This national championship was played in Coimbra on March 7 with 57 participants. Reported by Tiago Gonçalves, VEKN Prince of Coimbra, with comment from the champion:

Here's the final table with standings from preliminary rounds and final results:
1. Alejandro Rodriguez  (Spain) 3 GW 11 VP
2. Augusto Ponce de León (Spain) 2 GW 8 VP
3. Marco Mata (Portugal) 2 GW 7 VP
4. Raúl Perfecto (Spain) 2 GW 7 VP
5. Sandro Rodrigues  (Portugal) 2 GW 6.5 VP

Augusto Ponce de León kindly provided a report of the final:

I had played before against Alex's deck and I know how fast it is, so had little expectations about the final. Being second seed allowed me at least to be predator of the 2 ravnos decks. If spectres wanted to be my predator, they would have to fight with Raul's brujahs: I hoped maybe that would reduce some pressure over me. Alex placed himself as my predator.

I was 4th player to influence (really bad as I got no Dreams to get Juliet out on the second turn). My crypt wasn't brilliant as I got 2 Juliets, 1 Andi and 1 Donny (only Juliet with superior OBF).

Juliet got out at 3rd turn and next turn played Govern superior, so Andi was out. By then, my situation was already bad: Only 8 pool and 3 vampires and 3 Spectres behind...

I asked the other players if any chance to collaborate in ousting Alex, as next turn I was dead and the 2 Ravnos had little chances as prey.

Raúl asked Sandro to not to put pressure on him til Alex was dead and Sandro accepted. Sandro bled for 5 and was deflected by Raúl to Alex, who was left on 10 pool. Then, Raúl played 2 Reckless Agitation that ended Alex: A new world opened in front of me.

I started doing malkavian things getting Donny out thru Govern superior and putting some pressure on my prey. Raúl had accepted to leave me alone a couple of turns to defend himself against his predator. My prey, Marco and Sandro had been putting a lot of pressure on their preys and Sandro was low of pool so that any mistake could be the last.

Final was decided really fast: Raúl rushed me with his 2 vampires but I had in hand 1 Second Tradition and 2 Obediences so he could not torporice my vampires or rotate cards.

My prey ousted Sandro and I deflected twice back to Raúl (I didn't mind who died as I only had to get 2VPs to win). Finally ousted my prey and Raúl was only 1 pool left. He torporized Juliet and bled.

I was left with only the 2 princes and no stealth in hand and Raúl had 2 barons and the edge. I had 1 KRC in hand and Camarilla Conclave in play, but no stealth in hand, so no big chances to take his last pool. I chose go big or go home and Donny launched the KRC... Huge surprise: Raúl said "No block..." KRC passed as I reduced the votes of his barons with Camarilla Conclave and I won the final.

Thanks a lot to all players that came to Coimbra to enjoy a great VTES weekend and to Tiago for taking care of us and organizing a great NC. Hope I didn't bore you too much and see you in Alcalá!

Tournament winning deck: “Malkavian Pols” by Heghemon

Crypt (12 cards)
4x Juliet Parr      9 AUS DOM OBF cel pot   justicar   Malkavian:7
3x Alexander Silverson    8 AUS DOM OBF pre       prince     Malkavian:6
2x Jason "Son" Newberry   7 AUS DOM OBF pre       primogen   Malkavian:6
2x Andi Liu       6 DOM aus obf pre       prince     Malkavian:6
1x Donny Kowalczyk        6 AUS cel dom obf       prince     Malkavian:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (10)
2x Camarilla Conclave
1x Dark Influences
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Jake Washington
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion

Event (1)
1x Waiting Game

Action (14)
14x Govern the Unaligned

Political Action (17)
1x Anarchist Uprising
1x Ancilla Empowerment
5x Camarilla's Iron Fist
1x Expulsion
4x Kine Resources Contested
1x My Kin Against the World
4x Parity Shift

Action Modifier (24)
2x Bonding
3x Conditioning
5x Elder Impersonation
2x Faceless Night
1x Foreshadowing Destruction
4x Forgotten Labyrinth
5x Lost in Crowds
2x Telepathic Vote Counting

Action Modifier/Combat (1)
1x Hide the Mind

Reaction (23)
8x Deflection
2x Eyes of Argus
1x Mental Maze
4x Obedience
3x On the Qui Vive
1x Redirection
4x Second Tradition: Domain

And, since I'm allowed to add a few words, my own wrap up:

As the long night of Æminium unfolded, the fate of the Regent, and perhaps of the city itself, was finally revealed.

