Adventure Log

When I sat down to kick the Æmber Burner back online, I found the ship to be full of cobwebs, dust, and grime. Unfortunately, the process to get the site back up-to-date will be more than a one-night hurrah. We DO have SIX YEARS of KeyForge to talk about, don't we? I won't lay out my list of tasks and updates I'll need to make (maybe they won't even get done, we'll see!) but there's a lot of details to keep a site like this current. So please, if you're new here, or wondering why everything says 2020... I'm aware, give me some grace.

As I've thought about restarting this journey over the past couple years, I kept thinking about making a big story to transition back into writing, and to cover the gaps in our KeyForge story. Perhaps that will still come; but for now, the quote from Gandalf was the immediate thought that came to my mind.

"Darkness took me. And I strayed out of thought and time."

We lost the Algorithm. The game of KeyForge was on the brink. During the Pandemic, the world fell into darkness and KeyForge was almost lost in the process. With Organized Play shut down and the future of the game looking bleak shortly after the printing of Dark Tidings, there wasn't a lot of hope. However, a new company, Ghost Galaxy entered into the fray, picking up the torch where it was left behind by Fantasy Flight Games. While their run so far has had its ups and downs, KeyForge has lived on, and Archons still have access to new product and new experiences with every year. Since our last article here on The Epic Quest, we've had the following occur:

• (July 10, 2020) - Mass Mutation Main Set [FFG], introducing Mutants, Gigantic Creatures, and the Enhance Mechanic

• (May 14, 2021) - Dark Tidings Main Set [FFG], introducing the Tide and Evil Twins, as well as new house Unfathomable

• (September 10, 2021) - Fantasy Flight Games announces a hiatus for KeyForge, as well as the next set

• (June 22, 2022) - Ghost Galaxy acquires KeyForge

• (September 9, 2022) - The Winds of Exchange GameFound launches

• (July 2023) - Winds of Exchange Main Set [GG], introducing Token Creatures, house Ekwidon, and the return of Anomalies

• (2023) - Unchained 2023 Special Set [GG], a non-tournament legal set focused on an "unbound" algorithm

• (March 1, 2024) - Grim Reminders Main Set [GG], introducing the Haunted mechanic, Scrap: abilities, the discard bonus icon, Revenants, and house Geistoid

• (2024) - Menagerie 2024 Special Set [GG], a non-tournament legal set focused on menagerie packets, a pre-determined set of cards to affect the "feel" of the deck to center around a theme, identity, or combo. Introduced house Keyraken as a playable house

• (August 16 - October 31, 2024) - The Martian Civil War story event occurred, resulting in the announcement of the Martian Ironyx Rebels being defeated by the Martian Elders at KeyForge Celebration

• (October 18, 2024) - Æmber Skies Main Set [GG], introducing House Enhancements, Skybeasts, and house Skyborn

• (Fall 2024) - MORE Mutation Special Set [GG], remake of Mass Mutation, introducing new commons, new Gigantic Creatures, and 3 new Gigantic "tutor" cards.

• (December 2024) - Tokens of Change Special Set [GG], a revisit to the Token Mechanic, introducing house Redemption

• (January 31, 2025) - KeyForge Discovery Special Set [GG], a "core" set that focuses on the essential mechanics of KeyForge with minimal keywords.

• (July 18, 2025) - Prophetic Visions Main Set [GG], introducing Prophecies and the first set to have a "split" house between Sanctum and Redemption, effectively creating a set with 8 houses

• (September 5, 2025) - Crucible Clash Special Set [GG], introducing Archon Powers (only eligible for Sealed play)

• (September - October 2025) - The Certain Darkness story event occurred, resulting in the announcement of the houses Sanctum and Logos being purged from the Crucible at KeyForge Celebration

• (May 29, 2026) - Draconian Measures Main Set [GG], introducing the Overwhelmed mechanic, Entrench keyword, +1 power bonus icon, house Ouboros, and the return of Gigantic Creatures

In addition to these releases and events, we've also had plenty of story tidbits and lore discovered about the Crucible with the release of KeyForge Adventures and Vault Assault as alternative formats to play (not to mention the invention of the Alliance Format). So much has happened!

And yet? None of it has been covered or considered here yet on The Epic Quest. While I can't make any promises, perhaps over the coming weeks and months the Archons will rally and bring new stories from their Epic Quests these past few years?

For now though, we do have one fragment to share. A new Archon to The Epic Quest, Bryce "cubiclava", Mediocre Giant, has written a great piece talking about the state of the game, as we look forward to the release of Shattered Reality, the 11th Main Set of KeyForge! You can find that article here:
The KeyForge Design Trend That is Worse Than Power Creep

If you want to write for The Epic Quest, have something to say about KeyForge, or just want to keep up to date on the adventures cataloged on The Epic Quest, you can find me on Twitter as @TheEpicQuestKF, and on Discord as TheRealPlayerOne. Until next time!

