On 8/2/2018 at 3:34 PM, Barbacuo said:

The bad part is that you cannot just buy a random deck and play. You need the core set for the tokens and status cards.

Not true. You need something to represent status and the tokens, but you don't need them from the starter set.

I even use other FFG products for mine: Destiny tokens. Damage = damage. Resources = Aember. Shields represent Keys forged, and Power tokens on creatures. Damage also is used to track Chains. The only thing we don't have is Stun cards, but we turn cards 180 degrees when stunned.

As to the starters...I passed. I'd rather have 2 more fully playable decks than have 2 that are really only good for intro games and some extra token chaff that I clearly don't need and already have more than enough of lying around not getting used.

For me, I liked the idea of having two decks that were geared towards teaching the game to others. I've got way too many people to introduce KeyForge to, and anything that makes that process easier is a godsend. ☺️

4 hours ago, KrisWall said:

I don't think pulling two to four random decks where one is significantly stronger is the exceptional edge case you make it out to be. Having even one deck with an easy to pull off, game winning combo can create a really negative play experience for new players. "Oh, so the trick with this game is to get lucky with your random deck. Noted. Not for me."

Another advantage to the starters is that the players are guaranteed two decks that cover six of the seven houses, leaving out only Mars. With only randomized starters, it's likely that you'll see duped houses. In fact, there are 35 possible three house combinations. That makes 1,225 possible two deck combinations (35*35). In only 170 of those cases do you see six unique houses across the two decks. In 1,055 of those cases, you see duplicates. In fact...

• No duplicate houses across 2 decks = 13.88% of the time
• 1 duplicate house across 2 decks = 48.16% of the time
• 2 duplicate houses across 2 decks = 33.47% of the time
• 3 duplicate houses across 2 decks = 4.49% of the time

With FFG's decision, you get no duplicate houses 100% of the time. With randomized, you get at least one duplicate 86% of the time.

Yeah, like I said - legitimate concern. (By exception, I mean in the quality assurance sense that the intended case is any 2 decks are fun against each other, where the exceptions are anything outside that intention) Ensuring they see all the houses is a nice benefit as well, I hadn't thought of that.

One of my friends thought the game was meh playing with the starters though. It only got exciting for them once they were opening new packs. There is some of a danger in moving the games value prop a step further down the funnel. And if the other 2 random decks are also blah... But it probably didn't lose too many.

Probably a better experience than opening a Maverick Pitlord. 😭

On 8/2/2018 at 10:34 PM, Barbacuo said:

The bad part is that you cannot just buy a random deck and play. You need the core set for the tokens and status cards.

You can get the status cards in each local tournament you'll participate just for comming. The damage tokens and keys are prizes, but not so difficult to get. And acrilic cristals as aember.