On March 7th 2026, 57 Kindred heeded the call of Æminium and gathered to discover the Regent’s fate. The Custodian welcomed them and moderated the heated discussions, but as the night progressed and the intrigues unfolded, only five remained when the final hour approached. And then, as the ritual concluded, four faded into torpor… and only one remained to learn what the future held for the city.

The event took place at Taberna TopDeck, with players attending from five different countries, all eager to claim the title of Portuguese Champion.

Participants faced each other across three preliminary rounds, where some players quickly stood out, securing strong game wins and accumulating impressive victory point totals.

In the end, congratulations go to Augusto Ponce de León, the new Portuguese Champion, for his victory. We look forward to welcoming you again next year to defend your title.

As a final note, I would like to thank all the players for their excellent sportsmanship throughout the entire event. Their attitude greatly contributed to the friendly atmosphere and helped make the tournament an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. I'd also like to thank our sponsors: Cónclave Ibérico, Estalia Córdoba, Tokens & Tales and UltraPro for their awesome prize support and Meeple Armor for the finalist deckbox and trophies.

Thanks to Tiago, Augusto and everyone else involved in this event and report!

Reported by Nerijus Mikalajunas, National Coordinator of Lithuania, with comment from the champion:

Lithuanian Nationals 2026 – Vilnius by Night are over. For two intense days, 42 Methuselahs from 10 nations battled for the trophy – which ultimately stayed in Vilnius.

The Prince of Vilnius, Daniel Bogdanovic, and I are truly humbled by such an incredible turnout. For us, this is more than just a tournament – we organise it every year in memory of our dear departed friend, Julius Stonis. Thank you all for coming and making this possible and see you soon – the EC2026 Vilnius is just a few months away.

Also – a big thank you to all the sponsors – Deep Cut studios in particular – that made it possible for us to gather quite a stash that was handed out to the attendees. Last but not least - huge thanks to Finland’s Teemu Pulkkinen for being the head judge in both finals.

Friday – The Warm-Up Eve
The Friday warm-up event gathered 39 players and was won by our one and only Lech Ivanov, piloting his self-crafted Emerald Legionnaires deck.

The final showdown was an epic clash between Lech and Bram Van Stappen playing Waters of Duat Death Star – a dramatic and memorable end to the evening.

Main Event (Saturday)
The main event was won by another member of the Vilnius Circle – Povilas Gildor Zinkevičius (Lithuania) – playing a TOOLBOX (yes, that’s important) led by Guillaume Giovanni.

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 (seed 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫)
1. Saulius Lukošius (Lithuania) 2 GW, 7 VP
2. Lech Ivanov (Lithuania) 2 GW, 6 VP
3. Martin Weinmayer (Austria) 1 GW, 6 VP
4. Povilas Zinkevičius (Lithuania) 1 GW, 6 VP
5. Michael Homström (Sweden) 1 GW, 6 VP

TL;DR – Tournament From the Winner’s Perspective (Povilas):
“I returned to VTES after a decade-long torpor and brought my Giovanni toolbox to Lithuanian Nationals 2026 – and this is NOT a combat deck.

Friday was fun but inconsistent. Saturday’s main event threw me into brutal politics, unexpected alliances, and one very angry Irish Super Ghoul.

Game Two was saved by the Baltic Genie. Game Three I lost to my own brain-fart – costing me a Game Win.

I scraped into the final as fourth seed, still kicking myself for what could have been.

Huge thanks to the organizers and all the players – and once again: IT’S A F***ING TOOLBOX.”

