This was originally scheduled for Wednesday, December 12th, but some inclement weather means that our plans changed. This group of decks might have been some of the most powerful decks that we have played yet, and as a result, most of the games were phenomenal.

Watch Keyforge Tournament of Champions Pod 6! from tabletoproyale on www.twitch.tv

Decks for the night:
Armhelm, Cavern Blacksmith
Swindle, the Lance Corporal of Invadrome
Oddkell, Guide of the Ageless Vault
V. Dover, Bloodmanse’s Huge Surveyor

Game Results

Game 1 – Armhelm vs Swindle

One Sentence Summary: Swindle worked quickly and left Armhelm little time to respond.

Card of the Match: Speed Sigil
Aptly named, since this card will cause the game to end quickly one way or the other. 

Notable Event: Regrowth found Chota Hazri in the discard pile to forge Swindle’s second key.

Winner:
Swindle
3 Keys to 1

Game 2 – Oddkell vs V Dover

OSS: V Dover hit Oddkell with a dragon and as many giants as he could find, but Oddkell shrugged all of that off to win the game. 

COTM: Kelifi Dragon
In all of the games we played, this is the first time this card hit the table. This card is an absolute powerhouse, and it was really fun to play with. Its a shame that it is so hard to put on the table. This card would have won the game if not for…

NE: Too Much to Protect stole a heaping 6 aember. The game continued on for several turns after that, but that one gain was too much in a tight game.

Winner: Oddkell
3 Keys to 1

Game 3 – Armhelm vs Oddkell

OSS: Sometimes the best play is to hold a card.

COTM: Mimicry
In a tight spot? Wish you could play cards that weren’t in your house? This card can (potentially) do it all. 

NE: Oddkell had an opportunity to play Too Much to Protect, but did not to play around Mimicry.

Winner:
Oddkell
3 Keys to 2

Game 4 – Swindle vs V Dover

OSS: Despite controlling the board for the whole game, V Dover was outmaneuvered by Swindle.

COTM: Unguarded Camp
This card was particularly good in this game. It captured six aember in a single turn to prevent Swindle from forging the winning key.

NE: On the final turn, Swindle played Save the Pack, Lost in the Woods and Chota Hazri to win the game. 

Winner: Swindle
3 Keys to 2

Game 5 – Armhelm vs V Dover

OSS: Armhelm and V Dover competed to see who could pile the most skulls.

COTM: Hysteria
This card can enable some very silly plays. It is best on a board where the opponent has a mix of different houses in play, since they can’t replay everything in one turn.

NE: The final turn that Armhelm took involved using two Dominator Baubles, reaping four times, playing Hysteria, playing Drumble, and then The Terror. The turn produced Six aember and captured seven after returning all of V Dover’s creatures to the hand.

Winner: Armhelm
3 Keys to 1

Game 6 – Swindle vs Oddkell

OSS: Swindle stumbled out of the gate, but almost caught up to Oddkell. 

COTM: Grabber Jammer
When compared to Murmook, Grabber Jammer looks like a star. The key taxing is good, and it can capture on a fight or reap which makes this card highly disruptive. 

NE: Swindle was taxed too heavily by Grabber Jammer on the last turn. Otherwise, Swindle could have stolen the game with a Regrowth to get back Chota Hazri.

Winner: Oddkell
3 Keys to 2

Final Results

Oddkell, Guide of the Ageless Vault – *Advancing*
3 Wins – 0 Losses
Two Yxilx Dominator, Champion Anaphiel and two Protect the Weak make this deck extremely defensive. This keeps problem creatures like Faygin on the board for far longer than they should be allowed. The rest of the Shadows cards in this deck pack a surprising amount of removal. The Mars portion of this deck is heavy on the Mars robots, and as such, they are hard to remove through the armor and taunt. Ulyq Megamouth and Commander Remiel are both excellent creatures to hide behind taunts, as they let this deck house cheat reliably. This deck won tonight because of its ability to generate sticky board positions that incrementally gained advantages.

Swindle, the Lance Corporal of Invadrome – *Advancing*
2 Wins – 1 Loss
This deck has three ways to forge keys out of turn, and Speed Sigil and Soul Snatcher guarantee that the game is going to be played at a breakneck pace. This deck is well situated to win games before the opponent realizes what has happened. One concern for this deck: it is not consistent. Still, this deck works on a very axis than many of the decks we’ve played. The three Lost in the Woods have synergy with Soul Snatcher, since that gives you ways to get rid of enemy creatures without having to kill them. The creatures in this deck are well positioned for Speed Sigil and Regrowth and Witch of the Eye can make sure that Chota Hazri or Key Charge are in your hand at the right time. This Dis package in this deck puts the squeeze on the opponent’s hand.

