Darryl Elliott Laptop Computer VTES top

2016 December
- VTES is back in print
- EC 2017 in Berlin
- Design team news
- Rules team news
- The VEKN 2016 recap

2017 January
- New cards soon at the printshop
- EC 2017 update
- Rules team news
- Interview of the month: Desso Alastor about player engagement

2017 February
- Anthology card list revealed!
- Anthology for non-Europeans
- EC 2017 update
- Interview of the month: Ginés Quiñonero about the art of VTES

2017 March
- Important news about the Anthology set
- Two storyline tournaments coming up
- Design team news
- Contribute to the Tournament Winning Deck Archive
- Archon 1.5f is available

2017 April
- Great European Championship attendance
- Anthology previews are ongoing
- Two storylines revealed
- More about World of Darkness Berlin
- What´s designing VTES like?

2017 May
- European Championship 2017 summary
- Interview of the month: Danilo Torrisi, European champion 2017
- NAC and Week of Nightmares coming up
- Design team news

2017 June
- In memoriam: Stewart Wieck 1968-2017
- North American Championship 2017 is over
- Storyline news: “Ascension of Caine” and future storyline material
- Design team news

2017 July
- EC 2018 is played in Warsaw, Poland
- Design team news
- Rules Q & A

2017 August
- World of Darkness.com is here
- Design team news
- Artist in focus: Carmen Cornet
- Player interview of the month: Martin Weinmayer

2017 September
- V:tes European Grand Prix circuit
- A new chance to buy Anthology!
- Design team news
- Artist in focus: Riccardo Fabiani

2017 October
- Happy birthday Vampire: Elder Kindred Network 20 years
- Anthology still for sale
- More about VTES European Grand Prix circuit
- South American Continental Championship 2017
- Australian Continental Championship 2017
- Artist in focus: Noora Hirvonen

2017 November
- Rules changes under consideration
- Anthology still for sale
- Player interview of the month: Kari Hyll

2017 December
- Grand Prix Belgium 24-25 February
- Anthology still for sale
- Player interview of the month: Nicola Lonardi
- The VEKN 2017 recap

2018 January
- Reminder: Grand Prix Belgium 24-25 February
- The first newsletter found!
- Anthology still for sale
- Classic decks part 1: The Ventrue lawfirm

2018 February
- New set update: Lost Kindred
- Official rules changes April 2018
- VEG sponsor: Ultra Pro
- Double VEG tournaments in april!
- VEG Belgium 2018 is concluded
- VTES artist Leif Jones needs your help
- Anthology still for sale

2018 March
- A mysterious letter
- Official rules changes April 2018
- EC 2018 Warsaw registration is open!
- Double Grand Prix weekend coming up
- Storyline spotlight: Antipodean Awakening
- Classic decks part 2: Kindred Spirits stealth-bleed

2018 April
- Our game is back in print
- EC 2018 is being prepared
- Results of double Grand Prix events coming up
- German Championship 2018 in Bochum

2018 May
- Reminder: Official rules changes May 2018
- 51 players at VEG Ibérico España 2018!
- … and the same weekend: VEG Hungary!
- New Brazilian champion: Fernanda Nunes

2018 June
- North American Championship 2018
- Player interview: Bob Joseph, North American champion 2018
- VTES discipline symbols now in VTM

2018 July
- Reminder: Official rules changes August 2018
- Reminder: European Championships 2018 in Warsaw August 24-26
- Mika Nurmikolu wins VEG Helsinki 2018!
- What are the most popular cards in tournament winning decks?

2018 August
- European Championship 2018 summary
- Interview of the month: Ivan Chebunin, European champion 2018
- New VTES blog: Information Highway
- Classic decks part 2: Auspex weenie wall

2018 September
- VEKN is now officially on Facebook
- VTES online on Lackey – how does it work?
- Rules questions from EC 2018

2018 October
- Anthology 1 – Frequently Asked Questions
- Distributor list revealed – and constantly updated
- VEKN Facebook group = success!
- Rules questions

2018 November
- EC Paris will be played August 16-18 2019
- VEG 2018-2019 tournament sites revealed!
- Artist in focus: Ken Meyer Jr.
- One month – three Nordic national championships

2018 December
- Four new pre-constructed decks early 2019 release
- VEG Czech Republic 2019 set
- VEG Bologna 2018 results
- Video introductions to VTES
- Chile National Championship 2018
- Artist in focus: Heather Kreiter

2019 January
- What about the Anthology 1 art?
- Clarification: Cards allowed
- VTES content coming on strong
- Artist in focus: Mark Kelly

2019 February
- Four new precons and Anthology I now in stores
- Official card changes
- Next Grand Prix tournament: Brno, Czech Republic March 16th
- Reflections and rulemongering
- Artist in focus: Javier Santos