The tournament winning deck:

Deck Name: IT’S A F***ING TOOLBOX
Author: Gildor

Crypt (12 cards)
5x Guillaume Giovanni 9 CEL DOM NEC POT obt Giovanni:4
2x Baldesar Rossellini 8 DOM POT aus for nec Giovanni:4
1x Don Michael Antonio Giovanni 7 DOM NEC POT 2 votes Giovanni:4
1x Accorri Giovanni 6 DOM POT ani nec Giovanni:5
1x Donatello Giovanni 5 DOM aus pot pre Giovanni:4
1x Gianmaria Giovanni 5 POT dom nec obt Giovanni:5
1x Almodo Giovanni 3 dom pot Giovanni:4

Library (90 cards)
Master (20; 7 trifle)
3x British Museum, London, The
1x Carver's Meat Packing and Storage
1x Centralized Background Check
1x Direct Intervention
1x Elder Library
1x Filchware's Pawn Shop
1x Information Highway
1x Metro Underground
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Morgue Hunting Ground
1x Powerbase: Cape Verde
1x Secure Haven
2x Vessel
4x Villein

Event (1)
1x NRA PAC

Action (18)
5x Bum's Rush
1x Far Mastery
9x Govern the Unaligned
1x Graverobbing
2x Sudario Refraction

Ally (3)
1x Gianna di Canneto
1x Giulia Giovanni Abruzzina
1x Mylan Horseed

Equipment (10)
5x Flak Jacket
1x Gran Madre di Dio, Italy
2x Kevlar Vest
1x Palatial Estate
1x Ruins of Villers Abbey, Belgium

Combat (30)
2x Earthshock
6x Immortal Grapple
2x Pursuit
6x Roundhouse
1x Slam
4x Spiritual Guidance
4x Taste of Vitae
5x Torn Signpost

Reaction (8)
6x Deflection
1x Delaying Tactics
1x Redirection

For those appreciating a long read – here it is, by Povilas ‘Gildor’ Zinkevičius himself:

I was asked to write about the event from my perspective. Sleep was not something I got enough of during the weekend, so some things might be distorted. And I am not a writer, but here it goes.

I started playing VTES around 2009 or 2010. I played for a bit and then went to torpor for more than a decade. I got brought back by Nerijus and his false promises during the summer before Warsaw EC. I went to EC, did terribly, but it was great fun. I participated in a handful of bigger and smaller tournaments, but didn’t achieve anything significant. But I liked the community.

I had to take a few months’ break again before this event and had just a couple of games in beforehand. In total, I have about two years of active playing across two decades.

I was confident that I wanted to play my Giovanni toolbox on Friday and Anarch Bleed on Saturday. However, I was made aware that new packs would become legal on Saturday. Having read about them on Information Highway (and what a treasure this blog is), I thought that the meta might be very combat-oriented. New toys and all. So I switched decks. I added Centralized Weapon Search and something else to prepare my toolbox for the combat meta.

Friday came and went. Two rounds and a final. A very pleasant experience thanks to the organization by Daniel and Nerijus.

The anarch bleed deck was my shot at convincing myself that I can play pure bleed. I like the deck and am hopeful.

First Game
Good seating. Decent start. Grand prey influences Matasuntha. Turn passes. I get multi-rushed by Matasuntha for no reason, despite him having a bleed deck as his predator with an unlocked baron. After bashing my guys, Matasuntha takes a couple of shots at the baron and is met with combat ends. My table is in ruins, as well as my faith in logic and humanity. Matasuntha gets ousted right away. I try to rebuild with no success.

I cannot play bleed decks after all.

Second Game
More difficult, having Ola playing Diana as my predator. The table starts folding as expected, and my prey (playing Nefertiti) gets 1 VP. He is not in great shape but has a significant amount of pool. Ola’s predator is a lovely gentleman from Ireland playing proper old-school Samedi rush. Four pool to his name.

As Diana prepares to oust me, I suggest back-ousting Ben and taking a GW instead of one VP. Everyone sees the reason in that, and the offer is accepted. I work on my prey’s pool. Olia does a vote, drops me to maybe 2 pool, apparently doesn’t have more votes, tries some bleeds, but I was saving bleed reduction for some time. I survive, finish my prey, and the Toreadors eventually.

Lucky turn of events. Maybe there is hope with bleed for me.

