Methuselahs! The regional leagues have already begun, and as a result, we now have players in the Spanish league 23-24 rankings.

Spanish league? Is this something new? Yes, it is!

You can check the league rules here, but I’ll provide a brief summary of the essentials. This year, we have 7 regional leagues: Andalusia, Levante, Mallorca, Northeast League, Northwest League, Madrid, and Catalonia. The princes of each region have proposed a tournament schedule for this season, and BCP has blessed us with promo cards for the leagues. For now, the princes already know about the first five promos, which will be distributed during the first five rounds of the leagues (in some leagues with fewer rounds, there may be two promos in one tournament, so no worries, all cards will reach the entire territory).

So, the tournaments in each round of each regional league will contribute to the Spanish league ranking (which you can check here). But this year, we’ve added an exciting rule: the points you earn in tournaments played away from ‘home’ will be multiplied the farther you have traveled! (Check the rules for more details).

Furthermore, there will be a promo that won’t be distributed during any league round; you can only obtain it by participating in a tournament from another regional league. So, there’s no excuse to stay at home anymore!

We would like to express our gratitude to the wonderful group of volunteers from Asturias who will take care of the daily maintenance of the rankings. You can get more information by asking your prince!

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that the winner of the league will hold the title of Spanish Archon until the end of the next league, in addition to the exclusive prize, which we won’t reveal for now.”

Welcome, Methuselahs.

Are you an expert in Vampire: The Eternal Struggle? Would you like to become a game judge and demonstrate that the rules and their interactions don’t scare you? Then keep reading because we’ll tell you about the new Vampire: The Eternal Struggle judge card.

If you’re an experienced player of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and are interested in helping others learn the game, becoming a judge is an excellent way to do so. The judge card is an official document in Spain that certifies you as an expert in the game and qualifies you to direct and supervise tournaments and events.

How can you obtain the Vampire: The Eternal Struggle judge card? Well, there’s a test-style exam that will be held in Seville on March 25, after the national tournament. Anyone can take the exam, but previous experience playing the game is recommended. Candidates must have a good understanding of the rules of the game and demonstrate an ability to resolve interactions that can sometimes be more complicated than they appear.

The test-style exam will cover a variety of topics related to the game, including the rules, fair play, and tournament rules, among others. Candidates will have a limited time to complete the exam, so there won’t be much time to hesitate. In addition, the use of any digital device to consult will not be allowed, as all necessary material will be provided at the beginning of the test.

Once you pass the exam, you’ll receive your official Vampire: The Eternal Struggle judge card. This card won’t force you to arbitrate anything you don’t want to, but it will let other players know that you’re an expert in the game and that your opinion can be taken into account regarding VTES rules.

To register for the call, all you have to do is send an email with your name, VEKN number, and game city to arbitro@elderlibrary.info. On Wednesday, March 22, those who register will be confirmed to have a spot for the exam. Both registration and exam results will be confidential, so no one who is qualified should be afraid to try for fear of failing.

In summary, if you’re an experienced player of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and are interested in helping others learn and enjoy the game, consider taking the exam to obtain your official judge card. It’s a great opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of VTES and be part of the exciting card game community in the world of darkness!

UPDATE march, 14:
The test will be done after or during the final game, it will be decided in situ.
The test will be composed by 100 questions and you will need 80 correct answers to pass it.
Time limit will be 120 minutes.
External documentation and electronic devices will not be allowed during the test.

Today I’m sharing with you a couple of my most braindead combos … And believe me when I say that i have more combos of that style. These two in particular are based on stealing the vampire of another metuselah.

Spirit Diamond

It’s based in steal a vampire with spirit marionnete during the turn of another player, (Saulot or Nahum Enosh with Enkil Cog). At the end of the hunting or bleed action, when you have to return the stolen vampire to its rightful owner, you have to play a diamond thunderbold and check the faces of the other players at the table.

Lorenzo’s Illusions

This was one of my obsessions in 2016. It’s about blocking a vampire (it does not work if you’re acting), play a illusions of the kindred and get luck on Lorenzo Detuono coming out, who will kindly send torpor to the vampire we’ve locked (burning wrath, or whatever). At that time we use Lorenzo’s special ability to steal the enemy vampire forever (we can amaranth to win blood and pay for the ability, the vampire acting will still be stolen).

I hope you have enjoyed this two evil combos and let me know if you want more crazy braindead combos!

It’s been a long time since I brought you anything new, but here I am with a series of new articles that hopely will help us think about the game more effectively.

