Greetings fellow Methuselahs,

Two new Vampire: The Eternal Struggle packs will be in stores on May 31, 2025: New Blood Hecata and New Blood Lasombra. Note that this will be both the official release date and the official tournament legality date for the new cards in these packs! The preview season has hereby begun, with Mark Kelly´s illustration for Psychophagia, a card found in the New Blood Hecata pack. The actual card:

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REGISTRATION FOR EC 2025 IS OPEN!

Are you planning to play the VTES European Championship in Aarhus, Denmark, on October 17-19? Registration is now open, so please sign up as soon as possible, to help the organisers know how many will attend.

Visit the website: /www.vtes-ec2025.org

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FREDERIC PIN WINS GRAND PRIX MODENA 2025

70 Methuselahs played this tournament in Modena, Italy, on March 1.

Read the full report: Grand Prix Modena 2025

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RODINEI CAMARGO IS THE 2025 CHAMPION OF PORTUGAL

This tournament gathered 57 players in Lisbon on March 15.

Read the full report: Portugal National Championship 2025

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VADIM GRIGOREV IS THE 2025 CHAMPION OF LITHUANIA

This event had 44 participants in Vilnius on March 1.

Read the full report: Lithuania National Championship 2025

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HUGH ALDOUS WINS GRAND PRIX MELBOURNE 2025

25 players battled it out in Melbourne, Australia, on March 1.

Read the full report: Grand Prix Melbourne 2025

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DESTYN BOWERS WINS GULF COAST ROAST DALLAS 2025

16 players turned up for this event in Dallas, Texas on March 22. Note that a second GP event, in the North American Cup circuit, was played in Dallas on March 23.

Read the full report: Gulf Coast Roast Dallas 2025

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MATT HODSDON WINS NORTH AMERICAN CUP DALLAS 2025

This event was played in Dallas, Texas on March 23 with 15 Methuselahs.

Read the full report: GP Dallas North American Cup 2025

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REMEMBER: PROMO CARDS ARE AVAILABLE ON PRINT-ON-DEMAND

If you are a VEKN volunteer, for example organising a tournament or demo games, remember that you can have your National Coordinator order promotional cards on print-on-demand from Drivethrucards (USA) or Gamepod (Spain). The selections on the two sites are a bit different, for example on Gamepod you can get some German language promos. Ask your National Coordinator to get hold of the special links needed to have a look! Some examples are depicted above.

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BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: MARCH 2025

•  The True Brujah and Temporis cards are finally up for Legacy print-on-demand on both Drivethrucards (USA) and Gamepod (Spain).

• “Preview season” of New Blood Hecata and Lasombra is starting! Expect to see new cards here and there in your feeds the following weeks. Follow Black Chantry in social media to not miss anything!

• The third round of playtesting of the 2025 Sabbat cards ended on March 30. Almost all art has been delivered, looking fantastic, a true feast for the eye!

• You are hopefully aware of the general plan forward presented in the roadmap article in December, but product director Ben Peal recently delivered a quick update to the editor: The Sabbat decks will launch BEFORE the New Blood packs for Ravnos, Salubri and Tzimisce, sometime June/July this year. Then those New Blood packs, and then, late 2025, two packs themed around Brazil and New York. Going into 2026, things are more sketchy - New Blood packs for the four Sabbat paths, and most likely another city-based set. Cool, right?!

 

• Currently these Black Chantry products are available through Gamepod, Drivethrucards.com and other stores:
Lost Kindred bundle (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 1 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 2 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 1 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 2 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Den of Fiends Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Anthology I bundle
VTES Card Creator (Drivethrucards only)
25th Anniversary
First Blood: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
First Blood: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
First Blood: Toreador (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
First Blood: Tremere (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
First Blood: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French) (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
VTES Legacy Card Singles (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Promo Pack 1 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Promo Pack 2 (Drivethrucards and Gamepod only)
Promo Pack 3 (For promotion only)
Promo Pack 4 (For promotion only)
VTES "Parity Shift" playmat
VTES card sleeves
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition (Stores only)
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition Latin (Drivethrucards only)
Fifth Edition: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
Fifth Edition: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
Fifth Edition: Toreador (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
Fifth Edition: Tremere (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
Fifth Edition: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
Promo Pack 3 (Event promos only)
Fifth Edition: Banu Haqim (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
Fifth Edition: Brujah (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
Fifth Edition: Gangrel (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
Fifth Edition: The Ministry (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
New Blood: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
New Blood: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
New Blood: Toreador (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
New Blood: Tremere (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
New Blood: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
The Fall of London (Also Spanish, French, Latin)
Echoes of Gehenna
Shadows of Berlin (Also Spanish, French)
New Blood: Banu Haqim (Also Spanish, French)
New Blood: Brujah (Also Spanish, French)
New Blood: Gangrel (Also Spanish, French)
New Blood: The Ministry (Also Spanish, French)
Fifth Edition: Ravnos (Also Spanish, French)
Fifth Edition: Salubri (Also Spanish, French)
Fifth Edition: Tzimisce (Also Spanish, French)
30th Anniversary (Also Spanish, French)
Fifth Edition: Lasombra (Also Spanish, French)
Fifth Edition: Hecata (Also Spanish, French)

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.