1GW3 is, of course, not enough for the final, but I am very happy as the event is going great and there is a positive atmosphere in the air. The final was won by Lech, one of the best players in the Lithuanian scene.

Saturday — Main Event

Nine tables of bloodsuckers. Ten nations in attendance. The Lithuanian community is ecstatic and grateful for the number of guests. Lots of big names.

And me, with my humble Giovanni toolbox.

Game One
Game one starts dangerously as my predator Jonas, playing Diana, starts great and has my grand prey – Lasombra’s thumb man – as his natural ally. My prey is Malkavian power bleed, and my grand predator is a Tzimisce allies deck piloted by Ben, my fellow from yesterday, who is constantly scribbling in his awesome-looking Book of Grudges. I know that my name is in there for my role in him being back-ousted the night before.

After some turns, my pool, as well as Ben’s, is melting as fast as the snow outside. I stabilize my situation by showing some potence tricks to Diana or Modius, or both (can’t remember). I might have sneaked into the graveyard to borrow one of them.

I was blatantly insulted by having my deck dubbed a “combat” deck.

IT’S A TOOLBOX!!!!!

At this point, I was stable and could see a couple of ways to turn this game into something. It was very obvious that we would lose Ben sooner rather than later. I decided to borrow Ben’s Super Ghoul.

Oh boy, that was a mistake.

Not only did Ben not die, he came rushing with all his remaining strength to my board. It didn’t go well, as my deck is NOT a combat deck. I was left standing near the broken boat that could have been a great game.

Lesson learned. Never – and I mean NEVER – take things from the cold hands of a not-yet-dead Irishman.

Tzimisce and Toreadors fell swiftly to the might of Lasombra afterward.

At this point, it was clear that my only option was to defend aggressively. The most likely outcome: Lasombra and I would be swept by Malkavians. Alternatively, we work together with Lasombra on the Malkavians, and I get 1 VP for my trouble.

The offer was accepted. I got 1 VP and a lesson for life.

Game Two
Game two gets me to a four-player table. I’m sitting between two brothers from Lithuania (they are actual brothers; not mine; one another’s), both playing efficient politics. Diana on my back. Rafael/Lutz as my prey. Across is the legend – Martin.

The beginning feels terrible. Getting pounded by votes, banishments flying around. My deck is clogging despite having 10+ hand size. The brothers are set on taking 1 VP each and going from there. Someone slaps the “combat deck” label on my deck again. IT‘S A TOOLBOX!! FFS.

If Martin dies or I die (obviously), it’s game – and probably tournament hopes – over for me.

I see no way out.

I make the only logical choice left to me.

Day drinking.

A large, still mildly cool can of Baltic Porter.

CLICK.

And the Baltic Genie appears.

Somehow the vote decks don’t coordinate enough. The deck unclogs. I was able to save Martin with Delaying and Direct in some order. Between my rushes and Martin’s blocks, the Toreadors go down. Martin helps me get Lutz.

One on one, I take the upper hand.

Magic. Unexpected magic.

I got 1GW3 and a secret weapon.

Game Three
Game three looks very good at the start. I didn’t forget the magic.

CLICK.

My prey is a super nice presence gentleman Lorenzo playing a Brujah antitribu / combat Path / Spoils of War deck. My predator is a nice guy from Poland Tomasz with Nephandi. I can manage that.

Grand prey is Malkavian madness politics, and grand predator is Nerijus with new Salubri cutting toys. Both are huge threats to my deck.

I feel confident for some reason.

Lots of things are happening. I finish my setup with no problems, block some allies, and preemptively send one Brujah to torpor just to show that I have some red cards (the nature of the deck doesn’t let me discard so freely). The table starts to fold after lots of talking. Malkavians do some things, and Salubri go down. Perfect news. Some more things happen, and Nephandi go down. Not great. Not terrible.

I also got hit a lot.

During my turn, I lose concentration. Despite sending the last Malkavian to torpor, for some reason I promise my prey a VP. There was no real reason. In my mind, I still had a GW.

I didn’t.

Brain fart.

I finished my turn on 1 pool, and there was a Fame in play. My prey thought he was saving me, but I had Vessel on a full vampire and a means to generate more with Cape Verde and probably Villein after that.

