Vampire: Elder Kindred Network Newsletter December 2024

 

Hecata preview art: Ginés Quiñonero - Consign to Oblivion.

Greetings fellow Methuselahs,

It´s been another year of VTES - and what a year!

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THE 30-DAY NEW CARD LEGALITY LIMIT FOR TOURNAMENTS IS NO MORE

Some words from Vincent Ripoll, VEKN Rules Director:

Dear Methuselahs. In the past few years, the card distribution model has changed a lot. We release more new products each year, and updated cards are available as print-on-demand. As official release dates are harder to track of (even for us), we have decided, with the support of the National Coordinators to remove the 30-day rule between the release date and the moment you can play the card in a tournament. This means as soon as you grab a new card, you can play it. Bear in mind that card changes on reprints are also immediately effective. So be sure to check vekn.net/card-lists for the official card list and vekn.net/card-rulings/470-bcp-card-changes for the list of changes.

 

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ANDY SMITH WINS GULF COAST ROAST GRAND PRIX 2024!

After tournaments in Lafayette, Dallas, Gulfport and New Orleans, the final of the Gulf Coast Roast circuit 2024 took place in Vidor with the five top players. There were also three other events this weekend!

Read the full report: Gulf Coast Roast Vidor 2024

DATES FOR 2025 GULF COAST ROAST GRAND PRIX REVEALED!

Dallas: March 22
Lafayette: May 24
Gulfport: August - Exact date to be determined
New Orleans: October - Exact date to be determined
Vidor: December 6
FINALS (Vidor): December 7

Point system: Winner 25 points, Finalists 15 points, 6th 10 points, 7th 9 points, 8th 8 points, 9th 7 points, 10th 6 points, all other participants: 3 points.

More information will appear on the official Gulf Coast Roast Facebook page and other places!

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GYULA ERDŐS IS THE 2024 CHAMPION OF CROATIA!

This tournament gathered 29 players to Osijek on November 30.

Read the full report: National Championship of Croatia 2024

This tournament was played with 24 players in Montréal on November 23.

Read the full report: National Championship of Canada 2024

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SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW THE RULES?

Now you can take the official VTES Judge test online! Reach out to the coordinator of the Judge Program - all info is at the Official VEKN Judges page.

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THE 2024 VTES AND VEKN RECAP

Let´s take a brief look in the rearview mirror, and appretiate this VTES 30th celebration year and the greatest accomplishments of the VEKN:

January: Cards are finally available on print-on-demand in Europe, from Gamepod.es.

February: A revised rulebook is published.

March: Edouard Menneson wins the Iberian Grand Prix in Lisbon, piloting a Gangrel G6 Barons wall.

Daniel Sales wins Grand Prix Fortaleza with a Gangrel G6 Thing toolbox.

Kelly Lyons wins Grand Prix Lafayette with a Gangrel G6 Thing deck.

April: Ismael Díaz Valverde is the 2024 champion of Spain after besting 120 (!) Methuselahs in Avilés. He played a toolboxy G6 Tremere bleeder - simple but efficient.

Arturo Parise played Ministry Platinum Protocol bleed to become the champion of Italy after a bloody battle in Caldonazzo.

VTES top influencer Martin Weinmayer wins Grand Prix Paris with a nasty Antonio & Carna Nephandi swarm.

Darby Keeney wins Grand Prix Dallas 2024, playing Tzimisce G7 British Museum bleed.

May: Sebastian Fredenberg wins Grand Prix Aarhus playing a Tremere G6 toolbox.

Marcin Zakrzewski uses a unholy Ravnos + The Unnamed alliance to become the champion of Poland.

June: The North American championship was played in Columbus, Ohio, and Bill Troxel was victorious with a Tzimisce G7 bleed-deck.

Vinícius Costalonga is the 2024 champion of Brazil. The tournament was played in Belo Horizonte and his deck was a classic Arika Ventrue with obfuscate vote/bleed deck.

July: Teemu Sainomaa wins Grand Prix Helsinkii in Finland with Lutz & Undele vote deck.

One of the top peaks of this celebration year is the release of the 30th Anniversary deck, featuring “The Endless Dance” deck, new Justicars and more goodies.