Armhelm, Cavern Blacksmith – *Eliminated*
1 Win – 2 Losses
This deck was a victim of the pod it played in. This is not a bad deck by most measures, but it was outclassed by the competition. The Brobnar in this deck is good at controlling the board and making sure that problem creatures don’t stick around. The Untamed section feels a little underwhelming, and is really buoyed by the Mimicry and Witch of the Eye. There are not enough ways to use Save the Pack, and this deck is sidled with two of them. This Dis section is really strong, and double Hysteria did a lot of work. Two Dominator Bauble is really strong, but there are not quite enough Dis creatures for this deck to do crazy things. 

V. Dover, Bloodmanse’s Huge Surveyor – *Relegated to WOTW*
0 Wins – 3 Losses
This was an extremely fun deck to play. It had a lot of tools to keep opponents from winning. Kelifi Dragon is a crazy powerful card that is incredibly difficult to play. This deck is weak to board wipes, since it captures a lot of aember. This deck doesn’t generate aember at a crazy rate, either. It has a large number of creatures, which is good in some match-ups and does an excellent job of taking control of the board. Between the Logos and Mars portions, this deck can draw a lot of cards. Don’t expect this deck to stick around the WOTW. 

Known Errors: Foggify is an easy card to forget that it was played. Pile of Skulls is a static effect and can also be forgotten pretty easily. 

Meta Info: The games were split evenly tonight, and Justin keeps a two game lead: 19 – 17. Going first did make a comeback tonight, and so through 36 games, first and second are tied at 18 wins apiece. 

We are 1/5th of the way through Round 1 of the Tournament of Champions

Watch Highlight: Keyforge Tournament of Champions POD 5! from tabletoproyale on www.twitch.tv

Here are the Deck Lists:
Sov Wornvector Parmesan
Solphant Godfrey, the Feral and Delicate
X. DuMorn, Starlake’s Deceptive King
L. P. Yuzbek of the Earthy Glacier

Game Results

Game 1 – Parmesan vs Godfrey

Start Time: 8:10

One Sentence Summary: Despite Godfrey jumping to an early lead, Parmesan strangled Godfrey with the help of some torturous demons.

Card of the Match: Control the Weak
This card can skip your opponent’s turn when timed correctly. It can also be used defensively to make sure that your opponent can’t stop you from forging a key. 

Notable Event: Back to back Control the Weak essentially skipped two turns, right before Godfrey could try to get away with the game. 

Winner: Parmesan
3 Keys to 1

Game 2 – DuMorn vs Yuzbek

OSS: There was a lot of back and forth in this game, and a few key tempo cards bought the necessary time for DuMorn to win.

COTM: Old Bruno
He was played early in the match, but Old Bruno is essentially a better Charette. He stopped a key from forging earlier in the match, and that loss of tempo carried throughout the rest of the game.

NE: Control the Weak was played against DuMorn, naming Logos. This was the worst possible result, and DuMorn was able to get check because of it.

Winner: DuMorn
3 Keys to 2

Game 3 – Parmesan vs DuMorn

OSS: Parmesan sent wave after wave of Martians, Demons and Knights until DuMorn hit his preset kill limit. 

COTM: Psychic Network
This brutal Martian card is the reason to kill every small, green man that steps in front of an Ancient bear. This card stole three aember, which is basically one of the best results that you could hope for from Bait and Switch.

NE: A double Battlefleet turn from Parmesan power several turns in a row, and proved to be too much advantage to overcome. A Neutron Shark needed to hit multiple times in a row to even up the game, but did not. 

Winner: Parmesan
3 Keys to 1

Game 4 – Godfrey vs Yuzbek

OSS: Godfrey made the best use of the cards in hand, and found a way to win despite having lots of creatures destroyed.

COTM: Whispering Reliquary
This is a subtle card. It can provide a way to keep your opponent from using their artifacts, or it can be used on your artifacts to get the aember play bonus again.

NE: Godfrey closed out the game by using two Whispering Reliquaries to bounce and replay the Sigil of Brotherhood to get enough aember to forge a key past a Murmook.

