My players had already started in Barovia and had heard some about Strahd, but hadn't met them yet. I was able to work in a story to retcon some things and impliment changes from this but not all of the changes, just because some of it was too fixed already for the players. My players told me after the "retcon session" that they appreciate this take on Strahd and like having a villain who is a little more complex and has motivations and a story they aren't quite as familiar with (some have played CoS before and some are just familiar from memes/stories).