August: Kelly Lyons wins Grand Prix Gulfport with a Gangrel G6 Thing toolbox.

Playtest of the VERY anticipated 2025 Sabbat cards starts.

September: Danilo Torrisi is the 2024 European Champion. This event gathered 168 Methuselahs to Warsaw, Poland. Danilo won Day 2 playing a Malkavian & Arishat vote deck.

José Roberio Barbosa Da Silva is the new South American champion, helming a cool Gangrel G6 toolbox, including Renegade Garous!

October: The Fifth Edition Lasombra preconstructed deck is released.

Kelly Lyons wins Grand Prix New Orleans with a Toreador G7 vote deck.

Vincent Ripoll is the 2024 French champion, playing G6 Protean Barons breed toolbox.

Keith Lim becomes champion of Australia/New Zealand with a Tzimsice G7 Living Manse bleeder.

November: Miguel Vega wins the Iberian Grand Prix in Palma de Mallorca with a highly original !Tremere toolbox.

Gonzalo Rojas wins Grand Prix Santiago with a Tzimisce G7 toolbox.

Troy Espiritu is the 2024 Asian champion, piloting a Potence midcap rush deck.

December: Andy Smith is this year´s total Gulf Coast Roast Grand Prix winner – see this newsletter.

Congratulations to all the winners, thanks to ALL the players, and an extra warm thanks to all the volunteers that make VEKN events possible. You ROCK!

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A 2024 VTES SOUTH AFRICA RECAP – LETTER FROM THE PRINCE

The South African Methuselahs are VERY passionate about our game, so we want to share this lovely annual report from the very dedicated Prince of Cape Town, Skye Segal. Thanks for your devotion!

Read the full report: A 2024 VTES South Africa recap

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PRAXIS SEIZURES

It´s been a while since we´ve done this summary - below are the latest Prince and NC additions. Some replace old volunteers - thanks for your service!

