Art by Samuel Araya for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition.

Greetings fellow Methuselahs,

MAJOR TOURNAMENTS IN MARCH: GRAND PRIX IN SPAIN AND GERMANY

Two major events coming up - learn more details through the VEKN European Grand Prix page or the official European Grand Prix Facebook page.

• Grand Prix Spain in Cordoba on March 7 - Head organizer: Daniel Carretero Ferres

• Grand Prix Germany in Darmstadt on March 21 - Head organizer: Rudolf Scholz

Gonzalo in the middle.

GONZALO DEL RÍO WINS SOUTH AMERICAN CUP SANTIAGO 2020!

15 players showed up at Kaiju Sekai in Santiago, Chile, on February 22 to battle for victory in the second South American Cup tournament. Organizer Gonzalo Del Río tells Santiago was very happy to welcome two Brazilian players for this event, and that he hopes for more international players to visit in the future.



Top 5 after the three preliminary rounds:
Fernando Cesar, 9 VP, 2 GW
Benjamín Rojas, 6 VP, 1 GW
Breno Toledo, 5 VP, 1 GW
Gonzalo Del Río, 5 VP, 1 GW
Hugo Dey, 4.5 VP, 1 GW



Congratulations Gonzalo Del Río who took all 5 VP in the final with Week of Nightmares and almost 20 vampires in play, gaining 2 VP in the first turn with the Week in game, and the other 2 VP in the next turn. That’s winning in style!

Tournament winning deck: "Ravnos Cáncer"

Crypt (12 cards)
1x Ghivran Dalaal, The Dead God 5 ani aus chi FOR Ravnos:2
1x Andrei Puxon 5 ani cel chi for Ravnos:2
1x Anka, Priestess of Thorns 4 ani chi pro Ravnos:2
1x Khalil Ravana 5 ani for pre CHI Ravnos:2
1x Lazar Dobrescu 3 for Ravnos:2
1x Salbatore Bokkengro 4 for pro CHI Ravnos:2
1x Sasha Miklos 2 chi Ravnos:2
1x Sennuwy, The Promoter 4 ani chi for Ravnos:2
1x Spleen, Georgio Gutterpunk 2 ani chi Ravnos:2
1x Tsigane 3 aus chi Ravnos:2
1x Vedel Esbreno 3 chi for Ravnos:2
1x Zip 2 ani Ravnos:3

Library: 78 cards
Master (15 cards)
1x Life Boon
1x Archon Investigation
2x Not to Be
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
5x Ravnos Carnival
2x Week of Nightmares
1x Dreams of the Sphinx

Action (33 cards)
21x Embrace, The
12x Mozambique Allure

Action Modifier (9 cards)
4x Change of Target
1x Cryptic Rider
4x Daring the Dawn

Action Modifier/Reaction (10 cards)
10x Eldest Are Kholo, The

Political Action (9 cards)
9x Consanguineous Boon

Equipment (1 cards)
1x Shilmulo Tarot

Reaction (1 cards)
1x Delaying Tactics

Thanks to players, organizers and sponsors. The next South American Cup 2020 tournament is in Rio de Janeiro - more info on that on vtesrio.blogspot.com

Marshall in the middle.

MARSHALL HOGUE WINS NORTH AMERICAN CUP HAMILTON 2020!

On February 23, 16 Methuselahs gathered at the Mancala Monk Board Game Café in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, to determine who was most powermad that day. It was the fourth installment of the North American Cup 2019-2020.


Finalists' ranking before the final:
1. Kelly Schultz
2. Marshall Hogue
3. Jay Kristoff
4. Tim Fowler
5. Karl Schaefer



Congratulations Marshall Hogue, who got 3 VP in the final, Kelly Schultz got 2.

Tournament winning deck: “Marshall's Crazy Toolbox”

Crypt
1x Lutz von Hohenzollern
1x Unmada
2x Santaleous
1x Bloody Mary
1x Lord Fianna
1x Apolonia Czarnecki
1x Osric Vladislav
1x Morel
1x Gem Ghastly
1x Arthur Denholm
1x Bela

Library
Master
7x Grooming the Protégé
2x Perfectionist
2x Pentex Subversion
2x Wash
2x Effective Management
2x Asylum Hunting Ground
1x The Coven
1x PowerBase Montreal
1x Giants Blood
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Dreams of the Sphinx

Action
18x Kindred Spirits

Action Modifier
6x Eyes of Chaos
5x Swallowed by the Night
5x Into Thin Air
5x Lost In Crowds
2x Confusion
2x Cloak the Gathering
1x Faceless Night
1x Elder Impersonation

Reaction
4x Eyes of Argus
4x Wrong and Crosswise
4x Telepathic Misdirection
2x Confusion of the Eye
2x On the Qui Vive
2x My Enemy's Enemy

Combat
5x No Trace

Thanks to players, organizers and sponsors. The next North American Cup 2020 tournament is in Boston - more info on that on www.vekn.net/north-american-cup-2019-2020

CARD CHANGES AND CLARIFICATIONS IN VTES LEGACY CARD SINGLES

A message from VEKN and Black Chantry Rules Director Vincent Ripoll:

Hello! With the reprint of the Assamite cards on Drivethrucards.com, we had a unique opportunity to dust off plenty of cool cards that had not been reprinted for many years. Most of them had their card texts updated to make them clearer and in line with our latest releases with no functional changes; however some cards have slightly changed. Here is the list:

Al-Ashrad, Amr of Alamut → Al-Ashrad can now burn locations requiring any clan (not only Camarilla clans).
With the recent shift of allegiance of many clans, remembering the sect to which clans are tied becomes harder and harder, and we would rather have players being able to play the game without referring to an appendix. It is the reason why Al-Ashrad's ability to burn locations is no longer restricted to locations requiring clans of a given sect, but only locations requiring a clan. Those are easy to spot since they have a clan symbol in their attribute bar.

Qadir ul-Ghani → The clan he changes to must be another clan than the clan to which he currently belongs.
Qadir could previously "change" his clan to clan he already belonged to. Considering that it is not really a change and all the rulings related to permanent change of clan vs. temporary change of clan, we decided to make it more logical.

Ur-Shulgi, The Shepherd → The Tajdid that is retrieved from the library is now revealed.
This is the continuation of the change we have made on cards that search the library for a specific type of card: cards need to be revealed to avoid mistakes or cheating.

Zahir, Hand of the Silsila → The contract that is retrieved from the library is now revealed.
For the same reason as above, the contract is now revealed.

Haqim's Law: Judgment → Can be used by anarchs.
The card's official card text had changed with the release of the RTR 11/05/2018. Anarch has been since then a sect on its own, and all the cards that required an Independent vampire and that could be used by an anarch have been updated to allow the Anarchs to also use them.

Some cards have changed to reflect some rule changes, for instance:

Condemn the Sins of the Father
+1 stealth action.
[qui] (D) Choose a clan. Lock all younger vampires of the chosen clan.
[QUI] As above, and each of those vampires burns 1 blood.

Poison the Well of Life
+1 stealth action.
[qui] (D) Burn a hunting ground.
[QUI] (D) Burn all hunting grounds controlled by other Methuselahs.

The first prints of Condemn the Sins of the Father and Poison the Well of Life occurred before the Keepers of Tradition rule change about targeting multiple Methuselahs. At that time, if only one player controlled all the targets, then the action was directed. Otherwise, it was undirected. With the rule change, the action is now directed to all the controllers of the targets and no longer undirected (unless you are yourself the only target). The reprint was a perfect occasion to update the card texts so they match the latest rules.

That's all folks!

ARTIST IN FOCUS: SAMUEL ARAYA

This time we have the great pleasure to talk to Samuel Araya, the Paraguay-born VTES artist of such player favorite cards as The Unnamed, Arishat and Old Neddacka. Most famed for his monstrous motifs, he will be illustrating several crypt portraits in Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition – you can see a preview of one of them above. It´s a Camarilla set, so maybe you can guess the clan?