Winner: Godfrey
3 Keys to 2

Game 5 – Parmesan vs Yuzbek

OSS: Yuzbek almost capitalized against a few weak turns from Parmesan, but Parmesan was able to seal the deal. 

COTM: Uxlyx the Zookeeper
This card is oppressive if left unchecked. He gains aember while removing opposing creatures, which is about as much as you can ask from a single card.

NE: A big turn from Yuzbek involved slamming Annihilation Ritual right before Gateway to Dis removed a large portion of Parmesan’s creatures from the game. This was almost enough to swing the game back around for Yuzbek.

Winner: Parmesan
3 Keys to 2

Game 6 – Godfrey vs DuMorn

OSS: A close game decided by a big gamble.

COTM: Total Recall
This card swings for the fences. This card can provide a huge amount of aember on a full board, but will set you up to be blown out by a lot of different cards. 

NE: Godfrey played a Total Recall to generate 6 aember for an 11 aember total pool. 

Winner: Godfrey
3 Keys to 2

Final Results:

Sov Wornvector Parmesan – *Advancing*
3 Wins – 0 Losses
The triple Control the Weak in this deck is just pure agony to play against. There were multiple times tonight where Parmesan was playing Keyforge while the opponent was not playing the game. Epic Quest is not great in this deck, since the archive is heavily used by the Martian side to abduct problem creatures. Battle Fleet has a massive upside, and can create turns that completely wreck. The Martians in this deck are all high priority targets and if they are left alive will dominate a game. The Dis creatures are similarly problematic since Ember Imp and Succubus demand immediate answers or they strangle your opponent’s resources. 

Solphant Godfrey, the Feral and Delicate – *Advancing*
2 Wins – 1 Loss
This deck seems to be a solid mid-tier deck. It is a little light on creatures, but the creatures here are very good. The Banner of Battle from Brobnar makes this deck’s large creatures even larger. Protect the Weak is particularly good on a Troll, and the extra taunt helps protect the dainty Martians. The deck has a goofy combo with the 2 copies of Whispering Reliquary and Sigil of Brotherhood. Each of those cards are useful on their own, but can combine to generate some extra aember throughout the course of a game.

X. DuMorn, Starlake’s Deceptive King – *Eliminated*
1 Win – 2 Losses
This deck feels like it is missing one or two cards to be really good. The Untamed Creatures in this deck underwhelm, but at least provide Full Moon with plenty of value. Mimicry is the best action your opponent has played so far. The deck has the potential to steal vast amounts of your opponents aember, between the Batdrones and some of the Shadows cards. However, this deck did not battle for the board very well. Neutron Shark never quite kills as many things as you need it to, and the vast majority of the deck dies to Ammonia Clouds. 

L. P. Yuzbek of the Earthy Glacier – *Relegated to WotW*
0 Wins – 3 Losses
This deck has a lot of anti-synergy in the cards present. It will bury itself in chains, but doesn’t have a way to draw out of that. Only the Untamed portion of this deck has a sizable portion of creatures, but they are prone to getting themselves killed. Fear was discarded often, since it was in a hand with Gateway to Dis quite often. But, the deck isn’t all bad. It can generate a decent amount of aember, and packs multiple ways to wipe the board. This deck probably has some good match-ups out there, just not in this pod.

Known Errors: There was a spirited debate on how Neutron Shark works, and we arrived at the correct decision eventually. If Neutron Shark kills itself, the effect does not continue after it’s death.

Meta Info: Justin benefited from playing the best deck for the night twice, while Nathan had to play the worst deck twice. Justin has taken a lead in the series, 16 to 14. Playing first (14 wins) has slipped behind going second (16 wins). 

Pod 2 has finished. Thanks to everyone who watched! Here’s our VOD:

Watch Keyforge Tournament of Champions Pod 2 from tabletoproyale on www.twitch.tv

Here are the 4 decks:
Ladanian, Asylum Physicist
The Two-Faced Attorney
M. W. Queenhill of the Narrow Mirage
Dr. E. Dezrus

Game Reports

Game 1 – Ladanian vs Two-Face

Start Time: 00:40

Ladanian spent the first few turns developing a board with some strong Dis cards like Ember Imp, Tocsin, The Lash of Broken Dreams and Dominator Bauble but these were matched by an even stronger board of Shadows Cards. Deipno Spymaster and Umbra worked for multiple turns in a row, while some Brobnar Giants appeared to wreck up the place. Ladanian struggled to find one of the two copies of Ammonia Clouds that the deck had to clear out the pack of thieves. It did eventually find the clouds, but only after being robbed blind.

