Greetings Methuselahs,

2024 was the first year of my reign as prince(ss), and the vampire scene in Cape Town has appeared to have some new energy coursing through its veins, thankfully. It reminds me of the sudden kinematics of sedentary creatures that one finds as they lift up and view the under-side of a long-sitting rock.

Just like those hustling go-gos (a South Africanism for insects & bugs), our sleepy Capetonian Methuselahs arose from long torpor… some were even resurrected from the burnt ashes of the past. And as they awakened, a river of new-blood flowed in. The curious were caught and brought into the fold, newly Embraced, and several new VEKN IDs were added to the database.

But whether we were old or new, all were drawn to the same nerdy shop, to sit at the same sticky tables, to play our same beloved ghoulish card game, and share in these bloody sights and dark delights. Tables with smiling, fang-filled faces, anticipating their next oust, or combo, or flashy-reprisal and very hungry for the beads of blood to their left…

With cards from the Blackest of Chantries, and from 30 years of yore, came the most fierce and unforgivable decks - each one piloted by an equally unforgivable grotesque yet unique and nuanced personality – the strongest weapon on this kind of battlefield! The wisest should take note, as I shall reveal their secrets and preferred methods as this essay continues and I highlight the events of VTES in Cape Town for the year 2024.

 

TOURNAMENT: “Freak Drive”, Sealed 5th Ed Deck Tournament, March 24th, at Pandemonium Games

Final Table: Hendrik Schalekamp, Neil Muller, Kris Van Zyl, Jo Worsley and Nick Worsley

Winner: Kris Van Zyl with the 5th ed Malk deck! Well done to him, especially as a new-blood, having only just started in the recent years and playing socially in 2024.

The power of Malks was very real here, and Kris drove home those big bleeds very smoothly.

For some context, each attending player received a random pre-constructed 5th ed deck: There was one each of the five camarilla decks (so only one Malkavian deck), and one each of the Banu, Ministry, Gangrel and Brujah, and then two each of the Tzimisce, Ravnos and Salubri. That’s 15 players at this first tournament! Not a bad start to get the year going. May this garden grow.

Kris got the Malkavians. I should be clear: Do not conflate Kris with the Malkavians. Though he can play them out of the box and win a tournament with them, he did not choose them (they chose him). He is far more formidable and experienced Gangrel deck-gineer, and has already taken a rather avant-garde approach to deck building which is exciting and new to see. Mad scientist in the making. Watch out!

 

TOURNAMENT: “Ungovernable”, Unlimited Multi Deck Tournament, June 16th, at Pandemonium Games

Final Table: Peter Herbert, Skye Segal, Michael Streatfield, Jo Worsly and Yancke Van Tonder

Winner: Michael Streatfield, with a Baali power-vote nasty surprise. Congrats to Michael for meticulous Machiavelli antics and devilish deal making.

The heads up between Michael and Yancke’s power-vote/bleed with Lutz was very intense and lasting. I witnessed the true power of Arishat as she shat down Lutz’s four votes for breakfast. She’s a group 6, and has made a guest appearance in my Toreador for just that reason.

My advice if you meet Michael at the table is to be his cross-table ally, and not his predator or prey. He’s an extremely experienced player and a most dangerous and calculated foe.

 

NEW BLOOD LEAGUE: March to May 2025, at Pandemonium Games

Final Table: Kris Van Zyl, Martin Mezzabotta, Peter Herbert, Yancke Van Tonder and Nick Allum

Winner: None – the final match was a draw. But the de facto winner by leader-board standing was Peter Herbert.

Peter, being an older player, really impressed me with how much he embraced the new 5th ed cards, namely the Ministry, which often along with his Malkavian deck, would see him be a consistent threat at any table. Also, you’re not allowed to hug Peter, OK?

Next, we had the yearly Dragonfire hosted by my old compadres, CLAW (Cape Legion of Adventurers and Wargamers) at the University of Cape Town (my old hunting ground). And once again we limited this to only 5th ed cards. This made things very interesting!