2019 March
- VTES product update March 2019
- The EC site is up
- Daniel Gargulak wins Czech Grand Prix 2019
- Enrico De Stefano is the Italian champion 2019
- Frequently asked questions about VTES Card Creator

2019 April
- Mariano Carbonero Roman wins Grand Prix Iberia 2019
- Mailton Silva is the 2019 Brazilian champion
- Major events in May
- Accommodation in Paris for EC 2019
- Rules Q & A

2019 May
- Happy 25th birthday VTES!
- VTES soon in both Portuguese and Russian
- New alternate art promo: Entrancement
- In june: North American Championship 2019
- Radek Wróblewski wins GP Poland 2019
- Jorge Delgado is the 2019 champion of France
- Spanish champion 2019: Gabriel Ron
- Ralf “Extrala” Lammert 2019 German champion

2019 June
- Register for EC 2019 now!
- North American Championship 2018
- Player interview: Corwin Brindley, North American champion 2019
- Meet the VEKN: Kleber Bertazzo, National Coordinator Brazil

2019 July
- First Blood – new intro decks soon available
- European Championship in Paris coming up
- Martin Weinmayer wins Grand Prix Helsinki 2019!
- More video content from Spain

2019 August
- European Championship 2019 summary
- Interview of the month: Otso Saariluoma, European champion 2019
- Gilles Molina is the 2019 Belgian champion

2019 September
- Reminder: VEKN now have a code of ethics
- Australian/New Zealand Continental Championship coming up
- Esa-Matti Smolander is the champion of the wrong country 2019!
- New great VTES content

2019 October
- 2019-2020 European Grand Prix revealed
- VTES North American Cup series revealed
- VTES South American Cup series revealed
- Steven Baldwin is the 2019 Australian/New Zealand Continental champion
- Johann Louie Ong is the 2019 Asian champion
- Rules spotlight: Action modifiers
- Meet the VEKN: Rudolf Scholz, National Coordinator of Germany

2019 November
- Alessandro Donati wins Grand Prix Bologna 2019
- Rivanildon Frazão is the 2019 South American champion
- Karl Schaefer wins North American Cup 2019: Denver
- Tommi Hakomaa is the Finland 2019 champion
- Zsolt Ciraki is the Hungarian champion 2019
- Ricardo Marta is the champion of Portugal 2019
- Nikolaj Wendt is the 2019 Danish champion
- Meet the VEKN: Mark Loughman, National Coordinator of USA

2019 December
- VTES product update December 2019
- Single card buffet on Drivethrucards!
- Important dates now set!
- Bill Troxel wins North American Cup Ohio 2019!
- 2019 in retrospect – A great year for vtes

2020 January
- Get ready for VTES Fifth Edition “spoiler season”!
- The European Championship site is up!
- Major tournaments in February: Chile and Canada
- Clarification: Limited tournaments
- Classic decks: The Goratrix wall

2020 February
- Major tournaments in March: Grand Prix in Spain and Germany
- Gonzalo Del Río wins South American Cup Santiago 2020!
- Marshall Hogue wins North American Cup Hamilton 2020!
- Card changes and clarifications in VTES Legacy Card Singles
- Artist in focus: Samuel Araya

2020 March
- A word from Hugh
- Tomás López Jiménez won Grand Prix ibérico 2020!
- Artist in focus: Amy Wilkins

2020 April
- Black Chantry FAQ, april 2020
- EC 2020 cancelled or postponed
- Play VTES online!
- Meet the VEKN: Wes Weston, National Coordinator of Canada

2020 May
- Yes, online tournaments can be VEKN ranked!
- Open playtest of potential rules change: Contesting vampires
- The VEKN Facebook group is growing
- Recent great VTES content
- Meet the VEKN: Tomasz Izydorczyk, National Coordinator of Poland

2020 June
- The current tournament situation
- VTES in the news!
- The Fifth Edition set symbol: The Camarilla ankh
- Meet the VEKN: Gonzalo Del Río, National Coordinator of Chile

2020 July
- August 2020 card bans – Frequently Asked Questions
- Meet the VEKN: Neil Muller, National Coordinator of South Africa

2020 August
- No change of vampire contest rule
- Create your own library cards!
- Changes for VEKN mailing list
- Meet the VEKN: Deneš Kociš, National Coordinator of Croatia

2020 September
- VTES Online World Championship 2020
- VTES Online 2020 so far
- An update about prize support
- Aldo Fernández d'Ambrosio wins Torneig Invitacional Lliga Catalana 2019-2020
- We need newsletter content!

October 2020
- Recent great VTES content
- At last, a newsletter index!
- We need newsletter content!

