Report by Joscar Gamaliel Malacaman, VEKN Prince of Taguig:

On May 25, 2024, 25 players gathered to culminate the revival of the Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Competitive Scene in the Philippines with Kagatanfest '24, our first Philippine National Championships in more than a decade and the first premiere competitive event in the country since ACC 2018. The tournament was held at The Office by Rollplay in Estancia Mall, Pasig City. We played 3 rounds and a final from 10am until 9pm. There was a really good mix of old and new players with representatives sired by each of the 4 active princes in the country and even players who predate the prince system. In attendance was also our National Coordinator, Johann Ong who flew in from Iloilo City, and Christopher Choy who joined us from the Lion City, Singapore.

The meta was diverse with 13 unique clans represented while 5 players played a mixed crypt. Tremere was the most represented clan with 4 players, followed by Ventrue, Ministry. and Brujah with 2, while the other clans had a single representative. Here are the clan distribution as well as the decks the players used during the tournament.

For our prizes, we gave out the usual promo cards available to us from the Black Chantry Productions but to add a bit of uniqueness, we also had a custom playmat and player seating cards commissioned from Jeremiah Faustino who also happens to be a member of the Philippine VTES community. The player seating cards depicted the top 5 highest ranking players leading into the National Championships. Our National Coordinator also added some prizes to literally sweeten the pot with the Finalists also receiving some Butterscotch snacks from his region as well as a pack of Twilight Rebellion.

After 3 grueling rounds, our finalists emerged from the chaos and we were:
1. Joscar Gamaliel Malacaman - 3 GW - 8.5 VP - 180 TP
2. Christopher Choy 2 GW - 7 VP - 144 TP
3. Micon Garcia - 1 GW - 8 VP - 156 TP
4. Jeremiah Faustino (yes, our artist) - 1 GW -  6 VP - 120 TP
5. Justine Peralta - 1 GW - 5 VP - 114 TP

In the end, Joscar Malacaman pulled ahead of the pack with 3 VP in the final to become the Philippine National Champion and celebrate his 7th consecutive win in 7 months. Micon Garcia and Christopher Choy both scored 1 VP as well in the final. Another story of note here is that it is only Justine Peralta's second tournament after learning the game recently.

The tournament winning decklist: ”Matasuntha Makes It Look Easy”
Comment: ”This third iteration of the Matasuntha deck was geared towards having the ability to rush and torpor multiple vampires in the same turn while keeping the same defensive energy that has won me a couple of tournaments this competitive season. I was expecting a lot of weenie or stealth bleed decks together with the usual combat heavy meta in the Philippines and so I wanted to take a more proactive approach in taking control of the table. The decision to add more rush cards and diversify them was made specifically to handle both. It's not easy but Matasuntha makes it look easy. Check the individual pictures for round by round reports.”

Crypt (13)
5x Matasuntha 10 ANI AUS CEL FOR PRO Gangrel:5
4x Anarch Convert 1 -none- Caitiff:ANY
2x Casey Snyder 6 ani cel for PRO Gangrel:6
1x Massimiliano 7 pro ANI FOR Gangrel:6
1x Mickey Wheeler 5 ani cel for pro Gangrel:6

Library: 90 cards
Master (16 cards)
3x Vessel
2x Villein
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Carfax Abbey
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Gangrel Revel
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Rack, The
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
1x Wider View

Action (9 cards)
4x Deep Song
2x Harass
2x Nose of the Hound
1x Taunt the Caged Beast

Retainer (4 cards)
2x Dog Pack
2x Raven Spy

Equipment (1 cards)
1x Heart of Nizchetus

Action Modifier (7 cards)
3x Forced March
3x Instantaneous Transformation
1x Enkil Cog

Combat (31 cards)
9x Diversion
6x Hell-for-Leather
5x Drawing Out the Beast
5x Taste of Vitae
4x Trap
2x Voracious Vermin

Reaction (22 cards)
6x Guardian Vigil
4x Bait and Switch
4x Deep Ecology
4x Organized Resistance
2x On the Qui Vive
2x Eyes of the Wild

We'd like to extend our thanks to the Office by Rollplay for allowing us to host our nationals at their venue as well as our supportive havens in Metro Manila: 89 Panay and Hobbies & Sheets. We would also like to recognize the efforts of our princes: Joscar, Micon, Paul, and Johann in continuously growing the community and expanding the reach of the game.

This event was played in Vienna on June 8 with 30 players. Reported by Richard Unter, with comments by the champion:

Comment by Paul Direktor:
“Returning the Austrian championship title to a Viennese player feels great and fitting for a first tournament victory. After playing competitive VTES for almost exactly a year (my first tournament on June 10,2023), this was my second national championship. Gaining some experience in Grand Prixs and some successes (one final, almost another one in my last 4 tournaments) in previous tournaments, I was looking forward to this one. It was great to see so many players (30) from nine different countries around. This community is the main reason I've stuck with the game. Everyone is welcoming and helpful to new players, which is fantastic.

