Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS
Sure we love Vampire-themed games the most, but right now we are most hyped about Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood from Cyanide, launching February 4. Check out trailers and developers diaries at publisher Nacon´s Youtube channel!
CALENDAR
Upcoming events:
Follow local regulations on what physical events are possible. Notice that online tournaments are possible - just note "ONLINE" in the event name when you add the event to the calendar!
For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.
CONTACT VEKN
You can contact the VEKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at VEKN.net. Also follow the VEKN Facebook group, the official VTES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official VEKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES
"The more you prepare, the more luck you will have."
Preview art by Ginés Quiñonero.
Greetings fellow Methuselahs,
This year of sparse live VTES events is over, and we once again present to you a somewhat different newsletter, this time starting out with some personal contributions, one from Finland and one from Mexico...
THE MEMOIRS OF A FORMER NEW PLAYER
Dear fellow Methuselahs,
It all started a year and eight months ago. My brother who had played Vampire: the Eternal Struggle for a few years took me to play a demo game. He says he had asked me to play almost as a joke, not expecting me to be interested, me having practically no previous game experience of any kind. But I was interested, and I was turned into a vampire, one of the best things ever to happen to me. Here are some unforgettable moments of my career as a vampire so far.
After my demo my brother coached me diligently. If you have a mentor when you are starting your games, you have a huge advantage. I drew charts of the phases of the turn and of combat and studied these plus my cards as if I was to have an exam. My brother said that no one else studies VTES like this. But I sure orientated myself profoundly. Once my uncle made me show him my teeth, as he wanted to make sure I was still human. I guess I didn’t talk about much else at the time.
My games started well. I won the demo and the first actual game was a table of four that ended as a 2-2 split, a tie with the local prince. In the third game I understood nothing of anything and just watched as the game around me collapsed. The others applauded as the new player sweeps the table. I wonder if I even knew the meaning of the word at the time. Later I have learned what Smiling Jack is. In the eighth game I and my brother had our first “Tiippana Off”, just the two of us left – that was how a colleague commented the situation in the message group. And I won.
My brother kept guiding me forward. I looked up decklists in TWDA, printed them as proxies, and my brother taught me how to play them. I guess I did everything backwards, playing with new decks all the time instead of concentrating on a single one. But I learned. I have tried “almost everything possible” and bleed is my absolute favorite.
I played almost solely weenies. I didn’t believe my brother when he said that I might have it easier if I played with something a bit bigger. When I tried Montano, he was flattened by Nephandi and that was the end of my big cap playing for a while.
I met players out-of-town the first time in my second tournament. I had played for three months and I believe that I made an indelible impression on one of them: I ousted him before he had his first minion ready. Nice card, Brainwash. My score in the tournament was 7/20, 3 vp. I made it to two ousts before the tournament winner, with a The Unnamed deck, caught me.
After three tournaments a senior player told me to make a deck of my own. He asked what kind of a deck I’d like. One that gains pool, not only loses it, my answer was. And I was given a 20 card core for a deck: Ansons, Ashurs, Liquidations and Parthenons. The rest should be “whatever I wanted”. I did as instructed. My brother later told me my deck didn’t turn out exactly as expected. Well, Anson does have Dominate, so why wouldn’t he bleed with Govern? The crucial card in my deck was Torrent. Anson finished the last bleed with it and it was a sweep. A big help was an Archon Investigation I played earlier in the game. I was not assumed to have one in a deck that can bounce bleeds.
So I started building decks. I made some horrible mistakes but succeeded too, at times. Once I made a deck from scratch, no decklists used, and it turned out to be Malk’94, the traditional version. Well, someone else has thought it to be a good deck too – and it was a sweep.
My brother and I sometimes take a random vampire and make a deck for them. Once this vampire was Jackie. My brother made a deck for her, a weenie Dementation deck. I started printing the proxies we needed and he said “you’re not putting this together, right?” And I played with it. My brother, who played at a different table, asked how it went. A sweep. He laughed. There was a tournament coming up. My brother asked how it had gone with Jackie. I had won two games and got points from two others. He said that with that deck you’ll be in the finals. And I was like, then I’m definitely not playing it! Well, I ended up in the finals which was an impressing experience even though I got no victory points there.
