Welcome back to The Battleline! Today, I’ll be talking a little bit about a series that I have planned for the blog as well as some personal thoughts and concerns on Organized Play (you know, with all that official information we have). So, let’s get right into it.

The Seasonal Archon

I mentioned in my first post that I’m an avid Magic: the Gathering player. And it’s something I wish I had the time and money to keep up with, competitively. Unfortunately, I just don’t. Without having to worry about deck construction, or keeping up with the meta, or even a high cost-of-entry, I have hope that KeyForge will be able to scratch that itch for me (also mentioned in my first post).

The idea behind the Seasonal Archon (that’s the title of the series) is very similar to a League, except it’s just me. At the start of a season, I’ll crack open a brand new KeyForge Deck and for the next 12 weeks I’ll be running it in local events and tournaments. At the end of the 12 weeks, no matter the record, I’ll retire the deck.

I stand by thinking a League is one of the best ways to get the most out of the game and I wanted to structure the Seasonal Archon around that (hence the name). It allows me ample time to learn a deck and see how far I can go with it over the course of the season while also capturing the, ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ feeling of having to do the best that I can with the tools that I have.

With a fairly sporadic schedule, I doubt I’ll be able to go to the same shop every week. I’m fortunate enough to have a couple stores within a 30 to 45 minute drive so I’m hoping to at least attend an event once a week. It’s nice not having to worry about a meta or a local meta and that I’m free to roam from store to store and stand just as good of a chance at any of them.

Each post covering the series will provide a write-up of the event, a description of each match (Full Disclosure: I will probably not be able to remember enough from each match to provide a proper play-by-play), my thoughts on my and the deck’s performance overall, and then finally the overall win-ratio for the season, up to that point in the season.

And, of course, on the back end of things, I’ll be tracking a lot of specific data throughout the season.

-Opponent’s Archon’s Name and House Combination

-Wins

-Losses

-Number of Keys Forged (in a loss)

-Amount of Æmber Gathered (in a loss)

-Win / Loss Ratio Against House Combinations

-Win / Loss Ratio Against Specific Houses

If by some chance, decklists become public information I would love to go even further and have a Win / Lose Ratio by individual cards as well. The reason for this is I believe it would help to identify a particular card or particular set of cards that I have a propensity to lose to. Which is also information I’m hoping to gleam from the win/loss ratio against specific houses and house combinations, this would just help narrow that field down even more. But is that too much data? Is that too in-depth? What a silly question, of course not!

The last thing I’ll be tracking is the overall cost throughout the season. I find tracking spending to be incredibly rewarding. It helps you stay on budget and gives you a numeric representation of where your money is going. For each individual season I’ll be recording the cost of supplies, weekly entry-fee, travel costs (gas), the deck itself, and any other expenses I may accrue during the season. I’ll also be keeping track of my gains / the estimated value of prizes and their impact on the overall cost.

Then, at the end of the season, I’ll present all this data in a fun and colorful way (Charts and Graphs) for you, the reader (but mostly for me because it’s aesthetically satisfying to see). I’ll be doing a deep dive on interpreting that data and touching on some of the things that I found interesting. As well as discussing the highs and lows of the season and my final thoughts on the deck before I retire it.

My hope is that it will provide an entertaining write-up as I go through the ringer of Organized Play as well as documenting my own growth as a player over time.

Concerns in Organized Play

Starting with a disclaimer – As of this post Fantasy Flight Games has not released any official information on Organized Play, as such, all the following is purely speculative and based solely on my own personal thoughts.

Chains

Let’s talk about Chains. Now, I am actually am a huge fan of this mechanic in the game and I think it’s going to be great for balancing decks between friends. However, I would worry about it’s application in Organized Play.

I worry that a player’s knee-jerk reaction to losing to a deck would be to slap chains on it. That the default excuse for losing is that the deck that won is overpowered and too good. Where winning a local event is almost a punishment because your deck will have chains placed on it to “balance” it.

I don’t want to speculate too much or concoct nightmare scenarios of the implementation of Chains in Organized Play, but I do worry whatever the system is to adjust balance, there will be a loophole, or a way for players to game it. But, I’m not a game designer, nor am I a designer of Organized Play so all I can do is have faith.

I’m intrigued and optimistic to see what they come up with and if chains are something that will be utilized at a store level and a separate system will be used for a higher level of tournament. Especially with the implied features of the companion app and its own tracking abilities.

Other Concerns

In the original draft for this post I had two more concerns I wanted to address. But, after writing them out, reading, and rereading them I decided to cut them as I didn’t believe they were valid enough concerns this early in a games announcement (keep in mind, we still don’t even have a release date). Especially when there isn’t any official word on Organized Play.

But, inquiring minds want to know (I’m assuming at least) so I won’t withhold them from you, but I also won’t go into the extensive detail I had originally drafted out.

With the number of decisions and the sheer staggering lines of play available on any given turn my concern was on the presence of Slow-Play and Stalling.

The other concern was the request for Takesies-Backsies. With sequencing being a huge part of this game, I could see players playing out their turn, realizing a more optimum way to do it and request if they could replay things in a different order.

However, I believe both of these concerns are rooted in the newness of the game and not on any solid evidence or empirical data. The game is something completely new and players will be tasked with wrapping their heads around its nuances. Part of those growing-pains will be longer turns and reorder sequencing.

Before we wrap this up, I want to touch back on chains. If chains are something your deck receives in Organized Play, for whatever reason, my goal will be to accrue as many chains as I possibly can. And to also have a physical representation of those chains. Right now I’m thinking of having 24 (the max number of chains you can have) loops (?) on my deck-box and hanging a physical chain for each one my deck has gained. The concept is still in its rough draft. But all I know is I will find a cool way of wearing chains like a badge of honor! And I’ll be sure to post the final design once I have it.

Until next time, keep your Battleline Bolstered!

(ugh, that’s lame, but I think we’re headed in the right direction with a sign-off phrase)