Here’s the updated list of the cards that are (or were) banned for VTES tournaments in 2020. For each of the cards I will briefly explain why (and when) they have been banned:
- Playing for Keeps — since January 9th, 1995
- High Stakes — since January 9th, 1995
- Cunctator Motion — since January 9th, 1995
An ante is a forced bet in which each player places a card from his deck into the pot before the game begins. The player who ousts another players actually wins the forfeited card from the losing player. The concept was (as in Magic The Gathering) never really popular, and the concept was dropped very soon after the release of VtES. So cards relating to ante, as those three above were banned for this reason. - Madness of the Bard — since July 1st, 1999
The judgment of this card varies from “downright silly” to “very much fun“, but in the end it prevents most players from freely communicating to each other, which is one of the cornerstones of a multi-player game. - Return to Innocence — since March 14th, 1999
A card which allows a vampire to bleed for 10+ is just too good for the game. In a typical tournament the comfort level in terms of having pool is something like 10-12. With that amount of pool you need two high-level bleed come through, but this requires considerable setup and/or amount of cards being played during these actions, or you need at least 3-4 Kine Resource Contested/Conservative Agitations, but this also needs some setup. With RtI you can just bleed with Daring the Dawn and the only thing you’ll have to worry about is bleed bounce. - Succubus Club — since January 1st, 2005
Mass trading resources, especially with the now defunct tournament rules about table-splitting (at least for practical purposes), this led to absurd situation. Players Bob and John made a table split deal, with one of the them having a Succubus Club in play. After the deal both trade regularly their whole set of resources of vampires, master cards and other permanents back and forth, until they succeed in having ousted the other players. - Kindred Restructure — since January 1st, 2005
The abusive technique for using Kindred Restructure (and to a lesser extent) Dramatic Upheaval was called VP Sniping. The player with the Kindred Restructure in hand would wait where some predator was in sure ousting range (i.e. down to less than 5 pool or something similar) for the next turn. Then the KR would be played, and his new player, while having done nothing all the while, ripped off the reward for ousting from the original player. Furthermore with Kindred Restructure this player could arrange the table in manner which was most suitable for him, e.g. having a weak predator or prey or both. But LSJ’s publicly stated reasoning for the ban was simpler — it gives a player two predators at the same time, their real predator and the guy who’s going to jump right in there. Which is pretty unfair. - Dramatic Upheaval — since January 1st, 2005
The same arguments as for Kindred Restructure applies to Dramatic Upheaval as well, but to only slightly lesser extent, since it allowed to change seats with one player only. - Edge Explosion — since January 1st, 2008
One of the driving engines of an Imbued deck, since it both allowed him to have a power for which he hasn’t had the appropriate Virtue, but may gain a Conviction for a successful action once each turn. - Memories of Mortality — since January 1st, 2008
Very powerful when playing an ally deck, not only wasn’t an opposing vampire with this card no longer allowed to block any ally, he couldn’t hurt him anymore and the card was hard to get rid off. - Protect Thine Own — since January 1st, 2008
This card provided a very cheap way to remove any non-Camarilla vampire, though it requires an Inner Circle member for using the card’s full effect. - Lilith’s Blessing — since April 22nd, 2013
This is the first (and only) promo card on the ban list. The card provided very easy (and repeatable) access to 3 blood, and is somewhat abusive when used with Villein (or Minion Tap with multiple master phase actions). - Anthelios, the Red Star — since February 16th, 2016
The card is problematic not of its own, but predominantly in combination with multiple Master Phase actions the card can easily be abused. So to speak, the cards suffers from the dial-a-card syndrome, repeatedly. - Temptation of Greater Power — since February 16th, 2016
The issue with is that the use of the card often influence the outcome of a game dramatically when played (even if that can only happens once per game). Even if the player using the card isn’t put into a winning position , the target player surely cannot win the game anymore, either because he lost one his key vampires, or loses so much pool, that he is ousted much more quickly. - Seeds of Corruption — since February 16th, 2016
The reason for the ban of Seeds of Corruption seems to be more of a technical issue rather than the power of the card. It’s not always easy to figure out, what exactly happens with the target vampire (and what happens after the Seeds of Corruption has disappeared). - Gypsies, Rom Gypsy, Tarbaby Jack, Terrorists, Tsigane — since August 1st, 2020
These cards have been banned in the wake of the Black Life Matters movement in 2020, because the cards contain words or images that are associated with real world racist caricatures.