November 2020
- Bill Troxel is the 2020 World Online Champion!
- Decks to beat: November
- Recent great VTES content
- We need newsletter content!

December 2020
- The memoirs of a former new player
- Chronicle of the Lost Tribe
- Decks to beat: December
- VEKN on Facebook now 1.918 members!

January 2021
- New Legacy cards added – some with significant changes!
- Delmar Sittoni wins the Brasilian National Championship!
- The Fifth Edition online VTES rulebook is now available!
- The advantages of being a new player today
- Decks to beat: January

February 2021
- Deckbuilding with the champion
- Walking the path of the archetype
- Decks to beat: February

March 2021
- SAC 2020 on Lackey: Connecting with the community
- Rules Q & A
- Decks to beat: March

April 2021
- VEKN sets on Kickstarter in May!
- Great content spotlight: La Mazmorra de Pachero
- Decks to beat: April
- VTES Strategies: Stealth-bleeding

May 2021
- Preconstructed decks box fronts revealed
- Atlantic Cup this weekend!
- Decks to beat: May

June 2021
- The return of iconic vampires
- Bram van Stappen wins Atlantic Cup 2021!
- Winner interview: Bram van Stappen
- In memoriam: Fernando Cesar
- Decks to beat: June
- VTES strategies: Combat doesn´t win

July 2021
- Introducing: The Ministry
- Rules Q & A
- Official card text updates
- Decks to beat: July
- VEKN on Facebook now 2,059 members!

August 2021
- Introducing: Gangrel Anarchs
- Final seating rule change in playtest
- 13 tournaments in the North American Championship week!
- VTES in pandemic times: The Mexican Anarca League
- More VTES in pandemic times: Sede de Vitae
- Rules Q & A
- Decks to beat: August

September 2021
- The return of live undead tournaments
- VTES has a new official Discord server!
- The Spanish national championships will be massive!
- Decks to beat: September
- VTES strategies: The subtlety of politics

October 2021
- Four new preconstructed decks soon at your store!
- Reminder: VTES Online World Championship 2021 coming up
- Reminder: The Spanish National Championship
- Ultra Pro sponsors European tournaments
- Player interview: Alex Romano, North American Champion 2021
- Decks to beat: October

November 2021
- Juan Rodriguez is the 2021 South American champion!
- David Fraile Zamorano is the 2021 Spain national champion!
- Akseli Jalava is the 2021 Finland champion!
- Emiliano Imeroni is the 2021 Belgium champion!
- The best VTES cards ever?

December 2021
- New rule for final round seating
- New tournament ranking categories
- Vader Dorian is the Online World Champion 2021!
- Łukasz Ho Thanh is the 2021 Middle European Champion!
- Even more new promo cards!
- Send in cool VTES content!

January 2022
- Save the date: European Championship 2022 in Helsinki, Finland July 29-31
- Gianluca Bianco is the 2021 Italian Champion!
- Rudolf Scholz wins New Year´s Rumble!
- Interview with a vampire legend
- Crafting Vampire: The Eternal Struggle

February 2022
- The Fight Club (Part 1)
- Rules Q & A
- Recent great VTES content

March 2022
- New Blood release and legality dates are set!
- Grand Prix tournaments starts again - first out: Malmö, Sweden
- James Salt is the UK VTES 2021 champion!
- Do you want to organize the VTES Online World Championship 2022?
- The Fight Club (Part 2)

April 2022
- More VTES now on print-on-demand!
- European Championship 2022 in Helsinki is _ON_!
- Several national championships coming up!
- Atlantic Cup 2022 coming up!
- New great VTES content
- VTES demonstration games at Ficzone

May 2022
- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle production update May 2022
- Time to pre-register for the European Championship!
- Bill Troxel is the Atlantic Cup 2022 champion!
- Double demo games in Zaragoza!
- Demo games at Modena Play!
- Sealed deck tournament in Mexico City!
- Rules Q & A
- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle stool of the month

June 2022
- Don´t forget to pre-register for the European Championship!
- Bill Troxel is the 2022 North American champion!
- Noora Hirvonen is the European Grand Prix Hyvinkää champion!
- Alain Greiner is the European Grand Prix Aix en Provence champion!
- Ricardo Felipe Marta is the 2022 National champion of Spain! (139 players!!)
- Thomas "Nuggetz" Cornaz is the 2022 National champion of France!
- Demo games all over the world!
- Great VTES content

July 2022
- European Championship 2022 summary
- Interview of the month: Otso Saariluoma, European champion 2022
- EC 2023 will be in Barcelona, Spain
- Sebastian Fredenberg wins Grand Prix Malmö!
- Bram Van Stappen is the 2022 Belgian champion!
- South American Grand Prix circuit set!