Anyway, I foolishly let Sabbat spawns take the VP while keeping them on one or two pool. Finished the game.

And then the horror struck.

The score is 2/2/1.

I just gave away a GW for no reason.

Lack of experience on my part, sure. Maybe my secret weapon is a double-edged sword?

I got 2 VP and a boatload of misery.

Final
In the end, I was on 1GW6, beating myself and my stupid head for not taking 2GW7. Most likely that would have been the top seed.

The wait for the results. Excruciatingly long wait…

And I’m in.

I can play at the big boys’ table.

Fourth seed.

Final seating was chosen. I had no say in that.

I got Lech as my prey, Michael (?) from Sweden as my grand prey. Both playing anarch barons of some sort. First seed and my grand predator was Saulius, playing Arika. That instantly felt fortunate, because Arika as my predator would be game over before the start.

Finally – Martin was my predator, playing his anarch baron deck with a hint of chameleon. I felt good about that (does anyone feel good about having Martin on your back?) because our previous game was still fresh in my mind and, more or less, I was aware of his capabilities.

Gong.

We are starting to play.

I felt serious and wanted to use every tool at my disposal. Despite the colossal blunder in Game Three, I decided to roll the dice and use Baltic Genie.

I was clearly the underdog.

CLICK.

Calmness.

Arika came out swinging and looked good. I was having a good start. Lots of locations at the start. Grand Madre and NRA appeared in early turns. I started equipping ancient flak jackets from the British Museum and got blocked a couple of times by Lech and maybe Martin.

The game was still in early stages.

Lech’s blocks ended poorly for him; someone got sent to torpor. I did some rushes forward. Something else. Lech was bringing more guys out and fixed his torpor situation. Michael blocked some of his actions but was building himself up. Untouched by anyone.

My turn came again.

Lech was on 7 pool. Everything locked up.

I tried a bleed for one. It passed. Govern forward. Passed. Another one. Passed.

This was unexpected.

First hour in, I was holding a lead.

I anticipated being let down hard by Martin in his turn, but that didn’t happen.

Starting my turn, I knew that it was very unlikely that I would waste my healthy pool count during this game. I resisted the temptation to influence a fourth guy nonetheless.

The game felt in a stalemate. I didn’t see a reliable way to put our Swedish friend to rest. At that point, my goal was to keep the table as stable as possible.

For a few turns, it seemed possible. Everyone was hesitant to act.

Martin and Michael urged me attacking Arika. Saulius offered to put down Martin together and help oust Michael with a GW to me.

Yeah.

I intended to lie on the grass and let the hours pass.

I felt I needed to improve my chances.

Genie, help me.

CLICK.

Martin moved. Dropped his pool to dangerous levels. Saulius, unable to gather votes, moved to puppet ra**one of Martin’s barons.

MARTIN MUST SURVIVE.

Martin blocked, but after stealth + intercept + stealth, I was forced to DI stealth. That forced my hand to rush Arika.

I could hear my pulse.

No more lying down.

After downing Arika, I made a mistake and rushed another of Saulius’ guys. The clock was ticking. Michael took a turn or two to oust. Martin dropped to two pool.

I attacked Michael and did some more actions.

Clock ran out.

Relief.

Joy.

Thank you for this event and for reading my story.

Thanks to Daniel and Nerijus for the perfect organization. Thanks to our guests for their tremendous support and kind words after the tournament.

The combat deck label was used again.

IT’S A F***ING TOOLBOX!!!!111!

Cheers,
Povilas ‘Gildor’ Zinkevičius

Final result: Povilas 1.5 VP, Michael 1.5 VP and Martin 0.5 VP. Congratulations Povilas!

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

Reported by Miro Albertazzi, VEKN National Coordinator of Italy:

During the weekend of February 27 to March 1, the Italian community of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle gathered in Trento for one of the most anticipated events of the year: the Italian Championship 2026. The event took place at Hotel Paoli, in Lochere, that became for three days a true domain for 47 Methuselahs from all around our country, filled with intense games, old friends meeting again, and new players ready to face their first great challenge!

The tournament was organized by Giulio De Cicco (Prince of Trento) together with the National Coordinator Miro Albertazzi. 