Cheers and may your Æmber always shine bright,

-Austin "RealPlayerOne", Questing Cartographer

We also have a grand announcement to make:

Due to the valiant efforts of Doug "DJ Secret Santa", the Ultraethical Gourmand in the Crucible, the Moor Wolf Pack will be attending the Keyforge World Championships! Congrats to Doug"DJ Secret Santa"!

"DJ Secret Santa" triumphed over others into the Top 100 Keyforge players, allowing him to create a team to toil with great warriors later this year in Minneapolis. "DJ Secret Santa" sent out a call to the Moor Wolf Pack and two Archons joined his cause: myself- Austin "RealPlayerOne", Questing Cartographer -and Peter "SadCryBear", Towering Strategist. Together we are forming the first Moor Wolf Pack team to be attending the Championships!

In addition to this fierce competition on the horizon, another day of quarrels will first rise. Moor Wolves RealPlayerOne, juicebox, SadCryBear, and codykraz will attend the Alameda Vault Tour to test their Survival skills, representing the Moor Wolf Pack at the Keyforge Battle on the Boat. As this variant is brand new to these questers, many quarrels and much strategizing is in their future.

Great adventures have passed and many more are just ahead! We hope you continue to follow along with us on this Epic Quest. To keep up to date on the adventures cataloged on The Epic Quest, you can find me on Twitter as @TheEpicQuestKF, and on Discord as TheRealPlayerOne#7724. Look forward to new articles this week and the next as we finally get more content published! In the meantime, be sure to check our other articles and stories:

The Silver VaultWarrior

Mass Mutation: Keyforge Set 4 Revealed!

Deck-Warping Cards: Epic Quest

Cheers and may your Aember always shine bright,

-Austin "RealPlayerOne", Questing Cartographer

(1/26/2020) A New Adventure... an Epic Quest!

Hello fellow Archon!

I wanted to welcome you to The Epic Quest, a new blog and website for all things Keyforge! As this site grows, you'll find this to be a repository for knowledge and ideas from many minds! For now, I will be taking the lead regarding new content on the page, but more authors will be joining me in the near future!

My name is Austin, and I will be the main contributor and site manager for The Epic Quest! Many people know me as RealPlayerOne, which is my username across the Keyforge world. The namesake of the website, Epic Quest, is the card that tends to intrigue me the most in the current card pool. It became my favorite card very early on in my Keyforge experience and I'm known for my Epic Quest decks; you can expect an article soon about the card and my decks with it! Outside of Keyforge, I am a GIS Specialist by trade, and I like to think of myself as a cartographer (although my work is usually a little bit more technical than that!), and I think that translates well to the world of Keyforge, since every deck gives us a chance to discover more - more interactions we haven't seen, more combos we haven't prepared for, and interesting Archon names to laugh about - kind of like Uncharted Lands! You'll find each of these aspects embedded in my name used across the site: Austin "RealPlayerOne", Questing Cartographer.

My hope for this site is for it to be a place where anyone (mainly from the Moor Wolf Pack, my wonderful team in Seattle) can post their musings and ideas regarding Keyforge. You can expect deck analysis (including ideas about an alternative rating system and my process in developing it), strategy regarding different formats and deck selection, literature about the Crucible and its inhabitants, my experience and my fellow Archons' experience at Tournaments, investigations into Game Design and alternate formats, speculation on news and future sets, and whatever else we come up with!

I am personally very excited to be a place for Archon authors to weave their tales about the crazy Crucible world in addition to providing the tools I use for deck management/investigation. This site is still pretty new, so while the shelves may be a little empty, I assure you they will not collect dust. Be sure to check back for more content to come!

If you're interested in writing for the site (even just one article!) just let me know! You can be anonymous if you like, be a consistent writer for us, or just pop in for a single passage. I've added a page for other resources (many that have significantly helped me in my journey so far) and would love to add you as a content creator there too, just send me a message!

In the coming days/week, you can expect the following to start off the site:

• Epic Quest Deck Analysis

• An Epic-Style Poem About Questis Peltrasius, the Silver and Virtuous

• Speculation about Set 4

• The Beginning of a New Short Story

• Tournament Reports from Recent Primes

• And more after that!

Moving forward, this page will be the starting page for the blog/articles as well as the location for any general announcements. So keep an eye on this page for more to come!

Thanks for joining me on this Epic Quest!

-Austin "RealPlayerOne", Questing Cartographer