VTES sure is a game worth playing. You get to challenge yourself and always learn new stuff. And considering my background, I play very well, at least according to my brother. Still have a lot to learn, so let’s keep going forward. I encourage others to try the game and to relentlessly keep playing even if this is quite a handful at first.
I have now played 194 games, won 19 of them and tried 40+ different decks. Yes, I keep a record. Now I would need a GW in the near future so that I could have it so nicely: 20/200. Of course, most of my games have been reasonable, sad or dismal. But I am always delighted of small victories: hearing praise for your self-made deck, when Tariq gets to eat the world, playing Chameleon successfully or blowing up Khazard’s Diary. Or when your crochet garlic as your Edge gets attention.
Thanks everyone for your patience in teaching new players! Be safe and let’s keep on bleeding!
Mari Tiippana
Joensuu, Finland
CHRONICLE OF THE LOST TRIBE
About VTES in Mexico:
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle arrived in Mexico in the mid 90’s. Back then, role-playing games where at their peak, alongside the new trading card games, led by Magic: The Gathering (MTG), created by Richard Garfield for Wizards of the Coast. This boom made the appearance of the first table-top game stores, play centres, and boardgame cafés possible.
At that time, stores such as Comic Castle, Minas Tirith, Lotus Valley or Comic Imp had products of the World of Darkness (Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, etc.) in their catalogue, as well as the card game based on that universe: Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (VTES).
A group of friends and I used to frequent Lotus Valley, a store located south of Mexico City, where we got into the world of werewolves, with little success though. Thereafter, we started a Vampire: The Masquerade Sabbat chronicle. While we were waiting for a game to start, we would be taught to play various trading card games of the time. I particularly got hooked on VTES.
Step by step, our group acquired more and more cards to build decks of all sorts, according to the tastes of each of us (my first deck was a Lasombra deck from The Sabbat). And, although my first experiences at VTES tournaments were not particularly lucky, my love for the game always endured.
As time passed, the store shut down, and my group had to split up. It was then when I started to wander in search of players and places to play VTES. Many game stores focussed on MTG and other card games (Yu-Gi-Ho!, Pokémon, etc.), but almost none was selling or knew VTES. Besides, the existing play groups were in hiding and kept private, thus excellently obeying the First Tradition.
Occasionally I would find a Methuselah to play some games with, and some stores would eventually sell some product. So those were long and dark years for me and for the other VTES players in the city. With great effort the players arranged for a store to bring new VTES products, which revived the interest of former players in the game. After many attempts, the community of players was reorganised, and games were played on weekends or Mondays. And so, VTES Monday nights became customary to date. However, there were few new players in the VTES scene, which consisted of the few Methuselahs that were still active.
With a new prince of Mexico City, the VTES community thrived, because he ran sanctioned tournaments and the stores were selling the new VTES sets. Starting in 2017, the prince and I focussed on making the community grow with new players. After many efforts, in 2019 the alliance of our group with the Club de Juegos de Mesa was formed, who opened their doors to us in order to become the “home of VTES in Mexico”, and where little by little new players would start showing up.
.
Due to the pandemic, we turned to digital platforms to keep the local community alive. Fortunately, this linked us with the international community, mainly with the communities of Latin America and Spain, which has been beneficial to the overall community because of the exchange of knowledge and points of view, playing styles, pieces of advice and recommendations. Likewise, a team of collaborators who love VTES (Grupo VTES México) was formed, who, with their content, strengthen and nurture the community through the different digital platforms: Official Pages (VTES México and El taller de VTES), Facebook and Instagram (VTES México), specialised Podcasts (Master Phase), are available for both experienced players and those who are just starting out in the world of VTES.
The Spanish editions of the game have helped a lot to for the game to be more attractive to the Mexican community, and we hope for it to continue growing in 2021, both for the old players, who come out of torpor, and for the new-borns, who join the ranks of VTES fan community.
Eduardo García Ayala, ”Lalo Vtes”
DECKS TO BEAT: DECEMBER
A retrospect by Henrik Klippström.
December! The month of various holidays generally doesn´t have many big tournaments, but where there´s darkness and free time, there are always some devout players who will do battle. Here are the winning decks of the tournaments with most attendants of 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, with some comments.
