Q&A with 2-time VT Winner, George Keagle!

Hello fellow Keyforgers! Welcome to another Q&A with a Vault Tour Champion! This is a special one, as I got to ask some questions from George Keagle, who is the the FIRST person to win TWO Vault Tours, both with the same deck! So thanks in advance to him for taking time to talk to yet another person about his experience. So let's dive in!

So, first of all, congratulations! Not only have you won a Vault Tour, but this is your SECOND victory! You are the first one to do this, so the bar has been set. How does it feel to win twice and to sit at the top of the Vault Tour Leaderboard?

It feels great! I've been fighting for that number spot all year, and it's a great accomplishment for me. I was able to prove Gasoline still has the competitive edge, as well as win without Shadows or a combo.

I have heard that your deck, "Gasoline" Maximiliano, Dungeon Keeper, was your second deck you ever opened? What were your initial thoughts upon seeing it? Did you know you had a powerhouse in your hand? Were you aware of the Library Access/Nepenthe Seed combo yet?

 

I didn't have much initial thoughts as the game had just been released. My only deck before that was from a prerelease. I didn't know about the combo, but it happened naturally in playing the deck against friends, and showed itself to be better and better the more KeyForge, and decks, I played. People hated whenever I played it, so that was a very good sign.

So your first Vault Tour win, Chicago Adepticon, was in the days before the LANS errata, what were your thoughts on those erratas and how did it affect your view of your deck and Keyforge on the whole?

I'm used to decks getting banned from Magic, and as being a combo player. I was against it, but the majority of players were for it, and rejoiced when it was announced. It didn't effect my view on KeyForge at all honestly. Things like that are bound to happen in a card game like this. Maybe players coming from a board game background aren't used to that. It will happen again surely. Be ready for it, and you won't be surprised that much. I do think it's slightly different in KeyForge as you can't ban a specific card, as it would do a wave of decks that people own that get banned because you can't change your deck at all. Erratas are much more likely in my opinion.

So what made you decide to use your same deck again, and can you explain what makes it competitive, despite not having Shadows (which has been considered to be the most competitive House so far) and it being in a post-errata world?

 

I don't buy into the concept that you need Shadows to win. Having aember control is definitely great, but I think Shadows best cards are in the removal anyway. I like to play my decks to see which ones are the best and how they play. Gasoline has been my best deck by far since I got it. What makes it so good are its insane tempo plays. Cards like Control the Weak, Restringuntus are obvious, but Teliga, Skippy Timehog, and Library Access are all extremely strong cards that either deny my opponents the lines of play they WANT to make, or increase my own powerful turns. Almost every card in the deck either slows my opponents down or speeds me up in a huge way. Even the Ancient Bears pull strong weight in fighting down opposing board states, clearing the way for a Restringuntus lock.

What is your routine when it comes to preparing for a big tournament? 

Number one is making sure I have good sleeping arrangements. Getting a full nights rest is important. I always buy bottled water to put in my bag to stay hydrated. Specifically Smart water, because I like the tall skinnier shape for my bag. Granola bars of some kind, beef jerky, and typically some kind of mixed nuts/trail mix are there for not getting too hungry. Gameplay wise, I try to fit in as many games as I can to get ramped up. If Archon, you need to play your specific deck to be as familiar as possible.

What is your favorite format to play Keyforge?

Archon (Solo) and Sealed (Solo). I think Sealed is the best way to get new decks. Play them rather than only open and look at the list. I love Archon because I get to play my favorite decks, or at least decks that didn't get a fair shake either because I opened it not in a Sealed event, or I did horribly in the Sealed event because I didn't know the nuances of that particular deck yet.

 

What initially got you into Keyforge, and what has kept you interested in Keyforge? What excites you the most?

A friend texted me when he was at GenCon. I didn't think this type of unique thing could be mass produced at a cost efficient level. That was enough to sink my teeth in. Once I started playing I new this game was something special, but FFG does a great job making games. I'm excited for the possibilities this game has to offer. They keep coming up with new ways to make it even more unique, like the Anomaly decks. How neat is that concept?! I think the older this game gets, the harder Archon format will become, which is actually a good thing to me. When everyone is playing with decks from different sets, the games are going to be extremely interesting and unique experiences. This game has so much going for it. I hope it has the longevity there as well.

What are your thoughts about the Keyforge competitive scene? Do you think it is in a healthy state? Is there anything you would like to see implemented? 

I think it's great actually. I know some people are upset about teams and the same people being on top, but that generally means that they are the best players, when they can get those results consistently. I think it adds something to look up to if you want to get better at something. Come take us down! I'd like to see it get MORE competitive, honestly. I want to go to some $1k's or other big cash events that aren't Officially sanctioned Vault Tours. These types of events generate hype for the game and get peoples attention to check the game out. Get's more players into the game and grows the community, as well as is an awesome, fun time.

What do you think is the most powerful House in Keyforge? What is the most powerful card right now? What is your favorite card in the game and why? What is your favorite combo right now?

I think that is a loaded question. The obvious answer is "Shadows", but I think Shadows is the most consistently good house. I think Dis or Logos might be the most POWERFUL house. Dis can win a game on its own, and Logos makes a deck run smooth as butter regardless of what else. I think it's mostly irrelevant as decks are unique, so it's better to look at an individual list than say "Shadows is best, Mars is worst". You can have the best Mars and worst Shadows and it doesn't matter anymore.