 

TOURNAMENT: “Clockwork Convergence”, Limited to 5th Ed Cards, Multi-Deck Tournament, August 10th and 11th, at the UCT Dragonfire annual convention.

Final Table: Jo Worsley, Justin Bedford (Biggy), Martin Mezzabotta, Hendrik Schalekamp and Nick Worsley

Winner: Martin Mezzabotta. (GGWP)

Apparently, a few other cities had been trying this out, and I had to get some assistance from the inner-circles of Black Chantry to try get an official listing of legal 5th ed cards and reprints with which I shared with my community.

It was a challenge for the older players with bigger collections to adapt to this, and it was very welcomed by the newer players with collections weighing more heavily on the 5th ed side. It also really helped that the games ran smoothly due to the greater fluency and vocabulary with new cards. So often does an old-hat play something that no-one’s ever seen, and the game has to have a two or three minute “Oh wow” moment as the new (old) card is taken in and discussed and brainstormed for all possible permutations where it makes sense to play it in your decks…. Great for socials with no time limits, so rather that kinda thing was minimized as very little reading was required at all, thanks to the collective clear knowledge of the limited set.

Now on to Martin. Martin is my childe! And my-my, has he fallen far from the tree… I tried to teach him how to play for like over 10 years or so, and I think he’s got finally gotten it! Maybe! (doubt it)

Yes, I am proud. He won his first tournament and it was a Dragonfire! Even though his road was laid out in gold before him, he got a tournament win! Well done Marty!

Martin loves the Laibon and enjoys playing Toreador and Nosferatu too, and together we’ve created some weird in-game jokes and memes over the years… but it would not be right to share those here, you kinda had to be there. I will say though that he has become quite the exquisite tool-box maker and often surprises me with his ideas. Just don’t listen to him in game as he will wiggle into your mind and setup lodging there forever.

He also turned 40 this year and I got a commission done for him by Ken Meyer Jr:

Yup, we’re that passionate about VTES here in Cape Town! Happy birthday again to Martin! And thanks Ken! What a legend. My birthday is coming up soon too, so…

 

ANARCH MASQUERADE LEAGUE: June to October 2024, at Pandemonium Games

Final Table: James Snowball, Yancke Van Tonder, Michael Streatfield, Skye Segal and Neil Muller

Winner: The legendary James Snowball, with Banu combat tweaked like a pro.

James is a card kung-fu master with mantis style. This cool character is such a powerful force in our community, and his passion for VTES is contagious. He’s one of the first VTES players I ever met, and has taught me a thing or two about combat. He’s from the Deep South. We used to talk about Deep South - a collection of southern most suburbs in Cape Town - similarly to the way we hear the international community go on about Finnish Politics.

James’ passion for VTES is contagious. He’s set the standard for when it’s time to get up out of your seat due to a fantastic play – like putting an animalism master on your Beast, The Leatherface of Detroit… goes something like:  “Why’s his crows hitting for two? Oh. My. F*&k! You put Animalism on BEAST! AWESOME!!”

May he test his decks on you and may you enjoy it!

 

TOURNAMENT: “Dragonbound” Standard Constructed and valid for TWDA, 3rd November

Final Table: Yancke Van Tonder, Hendrik Schalekamp, James Snowball, Neil Muller, and Casey Callaghan

Winner: Snowball again, with classic euro-brujah with dominate (and a sideshow of, yes, it’s Beast).

Combat. And you don’t wanna see his !Salubri toolbox he’s been working on for more than two decades.

Well here we have some proof that James is an all-star, taking combat decks shiningly to the podium each-time. Very inspirational. Isn’t he just so dreamy?

 

That wraps up the recap of our competitive scene here in Cape Town during my first year with Prince(ss) responsibilities. It was a very successful year, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my co-prince, Ryan, and his shop Pandemonium Games for getting in all the cards, prizes and promos from Black Chantry and keeping us posted about new stock. We’re all very grateful to you Ryan Kruger and Pandemonium Games and all the store-keepers for letting us use the space.