Sometimes we have the conception of if such or what discipline is used to do X thing … potence grants combat, the auspex is for intercept, the obfuscate stealth and chimerstry is totally disgusting.

Here it is a recount of the cards that provide stealth, subtract intercept, deny the block, cause failure after blocking or are strike combat ends and continue the action. There are also some comments about their efficiency.

By disciplines: 

In addition to these 82 cards, there are 16 more, each with the following requirements: ANI AUS, ani pro, aus chi, AUS DEM, black hand, CEL FOR, cel pro, dom obt,, flight, istarri, OBF POT, OBF PRE, sabbat, seraph, gun and imbued. You could always get to have one if it suits us.

I hope that this list of the cards that have been evaluated with some important notes we come well to all to have a clear idea of the secrecy we have in this game.

We have the pleasure of speaking with Javier Belmonte, a ‘newbie’ player from Valencia, who showed us that you can win a national without having 20 years of vtes experience. Javi arrived to the national after driveing more than 800 kilometers and having slept less than 4 hours.

• Javi, how long have you been playing Vtes and how did you discover the game?

Four years ago an old Methuselah in torpor took his modest collection and show to me and my friends what vtes actually is. We were ,and still are, admirers of Richard Garfield, we specially love the theme and the illustrations. Since we discovered the game, we are more addicted to blood every day. Thank you Ponset, eternally grateful.

• How have you managed to win the Spanish national 2018?

How I managed to win is an unknown to me, I knew the potential of my deck and I also knew what I could do with it, so I kept waiting expectant, studying the rest of the table and holding the my predator pressure until I found my moment. Being able to choose where I was going to sit on the table helped me a lot and I think I chosed correctly. It has been my third Vtes tournament. In the Grand Prix I left the tables too fast and for this national it was clear to me that I wanted to remain more on the table and Anneke was a good option for this purpose.

• Tell us about your usual playgroup.

In Valencia we have a group of players / friends, something around 7 players. Any reason is good for playing a few cards on a Wednesday and most of the weekends. There is always someone with some new idea wanting to try and since we also play other card games, we have some good experience and deckbuilding and some tactic vision when it is time to play.

A playgroup friend also reached the final this weekend (Manu) and another one was tied in points and did not enter by the algorithm (Jose). Luis reached the final of the national of Alicante 2017 and i am sure that (Caja), the one remaining is going to gather some good results sooner than later since he is a great player.

• Which one is your best deck?

The one who carried me to the final round is the only one which can be competitive in tournaments for now: Anneke’s deck. My other decks I have are mostly for casual gaming. Although I am also thinking about some evil ideas for the near future.

• Which is your favorite clan? Why? Which is your prefered play style?

My favorite clan is Lasombra because I think they are quite versatile to create any type of deck, I love the obtenebration despite the fact you can run out of blood really fast. I also love the arts in obtenebration cards. I think I am a toolbox player for now but i think that speciallize in a single style can be very effective in a crucial situation. I am sure that i don’t like the Stealth&Bleed decks.

• Can you show us your TWD? Tell us how it works.

Anneke is never asleep

Cript:

4 Anneke

2 Marcellus

2 Tatiana Romanov

1 Felicia Nostrom

1 Dorian Strack

2 Isabel

 

Master (18)

2 Art Museum

1 Direct Intervention

2 Fame

2 Haven unconvered

1 PB Montreal

1 Rack, The

2 Smiling Jack

5 Vessel

1 Wash

1 WMRH talk radio

 

Combat (36)

8 Concealed weapon

3 aura reading

10 pursuit

7 psyque

6 taste of vitae

2 charismatic aura

 

Reaction (23)

10 second tradition

6 eyes of Argus

5 telepathic misdirection

2 quicken sight

 

Equipment (10)

7 magnum44

1 sniper riffle

1 ivory bow

1 bowl of convergence

 

Political Action (2)

2 parity shift

 

Retainer (1)

1 Tasha Morgan

Most of the crypt vampires have +1 bleed and the option to play a Second Tradition, which is a strong cards in terms of efficiency. Parity Shift can also be played in some cases. Anneke’s special is pretty strong specially for negotiate and get deals. The main weakness of this deck is play against hard combat decks or steal/destroy weapon.  I can usually get Pentexed but i will get help on that most of the times if i offer Anneke’s help. The deck can survive without Anneke but it is a clear handicap.

• Are you enjoying the tournament this year?

