Designers:  Dan Blanchett (Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein), Matt Hyra (DC Comics Deck-Building Game, DC Comics Deck-Building Game: Forever Evil, GKR: Heavy Hitters)

Artists: Marco Primo (Automobiles, Carcassonne: The City, Police Precinct), Darko Stojanovic, Drew Tucker (7th Sea Collectible Card Game, Magic: The Gathering, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle), Amy Wilkins

Publisher:  Renegade Game Studios (Altiplano, Arboretum, Architects of the West Kingdom, Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure, Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure, Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated, Ex Libris, Explorers of the North Sea, The Fox in the Forest, FUSE, Honshu, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea, Snow Tails, Trajan, Wendake, World’s Fair 1893)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, deck construction, horror

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Vampire: The Masquerade Rivals Expandable Card Game is already fully-funded. In fact, pledges currently total more than 19x the initial funding goal with 2 days left to go on the campaign!

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: low

What It’s About: “Vampire: The Masquerade Rivals Expandable Card Game puts you in charge of a coterie of vampires who vie for control of the city of San Francisco. Through dominating mortals, using their political influence, and clashing with their rivals in the streets in the dark of the night, you’ll gather your allies and face off against one or more other players as you seek to push your agenda.”

How It Works: Gameplay progresses over a series of Turns, with each player’s Turn comprised of a Beginning Phase, an Action Phase, and an Ending Phase.

During the Beginning Phase, the active player Burns each City Event – Ongoing that contains one of their tokens. Then the player draws the top card from the City Deck and places it onto The Streets face-up. If it’s an Event, the Event is resolved and the Burned. If it’s and Ongoing Event, the active player places one of their tokens on it. The active player then activates any of their cards in play with “At the start of your turn” effects, and finally turns all of their cards upright (those that were exhausted or “tapped” on their previous turn).

During the Action Phase, the active player performs 2 actions from among the following: Draw 1 Card, Recruit a Vampire, Claim the Prince of the City Tile, Play an Action Card, and Make an Attack. The player may have access to additional actions as specified on their cards in-play.

During the Ending Phase, the active player places a Blood Token on any of their vampires in torpor, and may then choose to discard 1 card for each vampire they wish to mend by 1 Blood Token. Once a Vampire accumulates the number of Blood Tokens equal to their Blood Potency, they can be readied and placed back in the player’s Haven, from which they can eventually move back to The Streets. Events, Havens, and vampires that also have effects labelled “at the end of your turn,” will now activate. Any Special Inquisition cards activate, and then the active player draws 2 cards.

“The game ends when any player is knocked out or any player reaches 13 Agenda points. There are 3 ways to win: 1) Be the first player to reach 13 Agenda points; 2) Knock out your Rival; 3) Have the most Agenda points when a foe gets knocked out that doesn’t fulfill an above win condition (as when the Special Affairs Division or another player knocks out your Rival, etc.). To knock out a foe, you must do one of the following: 1) Cause their Prestige to drop to 0; or 2) Defeat the last active vampire in their coterie (vampires in torpor are not active). If you knock out a foe other than your Rival (or they are knocked out by effects not controlled by any player), the player holding their Rival token gains 3 Agenda points. A player who is knocked out has their agenda permanently set to 0. Then compare agenda scores, and the player with the most agenda wins.”

Comparisons: In many ways, Vampire: The Masquerade – Rivals is Magic: The Gathering, but with vampires. Or A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, but with vampires. A few other card combat games using deck construction as a primary mechanic include Mage Wars Arena and Smash Up, as well as Arkham Horror: The Card Game (which has card combat, but is more of an adventure, exploration, and puzzle-solving game, and is certainly not player vs. player). Cerebria: The Inside World lists deck construction as a mechanics, but Cerebria is more of a heavy Euro, and definitely not a card-battler. But Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, while it may not specifiy deck construction, is definitely an expandable card game where players battle it out against one another. And perhaps we should throw Marvel Champions: The Card Game into the mix as well.

What Should I Pledge?:
$40 Neonate: includes the Vampire: The Masquerade Rivals Expandable Card Game Core Set, the Crypt Pack for deck customization, and all unlocked stretch goals specific to the Neonate pledge level.
$100 Methusalah (All-In): includes everything in the Neonate pledge, plus 4 Main Deck Card Sleeve Packs (55 per pack, for a total of 220), a City Card Sleeve Pack (55 total), the City Playmat, 4 Clan Playmats, 4 Clan Token Bags, the Organized Play Kit, the Upgraded Plastic Blood & Influence Token Pack, and all unlocked stretch goals.

Add-Ons:
$40 Core Set (each additional copy)
$25 Upgraded Plastic Blood & Influence Token Pack
$15 City Playmat
$20 Clan Playmat (each, 4 total)
$5 Clan Token Bags (each, 4 total)
$25 Organized Play Kit
$10 Library Deck Card Sleeves (pack of 55)
$15 City Deck Card Sleeves (pack of 55)

KS Exclusives
The City Playmat, 4 Clan Playmats, 4 Clan Token Bags, and Organized Play Kit are all Kickstarter exclusives.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $100 for the Methusalah pledge plus $21 in shipping for a total of $121.

Vampire: The Masquerade Rivals Expandable Card Game completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, August 20th and tentatively ships in December 2020.