Keyforge New Houses? Rampant Speculation!!!

Thanks to a spoiled new deck box design with accompanying house stickers, we have been teased at the possibility of new Keyforge Houses. When the game first came out, we were told that we would be getting new houses at some point, but we did not know when. Now, with this news, we may be getting them sooner than expected. My guess is we'll get the announcement at Gencon in August. But until then, let's speculate! Here are some of my thoughts/wishes/guesses as to what we might get.

Screenshot from Wossy Plays video, here

First, let's loosely look at the Houses we currently have and their color scheme, theme, and mechanics:

Brobnar - Orange background, Yellow foreground - Big creatures with giants and goblins. Bombastic. Lots of power. Amber generation is done by fighting.

Logos - Silver/White/Gray background, blue foreground - Small creatures. Robots and scientists. Card draw and archiving.

Shadows - White/Silver/Gray background, Black foreground (possibly a little purple or dark blue in those "eyes") - Very small creatures. Stealing and Elusive.

Sanctum - Blue background, Yellow foreground (or vice versa) - Solid creatures with armor. Big board states using armor and capturing amber. Spirit Knights.

Mars - Green background, Purple foreground - Martians with UFOs and laser beams. Relies on in-house synergies for everything and can do a little bit of everything including stunning, direct damage, amber generation, amber control, card draw, etc.

Dis - Black background, Pink foreground - Demons and insect like look. Disruption of all kinds whether through hand size and card discard, board manipulation, key cost, etc. Inflicts pain on themselves for benefit. Antithesis of Sanctum in theme.

Untamed - Green background, Orange foreground (or vice versa) - Lots of creature synergies and great amber generation. Naturalistic tree hugging with ferocious beasts.

So, with that in mind, let's look at the possible color schemes, themes, and mechanics of possible new Houses.

Color Schemes

Right now, we can easily identify each of the new Houses based on their color scheme in their logo. Now some of the colors have been duplicated, but I think this is a good place to start when thinking of something new.

1. Using pink/purple in the background - Dis has pink as their little dots, currently, and Mars has purple in the eyes, but I think we could get a house that uses pink or purple as a primary background color. I think that would serve as a very eye-catching new house.

2. Using Red anywhere - Some how, they have not used red yet, which I find crazy.

3. Using Brown/Tan anywhere - Probably not as eye catching, but it is a color they haven't used yet.

4. Using metallic colors - I am thinking this is for much later, but they could go the Pokemon route and start using metallic colors for houses.

Themes

1. Military - I am thinking just like Sanctum vs Dis, we could have Martian vs. Military. Classically, I am thinking 50s US or USSR military, leaning towards the US since we seem to be more obsessed with UFOs and aliens. They could also go a little more sci-fi and make it like Halo UNSC, Gears of War Cogs, Star Trek, etc. I'm not saying to actually use an existing IP, I'm just thinking general theme. Could definitely use the red/brown/tan unused color scheme.

2. Eldritch - They could jump on the Cthulhu bandwagon, which I am always for. Eldrazi/ Lovecraftian cosmic entities.

3. Horror - They could also go the horror route with ghosts, skeletons, zombies, necromancy, vampires, werewolves, possessed trees, etc.

4. High Fantasy - We have steampunk giants/goblins, and sneaky cyberpunk elves and some forest elves already. But we could get more fantasy stuff. Dwarves and dragons and wizards and witches. Orcs and ogres. Any other alliterative options? More like a pure magic faction, rather than magic + technology.

5. Coyboys/Pirates/Samurai - These are other common gaming tropes that a lot of games use, and avenues that could be used for Keyforge.

Mechanics

With Age of Ascension, we got a couple of new keywords, and I'm sure we could expect maybe a couple more with this set as well. I hope they are limited, or at least, flow easily into the rules like AoA did for the most part.

1. Maybe a house that uses more purging? This is a fun mechanic that has only been used sparingly by a few houses, but maybe we could get a house that really specializes in it. And not only purging opponent's cards. The house could purge its own stuff, manipulate the purge pile, and use it as a kind of resource. I think direct purging could be an interesting strategy for players to have. You can get rid of specific power cards from your opponent, or get rid of cards in your own deck to make it easier to draw your best cards.

2. New win condition? - We have key cheats, but perhaps they could explore alternate win conditions. This is a tricky road, since it could easily be broken, but it's a design space most card games go to at some point.

3. More tokens and token manipulation - We could have power/armor -1 tokens. We could have a faction that manipulates those negative ones, perhaps the magic or horror house? They could also have more cards that use tokens, similar to what they did in AoA with cards like Wretched Doll.

4. A vehicle/ship/mount mechanic - We could get upgrades that function like vehicles. Like you put a creature in it as a pilot. Maybe they are upgrades that just go into play in the battlefield like a creature, but do nothing unless they are piloted (but can still be damaged maybe?). Or maybe they are just upgrades and require a creature in play first. They could boost stats, give special abilities, protect creatures, etc. You could have an AI artifact that makes it so all your vehicles can work without pilots as the AI controls them or something. This could also be a good mechanic for the military house I mentioned above. But, what I also like about this is that every existing house could get these kinds of upgrades and it would make sense. Horses for Sanctum, UFOs for Mars, flying cards for Shadows, etc.




5. Token creatures - A lot of card games use token creatures. It would be preferable to get actual cards to use as tokens (and it would be great as alternate art prize support), but anything could be used in a pinch. These could be zombies/skeletons for the horror house, cultists for the eldritch, generic troops for military, or they could be used in existing houses like goblins for Brobnar, drones for Logos, etc. These generic creatures could be used in swarm decks, or creature generation, or Dis sacrifice fodder, or whatever. There are a lot of mechanics that can spawn off of this.

Tokens from Epic: The Card Game

6. Creature/Action/Upgrade/Artifact... fall mechanic - Similar to Landfall in Magic the Gathering, we could get cards whose abilities go off when a certain card enters play. Maybe a creature that has Artifactfall (insert better name here), where "this creature captures 1 amber when an artifact is played", or something like that. There is a lot of room for design space here.

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So that's all I got. I am very curious as to what you think will be added? Are there themes you'd like to see? Mechanics? Are these new houses going to be added to the list in an expansion or will they replace houses and the game will go in a rotation each expansion? Do you like my speculation? Let me know in the comments, and as always, thanks for reading and happy gaming!

Origins 2019 Keyforge Vault Tour Top 4 Finish

Alrighty, Origins is officially over. A new Keyforge Vault Tour champion has emerged (Congratulations Ben Wallace!), and I am safely at home with my loving family. I wanted to take the time to reflect a little on my Keyforge experience, as well as my thoughts and analysis about my deck. I managed to finish in the top 4 on Day 2, out of an original of 185 participants. My final record with my deck was 8-2, and my finish helped me win a total of 255 Aembershards over the course of the 2 days, and making me tied for 38th out of 1,221 in terms of Vault Tour participants (I think that is how it works). All in all I am extremely proud and thankful of how far I got. I doubt I could repeat this feat if given 100 more times, so I will relish this while I can.

Origin's Vault Tour this year was a Sealed format, which meant that we were each given 3 decks, then 15 minutes to pick one of those decks, and that deck is what we would use for the entirety of the tournament. Day 1 would consist of 6 rounds, with only 5-1 records making it to Day 2. Day 2 would be single elimination rounds until the final, which would be the Adaptive format. Adaptive meant that you would play the first game normally, then in the second game you would switch decks with your opponent, and then the final would consist of bidding chains for which deck you want. Day 1 was split into two groups: a and b, because of the expected high numbers and limited room. Day 1a (which was my day), had 89 players, while Day 1b had 96, which gave us our total of 185.

I was very excited for this event. Firstly, because it was my first Vault Tour. Secondly, because it was still early with the game's first expansion, and I had spent a decent amount of time posting spoilers and analyzing the new cards. And thirdly, because Sealed is my favorite format for Keyforge. I haven't had the best luck opening top tier decks, so Sealed helps level the playing field a bit. Plus, I really like the idea of having card analysis being a skill on the fly, with a lot of it being about how well you can figure out if a deck is good or not, and then having the skill to carry you into winning. I also really like how the games are always surprising since you can't view your opponent's decklist before the game (unlike in the bring-your-own-deck Archon format).

Before I get into my decks and analysis, I also wanted to comment on this new set (Age of Ascension): I have really been loving Sealed in this set, even more than the first set (Call of the Archons). I think this new set is more balanced between the Houses in general. I think the set allows for decks to be more consistently evenly matched (ie making for closer games). I think each deck has way more little combos, rather than just big swingy cards, or massive game-ending combos from the first set. I also think that this set helps create really interesting board situations and tough choices, and moreso than the first set. And although I would currently say that the top tier decks in the new set are no match for the first set, I will concede that it is still early, and that we may just need to find those top tier decks still.

So anyway, onto the tournament itself. I went into this tournament with a couple of strategies and thoughts:
1. I thought Dis was consistently the strongest House in AoA, and I was going to pay special attention to any decks that had that.
2. Amber manipulation is extremely important in AoA, maybe even moreso than the first set, because it is found in fewer numbers. Shadows were still my top pick for that.
3. Board wipes are extremely important in AoA, because there seem to be way more creatures in the decks than the first set, and the creatures have a lot more crazy interactions and ways to win than in the first set, on average.
4. Raw Amber is still very important. AoA has probably a lower raw Amber count than CotA, so that makes higher raw Amber counts much more potent in AoA vs AoA matches.

With that in mind, let's look at the decks I was given:

Force the Stacatto - I like the House combination, so far so good. Immediately I get extremely sad as I see 3 Aember Imps in Dis. I hate that card. It will screw you over just as much as your opponent, and now having 3 of them taking up space in my beloved Dis is making me nervous. The rest of the House is pretty decent, including some of my favorite Dis cards in Exhume, Charette, Dust Imp, and Shooler. But then there is a Tolas, another card I hate for the same reason as Aember Imp: It hurts you and your opponent. Also, no Lash of Broken Dreams, which is a huge Dis card. But let's see the rest of the deck. Sanctum only has 4 creatures, that really hurts. It has some good cards, but it is missing Doorstep to Heaven, Aubade the Grim, Gatekeeper, or any number of other Amber control, or even Amber generating cards. I am not impressed. Shadows is looking much better. Miasma is always solid, and this has 2! Sucker Punch had me intrigued, and Dusk Chronicles and Furtive Investors gave me some good Amber generation, with Brend giving some good control, if I could ever kill him. 18 Raw Amber I count, with it being higher in the game due to generation cards. That is some serious Amber generation that could allow me to just outrush other decks. I don't really like the Amber control, and no board wipes is a huge red flag to me. Only 15 creatures also feels a little low, especially with that number including 3 Aember Imps. But that Amber generation still has me intrigued.

Dee, the Unfortunately Undulating - Great name, lol. I'm not liking this House Combination as much, but it does at least have Dis. This Dis is looking pretty solid. Still no Lash, but I love Binding Irons, and Tezmal can cause some serious hurt. The 3 Tentacus seems quite good, although that is a lot more reliant on my opponent having artifacts to use. But it's still a solid House that could work. Only 3 Sanctum creatures?! Man, take away my above average creature count for AoA decks thought. At least it has some decent cards that allow me to use other House cards on my Sanctum turn like Golden Aura, and Healing Blast could give me some good Amber generation, but probably only if I heal opponent's creatures. The 3 creatures it does have are very good, so that is something to think about. Untamed has a board wipe with Save the Pack, so that is huge. Plus, it has complimentary cards that allow me to wound multiple choice creatures before playing it like They're Everywhere and Piranha Monkeys. Dharna could be good, Fanghouse gives some good board control, and Glimmer and Regrowth both allow me get stuff I need. 12 raw Amber doesn't seem that bad in AoA, and I have a decent amount of generators. I have decent board control as well, which is important. I really don't like the Amber control though, and I feel that is very important in this set.