 

Restringuntus wins more games by itself than any other card in the game I think, so best and favorite. My favorite combo right now is GenKa, but I don't have any Martian Generosity deck. I'd like one with Nepenthe Seed ideally.

What are your thoughts about teams in Keyforge? Are you on a team? Are you planning on joining/creating a team?

It makes sense and gets attention. Most card games that are played competitively get that. Maybe people didn't expect or were surprised by it. FFG is more a board game company, even though they do make competitive card games. KeyForge crosses both together. Overall I think it's good for the game to grow mechanically, as well as community. Most people probably interact with their friends as a team would and don't realize it because they don't wear matching shirts.

Not on a team officially. I am writing for Reapout, so if any team it would likely be them. I think I'm a guest right now, like Spider-Man on the Avengers. They are doing a great job creating content, and that's what I would like to do and be a part of.

I would love to create a team, but the people I'd like didn't seem into it. They are still secretly my team though.

What are your thoughts about the various rating systems Keyforge has? Do you value one over another? Are there specific aspects of a deck that you look for (ie amber generation, amber control, combos, etc)?

I think they are generally near the mark, but vaguely? Like a horoscope. They can say your deck is an Aries, but what does that mean really. You need to play your deck to find out. I think all types of decks, and ratings, can succeed, and the rating systems can't inherently measure the combos the game has. It can give a value to each card, and maybe even say card A+B is worth MORE points, but when you get to combos that are 4+ cards deep, or overall extreme synergies, I think the ratings fall flat.
I value them all equally. Each is trying to put a different measurement on decks to try to be more accurate than the others, which is good for competition in that arena of trying to be the best rating system. I love combo decks, or decks with high synergies. I don't care much what TYPE of deck it is, as long as it's interesting in that way.

What are your thoughts about Age of Ascension, when it comes to the competitive environment?

Not enough of it is opened. People want to say that AoA is worse, but in really it's 300k AoA decks versus 1 MILLION CotA decks. If cream rises to the top, 1 million is going to produce a lot more cream than 300k.

Other than that the theme of AoA, which is Fighting/anti-reaping, is so prevalent that I think the decks FEEL less Unique than CotA decks, but maybe we're all getting used to the game and it's blurring together.

Power wise I think AoA is on point. I haven't had any problems in that regard. Certain houses powered down, and others powered up. There's just less AoA decks in the wild overall. When the NON-CotA decks outnumber the CotA decks, things will get very interesting.

What are your thoughts about Worlds Collide so far? Do you have any cards or strategies you are most looking forward to? How/if do you think the set will affect the meta?

Saurians and Star Alliance are going to shake things up in a big way. I think Exalt is powerful. Ward is going to be very annoying. Imagine when I get to Ward my Restringuntus! I'll have to see the whole set before I start looking forward to strategies or deck combos. Right now I'm excited for dinos and space, two things I love. I think and hope people will be excited for new houses and buy a ton like the did CotA. Likely not 1 million, but it would be cool. The more people buy the more it will effect the meta. Ward sounds strong enough that people will probably jam a ton of it. It feels like the amount of Fight forcing and anti-reaping in AoA may have been a preemptive counter to the hard to kill stuff we've seen in WC. It may counter and make AoA more popular than it was.

What mechanics, theme, or strategy would you like to implemented in a future Keyforge set?

I think FFG needs to chill with the more tokens, but that likely won't happen. I want to see some key color matters stuff happen since they kinda hinted at it. I'd love to see a full on tribal theme. Like Mars/Logos has a ton of scientists and robots. Dis/Sanctum could combine with some Knights action as there are a few demon knights. They could make more. Beasts are maybe too generic. I think cross-house special rares would be cool. I started thinking if I got to be a card, what would I want, and imagine if there was a card like Time Traveler that tutored up a Dis card, and then you play it on your Logos turn. Something like that. There could be a special character or something that came with a special artifact type thing. If Archimedes is Quixo's companion, it's a missed opportunity to me to not have every Archimedes come with a Quixo etc. They've shown that the algorithm can do things like that. The more things like that, the more decks feel unique to me. Maybe they secretly do that in the algorithm and we just don't know about it though.

What is next for you?

Vault Tour Indianapolis in November. Hopefully I get to go to World's even though I wasn't able to make it to any of the National events. I'm getting married next year, so the closer we get to that, the less things I'll be able to do.
I want to write content about more advanced strategy things to help players get better at the game. I want to produce other content as well, but I am very unsure on what I want to make. I considered doing a YouTube video reviewing "Gasoline" Maximiliano and how I do things with it. Let me know what you would like from me as well! Deck openings and reviews, videos, podcasts, articles whatever! I want to grow this game I love!


These questions were great! Thank you for the opportunity to put my thoughts out there!

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Well, you heard him, folks! Let him know what kind of stuff you'd like to see from him! Give him some ideas in the comments! But congratulations on your upcoming nuptials, maybe you can get your spouse in on some Keyforge! And thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy schedule to chat with the community! We all really appreciate it. Me, like you, want to see this great game grow, and it's open people like you that really make it work! Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing you and how you do at future events (but don't beat me, please), lol.

I hope you all enjoyed this interview as much as I did. Thanks for reading, and as always, 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 :)