I’m sure you all know a guy who is constantly trying to create decks with totally unual cards, Usually, the following comment follows like: “If nobody plays this cards is because it won’t work”.

If you don’t know anybody like this, here I am for you. Some of my best friends recommend me to buy a funnel, that’s what i need to join all my mad (bad) ideas into a single deck.

Si sois de los pocos que aún no conocéis a nadie así, me presento ante vosotros. Mis mejores amigos dentro del juego me recomiendan que me compre un embudo; bien para que acompañe a la locura que me fluye cuando creo mazos con cartas infumables; bien para que haga de filtro porque, tal vez (y sólo tal vez) de cada cien ideas estúpidas una pueda tener algún sentido.

So I have encouraged myself to write this section with the sole intention of:

1. Just for laughts among the readers.
2. Give support to those who, like me, have absurd ideas, share them or not.
3. Maybe someone will find the hidden factor in my equations and end up developing a really competitive deck.

First, I think you’ll have to try to discover how my head works when developing these aberrations. Everything starts by reviewing cards in my collection or in some software to manage decks. Suddenly, I find a rare card and I think: “Holy shit, this is awesome!”. In that point starts the “aberration deck”. That was what happened when I discovered the Redline:

Type: Master

Master: out-of-turn

Only usable when a blood hunt referendum passes and would burn a vampire controlled by another Methuselah. That vampire is not burned. Put this card on that vampire and take control of him or her. This vampire is independent. This vampire gets one optional press when in combat with a Camarilla vampire and can enter combat with any Camarilla vampire as a +1 stealth (D) action. Burn this card if the vampire changes sects.

Rarity:  Anarchs:R

Hmm… strong card if you can use it in a controled way…

The problem was simple: How to trigger a blood hunt out of my turn in and secure that the vampire in question was going to go? So I started thinking about it, as a good defender of the Gangrel, the most logical option was to play the only “blood hunt” card that exists in the game: Veles’ Hunt. With Stanislava + Enkil Cog… could work, although the Veles’ Hunt has too many restrictions. So I went for the most complicated. I presented to you one of the very absurd decks that i’ve created. This is from January 2014, when the Anthelios was not banned:

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 10 max: 11

5x Huitzilopochtli     10 AUS DAI DOM OBF POT PRE               Baali:2

3x Arika               11 DOM FOR OBF PRE aus cel  inner circle Ventrue:2

2x Etrius              11 AUS DOM OBF THA pro      inner circle Tremere:2

2x Leandro             11 AUS OBF PRE cel dom      inner circle Malkavian:2

Library [89 cards]

Action [10]

  4x Baltimore Purge

  1x Entrancement

  1x Graverobbing

  3x Mind Rape

  1x Unleash Hell’s Fury

Action Modifier [13]

  1x Cloak the Gathering

  1x Elder Impersonation

  1x Enkil Cog

  1x Faceless Night

  2x Forgotten Labyrinth

  4x Freak Drive

  1x Lost in Crowds

  1x Seduction

  1x Voter Captivation

Ally [1]

  1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)

Combat [3]

  3x Majesty

Equipment [2]

  1x Bowl of Convergence

  1x Heart of Nizchetus

Event [1]

  1x Anthelios, The Red Star

Master [33]

  6x Ashur Tablets

  1x Creepshow Casino

  1x Direct Intervention

  2x Dreams of the Sphinx

  3x Fortitude

  1x Giant’s Blood

  1x Golconda: Inner Peace

  1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany

  1x Information Highway

  1x Monastery of Shadows

  1x Parthenon, The

  1x Pentex(TM) Subversion

  2x Redline

  5x Villein

  2x Wider View

  4x Zillah’s Valley

Political Action [5]

  1x Ancient Influence

  1x Ancilla Empowerment

  1x Banishment

  1x Kine Resources Contested

  1x Reckless Agitation

Reaction [21]

  3x Deflection

  2x Eagle’s Sight

  4x Eyes of Argus

  5x Obedience

  2x On the Qui Vive

  5x Undying Thirst

If you want to build this deck, i recommend you not to expect any good result. Maybe some laughts.

Luis ‘Txiqui’ Fonseca, Prince of Mataró

Hi, my name is Kiderak and I spend tons of hours thinking about new decks.