Winner: Two-Face
3 Keys to 0

Game 2 – Queenhill vs Dr. ED

Start Time: 19:40

Dr. ED started the game off with The Terror, and claimed two aember before Queenhill took the first turn. Queenhill responded with Harlan Mindlock, taking The Terror, and playing a pair of Doc Booktons. One of those Booktons underwent an Experimental Therapy, setting up a powerful reap and draw engine. Queenhill expanded the board position with some resilient Sanctum creatures. ED was able to pick off a few creatures, but was falling behind on board presence.

ED did manage to pick up the first key with a Key Charge, but Queenhill started the next turn by forging a key. ED delivered a large turn, with the combination of Library Access and Wild Wormhole, playing and drawing a lot of cards. The turn didn’t affect the board by enough, and so Queenhill was able to capitulate with a large turn, ending with 10 aember. ED swung back, generating 10 aember of its own and playing a Murmook to tax Queenhill.

Queenhill forged a second key, and managed to threaten the third key. ED responded by forging it’s second key, and played a Charette to keep Queenhill from winning. ED couldn’t threaten back, and so Queenhill generate FIFTEEN aember to set up Super-Check. Ed had one last hope to win the game… activating a Wild Wormhole. It hit a card that didn’t help, and so ED tried another Wormhole and hit… Hysteria and through all of the creatures back into each player’s hand. While hilarious, it didn’t actually stop Queenhill from winning.

Winner: Queenhill
3 Keys to 2

Game 3 – Ladanian vs Queenhill

Start Time: 46:00

Facing Elimination, Ladanian was going to have to put on quite the performance to save itself from extinction. Ladanian opened with Tocsin, who promised to cause a lot of pain if not answered swiftly. Queenhill, in fact, dealt with the Tocsin while opening with an impressive five sanctum cards. Ladanian struggled to find a board position over the next few turns, and managed to get things a little more under control with an Ammonia Clouds. Neither deck generated much aember for several turns while trying to establish a board position.

Unfortunately, Ladanian soon found itself with a turn that was essentially discarding three Martian cards with no effect. This put it very far behind, and Queenhill jumped up to 9 aember. A second lackluster turn in a row from Ladanian, essentially put the game too far out of reach. Not even a second Ammonia Clouds could keep Queenhill from forging the third Key.

Winner: Queenhill
3 Keys to 0

Game 4 – Dr. ED vs Two-Face

Start Time: 1:03:16

ED started the game with The Terror again, keeping Two-Face’s Ghostly Hand away from the aember jar. A few more Dis Demons jumped into the fray for ED, who managed to control the board for a few turns and threaten to make a key. Two-face responded with a Bait and Switch, which swung the aember balance hard in the Face’s direction. A Phosphorous Stars stunned all of the demons.

ED was granted Library Access and decided that the best use of his time was to open three Wild Wormholes. ED proceeded to burn through around half of the deck and set up and incredibly impressive board and generate 6 aember. Two-face’s Zorg issued a Champion’s Challenge to clear the board, but was still too groggy from being summoned to fight the remaining creature. A few Brobnar giants jumped into the fray looking to pick off anyone left alive. With Charette’s Death, Two-face was no threatening to forge a key.

ED forged a key at the start of the next turn and then followed that up with a Dust Pixie giving it enough to Key Charge and forge the second key immediately. Two-face forged its first key and began to slowly take over the board. A Sneklifter took ED’s pocket universe, and a Skeleton Key chipped away at the aember ED needed to win. Two-face quickly forged his second key after that due to the large board presence it possessed.

ED used Vigor and a Dust Pixie to put Two-face into check. Two-face’s Shadows cards produced a Nerve Blast to keep ED from winning. The Skeleton Key once again locked away more aember, but Two-face was one aember away from check. ED followed up by going to 7 aember. This time, Two-face was short on answers.

Winner: Dr. ED
3 Keys to 2

Game 5 – Ladanian vs Dr. ED

Start Time: 1:28:14

Ladanian was left trying to avoid being put into the Worst of the Worst bracket, and was desperately trying to forge a key. Ladanian assembled a respectable board, but did not generate a lot of aember doing so. ED used a combination of Pit Demon and The Terror to burst up to 6 aember. Ladanian continued to expand it’s board presence while ED forged it’s first key. A mass Hysteria disrupted Ladanian’s plans of setting up, and Ladanian was never quite able to recover. A turn of Full Moon, two Dust Pixies and a Key Charge sealed the game.