Hi Sam! How are you doing today?
- Alo! Things are great, we just returned from a vacation with my girlfriend in Orlando. Went to see Galaxy's Edge, which was amazing, despite not getting into "Rise of the Resistance", ended up getting Kylo Ren's lightsaber out of spite, which is appropriate. We rode a roller coaster called "Rock it" on Universal Studios, which starts with you being carried 17 floors above the ground in a 90 degree angle. I have a mild fear of heights so I'm still wondering what possessed me to jump on board, as the G-force was telling me that it was a mistake to do so. I looked like a paraplegic Tyrannosaurus with my arms against my chest, flailing lifeless as I experienced the ride. Other than that, I'm resuming work and making sure our cats are getting the love their deserve.

What is your background as an artist? Are you educated or self-taught?
- I started as self taught, using photography because I thought I would never be good enough to learn to draw and paint. I used to believe that was a talent that you either got it or not, which is a lie. Turns out that to work with photo collages you really need to understand the principles behind drawing and painting, so I learnt most of it from books, as internet tutorials and the internet didn't exist back then. In 2010 I won a scholarship to take online classes at, the now defunct, Art Department, and I had the chance to learn from the best, which still feels a bit surreal. It changed my life.


What kind of assignments do you like the most?
- Monsters! I do love monsters and horror! Give me the Nosferatu, the Tzimisce, Baali, Harbinger of Skulls! Hell, I take Nictuku if you have! I do prefer loose descriptions or just to read the whole chapter or book I'm going to illustrate. I hate to be a "hired hand", I want to put as much of my personal interpretation and symbology into my art. For VTES I gotta admit I do love the crypt cards, since Christopher Shy was one the main reasons I became an artist, and also I have an interest in academic portrait painting.

What artistic techniques do you prefer?
- I do love mixed media, digital gives me the freedom to play around with all the elements of a painting and produce the best version I can. Lately I been starting with a very loose acrylic sketch on paper and building on top of that. Sometimes I'll take a photograph and paint on top of that. It's very organic, but fun and flexible process.
   I gotta say that the most important part and the part that never varies is trying to get a strong concept and composition from the start. After working the thumbnails to a satisfactory result, all bets are off.

So, you work with models and photos. Tell us more about that!
- Yeah, most of the models are friends or vintage photos free of copyright. I have a few things to say on these topics, for the vintage photos, so much in the modern art world it's about appropriation and some of it frankly disgusts me. I decided my take on appropriation would be the unsung, anonymous photographers of old. For example, I have a gargantuan collection of vintage nudes which raises quite a few eyebrows, but it's all about these strangers that exposed themselves and are now forgotten. Some days I like to think this is modern necromancy, raising the dead and reconstructing things are now just vague memories. I almost never use a face as it is, most of the time I cut and paste features to create people that never existed and I think there is something quite magical about that.
   As for photos of my friends or models, I just recently downgraded my professional camera to something more casual. Instead of obsessing about crystal clear detail, I want my photos to have less information, so I can fill in the blanks, and in my case, it makes the work more interesting, more characterful. I been toying around with shooting reference with a really shitty phone camera in the future, but let's see how it goes.
   I try not to be clinical about the photos, as all gaps and problems are meant to filled with painting. The end result may be neither a photograph nor a painting, but if it looks good, who cares?


You have made lots of work for VTES and others – what are you most proud of?
- It is quite difficult to say. I like to move forward and spend as little time on what I have already done as I can. Certainly, my series of illustrations for "The King in Yellow” are a high point, also I'm very proud of a project I can't announce yet, but it's about illustrating Lovecraft. For VTES, I love what I did in the last expansion, my best cards to date. And finally, I just love everything I have done for Tor.com, as these pieces are a very special, not only because I got total freedom to work the images I had in my mind, but also because the fiction was just the perfect fit.

What other work do you do these days? Anything special you want to promote?
- I have a Patreon where you can get screensavers and peek at my latest pieces before anyone else does, check it at www.patreon.com/ArayaArt. Also, you can buy prints of my work at www.etsy.com/shop/SamuelAraya. Thank you so much for the opportunity to share this, and all my best regards to the worldwide VTES community!

We thank Samuel for this interview. You can see more of his art at www.samarayaart.com, and check out his Instagram and Facebook. If you like artist interviews, these are our previous ones:
- Carmen Cornet
- Riccardo Fabiani
- Noora Hirvonen
- Ken Meyer Jr
- Heather Kreiter
- Mark Kelly
- Javier Santos

BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: FEBRUARY 2020

• The extensive VTES Fifth Edition spoiler season is ongoing! So far thirteen pieces of art have been previewed, all collected at the Blackchantry.com product page. More will follow, plus actual cards and details about the box contents. If you want to know more about Fifth Edition, please read Ben Peal's product update in the January newsletter.

• VTES is now available in the French language! The translated First Blood intro decks and Sabbat-themed precons were first sold at the International Games Festival in Cannes on February 21, but are now available in stores in France and other places.• The first official VTES playmats are now in production! With Mark Kellys excellent Parity Shift artwork, these beauties are made by Ultra Pro in the United States and should already be for sale in North America, but will appear in Europe in March.

• All the promised 115 Assamite VTES Legacy Card Singles are finally up on Drivethrucards.com. It took some effort with those last technical difficulties, but now Ur-Shulgi, Qadir ul-Ghani and the rest are available for purchase, all in updated templating and layout.

• Black Chantry supported the Flyos Games Kickstarter campaign for Vampire: The Masquerade - Chapters with the promo card Gabriel Tremblay. The card is exclusive in this special printing, but will be available in other versions at a later date. The campaign has ended with over 6.000 backers, but you can always late-pledge. Check it out if you´re into co-op adventure!

• Spanish language precons, both First Blood and the four 2019 Sabbat ones, are now available for print-on-demand at Drivethrucards.com.

• Currently 18 Black Chantry products are available through 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
- Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck
- Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck
- Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck
- Anthology I bundle
- VTES Card Creator (Drivethrucards only)
- 25th Anniversary
- First Blood: Malkavian
- First Blood: Nosferatu
- First Blood: Toreador
- First Blood: Tremere
- First Blood: Ventrue
- VTES Legacy Card Singles (Drivethrucards only)

Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE NOW ON FANTASY GROUNDS

Of all the wonderful things White Wolf and Paradox Interactive have done this past month, we like to give attention to that the Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition Ruleset now are available on the virtual desktop tool Fantasy Grounds. Great in these times when many want to play tabletop RPGs but it´s often hard to gather players on a physical location. 

CALENDAR

Upcoming events:
March 1: Pataleta en el Eliseo - Oviedo, Spain
March 1: Orleans Classique - Saint Jean de la Ruelle, France
March 1: Torneo Mega XP: First Blood 2020 - Mexico City, Mexico
March 1: Instantaneous Transformation - Fortaleza, Brazil
March 7: GP Ibérico - Córdoba, Spain
March 7: Coupe de Paris - Paris, France
March 7: Anarch Revolt - Florence, South Carolina, United States
March 7: Vtes Rush - Alagoas, Brazil
March 8: Life is a Samedi - Palma de Mallorca, Spain
March 8: Tappa Cittadina Bologna 2020 - Bologna, Italy
March 8: Revolutionary Council - Fortaleza, Brazil
March 14: Granada by Night Mar 2020 - Granada, Spain
March 14: Road to EC: Field Training - Joensuu, Finland
March 14: Praxis Seizure Lyon - Décines-Charpieu, France
March 14: Birthday Blood Party - Szczecin, Poland
March 14: Festivo Stockholm 2020 - Stockholm, Sweden
March 15: Bloody March (en Badia) - Badía del Vallés, Spain
March 15: VTES Malaga 03-2020 - Malaga, Spain
March 21: Taberna VTES - Thinblood - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
March 21: German Grand-Prix - Darmstadt, Germany
March 21: Tainted Spring - Pamplona, Spain
March 21: Delírios de um anormal - Juiz de Fora, Brazil
March 22: Undead & Bleeding - Darmstadt, Germany
March 28: Kamel Comedy Club - Vitrolles, France
March 28: Lublin: Bloody Ruby - Lublin, Poland
March 28: Powerbase: Sevilla - Sevilla, Spain
March 29: 2º Torneo VTES GTS Mallorca - Palma de Mallorca, Spain

For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.