• Belgium - National Coordinator: Maaike Kerschot

• Brazil - National Coordinator: Márcio Pinheiro

• Brazil - Prince of Águas Claras: Lucas Linard

• Brazil - Prince of Brasília: Bruno Peixoto Moreira

• Brazil - Prince of Caucaia: Lucas Raphael

• Brazil - Prince of Florianópolis: Erick Schuenck Fava Mokdeci

• Brazil - Prince of Guarulhos: Dayane Rodrigues

• Brazil - Prince of Itaocara: Christian Camara

• Brazil - Prince of Jaboatão dos Guararapes: Gabriel Ferreira

• Brazil - Prince of Londrina: Renan Uchida

• Brazil - Prince of Ponta Rossa: Moises Savlas Silveira

• Brazil - Prince of Recife: Luiz Henrique Santos Vieira de Melo

• Brazil - Prince of Santos: Bruno Paramo Meleiro

• Brazil - Prince of São Luís: Raylson Oliveira

• Brazil - Prince of Vile Velha: Vinicius do Espirito Santo Costalonga

• Chile - National Coordinator: Daniel Bravo

• Chile - Prince of Entre Juegos store, Santiago: Manuel Fuentes

• Chile - Prince of Magic Sur store, Santiago: Pedro Figueroa Belmar

• Finland - Prince of Karjaa: Janne Lönnqvist

• Germany - Prince of Karlsruhe: Kevin Heise

• Greece - Prince of Athens: Xenophon Moutzoglou

• Italy - Prince of Bologna: Arturo Parise

• Italy - Prince of Parma: Leonardo Margri

• Japan - Prince of Saitama: Kazuyiki Okuda

• Philippines - Prince of Muntinlupa City: Justine Peralta

• Philippines - Prince of Pasig City: Jon Benjamin Corrioso

• Philippines - Prince of Quezon City: Richard E. Barnett

• Poland - Prince of Katowice: Paweł Domański

• Poland - Prince of Zielona Góra: Marcin Pastuszko

• Portugal - National Coordinator: Ricardo Marta

• Portugal - Prince of Almada: Marco Fernandes

• Portugal - Prince of Braga: Luis Pires

• Portugal - Prince of Coimbra: Tiago Gonçalves

• Portugal - Prince of Lisbon: Tito Teixeira

• Portugal - Prince of Rio de Mouro: João Sérvolo

• Russia - Prince of Moscow: Denis Nikolaev

• Serbia - Prince of Novi Sad: Petar Kalmar

• Slovenia - National Coordinator: Dominik Trupčević

• Slovenia - Prince of Brežice: Dominik Trupčević

• Spain - Prince of Alboraya: Albert Hidalgo

• Spain - Prince of Altea: Francisco José Gil Alcañiz

• Spain - Prince of Badalona: Jordi Albiol

• Spain - Prince of Barcelona: David Rojas

• Spain - Prince of Barcelona: Marc Terrats

• Spain - Prince of Bilbao: Manuel García

• Spain - Prince of Bilbao: Aitor Candelas

• Spain - Prince of Burgos: Víctor Abarca Temiño

• Spain - Prince of Burgos: Eduardo Hurtado

• Spain - Prince of Oviedo: Miguel Vega

• Spain - Prince of Salamanca: David Fernández

• Spain - Prince of Sóller: Carlos Lucas

• Spain - Prince of Villafranca de Córdoba: Ismael Díaz

• UK - National Cordinator: James Freimueller

• USA - Prince of Canton, Ohio: Brandon Gillespie

• USA - Prince of Heath, Ohio: Alex Romano

• USA - Prince of Lorton, Virginia: James Alston

• USA - Prince of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin: Chad Wetterneck

• USA - Prince of Reynoldsburg, Ohio: Mike Monosky

• USA - Prince of Salt Lake City, Utah: Jonathan Reeves

• USA - Prince of San Diego, California: Jason Ketcham

If you need to talk to your local prince, check out the VEKN Prince list. If you want to become a Prince and start organising tournaments, contact your VEKN National Coordinator.

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VAMPIRE: THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE ARTIST IN FOCUS: EDWARD BEARD JR.

As a part of the game´s 30 year anniversary, another one of the original VTES artist was interviewed by Black Chantry. Check it out at Blackchantry.com!

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BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: DECEMBER 2024

• The Hecata previews are ongoing! The official release date of this Fifth Edition preconstructed deck is Ferbruary 28, and most stuff has already been shown by various sources, all collected at the product page at Blackchantry.com. Here you can see the actual card for the Ginés Quiñonero art preview at the top of this newsletter:

•The old 30-day legality limit for new card use in VEKN sanctioned tournaments has been abolished (see above in this newsletter). This means the new cards in the Hecata preconstructed deck are legal for tournaments on February 28.

• Some of the Hecata previews have been sprinkled into Black Chantry articles during December: As part of the 2024 celebrations, two articles were published - in "30 years of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle: The rules of the game" rules ghoul Vincent Ripoll discusses rules changes over the years, and in "30 years of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle: The art of the game" art ghoul Ginés Quiñonero reflects on the illustrations over the years. In "Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Product Roadmap 2024-2025", product ghoul Ben Peal presents the plans for VTES releases the coming year - an absolut must-read!

• The second round of playtest of the 2025 Sabbat cards has concluded. Now the design team will take part of all the exciting playtester feedback and prepare for the next round.

 

• Currently these Black Chantry products are available through Gamepod, 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 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) UPCOMING!

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

In December we got a deep dive in the sounds and the music of the upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 game. In the Dev Diary chapter titled “Sounds of Seattle” you can learn more from audio director and sound designers, and in the World of Darkness Youtube channel you find no less than seven fresh clips with the artists behind the score of the game, including composer Craig Stuart Garfinkle and cellist Adrian Mantu. Awesome stuff!

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

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CALENDAR

Upcoming tournaments for the coming month (registered so far) are in:
Brazil x14
Czech Republic x2
Finland x2
France x2
Greece
Hungary x2
Italy x2
Mexico
Netherlands
Online x3
Philippines x2
Poland
Portugal
Spain x11
Sweden
USA x7

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.

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.

