Formats and variants

For Tournament Rules, see : 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.

Formats

There are four formats in KeyForge Organized Play: Archon format and Sealed format. Each tournament utilizes one or the other, and each variant builds upon either one or both formats as a base. The standard way to play for both formats is Solo play. In a Solo tournament, each player uses the same single deck for the entirety of the tournament. Tournament rounds can be played either as one-game (Best of One of BO1) matches or as best-of-three (BO3) matches.

Archon Standard

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.

Archon Sealed

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.

Alliance Standard

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.

Alliance Sealed

Players Must Bring: Two sealed KeyForge 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.

Official Variants

Variants are optional, and do not need to be utilized in an event. Some variants require best-of-three matches or multiple decks for each player. All variants can be used for either Archon or Sealed format.

Solo

For official Tournament Rules, see Solo

The standard way to play KeyForge making it the most played match variant.

Adaptive

For official Tournament Rules, see Adaptive

Each round of this tournament consists of best-of-three matches. For the first game of each match, players use their own decks. For the second game, each player swaps decks with his or her opponent and plays using his or her opponent’s deck.

If the third game occurs, players bid chains to use the deck which won both of the previous games. The player who brought the deck starts by bidding 0 chains, and then the players take turns outbidding each other until a player declines to bid higher. The player who bid the highest uses that deck for the third game (with their bid number of chains applied at the start).

Considered by many to be the most skill-testing variant, it will be used at the upcoming $100,000 prize pool VaultWarrior Championships.

Survival

For official Tournament Rules, see Survival

In this Tournament Structure Variant, each player enters the tournament with 2 or 3 decks (number determined by the organizer). The decks are ranked in an order of the player’s choosing before the first round. Each player must start with their first deck. Whenever a player loses a round, the deck they played with is “out” and cannot be used for the remainder of the tournament. When a player no longer has decks remaining, they are eliminated from the tournament.

Tournaments can be played either as "pure" survival (play proceeds until all decks are eliminated), or as survival events with a single-elimination bracket for the top cut (this format is used in the Vault Tour).

Triad

For official Tournament Rules, see Triad

Each player has 3 decks that they can use throughout the tournament. Each round, each player chooses one of their opponent’s decks to “bench,” making that deck unusable for that match.Each round consists of a best-of-three match. When a player wins a game, they must switch to their other deck for the rest of the match. This means that a player must win a game with each of their non-benched decks to win the match.

In a Sealed Triad event, players choose to "bench" a deck only based on the houses of their opponent's decks, as looking at their opponent's Identity card is not permitted.

Reversal

For official Tournament Rules, see Reversal

Each player brings a deck to the tournament which they believe is challenging to win with. Each round of the tournament, opponents temporarily swap decks for that match, and try to win the round with the deck their opponent brought.

Sealed Reversal was initially regarded as a bizarre variant, but has since proven to be a player favorite.

Auction

For official Tournament Rules, see Auction

This Deck Selection Variant is typically played as a sealed event in which each player buys and opens a deck before the start of the event. Unlike a normal Sealed event, after all players have opened and registered their decks, each deck is placed on a table. Players are arranged in a random order around the table. The event organizer then randomly selects and calls out a deck. That deck’s owner must start by bidding 0 chains. Then, in clockwise order, other players may bid higher than the current bid, or pass on bidding further for that deck. When all players have passed, the highest bidder wins that deck to use for the duration of the tournament and passes bidding on all other decks. Repeat the process for each deck. If a deck is randomly selected and its owner has already won the bid for another deck, the next player in clockwise order must place the initial bid of 0 chains for that deck.

Players start each game in that tournament with chains equal to their highest bid for the deck they are using. At the end of the event, each deck returns to the person who originally purchased and opened it.

Semi-official Variants

These variants were announced for use in competitions that were postponed; Fantasy Flight did not release official rules for them.

2-deck elimination

This is a new sub-variant introduced for the VaultWarrior series, where it will be used on the 2nd day of all Qualifier events. Players bring two decks (each from a different set) and before every round each player chooses one of two decks from their opponent to play against; the other deck is eliminated from that round. After both players choose a deck to eliminate, they then play using the Adaptive, Best of 3 or Reversal variant, depending on the event.

Team play

Although initially not part of official KeyForge Organized Play, team play has quickly grown in popularity and was acknowledged by Fantasy Flight Games when it was chosen to be the official format of the first World Championships event.

Players form teams of three players, which then play three simultaneous matches against an opposing team using standard KeyForge rules. Players on the same team sit side by side and table talk between teammates is allowed and encouraged. Different formats and variants can be used for team play, including different variants for different players within a team. Sometimes, restrictions are placed on the number of decks that can contain a house within a team.

Currently the most popular version of team play includes a different variant for each player and designated player positions within a team: Player 1 from each team plays with their own deck. Player 2 from each team plays reversal. Player 3 bids chains to choose which deck they'll play.

Official team play rules have not yet been published by Fantasy Flight Games.