I decided on the deck at the last minute, after some fine-tuning (thanks to Tero for his assistance!) the night before. I hadn't tested that deck version yet; the first version had been crushed in our weekly Thursday night games the day before. I expected a decent amount of combat from our eastern european neighbours and decided that eliminating them before they could harm my vampires was a viable strategy.

Round 1 (5 players):
I had a great start to the first game, quickly eliminating my prey (Giovanni combat). Following intense pressure from G1 Malkav powerbleed, my predator (Ventrue multi-act) was swiftly removed. After my second prey (Massassi combat/wall) proved hard to oust, I got some help from the Malkavian. Two back-deflects and one Direct Intervention from Massassi brought him down to 5 pool. One Week of Nightmares and a bleed for 4 later he was killed by the Famous Royce in torpor, allowing me to finish the Malkavians off and getting my GW and 4 VPs.

Round 2 (5 players):
Weenie Animalism's Deep Songs destroyed my vampires after a very strong Round 1. I was ultimately expelled following a few cross-table rescues and assistance from my own prey. The final player on the table was dispatched quickly by the Weenie animalism Deck, earning them 1 GW and 3 VPs.

Round 3 (5 players):
The third round proved to be really important in the end. I encountered two finalists (Martin and Lukas), and learned about their decks. I decided to try to oust Martin as soon as possible, which proved very hard. He stayed in the game longer than I had anticipated thanks to his strong pool gain and crosstable assistance with votes and rushes (at one point, he had to play an alastor on my grandpredators Banu Haqim deck in order to rush my vampires).
    After ousting Martin with my Week of Nightmares, I needed to deal with Lukas Unnamed Platinum Deck. I came very close to ousting him, but with an unlocked Unnamed and Carlton he would have blocked my ousting bleed, as I had no stealth on hand and no way to cycle. After that, i lost to Igor Beslin's Stanislava, but the 1 VP from ousting Martin proved to be enough for the final. 1GW 5VPs.”

Standings before the finals:
1. Lukas Simandl 2 GW 7.5 VP
2. Florian Koller 1 GW 6.5 VP
3. Martin Weinmayer 1 GW 6 VP
4. Milan Popovic 1 GW 5 VP
5. Paul Direktor 1 GW 5 VP

“As the last seed, I didn't get to choose my position anyway. Martin was fortunate enough to be seated behind the two Unnamed decks, who started contesting right away. Since there was just one vampire in Florian's crypt, this was the only thing he did for the remainder of the game.
    Fortunately for me, aside from a few Platinum Protocol bleeds, I was under minimal pressure.
My best chance was to oust my prey as soon as possible, before they could build up their Emerald Legionnaires. The free "influence" on Breaking the Bonds proved invaluable; I quickly gathered five minions and ousted my prey. Meanwhile, Martin managed to oust Flo.
    Lukas crumbled under the pressure of votes and bleeds, without the pool gain of The Unnamed he got ousted and it was only me and Martin, who was on 26 pool at that point.
    By then I had a Week of Nightmares and a Heart of Nizchetus, but I still saw my chances very slim since Martin could deal a lot of damage.
    Bringing Martin down to 14 pool, I passed the turn and hoped for the best. He only managed to bring me down to 2 pool, having 16 himself and gave me one last turn. I got a Club Illusion on hand, so I used my second to last pool to play it. Having 4 ready minions, Sreelakah bled him for 7, three more bleeds for 3 and Martin was suddenly and to my own surprise at 0 pool, which gave me the second VP and the gamewin as last man standing.”

Final results: Martin Weinmayer 2 VP, Paul Direktor 3 VP. Congratulations Paul!

The tournament winning deck: “Breaking the protocol”

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Phaibun 5 OBF PRE ani Ravnos:7
2x Roberto Rivamonte 6 ANI OBF PRE Ravnos:7
2x Sreelekha 8 ANI FOR OBF PRE Ravnos:7
1x Doc Martina 6 ANI OBF for pre Ravnos:7
1x Gathii 5 ANI PRE obf Ravnos:7
1x Jean-François 4 ani obf pre Ravnos:7
1x Luciano Carvalho 6 ANI OBF pre Ravnos:7
1x Oleg Kaprizov 3 obf pre Ravnos:7
1x Zafira 4 PRE obf Ravnos:7
 
Library (80 cards)
Master (17; 6 trifle)
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Club Illusion
3x Dabbler
1x Direct Intervention
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Fortune Teller Shop
1x Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
1x Giant's Blood
1x Park Hunting Ground
3x Villein
2x Week of Nightmares