There were so many consistent players who also deserve a shout-out but can’t all be named here. They may not have won a league or a tournament, but they got to final tables and gave everyone a run for their money, many are from the old school, but it was even more remarkable to witness the power of the Worsley couple, who being completely new to the game, got placed at final tables in every tournament they attended! Well done Jo and Nick, come take it home in 2025.

And here’s a shout out to all my players who come play just for the fun. I hope to see you vibrantly bleeding your preys out in the next year too!

Can I also just say a massive thank you to Mikey Feguson too? The UK champ and YouTuber which sparked this journey for me after that interview in February. Sometimes a person needs a tiny little nudge and the next thing they’re flying away with their passion-project. In this case, that’s me being Prince(ss). So, thanks again Mikey! Check out that interview here: Lies From The Tabletop

And thanks to all the talented international players, artists, and creators I’ve been lucky enough to chat to on social media and become friends with. I am humbly honoured by all of your acquaintances, and inspired to keep a spotlight on my home-town’s VTES scene just for you!

 

And thus I conclude that the Cape Town VTES scene was re-awakened and revitalized by our very keen and growing player base in the year 2024, as we still continue into the holiday season with our social games and a very busy WhatsApp group buzzing about the new Hecata in-coming...

And we’ll carry this momentum forward into 2025! We look forward to Cape Town hosting the South African Nationals’ tournament at the Dragonfire convention, usually around August, and perhaps we’ll see some of our JHB country-men there.

We’ll have more tournaments other than that too, some of which may be limited or explore story-line themes and of course to try the 5th ed format again, learning from past mistakes, while adding the Toreador 30th anniversary, Lasombra and Hecata cards to the roster.

We’ll also have a league running in each semester, and maybe some surprise events too.

From newbie sessions and demo days, to long conversations about which clans we’d be if we were all vamps, to our heated tournaments and all the drama in and out of games…

Cape Town loves VTES, and we’re all looking forward to a fun and eventful 2025!

Yours sincerely,
Skye Segal
Prince of Cape Town

This tournament was played in Wijchen on November 24. Reported by Robin Vossen, with comment by the champion:

It was a good event, quite a lot of people I expected to show had other things they had to do but we still managed to get 24 people for the event.

And not only Dutch people, we had the Germans, our friends from the south (Belgium) join us as well. But, a lot less expected we also had a player from Poitiers France!

Nobody ever played VTES at the selected venue and we had a lot of positive comments from both the players and the owners of the venue. Besides the actual event, there was a little side event where people could play a little game when they got ousted early by trying to find all cards hidden in a playmat. Those that found it got a ticket to a raffle where they could win such a playmat.



Quite a lot of different decks, from the more old school decks, to Baba Yaga to 419 Scammers.

Standings before the final:
1. Michael Köper 2 GW, 6,5 VP
2. Roy Opitz 1 GW, 7.5 VP
2. Milan Matthes 1 GW, 6.5 VP
3. Jeroen van Oort 1 GW, 5 VP, 130 TP
4. Jozef Patrnciak 1 GW, 5 VP, 102 TP

 

The event was won by Roy Opitz, he wrote the following to describe the final.

“All players had a good start in the finals, only the Gangel missed at least one Baron in the starting crypt, but after a few Things he also saw his undead existence at some point.

The Ravnos managed 2-3 good bleeds, but were relentlessly sent into torpor by the Potence weenies.

My Tzimisce bounced off the Gangrel thanks to countless Earth Meld or Deep Ecology.

The Gangrel froze in fear of Baba Yaga and repeatedly negotiated nothing-attack pacts with her. Thus Baba Yaga, supported by Beatrice Tremblay, was able to take out the Ravnos in under an hour and the battle with the weenies began. This grind developed in the direction of Baba Yaga.

As I continued to bounce off the Gangrel, they were able to build up further and, thanks to Things, Villein and many Hunting Grounds, had six vampires with full blood out without ever having made a move forwards.

