Ben Szymkow is the 2025 Oceania champion!

Champion in the middle.

Reported by RichE, VEKN Prince of Melbourne and Head Judge:

The Oceania Continental Championship (OCC) was held in Melbourne on Saturday, 25 October. We would like to thank Plenty of Games for hosting, Black Chantry for the beautiful price support, Mots Imports, Australia’s Online VTES card store, Steve Harris, Keith Lim, Bert Perry, all the organizers for their help, and all attendees.

Such a great turnout of 31 people for the championship and a greatly run event. Of the archetypes I saw today, the most prevalent was Malkavian (4), followed by Banu Hakim, three Ventrue, three Hecata and three Tzimisce.

About 55% of the decks were V5 decks, the rest legacy decks. Stealth Bleed was probably the most prevalent of the five main archetypes, and nominally combat was pretty close. Vote was a little bit behind that. There were four Ally decks and two wall decks that I saw. Overall, it was a wide range of archetypes and the way they were played. As head judge, I saw a lot of smiles and fun had by all.

The OCC annual coaster for all participants.

Pre-finals standings:
1. Benjamin Szymkow 2 GW 7.5 vp
2. Ke Carlton 2 GW 6 vp
3. Bert Perry 1 GW 6.5 vp
4. Stephen Harris 1 GW 6 vp
5. Andrew Stott 1 GW 6 vp

The champions report AKA “What’s a girl to do all alone in the PoG?”:

I’ve top seeded and identify no good seats. The choice to sit as Hecata prey was based on the idea that if I spend the first chunk of the game concentrating on survival then hopefully the table can collapse around me and then I can use my tech to control the votes and close out the game.

I see Catalina, Diana, Diana, and Mkhokheli in my uncontrolled region. I decide to influence out a copy of Catalina so I can quickly Groom and Enchant to get an almost free Mkhokheli and be off to the races. Unfortunately for me I blunder and place counters on Diana. Much laughter on the table all round as I do my best cry of doooom!

Diana will be the only vampire I influence for the entire game.

Steve is doing his best to put me down quickly as the rest of the table sets up and goes about doing their business. I Parity Shift backwards with a Voter Cap as my first action which is supported by Ke. My first turn ends with a Forced March into Enchant Kindred and quickly transfer off.

I spend the next forty minutes or so desperately nursing the little pool I have left with the help of Enchant Kindreds. My predator brings out more minions and gets closer and closer to killing me. I manage to call an Anarchist Uprising with Diana cancelling Steve’s delaying tactics. My game looks pretty hopeless, but I hold on for dear life.

Bert Camarilla Iron First forward, I secure a precious pool by voting for it. Ke does not like this, but does Banish forward to help me survive. His intention was to Banish backwards but I threatened him with a Scalpel tongue and I think he needed that Amici Noctis for his maths to work. Steve can’t quite oust me on his next turn but gets very close.

Andy is firing on all cylinders as he has no predator. Bert defends admirably with Carlton but eventually succumbs. Ke has only managed to get two vamps out.

Andy uses Inside Dirt plus Marajava Thugee to bin one of Ke’s minions (great combo!).

Worth noting at this point that one of Andy’s minions with Guarded Rubrics is taking a dirt nap. Ke makes some tough decisions and decides to throw a vote backwards onto Andy to assist me getting the oust.

I get the oust with another Anarchist Uprising which allows Ke to make quick work of Steve’s remaining pool. On the turn I got the oust I play a risky Art Museum with the hope that will help me win heads up.

Heads up does not take too long as instead of eating Ke’s torpored minion I just focus onbleeding, unlocking and holding Scalpel. Very hard position for Ke at this point and I manage to take the game win.

Somehow I manage to win with a single vampire. It was a great day all round and thanks to all the finalists and spectators for a great experience!

Final result: Ben won with 1.5 vp (and highest seed tie breaker). Andrew had 1 vp and Ke had 1.5.

Tournament winning deck: “Girl walks into PoG” by Ben Szymkow
Comment: Diana with tap/bleed module using Scalpel and Under the Skin. Predicted a wide-board meta so ran extra Anarchist Uprising and a Neonate Breach instead of KRC. Expulsion was to have an answer for baron flick and reduce.

Crypt (12 cards)
4x Diana Iadanza 9 AUS CEL FOR PRE justicar Toreador:7
3x Catalina Vega 8 AUS CEL PRE for prince Toreador:6
2x Flávio Gonçalves 7 CEL PRE aus for prince Toreador:6
2x Mkhokheli 6 PRE aus cel for prince Toreador:6
1x Maila 6 AUS PRE cel primogen Toreador:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (16)
1x Anarch Troublemaker
2x Art Museum
1x Camarilla Conclave
1x Creepshow Casino
1x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fortitude
5x Grooming the Protégé
1x Monastery of Shadows
2x Visit from the Capuchin

Action (9)
7x Enchant Kindred
2x Entrancement

Political Action (17)
2x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment
2x Banishment
3x Camarilla's Iron Fist
1x Expulsion
1x First Tradition: The Masquerade
1x Neonate Breach
6x Parity Shift

Action Modifier (30)
2x Aire of Elation
6x Forced March
3x Freak Drive
5x Loup
4x Perfect Paragon
3x Under the Skin
7x Voter Captivation

Action Modifier/Combat (4)
4x Resist Earth's Grasp

Action Modifier/Reaction (4)
4x Scalpel Tongue

Combat (6)
2x Charismatic Aura
4x Majesty

Reaction (4)
2x Second Tradition: Domain
2x Telepathic Misdirection

https://vdb.im/decks/07732accb

Photo opportunity with two fresh champions: Micon Garcia, who won the Asian Continentals last month in the Philippines popped in to say hi over the weekend.