In the three preliminary rounds the gamewins were spread amongst a lot of players, proving that competition was very high and tables had different balances across the rounds. The race for a spot in the final was tight until the very last victory point!

So this was the final standing:
1. 1 GW 7 VP - Federico “Rip” Ferrarini (180 TP)
2. 1 GW 7 VP - Daniel “The fresh demon” Pergola (162 TP) 
3. 1 GW 6 VP - Damiano “Dam” Ghiaroni 
4. 1 GW 6 VP - Filippo “Taxi Driver” Del Re
5. 1 GW 5,5 VP - Giulio “The elevator’s wizard” Roffi

As you can see, there were a tie for first and second place, a tie for the third and fourth, both resolved with the Table Point… but also the fifth place was a total tie: Giulio Roffi and Dario Manzo had the same GWs, VPs and table point too! So it was a coin toss to give Giulio the final table, a special mention to Dario, who couldn’t reach the final for a pinch of luck!

The finalists: Daniel, Filippo, Federico, Giulio and Damiano.

The fear of the Ravnos deck put the politicians on the defensive, leaving an easy point to Federico. After that, the !Ventrue! grinder put up a talkative strategy that filled the game of uncertainty, Daniel was a bit unlucky and suffered from an unexpected lack of stealth for all the game long, so Giulio got his VP at last; but with few minute left on the clock the game ended at the time, and Federico Ferrarini from Bologna emerged victorious, claiming the title of Italian Champion. Federico piloted his deck, an old archetype, with patience and built his victory around table control, steady offense and defense, and strong long-term resource management.

The tournament winning deck: “ventrue grinder” by Federico Ferrarini

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Owain Evans, The Wanderer 8 AUS DOM FOR cel pre Ventrue antitribu:3
2x Blackhorse Tanner 7 AUS DOM FOR Ventrue antitribu:3
1x Edward Neally 7 DOM FOR aus pre Ventrue antitribu:3
1x Jefferson Foster 6 AUS DOM for tha bishop Ventrue antitribu:4
1x Mariel St. John 6 AUS FOR dom pro Ventrue antitribu:4
2x Neighbor John 5 AUS dom for Ventrue antitribu:4
1x Jephta Hester 5 DOM FOR aus Ventrue antitribu:4
1x Lana Butcher 3 dom for Ventrue:3
1x Ulrike Rothbart 3 dom for Ventrue antitribu:4

Library (90 cards)
Master (15; 5 trifle) 
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Channel 10
1x Corporate Hunting Ground
1x Coven, The
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Effective Management
1x KRCG News Radio
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
3x Vessel
1x Wider View

Action (14) 
13x Govern the Unaligned
1x Under Siege

Equipment (2) 
1x .44 Magnum
1x Heart of Nizchetus

Action Modifier (8) 
4x Bonding
3x Conditioning
1x Daring the Dawn

Combat (23) 
1x Aura Reading
4x Hidden Strength
1x Lessons in the Steel
8x Rolling with the Punches
3x Soak
6x Weighted Walking Stick

Reaction (28)
5x Deflection
4x Delaying Tactics
1x Eagle's Sight
5x Eyes of Argus
3x My Enemy's Enemy
4x On the Qui Vive
6x Telepathic Misdirection

During the weekend, there was also time for the traditional Saturday evening dinner, which concluded with a VTES-themed cake celebrating the event.

The Side Event took place the day after, with the 33 remaining Methuselahs. In the final, the Trento player  Thomas “Thomu” Marchiori, successfully defended the honor of the host city and won the awesome Signpost ready to be torn!

 

A big thank to the organizers, a bigger one for Mistlore, the Italian VTES distributor, for sponsoring and supporting the events, along with Black Chantry, Ultrapro and CardGamegeek.

The biggest thank goes to all the players who attended, and to the Italian community that continues to keep the game alive, amusing and competitive.

And congratulations again to Federico Ferrarini, the new Italian Champion, and see you all at the next major Vampire: The Eternal Struggle event!

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

Reported by Vaka Mate, former National Coordinator of Hungary. It is the 2025 championship, played in 2026.