CONTACT V:EKN

You can contact the V:EKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at V:EKN.net. Also follow the V:EKN Facebook group, the official V:TES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official V:EKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES

“Don't surround yourself with yourself.”

Art by Mitch Mueller for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition.

Greetings fellow Methuselahs

Happy New Year! May your bleeds be big and your ousts be plenty!

VTES PRODUCT UPDATE DECEMBER 2019

Some words from Ben Peal, Product Director of Black Chantry Productions:

Hey, everyone! Time for another update on where we are now, where we're going, and how we're getting there.

So, where are we now?
Since my last update back in March, we've released the 25th Anniversary Set, a bundle of promo cards as well as the Continental Championship promo cards, and the First Blood demo decks. We've also had the first-ever translations of VTES into other languages, with our first products now available in Spanish and Portuguese. Many thanks to our partners at Conclave Editora for their help and work with making Portuguese-translated cards a reality! And on December 24, we launched our first wave of card singles available via print-on-demand through our partners at Drivethrucards.com! Reprints of Assamite and Quietus cards are available now, with more to come!

What´s next?
Russian translations are in development and more translations will soon be announced. We were hoping to get the VTES Fifth Edition Camarilla-themed box set out by the end of this year, but it's looking like it'll be the second quarter of 2020. It will include pre-constructed decks for Malkavians, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, and Ventrue, plus all the game components required to play. As the conflict between the Camarilla and Anarchs is one of the central themes of V5 Vampire: the Masquerade, we're also in the middle of development of pre-constructed decks for the Anarch clans. We expect to start playtesting of those decks (and new cards for them!) at the end of January.

What else is down the road?
The struggle between the Camarilla and Anarchs will require follow-up expansions after the pre-constructed decks are released. This is partly due to moving into Group 6 with the Camarilla, partly due to Anarchs becoming a sect in their own right, and partly due to a lot of new canon material to work with. From there, we'd like to give the Lasombra and Hecata from V5 Vampire: the Masquerade proper treatment in VTES. What form that will take hasn't been determined, but we'll have a clearer picture on that when we have an opportunity to dive into some new material. We'll also get the 2019 promo cards reprinted in some form so you can all have access to them.

How are we getting there?
Something we've started with this year's Continental Championship promo cards is putting the "world" back into the World of Darkness, expanding the Princedoms to more cities and more places around the globe. That will continue with the Camarilla and Anarch decks. The Fifth Edition Camarilla decks will have the goals of providing an enjoyable experience within the box, teaching you how to play VTES, showing off the traits and qualities of each clan, and also being strong enough to be played outside of the boxed set. Expect to see some classic archetypes, such as Toreador Grand Ball and Ventrue Law Firm, but also some new twists, such as the bolstering of the Nosferatu. The Anarch decks will follow a similar path for the Anarch clans, such as Brujah and Gangrel, but will also see further development of Anarchs as a sect, with new Baronies and new Anarch three-way cards.

As always, many thanks to all of you for your continued support of the game and for your camaraderie!

- Ben Peal

SINGLE CARD BUFFET ON DRIVETHRUCARDS!

As many of you hopefully noticed, Black Chantry Productions had a little surprise holiday gift for us all: the beginning of a VTES single card print-on-demand service. Check out "VTES Legacy Card Singles” at Drivethrucards, and read more about it in the official announcement made on December 24.

Unfortunately, there were some errors in some of the files, so some cards had to be temporarily excluded. They will be back when the files have been reworked and cards physically proofed.

Many players immediately asked – why start with these Assamite cards? We forward that question to Hugh Angseesing, CEO of Black Chantry:
- Hello! Assamites will be getting a new, modern VTES treatment under the name Banu Haqim. This mirrors the treatment within the wider World of Darkness. It felt appropriate to bring the older cards out as a legacy purchase for players to continue to use them within VTES and Drivethrucards seemed like the ideal way to get these older cards back out there.

IMPORTANT DATES NOW SET!

The German European Grand Prix tournament in Darmstadt will be played on March 21, 2020.

The upcoming North American Cup tournaments will be:
• Charlotte, North Carolina on January 11, 2020

• Hamilton, Ontario on February 23, 2020 (see also Facebook)

• Boston, Massachusetts on April 4, 2020

• Columbus, Ohio – June 2020, exact date yet to be confirmed

VEKN will try to add essential updates for these events at the two pages VTES European Grand Prix 2019-2020 and North American Cup 2019-2020.

BILL TROXEL WINS NORTH AMERICAN CUP OHIO 2019!

Part 2 of the North American Cup was played on December 19 at the Comic Shop Plus in Heath, Ohio. 15 brave Methuselahs turned up, and these were the standings after three rounds:

1. Brad Cashdollar 2 GW, 9 VP
2. Bill Troxel 2 GW, 8 VP
3. Darby Keeney 2 GW, 7.5 VP
4. Karl Schaefer 2 GW, 7 VP
5. Kelly Schultz 1 GW, 3 VP

Congrats Bill Troxel, who got 4 victory points, while Brad Cashdollar scored 1. Remember that for a total list of all participants' results, you can always check the VEKN Event Calendar, in this case event number 9431.

Tournament winning deck:
Comment on the deck: http://www.vekn.net/forum/event-reports-and-twd/78231-twd-grand-prix-2019-ohio-valley-14-december#98282

Crypt (13 cards)
5x Anarch Convert 1 -none- +Anarch Caitiff:ANY
4x Babalawo Alafin 7 ani AUS FOR NEC Harbinger of Skulls:4
2x Crow 5 for pro tha ANI +Anarch Gangrel:5
1x Monica Chang 3 dom tha +Anarch Tremere:5
1x Mordechai Ben-Nun 8 ANI AUS FOR NEC Harbinger of Skulls:5

Library: 90 cards
Master (30 cards)
2x Direct Intervention
12x Liquidation
3x Maabara
1x Metro Underground
5x Parthenon, The

1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
2x Thaumaturgy
3x Wider View

Action Modifier (5 cards)
5x Call of the Hungry Dead

Action Modifier/Combat (4 cards)
4x Breath of Thanatos

Action Modifier/Reaction (2 cards)
2x Spectral Divination

Ally (11 cards)
11x Emerald Legionnaire

Reaction (33 cards)
5x Delaying Tactics
15x Detect Authority
5x Eyes of Argus
3x On the Qui Vive
5x Telepathic Misdirection

Event (5 cards)
2x FBI Special Affairs Division
3x Unmasking, The

Finalists: Brad, Kelly, Darby, Bill and Karl.

The next cup tournament is in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 11. Thanks to organizer Mark Loughman, other volunteers involved and of course to the players!

2019 IN RETROSPECT – A GREAT YEAR FOR VTES

The main purpose of the Vampire: Elder Kindred Network is to organize tournaments, and o´boy, what a year of tournaments is has been. During the year, no less than 210 events are registered in the VEKN event calendar, held in thirty different countries:

Spain    41 tournaments (!)
United States    38
France    19
Brazil    16
Chile    12
Finland    11
Germany    7
Italy    7
Portugal    7
Sweden    7
Poland    6
Hungary    4
Serbia 4
3 countries    3
8 countries    2
7 countries    1


Here´s a recap of the major VTES events in 2019:

February: Four Sabbat preconstructed decks hit store shelves, as did Anthology 1 (a reprint of most of Berlin Anthology).


February: The highly anticipated “Bloodlines 2” computer game is announced. Not a VTES event, but it will be important, because possibly more people know the World of Darkness setting from the original 2004 “Bloodlines” computer game than know it from Vampire: The Masquerade.

March: Daniel Gargulat wins Grand Prix Brno with a Tremere Carna toolbox deck.

March: The VTES Card Creator is launched at Drivethrucards, a way for you all to create your own VTES crypt cards.