Year 2000
Untitled by Jay Kristoff
Deck type: Midcap Tzimisce wall
Insubordination – Columbus, Ohio, USA – December 9 – 21 players
2000 comment: ”I was often content with not taking any actions and letting the master cards and my wall of intercept do the work. The reaction cards are there to protect the master cards that are already in play. Aggravated damage (with or with out Rotschreck) made vamps pay for trying to mess with my stuff. Multiple master phases were required because I ran through minion cards quickly and would occasionally see a very gray hand.” (More at Insubordination: Columbus-recap)
Crypt (12)
2x Little Tailor of Prague 8 ANI AUS VIC dem Tzimisce:2
2x Caliban 6 ANI AUS VIC Tzimisce:2
2x Corine Marcón 6 AUS VIC ani Tzimisce:2
2x Lolita Houston 4 VIC aus Tzimisce:2
1x Meshenka 8 ANI AUS VIC priscus Tzimisce:2
1x Sascha Vykos, The Angel of Caine 8 AUS THA VIC ani dom priscus Tzimisce:2
1x Devin Bisley 5 ANI AUS vic Tzimisce:2
1x Terrence 4 ani aus vic Tzimisce:2
Library (90)
2x Anarch Revolt
4x Blood Doll
1x The Coven
1x Direct Intervention
1x Giant's Blood
1x Library Hunting Ground
2x The Parthenon
1x Powerbase: Chicago
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x The Rack
3x Rotschreck
1x Smiling Jack the Anarch
1x Sudden Reversal
3x Army of Rats
1x Consanguineous Boon
1x Rumors of Gehenna
1x Rave
1x Raptor
3x Revenant
2x Breath of the Dragon
10x Chiropteran Marauder
6x Inner Essence
4x Meld with the Land
9x Cat's Guidance
3x Eagle's Sight
2x Enhanced Senses
1x Fast Reaction
10x Forced Awakening
4x Precognition
3x Sprit's Touch
2x Telepathic Counter
4x Telepathic Misdirection
2020 comment:
- 90 cards was standard in 2000, but now, try to slim it down to around 82 by just cutting 10 percent in each card category. Sure, this is a deck that will want to play a lot of cards, but 90 cards is seldom worth it.
- Aggro-poke is not very hot these days, at least not in most metas. Rötschreck of course spice things up, but still tricky.
- Meld with the Land often feels like a underplayed card. That inferior, Obedience-inferior-kind, effect is often nice.
- Today, 10 Forced Awakening is a bit much unless you REALLY want to block, never bounce, anything. And speaking of bouncing, I´d up the bounces a bit, and switching those Telepathic Counters for bounces (the Counters CAN be good, and surprising, but seldom worth it). And of course, Eyes of Argus is of course a no-brainer in this deck today – but just how many do one dare to use?
Year 2005
”Tzimisce Vote” by Jeffrey ” The Lasombra” Thompson
Deck type: Tzimisce big/midcap vote
Praxis Seizure: Atlanta – Atlanta, Georgia, USA – December 10 – 14 players
Crypt (12)
2x Lambach 10 ANI AUS DOM VIC pre cardinal Tzimisce:2
2x Stravinsky 9 ANI AUS VIC pot archbishop Tzimisce:2
2x Velya, The Flayer 9 ANI AUS PRE VIC for cardinal Tzimisce:3
2x Meshenka 8 ANI AUS VIC priscus Tzimisce:2
2x Sascha Vykos, The Angel of Caine 8 AUS THA VIC ani dom priscus Tzimisce:2
1x Devin Bisley 5 ANI AUS vic Tzimisce:2
1x Elizabeth Westcott 5 AUS ani cel vic Tzimisce:3
Library (90)
3x Information Highway
2x Library Hunting Ground
6x Minion Tap
1x Retribution
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancient Influence
2x Consanguineous Boon
1x Disputed Territory
8x Kine Resources Contested
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power
1x Year of Fortune
1x Gregory Winter
1x Mylan Horseed (Goblin)
6x Bribes
3x Private Audience
5x Telepathic Vote Counting
3x Voter Captivation
8x Aid from Bats
8x Carrion Crows
2x Chiropteran Marauder
6x Telepathic Counter
9x Telepathic Misdirection
10x Wake with Evening's Freshness
2020 comment:
- The ”bruise-vote” concept is famously challenging to win with, much because both combat and voting are fairly card intensive to make fly – you try to build ”card chains” for both things at the same time. Combining them in one deck gets tricky. While the threat of a Aid+Crows combat is strong, I´d be tempted to switch all that combat for Changelings and Plasmic Forms, plus some Meld with the Land. Could keep the Marauders for surprise agg and maneuvers. Sure, that become a different deck, but likely more stable – of course highly dependent on your meta.