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

Rulings of the VEKN Ethics Committee - November 3, 2025

The VEKN Ethics Committee met on 25th and 26th of October to discuss the reports submitted by the Tournament Organiser and Head Judge at Aarhus European Championship 2025.

Ethics Committee 
This body is made up of senior VTES players and volunteers, drawn from the wider community. During each ethics case, the National Coordinator for any impacted player is also added as a voice to the Committee. 

Event Timeline

Friday 17th October 2025	Last Chance Qualifier 2025	Issue noted at a table, judge called.
Saturday 18th October 2025	Grand Prix Final 2025	Issue noted on stream, judge informed during game.
Sunday 19th October 2025	EC Day 2 Final 2025	Issue noted on stream, judge informed about halfway through the game.
Monday 20th October 2025	Statement from Tournament Organiser about submitting a report.
Tuesday 21st October 2025	Tournament Organiser report shared with Ethics Committee.
Wednesday 22nd October 2025	Players asked for statement of facts.
Thursday 23rd October 2025	Player statements received.
Saturday 25th October 2025	Ethics Committee meeting.
Sunday 26th October 2025	Ethics Committee meeting.
Wednesday 29th October 2025	Draft conclusions sent to Ethics Committee for agreement	Iteration of wording between members.
Saturday 1st November 2025	Draft statement sent to affected players.
Monday 3rd November 2025	Statement published.

 

RULINGS

Of the three cases considered, one player will face no official sanction from the Ethics Committee.

Given no sanctions were applied, the identity of this player does not need to be disclosed.

The evidence for the Committee's decision-making was as follows:

• The Tournament Organiser and Head Judge reports
• The available video evidence
• The player statements

After evaluating the evidence for the two other cases, one player, Marius Iscru (VEKN #3200246), faces a 12-month suspension from VEKN-sanctioned play ending 17th October 2026, with a further probationary period extending to 17th April 2027.

This sanction was put in place for acts the Ethics Committee determined to be material and repeated misstatement (Section 5.1 Cheating of the tournament rules) during the Grand Prix 2025 final.

The Committee’s decision was based upon the following plays during the final of the Grand Prix event:

• Not taking pool damage from Reckless Agitation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwFe3PHnu10&t=15420s)
• Not taking pool damage from Kine Resources Contested (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwFe3PHnu10&t=18680s)
• Firmly stating that he had paid for the Kine Resources Contested when queried by the Head Judge, which amounts to deliberate material misstatement.
  
  In addition, when reviewing the camera footage, a further error was noted in Round 3. Here, he attempted to deal 5 hand damage rather than 4; this was corrected by another player at the table. Although not material by itself, this adds weight to the overall decision.

One player, Ruben Feldman (VEKN #8840001), is banned from VEKN-sanctioned play.

This sanction has been put in place for acts the Ethics Committee determined were breaches of: 3.2 Pre-Game Procedure, non-randomised shuffling; 4.4 Card Elevation and Disposition, namely parts of his library going below table level during shuffling, and 4.6 Card Sleeves which allowed identification of significant parts of his crypt (sections 5.1 Cheating and 5.4 Marked Cards of the tournament rules).

The Committee’s decision was based upon the following plays during the Day 2 European Championship 2025 final:

• There were several irregularities during the shuffling of the library, which were confirmed by an independent expert witness as a clear manipulation of the hand/library. More concretely:
  • The shuffling of the library started with an initial slow shuffle, keeping the top section unchanged. Then the deck was moved below the table, which in itself is already a violation of the tournament rules (Section 4.4). The library was then shuffled more vigorously. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oie74hke0s8&t=32411s)
  • After that, five cards were drawn from the top. These cards were again moved below the table. When they reappeared again, there were too many cards for the starting hand, and a card was put back on top of the library. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oie74hke0s8&t=32523s)
• Using a marked crypt, where it could be determined if a card was likely to be a Tremere antitribu or not with a high degree of certainty (Five Tremere antitribu and one Tupdog versus two Tremere antitribu and twenty Tupdogs, as asserted by the Head Judge, the Event Organizer, and a bystander who all repeated the test for double-check.)

The Ethics Committee will use these recent cases to review the standards and update the VEKN Code of Ethics as necessary. We would expect any potential changes to the VEKN Code of Ethics to be based on community feedback.


FAQ

Q: Why was the Day 2 final not stopped immediately upon discovering an issue?
A: The Head Judge was informed approximately halfway through the final. Swapping in for the 6th place player was not considered viable due to the impact on the game each of the decks would have had, restarting the final was considered not possible with onward transport and other time constraints at the venue. The Head Judge waited to see the impact on this game. Additionally, the Head Judge had only been able to view one small set of the actions on the Twitch stream and wanted to investigate further. The issue of marked sleeves was discovered after the game had concluded. 

Q: Why was a Game Loss not issued in Day 2 final immediately upon discovering an issue?
A: A game loss would have definitively impacted game state, perhaps acting as a king-making situation. Any effect of errors or manipulation on the overall game outcome at that time was still uncertain. This situation differs from the Grand Prix final, where essentially the pool damage applied at that time (3 + 1 damage for a total of 4) acts as an elimination for Marius. 

Q: Why was a player who was later banned able to leave with prizes? 
A: The Tournament Organiser and Head Judge had decided at that point that an Ethics Committee submission was needed. As an investigation was required, it was decided that little value would be gained from a confrontation at that time.