August 2022
- Håvard Skjevling is the 2022 Norwegian champion!
- Ricardo Molina Sobreira is the 2022 Brazilian champion!
- VTES has new playtest coordinators!
- How to tackle a VTES tournament
- Artist in focus: Mitch Mueller

September 2022
- Michal Drahokoupil is the 2022 Czech champion!
- The Road to Pulled Fang - Why is Czech organized play so successful?
- The European Grand Prix season 2022-2023 started with GP Warsaw!
- Alternate art anarch convert!
- Upcoming tournaments

October 2022
- Javier Naranjo wins Grand Prix Benidorm 2022!
- Welcome to Grand Prix Bologna!
- Alessandro Donati is the 2022 champion of Italy!
- Hernán Rodríguez is the South American Cup champion 2022!
- Meet the VEKN: Jani Malmi, National Coordinator of Finland

November 2022
- Ke Carlton is the 2022 Australia & New Zealand continental champion!
- Teemu Sainomaa is the 2022 champion of Finland!
- Erik Mossberg is the 2022 champion of Sweden!
- Joel Monteiro is the 2022 champion of Portugal!
- Tibor Mórocz is the 2022 UK champion!
- Marius Iscru is the 2022 champion of Germany!
- Michael Carter is the 2022 New Zealand champion!
- Praxis seizures

December 2022
- Leonardo Villela is the 2022 South American Champion!
- Danilo Torrisi wins Grand Prix Bologna 2022!
- Lukáš Simandl is the 2022 Middle European Cup champion!
- The VTES year 2022
- The magic of VTES – A beginner`s tale

January 2023
- EC 2023 in Barcelona is played on 14-15 October
- Welcome to Grand Prix Liverpool on May 13!
- Other upcoming major tournaments
- VEKN ethics committee notice
- Important VEKN documents now also in Spanish
- Praxis seizures

February 2023
- What country has most VTES players?
- Baali and Daughters of Cacophony now on Drivethrucards
- 150 players registered for Spanish national championships!
- Great VTES content
- Worth a slot #1: Blood Tears of Kephran
- Recruitment exercise in Milwaukee

March 2023
- The VTES EC 2023 site is up - with registration!
- More European Grand Prix 2023 dates set!
- Arnau Díez Sans is the Spanish champion 2023!
- The first official VEKN judge test
- Q & A with Black Chantry CEO Hugh Angseesing
- Want to help at UK Games Expo?
- Worth a slot #2: Scalpel Tongue

April 2023
- Rafael Barbosa is the 2023 Brazil champion!
- The first official VEKN judges
- Do you want to host the 2024 European Championship?
- Who is the best player ever?
- This game never ends: VTES in Philadelphia

May 2023
- Are you the best VTES player in North America?
- Please register for EC 2023 to get the exclusive playmat!
- Nina Nilsson wins Grand Prix Liverpool 2023!
- Bram van Stappen is the 2023 Belgian champion!
- Print-on-demand promo cards are now available for National coordinators
- Do you want to host the 2024 European championship?

June 2023
- Kelly Schultz is the 2023 North American champion!
- Reminder: Register for EC 2023 before July 15 to get the exclusive playmat
- Reminder: Grand Prix Brussels coming up
- Demo games at Mega XP game fair
- 29 years after release: Jyhad sealed tournament
- Gehenna comes to Chile!
- Great VTES content
- Do you want to host the 2024 European championship?

July 2023
- Bram Van Stappen wins Grand Prix Brussels 2023!
- Marius Iscru is the 2023 Swiss champion!
- Eduardo Mateus is the 2023 Portugal champion!
- Player interview: Kelly Schultz, North American Champion 2023
- Greetings from Casablanca, Chile
- Do you want to host the 2024 European championship?

August 2023
- Sprechen sie Deutsch?
- Who will battle in the 2023 VTES European Grand Prix final?
- Joab Rogerio wins Grand Prix Campina Grande 2023!
- About the Spanish VTES league 2023-2024 and regional leagues
- Jon Grønset is the 2023 Norwegian champion!
- Lotte Siebert is the 2023 Irish champion!

September 2023
- Introducing: The 2023-2024 league promo cards
- EC 2023 coming up!
- Jeroen Van Oort wins Grand Prix Germany 2023!
- Who will be the Grand Prix Europe 2023 champion?
- Pick up your European Grand Prix playmat!
- Are you really good at VTES rules, and want to prove it?
- Keith Lim is the 2023 Australia/New Zealand continental champion!
- Daniel Gargulák is the 2023 Czech champion!
- Bram Van Stappen is the 2023 Netherlands champion!

