Hello! My name is Vincent Baker. You may know me as the guy who designed Spellslingers, Otherworlds, or Legendaria or maybe you don't know me at all and that's okay! 

Just know that I'm a huge fan of all types of games and have been playing card games my entire life.

When I was first introduced to KeyForge it was by a friend of mine who actually co-founded Tabletop Royale.

Immediately the colors and blend of sci-fi with some fantasy aspects had me intrigued. The lingo of keys, vaults, and randomized decks gave me Borderlands vibes, a video game series I personally find a lot of enjoyment in.

From there, I decided at $10 per deck, why not give it a shot? My friend and I went in, $10 a piece and played our first game without looking at our decks. 

It was magical knowing our decks could be anything. They weren't pre-written by a human. It felt like anything could happen and we had know idea what to expect.

Our games ended up being straight forward without us questioning the rules, but there are definitely some cards and some card interactions that can be confusing, we just happened to not have any of those.

After having a lot of fun with my first few sessions, I immediately wanted to see more of what the game had to offer. Afterall, with decks being one-of-a-kind and (at the time) 7 houses, kept the variety fresh.

We continued buying decks, playing casually, and having an immense amount of fun! 

So, where does KeyForge fall amidst the hordes of other card games?

The Good 

KeyForge's hook is "every deck is unique" and while you'll certainly have some similarities between decks, this hook is a great one and makes it exciting to continue opening and playing decks. Furthermore, no one can truly judge your decks effectiveness. Sure, there are tools and insights, but ultimately, only truly playing your deck can you discover its power and in that way, it feels very personal.

Combat is a part of KeyForge, but it also has a great mechanic of gathering aember to forge keys (the win condition of the game). This means every creature always feels more useful than many creature-type cards in other games. Which, while I'm at it, I'd love to add that I love how in this game you can have certain cards that you REALLY love and don't have to feel bad playing them, if they are sub optimal to other cards, because you HAVE to play the card. Given that you can't alter your deck (which admittedly sounds like a downside upon first hearing), you and your opponent has to play with all sorts of cards.

For those that don't like net decking and love brewing your own creative decks, then KeyForge is for you.

The Bad

I'm not going to lie, this section is difficult for me. I can't think of any glaring issues with KeyForge. The only clear issue is some of the ruling issues don't seem intuitive to me and to many others from what I read. These are niche case scenarios however and If I had to nitpick, it'd be that cards could be named better. Cards like "Smash" isn't an action, but rather a creature. I believe having the name "Mr. Smash" or "Face Smasher" would give you a better sense of what the card is more immediately and while this isn't a big deal, it can be a little difficult to discern how many creatures a deck can have when their named like actions and artifacts sometimes.

The Weird

With KeyForge featuring martians, spirit knights with giant armor, nifty elves, and more, it doesn't shy away from being "zany." Given that KeyForge seems very friendly for casual play, I'm perplexed that the game doesn't feature card text that better suits multiplayer matches. Currently there are no official rulings for Keyforge multiplayer, leaving people to fend for themselves if they wish to play with 3+ people. Having no official ruling on it makes it so any fan given suggestion of the format seem like it's trivial. With that being said however, I LOVE playing KeyForge multiplayer and so if this sounds like something you're interested in, then I suggest giving this a try. It's straightforward and sticks to the normal rules as much as possible. 

After all a designers rule of thumb is to simplify until you can't simplify anymore, which was my focus. 

The Verdict

V - Vindicated Approved. 

If you aren't aware, V is the highest rating, it's the 5/5, the 10/10, the bee's knees. This isn't to say KeyForge is perfect, but rather that it's a must try for any fan of card games. It's gameplay is impeccable.  

If you'd like to try your hand at the game, well, I'm now an official distributor of Asmodee products, so you can get your game here. Also, if you think that my review may be biased by that, then remember that I only began distributing KeyForge because of my love for it. 

If you'd like to chat with me and fellow gamers, hit up our Discord here. If you'd like to get a (mostly) weekly email from me of important updates (and get bonus artbook & more) then become a Vscriber here - it's free.

Until next time, stay awesome! 

Vincent Baker