All the New Info about Mass Mutation, Keyforge's 4th Set!

Well fellow Keyforgers, we got exciting news today. The 4th set was announced, and it is called Mass Mutation! The info brought to you today came from the livestream and then an article released on the FFG website. Watch and read them for the info, but here is the rundown for your ease. Also check out the ongoing spoiler list for the new set here:

1. Numbers - The set gives us 422 cards, 250 of which are new. The set is going to be released in May, although there is not an exact date yet. We have been told that the set will NOT be legal for Worlds, but should be soon after. It's possible it will release around the same time, but there is an 11-day hold after a set's release before the decks can be used in Archon tournaments.

2. Sanctum in, Brobnar out - We have known about this for a little bit, but it's nice to get some official word. Brobnar is out after an abysmal showing with World's Collide, and Sanctum is back. In the livestream, Sanctum was described as returning to make the board more resilient, aid in capturing amber, and healing. They will be smaller in power similar to Age of Ascension rather than Call of the Archons, but they will also be more aggressive. A good example of this is the change for Bulwark:

 

Instead of giving his neighbors +2 armor, he is now giving them +2 Assault. Also note that he is a Mutant Knight, instead of a Human Knight. We were also told that Sanctum is not too keen about the Dark Amber and the Mutations, and that is shown in the flavor and mechanics of their house, with cards like Gizelhart's Wrath specifically taking out Mutants.

I am glad to be rid of Brobnar for this set. I love their theme, but they have been near the bottom of the barrel in terms of competitive play, with an exception for Sealed play in Age of Ascension. They have been awful in Worlds Collide, and I think it's time for a break. When I first heard Sanctum was coming back, I was a little disappointed, only in that it seemed like Mars would be a better fit for Mutations, and I wanted to see Mars go against Star Alliance. But oh well, some day. But, with this announcement, I really like Sanctum's theme of hating mutations. That sounds cool. I am still wary, however, of how competitive they will be. Their targeting of mutants will do nothing against previous sets. I also think the have a crisis of identity. They had resilient creatures who captured amber, both things Saurians seem to do better. They manipulated the board and comboed off each other, something most World's Collides houses, especially Star Alliance, already does well. I was encouraged by them talking about Sanctum and how they have changed a bit, but I hope it comes across well as a unique identity, and one that is still competitive and fun.

3. Dark Amber Mutations - This is the main theme of the set. We were told that high in the mountains, two Archons battled, and the victor opened a vault, only to discover that it contained blue/purple/black Dark Amber. Once unleashed, it spread and mutated countless creatures in the Crucible. This mutation finds its way into the mechanics of the set in that we will get mutated versions of creatures we know. An example given was the new card Rad Penny, which is what has befallen our poor Bad Penny. She is similar, but a little different (and much better in my opinion). We will see many cards that have changed in this set.

 

I love this. This is a great way to introduce story, as well as make the set feel new without making it overly complicated. Older fans will remember how Bad Penny was, and will revel in her change, while new players will just enjoy a decent card. I can't wait to see how the mutations have affected the world, and in turn how that will affect gameplay.

4. New Keyword called Enhance - This is the biggest change in the set. This also follows the theme of mutations, but this affects how the decks are arithmetically generated. There will be many cards with the new keyword, Enhance, and these will randomly modify some of the cards in your deck in the form of icons. With previous sets, the only icon (found in the top left of a card), was bonus Amber. Now, cards with Enhance can add icons to any of your cards that also come in your deck. There are 4 icons that can be added (bonus amber, capture amber, damage, and draw a card). Multiple Enhancing cards can add even multiple icons to the same card, resulting in some crazy combinations. When it comes to crazy combinations, the main article mentions a Star Alliance card, but I was more excited about how in testing, they got a Gateway to Dis with a damage icon, which allowed the already good card to take out a Warded creature, which is huge! The possibilities are endless! They did mention that the Amber icon is more rare than the others, so don't expect to get a Key Charge with 5 bonus Amber icons to be run-of-the-mill, although get ready to get excited about getting the only deck in existence with certain combinations.

This is the thing I'm most excited for! I was so excited about Anomalies in the previous set. I thought that was really unique for Keyforge, and I love how FFG keeps trying to bring something new. This takes it to a whole new level. This is such a simple addition, with very little need in rules explanation, but it allows for near infinite variety. That is special in the world of card games. The unique deck shtick has been the draw for Keyforge forever, but I feel this is the first time it will really be true. Depending on how common these cards with Enhance are, you could be getting brand new cards in every deck, even though they have the same title. Have fun with that, cube variant lovers!

A couple of things about Enhance:
a. Any card can be an Enhancer, whether it's a creature, artifact, or action
b. A card can have up to 5 icons on it.
c. Each Enhancing card will Enhance a deck in the same way, so Armory Officer Nel will always enhance a deck with 1 draw-card icon, although itself could then be enhanced by itself or others.

5. Gigantic Creatures that spread across 2 cards! - Oh boy, we are getting dual card creatures now. Probably borrowing from Magic the Gathering's Melding cards, Keyforge now will get 2 parts of a gigantic creature, both of which are needed in order to play. However, once you do, the creature will be a force to be reckoned with. FFG's design team has at least thought of the contingency of the giant creature getting removed right after being played (which sounds very difficult since you need both parts), and so each of these giants all have powerful on-play effects. Deusillus was the example, and he seems really powerful. We were also told that there will be cards that allow you to grab the parts of the card you need, so hopefully it will be relatively consistent to get these things on the board. We were also told that cards like Regrowth would only grab one half, and that you could play both halves on the first turn, since it comes into play as a single card/ one creature.

This is also really exciting. I'm highly doubtful this will be competitive, only in that it is a huge cost to be holding onto cards every turn, and each half of these gigantic creatures is completely dead without the other. But, from a fun factor, this is awesome. This is exciting and I can't wait to try them out. Weekly sealed events will be ripe with crazy stories of these gigantic creatures making it onto the table and turning games. I hope. But maybe there are going to be lots of fetching cards in this set that will make it easier. One can also Archive these while waiting to draw the other part. I wonder if some decks can have double creatures, which would make them drop more often, which is awesome in theory.







6. Various little factoids

     a. Focus on story - we were told they are really trying to tell a story with the cards and mechanics,           far more than previous sets.
     b. No new Anomalies, although the anomalies from Worlds Collide shall be returning
     c. No new tokens, and very little new mechanics, done on purpose to make it easier for new                     players to get into the game. (This is great, I was getting worried after World's Collide released)
     d. Enrage was not really present in World's Collide, despite being new. We were told that Enrage             will be explored in a much more real way in this set.
     e. We were told that if we liked chasing Four Horsemen decks from Cota, just wait until we see               the Seven Sins. Eeeee!!!!

So that's it for the new stuff. Keep an eye on this blog, as I will be starting my Mass Mutation updating Spoiler list again, as I have for previous sets. What excites you the most about this new set? What are you looking forward to? I hope you enjoyed this article and join me in the hype train that always accompanies a new Keyforge set! Thanks for reading and happy gaming!