Some time ago, i felt so pissed off about playing “star” vampires. For sure they are strong options who can carry you on a game… but, most of the times, you will be the main target for all acridity cards on the table (Pentex, Sensory, Haven Uncovered and for sure another Pentex). Probably you know what i mean if you usually play Arika, Lutz, Stanislava, Unnamed, Enkidu, Lucian the Perfect one, Miss Fanchon, Mr. Hoherzollern, Alonso Petrodon, Goratrix, or another “good” guy.

This is why i want to talk about some other vampires who are ‘maybe’ not popular as the Stars are:

Strohman: 9-cap, dom ANI OBF POT THA. Archbishop. +1 bleed. Auspex Reactions cost one more blood while he is acting.

I love this guy… tons of possibilities… Rush with ANI POT? (taunt, deepsong, preternatural, drawing, immortal). Blocker Sabbat-ANI? (ravens, sense, undersiege, abbot, eternal vigilance). Obvious stealth bleed… access to Thaumaturgy evil cards (who said Rutors?).

Carolina Valez: 9-cap,  aus DOM OBT POT PRE. Archbishop. Immune to damage from allies and retainers (usefull these late nights).

Politics and/or bleed (show of force, iron glare, condikilling), stealth, combat… i definitively like her.

Gabrielle di Righetti: 10-cap,  obf pot ANI AUS DOM THA. Justicar. Can Steal 2 blood from a minion as a +1s action.

Okay, maybe she is not an unknown crypt card, but this is my intent to declare she is totally awesome for more than the obvious two reasons. Extremely blocker (sense, argus, second tradition and you don’t need anymore, maybe some magic of the smith on the blocker stuff bowl of sniper-banshee-heart of kevlar vest cheating). One of the best built-in actions on the game.

Ladislas Toth, the Torch: 7-cap, for AUS DOM THA. Archbishop.

Archbishop of who cares! Seven cap with all that stuff. In my opinion he fits with Polly-Kay, Mr. Foster and why not… Saulot.

Klaus Konrecht: 8-cap, for pot AUS CEL PRE. Cardinal.

Again, pretty strong disciplines with a strong title for “only” eight cap. Acces to Auspex with for-disarm, Auspex with CEL guns, Presence bleed/votes. Tons of fun all around.

Sarrasine (adv): 8-cap, aus nec OBF PRE SER. Prince. If advanced, put 1 corruption on prey minion per turn.

Pre-obf prince, pre-ser new cards (gazes and kisses). Totally awesome text if you manage to merge him. What if u play him with a merged kemintiri  or Amisa.

Velya, The Flayer: 9-cap, for ANI AUS PRE VIC. Cardinal. Once each combat she can discard one Auspex card to get a press.

Again, multiple good disciplines, awesome title and a nice text. Carrion crows + Telepatic tracking? You can discard it for press without pay cost. You can also discard all that stuck auspex in your hand. And i’ve still not mentioned the VIC…

Dr. John Dee: 9-cap, chi ANI AUS DOM THA. Prince. Ventrue cannot s:ce and during any referendum he can discard a Tha card to get +2 votes.

Same as Righetti, brute blocker options and a nice text. What if i tell you he groups with her? 😀

Marino Reymundo Vasquez: 9-cap, ani AUS DOM NEC THA. Archbishop. +1 bleed.

Just good. Multiple ways…

Rebekah: 9-cap, AUS CEL DOM OBF QUI. Prince. She can discard one aus card to get 2 votes.

5 good disciplines at superior, prince and move-hand text. Good girl =)

There are few more I-am-not-a-star-but-I-can-kick-your-ass crypt options. Send us your favourite ones at bleedforone@elderlibrary.info

Arnau Diez Sans

¡Welcome

Join me into my crypt and enjoy the company and a nice chat.

Today we will talk about a basic concept, but that sometimes is hard to have it clear as water, and that gives troubles for both new embraces as older generations.

Today we will talk about turn phases!

The turns go around among players clockwise, and every turn has the following phases:

• Unlock phase
• Master phase
• Minion phase
• Influence Phase
• Discard phase

Various effects can happen at the same phase, we can separate them between mandatory (as to hunt) and non-mandatory. The mandatory actions, as its name indicates, go first, and then the non-mandatory, but in every sub-phase, the active player (the one who is playing the turn), decides in which order they take place, as for example:

If several vampires must hunt, the player who controls them decides which one hunts first.

This choice may seem random, but many times it’s not.

I will then explain you, in detail, every phase.

Unlock phase:

It’s the first phase, and first of all you must unlock all the cards that can do so, then the rest of the effects take place, as to gain 1 pool if you control the edge, to pay (or not) contested cards, and pay mandatory effects as Smiling Jack or Constant Revolution.