After Baba was also able to defeat the weenies and began to orientate herself more towards the back, firstly because she wanted to secure victory and secondly because she knew about my Rötschrecks, the Gangrel began to go forward and thanks to Club Illusion and Monkey Wrench removed 14 of Baba Yaga's 22 pools in one turn, but one vampire died thanks to Archon Investigation.

Baba Yaga then took out another vampire with a backrush, which I got on my side thanks to Graverobbing on the one hand and on the other (already prepared for some time) played Adrino, who had also hidden in the Gangrel crypt and was thus contested.

Robbed of three Vampires, Jozef still managed to get around Baba Yaga's Henchmen (Carlton and three Procurers) and oust them two turns later.

With 15 minutes left on the clock, but more minions, I was able to oust the Gangrel myself with the help of Club Illusion and finally aggrevated damage on the Gangrel just before the timeout. Thanks to my higher seed, I was able to decide the victory in my favour.”

Roys tournament winning deck: "Anarch Tzimisce haunting your graves"

Crypt (12 cards)
3x Ángel Guerrero 7 ANI DOM PRO baron Tzimisce:6
2x Adrino Manauara 8 ANI DOM PRO pot baron Tzimisce:6
2x Branimira 6 ANI dom pre pro baron Tzimisce:6
1x Clara Hjortshøj 5 PRO ani aus dom Tzimisce:6
1x Marialena 5 DOM PRO ani Tzimisce:6
1x Neserian 6 ANI DOM cel pro Tzimisce:6
1x Prentis Derby 4 ani dom pro Tzimisce:6
1x Whisper 5 ANI DOM pro Tzimisce:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (16; 5 trifle)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
2x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Library Hunting Ground
1x Powerbase: Montreal
3x Rötschreck
5x Vessel
1x Wall Street Night, Financial Newspaper

Event (2)
2x Scourge of the Enochians

Action (22)
10x Deep Song
4x Govern the Unaligned
6x Graverobbing
2x Status Perfectus, The

Equipment (4)
1x Ivory Bow
3x Living Manse

Action Modifier (1)
1x Conditioning

Action Modifier/Combat (2)
2x Obedient Flesh

Combat (14)
10x Claws of the Dead
4x Sculpt the Flesh

Reaction (29)
7x Bait and Switch
2x Cats' Guidance
4x Deep Ecology
4x One With the Land
10x Organized Resistance
2x Protection Racket

Hope to see everybody again soon in Wijchen for the next event!

From left to right: Mathieu Guimond, Martin Servant,
Jonathan "Jo" Long, Christian Chénard and Jérôme Goyet.

This tournament was played with 24 players in L'Abyss, Montréal on November 23 and was reported by Alexandre Bustros and Allan Birkett:

Standings before final:
1. Martin Servant 2 GW, 8 VP
2. Christian Chénard 2 GW, 7,5 VP, 174 TP
3. Jérôme Goyet 2 GW, 7.5 VP, 168 TP
4. Mathieu Guimond 1 GW, 7.5 VP
5. Jonathan Long 1 GW, 7 VP

Christian Chénard started very aggressively. He got ousted by Mathieu's vote that does 1 pool damage per minion (I don't remember which). That made Jérôme's victory possible. Martin held off the !Toreador Embrace deck and managed to power bleed his prey.

Congratulations to Jérôme Goyet, the new Canadian champion!

The tournament winning deck, by Jerome, inspired by a deck by Vincent Ripoll:

Crypt (12 cards)
1x Joseph Fischer 3 PRO Gangrel antitribe:5
1x Casey Snyder 6 ani cel for PRO Gangrel:6
1x Valeriya Zinovieva 7 goals for POT Brujah:6
1x Indira 3 PRO Gangrel:6
1x Kamile Paukstys 5 ani for PRO Gangrel:6
1x Kuyen 6 ANI PRO Gangrel:6
1x Massimiliano 7 pro ANI FOR Gangrel:6
1x Elisha Tucker 6 goal obf pro PRE Follower of Set:6
1x Vivian VI 7 obf tha PRE PRO Follower of Set:6
1x Adrino Manauara 8 pot OR DOM PRO Tzimisce:6
1x angel Guerrero 7 ANI DOM PRO Team:6
1x Branimira 6 house for pro ANI Tzimice:6