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RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

After the latest Dev Diary entry (number 28 about Hunters), we now got a release month for Vampire: The Maquerade - Bloodlines 2. As stated in the video link above, the game will launch in October 2025! Only some fine-tuning is left. If you are very curious, we recommend the rather in-depth article in PC Gamer "Playing a few hours of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has put a lot of my worries to rest". Seems promising!

Subscribe to the World of Darkness channel for more news!

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CALENDAR

Upcoming tournaments for the coming month (registered so far) are in:
Australia x2
Brazil x7
Canada x2
Chile
Croatia
Czech Republic
Finland x5
France x5
Hungary
Italy x2
Mexico
Online x2
Poland x4
Portugal
South Africa
Spain x9
Sweden x2
USA x5

For details about these events, see the VEKN Event Calendar.

Remember: Online tournaments are possible - just check the box "Online tournament" when you add the event to the calendar!

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CONTACT VEKN

You can contact the VEKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at VEKN.net. Also follow the official VTES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, the official VEKN X (Twitter) account @VEKN_VTES and the official VTES Discord server.

If common sense was really common, more people would have it.

This tournament was played with 25 Methuselahs on March 1. Report by the winner Hugh Aldous:

Decklist: “Top of the Pile” (as I only picked this due to it being on the top of my card pile the morning of the GP).
Crypt:
5 Stanislava
3 Xavier
2 Ingrid Rossler
1 Genevieve
1 Hartmut Stover

Library: 88 cards
Masters:
9 Zillah’s Valley
5 Villein
2 Jake Washington
2 Perfectionist
1 Giant’s Blood
1 Monastery of Shadows
1 Ennoia’s Theatre
1 Backways
1 Ecoterrorists

Actions:
6 Govern the Unaligned

Political Actions:
2 Parity Shift
2 Kine Resources Contested
4 Camarilla’s Iron Fist
3 Banishment
1 Disputed Territory
1 Ancient Influence
1 Political Stranglehold
1 Reins of Power
1 Neonate Breach

Allies:
1 Double Deuce
1 Carlton van Wyk

Retainers:
2 Homunculus

Action Modifiers:
5 Earth Control
1 Enkil Cog
5 Forced March
5 Freak Drive
4 Instantaneous Transformation
3 Momentary Delay

Combat:
5 Earth Meld
5 Form of Mist

Reaction:
6 Deflection

Note: This is taken after the final round, a few players had left already.

The early rounds:

The first round of the Australian Gran Prix was held in Melbourne, a southern city in the state of Victoria (It is the mainland part above the tiny island). We had people flying in from all around the country and New Zealand. The organisers had hosted it in our local nerd store, Plenty of Games, with about 25 players in attendance. The first few rounds are always a good chance to catch up with people and get into the groove of playing. Many of the attendees in the Aus scene know each other, as we tend to travel for events. I chose to take whatever deck happened to be on top of my pile of cards that morning, as I had only got permission decided to play maybe two days prior. In my usual style, I could not remember if I had picked up my Daughters of Cacophony Opera deck or Stanislava. Hence round 1 was a blind shuffle and surprise. I think the other players would rather I not poorly sign Carmen while playing, so Stanislava it was. It is not a hugely original build, but taking some inspiration from other games regarding tempo and opportunity cost advantage, it does try to win quickly and efficiently with multiple acting large vamps. It is the same deck that I had taken to the Aus Continentals last year in Sydney funnily enough.

My first round consisted of holding off some of our youngest, but in no ways inexperienced, players from beating me to death with Nos. Our Queen does not like being rushed at all. A quick speed dual ousts allowed me to remove two players in quick succession and then proceed to sweep the table. It is worth noting that my prey in the final was on this table, Daniel S.

My second game was by far some of the best VTES I have played. As half of my Stani build relies upon vote, but not beholden entirely to it, seeing three vote decks and a Brujah baron beat face as my predator was not great. Fortunately, some of my cross tables were willing to discuss options, and what followed was two hours of intense negotiations on just about every action being taken. Trust me in that some may find this to be the most piss boring thing to do, but it was some of the best and most nuanced VTES I have played to this day. Big props to all the players in that round especially Dave S and Ke C. My days highlight was that one Disputed Territory was passed in a 35 to 33 vote, and it wasn’t the vote that I intended to need to pass. It took 14 minutes to pass. Of note that Rich A was in this round.

Random titles are a thing apparently.

