We normally only present National, Grand Prix and Continental level tournament reports here, but we make an exception for this one, to showcase what a neonate playgroup looks like and how to develop it. Words by Sven Helmer, VEKN Prince of Zurich, Switzerland:

On 22 November, sixteen Methuselahs gathered in Zurich for the tournament "Überwald League of Temperance".* For ten of the players, this was the first tournament they have ever played in, that is why the tournament announcement asked players to not play hyper-competitive decks. This worked out quite well and everyone had a lot of fun, showing everyone that VTES tournaments are usually quite relaxed and laid-back affairs. I chose not to participate, so I had enough time to answer questions and explain cards, as I expected a higher number of rules questions/clarifications.

After two rounds, the finalists were determined: Tacitus (Ministry Stealth-Bleed/Vote, 2 GW, 7 VP), Milan (Karl Schrekt Tremere Block, 2 GW, 6 VP), Kevin (Nergal Stealth-Bleed, 1 GW 6 VP), Sven (Stanislava, 1 GW 3 VP), Jennifer (Path of Death Servitors, 0 GW, 3 VP). Jennifer managed to oust Tacitus before the game timed out, securing the tournament win. Although the final included a significant number of wraiths, the zombie in the background of the picture of the finalists did not participate.

The tournament winning deck, Servitor Swarm, was described by Jennifer as a Servitor deck with the Path of Death and Soul as a basis for more bleed:

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Sakura, The Merciless 7 DOM OBL THA aus pot Lasombra:6
1x Parijat, the Dark Oracle 7 AUS DOM FOR OBL Hecata:6
2x Aitana, The Unholy 6 AUS OBL for tha Hecata:6
1x Azucena 5 DOM OBL pot Lasombra:6
1x Zbigniew, Hunter of Mekhet 5 OBL aus dom tha Lasombra:6
3x El Monseñor 4 OBL dom Lasombra:6
1x Alek König 3 OBL Hecata:6
1x Peter St. John 2 obl Hecata:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (16; 3 trifle)
2x Archon Investigation
2x Blood Doll
1x Burial Site Hunting Ground
1x Charisma
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Effective Management
1x Fragment of the Book of Nod
1x Information Highway
1x Powerbase: Munich
2x Villein
1x Wider View

Action (10)
2x Govern the Unaligned
8x Shroud of Decay

Ally (16)
16x Spectral Servitor

Action Modifier (26)
1x Conditioning
9x Gifts From Hereafter
5x Shadow Cast
5x Shadow Cloak
3x Stygian Shroud
3x Where the Veil Thins

Combat (6)
6x Pass Through Shadow

Reaction (14)
6x Deflection
3x Delaying Tactics
5x Shadow Sentinel

Event (2)
2x Unmasking, The

For the Zurich playgroup, this tournament was an important milestone. Compared to the first tournament we held in Zurich, we were able to double the number of participants and the fledgling playgroup is in a good state, we manage to play quite regularly, managing to get a session in almost every week.

Until a few years ago, there was only one noteworthy playgroup in Switzerland, the one in Geneva. We are happy to have established a second one. On the way there, we experienced what a lot of other new playgroups have also found out. Be patient, this is not going to happen from one day to the next, there are going to be setbacks. Only one of the three demo sessions we ran actually brought in a couple of new players. Play in a public place to attract attention to get potential new players interested in the game (fancy blood counters and edges also help here). Try to create a friendly environment, i.e., leave your cut-throat decks at home for a while. We played a lot of V5-clans to teach basic strategies and always had plenty of these decks around for players to try out.

Many thanks also to TwoMoons, a trading-card shop that opened its doors recently in Stettbach for hosting and supporting the tournament. We hope to have many more tournaments and VTES sessions at this location in the future.

* In case you are wondering where the tournament name comes from, this is a reference to Terry Pratchett. It is the name of a vampire self-help group trying to abstain from human blood.

Thanks for this report Sven, and good luck in the future Zurich!

Reported by Radovan Vitek, VEKN Prince of Bratislava and the champion:

Recently we held our 2nd National Championship in recent history and as expected, international pool of players arrived including competitors from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Serbia. As it is custom to this event atmosphere was friendly, yet fairly competitive and players did their maximum to help maintain tournament schedule.

Hello there, this is Milos Krstic with a brief tournament report on Slovak National Championship.

So, I started my journey by traveling for 7 hours from Belgrade to Vienna on Thursday and after some casual VTES games and drinks followed by a bit of rest I met with Martin Weinmayer and the gang, and we were off to Bratislava.

Venue was nice with a separate room just for VTES tournament in the Vivo! shopping mall and after some coffee and sandwiches we started the first round.

I was piloting my trusty deck know locally as "Gangrel Stena" (Gangrel Wall), a fairly standard block and bleed deck with a few twists of my own.