A 3-day event was played on February 6-8th, 2026 as the Hungarian National Championship which was a great showdown of 2025 HQS tournaments. The Hungarian Qualifier Series was a huge success, averaging players from 31 to 45, producing a 13-year-old tournament winner and participants from all over our neighbouring countries and beyond.

To sum it up, our HQS qualifying system was the same as the VEKN rating system, so based on the 8 best results a rating was calculated. 87 players were participating throughout 2025 and the top 20 of them were invited to play the Grand Finale, but to make it a top 25, numbers were further swelled with the LCQ-s best performing 5 players. 

Schedule:
Day -1: Thursday night practice rounds
Day 0: Dust up, warm up tournament, multideck format
Day 1: Official opening of the Hungarian National Championship and a Last Chance Qualifier
Day 2: Top 25 Grand Finale (National Championship) and simultaneously a Rebound tournament for those who didn’t make the cut but still wanted to play through the weekend in a highly competitive environment and for some cool prizes.

We had catering, merch corner (sadly all the artists got sick so couldn’t attend). Lots of people had to cancel last minute due to sickness so we were slightly under the expected numbers but it was a blast nevertheless.

Specialties: Gábor Németh made the event’s cover theme, and with the help of Polish artist Krzysztof Bieniawski we made 5 Bulscu and 5 Bulscu ADV price, by using a sticker that fixes the character’s name (there is a misspell in his name, it is Bulcsú not Bulscu) and a Hungarian little flag. This method was approved by BCP although it requires thorough inspection before becoming tournament legal (we will make sure to get one copy to BCP representatives to look at it). We also made coins for the top25 players, and formal invitations for the top20 rated.

Also I resigned as NC of Hungary, and my fellow judge Péter Talmácsi, a real veteran of the game (ID: 1000008) shall take on the duties of National Coordinator of Hungary.

I’d like to thank our sponsors for this 3 day event: ULTRA PRO, Black Chantry Productions and TCG Webshop!

Máté Vaka, ex NC, head judge, and Péter Talmácsi, new NC, head judge.

Day 0 – Dust up, warm up

25 players, multideck, best performing deck method, Archon.vekn.net link. Youtube link to the tournament, 3 rounds + Finals.

Seeding order:
1. 2 GW 7 VP Sebestyen Balazs
2. 1 GW 7 VP Ferenc Vasadi
3. 1 GW 4,5 VP Gyula Erdős
4. 1 GW 4,5 VP Balázs Kalóczkai
5. 1 GW 4,5 VP Balázs Ihász

Starting order:
1. Frenki - Cathari bleed with Agnieszka 1 VP https://vdb.im/decks/9eaba50ff
2. Mufti - Banu bruise & vote with Kasim 1 VP https://vdb.im/decks/87b746ca3
3. Balázs - Malkavian SB with Abraham 1 VP https://vdb.im/decks/a5ca0b0ff
4. Balu - Anarch Enkidu multiact 0 VP https://vdb.im/decks/68c429273
5. Gyula - Anim barons 2 VP WINNER https://vdb.im/decks/fee438503

Balázs “Balu” Kalóczkai, Balázs Ihász, Gyula Erdős, Ferenc “Frenki” Vasadi and Balázs “Mufti” Sebestyén.

Day 1 – Last Chance Qualifier

52 players, standard constructed, Archon.vekn.net link. Youtube link to the tournament, 3 rounds + Finals.

Seeding order:
1. 2 GW 9 VP Tamás Glied
2. 2 GW 6 VP Feco Ferenc Borbely
3. 2 GW 6 VP Balázs Kalóczkai
4. 2 GW 6 VP Sebestyen Balazs
5. 2 GW 5 VP Ferenc Bence Kósa

Starting order:
1. Gyerek - Arika voter 0,5 VP https://vdb.im/decks/651169df9
2. Mufti - Shalmath caretaker 0,5 VP https://vdb.im/decks/835a5bc69
3. Fecó - Anson MMPA voter 0,5 VP https://vdb.im/decks/a111ccd04
4. Balu - Anarch Malk wall 0,5 VP https://vdb.im/decks/1f9c1fc17
5. Csárli - Black Hand breed & bleed 0,5 VP WIINER https://vdb.im/decks/f9530a21d

Balázs “Balu” Kalóczkai, Bence “Gyerek” Kósa, Tamás “Csárli” Glied, Balázs “Mufti” Sebestyén and Ferenc “Fecó” Borbély.