- Bribes if fun and can be nice, but probably smarter to switch for something else, or just slim out. Like above, this deck should probably not be 90 cards.
- The deck is not dependent on a single star vampire getting Voter caped repeatedly, so Minion Taps would be Villeins today, and most Wake with Evening´s Freshness will be Eyes of Argus.
- You could also consider playing more Voter Caps, run 3 each of Lambach and Velya instead of whatever else – both are extremelly strong and versatile vampires.
Year 2010
"No Rules Vignes" by Ville Kaijasaari
Deck type: Ventrue Vignes powerbleed
Monday Mayhem XXII – Tampere, Finland – December 6 – 23 players
Crypt (12)
3x Edward Vignes 6 DOM PRE for Ventrue:3
2x Victor Pelletier 5 PRE cel dom for Ventrue:4
1x Epikasta Rigatos 8 AUS DOM PRE cel prince Toreador:4
1x Mustafa, The Heir 6 FOR PRE cel dom prince Ventrue:4
1x Boss Callihan 5 PRE dom for pro Ventrue:3
1x Catherine du Bois 5 DOM for obf pre Ventrue:3
1x João Bilé 5 DOM FOR pre Ventrue:4
1x Michael Luther 4 aus pre Toreador:3
1x Diana Vick 3 dom pre Ventrue:3
Library (75)
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Dominate
1x Giant's Blood
2x Lilith's Blessing
1x Misdirection
2x Pentex Subversion
1x The Coven
1x Uptown Hunting Ground
1x Ventrue Headquarters
5x Villein
2x Enchant Kindred
3x Entrancement
6x Govern the Unaligned
1x Judgment: Camarilla Segregation
5x Mind Numb
2x Scouting Mission
2x Kine Resources Contested
2x Parity Shift
3x Bonding
2x Change of Target
2x Conditioning
1x Daring the Dawn
2x Foreshadowing Destruction
2x Seduction
1x Threats
9x Majesty
2x Staredown
6x Deflection
4x On the Qui Vive
2x Redirection
2020 comment:
- A rather classic Vignes deck, but with group for 4 instead of group 2, for titled vampires to pull off those four votes in the ”launch rounds”. Not sure if its worth it, maybe?
- Note the Lilith´s Blessing – thats banned until someone convinces Vincent Ripoll to unban it!
- Seems a bit low on Conditionings, but that is always tricky to balance. Thats the card slots used for those votes, I guess.
- Maybe a couple of Freak Drives would work – while we´re maybe low on superior Fortitude, Freak Drive is great for heavy launches.
- I´d run at least 2 Daring the Dawn.
Year 2015
”Não tem eagle, vai de second” by Walter Polack
Deck type: Malkavian bigcap toolbox
Power of One – Somewhere (!), Brazil – December 13 – 18 players
Crypt (12)
3x Lucian 10 AUS DOM OBF cel tha justicar Malkavian:1
3x Gilbert Duane 7 AUS DOM OBF prince Malkavian:1
2x Greger Anderssen 7 AUS OBF dom pro prince Malkavian:2
1x Mariel, Lady Thunder 7 DOM OBF aus tha Malkavian:1
1x Ozmo 6 AUS dom obf Malkavian:1
1x Roland Bishop 4 aus dom obf Malkavian:1
1x Dollface 3 aus obf Malkavian:1
Library (90)
1x Asylum Hunting Ground
1x Club Zombie
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fame
1x Madness Network
1x Millicent Smith, Puritan Vampire Hunter
3x Minion Tap
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
3x Rötschreck
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
1x Vast Wealth
1x Vessel
1x Dominate Kine
1x Far Mastery
5x Govern the Unaligned
3x Graverobbing
2x Revelations
1x Bowl of Convergence
4x Flamethrower
1x Heart of Nizchetus
2x IR Goggles
1x Ivory Bow
1x Sengir Dagger
1x Disputed Territory
3x Parity Shift
2x Conditioning
2x Elder Impersonation
3x Lost in Crowds
5x Swallowed by the Night
4x Disguised Weapon
3x No Trace
2x Eagle's Sight
2x Enhanced Senses
2x Forced Awakening
1x My Enemy's Enemy
5x On the Qui Vive
7x Second Tradition: Domain
4x Spirit's Touch
4x Telepathic Misdirection
1x Wake with Evening's Freshness
2020 comment:
- This is a funny deck! The world would be a better place with more toolbox decks in it. They´re not boring to play and not as vurnerable to ”impossible” seatings as non-toolbox decks are. And 4 victory points in this final shows they can work.