The Eternal of Colocorner - All red backs, eh? I hope that is a good sign. I see Shadows, which I like, but no Dis. Logos can still be decent though, and maybe it's a Timetraveller x2 deck! ....And it isn't... Oh well. But let's take a look at the rest. 1-2 Punch and a Tremor I really like. Bingle BangBang can be good if he survives. Brammo with 2 Drummernauts is great for hitting the board, although no Ganger Chieftain, so no on that combo. Coward's End is the best board wipe in the set, so that has me happy. Blood Money is good for a little Amber generation, and 2 Screechbombs are amazing for Amber control. Although I would maybe prefer some beefier Brobnar guys, this really doesn't sound too bad. Oh boy, this Logos is looking good. A Legacy Effervescent Principle?! That alone might be worth playing the deck. Nobody would expect it. Cutthroat Research can give some control, and Helper Bot and Screechbombs can help to make sure I can play it to get my opponent out of key range. 3 Hexpions sounds like a lot of archiving, and a lot of fun. The Z.Y.X. guys are extremely good, especially in conjunction with each other and Hexpions. Crazy Killing Machine is also great because that gives me access to artifact destruction, which is always rare, and if I have to hit myself, I can always go for the Hexpions. This feels like a really good Logos component. And we get to what I assume would be the best with Shadows. Furtive Investors for generation and catching up, Life for a Life with Bad Penny and all those Hexpions for some great board control with little drawback. Swindle is a game saving card in itself. Bulleteye is always awesome if he can stick around, and 2x Routine Job for more Amber manipulation. This deck is looking great. 7 Raw Amber?! Oh Nooo!! That doesn't sound good at all. However, I have an absurd amount of Amber control and stealing, and I have a feeling those Hexpions will give me some monstrous turn setups. But that raw Amber, when compared to the other decks, is a little scary. 18 creatures is fine with me, especially with 3 being Hexpions. But I'm not 100% sold on my first look through anything.

Ok, so it was decision time. I had plenty of time to think this through. I went through each of the decks several times as I just wasn't sure. Force had insane Amber generation, but several of my most hated Dis cards, and no big board wipes, both of which were huge turn-offs. Dee had the board control, and okay Amber generation, but the Amber control wasn't great, and it just didn't have a lot of those good interactions that I love in Keyforge. I really liked what I saw in Eternal, even though the Amber generation was awful. I ended up choosing The Eternal of Colocorner because of that Amber control. That Effervescent Principle is so good, especially since it is a Legacy, and so not expected. I also loved all of the little combos I could do in Logos and Brobnar. I knew I would have to be very careful of my Coward's End, since it was my only big board wipe, but I figured I had enough creatures and decent direct damage stuff to survive. I was really fearing outside key forging decks though, because my generation was dependent on my opponent gaining Amber. If they just used Key Abduction or Redacted, I would be in trouble. I sleeved my deck, checked it in, and I was ready to go.

I came into this tournament along with several local friends. We all played locally against each other quite a lot in Sealed tournaments, and we all seemed to do well, with each of us winning events from time to time. We talked strategy and even have our own Facebook group. I wanted us to be a team, but we never formalized it. I wanted to call us the Fuzzy Gruens, but that never caught on, despite me also making a very good fruity alcohol drink called the Fuzzy "Fizzy" Gruen. We should have all just worn Mr. Nice Guy Games shirts, since that was the amazing local gaming store in which we typically played (as well as its owner being one of the best players), but that was never finalized either (Sorry, Ron, maybe next time?). Shout out to Mr. Nice Guy Games though because they are awesome. Easily the biggest game store I have ever seen or heard of, and full of very nice and fun people. I love our local community. Anyway, there were 4 of us competing on Day 1a, and 4 of us on Day 1b I believe? So we were hopeful that we wouldn't have to play each other and eliminate one another.

I was hoping that I would do well enough to make it to Day 2, but having to be 5-1 leaves room for very few mistakes, and the randomness of Sealed, as well as the number of players, makes for some very tough competition. My background in competitive gaming is that I usually do pretty well, but never well enough to win it all, with a few exceptions. I was also intimidated by a number of other teams that were there. I heard Reapout was there, but I unfortunately never found anyone or just completely missed them. I was definitely sad to miss out on meeting them. Maybe sometime at Gencon? There was also a very large team from Indianapolis called The Key Chargers. I sat and chatted with several members before the tournament, and ended up really enjoying every interaction I had with them. They were awesome. If I didn't already have a local group, I would have totally asked to join their team, especially after the tournament, as they were all very supportive and nice. Back to the tournament, I was hoping to at least break even with my wins/losses, have a fun time, and hopefully be a good sport throughout all of it.

I should have written down the names of everyone I played, but I unfortunately didn't. My first opponent was a lovely lady who first turn played a Timetraveler. I managed to eventually wipe the board and kept the board low on creatures for most of the game. It was a pretty quick game, but close if I remember correctly. I ended up generating a bunch of Amber on my last turn, in hopes she didn't have a Doorstep to Heaven in Sanctum, and luckily she didn't. 1-0

 

I don't remember very much from my second game, but I think it was against Regan Retzloff? I believe things got rolling with my Hexpions and I regularly had tons of cards grabbed from my archives. The Z.Y.X. guys really kept putting stuff in archives and then allowed me to play them that turn or the next. The Researcher was especially nice in allowing me to play Effervescent Principle, and then immediately get it back into my archives once I played him. I think maybe a Swindle finished the game for me? 2-0

I was feeling really good, but as usual, I am knocked down to size. I played against the awesome veteran, Jay Schelke. He was the guy, who at a previous Vault Tour, voluntarily called a judge over because an opponent's card was left in is deck, and he was kicked out of tournament for doing so. He was very courteous, nice, and great at the game. I thanked him for his service and he crushed me, lol. It was by far the biggest beating I would receive in the tournament. His deck was just too fast for me. I managed to wipe the board, but he just flooded it again and played action cards that added amber. I managed to draw all of my delaying stuff but I just couldn't keep up. 2-1

Now, I was just one game away from being eliminated from Day 2. At this point I was figuring I was not going to make it, but I wanted to try and finish with more wins than losses. My next opponent, I believe, was a Key Charger young member named Foss Williams. I believe I got a very wide Logos board, and kept playing Hexpions (I think I probably played that card 9+ times in the game). I kept choosing Logos and reaping for several amber, and drawing tons of cards from my archives. It worked very well in my favor, and I managed to pull off the win. I was glad to hear my opponent managed to get one more win later one, as he needed the shards to get something from the prize table. 3-1

 

Things were coming down to the wire. I needed two more wins, and I knew I'd be matched up with a good opponent. I think I played Tom Allen maybe, but we had one of the most exciting and close endings I had in the tournament. I feel like I really controlled the beginning of the game. I controlled the board, or I controlled the amber, and slowly built my own. I think I forged my first key pretty easily, and controlled some more to get back up to 6+ amber. Then my opponent played Binate Rupture and Interdimensional Graft on me. I forge my key, but my opponent got like 12 amber. I had already played my Effervescent Principle, and I was far from reshuffling my deck. My opponent forged his first key, and then his second. And now the game got tight. We had many turns where both of us had 6+ amber, but we would always get each other back down. I believe he played a Redacted, but I managed to get rid of it with my Crazy Killing Machine. I generated a bunch of amber on a turn and thought I got him, but then he played Wild Wormhole and top decked a Gatekeeper! I couldn't believe it. It was very exciting, but boy was I annoyed at the time, lol. We kept going back and forth, and I think it might have been the combination of a Screechbomb, along with a Swindle, that managed to put me far enough away to get the win, but it was an exciting game. Kudos to my opponent for sticking with all the control in the beginning in order to set up a massive comeback. 4-1

 

I ended up being matched up with yet another young Key Charger named Eli Nichols. I ended up winning the match, but he wanted to play the rest of the game to see if his combos would go off. We played for fun while the round ended. He showed incredible sportsmanship and kindness during play, and I enjoyed our conversations during and after the game. His dad was also playing in the tournament, and I made sure to congratulate him on raising such a fine young man.

I was now 5-1, which was good enough to qualify for Day 2.

Somehow, I also managed to have quite a good strength of schedule, and was the #2 seed for Day 1a. Now I got to relax on Saturday, watch my friends compete in Day 1b, and go and check out the Epic Championship stuff as well.

So these were the standings going into Day 2 after day 1b played. As you can see, I was the 5th seed, right behind CorayThan, the owner/creator of SAS. None of my friends qualified for day 2, but 3 of them went 4-2 I believe, and others went 3-3, so I think we had a really good showing overall. We were told that on Day 2, they wanted to narrow the pool of 22 Day 2 players to the top 16, so that meant that the top 10 got a first round bye. I was very happy about that. Free shards! Plus, I didn't expect to make it very far in Day 2 so anything beyond this point was a gift. Then, we got paired up for the top 16 and I saw that I was going to play Eli Nichols again, but this time, it was for elimination. 6-1

He knew about all my tricks, so I felt like I was at a bit of a disadvantage. Honestly, I was going to be fine if I lost here. It would have been perfect justice. His deck was very fast, and I knew my deck would have trouble with that. I was going to try my best, but I would be fine either way. Our game was very good. Eli started out very strong, controlled the board and my amber. I think he might have extended a little too far when he dropped tons of Sanctum creatures out while already having a strong Logos presence, but hand filtering is good too. I Coward's Ended his board and really reset everything for me. I started getting my Hexpions out and was helping clear the board, while setting up good turns with archiving. I believe I forged my key first, and it was several turns before he finally caught up. I believe I got my second key, and then he got his right after. So it came down to the wire. I played Routine Job twice to get him out of check, as well as Effervescent Principle at least 2 times with the help from the Z.Y.X. Researcher. I finally forged enough amber to get into check again, but this time Eli just didn't have the control to stop me. He conceded. After shuffling his deck a little bit, he said he remembered that he had a Routine Job in his hand, which would have stopped me from forging, and gotten him to check, but people around him said he didn't have anything else, and I would have played Swindle the next turn for the win. So hopefully that misplay would not have mattered on his part, but that goes to show to make sure you check everything before you concede. 7-1

I felt awful after this match. I was a wreck. I was going to try my best, I was going to make him earn it, but I thought he was going to beat me from the start. Eli took it well. He was a good sport about it. But that's rough. I hope he turns out ok. He played amazingly and showed great character. Some of the other members of The Key Chargers approached me and congratulated me and comforted me. They said not to worry about it and that Eli was a good kid and that even in losing this close was probably good for him. I still felt horrible but I was very thankful for their kind words. Since their team is from Indianapolis, they will get a good shot for revenge at me either way, so I wish them well.