My first round was a table of 4 with Malk DEM stealth/bleed, DEM weenie swarm and Kiasyd stealth/bleed all trying to kill each other while I managed to set-up some defenses and after my Kiasyd predator getting ousted was able to oust other two players with the help of Club Illusion and Revolutionary Council by having most votes on the table. 1 GW, 3 VPS

Second round was even tougher for me with Baron Death Star, DOM Malk stealth/bleed and Ravnos V5 stealth/bleed comprising another table of 4. While being hand-jammed in the beginning and taking some 12 pool damage from predator, my prey was building a roster of barons/children of revolution and going forward while Malk was doing small bleed forward of which most were reduced, but a lucky deflection of a bleed for 6 by me on my prey followed by a Direct Intervention on their redirection and few bleeds of my own got me an oust. Alas, after Malk managed to oust the Ravnos and with clock ticking away they had just enough stealth to push two big bleeds through and secure a win. 1 VP

Third round saw me playing finally at a full table with V5 Banu/Victoria Ash stealth/bleed, Dianna Toreador Politics, Shalmath rush and Assamites stealth/bleed. Shalmath fell first to bleeds and politics, followed by Banu and Diana courtesy of my Club Illusion swarm bleeding every turn as the clock was running down. In last turn I was lucky enough to top-deck an Organized Resistance and stop the last Assamites lethal bleed. Time was called and I ended up a winner with 1 GW, 2.5 VPS.

Top 5 before the final:
1. Martin Weinmayer 2 GW 8.0 VP
2. Rostislav Husa 2 GW 7.0 VP
3. Milos Krstic 2 GW 6.5 VP
4. Christoph Bongartz 2 GW 6.0 VP
5. Peter Zittnan 1 GW 7.0 VP

So, coming into Finals with a total of 2 GWs and 6.5 VPs I hoped for a better position then number 3, but was left with a choice of sitting on either side of 2 similar DOM Malk V5 deck so I opted having what I thought was a weaker player as predator (it was their first tournament and finals, congratz). Other two decks were Diana Toreador Politics and Martin with Path of Power Aaradhya bleed/politics deck.

Martin chose to sit opposite of me to avoid getting blocked and being vote locked-out so the final order was: Gangrel->Toreador->Ventrue->Malk->Malk with me going first chosen by a roll of a die.

Immediately disaster struck as my 2-cap with Heart of Nizchetus was burned by Scourge of the Enochians and my Zoo Hunting Ground being burned by Martin's cross-table Cold War, after which I was forced to retaliate with 8 pool damage on him by deflecting bleed and giving votes to my prey for Camarilla's Iron Fist leading to a truce being called between us. By being able to defend successfully against bleeds soon my predators fell one by one until I was in a heads-up with Diana, but time being the issue I knew I had to go all-in and after two turns of bleeds and defending the best I could against politics and bleeds last pool of my prey was gone and with 2 VPs I was crowned the Champion of Slovakia.

Tournament organization was professional with a precise timetable, many promos during each round and fine prize support for the finalists, so I would like to thank Radovan Vitek for his effort in organizing a really nice event with great atmosphere, pleasant but very competitive players and lots of fun. Was a blast to play there and I will come again for sure.

Special shout-out to Martin who was kind enough to take us there and back with his car, and for not burning any more of my locations. Thanks man, you're the best!

Peace, Milos

The tournament winning deck: “Mama Said Knock You Out” by Milos Krstic

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

Library (90 cards)
Master (27; 5 trifle)
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Backways
1x Barrens, The
1x Carfax Abbey
2x Club Illusion
2x Direct Intervention
1x Ecoterrorists
1x Ennoia's Theater
2x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Information Highway
1x Life Boon
1x Papillon
1x Parthenon, The
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
1x Powerbase: Montreal
2x Powerbase: Savannah
1x Rack, The
3x Vessel
2x Villein
1x Zoo Hunting Ground

Action (9)
9x Thing

Political Action (1)
1x Revolutionary Council

Equipment (2)
2x Heart of Nizchetus

Retainer (6)
1x Mr. Winthrop
5x Raven Spy

Action Modifier (3)
3x Earth Control

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

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

Reaction (24)
7x Bait and Switch
5x Deep Ecology
3x Delaying Tactics
9x Organized Resistance

This tournament would not be possible with support from various parties and namely I would like to shout out:
- Black Chantry for their ongoing tournament support
- Our "home" store iHRYsko for helping us with tournament site
- Head judge Martin Dudik for upholding game and tournament rules
- Players Maco, Dany, Marko, Petrik and Alex from my domain for helping with organization and various to dos
- 3D printing wizard Peter Kopac for designing and delivering new Sabbat Path tokens

It was an honour to host all of you in Bratislava and hopefully we will see each other soon at the table, eternally struggling! :)

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