Announcement Belgian National VTES Championship 2019

The Belgian National VTES Championship 2019 will take place on July 21st, 2019 in Bruxelles, Belgium. Here are the details regarding the tournament:

• Date:
  • Sunday, July 21st, 2019
• Timeline:
  • Registration: 11:30
  • First round starting time: 12:00
  • Expected finishing time: 21:00
• Type of Event:
  • National Championship. Qualifying for this event is not necessary, everyone is welcome to participate.
• Format:
  • Standard Constructed, detailed rules can be found on the VEKN Tournament Rules webpage.
  • Cards up to the new Sabbat starter expansion set will be legal to play. See the instructions for the use of cards from printable V:EKN expansion sets.
  • Being a National Championship, the use of proxy cards will not be allowed.
  • Number of rounds: 3 + final
  • Time limit per round: 2 hours
• Entry fee:
  • 5 EUR (tbc)
• Location:
  

  The Outpost
  Rue de la Tribune 8
  1000 Bruxelles

• Remarks:
  • • Pre-registration is very useful to ensure appropriate prize support and a timely start of the tournament. If you intend to participate, please sign up as soon as possible by replying to this thread or by e-mail: emiliano (dot) imeroni (at) gmail (dot) com
    • Note that, 21 July being Belgium’s National Day, road closures and heavy traffic are to be expected: appropriate advice will be shared closer to the event.
    • Note that it is not allowed to bring your own drinks & food into the shop.

  More information (e.g. on travel & pre-registration) can be found in the VEKN.net forum and/or on Belgian VTES forum.

Results Mexican National VTES Championship 2019

On March 24th, 2019 the Mexican National VTES Championship 2019 was held in México City, México with 18 players attending the tournament. The final standings after 3 rounds and the final were as follows:

1. Carlos Escobar Muciño (MEX) — 1 GW 3 VP — 3 VP — Tzimisce G4/5 Toolbox/Wall
2. Erick Alcantar (MEX) — 1 GW 5 VP — 2 VP — The Unamed S&B
2. Omael Rangel (MEX) — 2 GW 8 VP — 0 VP — Weenie Animalism Anarch
2. Julio Vargas (MEX) — 1 GW 6 VP — 0 VP — Setite Camarilla (Invitation Accepted!) Tool Box
2. Edgar Marín (MEX) — 1 GW 4 VP — 0 VP– Nephandus Bleed & Rush

Congratulations to Carlos for his win of the Mexican Nationals 2019. You can find the tournament finalist decks also on VEKN.net.

VTES Card Back Changes

Over it’s lifespan of now 25 years, the backsides of VTES cards have changed quite noticeably. To give you can overview of the most significant changes, here’s a summary list:

• Originally the game was produced by Wizard of the Coast (WotC), and the first release (back in 1994) has the Jyhad card back with the deckmaster logo (trademark).
• With the name change in 1995 to Vampire: the Eternal Struggle, the card backs also change to reflect the change. So the card back shows Vampire The Eternal Struggle with the deckmaster logo (trademark).
• Another year later (1996), WotC published the Ancient Heart expansion, the card backs changed again, but ever so slightly), changing trademark (TM) to the registered use (R) addition to the “deckmaster” text. This combination is what you see on the majority of the VTES cards.
• In 2006, the new publisher White Wolf released the Third Edition, but a lack of quality control on either the publisher’s or the printer’s side led to upside-down (or left-right) change of the backside. That is, if you turn a regular VTES card to its back, the Vampire The Eternal Struggle text is on the right side of the card back, and if you turn a Third Edition card around the same text is on the left.
• The last change to the card backs happened, when Black Chantry became the latest publisher of VTES. With the ties to Wizard of the Coast severed, the deckmaster series text was dropped altogether, leaving the Vampire the Eternal Struggle text along with lone trademark ™ text in the lower right of the card back side. (I am assuming the trademark actually refers to the Jyhad tri-snake logo now).

In addition these obvious changes, there are some more (or less subtle) changes:

• For example, the Ancient Heart card back colors are more saturated, e.g. the the crypt card backs have a slightly reddish hue, which you can more easily spot if you put cards from different editions side by side.
• While technically not a card back difference per se, the first printing of the 2019 Sabbat Precons also has slightly rounder corners compared to previous expansions.

Overall, one can say, that the VTES card backs have changed quite considerably, making somewhat of an issue when players using cards from various editions with different card backs, which is the case almost all the time. While the tournament rules do not explicitly require players to use card sleeves in tournament, it is recommended by the VEKN. Section 4.1 of the VEKN tournament rules state:

If cards with distinct backs are used in the same deck (e.g., Jyhad and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle cards, or upside-down 3rd Edition cards and right-side up cards, or mis-cut cards, or cards without the Deckmaster logo) are used, in order to prevent a significant advantage, all cards from the different sets, printings, etc. must be of sufficiently mixed card type, unless they are all sleeved with opaque sleeves (recommended).