October 2023
- Jonas Ståhle is the VTES 2023 European Champion!
- Player interview: Jonas Ståhle, 2023 European Champion
- New structure for VEKN newsletters
- Nerijus Mikalajunas is the 2023 VTES Champion of Poland!
- Another Road to Pulled Fang ends
- Bratislava rising

November 2023
- Hernán Rodríguez is the 2023 South American champion!
- Jens Johansson is the 2023 champion of Sweden!
- Akseli Jalava is the 2023 champion of Finland!
- Mikey Ferguson is the 2023 United Kingdom champion!
- Milos Krstic is the 2023 Austrian champion!
- Rodinei Teixeira de Camargo is the 2023 German champion!
- Eduardo García is the 2023 champion of Mexico!
- Great volunteering, great content and other great things going on

December 2023
- 2023 recap
- Three new preconstructed decks in stores
- Danilo Torrisi wins Grand Prix Milan 2023!
- Luis Espejo is the 2023 Chilean champion!
- Pablo Andrade wins Grand Prix Cearense 2023!
- Ashur Tablets and Emerald Legionnaire have official errata
- A new Grand Prix circuit revealed: The Gulf Coast Roast 2024
- Recruitment Exercise: France
- Event posters for download!
- In memoriam: Julius Stonis

January 2024
- Finally! Vampire: The Eternal Struggle on print-on-demand in Europe!
- Welcome to the Iberian Grand Prix 2024!
- Who will be the Atlantic Cup champion 2024?
- This Gulf Coast Roast 2024 trailer is fantastic!
- The King of the Dead - A Manaus storyline event
- VTES in the Philippines - The return of the game
- Who doesn´t want to win that?!

February 2024
- The 30th year of VTES continues
- Bartosz Kulinczuk is the 2024 champion of Lithuania
- More GP dates set!
- Playing like it´s 1994 - A Zaragoza Sealed deck chronicle
- Do you want to host EC 2025?

Preview art - VTES - Ginés Quiñonero

Preview art by Ginés Quiñonero.

Greetings fellow Methuselahs,

We apologize for this delayed newsletter. The physical tournament activity is low, but some things are happening!


VTES Online 2020
VTES ONLINE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2020

Igor Beslin and Rudolf Scholz will organize this 6 week event, played using LackeyCCG and Discord. It begins on Sunday 18th of October and runs each Sunday ending on the 22th of November. Black Chantry supports with prizes! For details, check out the related VEKN.net forum thread.


VTES Lackey 2020

VTES ONLINE 2020 SO FAR

In the absence of physical events, quite a lot of the community turn to online VTES, especially on LackeyCCG. With the help of Igor Beslin and Rudolf Scholz we have compiled this summary of online events this year:

In 2020, so far 24 online competitions, tournaments or leagues, have been played. Igor Beslin has organized four of these events:

• The first competition of the year was a league testing a new crypt contest rule, that was later officially announced and tested again by Black Chantry Productions. It started on the 13th of January and ended on the 23rd of February. Igor caught this idea from a Brazilian player, who had posted it on VEKN.net in 2019 and wanted to see how it would work. 31 players in total attended; 18 from Europe, 9 from North America, 2 from New Zealand, and 1 each from Mexico and Brazil. The winner was Marcin Krom from Poland, playing a Black Hand toolbox versus Malkavian´94 bleed, Massassi combat, Dom-Obf bleed and a Imbued toolbox.

• The next league was “Camarilla Revolution”, which started on the 13th of March and ended on the 27th of April. It was played with regular Standard Constructed VEKN rules. 37 players attended; 28 from Europe, 3 from North America, 3 from Brazil, 2 from Mexico and 1 from New Zealand. The winner was Igor Beslin from Serbia, playing The Unnamed bleed in the final, against Montano Baltimore Purge, Black Hand toolbox, Toreador AAA vote and Emerald Legionnaires wall.

• The third league was “Not Unique Vampires”, running from the 10th of May to the 22nd of June. This league used a special crypt contest rule, where all contested vampires remain in play but still requiring Methuselahs to pay for contesting. It was officially supported by Black Chantry with prizes for every participant and additional prizes for all finalists and the winner. Even though there was a lot of discussion in forums about the contest rule test, a record of 53 players in total participated, among them EC 2019 champion Otso Saariluoma and 2019 Online World champion Milutin Melka. 43 players were from Europe, 3 from North America, 6 from Brazil and 1 from Saudi Arabia (who now lives in Germany again). The winner was Marius Iscru from France, playing Emerald Legionnaires toolbox in the final against True Brujah toolbox, Fanchon & Malgorzata toolbox, Shambling Hordes rush and Jost & Rebekka bleed.