April: Mariano Carbonero wins Grand Prix Iberia with a Harbingers Emerald Legionnaires deck.

April: The first new tournament promo cards in a long while are made available. Later during the year they are followed by more promos, most notably the Continental Championships 6-cap Barons.

April: The first round of playtesting of six preconstructed decks for VTES Fifth Edition begins.

May: Translations to Brazilian Portuguese and Russian are announced. The Brazilian decks became a reality in November, while the Russian decks will appear in 2020.

May: Radek Wróblewski wins Grand Prix Poland with a Ventrue antitribu grinder deck.

June: Corwin Brindley wins the North American Championship with a Camarilla bigcap MMPA deck. He later started the Struggle, Interrupted Youtube channel, one of the many examples of great VTES online content this year.

July: Martin Weinmayer wins Grand Prix Helsinki with a Gangrel Stanislava stealth-bleed/-vote deck.


August: Otso Saariluoma wins the 131 player European Championship held in Paris, France, playing an Animalism + Potence MMPA rush deck. Also at the EC weekend, Orian Gissler wins the Grand Prix final with an Animalism + Potence anarch Enkidu rush deck.

August: VTES celebrates 25 years as a game! Black Chantry honours this by producing the 25th Anniversary product, including the “Reign of Stanislava” deck and other goodies.

September: VEKN publishes a Code of Ethics document to remind members to look after each other and be respectful of differences.

October: The five First Blood introductory decks arrive in stores, aimed mainly for new players and organizers of demo games.

October: Steven Baldwin wins the Australian/New Zealand Championship helming a Malkavian Kindred Spirits stealth-bleed deck.

October: Johann Louie Ong wins the Asian Championship with a Malkavian mono-Dementation Kindred Spirits stealth-bleed deck.

October: The Spanish translation of the First Blood decks is announced, and turns up in stores a month later.

November: Alessandro Donati wins Grand Prix Bologna with Baali stealth-vote deck.

November: Rivanildon Frazão wins the South American Championship playing an Ishtarri vote/bleed deck.

November: Karl Schaefer wins the first North American Cup tournament, held in Denver, playing a Malkavian antitribu breed-boon deck.

December: The first Japanese tournament ever to be registered in the Tournament Winning Deck Archive is played! The winner in Tokyo is Francisco Conde, playing a bigcap Lasombra stealth-bleed deck. This is one example of VTES spreading all over the world once again!


The VEKN Inner Circle wants to thank all you who make all this VTES fun possible – VEKN volunteers, players, content creators, sponsors – and look forward to even more tournaments, products, content and community friendship in 2020. With VTES Fifth Edition box set in the works and the new North and South American Cup series launched, we anticipate a bright future for our beloved game. Keep on bleeding!

BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: DECEMBER 2019

• The first batch of VTES Legacy Card Singles is up on Drivethrucards. In this new way of print-on-demand, you can freely pick and choose how many of each card you want to buy.

• Playtesting round 3 of the Fifth Edition preconstructed decks is ongoing. Included is also a draft of the abbreviated rulebook that needs feedback from players.

• For more about what is going on, please read Ben Peal's message in the beginning of this newsletter.

• Currently 18 Black Chantry products are available through 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
- Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck
- Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck
- Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck
- Anthology I bundle
- VTES Card Creator (Drivethrucards only)
- 25th Anniversary
- First Blood: Malkavian
- First Blood: Nosferatu
- First Blood: Toreador
- First Blood: Tremere
- First Blood: Ventrue
- VTES Legacy Card Singles (Drivethrucards only)

Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

Some highlights in Vampire: The Masquerade and World of Darkness news this month:

• Vampire: The Masquerade source book “Cult of the Blood Gods” from Onyx Path is up on Kickstarter, currently just above 105.000 dollars.

• Preorders of Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle “Fall of London” from Modiphius have begun, with PDF available immediately.

• The fourth season of the actual play Twitch show “LA by Night” announced for January 2020.

• White Wolf has revealed that the production of the new core rules for Werewolf: The Apocalypse will be licensed to Hunters Entertainment.

CALENDAR

Upcoming events:
January 3: Daring Jupiter BCN - Barcelona, Spain
January 5: Babycards - Fortaleza, Brazil
January 11: University Hunting Ground: Charlotte - Charlotte, United States
January 11: Voice of Madness - Amadora, Portugal
January 12: Year of Fortune - Leeds, United Kingdom
January 12: Blood Siege: Liverpool - Liverpool, United Kingdom
January 12: Retorno Do Inconnu 2020 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
January 18: Granada by Night - Granada, Spain
January 18: Under the Blood Moon - Middlesbrough, United Kingdom
January 19: New Blood Year - Brasilia, Brazil
January 19: Powerbase Badalona - Badalona, Spain
January 25: 1ª Etapa do GP Sulamericano de V:TES - Fortaleza, Brazil
January 25: Torneo VTES GTS Mallorca - Palma de Mallorca, Spain
January 25: Port Hunting Ground - Gdansk, Poland

For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.

CONTACT V:EKN

You can contact the V:EKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at V:EKN.net. Also follow the V:EKN Facebook group, the official V:TES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official V:EKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES

“Underpromise. Overdeliver.”

"Ayelech" by Samuel Araya for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition.

Greetings fellow Methuselahs,

GET READY FOR VTES FIFTH EDITION “SPOILER SEASON”!

Black Chantry Productions tells that during February content of the upcoming VTES Fifth Edition will be revealed on Blackchantry.com and in social media channels. First you will be shown some artwork, and then, after the final playtesting has been concluded and everything is nailed, more information will appear and, eventually, actual cards will be spoiled. At the same time distributors will start making the orders on which the first print run sizes are based, so don´t forget to remind your friendly local game store to prod their distributors about getting stock.

Some Fifth Edition card art was shown in the November and December newsletters, and above is yet another piece: Ayelech, a Tremere Kindred, by the always excellent artist Samuel Araya.

Want to know more about Fifth Edition? Please read Ben Peal's product update in the last newsletter.

THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP SITE IS UP!

The organisers behind the VTES European Championship 2020 has launched the official website: vtes.orava.org/ec2020. The event will be held in Helsinki, Finland on July 24-26 at Ropecon, a huge convention for analogue games. Besides the normal EC tournaments there will be a Week of Nightmares, the European Grand Prix final and all kinds of fun and hospitality - check out the site for more information. Registration is not open yet, but please follow EC 2020 in social media and register early!

MAJOR TOURNAMENTS IN FEBRUARY: CHILE AND CANADA

If you are in the vincity, don´t miss the second South American Cup tournament! It is played in Santiago, Chile on February 22. The venue is Kaiju Sekai and the organiser is Gonzalo Andrés del Rio Díaz. More details are in the VEKN Event Calendar.

Also, the fourth of the North American Cup is played on February 23 at Mancala Monk in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, organised by Tim Fowler. Bring your best deck!

CLARIFICATION: LIMITED TOURNAMENTS

Members of the VEKN board have received questions about if it could be possible to get VEKN tournament ranking for other events than the normal standard constructed tournaments and “classic” limited formats booster draft and sealed deck. Answer: It is! For any tournament with the organiser's own limited rule variants, use the Limited Tournament Rules (and thus the Limited ranking).

The opening paragraph (7) in the Limited Tournament Rules says this: “The rules in this section apply to all Limited tournaments, including Sealed-Deck tournaments (sections 7.3 and 7.4) and Draft tournaments (sections 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, and 7.8).” This means the named paragraph covers Sealed-Deck and Draft, but not that other limited tournaments are excluded.

To illustrate this, and as a clarification, a new section 7.9 containing some examples of "restricted" tournaments has been added.

Examples:
- “Draft cube”: Use the Limited Tournament Rules.
- Tournament with only Sabbat vampires: Use the Limited Tournament Rules.
- Tournament with Black Chantry-printed cards only: Use Limited Tournament Rules.
- Tournament with only Jyhad-backed cards allowed: Use the Limited Tournament Rules.

Please, note that all general tournament rules apply. For example, that the event needs to be entered in the VEKN calendar and advertised, and its results reported, etc.