 

Things were now getting very serious. I did some breathing exercises to calm myself down for the top 8. My next opponent was Colby Bernardo I believe? I was told he had a 3x Key Abduction deck, and was the person who took down CorayThan. So again, I kind of went into this game thinking it was probably over, lol. My deck relies on my opponent gaining some amber, and then me being able to steal it. I can't do a lot against a Key Abduction. My only hope was to keep his board clear, and hope he couldn't archive a ton for an easy Key Abduction. Early on in the game he drew a Lash of Broken Dreams, which is a card I always dread to play against, but also probably my favorite Dis card of all time. He slowed me down with that for many turns until I managed to get rid of it with my Crazy Killing Machine. He was forced to play 2 Key Abductions for the amber early on as well, which was great news for me, as that hopefully meant he wouldn't have them when he needed them. I think our match was recorded, so hopefully that can come out and correct my memory, but I believe we both forged our couple keys to keep the game close. He then brought out his weapon that really helped him beat CorayThan: Collector Worm. Oh, this horrible thing. I think he attacked and archived 6 of my creatures this way? Luckily, he couldn't get rid of my Hexpions that way, but still. I lost several Brobnar guys as well as several Logos guys to that dumb thing.

 

I made a couple of misplays as well, like attacking into his Storm Crawler with my Hexpion, thinking it would kill it, but the Crawler only deals 1 damage in a fight. I also neglected to use my Screechbomb before using my Crazy Killing Machine, and lost it. We were reaching the end of the match. I knew it was probably getting close to time, as we were the only match still going, and I had about 100 people all around me looking at our every move. I was trying to concentrate and not get concerned with that, but man, that is stressful, lol. Everyone watching your every move, judging it. Crazy stuff. We were in a bit of a stalemate for several turns. I kept getting into check, but in doing so I would stun any of my guys that reaped, thanks to Storm Crawler. And then on his turn, he used Mindwarper to capture my own amber, and then attack me with Collector Worm and get the amber and archive my creature. I was getting really worried about him drawing his final Key Abduction and beating me, but he wasn't drawing cards. I knew that he must not have any kind of amber control in his hand, and that he was forced to keep activating Mars to keep me from forging. So on my final turn I finally managed to draw my Helper Bot. I reaped for some amber to get me to check, played the Helper Bot, which allowed me to play the Tremor I had in my hand, and I stunned his Mars creatures. He did not have an answer for that, and I won. It was very close. I hope it was entertaining for those that watched. I probably made a ton of other mistakes, but it felt good to win. I now was moving up to the final 4. 8-1

I made it to the final 4. This was way further than I ever expected to get. I was set up to play Aaron Glance, and I heard his deck was insane. He was the #1 seed of the tournament. He had not been beaten yet. His deck was very fast and it had an incredible Logos component. This was going to be tough. Since we basically went to time in the last match, I did not get a break between this match and the next.












The game started out pretty fast. He dropped several creatures I had to deal with (like Timetraveler), as well as yet another Lash of Broken Dreams. I managed to clear away everything with Coward's End, and my Crazy Killing Machine took care of the Lash, although I believe I lost my CKM in the process. I believe he forged first, and then a couple of turns later I did. I was not drawing very well. I was constantly stuck in a 2/2/1 House spread hand, and I wasn't drawing my Hexpions. After I cleared his board, he did not play very much for several turns, and I believe if I had been able to play a good board then, I might have had a much better chance at winning. He kept getting me out of check as well, so that slowed me down. I kept accumulating chains from my Coward's End, as well as my Effervescent Principle. He also had 2 Binding Irons I believed, which also really slowed me down. I had Bad Penny in my hand and on the board throughout the game. I really should have discarded her when I had the chance, as she kept clogging my hand and was easy fodder for Aaron. He kept on generating very high amounts of amber, and I had to use every amber control I could to keep him down. I let him forge a key so that I could get into check for my own. I managed to get to 2 keys and the game continued to be very exciting. I believe he tried some Archimedes and Professor Sutterkin shenanigans on me, but I was able to directly kill them as soon as they came up. I could have been in big trouble if I did not have the tools to deal with them.

 

He dropped a very big Dis board, including some Aember Imps, Charettes, and some Shoolers that also previously kept me out of check. I did not really mess with his board though, as that Aember Imp kept causing him to stun all of his guys as well when reaping. I started to pull ahead, and thought maybe I could squeak out a win, but he had 2 Miasmas. Those crushed me. 2 turns of having the win, but not being able to forge. I believe in the end he managed to get his amber to 11, which was just too far for my Swindle to handle, and I couldn't do anything, and my run was over. It was an awesome game. Aaron really played well. His deck was very good. I think I played well too, though. I think I really gave him a run for his money. I think he even managed to say that my matchup was one of the toughest he had all tournament, so that feels good. I might not typically beat his deck with mine, but there were many things that could have happened in our game that could have given me the win. So I feel like I really stood a decent chance. I was just probably outplayed, lol. Oh well. 8-2. Eliminated.

Aaron went on to the finals, where he lost to Ben Wallace in 3 games. Although I have not seen the stream, I have heard that Aaron bid 10 chains on that final game so that he could play with his deck, and that it might have just been too much for even that deck to handle. Above is the final standings. I managed to technically be in 4th place, due to seeding, but I feel fine about that. I did not originally think that highly of my deck, and I think most people agree that it went further than it should, but it did me well. I have heard that they will invite people to Worlds depending on how many shards they earn at these things. And I also heard they might invite other top players in the Vault Tour. So who knows, maybe in some crazy fortuitous circumstances I could end up at Worlds some day? One can dream.

 

 

The MVPs for my deck were easily Hexpion, Effervescent Principle, Crazy Killing Machine, and Coward's End. Those Hexpions were huge. I remember really liking the card, but having 3 in a deck is insane. They just keep staying around. These guys are the only reason I would want a Soul Snatcher in my or my opponent's decks. In fact, I will need to see if I can find a Soul Snatcher and Hexpion x3 deck anywhere (also Key Abduction). They can do so much. They were great targets for my Life for a Life and they could suicide attack enemies and clear the board, all the while just going back to my archives and giving me more cards to put in there. Not to mention they would go right back onto the board. They helped me set up monstrous turns, they synergized well with many cards in my deck, and they were constantly a thorn for my opponents. Coward's End was huge for me because it was my only big board wipe. Without this card, I would not have lasted in most of my games. It is the best board wipe in the set by far. My Crazy Killing Machine was also amazing. That helped me get rid of so many problematic cards. I got rid of Charettes with my captured amber, I got rid of Redacted and Lash of Broken Dreams, I got rid of Archimedes and my own Hexpions. It just did everything and was always a big key to winning in most of my games. And of course I have to give it up for my Legacy card, Effervescent Principle. It may not have been as big of a surprise later on, when everyone heard that I had it, but it was still a very big card for me. It got my opponent's out of check so many times. I also would play my Researchers right after playing it, just so I could get it back and use it again.

My deck was a ton of fun to play. I had so many decisions to make every turn. I could just activate Logos every turn because of all the fun stuff I could do in that House. My Shadows was great in generating amber, and it was very decent in controlling amber with Swindle and Routine Job. Even Brobnar got in the action with control with those 2 Screechbombs. Brobnar was pretty good at controlling the board, and that Tremor won me the game in my final 8 match. It may not be a competitive Archon deck, but boy do I like it. I shall cherish it forever.

My experience at Origins was a lot of fun. I didn't even talk about my time with White Wizards and their game, Epic, and all of those awesome guys that play it (check out that game if you haven't, it's amazing). But just in terms of the Vault Tour, it was worth it. Obviously it helps to make it to the final 4, but I really enjoyed almost everything about it. I got to meet tons of really nice people, and probably made friends I will keep for at least as long as I'm playing Keyforge. I think the Judges and the people running the tournament did a great job. I know people are talking a lot about the ruling on Archimedes. It was well explained to me and it seems like they have the ruling correct, even though I don't personally like it and I think it goes against what was intended. But I do think they got the ruling correct, and that is important. Everyone was great and supportive and very courteous. There were a ton of people playing and it seemed like everyone was having a pretty good time. I highly recommend giving a Vault Tour a try. Just enter and try it. Maybe you will get a ridiculous deck. Maybe you won't, and you will lose every game. You will get at least 30 Ambershards, and I guarantee you could make some new friends too.

I really wish I could have put a face to more people in the community, because I am sure I missed lots, but maybe next time at Gencon. In the meantime, I can't wait to read more from other players, watch some streams, and interact with our great community. I am still riding my high. So let me know your thoughts. See any mistakes? I'm sure I made many. I'd love to hear from anyone that happened to see any of my games and give me some tips/criticisms if possible. Thank you to anyone that made it this far. I hope you enjoyed reading this novella, and until next time, happy gaming!

Q&A with Vault Tour Winner Rachael Trimble!

Rachael Trimble, the recent Eindhoven Vault Tour Winner, graciously agreed to conduct a Q&A session with me for this blog, for which I am eternally grateful. I hope you share my excitement, interest, and thanks for her time in sharing with the great Keyforge community. Let's get started!

First of all, congratulations on your victory! The first Vault Tour winner for Keyforge! That is an amazing accomplishment, having to compete alongside 50+ people to make it to day 2, and then to win it all in what I am sure was a very competitive environment. We, the people, were wondering if we could pick your brain (and learn all your secrets and weaknesses), and see what led you to this high mark. Thanks for sharing with me and the world!

So, how long have you been playing Keyforge, and what about the game first got you interested, and what has kept you interested so far? 

I have been playing KeyForge since release, I was lucky enough to actually be able to attend the pre release event which took place in London. The big thing for me about the game which got me interested is the uniqueness of it, I love that I don’t have to build a deck alongside every deck being unique meaning every game is unique. For me this keeps the game fresh constantly as I never know what might happen in my next game.

The Vault Tour event you played and won was in Eindhoven, Netherlands, and the format was Archon, which was that every player brought a single deck they owned, and had to win in single matches, with 6-0 and 5-1 players making it to day 2. What made you choose your deck? (You can find Raechel's deck here: The Captain of Barrackslaunch) 

 

I don’t own a lot of decks, maybe around 12 at moment. Out of all these decks there is 2 that I liked, one of which was the TT (Timetraveller) and the other having 4 heavy mars taunt alongside Ether Spider and lots of little annoying creatures like Shaffles and Ember Imp etc. So for me it had to be one of these 2 decks. The heavy taunt Mars deck mainly focuses on delaying your opponent enough to try and let you get ahead. There isn’t a lot of amber on the cards so it mainly comes down to the creatures. The weakness of this deck is that if you have ways to take down my taunt either by a creature with poison or board wipes etc then it can struggle to keep up in amber. The other deck I liked was the double Timetraveller. This deck has several loses in OP events, it has no board wipes, and if someone can get out 4+ creatures of 1 house and just reap for 4-6 amber per turn then I can sometimes struggle to keep up as it ends up a race. I had tested them both online against people and in events. I took more of a liking to the double Timetraveller as it has a lot of raw amber on the cards (17) before I take into account any amber I steal from Bait and Switch, Relentless Whispers etc and with Help From Future Self shuffling my discard back into my deck it means those raw amber cards stick around. So I choose this deck and just hoped I could race my way to 3 keys in each match before my opponents. 

As a follow up to the previous question: Even though you won the tournament, what would you change in your deck if you could? 