• The fourth event was “4 Eternal Nights”, a Standard Constructed 2 rounds + final multi-deck tournament that started on the 11th of September and ended with the finals played on the 20th of September. 14 players attended; 8 from Europe, 2 from North America, 1 each from Chile, Mexico, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. The winner this time was Jay Kristoff from USA, playing a Gangrel toolbox facing Malgorzata & Tzimisce toolbox, Blood Brother Chicago rush, Ventrue antitribu grinder and The Unnamed toolbox.

The German National Coordinator Rudolf Scholz has organized five competitions during summer time. Four of them were VEKN Standard Constructed 2 rounds + final events called “Summer Rumble I–IV”, with between 10 and 16 players per tournament. In total 27 different players from 13 different countries participated. Countries (and player numbers) were: Australia (1), Belgium (1), Denmark (1), France (1), Germany (5), Mexico (1), Poland (2), Saudi-Arabia (1), Serbia (2), Spain (1), Sweden (1), UK (7), USA (3).

Summer Rumble I was won by Joscha Duell from Germany, playing Pander plus Inner Circle vote against The Unnamed Maleficia toolbox, Vlad Tepes & Malgorzata toolbox, Pander & Gehenna events vote and Enkidu rush.

Summer Rumble II was won by Nikica Novakovic from Serbia, playing Malkavian anarch Madness wall against Anson Presence bleed, Dracon wall, Lasombra bruise-bleed and Dominate Vicissitude bruise-bleed.

Summer Rumble III was won by Nikolaj Wendt from Denmark, playing Eurayle, Gotsdam & Maris toolbox against Ravnos breed-boon, Black Hand wall, Toreador antitribu Undue Influence bleed and Lutz bleed.

Summer Rumble IV was won by Lionel Pandaleux from France, playing a “Girls will find” bleed deck against Mary Anne Blaire grinder, Auspex biggies wall, Toreador antitribu breed-vote and Guillaume Real Estate toolbox.

• The fifth event was the Storyline League “Mad World”, with a prologue written by Jan Erik Söderman. It was played from the 10th of July up to the 28th of August, with the usual Storyline crypt rule (75% from one single clan) and the special rule that the first vampire or Imbued put into play by every player started with a Vampiric Disease counter. 12 rounds were played, 31 players attended in total. The winner in a final described as a “5 player chess game” was the German player Jens Niemann, with Toreador AAA wall against Guillaume Real Estate toolbox, Emerald Legionnaires wall, Emerald Legionnares bleed and Malgorzata & Tzimisce toolbox.

On the 13th of June, UK National Coordinator Paul Jones organized the “Bleedfest”, a VEKN Standard 2 rounds + final tournament with 18 players attending. The final was won by Rudolf Scholz from Germany, piloting a Giovanni bleed deck against Kiasyd bleed, Dementation bleed, weenie Computer Hacking bleed and yet another Dementation bleed.

In addition to all these events, an additional 7 tournaments (that we know of) have been organized in Brazil, 4 in Spain, 1 in North America and 2 leagues in Mexico.

We thank Igor and Rudolf for this summary, and of course hope for many more online events in the future. Thanks to all of you who organize events – remember that you can have an online tournament sanctioned by adding them to the VEKN calendar, just tag it with "online"!



promo VTES 2020
AN UPDATE ABOUT PRIZE SUPPORT

Black Chantry Products want to convey two bits about prize support:

• Black Chantry will continue helping with promo cards and products as prizes. This is normally at a “raw cost”, but sometimes for free, mainly to large events like continental and national championships, Grand Prix events, etc.

• There are many queries around custom prizes. If you want to make custom prizes (edges, counters, deckboxes, playmats, t-shirts, etc.), ask . These are the requirements:
- In the mail, be specific about what you want to make, for what event/events and (if any) what art you want to use.
- Never sell the item. Entry fee for an event is fine!
- After the event, mail in photos of the product for the company records.



VTES Catalan 2020
ALDO FERNÁNDEZ D'AMBROSIO WINS TORNEIG INVITACIONAL LLIGA CATALANA 2019-2020

The Catalan league has been running since last year, with a total of nine events gathering about 70 players. On October 3rd, the top 25 players were invited to the final tournament in Reus, Spain.

VTES Catalan 2020

Congratulations to Aldo Fernández D'Ambrosio, 4 vp winner in the final! This is his master heavy tournament winning deck:

Crypt: 12
3x Annazir
4x Cybele
3x Nergal
2x Petaniqua

Library: 90
2x Archon Investigation
12x Ashur Tablets
3x Direct Intervention
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fear of Mekhet
1x Giant's Blood
4x Golconda: Inner Peace
4x Information Highway
4x Liquidation
8x Minion Tap
1x Monastery of Shadows
5x Parthenon, The
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Ruins of Charizel
1x Wash
7x Zilla's Valley

2x Call the Great Beast
4x Entrancement
3x Unleash Hell's Fury

4x Cloak the Gathering
4x Elder Impersonation
4x Faceless Night
4x Lost in Crowds
3x Sense the Sin
4x Swallowed by the Night

The other finalists were José Luis Manuel, Ricard Díaz Vicario, Sergio Bolsico Silverio and Marius Peña Beltri - check out their decklists at the official event page.

