First Blood – Introductory decks for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle

First Blood is a collection of five 55-card preconstructed decks for introductory games of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. These decks are simpler than tournament level decks, but showcase all the basic mechanics of the game. They are balanced, for a fun and exciting first try of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. They are fully functional cards, ready to mix with cards from other sets.

To make Vampire: The Eternal Struggle more accessible to new players, Black Chantry will make these introductory decks available to retailers at a reduced price compared to our other products.

Contents of the decks:
First Blood: Malkavian
First Blood: Nosferatu
First Blood: Toreador
First Blood: Tremere
First Blood: Ventrue

First Blood will be available in September 2019.

Card preview: Grimgroth

Grimgroth by Edward Beard, Jr.

This card is illustrated with the recovered 1990´s artwork by legendary Vampire: The Eternal Struggle artist Edward Beard, Jr (Giant´s Blood, Pulled Fangs, Telepathic Misdirection, etc.) The art was originally to be used in 1995 set Dark Sovereigns.

In the World of Darkness, Grimgroth is a very powerful Tremere vampire, embraced into unlife by the clan founder himself sometime during the 11th century. He replaced the rogue Goratrix as a member of the Tremere Inner Council, responsible for Western Europe.

Grimgroth appears in the 25th Anniversary set which will be available for purchase in mid August (exact date still to be determined).

New promo card: Jacques Rouge, Nosferatu Baron of Versailles

Black Chantry Productions has produced a special promo card for the European Championship in Paris. Jacques Rouge will be awarded to all tournament participants. The card, with fantastic artwork by Carmen Cornet, will also be included in a later Vampire: The Eternal Struggle product.

If you are going to the EC, please register now at www.vekn.fr/ec2019. Thanks for attending, see you there!

New alternate art promo card: Entrancement

Black Chantry Productions has produced an alternate art version of the VTES card Entrancement with artwork by Ginés Quiñonero. It will be awarded to all participants in European Grand Prix tournaments (in Helsinki or distributed retroactivly at the European Championship in Paris or later by National Coordinators) and to all European Grand Prix tournament organizers. Thanks for attending and volunteering!

Form of Mist – Art preview and minor text change

New card art by Ginés Quiñonero, will appear in the 25th Anniversary set.

A word from Vincent Ripoll, rules director at Black Chantry Productions: With the reprint of Form of Mist, we decided to remove a complex interaction with this card and the rule that prevents a player from adding stealth when it is not needed. Most of the time, Form of Mist would work as you expect: play it as a combat ends, and continue the action with an additional +1 stealth. However, in certain weird cases, you couldn’t play Form of Mist to continue the action. For instance, if the opposing minion with a Raven Spy has blocked an action at 1 stealth and the Raven Spy is burned in combat by the time you play the Form of Mist, then the blocking minion would have 0 intercept, forbidding you from playing Form of Mist that adds stealth. Another situation would be that Stanislava is blocked by a minion with Raven Spy while performing an action at stealth: since the retainers lose their abilities in combat against her, it means that the opposing minion has 0 intercept during the combat, forbidding you from playing Form of Mist. To avoid these unintuitive situations where continuing an action with a stealth bonus does not work, we decided to add the clause “even if stealth is not yet needed” to Form of Mist. It means that you now can play Form of Mist as you expect it to work.

New card text:
pro: Strike: dodge.
PRO: Strike: combat ends. If this vampire is acting and the action was blocked, they can burn 1 blood after combat ends to continue the action at +1 stealth as if unblocked, even if stealth is not yet needed. A vampire can play only one Form of Mist at superior each action.

READ MORE: Contents and card changes in 25th Anniversary revealed