The main thing I would change would be a board wipe. I think apart from Tunk all my creatures are 4 power and under so they die off pretty easily. This means the opponent can normally control the board and I don’t really have many ways to stop them, especially if it’s Sanctum creatures as most of them have shields so my 2 damage cards don’t get me far. If I was able to have a board wipe card it would allow me to hopefully not let my opponent get too many creatures down.

There has been a lot of talk regarding deck ratings in Keyforge, which I feel is very natural considering our competitive nature. But I was wondering, what are your thoughts regarding them? Do you value them? Which ones are your favorite? Or, what do you look for in a competitive deck? 

When it comes to deck rating I have never actually looked up any ratings for my decks. I have a friend who does and sometimes he tells me what rating my deck has got but for me personally I like to just play the deck myself and get a feel for how good it is. I do understand peoples need for wanting to rate decks, I have heard the SAS system and AERC is decent. However alongside that, my opponent in the final had a mid 70s SAS rating deck which would mean some would look at that and say it’s not tournament worthy, but in reality it competed against people’s best deck and managed only 1 loss all the way to the final so I would take any deck rating with a pinch of salt. I personally for now won’t bother with them as I don’t want a score pushing me away from a deck especially considering what I just mentioned about a mid 70s deck competing in the final of a vault tour.

 

The only other points I would add is that I managed to win with my deck by not only having some luck on the day but also playing my deck a lot and knowing what it can do. Sometimes I had to kill my own creatures to get that steal affect from Relentless Whispers, knowing what cards are left to play or little triggers in your deck can go a long way. I have The Sting in my deck and it helps when paired with Key Abduction. Don’t focus on scores and things and just focus on playing a deck and seeing what it can do. No deck is going to win every game so don’t be afraid of losing as non of us want a deck to win every game. We want decks to have a weakness so everyone has a chance.

People have made several comments as to the dominance of the Shadows House when it comes to competitive Keyforge. Shadows was also by far the most represented in the top decks. Why do you think this is? Do you think this is an anomaly, or will this be the norm in competitive Keyforge, at least until the second set is released? 

I think it’s fair to say Shadows is one of the best houses. With so many amber control cards within it, it helps you control your opponents amber which is always needed. In other houses you do get some amber control cards but Shadows has a larger amount which means more chance of seeing a few amber control in decks. For example in the final my opponents deck had no steal or capture in his Untamed, his Logos had 2 creatures which capture 1 when played and 2 creatures which steal one after a fight. All his other steal was in Shadows, so for me I knew if I kept gaining amber he would have to always pick Shadows to disrupt it and if he didn’t it meant he was only going to steal or capture maybe 1-2 amber. I mean I do think every house has some cool amber control cards, I love Screechbomb and Burn the Stockpile in Brobnar. Going forward if they don’t give other houses more amber control then people will default to Shadows houses in order to get that bit more amber control. If you don’t have amber control in your deck then it does mean you might need a fast gaining amber deck and just race for the win. In saying that the winner of the sealed Seattle Vault Tour had no Shadows in his deck and although it was sealed each player was given 3 decks which means there was hundreds of decks opened and his non-Shadows deck went on to win.

Despite Shadows being very popular, do you think there was a good representation of the other houses, at least in Day 1? What was the meta as far as you could tell? Were there any surprises? (I, for example, was surprised at all the Mars, as well as the lack of automatic key forging in most of the top decks) 

In my first 4 games I played Sanctum which for me is normally my weakness due to shields and not being able to control them. I played a mix of decks though including Horsemen and Timetraveller. I didn’t notice much of a meta day 1 as each time I played someone new it was a very different deck compared to the last. Even going forward into day 2, although Sanctum and Brobnar wasn’t hugely represented. I don’t think there was a common trend of cards in decks if you take away the Shadows. I mean you might have a great Shadows house but one house doesn’t win you the game. I was glad to see Mars doing so well considering some of the hate it had got. I personally like Mars and think there are some cool combos you can do with them. I was kind of surprised I didn’t come across any Dust Pixie with Key Charge and Nature's Call etc as out of turn forging. I thought would be a game changer but I don’t recall any opponent forging a key out of turn.

What are your thoughts as to the complaints that Keyforge may become pay-to-win, with the richest people having the "best" decks, and therefore having a significant advantage over the average player? 

I think in all games there is going to be an aspect of paying for good decks or cards and possibly having an advantage. I mean at the start, people where pulling Horsemen decks and then going online to sell them. The online market is filled with decks. When it comes to pay to win though I do think it’s hard to ever know if the deck you buy will actually go on to win anything good. I mean people might have not liked my desk due to it having Mars and no board wipes. People may have avoided the deck Rene had, who I played in the final due to its SAS rating. People do have the opportunity to go on Facebook, eBay, online retailers etc and view a vast amount of decks but asking someone to then choose one that’s going to take down a vault tour is a hard choice. I mean with every deck being unique how do you know the next deck you open it’s going to be that winning vault tour deck? Since every deck is unique and decks themselves aren’t hugely expensive I do think people will always continue to buy sealed and hope for a good deck. I mean my deck was purchased from my local gaming store and not online.

Do you favor Archon or Sealed events for Keyforge? 

I like both, sealed gives everyone a fair chance at winning but archon lets you test your best deck against other good decks so I think they both have a good side to them depending on what you are looking for. I do like to enter a sealed event at least once a month though alongside other events such as survival and adaptive. It’s nice to have a mix.

What is your favorite House? 

 

I would say Mars due to their combos like Blypyp with Key Abduction, John Smyth with Invasion Portal. I mean most of the Mars creatures are annoying which also makes them fun to play.
What is your favorite card? 

That’s a hard one, I have yet to know all the cards but I did take a liking to John Smyth for a while. However, since learning more cards and also playing with them I think I will have to say Time Traveller as you play the creature, get an amber and draw 2 cards. 3 great things from 1 card is just amazing.

What do you think is the most powerful card in Keyforge, or the card that affects the meta the most? 

 

I did think it would be out of turn forging and I thought Key Charge or Chota Hazri would be in the mix of top decks at the vault tour but that wasn’t the case and those I thought would have been powerful. I still think they are powerful in terms of gaining and forging. But then on the other hand, things such as Too Much to Protect or Bait and Switch, and other cards which control your opponent when they get a lot of amber, are also powerful as you need to be able to stop them or slow them down if they were to gain 8+ amber.

What is the most competitive House, and what is your ideal House combination in a new deck? 

 

I think Untamed as it has a lot of amber gain potential, you have Full Moon, Dust Pixie, Hunting Witch, Nature's Call, Nepenthe Seed, Witch of the Eye, Regrowth and so many other good cards which can gain you a lot of amber. I mean playing down a Hunting Witch and say 2-3 other creatures and then using maybe Witch of the Eye or Nepenthe Seed to get back your Nature's Call to then pick up 3 untamed creatures and playing them again for more amber is pretty cool.

What is your favorite combo or interaction in the game? 

 

I like to ready cards so using John Smyth with an Invasion Portal or Blypyp and Squawker or Soft Landing to be able to bring creatures in ready. I normally find this is an easier combo to pull off rather than holding out for that big Untamed turn with Hunting Witch or Full Moon.

What would be your best tip for new players? 

Play as many games as possible. I think the more you play the more you learn. I learn the cards by seeing them in play and I also get to see how other people play certain cards which could give me ideas for myself. The game is still fresh and there is still new things to find.

Have you pimped out your Keyforge accessories with custom keys, markers, etc? Or do you use starter set tokens? 

I use custom tokens and keys. There is such a wide market out there filled with custom tokens and keys. I mean why use wooden ones from the starter when I can have nice fancy ones. I think the starter set ones are great for starting out but once you get an urge for bling it’s hard to resist. Although now I am trying out some of my vault tour keys and playmats. 

What are you most excited about the new set (Ascension) coming out in a few months? 

I haven’t looked at all the cards but I do like how they are carrying over some but not all cards as this will keep both sets fresh. I did see a card called Flex which allows you to exhaust a ready Brobnar creature and gain amber equal to half its power. There is a new Brobnar creature with 11 power, so this could be a nice combo.
FFG has mentioned that there will be new Houses in the game eventually, any preferences to a new House theme? 

I think maybe a house which could interact with things, maybe do something if you forged a certain color key, or an artifact that lets you play a card from discard if a creature is destroyed, or maybe if one of your creatures die you can choose and destroy an opponent's creature. I like things that maybe trigger off other things to happen. Maybe make them a robot house due to an automatic affect going off once you trigger something.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions! Happy gaming and any parting words?

Thank you to everyone for your support. I hope to see you at some more vault tours. The community is amazing and it’s such a unique game, let’s just enjoy it. 

I hope you all enjoyed this fun Q&A, I know I did. Make sure to check out Rachael's Game Store for all your gaming needs :)

Keyforge: Age of Ascension Spoiled cards so far! (UPDATED 5/28/19)

So we have the announcement for the next Keyforge set called Age of Ascension. We have had many cards spoiled for us so far and I wanted to take a look at each of them. *UPDATED the card list with the new cards in each house*. Also, some of the cards were taken from a French livestream, so please forgive me if the translation is incorrect. There was another stream but they had to take it down. I have the names of those cards, but not the images or abilities, sorry. Please forgive the image qualities as they are grabbed from livestreams and various online avenues. Buckle in, because we have a lot of cards to get through:

Mars

Mars First - See what I did there? This is a decent action card that gives a raw amber and let's us ready and use any Mars creature. This is a solid card in any Mars deck as long as it has a couple of creatures. This is very similar to Squawker (although less flexible with it not being able to stun an opposing creature and having to use a Mars creature you ready), but it makes me wonder if this will replace it.

Collector Worm - Wow, that is a lot of armor. That is staying alive for a very long time. This creature is going to sweep the board by himself a lot of the time. This will be a serious card to contend with, provided you aren't wanting to get your archived cards anytime soon. Hopefully decks with this card also don't have Key Abduction, because I'd hate to give my opponent their creatures back.

Zysysyx Shockworm - This card is getting quite the buzz around the watercooler. Passive abilities are always nice, and adding 1 armor to this guy makes it so he isn't easily taken care of. That ability is crazy. Sure, you can reap, and then you will have to waste an entire turn removing the stun marker. Plus, this is a common card. Are we seeing Mars on the rise with this next set?

Aember Conduction Unit - A lighter, but much harder to remove, Zysysyx Shockworm. It may only get the first creature that reaps each turn, but that is usually enough, and being an artifact it is going to be very hard to deal with.

Nyzyk Resonator - Again, I like passive abilities, and cards that increase the key cost for your opponent are very good, especially against combo decks, which is what the meta seems to full of. Sorry, with which the meta is full. The 1 armor is very nice. I think I will still prefer a Grabber Jammer, since you have to have neighbors in order for this passive to work, but it's still a decent card.

Xanthyx Harvester - This card is awful. Sure, when reaping it can net you 2 amber, but I am guessing most of the time you won't even be able to use this guy because of its negative ability.

Mars Needs Aember - Besides having the title of the next blockbuster movie, this card is just okay. With hints of Hypnotic Command, this is most likely a replacement that will be a littler harder to pull off. Although I will say this requires less setup, it still has a lot of qualifiers with there needing to be damaged, non-Mars, creatures out for your opponent, PLUS amber to capture. I will still like it though, as it is an easy play with a raw amber (which Hypnotic Command doesn't have).