Gyula Erdős is the 2024 champion of Croatia

This event was played in Osijek on November 30. Reported by Denes Kocis, VEKN National Coordinator of Croatia, with comments by Dominik Trupcevic:

First, finally after many, many years, we had a Nationals Tournament organized in Croatia, mainly in Osijek. Goran Damjanic and I organized the tournament.

As it was fairly announced early, I managed to acquire the players coming to the tournament early, so the actual check in was painless. The players came from Croatia – Osijek and Zagreb, Slovenia, Hungary and Serbia, 29 total. And we started on time – success!

 

After the first round, we organized a barbeque lunch break for all the players. To practice some social skills and to share stories and laughs.

Top 5 before the final was:
1. Goran Ivanovic 2 GW, 7.5 VP
2. Dusan Kosanovic  2 GW, 6 VP
3. Lovre de Grisogono 1 GW, 7 VP
4. Goran Damjanic 1 GW, 6.5 VP
5. Dominik Trupcevic 1 GW, 6 VP

Now, the report from the view of a finalist – Dominik Trupcevic:

Firstly, a bit about playing the V5 Lasombra - pure, dumb S&B version, but with a bit of a bigger crypt to maybe help me negotiate something/have some table presence with a few votes.

Somehow I managed to find myself as the 5th seed in the finals. The first two rounds I only managed to snag 1 VP in each game - with a huge blunder in the second game that cost me 2 additional VPs and a GW, where I didn't see I had a Bonding in my hand that would have killed my prey who was at 2 pool and instead on his next turn he was the one to get the GW & 3VP instead.

In the 3rd round I had to go all in and somehow managed to just brute force through a Matasuntha, a V5 Gangrel and was looking at Gyula who managed to kill my predator with my 2VPs against his 1VP and around 20 pool. Dominate did what it's made to do and I somehow managed to barely kill him, even with 4 minions out and around 20 pool. He had spent a lot of resources on his V5 Gangrel predator, piloted by Milos Krstic, which in the end, all things considered probably cost him the game and gave me the 5th seed in the finals, and kept him at 6th seed.

As luck would have it, the 2nd final seed had to leave as it was getting late so Gyula got in as the 5th player behind me. After all the positioning decisions and dice rolling for seating order we ended up with (Dusan Kosanovic had to withdraw from the final):

I wasn't really feeling confident about the seating, as my only combat defence is 6 Pass Through Shadow and 2 Arms of Ahriman, and I was the predator to a Nephandus deck that is most certainly packing a bunch of bounce with my grandprey having virtually zero bleed defence outside of just rushing backwards. My "professional" assessment of the situation was that I'm either going to die really quick to my predators rush as his first vampire that came into controlled was Theo Bell, or I'm going to kill my grandprey since pretty much all my deck does is bleed for ridiculous amounts at 2-4 stealth and block fails anyone that actually manages to produce that kind of intercept. At one point in turn 3 I actually thought about not getting a vampire out at all against Theo, but in the end I got Gnaeus out and just hoped for the best. There's only one thing I can do and that's bleed, for a lot, at a lot of stealth and just hope for the best.

The game, unexpectedly, started very good for me - I had Jake Washington out, my prey got FBI Special Affairs Division out, and the first Theos rush after a 4 blood Villein was blocked by Jake, which caused additional 2 damage after resolution to Theo and had my predator just a tiny bit more careful. My prey was going strong with setting up his Nephandus, I had my first few Governs going down to uncontrolled and let the game develop. The !Brujah was, as expected, going forward strong at Gyula but did no real damage to him. In the meantime, V5 Brujah was consistently rushing me, but with no Immortal Grapple on his end and a good draw of Pass Through Shadow on my end, I was avoiding combat and just stackin stealth on my vampires for the future.

The game was going pretty well for me, unexpectedly, so it was time to start going left and hope it goes even better. Where the Veil Thins was very strong against 6 Nephandus that were hanging out in my preys controlled region, effectively completely shutting down their blocking capabilities and I managed to even get a few bleeds connect, but my prey ousted the !Brujah which got clogged with rush actions and no red cards to spend. Gyula crosstable saw what my deck could do to him in R3 so he was focused on preparing and bloating, and just doinga few 1 point bleeds here and there to my predator who was still having bad luck with grapple draw so he couldn't really kill me, but we were both below 10 pool and anything could happen at that point. Despite all odds, I managed to catch my prey without bounce and with Where the Veil Thins doing the brunt of the work getting Nephandus out of the equation completely I kill my prey and get 1VP – much more than I expected to accomplish when the seating was decided.