Event (2)
1x Bitter and Sweet Story, The
1x Narrow Mind

Action (18)
12x Break the Bonds
2x Field Training
2x Platinum Protocol, The
2x Public Trust

Equipment (2)
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Treasured Samadji

Action Modifier (25)
4x Elder Impersonation
3x Faceless Night
4x Lost in Crowds
3x Power of One
2x Spying Mission
1x True Love's Face
2x Veil the Legions
6x Visions of Gehenna

Action Modifier/Combat (2)
2x Swallowed by the Night

Combat (4)
4x Majesty

Reaction (10)
3x On the Qui Vive
2x Party Out Of Bounds
5x Visions of Zapathasura

With 30 players from 9 different countries this event was a real blast. Thanks to everyone who participated and big thanks to the whole VTES community which never spares costs and efforts to support local tournaments and events.

Report by Kleber Bertazzo, VEKN National Coordinator of Brazil:

On the weekend of June 8th 2024, the Brazilian VTES Championship 2024 took place at the Garagem do Nerd store, located in the city of Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais. This championship was marked by being the 20th Brazilian VTES Championship as well as the cardgame's 30th anniversary championship.

Although there were some problems during the final table of the event, the preliminary tables took place calmly and harmoniously, with very few interventions from the judges. The players behaved in an exemplary manner and at the end of each table everyone interacted with each other, exchanging different experiences.

The championship was attended by 48 players and set the mark for the biggest Brazilian championship of all time. Several states were represented at the event, Ceará, Distrito Federal, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Pará, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and several meta games fought in the biggest national clash in history.

Check out this VERY cool video from the event by Garagem do Nerd TV:

The final table was attended by the following players:
Alan Winter (São Paulo) with 3 GWs and 10 VPs
Márcio Pinheiro (Fortaleza) with 2 GWs and 10 VPs
Guilherme Pereira (Viçosa) with 2 GWs and 9 VPs
Anderson Silva (Guarulhos) with 2 GWs and 8 VPs
Vinícius Costalonga (Vila Velha) with 2 GWs and 8 VPs

Highlight for Guilherme Pereira, who reached the final playing only his second presencial tournament!

After Márcio and Vinícius had won 1 VP, Alan was forced to make a deal with Vinícius to remove Márcio from the table. With the objective achieved, and with 2 VPs, Vinícius did not need to honor the agreement since, as a rule, all agreements are canceled 1 vs 1 game. Therefore, it was easy for Vinícius to eliminate Alan, winning the 2024 Brazilian title, with 4 VPs in the final. Congratulations to CHAMPION Vinícius Costalonga!!!

The tournament winning deck: Old But Good

Crypt (12 cards)
4x Arika 11 DOM FOR OBF PRE aus cel inner circle Ventrue:2
2x Lucinde, Alastor 10 DOM FOR PRE obf pot tha justicar Ventrue:3
2x Marcus Vitel 10 DOM FOR OBF OBT PRE prince Ventrue:3
2x Queen Anne 10 DOM FOR PRE aus obf prince Ventrue:2
1x Greger Anderssen 7 AUS OBF dom pro prince Malkavian:2
1x Catherine du Bois 5 DOM for obf pre Ventrue:3

Library (90 cards)
Master (18; 5 trifle)
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
2x Information Highway
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Ventrue Headquarters
5x Villein
5x Zillah's Valley

Event (1)
1x Scourge of the Enochians

Action (10)
2x Entrancement
8x Govern the Unaligned

Political Action (14)
1x Ancient Influence
3x Banishment
4x Kine Resources Contested
4x Parity Shift
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power

Action Modifier (25)
3x Conditioning
3x Forgotten Labyrinth
8x Freak Drive
4x Into Thin Air
3x Perfect Paragon
4x Voter Captivation

Action Modifier/Combat (3)
3x Swallowed by the Night

Action Modifier/Reaction (2)
2x Murmur of the False Will

Combat (6)
6x Majesty

Reaction (11)
6x Deflection
3x On the Qui Vive
2x Second Tradition: Domain

I would like to record my thanks to Mozart and Felipe for both organizing the event and organizing the physical structure of the store. Finally, I would like to thank all the players present and those who were unable to attend for all the support given during my period of national organization.

Now I pass the scepter to Baron Márcio, who has once again prepared himself to direct our beloved cardgame nationally. GOD SAVE THE KING!!!

André on the left, with Baron José Fontenele and the special award playmat.

Reported by José Fontenele, Baron of Rio de Janeiro.

On the weekend of June 16, 2024, the Third Edition of the Rookie League took place at Manavai, located in Campo Grande, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The tournament was created with the aim of introducing the game to new methuselahs, and, in this third edition, it featured a healthy mix of 28 players, including experienced and beginners playing VTES.