Yxlyx Stimrager - Oh my, you have grown too, more beautiful...for a Martian, I mean. With a rare Martian power of 4 along with the always desired 2-armor, this Bane-of-a-Martian is set to cause some havoc. The Fight ability is also quite nice, although you better not hope you go against Brobnar or Sanctum, as in those matchups I doubt this guy will fare well. But, if the Fight ability, triggers, that's an easy disruption of the battlefield, or even a kill! This is a rare though, so don't count on seeing it very often.

Killzord Mk. 9001 - I am not a big fan of upgrades, especially ones that don't even give you an Amber. I think they should all give Amber. This card gives an impressive 2 power AND 2 armor AND Skirmish, although with our first major negative Fight ability by giving chains. I doubt I'd ever put it on a fighting creature, as it would work just fine with a good Reaping creature. But considering you have to have a creature in play, and with no free Amber gain, I'm thinking I'd rather have any number of other cards. Luckily it's a rare, so I shouldn't have to worry about it.

Mindworm - Oooo this one is fun. He's going to die to pretty much everything, but using him against something with Taunt is an easy way to get rid of those protected neighbors. This card could easily not be able to do anything due to board state, any type of board wipe, etc, but at least the Elusive can help a bit, and this is wonderful against certain matchups. I can't wait to attack a Shadow Self with this guy, survive, and then cause the Shadow Self to deal 9 damage to each neighbor, therefore damaging itself 18 damage.

Destructive Analysis - Deal 2 damage to a creature, along with free Amber, and this is already a solid card. You can hit harder targets as long as you have cards in your archives, although I almost never want to get rid of my archived cards unless they are my opponents' due to Uxlyx, the Zookeeper or something (*rubs hands menacingly).

Martian Generosity - I like this a lot. This has so many fun decisions! You lose amber, but sometimes that's a good thing if you are trying to combat a good Amber control deck with cards like Bait and Switch, The Sting, Doorstep to Heaven, etc. If you have Key Abduction in hand, this could help immensely with forging an automatic key. If you also have a Battle Fleet in hand, card drawing for days! At bare minimum you can just play this, lose the raw Amber it provides, and draw 2 cards. I expect to see some awesome combos with this card. It's a shame it's a rare. I call all decks with this card and Key Abduction.

Extinction - Hilarious art. So that's where the Dodo birds went? This is a pretty decent card too, although it will take a lot of reading (at least for me). I I have not memorized all of the traits on each creature. This is a pseudo board wipe, so it will be situationally good and bad, especially with that chain gain. It has great potential though, just like the Dodo bird...

Tyxl Beambuckler - Interesting. 4 power and 1 armor is excellent. And this ability gets to go off no matter if it actually does damage or not. Great for disrupting those pesky Sanctum creatures, or just removing weak Shadows and Logos creatures. Plus, the art is fantastic, lol.

Carpet Phloxem -  I like board wipes, and this will always be one-sided, which is nice. But it feels a little hard to pull off, and even when you do, it's only 4 damage, so it might not even kill everything Still though, 1 raw Amber. I believe you can still just play this even with friendly creatures, just to get the raw amber.

Skybooster Squadron - Not bad. 4 power is welcome. You can heal damage, and it can be used in conjunction with other Mars cards that require them to be in hand, but this is mandatory. You can also just play it again after reaping, so unless it had captured amber or upgrades on it, it's not really a bad thing.

Glyxl Proliferator - This is a solid ability if it gets to go off. I would very much like to have this in a Key Abduction or Battle Fleet deck.

Agent Hoo-man - Hmmm. I like stunning, I don't like hitting my own. However, I believe I can still stun an enemy creature even if I don't have a non-Mars creature on the board. So that's good. This feels like a good first-set Mars card. Plus, I love the card art, name, and theme.

Exterminate! Exterminate! - An interesting card, bound to be a little confusing to new players. I believe you basically go down the line of your friendly Mars creatures and compare each one to a non-Mars creature, and its power is lower, you get to destroy it. This could mean destroying your own guys so be wary. But since it's your turn, you will get to choose whom to compare so that gives you a little control.

Ixxyxli Fixfinger - A 2 power 2 armor creature with elusive, I think that might be new. And each other Mars creature gets +1 armor? Sign me up! And with it being common I am sure we will find plenty of these guys. This will really help Mars create a wide board, which is what they typically need.

Containment Field - An upgrade with no raw Amber, boooo. It's still an ok card, considering it can get rid of any creature after one use. I'm not sure how much the delay or allowing one activation will affect its worth.

Destroy Them All! - I love this card. So much flexibility! You can destroy so much. Be wary of your own stuff that might be destroyed forcibly, but enjoy all the crazy antics including killing your own Amber generating imps, negative upgrades like Containment Field, and maybe even an artifact you have no use for, but you can't risk your opponent using on their next turn like Lash of Broken Dreams (I am betting someone will win a game because of this move).






Hypnobeam




Shadows

Whistling Darts - Although I like the flavor text for some Sound of Music reference, I kind of wish they went the Guardians of the Galaxy way. This is an ok card. 1 damage is hardly going to do much, but I'm happy it's only enemy creatures. The big draw is the raw Amber.

Throwing Stars - An action version of Seeker Needle x3, is our favorite self-inflicting artifact getting replaced? This will almost always be good for at least 1 amber, so that's great. It doesn't have the staying power of Seeker Needle, but it also doesn't require setup.

 

Yantzee Gang - I'm guessing poor Dodger is getting the boot. Oh well, Oliver references must be so last set. Or maybe they are getting rid of Pit Demon and putting it in Shadows for a more solid House consistency? Who knows. This is a decent card though that can be quite annoying to deal with.

Furtive Investors - I have heard people say that this is the replacement for Bait and Switch. Now, I would be fine with that getting replaced, but this seems like quite the nerf. The cap on this alone makes it so much worse than B&S, but it does have a similar need for your opponent to have more amber than you, and it does give a raw amber at least. I will be very interested to see how valuable first set decks with B&S will be if this its replacement. I suppose it has to replace B&S, because with this being common, I think it would be ridiculous to have this and B&S in the same deck.

Lamindra - Our first preview card that has the new keyword. This is a rather lackluster card IMO. Yes, it can be nice to give neighbors elusive, especially if that neighbor also has taunt, but this low health worries me. This will probably be an awesome card in sealed, though.

Heist Night - I hope this automatically gives a deck a few thieves to go with it, because it is necessary. This will be a pretty ridiculous card though, maybe even better than Bait and Switch. It requires a little more setup, especially with it being Alpha, but it could be a decent B&S substitute. Now I am getting more sure that B&S is not making it into this set. (Cue a Legacy and/or Maverick B&S into a new Shadows deck, lol)

 

Life for a Life - A single target substitute for Pawn Sacrifice. I like it. 6 damage takes care of most creatures.

Nightforge - My new superhero name. This is a pretty realistic option to forge keys on turn. You can't get a double key turn, but just getting 10 amber is totally doable, especially with this providing one to start. Combining this with other Shadow stealing cards, this could be a force to be reckoned with.

Ronnie Wristclocks - This is an amazing card for Shadows. I like this better than Urchin. I found Elusive to be nice, but rarely necessary with Urchin, and this gives me more of what I want: more stealing. Preventing a key from being forged when your opponent has 7 amber is very good, and this allows you to steal it. It's also a common!

Sucker Punch - This is a really cool card too. If it doesn't go into your archives, it at least gives you a raw amber, but playing against the right decks, this could trigger multiple times, which is awesome. I'm glad for it only targeting enemy creatures, as this would probably be broken if you could hit your own guys as well. This reminds me, I need to watch Sucker Punch again.

Gamgee - Elusive is nice, 2 power is not. The Reap ability is very decent if it gets to go off. This will definitely be a priority card to get rid of if it's on the table.

Dusk Chronicles - This sounds like the new, hit fantasy HBO-series-from-a-book-series coming soon which I would probably get into (and a quick Google search and yeah, the book series already exists, lol). This is a really solid card though. Raw Amber no matter what, and as long as you don't have the same amount of Amber as your opponent, you get something, whether it is drawing a card (How very Logos of you), or archiving a card (also Logos, what is this card doing in Shadows?).

Brend the Fanatic - This is a fun card. It definitely could be too risky of a card to play since you have to give your opponent 1 Amber to pay it, but if you have a way of getting rid of it using something like Pawn Sacrifice (not Oubliette silly FFG, hire me as a writer), then this gets really good. Steal 3 is insane. Skirmish definitely makes this difficult, and bouncing effects neuter this card, so I would only play this if I had a sure way to get rid of it that turn, which may be hard to pull off.

Life for a life - Speaking of Pawn Sacrifice, here is the single target, harder hitting cousin. I like it. Both cards are useful in different situations. I do like being able to hit harder targets, especially when Shadows has so much trouble with them. This is a welcome addition.

Knuckles Bolton - Great name. Great art. Simple, but useful abilities. I prefer other abilities in my creatures, personally, but this is still decent.

Little Nif - Wow, that is a lot of keywords, lol. Okay let's go through this: Omega, meaning it's the last card I can play. Deploy, meaning I can place it anywhere in my battlefield line. And Elusive. This is a pretty solid ability, especially when paired with Brobnar. It has to survive of course, which is no easy task, but stealing while fighting is really good. I am looking forward to giving this little guy a try.

Bonerot Venom - 1 raw amber - Upgrade - After this creature is used, deal 2 damage to it. - Interesting, this can be used on friendly and enemy creatures, so there is good flexibility there. It's fine. At least it has raw amber. It is very soft removal.

Sack of Coins - I like this a lot! This will always give you an Amber and at least 1 damage to throw around, and it can get quite insane thanks to it being in Shadows without Alpha or Omega. Too bad it's rare. *Update: There seems to be some debate as to whether this card targets 1 creature, or if you can split up the damage. My first thought was that it was a single target but the text is a bit unclear.

Perplexing Sophistry - Sophistry means the use of fallacious arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving. Sounds very Shadowy. It gives a raw Amber, which helps it achieve its goal. This seems quite good. Drawing a card is nice, but discarding an opponent's is even better, and having both while also increasing Amber seems like an awesome swing further in your favor.

Plague Rats - Well this looks like fun. Probably not very competitive as it will hurt all your own non-plague rat guys, but it's a fun ability I am assuming decks will have many copies. This is a rare as well, which is interesting. I will want a plague rat deck just because.

Hideaway Hole - It's ok, nice to protect your own creatures a little for a turn. Being Omni is very good, and giving raw amber means I will never completely regret having it. Just don't forget it's active, lol.











Brobnar

1-2 Punch - I love this card. Just like I love the first Punch (and I hope it's not getting replaced because I love it so much), this card has a lot of flexibility. This can outright destroy any creature that is stunned, which is pretty huge, especially considering the number of stunning cards we've seen already. But that raw amber just makes me so happy.

 

Groggins - A negative ability on a large body. I'm guessing Troll is getting axed? Troll seems much better. The worst thing is if an opponent has a creature with taunt in between just 2 other creatures, then this guy can't fight at all.

Cowfyne - This is a pretty great Brobnar creature. This is a creature version of Lava Ball, which is fine by me, because Brobnar deck components have frequently lacked enough creatures. This is a great way to get at those creatures that taunt creatures are protecting.

