Diplo-Macy

I’ve recently gotten back into playing Diplomacy online and I was inspired to create a variant that combines that game with Keyforge. Once I had a solid idea, I realized that it had to be named after the rare Saurian card Diplo-Macy.

Description

A Diplo-Macy event is played with exactly seven players and involves simultaneously playing a game of Diplomacy (preferably through an online adjudicator like Backstabbr) and an Archon round-robin. Winning will require skill in both games as doing poorly in either game will eliminate you from the event.

At the beginning the event, all players will reveal which Keyforge deck they have selected to use for the Archon round-robin. Once all of the decks have been revealed, play starts on the Diplomacy board and continues through Winter 1902 without the distraction of Keyforge. However, once the negotiation phase of Spring 1903 begins players may challenge any other player to play their match in the round-robin.

Player eliminations

If a player is eliminated from the game of Diplomacy (by being reduced to zero supply centers) then they are eliminated from the event and any games of Keyforge that they may have played will have no further influence on the event. If a player has lost their Keyforge matches against all remaining opponents then they are eliminated from the event and the nation that they were playing in the game of Diplomacy enters Civil Disorder.

It is possible for eliminations to cascade. For example, Alice is playing England and has done well in the Keyforge games but is down to a single supply center in Diplomacy while Bernice is playing France and is doing well on the Diplomacy board but has lost all of her Keyforge matches except for a single win against Alice. If Alice looses her last supply center, she will be eliminated from the event and then Bernice will also be eliminated because her win against Alice will cease to count and she will have lost all of the Keyforge matches against all of the remaining opponents.

Winning

A player can win the event in several different ways:

  1. If a player controls 18 supply centers and has won a Keyforge match against any of the remaining opponents, then that player is the winner.
  2. If a draw is declared in the game of Diplomacy, then the player with the best record in the Keyforge round-robin is the winner. Resolve any ties for the best record by looking at the record in games amongst the tied players.
  3. If all but one player has been eliminated, then the remaining player is the winner.

Expectations

It is probably more accurate to call this a variant of Diplomacy rather than a variant of Keyforge. However, I expect that deck selection and Keyforge skill will have a large influence on how the game of Diplomacy is played. If you bring a deck that is relatively strong and can win all of the matches, then no one will have any incentive to work with you. However, if you bring a deck that is relatively weak and/or play poorly, then you may be eliminated no matter how good you are at Diplomacy. Because of this, using a benchmark deck is almost a necessity.

I would like to give this format at least one try, but I think that it may be challenging to find six other people who know both games and want to do the taxing brain work of playing two games at the same time.

Alice and Bernice

I like to use names for example players in my writing. I could simply use the names Alice and Bob that are standard in many fields, but because women have been extremely underrepresented in games I like to counter that by using two (traditionally) female names. I have decided to replace Bob with Bernice, a variant of Berenice. The name has it’s roots in Ancient Greek and means “bearer of victory”.

Mega-Triad

The design of Mega-triad stared with a simple premise: if triad is good then more triad must better. The name was inspired by the mega Brobnar creatures in World’s Collide.

Description

To play Mega-triad, each player selects nine decks and forms three triad lineups. The players then chose one of their opponent’s triad lineups to ban. The winner of a Mega-triad match is the first player to win a triad match with each of their remaining triad lineups.

A Mega-triad match can take as many as nine games to finish (three triad matches that each go to a third game) or it can finish in as few as four games.

Expectations

Like many thing Brobnar, Mega-triad is bigger, but it isn’t necessarily better. This transforms a triad match where you’re only as good as your third best deck into a much longer match where you’re only as good as your eighth or ninth best deck.

It’s fun to imagine a Mega-triad match consisting of nine very close, hard-fought games but the reality is more likely to be the worst deck in your lineup loosing four games in a row.

Introducing Keyforge Mavericks

What is this blog?

Hi, I’m hyramgraff and I love Keyforge. When I first started playing there were two things that drew me to the game: 1) The ability to play a CCG but without the hassle of collecting (which is expensive) or deck-building (which I’m terrible at) and 2) the aspect of discovery inherent in the game.

There is already a bunch of great content about discovering decks and learning how to play them well, and I don’t feel like I have much to add to what already exists. Instead, I want this blog to focus on discovering interesting new modes and mutations of organized play.

Why did you pick the name “Keyforge Mavericks”?

I believe that maverick cards are a great example of the discovery aspect of the game. A maverick card provides an opportunity to discover a brand new set of interactions with a familiar card and so Keyforge Mavericks will focus on providing an opportunity to discover new ways to play with the decks that you already own. Eventually, I’d like to start organizing casual online events that use some of these new formats.

Thanks for joining me on this journey of discovery.