Library: 90 cards
Master (26 cards)
1x Anarch Railroad
2x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Papillon
1x Poacher's Hunting Ground
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
6x Protein
1x Scarecrow
2x Tribute to the Master
6x Villein
1x Zoo Hunting Ground
2x Carfax Abbey
2x Club Illusion

Action (10 cards)
8x Childe of the Revolution
2x Constant Revolution

Political Action (1 cards)
1x Revolutionary Council

Equipment (2 cards)
2x Heart of Nizchetus

Modify Action (6 cards)
2x Monkey Wrench
4x Earth Control

Modify/Combat Action (2 cards)
2x Form of the Cobra

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

Combat (16 cards)
2x Voracious Vermin
6x Donnybrook
8x Earth Meld

Reaction (23 cards)
2x Protection Racket
6x Bait and Switch
15x Organized Resistance

Thanks to organisers, sponsors and players!

Played on November 30. Reported by Daniel Bravo, VEKN Online Prince, with Manu Fuentes, VEKN Prince of Santiago and additional comments by the champion. First Manu Fuentes:

"The distributor approached us with the opportunity to organize the third date of the GP, as the originally chosen store was unable to host the event. With time against us, I took on the responsibility of making this event happen, as someone needed to step up, and I did so with the well-being of the community in mind. I knew we had a tough mission ahead of us due to the precedents set by GP2 and the low attendance.

For this reason, I sought the help of Faroock, our national coordinator, and Daniel Bravo (Backwinder), along with some active members of the community. I am immensely grateful to Marcelo Teke, Maxwell, and Juan Labbé for their collaboration.

First and foremost, we learned from the mistakes made in GP2 and took players' suggestions into account to avoid repeating them. A key issue was the fee, so we decided to set it at a lower price, prioritizing the gameplay experience over the event's profitability. This way, we approached the tournament as an experience by players for players, rather than a store organizing a large tournament.
The distributor sold us the tournament kit, which included a playmat, a promotional card per player, an illustration, and a signed promotional card for each player in the final table.

Additionally, we raffled a Lasombra deck among players who registered for the tournament before November 20, which greatly motivated participants. By the 20th, we already had more than 22 registered players.

We also added store credits for the final table winners, which they could redeem at EntreJuegos, the store where the tournament took place.

However, we didn’t want to reward only the finalists; we also aimed to offer a great experience to all attending players. To achieve this, Faroock and Daniel donated a large number of promotional cards, which allowed us to provide an excellent welcome pack to all participants.

The next step was to think about what else we could offer attendees. Since we had to pay for the tournament kit, we had fewer resources for prizes. That’s when I reached out to Space Fantasy, a role-playing games distributor, who generously donated amazing prizes: a pocket edition of the Vampire manual, dice, and discipline cards. Additionally, Stronghold donated folders and deck holders. All these prizes were raffled off during the tournament rounds, and the players were very pleased with this initiative. We are immensely grateful to Space Fantasy and Stronghold for their generous support, which made it possible for us to offer more prizes and enhance the players’ experience.

Regarding the tournament, we had a total of 34 attendees, a fairly high number for the community in Chile. The tournament went smoothly, and as a final surprise, the participants of the anti-final received a 30th Anniversary deck as a prize for the winner, while the other participants received a New Blood deck of their choice.

Lastly, we witnessed the emotional farewell speech of our national coordinator, Faroock, who stepped down from his position. This was a tough blow for the community, as Faroock was always willing to support, listen to the players, and be an active part of it. Personally, I am grateful for all his support and, above all, his positive attitude. I wish him the best in his future endeavors, and he has set a high standard for whoever succeeds him.

Thus concluded the third date of the GP, with a great turnout and very positive feedback from the community. I want to thank EntreJuegos, Stronghold, Space Fantasy, our outgoing national coordinator Faroock, and all community members for their help and support."