It is important to mention that it was the first official tournament in this location and that, despite the fear of scheduling the event in a new location, players from all over the state of Rio de Janeiro appeared at the event. Showing the strength of the largest playgroup in the country, we have methuselahs from São João de Meriti, Sepetiba, Nova Iguaçú, Volta Redonda and different neighborhoods of the state capital.

I want to highlight that there was a special award that may have motivated so many players to come: a playmat with official Black Chantry art for the winner. The art was kindly provided by Ginés Quiñonero, whom I thank for his attention and generosity. In addition to the awards, what was seen was a meeting of new and experienced Methuselahs exchanging opinions about the game and discussing winning strategies.

After 2 big rounds, the final table featured the following decks and players:

In the end, André Luiz became the winner with his Salubri V5 Grinder. I asked him to write down his vision of the final table and received the following words:

“As they say… the last will be the first. I entered the table in fifth place. Since I had a !Malk B&S deck under my belt, I thought I´d raise a vampire as quickly as possible. Saulot gave me his blessing. I started with Powerbase: Montreal and Sight Beyond Sight in hand and with 4 influence to go. I started calling the Ukrainian soldier [Opikun], and placing the master Sight Beyond Sight to defend against !Malk attacks. The main vampires Abaddon and Serafina did not come to this table. I had to turn around. When a Smilling Jack hit the table, everyone agreed to try to remove it, giving 2 turns of peace when it came out. Once again the Ukrainian soldier saved the day by taking Smilling from Felipe. In these 2 turns of peace I managed to set up my setup and disturb José a little… remembering that the agreement was 2 turns without bleed. When Alan played another Smilling, everyone again agreed to remove it, and once again Salubri managed to do the dirty work by removing the Smilling. Alan tried to negotiate not to take it away, but Smilling… you know… has been winning tables since 1994.

Without Smilling at the table, everyone went back to normal play. As Alan was aggressively rushing the !Malks, Notorius began the retaliation by bleeding backwards. I started attacking my prey with a lot of bleeds and block-fails, and José started doing the same with his prey. I was impressed by the number of bleed-bouncing cards that Felipe used to survive Malk attacks. He used Heart of Nizchetus very well to filter the deck. Felipe managed to divert all of Malk bleeds to Alan, and then managed to take out his prey with his bleeds. Alan was the first placed in the tournament for the table and the first to leave the table... as it should be...

As the !Malk deck was left without a predator, Salubri got a target on its forehead. !Malk, without mercy or mercy, began to bleed heavily. I managed to pass some bleeds and block others (I took Coma x2). Even though Notorius bleeds all the time, I managed to take José´s Malk out of the game.

Now it got serious. Tremere and !Malk joined forces to weaken the Salubri as much as possible. Saulot gave his blessing once again. I managed to get through and take some !Malk bleeds without much harm and prevented the Tremere aggravations. Finally I managed to take out the Tremere and went all in on the !Malks with the gang of angry Salubri: 5 vampires. Victory!!!!! The Salubri V5 deck, with its new cards, considerably improves the grinder archetype.”

The tournament winning deck: "Salubri V5 Grinder"

Crypt (12 cards)
2x Abaddon 8 AUS DOM FOR cel pot Salubri:7
1x Seraphina 8 AUS DOM FOR cel tha Salubri:7
2x Ilonka 7 AUS DOM FOR tha Salubri:7
2x Aniel 6 AUS DOM for Salubri:7
1x Castellan 6 AUS FOR cel dom Salubri:7
1x Malachi 6 AUS DOM FOR Salubri:7
1x Sakhar 6 AUS FOR dom Salubri:7
2x Opikun 5 FOR aus dom Salubri:7

Library (90 cards)
Master (14; 3 trifle)
2x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Direct Intervention
1x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Meditative Grove
1x Misdirection
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
1x Saulot´s Guiding Wisdom
1x Sight Beyond Sight
1x Sudden Reversal
3x Vessel

Action (14)
8x Feast of the Soul´s Secrets
6x Govern the Unaligned

Action/Combat (4)
4x Touch of Valeren

Equipment (2)
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Heart of Nizchetus

Action Modifier (20)
2x Conditioning
5x Forced Confessional
1x Foreshadowing Destruction
6x Freak Drive
3x Seduction
3x Unleashing the Bestial Soul

Combat (14)
6x Hidden Strength
4x Rolling with the Punches
4x Weighted Walking Stick

Reaction (22)
6x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics
6x Eyes of Argus
2x My Enemy´s Enemy
2x On the Qui Vive
4x Telepathic Misdirection

I want to thank Editora Conclave and Baron Márcio who helped with the promotional cards for the event and all the participants present. It was just the first of many. Let´s play VTES!