But the situation going forward seemed sketchy at best. I manage to get a 3rd vampire out with the 6 pool I got from ousting my prey, but I'm predator to Gyula with Carfax, Rack, 3 or 4 barons (don't recall correctly) and 6 minions in total out and somewhere around 12 pool - hard, but still within lethal range for 3 vampires with superior dominate and oblivion. I spend some reactions, some deflections before my turn, get a bleeding hand ask my predator if he'd be okay with me tapping 2 of Gyula's barons with my Anarch Troublemaker, as that will mean his two barons will get tapped in Gyula's unlock phase, but he's on 6 pool and we agree that's not a good idea, and we agree for me to bleed and he will trade Bait and Switches with Gyula and just hope he has more than he does.

 

I manage to sneak thrugh a bleed for 6 with a Govern + Conditioning, 5 Bait and Switches get spent on that one bleed, but the last one is Gyulas and he gets his VP and 3 pool. I sadly didn't draw anything relevant for the next 2 actions, so I just bleed for (now with Gyula getting 6 extra pool) some irrelevant amounts, my vampires being drained from the blood cost of Govern + Conditining, on Gyulas next turn he gets me down to 3 pool, but with all the blood/pool gain and Gyula having 7 minions out, I just try to cycle some cards and finish my next minion phase without really making a dent into his 7 pretty much full blood vampires and somewhere between 15-20 pool (if not more), we shake hands and Gyula comes out on top with 3 VP and a GW.

Gyula is the new National Champion of Croatia and a huge congratulaions to him, but a final spot and even the 1VP I got in the finals was much more than I expected.

I would like to thank the hosts from Osijek and people that organized the tournament - Denes Kocis and Goran Damjanic - the venue was great, the food was amazing and the prize support/participation trophies were a steal, especially considering everything was included (the amazing grill lunch with a bunch of side dishes as well) for a measly 10€ tournament fee.

I would also like to thank everyone that came, everyone from Serbia, Zagreb, Hungary and our own Slovenian players.

The tournament winning deck: “Baron with anim 1.0” by Gyula Erdős

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Adrino Manauara  8 ANI DOM PRO pot  baron  Tzimisce: 6
2x Ángel Guerrero  7 ANI DOM PRO  baron  Tzimisce: 6
2x Massimiliano  7 ANI FOR pro  baron  Gangrel: 6
1x Branimira  6 ANI dom pre pro  baron  Tzimisce: 6
1x Kuyén  6 ANI PRO  baron  Gangrel: 6
1x Neserian  6 ANI DOM cel pro  Tzimisce: 6
1x Gathii  5 ANI PRE obf  Ravnos: 7
1x Whisper  5 ANI DOM pro  Tzimisce: 6
1x Trung Chau Pham  3 ANI  Ravnos: 7

Library (90 cards)
Master (19; 7 trifle)
1x Carfax Abbey
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Ennoia's Theater
1x Fame
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Giant's Blood
1x Information Highway
1x Papillon
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
1x Vessel
5x Villein
1x Wider View

Action (13)
1x Army of Rats
6x Deep Song
6x Govern the Unaligned

Political Action (1)
1x Eat the Rich

Retainer (2)
1x Mr. Winthrop
1x Raven Spy

Action Modifier (1)
1x Conditioning

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

Combat (31)
11x Aid from Bats
10x Carrion Crows
1x Donnybrook
3x Groundfighting
1x Target Vitals
3x Taste of Vitae
2x Voracious Vermin

Reaction (19)
4x Bait and Switch
3x Deep Ecology
3x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics
1x On the Qui Vive
6x Organized Resistance

Fairly without any great need for judging, we managed to complete the tournament in peace. Gyula is a new Croatian National Champion!

I am very grateful for all the players that came to Osijek to participate in our event, and hope that they will come back next time. Our event was greatly sponsored by Ultra Pro and Black Chantry Productions!