Also in major tournaments (national or continental championships) the organizers require opaque (non-transparent) sleeves for the decks used in the tournament.

Summary table

Year	Publisher	Expansions	Name	Deckmaster
1994	WotC	Jyhad	Jyhad	Deckmaster ™
1995 — 1996	WotC	VTES, DS, AH	Vampire The Eternal Struggle	Deckmaster ™
1996 — 2018	WotC, White Wolf	Sabbat, SW, .., HttB	Vampire The Eternal Struggle	Deckmaster (R)
2006	White Wolf	Third Edition	Vampire The Eternal Struggle (upside-down)	Deckmaster (R)
2018+	Black Chantry	LK, Anthology, SP	Vampire The Eternal Struggle	(tm)

Results Italian National VTES Championship 2019

On March 26th, 2019 the Italian National VTES Championship was held in Brescia, Italy with 27 players attending the final tournament. The final standings after 3 rounds and the final were as follows:

1. Enrico De Stefano (ITA) — 3 GW 8.5 VP — 1.5 VP — Ravnos Eldest are Kholo
2. Gabriele Bugliani (ITA) — 2 GW 7 VP — 1.5 VP — Toreador antitribu Bruise&Bleed feat. Miller
2. Vanni Borz (ITA) — 2 GW 4.5 VP — 0.5 VP — Tzimisce Wall feat. Lambach
2. Gianluca Bianco (ITA) — 2 GW 9 VP — 0 VP — Imbued & Legionaire Swarm
2. Danilo Torrisi (ITA) — 2 GW 8.5 VP — 0 VP — DOM/OBF/THA Big Cap Vote

Congratulations to Enrico for his win of the Italian National VTES Championship 2019. The seating in the round was Enrico (Ravnos Eldest are Kholo) -> Danilo (DOM/OBF/THA Big Cap Vote) -> Vanni (Tzimisce Wall feat. Lambach) -> Gabriele (Toreador antitribu Bruise&Bleed feat. Miller) -> Gianluca (Imbued & Legionaire Swarm). You can read a tournament report in the VEKN Newsletter March 2019.

Results Belorussian National VTES Championship 2018

On January 27th, 2019 the Belorussian VTES National Championship 2018 was held in Minsk, Belarus with 12 players attending the championship tournament. The final standings after 3 rounds and the final were as follows:

1. Maria Semenova (BLR) — 2 GW 10 VP — 1.5 VP — Weenie bleed w/ Flash Grenades & Dom
2. Ivan Chebunin (BLR) — 1 GW 4 VP — 1.5 VP — G1/2 AUS/PRE toolbox feat. Rebecca
2. Vadim Grigorev (BLR) — 1 GW 3.5 VP — 0 VP — Ventrue Lawfirm
2. Alexander Roman (BLR) — 1 GW 3 VP — 0 VP — Malkavian DOM/OBF bleed with Storage Annexes
2. Andrew Kashpar (BLR) — 2 GW 5.5 VP — 0.5 VP — Girls will find… (bleed version)

Congratulations to Maria for winning the Belorussian Nationals 2018.

Results Belorussian National VTES Championship 2017

On February 4th, 2018 the Belorussian VTES National Championship 2017 was held in Minsk, Belarus with 11 players attending the championship tournament. The final standings after 3 rounds and the final were as follows:

1. Alexander Roman (BLR) — 1 GW 4.5 VP — 3 VP — Malkavian Princes AUS Wall
2. Maria Semenova (BLR) — 1 GW 4.0 VP — 1 VP — Weenie bleed with Flash Grenades and dom
2. Ivan Kalinich (BLR) — 0 GW 1.5 VP — 1 VP — !Brujah antitribu Toolbox
2. Anton Dudko (BLR) — 1 GW 4.0 VP — 0 VP — Malkavian Bleed feat. Santaleous
2. Vadim Grigorev (BLR) — 1 GW 3.0 VP — 0 VP — Ravnos Politics Mozambique Allure

Congratulations to Alexander for winning the Belorussian Nationals 2017.

VEKN Newsletter March 2019

On March 29th, 2019, the VEKN has published its newsletter for March 2019. The newsletter covers a number of topics, namely an interview on the currently production pipeline with Ben Peal, (design director of Black Chantry), a tournament report of the VTES Grand Prix in Brno (Czech Republic), another tournament report of the Italian National VTES Championship 2019, and finally a FAQ on the VTES Card Creator at Drivethrucards.

Read the complete newsletter here: VEKN Newsletter for March 2019 on VEIN.net.