Day 2 – Rebound

18 players, standard constructed, Archon.vekn.net link. No broadcast because of the Grand Finale finals.

Seeding order:
1. 2 GW 9 VP Nemanja Jovicic
2. 2 GW 6 VP András Filius
3. 2 GW 5,5 VP Ferenc Vasadi
4. 1 GW 7 VP Marton Mate
5. 1 GW 4 VP Ádám Filius

Starting order:
1. Nemanja - Weenie Toreador bleeder 5 VP WINNER https://vdb.im/decks/d8785b82d
2. Márton - Lutz voter 0 VP https://vdb.im/decks/f744db2a2
3. Ádám - Unnamed evil eye 0 VP https://vdb.im/decks/a7cc4259f
4. Frenki - High cap Ministry Jocalo bleed 0 VP https://vdb.im/decks/1afa3120b
5. András - Nahum & friends marionette 0 VP https://vdb.im/decks/699422c0f

Márton Máté, Ferenc “Frenki” Vasadi, Nemanja Jovicic, Ádám Filius and András Filius.

Day 2 – Grand Finale

25 players, national championship, invitational, Archon.vekn.net link. Youtube link to the tournament, 3 rounds + Finals.

Seeding order:
1. 1 GW 5,5 VP Zsolt Gonda https://vdb.im/decks/bcc78e91d
2. 1 GW 5,5 VP Tamás Glied https://vdb.im/decks/346c4c360
3. 1 GW 5,5 VP Paul Direktor https://vdb.im/decks/fe105bc13
4. 1 GW 4,5 VP Adam Horvath https://vdb.im/decks/d82aac6b3
5. 1 GW 4,5 VP Péter Korsós-Novák https://vdb.im/decks/3b8c30cb4

Tournament winning deck: “Tzimi block + maze” by haddam

Crypt (12 cards)
4x Sascha Vykos, The Angel of Caine (ADV) 8 AUS THA VIC ani dom archbishop Tzimisce:2
1x Caliban     6 ANI AUS VIC   Tzimisce:2
1x Corine Marcón    6 AUS VIC ani   Tzimisce:2
1x Ana Rita Montaña    5 VIC aus dom obf   Tzimisce:3
1x Devin Bisley    5 ANI AUS vic   Tzimisce:2
1x Elizabeth Westcott   5 AUS ani cel vic   Tzimisce:3
1x Lolita Houston    4 VIC aus    Tzimisce:2
1x Horatio     2 vic    Tzimisce:2
1x Piotr Andreikov    2 aus    Tzimisce:3

Library (90 cards)
Master (32; 7 trifle)
9x Ashur Tablets
4x British Museum, London, The
1x Direct Intervention
1x Elder Library
1x Jake Washington
1x Library Hunting Ground
1x Papillon
3x Parthenon, The
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
1x Rötschreck
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
3x Vessel
3x Villein
1x Wider View

Event (1)
1x NRA PAC

Action (7)
1x Abbot
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
1x Army of Rats
3x Magic of the Smith
1x Under Siege

Equipment (15)
1x Bowl of Convergence
2x Cooler
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Ivory Bow
2x Kevlar Vest
6x Living Manse
1x Palatial Estate
1x Sniper Rifle

Retainer (1)
1x Mr. Winthrop

Action Modifier (3)
3x Changeling

Action Modifier/Combat (2)
2x Plasmic Form

Combat (5)
2x Breath of the Dragon
3x Chiropteran Marauder

Reaction (24)
2x Eagle's Sight
1x Enhanced Senses
7x Eyes of Argus
3x My Enemy's Enemy
2x On the Qui Vive
1x Precognition
1x Spirit's Touch
7x Telepathic Misdirection

Zsolt Gonda, Péter “Korsoá” Korsós Novák, Ádám “Törpecápa” Horváth,
Paul Direktor and Tamás “Csárli” Glied.

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