Hopefully this clarification will open minds for new ideas for all competitive players out there. Have fun!

CLASSIC DECKS: THE GORATRIX WALL

It´s been a while since we had one of these meaty strategy articles in this newsletter, but we´re glad to return to that tradition. This time we asked 2018 Grand Prix Europe champion and all around fantastic Finnish person Mika Nurmikolu to tell us about one of the most notorious decks of the game, the Goratrix Wall.

Before we start, lets have a look at one of his own successful versions of the deck:

Ropecon 2018 Finnish Grand Prix
Helsinki, Finland - July 28th 2018
49 players - Winner: Mika Nurmikolu

Crypt (12 cards, min=4, max=40, avg=6.17)
4x Goratrix  10  ANI AUS DOM THA vic      Tremere antitribu:2
4x Anarch Convert 1   -none-       Caitiff:ANY
2x Omaya  7   ANI AUS FOR pro      Gangrel antitribu:2
1x Anastasz di Zagreb 8   AUS THA ani cel dom  justicar  Tremere:3
1x Anton  8   ANI AUS cel obf vic      Tzimisce:2

Library (88 cards)
Master (20; 5 trifle)
4x Anarch Revolt
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Erciyes Fragments, The
1x Giant's Blood
1x Guardian Angel
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
1x Sudden Reversal
2x Vessel
3x Villein

Action (10)
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
1x Army of Rats
1x Deep Song
1x Graverobbing
3x Magic of the Smith
2x Nose of the Hound
1x Rutor's Hand

Ally (3)
1x Carlton Van Wyk
1x Mylan Horseed
1x Neighborhood Watch Commander

Equipment (5)
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Ivory Bow
1x Kevlar Vest
1x Ruins of Ceoris

Retainer (1)
1x Murder of Crows

Action Modifier (2)
2x Enkil Cog

Combat (9)
1x Breath of the Dragon
1x Canine Horde
7x Carrion Crows

Reaction (38)
6x Cats' Guidance
2x Deflection
5x Eagle's Sight
2x Enhanced Senses
6x Eyes of Argus
2x My Enemy's Enemy
2x On the Qui Vive
2x Read the Winds
6x Sense the Savage Way
5x Telepathic Misdirection

Hi Mika! We know you like this deck archetype, but would you still consider taking this deck to a tournament in 2020?
- Both yes and no! “Yes” because it works well in a variety of situations, being (in my humble opinion) a tier 1 toolbox with decent resources to handle almost any kind of table composition, if luck is on your side. “No” because if Goratrix is contested, it is game over, man – if you are unable to act, your prey and predator will be on you like students on a free bowl of spiked party punch. Also, the deck generates a lot of unnecessary table hate. If you think you can manage to soothe the sometimes irrational disposition of your fellow Methuselahs, you should consider piloting this deck, even though it will be in contest with me, at least... ;)

How do you play this deck successfully?
- I have some general points, applying to a variety of decks, but especially this one: Keep the table opinion from turning against you by being a nice player. The others have already a reason to watch you closely, and unfortunately the deck suffers from being a star vampire deck, and an easy one to recollect. Everybody remembers how they lost to Goratrix no matter what they tried to do. They also remember how they lost to combat, but they cannot probably name any single vampire whose fault that was, just that there were fangs and arms and heads flying in every direction, but with combat that is expected.
     Being seat 1 is the worst for this deck – with 1 transfer if you do not have Dreams in your opening hand, you are massively delayed. Your only possibilities are bringing up an Anarch Convert or discarding like a maniac to dig up some Dreams, which will not usually work. At the beginning of the game, transfer on Goratrix, and possibly bring an Anarch Convert if you are on seat 3 or 4. The other vampires are there only to complement Goratrix, and if somebody (your predator) knows you are playing Goratrix but do not have him on the table, they will overextend themselves to get free hits on you while they can. Try to look like you are playing another kind of deck and do not give any hints during the early rounds, for example do not discard Sense the Savage Way or Magic of the Smith to give useful information to your evil buddies.
     When Goratrix arrives, gauge the table response. You can block everything, but generally you should not. Do not threaten people around the table that you are going to be breathing on their necks if stuff does not happen. Nobody likes it when their cross-table ally tries to boss them around. Instead, wait for people to open the conversation about deals with you. It will happen, without you needing to take the initiative, since people know you are Goratrix and you can block everything. Being open to suggestive suggestions will further enhance your benevolent image. In addition, best value from deals comes if you do not need to spend any resources while keeping your word, for example if somebody asks you, you can tell them that "I will not Eagle's Sight you if you do A or B this turn" et cetera. It is polite, even more so if you currently do not have Eagle's Sight in your hand, and they will be in your debt.
     Do not be a kingmaker or give up, always try to scrape up some VPs to justify your wicked deeds to other unsuspecting minions that were trying to stealth past. The deck has great staying power over time if you hedge your bets carefully. If and when you must be an ass and block someone when they are going to win, try to be polite about it, and also at the same time make you win instead. The others will understand – and also make your life easier in the next tournament :P
     If somebody zeroes in on you and goes all in to oust you, use it to your advantage. Deflect a bleed of 2, feign a crap hand, then bounce an unblockable bleed of 7. Some players will stop for nothing to get an oust on Goratrix – let their hate earn you VPs.
     The deck is rather slow and gains power over time. Thus, let your prey do your work for you by softening your grandprey. Keep up the incentive by blocking any pool gain actions, such as superior Govern the Unaligned or Salubri “fill'em ups”, to make them use the Governs to move towards their prey and the pool waiting there. Other actions, like getting a .44 Magnum, depend on the deck of your prey. Toreador Celerity gun combat? Bad news, you have to block all their gun equips, and hope they do not pack Concealed Weapon. A Political or a bleed deck that has Magnums just in case? Fine, costs 2 pool and will not hurt you anyway, unless they go for the retainers.
     If you are unsure what to fetch, the first Magic of the Smith should get the Heart of Nizchetus. With it in play you can fix your hand against anything, pick the perfect master cards and cycle out the win conditions that you want to play later. Against combat, Ruins of Ceoris, Ivory Bow or Kevlar Vest is probably a better first pick, though. A nice trick – when you have the Heart and happen upon another Magic of the Smith, keep the second in your hand if the situation is not urgent. The heap of unused nice stuff at the bottom of your library is easily shuffled back by playing another Magic of the Smith and chuckling maniacally!

Does the deck have a best possible seating?
- The ideal predator would be a stealth-bleed, bruise-bleed or weenie bleed deck. Stealth-bleed is perhaps the best, especially if it has few ways to bleed responsibly. With a heavy bleeder as a predator, you can easily claim 2 VP and then timeout, resulting in a GW. Bruise-bleed can be good if you manage to cope with the bruising part, for example if they have no rushes. Weenie bleed is the most annoying of the three as far as the ideal predators go, because even you can run out of blocking power and they have plenty of minions. Try to make every block count and get them to torpor with Carrion Crows plus steal 2, then block rescues to starve their actions. Also, Aranthebes, the Immoral will stop them dead in their tracks.
     Another group of nicer-than-average predators is voters without massive stealth. You can make deals with them to let votes pass, and block the votes you dislike. This requires finesse, so be careful if you sense they are going to renege on a deal, for example, on a high-value vote such as Parity Shift or Banishment. After all, you do your part first, and if they change their mind after they have not been blocked, you will end up with the shortest straw, although you can block all of their votes later (should you survive).
     Stickmen decks will be good if you resist the temptation to block their bleeds, and instead bounce them. Note that any vampire with superior Fortitude and more than two blood will be able to Kiss of Ra you to torpor without any questions asked, and a decent predator will turn instantly into a horrible one. The only consolation will be that they cannot untap with Freak Drive and diablerize, but with an AUS/FOR predator you will never get Goratrix out of torpor yourself, so watch out for them, and block only with Omaya who has FOR herself, or some vampires that are expendable.
     Ally decks without aggressive combat are also fine – Goratrix can hold Legionnaires, Shambling Hordes or Nephandi at bay quite easily, if you do not run out of untap at a critical moment. Watch out for the Pentex though, and keep a Sudden Reversal and/or 2+ bounces in your hand if an ally deck is waiting to lunge.
     Nice preys will usually be anything with large non-threatening vampires you can block. Political decks – make deals with them. Bloat decks – block all their bloat. Bleed decks – let them soften your prey and bleed them meanwhile, Eagle's Sighting or Life Booning their win away from them. An additional benefit is if your prey cannot bounce the bleeds you will be bouncing to them!