Thanks to organizer Miquel Jorge Tortajada, sponsors and others that helped!


VEKN newsletter writingWE NEED NEWSLETTER CONTENT!

Do you want to create content for the VEKN newsletter? Things that might be interesting to publish are:
- tournament reports
- strategic articles on a deck or deck archetype
- player interviews
- just about anything else that relates to VTES that is reasonably well written and not too long (2,000-6,000 characters including blanks seems about right)

Help with images, graphics, editing and proofing will be provided, but note that VEKN is a volunteer organization – contributions are paidd for only in kind words and eternal gratitude! Send your ideas to . The same adress works if you have ideas for content someone else could write, or just general feedback on the newsletter. Hope to hear from you!
 


Black Chantry Productions logo
BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: SEPTEMBER 2020

• As many of you probably noticed, Fifth Edition has run into more printing problems and is delayed. A new, hopefully final, release date will be communicated in mid October.

• The very meaty round 1 report from playtest coordinator Darby Keeney just landed in Black Chantry mailboxes. The four preconstructed decks (Banu Haqim, Brujah, Gangrel and Ministry) received mixed reviews, and the design team led by Ben Peal will now adapt them and prepare for round two of playtesting.

hot community cards VTES
• In the beginning of September, the Library card section of the Drivethrucards VTES Card Creator was officially launched. Try it out if you haven´t already!

• The preview art by Ginés Quiñonero at the top of this newsletter is for one of the circa 400 cards that soon will be added to VTES Legacy Card Singles at Drivethrucards. Stay tuned for more news about this!


BCP products


• 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

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.


VTMtober
RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

Some highlights:

#VTMtober is community art challenge for anyone who want to draw something Vampire-related.

• "Vampire: The Masquerade — Night Road" is an interactive horror novel by Kyle Marquis, now available on Steam.

• The second issue of the Vampire: The Masquerade comic is in stores.

• "Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York" is out now for PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch!

• The main themes of the World of Darkness News show in the recent weeks have been Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife! (September 3), VTM novella writer Caitlin Starling (September 17), Vampire: The Masquerade - Night Road (September 25), Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest (October 1) and artist Amy Wilkins (October 8).



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 V:EKN


You can contact the V:EKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at V:EKN.net. Also follow the V:EKN Facebook group, the official V:TES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official V:EKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES

"Losers focus on winners, winners focus on winning."

Gelasia Fotiou - VTES - Samuel Araya

VTES Fifth Edition preview art by Samuel Araya.


Greetings fellow Methuselahs,


It´s not easy to create a newsletter without those big tournaments to report about, but there are some things happening …



Lodin VTES contest rule
NO CHANGE OF VAMPIRE CONTEST RULE

The open playtest is over, and the rules for contesting crypt cards WILL NOT be changed. Black Chantry Rules Director Vincent Ripoll has collected and assessed the playtest reports and survey forms, and come to the conclusion that a change is not happening, at least not now.

In Vincent´s own words: “The overall opinion is that changing the rule would be detrimental to the game and that the cons overweight the pros, but with no statistical evidence. There are also some real rule issues with the proposed change. Therefore, the proposed change is discarded. There were some interesting alternative suggestions that we will consider in the future.”

Read his full report here: Report about the contest rule survey

Thanks to all of you who made your voices heard!


VTES Library Card creator
CREATE YOUR OWN LIBRARY CARDS!

Since March last year it has been possible to create your own VTES not-for-legal-play crypt cards at Drivethrucards.com - choose artwork, card names and effects, and also have the cards printed and sent to you. During this summer a test of Library cards has also been available, but because some bugs had to be chased out off the system, this hasn´t been widely marketed yet. But now it´s ready! So go to the site and try it out right now!

To make it easier for you to create balanced cards, a 6-page Card Creator Design Guidelines document has been produced. It details a creation point system for card types, disciplines, effects and drawbacks. You find this guide in the second step of the Card Creator, or just download it here: Card Creator Design Guidelines – Library Cards



Black Chantry newsletter
CHANGES FOR VEKN MAILING LIST

The VEKN will stop using the old VEKN e-mail sendlist due to the data protection regulation (GDPR). Instead, we will gradually switch over to using Black Chantry channels for most communications. We therefore ask all players, especially Princes and National Coordinators, to please sign up for the Black Chantry newsletter, which, of course, is also the best way to get the most recent news about Vampire: The Eternal Struggle products. Register at www.blackchantry.com/newsletter



Deneš Kočiš VEKN
MEET THE VEKN: DENEŠ KOČIŠ, NATIONAL COORDINATOR OF CROATIA

We continue our talks with VEKN organizers ...