Earlier Card Bans and Revokes
- Rowan Ring — from January 9th, 1995 to January 1st, 2000(?)
- Stake — from January 9th, 1995 to March 14th, 1999
The cards were banned because the corner-case paralyzation rules which were dropped in VtES (as opposed to the Jyhad rules). Since extensive rewording would have been necessary the rules team decided to ban the cards. With the new wording of the VtES version of Wooden Stake and the Camarilla Edition (CE) version of Rowan Ring the paralyze mechanic was dropped and replaced by “send to torpor“, so the ban could be lifted after the new version had been released. - Monocle of Clarity — from January 9th, 1995 to January 1st, 2000(?)
The wording of Monocle of Clarity allowed easily to break the game, thus it was banned. For an example see the following thread. With the new wording of the CE version which limited the card’s functionality to the current game state, not a future one, the card was allowed again.
On September 3rd, 2020, the VEKN has published its newsletter for August 2020. The newsletter covers a number of topics, namely the decision not to change the vampire contest rule, the ability to create library cards on DriveThru cards, and an interview with the national VTES coordinator of Crotia, Deneš Kociš.
On August 2nd, 2020, the VEKN has published its newsletter for July 2020. The newsletter covers a number of topics, namely a FAQ on the August 2020 card bans, an interview with the VTES national coordinator of South Africa, Neil Muller, and some additional news from Black Chantry.
On July 5th, 2020, the Black Chantry published a statement about diversity and inclusivity with regards to VTES. The statement also included the latest Rules Team Rulings (RTR 05/07/2020), which bans 5 cards from tournament play from August 1st, 2020 onward. The reason why Black Chantry banned these cards, is that contain words or images that are associated with real world racist caricatures. The 5 banned cards are:
On July 1st, 2020, the VEKN has published its newsletter for June 2020. The newsletter covers a number of topics, namely an update of the current VTES tournament situation and an interview Gonazalo del Río (national coordinator of Chile).
On June 2nd, 2020, the VEKN has published its newsletter for May 2020. The newsletter covers a number of topics, namely the open playtest for contesting vampires, a Q&A with regards to the 
Black Chantry has released a second promo pack of VTES cards, which is intended to be handed out as rewards for participating in tournaments. This second pack consists of crypt that were previously only available as promo cards during VTES Continental Championships, and a few selected crypt and library for which the card text has been changed recently (or the card was misprinted in a recent expansion (Murmur of the False Will). The first block of cards have a quantity of 10 each, while the second blcok only has a quantity of 1 each.
Yesterday the VEKN/Black Chantry has announced an open playtest for contesting vampires in VTES. Instead of both vampires being turned face down and being out of play, the contested vampires stay in play. The cost of contesting of 1 pool each turn remains until one player yields (or is ousted from the game).
On May 1st, 2020, the VEKN has published its newsletter for April 2020. The newsletter covers a number of topics, namely an interview with key people from Black Chantry, the unfortunate news that the VTES EC 2020 has been canceled, and finally an interview with Wes Weston (veteran VTES player / national coordinator of Canada).
On April 1st, 2020, the VEKN has published its newsletter for March 2020. The newsletter covers a number of topics, namely
On March 3rd, 2020, the VEKN has published its newsletter for February 2020. The newsletter covers a number of topics, namely the announcement of a number of major tournaments, a tournament report of the South American Cup, a second tournament report of the North American Cup, some card changes of the Assamite/Quietus, and an interview with VTES artist Samuel Araya.
On January 7th, 2020, the VEKN has published its newsletter for December 2019. The newsletter covers a number of topics, namely an interview with Ben Peal (in his function as Black Chantry product director) on the plans and new products for 2020, a tournament report of the VTES North American Cup 2019 (part II) taking place Heath, Ohio, and finally, a 2019 retrospective with regards to VTES.