And what is this deck archetype's most problematic preys and predators?
- One particularly nasty group is other wall decks with a better combat module. You will need to stack cards on Goratrix in order for him to come up on top in the late-game combats. If you are constantly and consistently blocked, you cannot gear up. Your hand will jam with useful cards you cannot use. In these kinds of situations, try to make a deal with the other block deck that you both can fetch gear on your vampires on 1 per 1 basis. Unless absolutely necessary, do not block them if they are playing card-based combat and you get a feeling that they can kick your undead butt in combat. A naked Goratrix is an easy prey to a red hand. Also, do not overextend yourself when blocking – there´s nothing worse than getting the Kiss of Ra from a random Govern down...
     The deck is slow to cause pool loss, so if your prey somehow bloats and you cannot prevent it, your game will proceed at a snail's pace. The best play then will probably be to let them influence out more minions to overextend their pool. They will probably not care about you if they have built a decent pool buffer and will be harassing your grandprey. If your grandprey goes into defensive mode, your grandpredator hopefully can stall your predator and you can try to do something, so bleed for 1 and 2 whenever you can. But with a little bit of bad luck and no Eagle's Sights, your grandprey will be gone quite soon.
     Dedicated ranged or melee combat, expendable weenies, or anything with aggro are dangerous. Your maximum ranged damage per round is 2 from Carrion Crows and steal 2, which can discourage but not stop Celerity gun decks, especially if they have a Taste in their hand. An Animalism weenie deck can whittle you down by rushing you with minions on 1 blood, and Goratrix has no way of dealing with aggravated damage. Try to leverage Omaya with Crows or gear up quickly to protect yourself against combat, otherwise you will have to count on cross-table rescues.

What are the most obvious changes you would do to the version above?
- Add any cards! It´s 88 cards only because I ran out of my lucky sleeves from Palma, but the deck still managed to win :P Some general suggestions: More Deflections, Gambit Accepted (just for the giggles), Constant Revolution, Revelations.
     Some more situational adaptations: If there are lots of ally decks, there will probably be ally hate too, so remove Mylan Horseed and Carlton Van Wyk and replace with Kindred Segregation and Far Mastery. Strangely enough, usually nobody wants to steal Neighbourhood Watch Commander.
     If there is no combat, free minions in torpor are harder to come by, so remove Graverobbing and perhaps Breath of the Dragon and Nose of the Hound (the Nose is great when you can surprise rush a weakened vampire, but if there is no combat, there are fewer good targets)
     If you suspect aggro combat, put in Rego Motus, but your best bet is staying out of combat whenever you can.

Do you have any other tips and comments?
- The original version has 7 Auspex bounces (2 My Enemy´s Enemy, 5 Telepathic Misdirection, and 2 Dominate bounces (2 Deflection). Adding a few more probably will not hurt, and maybe remove Mylan, his value is debatable nowadays with so much ally hate going around. Breath of the Dragon is a one-off surprise due to Finnish Politics :P but if your metagame prefers discussion, it can be dropped. It is of great value against Celerity gun combat, though!
     Generally, try not to discard your essential late-game cards, which can include but are not limited to the following, depending on the deck composition: Army of Rats, Canine Horde (for taking out their crucial piece of equipment, it works against all equipment, not just weapons!), Revelations, Rutor's Hand, Enkil Cog, Constant Revolution, Gambit Accepted, Life Boon (it actually works!), Smiling Jack, The Anarch, Pentex Subversion (for contesting) and Sudden Reversal (to sudden a Pentex, of course). Keep them in your hand for the beginning of the game and play them later at a critical moment. Especially Smiling Jack will bring you tables when you have your defenses set up.
     But what crazy shenanigans are up with the Gambit Accepted, you may ask? Well, it is a rather modern addition to the mix and it has several effects: 1) Drain 1 pool per turn from your prey and sit behind your wall, just chilling and winning, and 2) Your predator will become super-reckless in order to get you, and you can use this momentum to your advantage, and the hidden third factor: 3) You insulate your game against the other Methuselahs remaining at the table – nobody in their right mind will want to help your predator anymore in this game when you interrupt their deal-making with your casual observation of the card text. The reaction should be akin to "What, 6 pool and 2 VPs from an oust?! Sorry man, no deal, that's just too obscene, you will have to take Goratrix down yourself."
     With this last bit of experimental addition I wish you good luck to your games, and may your tables always be interesting, if not successful!

Thanks Mika for this thorough rundown. If you like articles such as this, also have a look at the previous ones:
• Ventrue lawfirm
• Kindred Spirits stealth-bleed
• Auspex weenie wall

Do you want to contribute to the newsletter with a strategy article like this? If you think you have what it takes, please contact the editor Henrik.

BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: JANUARY 2019

• To celebrate that VTES "parent game" Vampire: The Masquerade is released in Polish soon, a special Polish-related VTES promo crypt card has been created. It´s a Malkavian, it´s an anarch, and his name is Boleslaw Gutowski. Follow Black Chantry in social media for the full reveal!

• VTES is soon available in French! Both the First Blood intro decks and the four Sabbat-themed precon decks have been translated - read the full announcement here.

• Getting the first VTES Legacy Card Singles is up on Drivethrucards as promised proved more difficult than expected. But they will all be there very soon, even the mighty Ur-Shulgi!

• Round 3 of playtesting VTES Fifth Edition is now over, and Black Chantry wants to thank everyone that has participated in both testing the cards and giving feedback on the new rulebook.

• Chief Marketing Ghoul Henrik Klippström is preparing the Fifth Edition "spoiler season" mentioned at the top of this newsletter, trying to present the news in a delicate way to kindle the interest in both old Methuselahs and fresh Neonates.

• Art Director Ginés Quiñonero oversees the creation of a new, modern graphic profile for VTES, including a new logo. But don´t worry, card backs will not be affected! This will be made public in February. For more about Ginés, we recommend the recent Bindusara interview with him.

• Currently 18 Black Chantry products are available through 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
- Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck
- Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck
- Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck
- Anthology I bundle
- VTES Card Creator (Drivethrucards only)
- 25th Anniversary
- First Blood: Malkavian
- First Blood: Nosferatu
- First Blood: Toreador
- First Blood: Tremere
- First Blood: Ventrue
- VTES Legacy Card Singles (Drivethrucards only)

Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

Some particularly interesting news about Vampire: The Masquerade and World of Darkness this month:

• The fourth season of the actual play Twitch show “LA by Night” begun airing on January 31.

• On January 30 White Wolf posted a World of Darkness community survey for all fans to answer. This includes questions which affects VTES, so please participate!

• "Vein Pursuit" is a new streamed tabletop role-playing game vampire chronicle preceding the events of the upcoming "Bloodlines 2" computer game. All episodes of the campaign can be watched weekly on Twitch.tv/WorldOfDarkness starting January 31, and is available for replay on the World of Darkness Youtube channel.

• Flyos Games launches the Kickstarter campaign for Vampire: The Masquerade - Chapters on February 4. Check it out if you´re into co-op adventure!