Standings before the final:
1. Lucian Ibarra 3 GW, 12 VP
2. Rodrigo "Zapi" Rojas 3 GW, 11.5 VP
3. Rodrigo "Taz" Cortes 2 GW, 9 VP, 222 TP
4. Wlabert Ibarra 2 GW, 9 VP, 198 TP
5. Sergio Herrera 2 GW, 6 VP

Then some words from the GP Champion, Gonzalo "Zapi" Rojas:

"Facing a 2024 filled with controversies stemming from the change in administration of organized play in Chile and the ripple effects this caused within the community, the 3rd GP date was held with great effort and limited planning time at a store that has always provided a pleasant and comfortable environment for the community.

I celebrate the high attendance and active participation in such a major event. I can’t help but draw a parallel with the Twilight Camp held at the end of August, especially in terms of the festive atmosphere and camaraderie among rivals.

A date crowned by the variety of products available just for participating and the attractive prizes for the winners ended with me as a happy and proud champion, having reached the final alongside great players who made this experience full of laughs and surprises as the game unfolded.

From the start, I felt the intense pressure of my predator, who was playing a bleed-focused Ravnos deck. However, I was able to turn this to my advantage a couple of times through bleed redirection to my prey — a Montano Purge deck — which I was sure would eventually face attacks from the table. What I didn’t expect was that it would happen so early in the game. They received a cross-table attack that left them in a dire position, vulnerable to the bleeding of my vampires, who seized every opportunity to reduce their pool to zero—always with the help of the faithful rats. While they only deal 1 damage, the cumulative effect over several turns is significant, especially for a deck capable of generating occasional stealth and bleed.

When I reached Sergio, piloting a Krenyenko multi-action deck, I encountered a very well-built wall but with strong defense from his prey and little pool remaining. Finally, I faced a Giotto & Arika deck with very strong political control. Fortunately for me, its resources were severely limited, as only a few cards remained in their library. Under my control were several mid-cap vampires with intercept capabilities. The turning point came when I started drawing aggravated damage, which allowed me to deal with the threat, resulting in my joyful victory.

I am deeply grateful and have firsthand knowledge of the short time and dedication the event organizing team invested. I greatly commend their ability to identify what the community needed and deliver it in the best possible way. This resulted in a pleasant and enjoyable day, leaving everyone with a smile and a feeling of wanting to repeat the experience.

It is to be hoped that this event will serve as an example and that such high-level, accessible events will continue to be held. I place my hopes in the new members of the national coordination team, trusting they will continue along this path of progress and success that lies ahead for the future."

The tournament winning deck: “Refugio del Vaivoda” by Gonzalo "Zapi" Rojas

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Adrino Manauara 8 ANI DOM PRO pot baron Tzimisce:6
3x Ángel Guerrero 7 ANI DOM PRO baron Tzimisce:6
2x Branimira 6 ANI dom pre pro baron Tzimisce:6
1x Neserian 6 ANI DOM cel pro Tzimisce:6
1x Clara Hjortshøj 5 PRO ani aus dom Tzimisce:6
1x Marialena 5 DOM PRO ani Tzimisce:6
1x Whisper 5 ANI DOM pro Tzimisce:6
1x Prentis Derby 4 ani dom pro Tzimisce:6

Library (90 cards)
Master (14; 4 trifle)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Guardian Angel
1x KRCG News Radio
1x Powerbase: Montreal
2x Protean
1x Rack, The
4x Vessel

Action (10)
4x Army of Rats
6x Govern the Unaligned

Retainer (8)
8x Raven Spy

Action Modifier (10)
4x Conditioning
6x Earth Control

Action Modifier/Reaction (6)
6x Form of the Bat

Combat (16)
4x Bone Spur
10x Earth Meld
2x Form of Mist

Reaction (26)
8x Deflection
4x One With the Land
10x Organized Resistance
4x Protection Racket

Thanks to all organisers, sponsors and players!