- To at least once pull off a Disguided weapon-Flamethrower-Graverobbing combo is reason enough to try this deck.
- 90 cards is still a lot. Consider slimming down to 80-ish, starting in the Master section.
- Lucian is underrated – his special ability is often useful, but remember to pack some maneuvers.
VEKN ON FACEBOOK NOW 1.918 MEMBERS!
Slow but steady, the VEKN community is growing, in spite of the current low live event activitiy. An easy way to know this is the constant addition of members to the official VEKN Facebook group. In the last 12 months, the group is up 26 percent in members. And what is just as important, a large majority of the 1.918 members are active members, who actually interact with the group. Please keep on doing so, and please recommend VTES playing friends to join too!
Most engaging post in December (most comments and reactions):
1. WW just released the WoD V5 Companion …
2. Oh! Hello, Inés Tristào. So you don't actually have Potence!..
3. Are ghouls also considererd mortal?
4. Please Black Chantry sponsor some Netflix series with VTES decks…
5. I haven’t heard anyone complain about the clan symbol change…
6. Which Govern one do y’all prefer?
7. 'Smol Demon' art
8. Are we going to change the usual abbreviation from THA to BLO now?
9. Congratulations Alan “Alanmut” Santos of Brazil!
10. I just found that Toreador Grand Ball is not Unique...
But don’t forget there is a forum on VEKN.net too!
BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: DECEMBER 2020
• Fifth Edition is now for sale all over the world! November 30 is the official release date, so the new cards are tournament legal on December 30, as is the latest rule change about default sect that was announced in the latest RTR. In that announcement there was also some addendum and errata for the Fifth Edition rulebook and helpsheets.
• A new round of playtesting has begun, with both the next four preconstructed decks (Banu Haqim, Brujah, Gangrel and The Ministry) and cards for the not yet named next expansion. The pandemic situation makes live playtesting hard, but games can be played using Lackey or Tabletop Simulator, and of course the cards are discussed thoroughly in designated forums. The round will end in mid February.
• Black Chantry CEO made a stunning performance in the official World of Darkness News show with Outstar - check it out if you missed it.
• Black Chantry art director Ginés Quiñonero delivered some insight in his role and the art of VTES in a interview on Blackchantry.com.
• Currently these Black Chantry products are available through Drivethrucards.com and other stores:
- Lost Kindred bundle
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 1
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 2
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 1
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 2
- Den of Fiends Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Anthology I bundle
- VTES Card Creator (Drivethrucards only)
- 25th Anniversary
- First Blood: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Toreador (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Tremere (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French)
- VTES Legacy Card Singles (Drivethrucards only)
- Promo Pack 1 (Drivethrucards only)
- Promo Pack 2 (Event promos only)
- VTES "Parity Shift" playmat
- VTES card sleeves
- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition (Currently stores only)
Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS
Some highlights from the last month:
• The Vampire: The Masquerade Companion was released as a PDF on Worldofdarkness.com, and got 10,000 downloads in just the first 12 hours. It contains (among other things) clans Tzimisce, Ravnos and Salubri updated for the V5 setting, and the changes in clan disciplines is particulary interesting for future VTES design. The companion is a free download, all you need to get it is a site account.
• Creative Lead Justin Achilli discussed the above mentioned Companion on World of Darkness News following the release, don´t miss it!
• The World of Darkness Twitch channel ran a "Vamily Holiday Marathon" for the Direct Relief Covid-19 Response, with all kinds of WoD games streaming.
• "Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood" has a first look video of the gameplay out. Action guaranteed!
CALENDAR
Upcoming events:
Follow local regulations on what physical events are possible. Notice that online tournaments are possible - just note "ONLINE" in the event name when you add the event to the calendar!
For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.
CONTACT VEKN
You can contact the VEKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at VEKN.net. Also follow the VEKN Facebook group, the official VTES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official VEKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES
"The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war."
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