CALENDAR

Upcoming events:
February 1: Dawn of a new era - Santiago, Chile
February 1: Red cards will keep you warm - Logroño, La Rioja, Spain
February 1: Ahrimane Protectorate I: Rat's Warning - Helsinki, Finland
February 2: Crusade: Jacintinho - Maceió, Brazil
February 8: UK Nationals - Leeds, United Kingdom
February 8: The Comeback - São Paulo, Brazil
February 8: Bloody february - Madrid, Spain
February 8: Abomination 2 - New Holland, United States
February 8: Feijocards Limited - Fortaleza, Brazil
February 8: Torneio de Fevereiro na Red - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
February 9: Dutch ECQ: the Secret Library of Montfoort - Utrecht, Netherlands
February 9: Manacor Blood - Manacor, Spain
February 9: Aftermath - Leeds, United Kingdom
February 9: Blood of Valentine - Verona, Italy
February 15: La Serena By Night - La Serena, Chile
February 15: Shadows Theater - La Pobla de Vallbona, Spain
February 15: Granada by Night Feb 2020 - Granada, Spain
February 15: Road to EC: New Blood - Joensuu, Finland
February 15: Monde de merde - Lyon, France
February 16: Tension in the Ranks - Toluca de Lerdo, Mexico
February 22: South American Cup 2020 - Santiago, Chile
February 22: Under the Blood Moon - Middlesbrough, United Kingdom
February 23: Transfer of Power Hamilton: North American Cup V - Hamilton, Canada
February 23: Black Night 2020 - Palma de Mallorca, Spain
February 29: 3rd Tragic Love Affair - Espoo, Finland
February 29: Silesia by Night - Katowice, Poland

For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.

CONTACT V:EKN

You can contact the V:EKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at V:EKN.net. Also follow the V:EKN Facebook group, the official V:TES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official V:EKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES

“Become who you are!”

Greetings fellow Methuselahs

November, november, what a month to remember! The tournament scene has never been better – the major events are hard to fit in a newsletter!

ALESSANDRO DONATI WINS GRAND PRIX BOLOGNA 2019

Organizer Simone Zanni describes the Italian Grand Prix 2019 tournament as “a total success”, and judging by the attendance and the many lovely photos posted on Facebook, one has to agree! 50 players showed up in Bologna on November 23. After three preliminary rounds, these were the standings:

1. Danilo Torrisi 2 gw, 8.5 vp
2. Andrea Paderni 2 gw, 8 vp
3. Alessandro Donati 2 gw, 7 vp
4. Alain Greiner 2 gw, 7 vp
5. Stefano Tarozzi 2 gw, 6.5 vp

Final results: Danilo 1 vp, Alain 1 vp, Alessandro 3 vp – congratulations Alessandro Donati!

Tournament winning deck: TWD Italian Gran Prix 2019/20

VEKN thanks our sponsor Ultra Pro, the organizers, photographer Emma Tuttofumo Wilde and all the players for yet another fantastic tournament in Italy. All attendants as well as all future attendants of the European Grand Prix 2019-2020 events will be awarded the nice playmat depicted below, with brutal artwork by the great Carmen Cornet.

RIVANILDON FRAZÃO IS THE 2019 SOUTH AMERICAN CHAMPION

20 players gathered in Campina Grande, Brazil, on November 16 to decide who the best Methuselah of the continent is.



Standings before the final:
1. Mailton 3 gw, 10 vp
2. Andrey 2 gw 9 vp
3. Fernanda 2 gw 7 vp
4. Silvano 1 gw 5 vp
5. Rivanildon 1 gw 5 vp


Final results: Mailton 1 victory point, Rivanildon 4 victory points – congratulations, Rivanildon!

Tournament winning deck: TWD - South American Championship 2019



Thanks to tournament organizer Kleber Bertazzo, all helpers and attendants!

KARL SCHAEFER WINS NORTH AMERICAN CUP 2019: DENVER

No less than four VTES tournaments were played in Denver and Seattle the weekend of November 8-10, under the supervision of Darby Keeney (Denver) and Grayson Nootenboom (Seattle). The image above shows the four winners Marshall T Hogue, Bill Troxel, Karl Schaefer and Darby Keeney. Congratulations all!

The main event was the Denver part of the North American Cup 2019, known as “Well-Aimed Car” in the VEKN.net calendar. It attracted 17 players of which the top five before the final were:
1. David Litwin 2 gw, 7 vp
2. Darby Keeney 1 gw, 7 vp
3. Bill Troxel 1 gw, 6 vp
4. Karl Schaefer 1 gw, 5 vp, 150 TP
5. Kevin Mitcham 1 GW, 5 VP, 90 TP


Final results: Karl 1.5 vp, David, Bill and Kevin 0.5 vp – Congratulations, Karl Schaefer!

Read more at VTES in North America

Karl's tournament winning deck, with comments: TWD: Well-Aimed Car, Denver CO

Thanks to organizers and players – and good luck with the rest of the Cup!

TOMMI HAKOMAA IS THE FINLAND 2019 CHAMPION

26 players turned up in Espoo to play this year's Finnish championship.



Top 5 standings after last preliminary round:
1. Tommi Hakomaa 2 gw, 8.5 vp
2. Matias Frosterus 2 gw, 7 vp
3. Matti Palomäki 2 gw, 7 vp
4. Jyri Puhakka 2 gw, 5.5 vp
5. Teemu Sainomaa 1, 5.5 vp


Final result: Tommi 1.5 vp, Matti 1 vp, Matias 0.5 vp, Teemu 0.5 vp – congratulations, Tommi Hakomaa!

Tournament winning deck: TWD: Finnish Nationals 2019

The champion Tommi Hakomaa (left) is awarded by organizer Tero Aalto.

---

ZSOLT CIRAKI IS THE HUNGARIAN CHAMPION 2019

Budapest was the place, October 27 was the time, and 17 players attended. Standings after 3 rounds of battle:

1. Zsolt Cziraki 2 gw, 7.5 vp
2. Balazs Kaloczkai 2 gw, 4.5 vp
3. Szilveszter Miklós 1 gw, 4.5 vp
4. Sebestyen Balazs 1 gw, 4 vp
5. Gyula Erdos 1 gw, 4 vp


Final results: All players 0.5 vp - congratulations Zsolt Cziraki, top seed and new champion of Hungary!

Tournament winning deck: Hungarian Championship 2019 (VEKN.net)

Thanks to organizer Vaka Máté and all attendants!

 

RICARDO MARTA IS THE CHAMPION OF PORTUGAL 2019

Tito Teixeira organized the Portuguese championship this year, held in Lisbon on November 2. 19 players attended and judging by the Archon report, the preliminary rounds were TENSE.

The top five before the final were:
1. Ricardo Marta 1 gw, 5 vp, 156 tp
2. Tito Teixeira  1 gw, 5 vp, 132 tp
3. Luis Sancho 1 gw, 4 vp
4. Diogo Pratas 1 gw, 3 vp
5. Javier Naranjo 0 gw, 3 vp


The final was also TENSE! Result: All players 0.5 vp - congratulations, Ricardo Marta, Portuguese champion 2019!

Tournament winning deck: Girls Will Find Inner Peace - Gambas version
“Based on Otso Saariluoma's from Finnish NC 2018, Girls post Anthelios. Changed a DT for a Confusion because of the Parity Shifts, 2 Mental Maze against allies like Legionnaires and Nephandus. Missing one Perfect Paragon, but not sure what to take out for it.”

Crypt (12)
1x Lucian, the Perfect      11 ANI AUS DOM OBF POT PRE Guruhi:4
1x Lutz von Hohenzollern     11 pot AUS DEM OBF PRE   Malkavian:4
2x Nana Buruku          8 ANI POT PRE       Guruhi:4
1x Nergal            10 AUS DAI FOR OBF PRE THA Baali:5
1x Rafael de Corazon       11 AUS CEL DOM OBF PRE   Toreador:4
3x Aksinya Daclau        9 cel tha ANI FOR PRE PRO Gangrel antitribu:4
3x Cybele            10 ANI DAI OBF PRE SER THA Baali:4

Library: 90
Master (57)
1x Giant's Blood
1x Golconda: Inner Peace
2x Information Highway
1x Jake Washington
9x Liquidation
1x Archon Investigation
1x Metro Underground
1x Misdirection
1x Monastery of Shadows
3x Parthenon, The
15x Ashur Tablets
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
7x Villein
1x Wider View
6x Zillah's Valley
1x Blind Spot
1x Coven, The
1x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx

Action (6)
2x Entrancement
1x Intimidation
2x Unleash Hell's Fury
1x Call the Great Beast

Action Modifier (15)
2x Elder Impersonation
1x Enkil Cog
2x Faceless Night
1x Into Thin Air
2x Lost in Crowds
1x Mirror Walk
1x Perfect Clarity
1x Veil the Legions
2x Aire of Elation
2x Cloak the Gathering

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

Combat (4)
4x Majesty

Reaction (6)
1x Guard Dogs
1x Lost in Translation
2x Mental Maze
1x Confusion of the Eye
1x Delaying Tactics

Event (1)
1x Narrow Minds


Thanks to our sponsor Ultra Pro, volounteers and players!

