Dark Tidings
Dark Tidings is the fifth KeyForge set and introduced 279 new cards. It was announced on July 29, 2020 during the Fantasy Flight Games In-Flight Report and was first released on March 12, 2021 in select countries.
The overall themes of Dark Tidings is exploring the unknown depths of the ocean and the navigating the rapidly changing tide with the Tide mechanic.
Adding to the aquatic theme is the new house called Unfathomable. The Unfathomable contain aquatic, water-based creatures such as the Aquans. The Aquans were first hinted at with the Anomaly creature Valoocanth, but water creatures have appeared as early as Call of the Archons on cards such as Terms of Redress and Chaos Portal. Danny Schaefer, one of the developers of Dark Tidings, described the Unfathomable as featuring mermaid and Lovecraftian creatures[1]. The new house is marked by powerful, disruptive abilities that include taxing and exhausting effects.
The themes and mechanics featured in Dark Tidings are also heavily explored in the first two KeyForge Adventures scenarios: Rise of the Keyraken and The Abyssal Conspiracy.
House Rotation
- New: Unfathomable
- Rotated Out: Dis
Unfathomable features aquatic creatures and a deep-sea theme. It aims to slow down and control the opponent, primarily by exhausting their cards and preventing them from playing or using cards. Storm Surge, Kiri Giltspine, Kaupe and Brain Drain are all examples of this theme.
Dis, similar to Unfathomable in that it is another disruption focused house, rotates out for the first time in the game's history.
New in This Set
The Tide
Dark Tidings features a new set-specific mechanic called The Tide, in which players alternate raising (or lowering) tide in order to enable certain powerful card mechanics.
The state of the tide is tracked with an additional Tide reference card, included with every Dark Tidings deck. Dark Tidings is the first set to utilize a reference card, sometimes referred to as "the 38th card".
At the start of a game, the tide is neither high nor low. The tide can be raised with card abilities, or by using the Omni: ability granted by the Tide reference card. Abilities that involve the tide are indicated by a small reminder symbol (
). Unfathomable, the new house in this set, are particularly capable at using the tide to their advantage, but all houses have some tide abilities.
The Tide was designed to be set-specific, meaning it likely will not appear in future sets on a regular basis — if at all.
Evil Twin Decks
The set also introduces a rare new type of deck called an Evil Twin deck. Although the exact rarity of these decks is unknown, Fantasy Flight Games have stated that the rarity is closer to 1 in 12 than 1 in 100.
All Evil Twin decks are nearly identical duplicates of decks that have been generated in a non-Evil Twin form — but instead contain Evil Twin cards — which are variations on cards that exist in the set with different artwork and card effects. Each Evil Twin card is marked by a new special rarity symbol (
) and has a different card number from its normal counterpart.
While not all Dark Tidings cards have an Evil Twin version, Evil Twin decks will always contain the Evil Twin version of a card whenever possible. The cards that can twin are all new to the set so the twins could be designed together. [2]
Choice Cards
Dark Tidings introduce a new type of formatting for card abilities that offer players multiple choices. These are functionally similar to cards from previous sets such as Knowledge is Power and Begone!, but allow for easier understanding and readability due to the new templating. Choice cards give the player a lot of flexibility throughout the game and reward intelligent decision-making.
Products
| Name | Model | Description |
|---|---|---|
| KeyForge: Dark Tidings Archon Deck | KF12a | |
| KeyForge: Dark Tidings Display | KF12d | Contains 12 Dark Tidings Archon Decks |
| KeyForge: Dark Tidings Deluxe Archon Deck | KF13 | Contains:
|
| KeyForge: Dark Tidings 2 Player Starter Set | KF14 | Contains:
|
References
- ↑ Episode 43: Designing Keyforge #2 with Danny Schaefer, Call of Discovery Podcast, 2020 Jul 30.
- ↑ Aaron Haltom, FFG Live
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