My third game was a near blur at this point, one of my mates for a long time was my prey, Matthew O N, and flubbed in his crypt draw for Valkyries. Awkwardly, I also was not able to hit the gas and take advantage of this. IIRC I did end up getting ousted in the last few minutes of the game. Of note that Nathaneal was in this round and would be in the final.

Standings before the final:
1. Richard Aumann 2 GW 8.0 VP
2. Nathaneal Zheng 2 GW 7.5 VP
3. Daniel Spivak 1 GW 6.0 VP
4. Hugh Aldous 1 GW 5.5 VP
5. Justin Evans 1 GW 5.0 VP

The final:

With 1 GW and a few VPs I was able to get into the final table. The final itself was held a few doors down at a hotel bar and lounge, a practice we have done before. Out of the other four players, I knew roughly what three of them were running. My predator was a gentleman named Justin, who had travelled to play. This had me a bit wary, as I cannot predict how they will react or their own tells. Dan S paying a stealth bleed thing was fine, as in my mind he could weaken Nathaneal. This was vital to my position as I would be competing with Nathaneal over titles and knowing his cockroach build of flicking everything that comes his way I would somewhat struggle to land a blow at all. Rich A was playing Banu Haqim, a build which I have tried to get to work since V5 dropped but am still eternally going to struggle with. In my experience it is inconsistent, but Rich had his own spin with Infernal Pursuits. This is another that I needed to keep in check as if Rich was able to drain any of my vamps my game plan would be cooked, but inshallah this unknown (to me) Justin can do something. Turned out Justin was playing some Gangrel Wolfpack, another build I have tried and do quite like. I thought that at least I can judge the person unknowingly while having some idea of the deck being played.

And then my crypt failed me. I drew two Xaviers, and Ingrid and Genevieve. Though there was enough Valley to pump a vamp out, being player one with this put me far behind. Early on Nathaneal and I had an agreement to be closer to the friends end of the frenemies scale, as we both needed to pass votes until adjacent. As people knew I was playing Stanis, seeing Ingrid flipped over as my first vamp raised some eyebrows. It was useful enough to then purchase new crypt and villein them to essentially just a flick bank for Deflection. After another four rounds I was able to get Stanis out, and then the game actually began for me at 3 pool.

A cross table Political Stranglehold and cheeky pool gain let me then bring out Xavier. My thinking was that I needed to pick up my infant son from his babysitter, and either I win quickly or just lose. This turned out to be the correct choice, as it allowed me to oust Dan S, and begin to stabilise.

Justin had continuously bled me for one or two with his tiny Gangrel, but he upset the applecart when blocking a political action by Ingrid, and proceeding to burn them with agg damage.

At about the one and a half hour mark, Nathaneal had their pool going up and down like the stock market, and I was able to sneak an Enkil Cog onto Xavier. Rich was not getting through the Gangrel, and they were starting to run out of gas which tends to happen with the Wolfpack build. I was further able to contest the Double Deuce on my back, and get Jake Washington to take a hit for the team.

The entire game I had been trying to line up negotiations with all the players, really discarding the never negotiating with your prey/predator hypothesis out the window. Akin to the second round, having to navigate the game state while accounting for different motivations is one of the aspects that makes VTES unique in my experience. He even encouraged me to break a deal just made with Justin to not block a parity shift that would target Nathaneal, only to then have it target him. I also had to consider keeping Rich alive as my support for votes had him being targeted by Nathaneal, given that V5 Banu Haqim have not an insignificant number of votes. I didn’t understand why exactly people were accepting and then following through on agreements this late in the game, but who am I to correct them. As one player said to the others, ‘Hugh holds grudges for a long time across games’. I have no idea what they mean.

We are playing for sheep stations at this level, and that would be the third deal I broke that day. I am not sorry.

Then, surprisingly, Xavier was able to sneak through a bleed for two. It landed and Nathaneal was ousted. The entire game changed. I honestly did not expect to be able to get through Nathaneal and their Aksinya build.

However, I was not about to count my eggs hatching and with about twenty minutes left on the clock I held and hoped that my pool would be able to hold the wolves at bay until time. In all fairness I played my turns super quick to allow the other players to attempt to get ousts, only bleeding with Double Deuce to move the Edge to affect game state. All my remaining vamps were sent to torpor. Rich got close to ousting Justin, but time was called.

With that, and a victory tawny supplied by the hotel, I ran off to get my son after thanking everyone. Coming from a quite bad position for a build that relies on action economy and efficient resource use to threaten negotiate its way to not being ousted first was good VTES, and the quality of gameplay was very high.

The event was well managed, and support from both BCP and locals was amazing. The next leg of the Gran Prix will be held in Perth, the other side of our country. I eagerly await to see who can claim the WA title, and how many deals Ben S can break in a day.

Thanks for this report, and thanks to all organisers, sponsors and players!