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NIKOLAJ WENDT IS THE 2019 DANISH CHAMPION

Played on November 23. Excellent report from organizer Christian Nislev:

The attendance has been dropping in the last few years, but this year the trend turned upwards with 20 players participating – not least due to a strong turnout by non-Danes, for example Swedes from Malmö, who seem to have come out of torpor and hungry for blood.

The Danish meta is typically combat-heavy compared with elsewhere, but this year saw a more moderate metagame with an even distribution of stealth-bleed, fat cap voters, ally-decks and a bit of combat.


The following players reached the final:
1. Nikolaj Wendt 2 gw, 7.5 vp
2. Sebastian Fredenberg 2 gw, 5 vp
3. Rudolf Scholz 1 gw, 7.5 vp
4. Henrik Andersen 1 gw, 6.5 vp
5. Nico Scholz 1 gw, 5 vp


While the ally decks were setting up at one end of the table, the bleed decks were pressing forward from early on, and the bleed-bouncing was intense. After more than an hour’s play, Sebastian was ousted by Henrik who had three vampires out and another one on the way.

The last part of the final saw intense activity with Nikolaj promising Nico to hold off with bleeds so she could go forward in the hope of ousting Rudolf in a few turns. Henrik pushed forward against Nikolaj but Nikolaj kept bouncing bleeds to Nico with Aksinya’s ability and Lost in Translation. To cycle cards, Henrik stealthed past Nico’s blocking minions to deliver a strong bleed against her. Nikolaj saw his chance and informed Nico that he would break the deal since she was now within ousting range. Shortly after, she was ousted.

With a few minutes left, Rudolf pressed Henrik hard and came close to ousting him, but he ran out of time before the final few bleed actions could be carried out.

With Nikolaj and Henrik on 1.5 VPs each, Nikolaj won the Danish National Championship 2019 due to entering the final in top position.

A highly unusual final of a Danish championship, with neither combat or vote decks present. The winner was, however, not unexpectedly, Nikolaj Wendt – a former Prince of Copenhagen (now in exile in Serbia) and enfant terrible of the Danish V:TES scene who has for many years been THE player to beat in Denmark (rumour has it that ousting him in casual games is worth 1.5 VPs...).

Tournament winning deck: Aksinya weenie PRE - Danish Nationals 2019
Nikolaj's comment: "Aksinya is one of my favorite vampires, and I have been trying to slot her into different archetypes (previously the obvious ANI one). She offers great support for the problems that I feel weenie PRE decks normally face."

Crypt (12)
4x Anarch Convert                1 -none-                   Caitiff:ANY
1x Jayne Jonestown               2 PRE                      Brujah antitribu:4
1x Loonar                        4 cel PRE                  Toreador antitribu:4
1x Lumumba                       4 ani PRE                  Guruhi:4
1x Marla Kenyon                  4 ser PRE                  Follower of Set:4
1x Reginald Moore                4 PRE                      Brujah:4
3x Aksinya Daclau                9 cel tha ANI FOR PRE PRO  Gangrel antitribu:4

Library: 67
Master (31)
2x Anarch Revolt
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Giant's Blood
3x Information Highway
1x Jake Washington
3x Liquidation
2x Misdirection
4x Parthenon, The
9x Ashur Tablets
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Barrens, The
1x Coven, The
1x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx

Action (15)
2x Entrancement
5x Mind Numb
8x Public Trust

Action Modifier (4)
4x Aire of Elation

Combat (7)
5x Majesty
2x Staredown

Reaction (10)
5x Guard Dogs
3x Lost in Translation
2x Delaying Tactics

Congratulations Nikolaj, and thanks to all players and special thanks to Christian for the nice report.

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BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: NOVEMBER 2019

It´s been a bit quiet from Black Chantry the past months, but no worries – things are happening!

• Both the five First Blood decks and the 25th Anniversary set are now on print-on-demand! Check it out at Drivethrucards

• Design director Ben Peal has been polishing the VTES Fifth Edition box decks for some kind of third round of playtesting, which will begin within shortly. Especially the Banu Haqim deck has required extra attention, and balancing the decks against each other is not easy.

• Rules director Vincent Ripoll is in charge of editing a brand new illustrated VTES rulebook. This is a big project which involves all of Black Chantry, as well as some external eyes and hands, including selected playtesting groups, and the circle of reviewers and testers will widen with time. There will also be a shorter, simplified rulebook for the Fifth Edition box, that will omit rules that won´t appear in that box set.

• Art director Ginés Quiñonero is in charge all things artwork-related, in recent time some late commissions for Fifth Edition and some 2020 promo cards. As was told earlier, almost all Fifth Edition artwork is already done, and “spoiler season” begins right now, with Carmen Cornet's violent piece found at the top of this newsletter. Just wait til we show the actual card!

• Currently 17 Black Chantry products are available through 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
- Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck
- Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck
- Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck
- Anthology I bundle
- VTES Card Creator
- 25th Anniversary
- First Blood: Malkavian
- First Blood: Nosferatu
- First Blood: Toreador
- First Blood: Tremere
- First Blood: Ventrue

Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

Lots of things are happening concerning Vampire: The Masquerade. Some highlights this month:

• The highly praised “L A by Night” streamed tv-series is paused after three seasons, but its storyteller Jason Carl now leads “Seattle by Night”. The city is the setting for the upcoming “Bloodlines 2” game, so this will surely be interesting. Check it out at twitch.tv/pennyarcade

• Draw Distance-created “Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York” is close to launch on Steam (Windows, Mac, Linux). These past months we have seen previews of more characters from the game – take a peek at the Steam page.

• 874 backers supported the The Mega Board Game “Vampire: the Masquerade - Blood Feud” with over 100,000 dollar at Kickstarter. Late pledges are possible!

• You can now play a prologue of the story driven board game “Vampire the Masquerade - Chapters” at Tabletopia. All eight characters that will be available in the core box have been revealed, now also the The Ministry one. The Kickstarter for this game launches February 4 2020.

CALENDAR

Upcoming events:
December 1: Churrascarta - São Paulo, Brazil
December 6: Demo First Blood - Logroño, Spain
December 7: Blood Hunt - Palma, Spain
December 7: Pszcyna the Final Polish VtES League - Pszcyna, Poland
December 8: Último Torneio do ano - Maceió, Brazil
December 8: Zillah's Tears IV - Chill of Oblivion - Vantaa, Finland
December 14: Battle for Santiago - Santiago, Chile
December 14: Y el PTO pa cuando? - Algeciras, Spain
December 14: Granada by Night Dec 2019 - Granada, Spain
December 14: Y el PTO pa cuando? - Algeciras, Spain
December 14: Anarch Secession - Madrid, Spain
December 14: Tokyo Creepshow - Tokyo, Japan
December 14: Battle for Skåne "Claiming the throne " - Malmö, Sweden
December 14: Grand Prix 2019 Ohio Valley - Heath, United States
December 14: Christmas Celebration Sealed - Magdeburg, Germany
December 15: Marató TV3 - Barcelona, Spain
December 15: Rapid Healing - Heath, United States
December 15: Powerbase: Mexico City 2019 - Mexico City, Mexico

For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.

CONTACT V:EKN

You can contact the V:EKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at V:EKN.net. Also follow the V:EKN Facebook group, the official V:TES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official V:EKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES

“Life is short, and art long, opportunity fleeting, experimentations perilous, and judgment difficult.”