Hello Deneš! When did you start playing VTES?
- It was around 2000, not sure the exact year, with friends who were in the same science fiction/fantasy club. We also played a lot of different pen & paper RPG's and Magic: The Gathering at the time.

What do you like most about the game?
- I like the complexity of it, the social interaction and the diversity of decks. I think I am most likely to remember the tough games when I manage to pull through and still win. I mostly play some deck with a twist and try to play to win in a certain way. But I am most happy having fun with my friends, no matter the outcome of the game played.

What is your all-time favorite deck?
- Stanislava & Co. That deck can stand on its own against the whole table. I think that its strenghts are versatility and speed. Its weaknesses? Well, against weenie decks the deck will crumble.

What other decks do you currently like playing?
- Euro-Brujah, Mini-dem bleed, weenie princes, African library, The AAA... the list goes on. But I don´t have much new tech brewing currently, too busy with real life at the moment.

Do you think you have a special style of playing?
- Not really. I don't talk a lot, that is my problem in the game. I can't talk table-hate off, and I find it hard to sell a sweet deal. I prefer to give short deals, but only if I am on the losing part ... to try and snatch a VP...

You are the National Coordinator for Croatia. How is the situation for VTES there?
- We are a small community, and the period of not printing really cut our numbers down. We have 3 cities with Princes. With the reawakening of the capital city of Zagreb, I encourage holding tournaments and reaching to our neighbours for participation. But, to be honest, we, as a whole country, have a regular base of 15-20 players. There is not much that I can do. The players got older, young players prefer online and easy games... I encourage the player base to reach out to their friends and try to engage them in some play, but I don't see many newcomers. Even the Magic society has dwindled down - that says a lot about our social and economic possibilities of engaging such hobbies. Keep up the good work and I hope that there will be more progeny in the future!

Thanks Deneš! Without generous volunteers like him VTES could not live on year after year. Hopefully without corona and with the Fifth Edition box available, new players will join the best player community in the world!



Black Chantry Productions logo
BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: AUGUST 2020

• The Fifth Edition box content in English, French and Spanish is now at the printer! It took a rush of joint efforts to get this done (in the middle of normal people´s vacation period), but finally everything was put into place, approved and sent.

• The very long art and card spoiler season for Fifth Edition is approaching its end. At the top of this newsletter you see the art for the Malkavian Gelasia Fotiou by the great Samuel Araya, who was interviewed in the February 2020 newsletter. This is the actual card:

Gelasia Fotiou - VTES - Samuel Araya
• The first round of playtesting of the next four preconstructed decks is ongoing. The Banu Haqim deck will be Camarilla, while the Brujah, Gangrel and Ministry decks will be Anarchs. The first reports from testers are rather positive, even though there are many strong opinions about some individual cards. This first round ends in mid September, after which reports will be collected, the decks revised and a new round of testing will start.

• A batch of about 400 cards are being prepared for VTES Legacy Card Singles at Drivethrucards. Again, this is a team effort where Ben and Hugh have been selecting what to add, Vincent is updating card texts for modern templating and layout, and Ginés is making sure the old art is available or commissioning new pieces.

BCP products


• 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

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.


VTM comic 1
RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

The World of Darkness team at Paradox is really picking up the pace with all kinds of projects within the brand, but in the Vampire-oriented news we especially notice:

• The first issue of Vampire: The Masquerade comic is out. It includes two connected stories, set in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in Minnesota: "Winter's Teeth", which follows the vampire enforcer Cecily Bain, who takes in the abandoned younger vampire Alejandra; and "The Anarch Tales", which follows a coterie of Anarch vampires, who are given the task to investigate a murder.

• The Kickstarter for upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade Rivals Expandable Card Game from Renegade Game Studios has concluded. 2 995 backers pledged 234 587 US dollars – great success!

• The long awaited computer game Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has been delayed until 2021, and the project had some organisational changes.

• The main themes of the World of Darkness News show in the past month have been Werewolf: the Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest (July 30), Vampire: The Masquerade Rivals (August 6), Bloodlines 2 updates (August 20) and storytelling with “MathasGames” (August 27).



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 V:EKN


You can contact the V:EKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at V:EKN.net. Also follow the V:EKN Facebook group, the official V:TES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official V:EKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES

"Fear breeds opportunity."