Winner: ED
3 Keys to 0

Game 6 – Queenhill vs Two-face

Start Time: 1:41:00

Could Queenhill sweep the pod? Can Two-Face make the cut? Queenhill started the game with the dreaded combination of Champion Anaphiel and Bulwark. Two-Face deployed several large Brobnar creatures. After the dust settled, the giants and knights had all but eliminated each other. The board remained relatively controlled over the next few turns. At one point, the only creatures on the board were the Bad Penny sisters. The sisters were outclassed when twin Zorgs showed up. 

Queenhill forged the first key the turn before Two-face did. Two-face followed up forging the key by jumping up to 5 aember on the back of a Ghostly Hand and some work from a Seeker Needle. Queenhill brought a lot of Sanctum and Logos creatures into the fray who were met be just a handful of Martians. Two-face did manage to generate enough aember to threaten again, which Queenhill could not stop. Two-face immediately threatened again on the back of its Shadow cards again, and Queenhill used Sequis to stop the check. Unfortunately, Two-face just accumulated a pile of Aember on the following turn to threaten again.

Winner: Two-face
3 Keys to 1

Final Results

The Two-Faced Attorney – *Advancing*
2 Wins – 1 Loss
When this deck is playing the Shadows portion, it is typically winning by a landslide. The Mars part really wants to combo, and so there will be draws where it will feel clunky. The Brobnar part of the deck is well-adapted to keeping the opponent’s creatures off the table. There is a lot of aember disruption in this deck, and it is good at keeping the opponent on the back foot.

Queenhill – *Advancing*
2 Wins – 1 Loss
This deck is very good at securing the board through it’s Sanctum creatures. The Experimental Therapies are at their best on the Logos creatures in this deck, and can generate a lot of advantage if left unchecked. The deck’s loss in this bracket could be attributed to the fact that both Bad Pennies were drawn and kept clogging up the hand when they died. One of the skill testing things would be deciding when to discard them. The deck is not short on removal, as both the Logos and Shadows sides have multiple ways to deal with small creatures. A solid deck with a lot of answers.

Dr. E. Dezrus – *Advancing*
2 Wins – 1 Loss
The Doctor is in! This deck is weird, but it can win games. It contains a lot of powerful cards and can burn through it’s deck extremely quickly when Library Access and Wild Wormholes are combined. The Untamed section’s Key Charge put games out of reach while the Vigor’s generated a lot of aember. The big downside is that there is only one board wipe in the deck. Dr.’s creatures are not particularly great at fighting, and it found itself really wanting to clear boards that it got behind on. The deck has a crazy amount of aember that it can generate by just playing cards, and three copies of The Terror often means that this deck likes going first to take advantage of the opponent having no aember.

Ladanian – *Relegated to WOTW*
0 Wins – 3 Losses
One can’t help but feel that this deck was outclassed in every match-up tonight. We were initially bullish on this deck because of it’s performance in our pre-streaming playtesting. In those games it was capable of generating a prison-like board. However, it never came close to delivering that type of performance in these games, nor was it able to forge a key. One of the major weaknesses in this deck was it’s lack of aember on cards that are played. It relies heavily on its creatures to generate aember, and tonight proved that some decks just won’t give you time to do that.

If you only watch one game: Game 4 Dr ED vs Two-Face

Known Errors: This is a big one, Key Hammer gives your opponent the 6 aember even if you don’t destroy a key with it. Also remember to draw extra cards if your opponent has played Howling Pit. Staunch Knight was also hamstrung by his controller multiple times tonight, so remember that he wants to stay on the flank.

Meta Info: Tonight’s games evened the score between Nathan and Justin, who are sitting at six wins each. The First and Second player is also tied at 6-6. We’re going to start tracking mulligan data as well, so while incomplete, we’ll have some of that information in the coming weeks.

100 decks enter. One deck leaves.

Stage 1 will consist of 4 deck “pods” where the decks will played round robin. Each deck with a score of 2-1 will advance to round two.

Tentatively, Round 2 will be a double elimination bracket between all remaining decks, until we find the grand champion.

Each deck that finishes 0-3 will descend to our special “Worst of the Worst” bracket where we will play those decks until there is finally one completely defeated anti-champion.