Master phase:

This phase represents yours activity as Methuselah in the game. By default you only have one master action, but some cards may give you more, or if you play a trifle card then you get another master action. You can play 2 trifle cards, but the second one will not give you an extra master action.

If you have played an out-of-turn master, then you have spend your master action of that turn, except if the out-of-turn cards was a trifle one, in which case you will get 1 master phase.

Minion phase:

In this phase minions take actions. Every unlocked minion can perform actions by locking themselves, and other players can try to block that actions.

As we have commented before, first of all mandatory actions take place, as to hunt. If a minion should do two or more mandatory actions it will get “blocked” and will not perform any action that will not forbid your other minions to act.

When an action targets one or more Methuselah, or cards that they control, that action is considered a direct action, and only can be blocked by those Methuselah going clockwise to decide the order in which they block. There are exceptional cards that will enable you to block a direct action against another Methuselah as Eagle’s Sight or Falcon’s Eye, but the targeted Methuselah decide first and if they decline to block or are unable to do it, then you can try it.

When the action is undirected, the prey of the action player is the first to decide if he/she wants to block, then the predator of the acting player and then the rest of the players clockwise.

If a minion tries to block and fails, other minions can still try to block, for example:

Juan bleeds Marta, that decide to try to block with an unlocked vampire, then Juan plays a +1 Stealth card so Marta is not able to block with the vampire, but she then declares that Carlton Van Wyk will try to block the action, as he is unlock, and this time she succeeds in blocking the bleed.

When a minion is acting he/she can play Stealth that represents its efforts to do the action discreetly. At the same time, Intercept represents the effort of other minions to uncover their plans. If the intercept equals or exceeds the stealth then the action is blocked. Stealth can only be played in case it’s necessary, as goes for intercept, except that the card says otherwise.

If all the blocks fail then the action resolves successfully, and the effects of the action take place.

Political actions only express the terms of the action once the action resolves, in other words when there are no blocks or all the blocks have failed.

In case that the action it’s blocked, then a combat will occur, and will resolve in one or more rounds. We will live the explanation about the combat subject for another post.

Influence phase:

In the influence phase you can use a bit of your power to influence other minions in order for them to carry your will.

By defect, a Methuselah gets 4 transfers that can use in various ways:

• Use 1 transfer to move 1 point of blood from its pool to the minion.
• Use 2 transfers to move 1 point of blood from the minion to its pool.
• Use 4 transfers to move a crypt card from the crypt to the uncontrolled zone.

In any moment of the phase, when a minion has as many blood counters as its maximum capacity it can move from the uncontrolled zone to the ready zone face up.

Transfers are calculated at the start of the influence phase, 4 by defect, and if at the start of the phase, you control any card or minion that may give you more transfers, for example Ennoia’s Theatre, we could use them.

In the case of a minion that enters in play during the phase, and that minion will give you additional transfers, as for example Ingrid Rossler, we won’t be able to use them, because we didn’t have them at the beginning of the phase.

Discard phase:

We get a discard action by default. We can use that action to discard a card (and replace it with a new one) or to put in play and Event card. We can only put in play one event card for discard phase, even if we have more than one discard action.

Right before we end our discard phase, we should regularize our hand, that means to discards as many cards as needed until we get down to 7. This may occur when we play for example, Dreams of the Sphinx, which can be locked to get 2 additional cards, in that case we will get 9 cards and when we reach the end of the turn should get rid of 2 in order to reduce our hand to 7 cards.

Winning the game:

When your prey dies, you get 1 victory point and 6 points of pool. When the game ends the player with more points wins, even if he/she is dead.

In case you are the remaining player you get 1 extra victory point.

In the exceptional case, that a player dies at the same time as his/her prey, that player will get the victory point but not the 6 points of pool.

There is an exceptional case in which you can withdraw from the game and maintain all your victory points.

At the start of your turn, when you no longer have library cards and your hand is smaller than 7, you can announce your intention to withdraw. In order to successfully withdraw you have to meet the following requirements:

• None of your minions can enter combat until your next unlock phase.
• None of your minions can lose or spend any of its blood or life, until your next unlock phase.
• You can’t lose or spend any of your pool until your next unlock phase.

If you meet all those requirements, you get your victory point along with all the other victory points that you may have. Your predator gets no victory point nor the 6 points of pool for that.