Drummernaut - I can understand why they didn't have a Juggernaut quote, but I miss it. I might use it every time I play this card anyway. This card gets the award for getting errata-ed before it even gets released. It was recently announced that this card will be ruled to have a "you may return another friendly giant" clause put it, in order to prevent him from bouncing himself. How that got by the testing team I don't know, but it's better now. I still don't really like it, since I only want to do that to pseudo-heal a Brobnar creature or bounce a creature that has a good enter-play ability. Most of the time I find that my Brobnar creatures have captured amber on them, so this would actually hurt me. I wish this left out the "friendly", so that I could maybe bounce an opponent's giant. Oh well. *UPDATE - This just got errata-ed AGAIN! That has to be some kind of record. It now reads "Play/Fight/Reap - Return another friendly giant creature to your hand". So the "may" got removed from the last one. Ok. Pretty ridiculous, lame for poor players that are not aware of the change.

Bingle Bangbang - Cowfyne's miniature, more suicidey, cousin. He will most likely only last one attack (unless he attacks an elusive creature), but I love him anyway.

Grump Buggy - If it wasn't for that second part, this might have been my favorite Brobnar card revealed so far. As it is, this is just too risky. This won't stop it from winning games every once in a while though, as if an opponent cannot deal with your big creatures or artifacts, they may never forge a key. I wish it had a way to turn itself off. Nice to have the raw amber, though.

Culf the Quiet - I wish this had a Ferdinand reference in here, so I could show it to my boys, but that's ok. This is a very odd, if not hilarious, usage of elusive. I wonder if this was just made for kicks, rather than an type of House cohesion.

First Blood - Shouting in your best video game announcer voice, this card is the first preview with the new keyword of Alpha, in it. This is an ok card. If you have a wide Brobnar board, you are probably not that worried about needing a board wipe, and if you have no Brobnar on board, this card is less than useful. The Alpha is always a nerf-like ability, but at least it gives you raw amber. If Pile of Skulls is still around this card is better.

Grumpus Tamer - My new favorite themed deck so far. I want all the Grumpuses. Grumpi? Grumpen? I am picturing the Grumpus as being the official Christmas holiday season creature. I am sure at least one Grumpus will come with every one of these, and I hope for a deck with multiple Tamers and multiples of Grumpus.

War Grumpus - I really wish this also triggered on play. Considering it already is limited with needing to have a giant, this is probably not enough to be great. As I said I still want a themed deck around the Grumpus, but these lackluster stats and abilities probably won't last long.

Lollop the Titanic - A guy so big he is a location, although I don't think that changes gameplay at all. I don't care for him. He is very hard hitting, and he has a lot of health, so attacks to kill him could take a while, but it's giving free attacks to stuff with the Fight keywords. They can do it without consequence. No thanks.

Foozle - What is going on with this art? That face looks wrong. A rather lackluster card as well, as it requires too much to make it work. Especially when compared to something like Dew Fairie, who gives you 2 when you reap no matter what.

Groke - A better ability than Krump, although with 1 less power. A nice, generic, Brobnar creature.

Into the Fray - Oh I like this card. If you can get something with high health, or attacking low health creatures, this card can help sweep the board as well as trigger lots of other Brobnar cards. This is going to be one of my favorite Brobnar cards in this set I'm sure.

The Flex - I love this card. What a great tie-in to the art. So silly. But this is actually really, really good. I'm a little sad that it doesn't have a "may" clause on that second part, because right now you have to exhaust the creature, but still. Pair this with Lollop, Groggins, or a Troll, along with Blood of the Titans, and that is some quality amber generation.

Ogopogo - I love the art. Rocket fists are always great. This ability is also quite nice, allowing you to possibly kill 2 creatures with 1 attack. 6 power will allow this guy to most likely trigger his ability a couple of times, depending on matchups.

Brammo - Translation: Play: Deal 2 to each enemy flank creature - Ok, so as long as your opponent has a board, this will at least hit something. 2 damage seems rather paltry, and will not get rid of a lot of things, but it can get stuff with Elusive so that's nice. It has very uncharacteristic Brobnar stats with only 4 power and 1 armor, which I find very odd. But it's not awful.

Og - Translation: After a player forges a key, they lose all their remaining Amber - Another paltry 4 power Brobnar creature, what happened to these guys? I am not a fan of abilities that can potentially hurt you as well as your opponent, so this card is not very good to me. Obviously, it can do really well for you if your opponent has amassed tons of Amber, but getting into that position or controlling that sounds more difficult than it's worth.

Pound - A punch that hits softer, but against more enemies. A good card to set up with Coward's End if you don't mind damaging your own guys. It gives a raw Amber at least and has the potential to take out the smallest of creatures.

Gargantes Scrapper - For a name like Gargantes, I was expecting something a little more gargantuan, but oh well. I like direct damage, although this feels a bit fiddly to make it work all the time. I would probably prefer a Punch, but this isn't awful. I can definitely see issues coming up with this new set if you have lots of Alpha and Omega cards clogging up your hand.

Flamethrower - It's an artifact, so you can use it over and over again, which is nice. Although the damage is quite weak, it being an artifact really helps, because otherwise it is just a weaker Pound without the Amber gain.

Flamewake Shaman - Simple card. 4 power is better than average, and it lets you hopefully destroy a creature when it comes into play. Be wary as you might have to hit your own guys or even cause her to hit herself if there are no enemies around.

Little Rapscal - A good defensive card for Brobnar, actually. It forces creatures to fight on their ground, so to speak. I'm not a big fan of passive abilities that potentially hurt you. Although with his ability, he probably will end up killing himself most of the time.

Bellowing Patrizate - A much larger version of  Pingle Who Annoys, who only goes off when she's ready, and can hit everyone rather than just enemies. We won't likely see too much of her since she is also rare, but I doubt I will like her considering that drawback of hitting friendlies.

Cybergiant Rig - This is a fun upgrade. A little too busy for my taste, but I enjoy the theme of it. On a powerful and wounded enough creature, this could be quite the buff. Healing can also be quite nice on capturing creatures such as Ether Spider. And of course, the raw amber is always nice to see.

Shard of Strength - Hey, another shard! I was wondering when we'd see more of these. This one makes everyone stronger. I like it. That is usually quite useful. You could create quite the huge army with this card.

Signal Fire - Now THIS is a Brobnar card! Brobnar's answer to Sanctum's Sigil of Brotherhood. Maybe not quite as good, and also being a rare, this is nonetheless a welcome addition to Brobnar. And the omni ability on an artifact, along with the raw amber, really helps this card shine.









Untamed

Grovekeeper - This is another "meh" creature. It could be good, it could get ridiculous, and it at least will help the turn it comes in, provided you have other creatures, but there are so many other great Untamed creatures that give amber or other abilities that can really help you win the game, I am sure I'd rather have those than this guy.

Dharna - I find the art on this really creepy. I guess she is just healing a bear that took an ax to the head, but still. She could gain you a lot of amber so I like that, even though it might be hard to control and set up. I do like reaping and healing so the secondary ability is decent. That 2 power is awful, though.

Persistence Hunting - A better version of Blinding Light. I like Blinding Light so I will probably like this, but I really like my Untamed to generate tons of amber and forge extra keys, and this doesn't really help that. But we'll see. Stunning problematic creatures while giving raw amber isn't a bad thing.

Marmo Swarm - A cute, but swingy and unreliable creature. I'd much rather have many other Untamed creatures.

 

Knoxx - Despite the gorgeous art, I don't really care for this guy. I feel as though Mushroom Man is just much better.

Duskwitch - Now here we go, this is more like it. This is an amazing card that will win you games. This is a card that every opponent HAS to be able to answer, or else. Having Omega here seems right to me. This is a great card and I can't wait to try it out.

Fanghouse - An ok creature. It has a lot of great fighting stuff, but only 3 power hurts it a lot. It will have to be saved for Mars and Shadows creatures.

Tantadlin - This seems way too situational. If it can trigger, then it's nice, but it's not destroying much while fighting, and your opponent has to have cards in their archives in order for this to work. It would be a nice way to free your own stuff that got archived into their archives, though.

They're Everywhere! - This is a decent attempt at a board sweep, especially with that raw amber. It's better than many.

Way of the Porcupine - I don't really care for upgrades, and this is no exception. You can get some fun interactions by playing on other houses, and I will like this on something with taunt, but that's about it. At least it gives a raw amber.

Roxador - Man, that art is beautiful. I really don't like the limit on damage when fighting, as it seems like it can't be modified by a power increase either, but the fight ability with skirmish is pretty solid. It seems a little out of place in Untamed, but whatever. I guess FFG is trying to have creatures on the board matter more.

Shard of Life - The first of 2 Shard cards we've seen so far. This seems like they might be put together like other tied cards in an algorithm? Could this be like the new Horseman, where everyone will be looking for a 2x Shard deck? However, being from different houses would make that very weird, in that you are tied to specific houses if you get one of the cards. So I dunno, we'll have to see. My hope is that they are tied to multiple copies, as in you are guaranteed to always get at least 2 Shards of Life if you get any at all. It is rare though, so that alone will probably drive up the price in the secondary market. Onto the actual card, this could get quite fun with multiple copies, and downright broken if you are getting close to reshuffling your deck. No raw amber hurts, but being an artifact means it will usually stick around. If this is in a deck with Witch of the Eye or Regrowth it might be problematic, but we'll have to see.

Song of Spring - Here is another card that puts cards back into your deck. This is nice to grab a ton of creatures from your discard pile after a board wipe, or crucial come into play creatures like Chota. It's a sort of way to heal stuff on the board, but it seems like wiping your own board isn't such a good idea. Same as Shard of Life, we will have to see if it is consistently worth it to put stuff back into your deck, or will it just conflict with your other houses too much. I do like that it gives a raw amber and it is entirely optional, so it's never really a bad play.

 

Panpaca, Anga and Panpaca, Jaga - These were mentioned in the initial announcement livestream, but I did not see these images until recently. These two were apparently named after Richard Garfield's twin boys, which is pretty awesome. They are an alright pair. I'm assuming if you get one, you get the other, and even if you just play these two, you are getting two 5 power creatures with skirmish, which is deadly. It feels like too much set up, personally, but we will see. These guys get a lot better with cards that have Deploy on them.

Niffle Grounds - It gives a raw amber but I don't really care for the ability. It can be nice to get to certain creatures, but you have to also have a ready Untamed creature in order to make this worth it. At least it's an artifact, so it is hard to remove and will be sticking around.

Bumblebird - It's a beast, so yay for synergy with Niffle Queen. Cute little thing. It has Alpha, so it's hard to coordinate, but if you happen to have a board with some Untamed creatures, this is quite a nice buff. It doesn't buff itself, unfortunately. I would pass on this if we had deck construction for sure.

Rustgnawer - Aww he's cute, and he helps recycle old, rusty metal. This is also a pretty solid card. He has to survive in order to use his ability, but Artifact removal is hard to come by and is very important in the current meta. Plus, you can do it to your own for desperate Amber gain. I like the flexibility.

Earthbind - Seems like a decent negative upgrade. I would prefer removal, but this can at least disrupt a little, and the raw Amber is always nice. But don't worry too much, as you probably won't see it a lot since it's rare.

