KeyForge is a unique deck card game created by Richard Garfield and published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2018. In it, players take on the role of Archons in the world of the Crucible. Each Archon races to be the first to collect "Æmber" and forge three keys. As the first "Unique Deck Game", KeyForge is sold in individual decks containing 37 random cards. No two decks are the same, with 104 septillion possible deck combinations. There are about 370 cards in the Call of the Archons expansion. Each deck has a unique name, resulting in humorous deck names such as "The Boy who Basically Headbutts Heaven". The first set of KeyForge, Call of the Archons, was released on November 15, 2018. The second set, Age of Ascension, was released on May 30, 2019. The third set, Worlds Collide, was released on November 8, 2019.
Gameplay
KeyForge is a two-player game, with each player using a single deck of cards to play creatures, artifacts, actions and upgrades. The aim of the game is to gather enough Æmber to forge three keys before the opponent does the same. Creatures can reap Æmber and fight one another, while artifacts provide unique effects. Actions are used and discarded, and upgrades are attached to creatures to improve their abilities. Each card in KeyForge is associated with a House, with each deck containing cards from three Houses. At the beginning of each players' turn, that player declares a House - they may then only play, use, or discard cards belonging to that House. Unlike similar card games such as and , cards do not typically require a cost to be paid such as the expenditure of mana or credits. Instead, a player may play and use as many cards on their turn as they wish, provided the cards belong to the declared House. KeyForge also differs from other card games in its approach to deck composition. Each deck features a unique card back with the name of an Archon; thus, decks cannot be modified with cards from other decks. Cards also cannot be traded or sold separately from their original decks, eliminating the possibility of "net decking".
Sets
New cards are released on a regular basis through expansion sets. For each new set, there is a chance for one of the houses to be rotated out, and not be featured in the set, while new houses can be added to the set.
KeyForge was announced at Gen Con on August 1, 2018. An announcement trailer and accompanying introductory article explaining the game were published to the Fantasy Flight website, citing a launch date in the fourth quarter of 2018. Pre-orders for the Keyforge: Call of the Archons Starter Set and Archon Deck were made available the same day, as well as PDF copies of the rulebook. It was also announced that KeyForge tournaments and events would be sanctioned through Fantasy Flight's Organised Play program, details of which were later announced on the Fantasy Flight Organised Play minisite. In the game's rulebook, Garfield wrote about the origin of the game, expressing his desire to see "sealed deck and league play" formats return to popularity. He described the contrast between KeyForge and other trading card games as "like the difference between exploring a jungle and walking in an amusement park In the amusement park there are experts telling you how to play the game, the safest strategies, what net decks to use. In the jungle you have the tools you have." Garfield claimed that he had wanted to create KeyForge for 10 years before release, but the printing technology central to the idea was not yet available. KeyForge was released November 15, 2018, with prerelease events taking place earlier in the month. On the same day the KeyForge Master Vault app and website were launched to help players keep track of decks.
Products
Reception
IGN described the game as "a bold new idea and a vastly different kind of game format", but questioned the randomization model, speculating that "people won’t be spending tons of money on single rare cards, but that may have been replaced with spending tons of money on random deck boxes in the hopes of getting lucky with a great card combination." Polygon called the game "remarkable" in a hands-on demo and suggested that it "has its work cut out for it just in establishing a marketplace presence". Upon release, the game was well received. Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower said the decks in the initial core set "feel balanced" and praised the unique aspects of the game and the gameplay.
