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By Bryce "cubiclava", Mediocre Giant
Every Deck is Unique
Every Deck is Unique
I believe that KeyForge's brand promise is that "every deck is unique." And with that, every matchup/game you play is also unique. The promise was never that all cards were equally useful or powerful, or that a random sample of 2 decks would have a fair matchup. I love that uniqueness, but I feel like the newer sets have not been living up to that promise.
Over the last 3 main sets, the total number of cards per set, and more specifically the number of cards per House, has been decreasing. This smaller card pool per set is the main thing that concerns me these days with the game design. Let me explain why, but first some (back of the napkin) data.
CoTA and AoA had roughly 53 cards per house. Card quantity peaked with MM with around 62 cards per house. DT also had 62, but 7 creatures in each house were Evil Twin variants. WoE it dropped to around 58, with 4 of those being Token creatures in each house. Here Ghost Galaxy (GG) takes over design, and for Grim Reminders it ticked down to 56, with 11 Revenant cards. But Æmber Skies really took a drop, going to an average of 44 cards per house, which they justified by having 23 Skybeasts that could appear in any house (rarely). (They stayed close to that number for ToC with 46 per house, including the 4 token creatures.) PV it fell again to around 42 cards per house, but also with 14 Anomalies. This was probably because it was an 8 house set with both Sanctum and Redemption sharing a slot. In the latest set, Draconian Measures, it fell to 38 cards per house. 38! That's 25% fewer cards than where the game started, and nearly 40% less than MM/DT. And there's no design reason for why that would be (no Anomalies, Skybeasts, or extra houses).
If you dig in further and look at how many Commons/Uncommons/Rares there are in each set, it turns out that they made a distinct decision to shrink the pool right after Grim Reminders. The standard from CoTA through Grim Reminders was 16 Commons, 16 Uncommons, and 20 Rares (various tweaks to that, and additions of Specials get you the different total card pools). Starting with Æmber Skies they dropped the numbers to 12 Commons, 12 Uncommons, and 16 Rares. Decreasing the Commons pool will do the most to narrow the deck variance. In the 16 Commons era, a deck had approximately a 34% chance of having a given Common. In the 12 Commons era, that goes to about 48% chance.
With Prophetic Visions I started to notice the uniqueness slipping, and now with Draconian Measures I definitely feel it. The smaller card pools mean there is less variation in deck composition. My local group is playing a 12 week Sealed DM league, and we are all seeing that there are certain houses and certain cards that are very consistently part of winning decks. With DM’s limited card pool the meta-relevant archetypes from the set are going to be even more narrow than previous sets.
My theory is that GG is shrinking the card pool to help tighten the deck strength bell curve. But I think that is the wrong thing to focus on. KeyForge was never meant to be a fair and balanced game. It's about discovering a good deck, and then finding another deck that can beat it. I'm more interested in opening a new deck when I know it will be like nothing I've opened before. With DM I already feel repetition with new decks having pods that are very similar to ones I’ve already opened, and the set has only been out a few months. I want higher deck variance.
Higher Deck Variance
Higher Deck Variance
This problem can be easily fixed, and with very little added development cost: more reprints in the main sets. Sets like Vault Masters and Discovery have demonstrated the ability for a set to feel new despite using all reprints. Crucible Clash is a great example of a hybrid approach. In that set there are only 8 new cards per house, yet it feels like a whole new set. Presented another way, the CC carpool is 17% new cards, vs the typical 55-65% in main sets. So, all I want is more reprints in the new sets. Bring that number at least back up to 52 cards per house (16C/16UC/20R). I don't think it is an issue that fewer decks are printed per set than in the FFG days. If a few less top 1% decks are discovered, oh well. Card power is higher these days anyway, so that bell curve is higher up the strength spectrum. It might even help mitigate some of the power creep, as the new overpowered cards are diluted into the card pool, and a little more uncommon. And with 3-deck Sealed Alliance being pretty common, the wider deck-strength bell curve is mitigated for those Sealed events.
I’ll even go further here, and suggest that they should be investing design time coming up with ways to increase deck variance even more. Card enhancements are extremely popular, and a very fun and interesting mechanic that makes decks more unique. Sometimes they land on a bad card, and sometimes they are perfect! They should go back and revisit ideas like the Mega Brobnar creatures - they could do this with armour as well as power. The hybrid creatures from MM were also an interesting idea. And Evil Twins from Dark Tidings and Revenant cards in GR were really exciting to get.
They could also pursue visual based ways of making decks unique. Alternate art cards, random full arts, special card backs, or other visual enhancements.
Power Creep vs Deck Variance
Power Creep vs Deck Variance
Here’s my perspective on this problem versus power creep. Power creep primarily affects Archon. Competitive Archon is primarily played at Vault Tours and Store Champs, by folks who have been playing for at least a few months. When we play Archon at my locals, we bring new and interesting decks that we want to test their mettle. So a meta never develops, such as folks bringing their same 110 SaS PV deck every time.
Deck variance mostly affects Sealed. Sealed is the most popular format, and I think it always has been. At my locals we pretty much always want to play Sealed. Exploring a set is probably the most fun part of playing KeyForge. Sealed is generally played in-set, so it doesn’t matter if a set is stronger or weaker than another, as long as the set is fun to play against itself. Power creep does come in here somewhat, when there are individual cards that are so powerful they overshadow all the other interesting things the deck might be able to do (ex. Trenk’s Creed). A smaller card pool means those game defining cards will be seen more often. When I play in a Sealed event, I want to see a diverse array of successful decks/houses, and not a predictable meta.
New players will be playing Sealed. Sealed is where players fall in love with KeyForge. Finding unexpected combos is at the core of what makes KeyForge great, and the lack of variance in a set’s card pool is limiting that experience. The joy of opening a deck with a really interesting combination of cards that you’ve never seen before is where this game shines brightest.
- cubiclava has been playing Keyforge since 2019, and enjoys the game as a member of the Seattle KeyForge group and Moor Wolf Pack team. He enjoys a variety of card games, board games, and creative activities.
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