Formats and variants

KeyForge has a wide variety of Formats and Variants that create different experiences for players. This section contains all official and announced formats and variants. While there are many formats and variants available in official KeyForge Organized Play, the KeyForge community has created some very interesting variants of their own, which can be found here.

Current Official Formats

There are three official formats in KeyForge Organized Play: Archon, Alliance, and Sealed. Events that are designated as "Official Tournaments" must use one or multiple of these official formats.

Archon

The Archon format pits a player’s single Archon deck against their opponent’s chosen Archon deck

Players Must Bring: One KeyForge Archon deck

Elimination Rounds: Archon format tournaments are played over a sequence of elimination rounds, each round featuring a number of two-player matches, each match consisting of one game.

Players are eliminated after losing two matches, also known as ‘double elimination’.

Elimination rounds continue until only eight players remain.

Playoff Rounds: After concluding the Elimination Rounds, the eight remaining players are randomly paired into four elimination brackets, each constituting a playoff match.

Each playoff match is won by best-of-three games. In other words, for the match to be resolved, players continue to play games until one player has won two games.

The winning player continues to the next playoff match and the loser is eliminated.

Continue playoff matches across the three elimination bracket rounds until two finalists play the last match in which a single tournament winner is determined.

Alliance

The Alliance format challenges both a player’s gameplay skills and deck-construction strategy by allowing Alliance decks to be created from up to three different Archon decks from the same KeyForge set.

Players Must Bring: One KeyForge Alliance deck consisting of three House pods recruited from a player’s collection of Archon decks.

The three House pods in the Alliance deck may be recruited from up to three different Archon decks. Each recruited House pod must be from a different House, and all recruited pods must be from the same KeyForge set.

A House Pod is the set of twelve cards dedicated to one House in a single Archon deck (each Archon deck always consists of three House pods from three different Houses).

Elimination Rounds: Alliance format tournaments are played over a sequence of elimination rounds, each round featuring a number of two-player matches, each match consisting of one game.

Players are eliminated after losing two matches, also known as ‘double elimination’.

Elimination rounds continue until only eight players remain.

Playoff Rounds: After concluding the Elimination Rounds, the eight remaining players are randomly paired into four elimination brackets, each constituting a playoff match.

Each playoff match is won by best-of-three games. In other words, for the match to be resolved, players continue to play games until one player has won two games.

The winning player continues to the next playoff bracket and the loser is eliminated.

Continue playoff matches across the three brackets until two finalists play the last match in which a single tournament winner is determined.

Sealed

The Sealed format challenges each player to make the best deck combination from the house pods found in up to three sealed KeyForge decks.

Players Must Bring: Up to three sealed KeyForge Archon decks from the same KeyForge set.

A sealed deck is one that is unopened and sealed in its original packaging.

Deck Creation: Players simultaneously open their sealed decks and construct a single deck by selecting three House pods from the six House pods provided in the two sealed decks. Each selected House pod must be from a different House.

A House Pod is the set of twelve cards dedicated to one House located within a single Archon deck (each Archon deck always consists of three House pods from three different Houses).

Deck creation must be completed within 30 minutes.

Elimination Rounds: After deck creation is finished, sealed format tournaments are played over a sequence of elimination rounds, each round featuring any number of two-player matches, each match consisting of one game.

Players are eliminated after losing two matches, also known as ‘double elimination’.

Elimination rounds continue until only 8 players remain.

Deck Calibration: Between each round of a sealed tournament, before being seated with the next opponent, players may calibrate their deck by substituting one or more House pods from their deck with one or more of their unused House pods. After calibration, a decks must consist of three House pods from three different Houses.

Playoff Brackets: After concluding the Elimination Rounds, the eight remaining players are randomly paired into four elimination brackets, each constituting a playoff match.

Each playoff match is won by best-of-three games. In other words, for the match to be resolved, players continue to play games until one player has won two games.

The winning player continues to the next playoff bracket and the loser is eliminated.

Continue playoff matches across the three brackets until two finalists play the last match in which a single tournament winner is determined.

Previous Official Formats

Sealed Archon

Removed in TRG version 2.0 (January 2024)

Players Must Bring: One sealed KeyForge deck.

A sealed deck is one unopened and sealed in its original packaging prior to the start of the tournament.

Open Decks: At the start of the tournament, players simultaneously open their sealed deck and may study the deck for 10 minutes after which the first tournament round should begin.

Elimination Rounds: Archon sealed format tournaments are played over a sequence of elimination rounds, each round featuring any number of two-player matches, each match consisting of one game.

Players are eliminated after losing two matches, also known as ‘double elimination’.

Elimination rounds continue until only 8 players remain.

Playoff Brackets: After concluding the Elimination Rounds, the eight remaining players are randomly paired into four elimination brackets, each constituting a playoff match.

Each playoff match is won by best-of-three games. In other words, for the match to be resolved, players continue to play games until one player has won two games.

The winning player continues to the next playoff bracket and the loser is eliminated.

Continue playoff matches across the three brackets until two finalists play the last match in which a single tournament winner is determined.