Heart of the Forest - Oh boy, this is gonna cause some uproar. It has been confirmed this is a rare card, so that's nice. Maybe we won't have to deal with this too much, but I don't really like this for the game. I understand it's a nice hard counter to OTK and speed decks, but it feels like it will just make games drag, and really be a help to control-type decks. Yes, it can be taken care of using anti-artifact cards, but that's only if you have them in your deck. And since there is no deckbuilding, this is less controllable than in other games that have similar cards. I am picturing Archon tournaments where a controlling deck has this card, allows the opponent to get to 2 keys, and then just makes sure they can build their 2-key-on-a-turn combo and just win, and the opponent can do nothing about it except to have anti-artifact cards. Now, anti-artifact cards are a must-have already pretty much, so perhaps it will be ok, but I definitely worry. I also really don't like what this card will do to Sealed play, as you really won't be able to control whether you have anti-artifact cards or not, and it will at best drag the game on to time most likely. But maybe I'm wrong.

Glimmer - Oh boy this is a good card. Sure, it has Alpha, so you can't play the same card multiple times in a row, but grabbing any card out of your discard pile is a great thing, and this does it on play, rather than when reaping or whatever. This is a great card.

Aemberspine Mongrel - Hazardous 3 is ok, but it's more important that it protects that ability, which is insane. A passive ability where you gain Amber whenever they reap! Count me in. Be wary of it against shadows though, because it technically could give them amber to steal.











Dis

Unlocked Gateway - Starting Dis off strong. The "Gateway" cards have always been great, and this is no exception. Sure, with Omega it doesn't allow you to establish a board presence, but it's still a board wipe, and it doesn't give you chains. Gateway to Dis might not make it in this set, but I will gladly take this.

Banish - I like raw amber, I like removal, but putting it into your opponent's archives seems like it will only help them. At least with Fear it goes back into their hand, slowing their card draw. This could help them with various archive win conditions like Key Abduction or Epic Quest. This seems like too much of a drawback to be great, but I will save it for opposing creatures with upgrades and captured amber.

 

Streke - We're going streking! is what everyone will say upon playing this card. This feels like a worse Succubus, despite having Elusive. That 2 power and the very-much-not-guarantee of being on a flank really hurts it.

Binding Irons - Ooo I like this. 3 chains is a lot, and it can really disrupt a deck. If your opponent is already getting chains and you get to play this, they are in for a world of hurt. This thing is common as well! Everyone better get ready for chains everywhere. This is a good answer to combo decks. I can't wait to open a deck that has multiples of this!

Yurk - I don't really like this guy, even though he can help with emptying your hand of chaff. If you have an empty hand when you play him then there is no negative. Now, if there are some new Dis cards that allow you to play from your discard pile, this card will get very fun and I really hope that is the case. I want some deck strategies to start using the discard pile more, and I think it fits with the Dis theme as well.

Aember Imp - Technically pronounced "Eeember Imp", this is one of the worst imps in the game, except maybe for Tolas, although even that might not be as bad. I feel as though I will just want to discard this instead of playing, except in the most dire of circumstances. Since it affects your guys as well as opponents, I just can't think this will be useful.

Gub - A rather generic creature. 6 power with taunt is nice, but this seems so situational and easily manipulated that I'd rather have many other Dis cards instead. Dis shouldn't be taunting, they just aren't good at it. Leave that to Sanctum.

Shard of Pain - Another Shard card. This is a decent artifact similar to Seeker Needle, although it can't gain amber. In theory it will have a much higher ceiling. I am concerned it will require too much setup for not enough gain, considering there are other damaging artifacts out there that already give more, and also considering Dis doesn't really benefit from direct damage as much as other houses like Brobnar. This makes me wonder if Brobnar is getting a Shard card at all.

Skullion - I like this one. 7 power is rare, 2 armor on top of that is insane. And since this is Dis, this negative ability of sacrificing a friendly creature may not be bad at all (ie Dust Imps, Pitlord, Truebaru, etc). In fact, it may be crucial to some decks.

Soulkeeper - Not bad. It gives a raw Amber and can act as removal if planned correctly. I think I'd prefer many other cards, but this isn't awful as far as upgrades go.

Spyyyder - I like skirmish and poison, but this straddles between Macis Asp and Mooncurser, and I like both of those better. This is in Dis though, so maybe there are some other interactions that will make it worth it.

Exhume - Now here we go! I was just saying above with Yurk, that if Dis got some other discard pile manipulation, that could make it better, and this sure does. Play Yurk, discard a creature from another house (while also freeing up space in your hand), then play this, and it comes into play! Plus, raw amber! This, like Nepenthe Seed, will allow for some crazy combinations. What if Chota Hazri is in a deck with this, or Time Traveller? But even without Yurk, this is a solid card. This is a better Regrowth from Untamed. I am really excited about this card. Actually, I can't wait to read about someone who found a broken combo with this card.

Old Yurk - Oh dear, they are getting more extreme. If I get any of these Yurks, I better get some really great discard pile manipulation to go with them, because I loathe to discard cards from my hand typically. But these cards do allow for quicker cycling, so maybe it won't be bad. We will have to see. I am sure we will have lots of decks of Yurks without discard pile manipulation, and that will probably be more of a shame. I really wish these other Yurks had an extra ability or two.

Ancient Yurk - See Old Yurk. Very sweet art though.

Onyx Knight - This is some sweet art, especially when combined with Opal Knight. This is a rare, so not likely to be in a lot of decks, but board clears are important. He will be very situational since he targets ALL odd powered creatures. Combining this with something like Banner of Battle or Round Table will create some interesting situations, such as having to kill him as well, but it's still a cool card. I do think Onyx Knight is probably better than Opal Knight, simply because there seems to be more odd numbered creatures, or at least more of those creatures in popular houses.

Exploiter of Misery? - Translation: Play: Gain 1 Amber for each damaged enemy creature - Not bad, can only help you. I wish it gave a raw Amber or was a creature instead of an action, but oh well. I kind of wish it was a better mirror of Sanctum's Cleansing Wave, such as damage each creature and gain 1 Amber for each enemy creature with damage on it, or something like that. But it's fine. A nice, thematic card.

Tezmal - Translation: Elusive. Reap - Choose a House, your opponent cannot choose it on their following turn. - This sets Control the Weak or Restringuntus. With it only triggering on Reap, this will be difficult to pull off, especially with so much Reap hate in this set, but this is a creature so if it survives, you can keep using its ability and choose a different House each turn. Pretty cool. The 2 power definitely hurts but at least it has Elusive.

Cull the Weak - Not bad. Hard removal plus 1 raw amber. I'll take this over Hand of Dis any day. Good card.

Pain Reaction - 1 raw Amber with a decent way to get rid of a bunch of little guys. I like it. Take that first set Mars and Shadows!

Misery Exploit - Simple. Although it doesn't change a board state, it can give you a ridiculous amount of Amber. If you opponent has a wide board and you can manage to hit all of them with something like Poison Wave or Cooperative Hunting, this card could give an insane amount of Amber. Or maybe it will be a completely dead card in hand. This is one of those cards that can win you games, or do absolutely nothing except clog your hand, lol. I have a feeling it will usually be good for a couple of Amber.

Neffru - I don't like passive abilities that can benefit your opponent. Plus, this is just a creature version of Soul Snatcher from the first set, which I dislike for the same reasons. Luckily, they are both rare.

Ortannu the Chained - Obviously one will have access to at least 1 Ortannu's Binding (see below for that card) to go along with this cool rare card. This allows for some pretty sweet direct damage to your opponent's (or your's) creatures. And with 7 power, this guy is probably sticking around for a while. This guy is on the new Dis playmat so you know he must be important.

Ortannu's Binding - An interesting card. Obviously it's good when you have creatures of yours you want dead, such as Dust Imps. Or maybe you want to wound yourself so that you can Cleansing Wave on another turn or something. Otherwise, it seems pretty detrimental. Luckily, Ortannu himself has plenty of power to soak up damage, and grabbing this card back from the discard pile every time he reaps allows for some good damage to go around. I probably won't care too much about getting this combo unless I have tons of creatures that benefit from being destroyed. And don't forget about that sweet raw amber.

Bloodshard Imp - Ouch. This hurts everyone, including yourself. This is obviously better in Dis, as hopefully you can use this to your advantage with various destroyed effects. With it only having 2 power and no evasion at all like armor or elusive, this guy is just gonna be attacked to allow reaping for the rest of the turn, so maybe it won't ever be too devastating.

Shadow of Dis - This is a wonderful control card. It may not do much on some turns, but the free amber is always nice. Just don't play it when your opponent has a Pitlord, or some other creature that has a negative effect.

Bronze Key Imp - Wow, Dis has some strong stuff in this set. Yes, it's rare, and yes, it only helps against the first key, but still, it will delay the first key forge at least one turn, and that's awesome. It can give you time to get some amber control out there.

Angwish - The spelling on this makes me cringe and laugh at the same time. This is an amazing creature though. I LOVE passive abilities that increase opponent's keys, and this one can get to unfathomable heights! There are plenty of cards that add power counters, which means this guy could be increasing key costs in the double digits! I can't wait to hear what people have gotten too. Even without power counters, I will still take this guy any day.

Gold Key Imp - What?! There's another one?! Does this mean there is a Silber Key Imp that stops the second key? Will these guys all be in the same deck, or is like the master of- creatures from the first set? Either way I want a deck with these little guys. They will probably die really easily but I don't care, it's still a good stalling card.

Silver Key Imp - And not to be undone, here we are, the final one. Very cool. I wonder which one of these imps will be the favorite?

Orb of Invidius - Artifact with raw amber and a passive ability that once again harms everyone trying to reap. Brutal. Luckily it is rare, because I'm not sure I want it in my deck.

Wretched Doll - Interesting. I'll have to make sure to remember to bring other counters to games now that this card is in the game. I don't think we've required other counters before this set. Still, I like the card. It might be kind of slow, but it's on an artifact so it should stick around a while, and the art is fantastic,








Logos

Binate Rupture - This is a huge card. If you can manage to only give yourself amber, that is awesome. I feel as though this will always allow me to push myself into key check. Even having Alpha isn't that big of a deal. I love this card.

Standardized Testing - The flavor of this card, combined with it's ability, has to be one of the best I have ever seen in a card game. We get to grade the board on a curve! lol. Ah, great stuff. That being said, I think this card will be too hard to make it work only for you. You might get lucky and take out a bunch of opposing 2-power creatures, but unlikely. And no raw amber, tsk tsk.

Eyegor - The flavor text of this should have read: "It's pronounced Eeegor", for some Young Frankenstein throwbacks. But this card is amazing. Scrying is great in Magic, and this game is no exception. Being able to filter your deck into stuff you need is very important. I wish this little guy did some other stuff as well, but that's ok, his ability is great.

Eureka! - This card is amazing. 1 raw amber, automatically get 2 more amber, AND archive 2 cards. Sure, they are random, but that's still a great deal. I wonder why they didn't just have this card give 3 raw amber, because that's basically what it does. Move over Virtuous Works, we have a new king in town.

Archimedes - First of all, I want a mechanical owl named Archimedes. Second of all, this is a great card. Saving your creatures and putting them into archives is a great ability, and will be very useful in Epic Quest and Key Abduction decks at the very least.

Pip Pip - A common with horrible power, but another brutal anti-reaping passive ability. Comparing this to the Mars Zysyxsyx Shockworm, who is much better by also being a common but with 3 power and 1 armor, is silly. So much reap hate in this set. I guess this bodes well for my event-heavy decks.

