“...and furthermore, Nova Hellas must be destroyed.”

–Livia the Elder

With two major Vault Tours wrapping up in Kraków, Poland and at Gen Con in Indianapolis, the Crucible has returned to brief state of normalcy. At least, as normal as the Crucible can get. After so much chaos and mayhem, the wild world of KeyForge changes and grows into a familiar, but new state of being. Now, you can familiarize yourself with what's new with an updated version of the Rulebook, which is now available to download! The changes found in this update will be immediately going into effect. Today, developer Brad Andres discusses some of the key changes that were made in this update and how it will forever change life in the world of KeyForge.

Brad Andres on the Rulebook Update

Hello Archons!

Today, we have a huge rules update for you. This update focuses on clarifying the timing of card effects, especially those involved with the process of destroying creatures. This has been one of the most asked-about aspects of the KeyForge rules, so we’ve added many new sections to the rules to help players interpret the timing of their cards’ interactions.

Our chief goal with this update is making the rules a more robust and comprehensive document, allowing players to answer questions more accurately on their own. To further aid this endeavor, we have added a timing chart to the end of the rules document and nearly doubled the number of FAQ questions. But let’s dive in and go over the major changes!

Destroyed Timing

The biggest change to this document is the addition of a new structure for processing the destruction of cards. This new structure introduces the concept of cards being “tagged” for destruction once an effect destroys them, or in the case of a creature, once they have damage on them equal to or greater than their power. This “tagging” gives a clear indicator of what is going into the discard pile and what is not, providing a clearer delineation of which destroyed effects should trigger. It also updates a few previous rulings we have made, such as how the card Archimedes functions when multiple creatures are destroyed at the same time, to be more intuitive and functional within the game.

Card Errata

While we were cleaning up the rules with the destroyed timing, we took a long look at extraneous rules that were causing problems with players’ understanding of the rules. One thing we saw was that Magda the Rat was the only card in the game using the “Leaves Play” timing point. We have decided to eliminate this timing point from the game and realign Magda to function as a delayed effect. This will only cause a very minor functional change for the card and overall makes the game’s rules easier to parse and use.

In addition, Yzphyz Knowdrone and Life for a Life were improperly formatted and have been updated to reflect how they should be templated with the rules of KeyForge. The functionality of both cards has not changed.​

Clarifying "For Each"

The text “For Each” has been a common area of confusion for players. Cards like Sack of Coins or Shard of Pain create instances where players are unsure how they are allowed to break up amounts of damage or other game effects. We have added a section of the rules to specifically address this terminology, which should make card effects like this easier for players to use and understand.

Replacement Effects

Replacement effects are effects that replace the resolution of another effect with a different effect. We have used replacement effects in the game for a while, but they were hard for players to process accurately without full rules support. This update adds full rules support for replacement effects and provides examples for players to follow along with.

“As if It Were Yours/As If You Controlled It”

The final significant section added to the rules deals with effects that instruct you to use a card “as if it were yours/as if you controlled it”. These types of effects have left many questions about how they function under specific circumstances. We have added a new section to the rules to cover interactions with these types of effects as well as provide explanations for the scenarios that can arise from card effects that allow you to use your opponent’s cards.

That’s all for now! As always our goal is to keep improving this document to best support the game, thanks for all your feedback!

Keep Forging Ahead!