Professor Sutterkin - If you can reap with this guy he could be huge, especially in a deck with lots of creatures and a Library Access. But that 2 power with no other evasion does not sound like he will get a lot of chances. Plus, if he does, he will most likely be stunned because of all the anti-reaping cards in this set. Still though, he can become a serious threat.

Helper Bot - Well isn't he just the cutest thing? Plus, he backs it up with some serious power, in both art and gameplay. A tiny Phase Shift that dies to a whisper (or Stealth Needle), but that ability on a common is quite good. Look out for some amazing combo decks using this card. Heaven help us if LANS decks are a possibility in this set.

Z.Y.X. Researcher - Continuing the trend of weak creatures, this card introduces something I am really going to loathe, making the discard pile order matter. I think this is a huge mistake. Maybe this has always been the case, it's just that it never mattered before, but now we will have to try and figure out the order of stuff we put in the discard pile. A giant board sweep? Do you, or your opponent, get to choose the order of stuff destroyed? Either way sounds tedious. I get that allowing you to archive anything in your discard pile would probably be overpowered, but this is going to really slow the game down. That being said, this is a solid card since it's an on-play ability, rather than something with reap. I think I prefer Random Access Archives simply because of the bonus Amber.

Director of Z.Y.X. - Now this card has no hassle. It's a nice, simple ability. It's really good, too. Plus, 3 power and Elusive means it is a lot harder to deal with. I like this one a lot.

Project Z.Y.X. - And finally, what the researcher and the director were working towards, and what a card! 5 power and 1 armor in Logos? Did someone from Mars defect? This is a really good card. It has enough power and armor to probably last a turn, and then if you get to reap or fight with it, you get to play any archived card as if it was the active house! Combo possibilities galore! Granted, you need an archived card first, but that's rarely an issue with Logos, especially with some of the new cards they get. I wonder if this card and the Researcher and Director are all guaranteed to be in a deck together?

Cutthroat Research - With a raw Amber, this will always be an okay card for me. It can potentially steal you 2 more, so that's pretty cool. It won't uncheck your opponent (without key modifiers), but the Amber gain I think makes up for it.

Whirling Entropy? - Translation: Play: choose a creature. For each trait it has, deal 2 damage to it and gain 1 amber - No raw Amber makes me sad, but this still feels like a solid card. You get to deal 2 damage and gain 1 Amber for each trait a creature has, and this can be yours or your opponents. That is a lot going on for one card. I'll take it!

Memory Chip - No raw Amber makes me sad, but this is an interesting artifact. I was initially very excited, but then I noticed that it only activates when you choose Logos, AND it is mandatory, which is not always wanted. It will probably still be a fine card to play, as archiving is almost always good, and it helps free up your hand, but I'm not as excited as I once was.

Titan Librarian - As long as he feels safe and in between others, he can do his job. I don't appreciate the insinuation on librarians (I used to be one), but I like this card. Archiving is powerful, and this can help you do it every turn, even on non-Logos turns! I love passive abilities.

Fila the Researcher - As I said, I like passive abilities. Shame Library Access isn't in this set. But still, a decent ability on the weakest creature. And if you have Deploy, you can keep using this. Getting some bounce abilities in Logos would be quite good right about now.

Quantum Fingertrap - I like this. Raw Amber and an artifact that can continue to help disrupt an opponent's line. With the line mattering more than the first set, I think this will be a very nice card in a lot of decks.

[Redacted] - This looks awesome. It may take 4 turns of Logos activations, but we have another way of forging a key outside the normal forging, and in Logos! It doesn't seem broken as that is a lot of activations for a single House, and it can be taken care of when using any anti-artifact card. But I like it. Now, we just have to wait for Logos to get a card to be able to take a second turn or something, which sounds very Logos-like.

Jargogle - A nice way to clean out your hand, I believe this is the first creature that one could put cards under. It's not a huge risk though, as it is either played or archived. Play accordingly.











Sanctum

"Lion" Bautrem - Here is a good example of the new keyword Deploy. This is a very solid Sanctum card. We have plenty of cards that add armor, but not a lot that add power, so this is a welcome addition. That 1 armor is very nice to see. Plus, being a knight allows him to have lots of Sanctum synergy as well.

The Grey Rider - Another creature with Deploy. 2 power isn't great, and neither is not being a knight in Sanctum. But, if you happen to have 2 of these guys and your opponent has no creatures on the board? That's 12 amber my friend thanks to the rule of six, lol. Even without that ridiculous combo, this is still a very solid creature that immediately gives a benefit when it's played.

Aubade the Grim - This is a solid Charette/Old Bruno of a creature. That 1 armor is a huge improvement, and that Reap ability to go with it is insane. Plus, Aubade is a knight so that's always nice. A solid card

 

Abond the Armorsmith - Going through all the "A"s with this set I suppose. Very similar to Grey Monk. Same power, also human, gives +1 armor although only to other creatures, rather than each friendly creature, which I believe means he doesn't give it to himself. He can add more armor on your turn, but that is only useful for attacking or damage sweeping. Plus, it is an action rather than a Reap, so you aren't also getting amber out of it. I think I'd rather have a Grey Monk.

Barrister Joya - Now this is more like it. 5 power with 1 armor means you will need some Brobnar level creatures to take this knight out. And that passive ability is insane. No reaping while she is out. Combine this with some other protectors for Sanctum and you can successfully lock your opponent's creatures out of gaining amber. This is an awesome card.

Challe the Safeguard - Pretty simple: A knight with Deploy, Taunt, and 2 armor. This is a good Sanctum card that can bolster your battlefield.

 

Smite - Similar to Inspiration, except less flexible due to needing to fight. Dealing damage to neighboring creatures is very nice though and seems like an okay balance. I think I prefer Inspiration for its flexibility, but Smite will definitely come more in handy at times.

Opal Knight - I love this art, especially when combined with Onyx Knight. I hope we see more gem knights in the future. Just like Onyx Knight, this gives a little board clear, although somewhat unreliable, and modified by things like Banner of Battle and Round Table. He is stronger than the Onyx Knight, so go Sanctum! But in general, like I said before, I think Onyx Knight gets rid of more important creatures. Opal Knight gets rid of important Dis creatures though, which is thematic.

Anahita the Trader - I am drawn more to the awesome turtle creature of burden behind Anahita, than herself. That creature looks really cool. Anyway, this card finally gives me an answer to what I can do with those horrible Hallowed Blasters I keep getting in my Sanctum decks. I really hope they make their deck algorithm to guarantee friendly artifacts in decks with this creature, as it is already going to be difficult to pull off considering that ridiculously low health, combined with having to also reap in order to trigger it. But, if you have crappy artifacts, or it's late in the game, Anahita can get the job done. But don't worry, she's rare so you probably won't have to deal with her in most games.

Martyr's End - Ooooo, a story card, very exciting. Poor Duma. I guess we should have known considering her name has Martyr in it. This is a pretty sweet card, though. Automatic amber is great, and if you have a couple of creatures to spare, you can get some serious amber generation going. I have definitely come to the end of a match where I only need some amber in order to win, and this card could have definitely helped me, especially with used creatures or an unnecessarily wide board. This only gets better if you have cards out like Dust Imp out, or anything that triggers something upon death.

The Ambassadors - I love the theme around these guys, and we are told that if you get an ambassador, you are guaranteed to have the designated house, which is interesting. I wish we had more different art. Like, are all the ambassadors the exact same person? Are they clones? Elusive in Sanctum is fun, and they need it considering they are the weakest Sanctum creatures one could get. Since we have the guarantee with getting the designated house, I would think you would be able to use this ability fairly often, which is extremely good for cycling, and insanely powerful for the Untamed Ambassador with Chota, perhaps? I also like how they each have very slightly different flavor text, lol. Why Sanctum gets "rad", while Logos gets "glad", I'll never know. Who gets "sad"? "Mad"? "Fad"? What else is there?

Free Markets - This is an awesome card. It can pretty easily gain several Amber in any given game, and with future sets with hopefully new Houses, this will even more easily get up to that 6 Amber gain! This is also uncommon. I want some decks with several copies. :)

Bordan the Redeemed - 3 power and Elusive, man Sanctum is looking different this set. This is a very solid ability, if you get the chance to use it. I like it. I kind of wish we had a Bordan from the first set, so we could have seen him get redeemed in this set.

Golden Aura - I wish it had a raw Amber, but this does allow you to do stuff with a creature from another House, which can be huge. This definitely allows for some crazy shenanigans with other creatures, and could help Sanctum maybe have some combos of their own?

Eye of Judgement - Oooo, I like this. 1 raw Amber is great, and that ability is amazing. Goodbye Timetraveler! Goodbye targets for Untamed and Dis! Great stuff. Will always be glad to get this card.

Maruck the Marked - Huh. Pretty cool, especially with other armor granting abilities. And those stats and art are beautiful.

Rothais the Fierce - 2 armor is amazing, and is so hard for an opponent to deal with. And to have Taunt on top of that? Say no more. Wait, you have more? Hazardous 4?! Good grief! Sanctum's line is gonna be even harder to deal with, despite having other weaker creatures.

Healing Blast - Decent card. It's always good for 1 Amber, and if you manage to heal 4 damage, you get even more Amber! Plus, you can target anyone, so in a pinch you can heal an opponent's creature for the Amber gain, which could be nice.

Proclamation 346E - I don't like the name because it sounds too Logos. Sanctum should have stuff like Proclamation of (insert random location). But anyway, this is a sweet card! This is an artifact so it sticks around, and it makes it extremely difficult for your opponent to deal with. Getting a creature from every House on the board for multiple turns is very hard. And since this is passive, you don't have to worry about Nexus using it against you. This being a rare is a good thing, because this will be a huge help to any deck that has it. I can easily see this card in a top tier deck. One of the best cards in the set I'd say.




Sir Marrows - 4 power, 2 armor human knight - After your opponent gains Amber by reaping, Sir Marrows Captures it. - Man, there is a lot of reaping hate in this set. This is a really good card, as long as you aren't relying on stealing for your own Amber gain. This is the Sanctum's Ether Spider.



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And now this image from the original announcement:

Not Finished with You - It gives a raw amber, and lets you grab your best creatures to use again before needing to reshuffle your discard pile. A softer version of Arise!, and I think I'd prefer that instead, but this isn't awful. I think this could be really good with a neighboring Untamed component with lots of Dust Pixies and Chota Hazri, allowing you to try and go for a quick key forge.

Hexpion - It's ok. Archiving cards is nice, I just wish there was a little more to this. Hopefully there will be a lot of Archive manipulation with Logos in this set, to really help make this card good.

Agent Hoo-man - see above

And another group picture from the article released on 4/26 (Helper Bot, Mindworm, Killzord, and Martian Generosity are in their respective Houses above):

Fetchdrones - An artifact that allows you to discard the top 2 cards from your deck, with something happening depending on what cards are discarded.

Backup Copy - At least this upgrade has some Raw Amber. If you have a really good creature to put this on, this is solid. This can also synergize with cards that force you to do something randomly from the top of your deck, such as Wild Wormhole, Chaos Portal, etc.

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Whew, that is a lot of cards so far. I had most of this written and then yesterday another livestream came out with a bunch of new cards! It's a good problem to have. I am really liking this set so far. It's adding minimal new keywords, and just expanding the game while hopefully refining each House in their theme. I hope you enjoyed this article, and if nothing else can be something to go back to to look at the new cards. What cards or houses are you most looking forward to? Let me know in the comments. Until next time, happy gaming!